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Biomedical subjects

F Lolas

Publications and source records attributed to F Lolas.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

The measurement of quality of life through the content analysis of verbal behavior.

The 'quality of life' is a construct which many researchers are attempting to measure by means of self-rating procedures and by ratings from external observers. Another method of measuring this construct includes features of both the self-report method and the external observer rating method, and by doing so it minimizes some of the measurement errors inherent in the separate methods; this third method involves the content analysis of verbal behavior. This latter method preserves the reliability and validity of the scales that have been developed and tested for content analysis, while preserving the meanings intended by the subjects who are being assessed on this dimension, which meanings are often obscured or lost through self-report and ratings scales. A group of Content Scales especially applicable to assess the quality of life are reviewed and examples of their applicability are given. A discussion is provided dealing with special problems involving the assessment of this dimension, including cross-cultural issues and other factors that need consideration with respect to generalizability of the findings.

Communication↗
PubMed1992

Effects of stimulation intensity, gender and handedness upon auditory evoked potentials.

Left handers and women show less anatomical brain asymmetry, larger corpus callosum and more bilateral representation of specific functions. Sensory and cognitive components of cortical auditory evoked potentials (AEP) have been shown to be asymmetric in right handed males and to be influenced by stimulus intensity. In this study the influence of sex, handedness and stimulus intensity upon AEP components is investigated under basal conditions of passive attention. 14 right handed males, 14 right handed females, 14 left handed males, and 14 left handed females were studied while lying awake and paying passive attention to auditory stimulation (series of 100 binaural clicks, duration 1 msec, rate 1/sec, at four intensities). Cz, C3 and C4 referenced to linked mastoids and right EOG were recorded. Analysis time was 400 msec, average evoked potentials were based on 100 clicks. Stimulus intensity and gender affect early sensory components (P1N1 and N1P2) at central leads, asymmetry is influenced only by handedness, right handers showing larger P1N1 amplitudes over the right hemisphere.

Acoustic Stimulation↗
PubMed1992

[Medicine as narrative].

This is and address delivered by the author on being elected Member of the Chilean Academy of Letters. It develops the notion of medicine as a metatext composed by different "texts": the physiological, the introspective and the behavioral. Each of these narratives derives its meaning from the "context" provided by the others and is articulated differently according to the social roles allotted to the participants in communicative transactions. Medicine, as communicative praxis, is a science of actions rather than objects which can be understood as process, procedure and product. In the light of these concept the distinction between illness, disease and sickness receives a new emphasis.

Philosophy, Medical↗
PubMed1991

[Relation between illness manifestations and personality structure].

Associations between various psychoneurotic or psychosomatic illnesses and personality structures are investigated empirically in this paper. The investigation is based on the diagnoses of 9377 patients who came to the Psychosomatic Clinic of the University of Heidelberg as outpatients in the decade from 1979-1988. The answer to the proposed question is attempted by means of a statistical analysis of the routinely documented diagnoses. The relation can therefore only be investigated to the extent allowed by the more or less theory-oriented view-point of the participating diagnostician. The results confirm in part clinically known relations between certain aspects of illness and personality structures. They point to an almost obvious asymmetry which has been disregarded up to now in the clinical-theoretical discussion: whereas "typical" personality structures are diagnosed increasingly more often in certain illnesses, none of the personality structures proved "supportive" in the occurrence of a certain illness. The altogether weak interdependence between illness and personality structure (diagnoses) demonstrates that both diagnoses represent--at least in part--different dimensions.

Humans↗
PubMed1979

Interhemispheric and sex differences in the visual evoked response recovery cycle.

The recovery cycle of the flash-evoked response was studied in 6 female and 6 male right-handed subjects of comparable age. The aim of the study was to evidence possible interhemispheric differences between occipital leads. Two flashes, presented at graded time intervals between 20 and 150 msec, allowed the computation of an amplitude ratio between the second and the first evoked response, considering the III--IV peak-to-peak amplitude. A faster recovery was found for the left hemisphere, with more pronounced interhemispheric differences in male than in female subjects. Women showed a more reduced amplitude recovery than men and a somewhat different time-course of the recovery function. Women also showed less waveshape similarity between evoked responses elicited by the second of a pair of flashes in the right and left hemisphere. These findings are discussed in terms of differences in speed of information processing by both cerebral hemispheres. It is suggested that recovery cycle studies may contribute to brain laterality research and be of particular relevance to psychiatric studies involving assumptions about differential hemispheric excitability.

Adult↗
PubMed1979

Alexithymia: anxiety and hostility in psychosomatic and psychoneurotic patients.

