Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

M Frankenhaeuser

Publications and source records attributed to M Frankenhaeuser.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1990

Steroid sex hormones and cardiovascular function in healthy males and females: a correlational study.

The relationship of serum estradiol and testosterone levels to systolic (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) and heart rate (HR) was examined in healthy nonsmoking males (n = 30) and females (n = 22), 30-50 years of age (mean age for men = 41.2, women = 39.9). Postmenopausal women and women taking oral contraceptives had been excluded. Testosterone levels in women were positively correlated with SBP, DBP and HR, after removing the effects of age and body mass. Positive correlations were also found between estradiol and SBP and HR in women. No systematic relationships were found between steroid sex hormones and cardiovascular measurements in men. The findings suggest a role of steroid sex hormones in cardiovascular function of women, whereas the relationship in men is less clear.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Comparison of neuroendocrine measurements under laboratory and naturalistic conditions.

Urinary catecholamines and cortisol were measured in healthy nonsmoking white collar workers (14 male and 15 female managers, 15 male and 14 female clerical workers), aged 30-50 years, during a one-hour period of laboratory-induced stress comprising five tests and a Type A interview, and during a subsequent period of rest in the laboratory. Values were compared with data obtained four months earlier from the same subjects during a normal day at work (4 values) and during a work-free day at home (4 values). No significant group differences were found during rest in the laboratory. However, during laboratory-induced stress, female managers had the highest norepinephrine values, which contributed to significantly (p less than 0.01) higher values in women than in men. Correlations between absolute measurements from laboratory and naturalistic conditions were generally positive and reached significance in most cases. Correlations between reactivity measurements in the laboratory and at work (change from rest to stress and from home to work, respectively) were generally low, whereas correlations between reactivity at different times of the day were relatively high. The data suggest that generalizability of neuroendocrine reactivity from laboratory stress to real-life stress is low. However, in agreement with earlier experimental findings, absolute levels of catecholamine and cortisol excretion were consistent over conditions and time.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Blood lipids as related to cardiovascular and neuroendocrine functions under different conditions in healthy males and females.

Correlations were calculated between, on the one hand, total serum cholesterol, low-density (LDL) and high-density (HDL) lipoprotein cholesterol, and triglycerides, and, on the other hand, systolic (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP), heart rate (HR), urinary epinephrine, norepinephrine, and cortisol in 30 healthy males and 30 healthy females, aged 30-50. The cardiovascular and neuroendocrine measurements were obtained under different real-life and laboratory conditions. The most striking finding was that, in men, but not in women, total serum cholesterol was significantly positively correlated with SBP in all conditions (LDL and HDL cholesterol followed the same pattern). In women, but not in men, epinephrine and norepinephrine during laboratory-induced mental stress were significantly positively correlated with total cholesterol, LDL and triglycerides.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

A biopsychosocial approach to work life issues.

This article is based on research carried out in the author's laboratory during the past decades. The central theme is the study of how environmental factors influence health and behavior. The approach is multidisciplinary, focusing on the dynamics of stressful person-environment interactions, viewed from social, psychological, and biomedical perspectives. A biopsychosocial framework for the study of stress and coping at the workplace is outlined. Key notions in the biopsychosocial approach are that endocrine responses to the psychosocial environment reflect its impact on the individual and serve as early warnings of long-term risks. Research on the release of the adrenal hormones, catecholamines and cortisol, in response to different work demands is interpreted in terms of the author's "effort and affect" model. The significance of personal control for achieving a state of effort and positive affect is underscored. Finally, a plea is made for dialogue between researchers in the biopsychosocial field and the employees, their organizations, and management. The dialogue is seen as a tool for translating research results into practical measures.

Burnout, Professional↗
PubMed1989

Females' emotionality as reflected in the excretion of the dopamine metabolite HVA during mental stress.

This paper describes the relationships between psychological assessments of emotionality and massfragmentographic measures of the dopamine metabolite homovanillic acid (HVA) in healthy boys and girls. Examination stress induced a significant rise in HVA excretion in both sexes. In girls, but not in boys, significant positive correlations were found between HVA excretion during stress and a set of measures of "negatively coloured" emotionality (distress, anxiety, lack of self-esteem, etc.) obtained at different points in time.

Arousal↗
PubMed1988

Urinary catecholamines: comparison between HPLC with electrochemical detection and fluorophotometric assay.

Comparisons between catecholamines determined by HPLC (with electrochemical detection) and fluorometry in urine samples from healthy adults and children, respectively, showed high correlations. In agreement with greater specificity for HPLC, mean values were higher for the fluorometric assay. However, it was concluded that fluorometric assays provide as valid and sensitive indices of stress-induced changes in catecholamine excretion in humans as HPLC.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

Urinary monoamine metabolites as indices of mental stress in healthy males and females.

Concentrations of the serotonin metabolite 5-hydroxyindole acetic acid (5-HIAA), the dopamine metabolite homovanillic acid (HVA) and the noradrenaline metabolite 4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl glycol (HMPG) were determined in urine samples from healthy male and female students by mass fragmentography. Urine samples were obtained after a demanding examination (mental stress) and a day of ordinary school work (control condition). Self-ratings were obtained of feelings induced by the examination, and of habitual psychosomatic symptoms. The results for both sexes showed that the examination stress induced a significant increase of HVA and HMPG excretion, but not of 5-HIAA. The males excreted significantly more of each of the metabolites than the females. The pattern of correlations between metabolite levels and psychological and psychosomatic variables were strikingly different for the two sexes.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1986

Pace variation and control of work pace as related to cardiovascular, neuroendocrine, and subjective responses.

Two studies of paced and self-paced arithmetic performance are reported. Heart rate and blood pressure were recorded and ratings of subjective arousal obtained. In one of the studies, plasma levels of catecholamines and cortisol were determined. Under externally paced experimental conditions pace variation was found to be quantitatively related to changes in systolic and diastolic blood pressure, as well as to ratings of stress and irritation. This was not the case for heart rate or positively evaluated aspects of subjective arousal. Performance was better and ratings of stress and irritation were lower during self-paced than during paced work at a comparable work pace. In one of the studies the diastolic blood pressure increased less when subjects controlled the pace. Plasma catecholamines did not increase significantly during either externally or self-paced work, but adrenaline tended to increase during paced work. Our findings give partial support to the suggestion that personal control may attenuate sympathoadrenal activation and cardiovascular reactivity.

Adrenal Glands↗
PubMed1986

Personal control over work pace--circulatory, neuroendocrine and subjective responses in borderline hypertension.

Cardiovascular and neuroendocrine reactivity during arithmetic task performance were studied in 24 patients with borderline hypertension and normotensive controls. Personal control (self-paced versus externally paced performance) resulted in an attenuated blood pressure (BP) response to task performance in normotensives but not in borderline hypertensives. In response to self-paced work, systolic blood blood pressure (SBP) reactivity was significantly greater in borderline hypertensives, but the heart rate (HR) reactivity was similar in borderline hypertensives and normotensives under the different pacing conditions. Task difficulty (pace variation during external pacing) did not differentially affect reactivity in borderline hypertensives and normotensives. Venous plasma noradrenaline and adrenaline were unaffected by task performance. At rest after the task performance plasma noradrenaline was elevated in both normotensives and borderline hypertensives. The latter group also showed a persistent elevation of diastolic blood pressure after task performance, suggesting a prolonged vasoconstrictor response. The present findings indicate that, in terms of circulatory responses, borderline hypertensives may profit less than normotensives from personal control over environmental demands.

Adult↗
PubMed1979

Interaction of alcohol and reward in an achievement situation.

Effects of psychological stress on acute alcohol intoxication following intake of 2 ml whisky/kg body weight were examined in 12 healthy subjects. Each subject performed a 45-min psychomotor task under four conditions, two of which increased achievement stress by promising the subject a monetary reward for rapid and accurate performance. The conditions were (a) task only, (b) task + reward, (c) task + alcohol, and (d) task + reward + alcohol. In condition (b) reward improved performance and heightened both physiological and subjective arousal, and in condition (c) alcohol impaired performance, lowered subjective arousal, and increased physiological arousal. In condition (d) the reward counteracted the depressant effects of alcohol on performance and mood, whereas an additive, arousing effect was obtained in all physiological variables, i.e., catecholamine and cortisol excretion and heart rate.