Verbal samples obtained from 40 psychoneurotic and 40 psychosomatic patients, matched with respect to age, sex, intelligence and some social indicators, were examined using different methods of content analysis. According to the concept of 'alexithymia' it was postulated that the restricted fantasy life and difficulty in expressing feelings attributed to psychosomatic patients would be reflected at the speech level (psycho-analytic interviews). The measurement of anxiety and hostility using the Gottschalk-Gleser scales gave the following results: with total anxiety in particular, and its subscales guilt, shame, separation and diffuse anxiety, and with hostility, the psychosomatic patients showed lower values than the neurotic patients, which were in part highly significant. The results confirm the existence of the 'psychosomatic phenomenon' but they do not permit statements concerning its etiology.

Anxiety↗
PubMed1979

The BAER profile: a method for reporting electrophysiologic brainstem examinations in clinical practice.

We present a method for graphically reporting the results of brainstem auditory evoked response examinations on the basis of multiple parameters. The method is based on a transform that normalizes the many latency and amplitude measures obtained from the averaged evoked responses of normal subjects tested under standardized conditions. Among the advantages of the method are the simplicity of its use, the identification of disease profiles, and the isolation of relevant parameters for research and diagnosis.

Adult↗
PubMed1979

[Event-related cerebral potentials. Classification and clinical use].

Event-related potentials (ERP) constitute an heterogeneous group of brain electrical signals time-locked to sensory stimulation, motor responses, and associative processes, recorded using computer averaging. Several kinds of brain electric activity are encompassed by the generic term "event related potentials": sensory evoked potentials, time-coherent cerebral events related to motor acta, long-latency potentials associated with psychological variables, slow potential shifts linked to psychological constructs, and "emitted" cerebral events of endogenous origin. Shortcomings of this classification are pointed out and a simpler one is proposed, distinguishing between sensory, motor, and associative time-locked potentials. Their clinical use is illustrated under six major headings: testing of sensory function, localization of lesions, maturation of the central nervous system, genetic markers, evaluation of pharmacologic agents, and indicators of cognitive processes. Some methodological issues relevant to the clinical use of ERP are discussed.

Association↗
PubMed1979

[Psychiatric perspectives of ethological anthropology].

Ethological anthropology is characterized as a biologically-based discipline aimed at the study of overt behaviour. Two of its main features are presented and discussed: its historical character and its protective nature. The first is a direct result of its being based upon evolutionary principles, emphasizing the adaptive character of behaviour and tracing back its origins and causation to phylogenetic adaptation and ontogenetic modification. The protective aspect is contrasted with other approaches--reflective theories--which adding a predominant role in the causation of behaviour to environmental influences. Within ethological theory the distinction is made between peristolabile and peristostable behaviours on the basis of their liability to environmental modification during individual development. For psychiatric research, ethological concepts are relevant both from a methodological and a theoretical standpoint. Their usefulness in comparative, transcultural and psychophysiologic studies is pointed out, as well as their applicability to research on human non-verbal communication and implicit behaviour. The contention is advanced that they provide an integrative framework of reference which combined with other approaches may permit the development of a comprehensive theory of human behaviour.

Anthropology, Cultural↗
PubMed1978

Event-related slow potential (ERSP) correlates of thyroid gland function level.

This study shows an association between thyroid gland function level and event-related slow brain potential (ERSP) parameters (peak amplitude and area under the curve), obtained during "classical" and "operant" reaction-time paradigms. A significant positive correlation between ERSP parameters and 24-hr I131 uptake and a negative nonsignificant one between them and ankle jerk reflex were found. Organismic factors related to thyroid function had greater influence upon ERSP amplitude and area than situational ones, for no significant effect of task was evidenced and no interaction between them was found under the conditions employed. Hyper- and hypothyroids showed also a tendency to present longer reaction times than euthyroids. These results are discussed within the framework of the arousal-distraction coupling hypothesis as proposed by Tecce and Cole (1976) and compared to those previously obtained in high-neuroticism anxiety-prone indivuduals. Although these and hyperthyroids do show indications of similar behavioral manifestations (excessive reactive arousal), both groups are considered to differ regarding empirical referennts of anticipatory arousal (ERSP parameters). A major difference seems to be the absence of a "ceiling effect" in hyperthyroids. This hypothetical phenomenon can be expected on the basis of the inverted U-shaped relation between ERSP amplitude and arousal level. A stronger "distraction" effect associated with increased arousal in anxiety neurotics is postulated and tentatively attributed to covert verbalizations of worry and feelings added to increased awareness of autonomic input. The contention is advanced that similar behavioral manifestations could be distinguishable at the physiological level employed and this might add further insights to diagnostic typologies (e.g., "psychosomatic" vs. "psychoneurotic" patients).

Adult↗
PubMed1978

Visual evoked responses and visual symptoms in multiple sclerosis.

Absolute latency, interocular difference in latency, and waveform of visual evoked responses (VER) to checkerboard reversal stimuli recorded from the midline of the skull were studied in 104 multiple sclerosis patients, 25 to 50 years of age, classified according to visual symptomatology. Group 1 had strong evidence of past or present optic neuritis. Patients with blurring of vision, diplopia, and undefined visual complaints were assigned to group 2, while group 3 contained patients with no visual symptoms but suspected diagnosis of multiple sclerosis on other grounds. The three parameters explored showed consistent association with the degree of visual involvement, as assessed by clinical impression, but their discriminatory power was diverse. Absolute latency was significantly longer in group 1 patients compared with groups 2 and 3, but it did not discriminate between the last two, whereas interocular difference in latency proved to be sensitive to differences between symptomatic (diplopia, blurring) and asymptomatic groups (2 and 3). Waveshapes were grouped into three categories based upon degree of distortion of the major positive peak, and their relative distribution among the three patient groups was found to be associated with symptomatology. We suggest that, in the production of symptoms such as diplopia, a temporal disparity of afferent impulses might be involved in much the same way that spatial incongruities between both eyes lead to impaired function. In this regard, interocular difference in latency rather than absolute latency would be a more accurate predictor of symptom development. The analysis of VER waveshape suggests, in addition, the importance of inhomogeneous involvement of the visual pathways in the production of symptoms during the evolution of multiple sclerosis.

Adult↗
PubMed1978

Event-related slow brain potentials, cognitive processes, and alexithymia.

A psychophysiological approach to alexithymia involves the search for reliable neural correlates of cognitive and symbolic processes rendering meaningful indicators that can be entered as elements into the diagnostic process, framed within a theory, and tested against the clinical experience. Relevant work on event-related slow brain potentials is reviewed, and some recent data bearing on a psychophysiological differentiation between psychosomatic and psychoneurotic patients are presented and discussed within the framework of a modified concept of activation. In outlining certain research strategies and goals it is contended that they may provide an experimental data base complementing and expanding psychodynamically derived formulations.

Action Potentials↗
PubMed1978

[Understanding implicit behavior].

The point of departure of the present paper is the comprobation that the visible behaviour of an individual conveys information about his internal state to others, yet the description of this information transfer is limited by an insufficient conceptual framework. The most important historical approaches to the field of expressive behaviour are discussed. The peculiarity of language in information transfer as an "explicit" system of rules is constrasted with all the other kinds of behaviour which also play "informative" and "communicative" roles. For these the concept of "implicit" system is proposed and discussed. It is further shown that a strict distinction between "implicit" and "explicit" is not possible for behavioural manifestations, but rather they constitute poles of a continuum in which all communicative modes could be incorporated. Dichotomies most commonly used in human and animal communication and interaction researach are compared with the presented implicit - explicit dichotomy. The advantages of the latter are seen in the semantic clarification it could provide, thus leading to a somewhat clearer approach to different forms of behaviour research.

Communication↗
PubMed1978

[Voice and vibration sensations in the speech forming organs: clinical and theoretical aspects of rare symptoms specific for schizophrenia].

When studying 750 psychiatric in-patients with psychoses of various diagnostic groups, the symptoms of voice sensations and vibration feelings could only be found among patients with paranoid schizophrenia. In addition, these symptoms were located exclusively in body areas that are involved in the peripheral motor production of voice and speech (areas of head, throat, thorax). In 11 of 15 such cases that could be identified, the sensations of voices and vibrations occurred simultaneously and in identical body parts; in the remaining 4 cases only voices without vibration sensations were reported. Therefore these symptoms can be considered as highly specific for schizophrenia. According to the terminology of Bleuler these two symptoms are because of their rareness to be taken as accessoric symptoms; according to the terminology of Kurt Schneider they have the value of first rank symptoms because of their highly diagnostic specifity for schizophrenia. The pathogenesis of these symptoms is on the one hand discussed under the perspective of language development and the changing function of language for behaviour control; on the other hand, the pathogenesis of these symptoms is discussed from the viewpoint of cybernetic, or neurophysiological-neuroanatomical foundation of speech production and speech control. Both models of explanation have in common that the ideational component of speech is noticed as acustic halluzinations and the motor proprioceptive part of speech is noticed as sensation of vibrations, both in a typically schiphrenic manner, i.e. dissociated and ego-alienated.

Adult↗