Achievement↗
PubMed1979

Interactions between heart rate, psychomotor performance and perceived effort during physical work as influenced by beta-adrenergic blockade.

Effects of a single intravenous dose of propranolol (0,25 mg/kg body weight) were examined in 15 healthy male subjects who performed three reaction-time tasks of different complexity, while pedalling at five work loads on a cycle ergometer. Comparisons between measurements after propranolol and after injection of a placebo solution showed a pronounced reduction of heart rate and an increase in catecholamine excretion following propranolol. Comparisons of psychomotor performance showed no significan difference between the propranolol and placebo conditions. Nor did self-estimates of perceived physical and task-induced efforts reveal any significant effects of propranolol. The results support the notion that heart rate is not a prominent cue for perceived effort.

Adult↗
PubMed1978

Psychophysiological reactions to noise as modified by personal control over noise intensity.

Effects of personal control over noise intensity were studied in experimental situations where subjects performed mental arithmetic under noise exposure. Every other subject was offered a choice between noise intensities, and the next subject, serving as his yoked partner, had to submit to the same noise. Mean measures of catecholamine and cortisol excretion, and of heart rate and subjective effort and discomfort showed that subjects were more aroused in the yoked situation. There were, however, considerable interindividual differences, subjects classified as 'internals' or 'externals' on the basis of the Internal-External Locus of Control Scale responding to the two experimental conditions in congruence with their general beliefs and attitudes with regard to control.

Adult↗
PubMed1978

Stress responses in male and female engineering students.

Male and female engineering students were studies under stress induced by a congnitive-conflict task and in a control condition spent in inactivity. The results showed that (a) in the control condition the sexes did not differ in adrenaline, noradrenaline or cortisol excretion, whereas heart rate was significantly higher in the females; (b) adrenaline excretion and heart rate increased significantly in both sexes during stress; (c) the rise in adrenaline excretion was more pronounced in the males, whereas the rise in heart rate was significantly greater in the females; (d) cortisol excretion increased significantly during stress in the male group only; and (e) self-estimates of effort and performance were consistently higher and increased more over time in the males than in the females, bu these sex differences on the subjective level were not reflected in actual performance. The interaction of biological and social factors in the development of sex differences in stress reactions is discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1978

Sex differences in psychoneuroendocrine reactions to examination stress.

Sex differences in adaptation and coping were studied by comparing neuroendocrine and psychological functions in male and female high-school students during 2--3 hr of routine school work (control condition) and a 6-hr matriculation examination (stress condition). In the control condition sex differences were slight and nonsignificant. During examination stress, the urinary excretion of cortisol, adrenaline, noradrenaline, and 3-methoxy-4-hydroxy-phenylethylene glycol (MOPEG or MHPG) increased in both sexes, but to a consistently greater extent in the male group, significantly so for adrenaline and MOPEG. Both sexes performed equally well in the examination, but self-reports showed that feelings of success and confidence were common among males, whereas feelings of discomfort and failure dominated in the female group. High discomfort correlated with poor performance in the males but with good performance in the females.

Achievement↗
PubMed1976

Sex differences in sympathetic-adrenal medullary reactions induced by different stressors.

Male and female university students were exposed to two different stressors in each of two 110-min sessions, i.e., a cognitive task (color-word conflict) and repeated venipuncture. Catecholamine excretion, heart rate, and subjective reactions were measured. Control values were obtained under conditions of relaxation in the laboratory. Subjects of both sexes responded to both stressors by increased heart rate and feelings of unpleasantness and distress. The pattern of adrenaline excretion, however, differed between sexes: in males both stressors induced a significant increase, whereas in females adrenaline excretion remained on the same level under the two stress conditions as during relaxation; Noradrenaline excretion was not systematically affected by either stressor in either sex group.

Adrenal Medulla↗