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At least 739 records · Page 41Linked to original sources
PubMed2004

Effect of viewing a humorous vs. nonhumorous film on bronchial responsiveness in patients with bronchial asthma.

The effect of viewing a humorous film on bronchial responsiveness to methacholine [methacholine study: 20 healthy participants and 20 patients with house dust mite (HDM)-allergic bronchial asthma (BA)] or to epigallocatechin gallate (EGCg; EGCg study: 15 normal participants and 15 EGCg-allergic BA patients) was studied. At baseline, bronchial challenge test to methacholine (20 normal participants and 20 HDM-allergic BA patients) or EGCg (15 normal participants and 15 EGCg-allergic BA patients) were performed. After 2 weeks, patients and healthy participants were randomly assigned to watch a humorous or a nonhumorous film. Two weeks later, the alternate film was watched. Immediately after viewing, bronchial challenge test to methacholine or ECGg to each study group were performed. Viewing a humorous film significantly reduced bronchial responsiveness to methacholine or EGCg, while viewing a nonhumorous film failed to do so in BA patients without affecting bronchial responsiveness to methacholine or EGCg in healthy participants. These findings indicate that viewing a humorous film may be useful in the treatment and study of BA.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Alternative cognitive therapy for emotional instability (pathologic laughing and crying).

Emotional instability (EI) is involuntary laughing and crying associated with brain damage seen in a variety of disorders. This article discusses occurrence, impact, and diagnosis, and neuroanatomic substrates underlying proposed mechanisms producing EI are outlined and related to traditional drug treatment. An expanded neuroanatomic model is suggested emphasizing the prefrontal cortex as the center integrating information from a complex emotion and sensory loop with motor information destined for the faciorespiratory nuclei in the brainstem. Disturbance at any level in the loop is proposed to produce EI by degrading information to or from the prefrontal cortex, disrupting its inhibitory control of the nuclei. An alternative cognitive therapy for EI was developed to compensate for deficits resulting from structural lesions by strengthening undamaged pathways, which is achieved by superimposing volitional movement on muscles affected during an EI episode. Treatment of 17 patients showed significant reductions in EI severity and occurrence, and in contrast to drug treatments,the effect was sustained at 3- to 6-month follow-up.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy↗
PubMed2004

Something funny happened to reward.

The human reward system has been shown to be activated by a wide range of reinforcers, including food, money, sex, drugs, and beauty. Now, a recent fMRI study has found mesolimbic reward activation associated with humorous cartoons, providing a neurobiological link between theories of humour and hedonic processes in the brain.

Brain Mapping↗
PubMed2004

Role of the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha (PPARalpha) in responses to trichloroethylene and metabolites, trichloroacetate and dichloroacetate in mouse liver.

Trichloroethylene (TCE) is an industrial solvent and a widespread environmental contaminant. Induction of liver cancer in mice by TCE is thought to be mediated by two carcinogenic metabolites, dichloroacetate (DCA) and trichloroacetate (TCA). TCE is considered to be a relatively weak peroxisome proliferator (PP), a group of rodent hepatocarcinogens that cause adaptive responses in liver through the PP-activated receptor alpha (PPARalpha). The objectives of this study were to determine whether effects of TCE, TCA and DCA in the liver associated with carcinogenesis are mediated by PPARalpha. Male wild-type and PPARalpha-null mice were given TCE by gavage for 3 days or 3 weeks; TCA or DCA were given in the drinking water for 1 week. Increases in relative liver and kidney weights by TCE were dependent on PPARalpha whereas liver weight increases by DCA were PPARalpha-independent. Dose-dependent increases in hepatocyte proliferation observed in wild-type mice after TCE exposure as determined by BrdU-labeling of hepatocytes were PPARalpha-dependent. Transcript profiling using macroarrays containing approximately 1200 genes showed that 93% (40 out of 43) of all expression changes observed in wild-type mice upon TCE exposure were dependent on PPARalpha and included known targets of PP (Cyp4a12, epidermal growth factor receptor) and additional genes involved in cell growth. Increases in enzymes that catalyze beta- and omega-oxidation of fatty acids were dependent on PPARalpha after exposure to TCE, TCA or DCA. TCE altered a unique set of genes in the livers of PPARalpha-null mice compared to wild-type mice including those that respond to different forms of stress. These data support the hypothesis that PPARalpha plays a dominant role in mediating the effects associated with hepatocarcinogenesis upon TCE exposure.

Animals↗
PubMed2006

An approach to daytime wetting in children.

Daytime wetting is a common problem with various causes that can usually be identified through a careful history, thorough physical examination, and urinalysis. Conservative approaches to therapy have a successful outcome in most children. Invasive diagnostic imaging studies and pharmacologic or surgical intervention are necessary only for carefully selected children.

Arousal↗
PubMed1988

Motivation. Becoming a cheerleader for yourself, your profession.

Being a cheerleader simply means having an affirmative attitude about people, events, and circumstances. When a cheerleader is confronted with an obstacle, he or she views it as an opportunity and tries to deal with it constructively. Credibility is an essential characteristic of a cheerleader. The people with whom the cheerleader works must admire and respect him or her for his or her skills as well as inspirational ability. Cheerleaders are to be cherished and celebrated because they can make positive things happen in the work setting. They are able to release the power and potential in people with whom they work. Cheerleaders seem to enable people to grow and help them become more than they would have otherwise.

Attitude↗
PubMed1996

Pathological crying and laughing: treatment with sertraline.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy of sertraline for treating pathological laughing and crying after stroke. DESIGN: Case series. SETTING: Inpatient rehabilitation units of a community and a tertiary-care hospital. PATIENTS: One patient was a 62-year-old right-handed man who had two strokes approximately 2 years apart and had computed tomography consistent with a cerebral infarct involving the left middle cerebral artery branches in the left parietal lobe. A second patient was a 72-year-old right-handed man who had a right middle cerebral artery infarct. He had a questionable history of depression prior to the stroke. INTERVENTION: Both patients had poststroke labile affect that was interfering with their rehabilitation. Sertraline was prescribed. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Pretreatment and posttreatment scores on the Pathological Crying and Laughing Scale and Functional Independent Measure. RESULTS: Both patients showed significant improvement after taking sertraline-improvement that was reflected in their pretreatment and posttreatment scores on the Pathological Crying and Laughing Scale and Functional Independent Measure. The staff noted improvements in sleeping, eating, social interaction, and therapy participation. Both patients tolerated the sertraline well and had no significant side effects.

1-Naphthylamine↗
PubMed2003

Differential sex-independent amygdala response to infant crying and laughing in parents versus nonparents.

BACKGROUND: Animal and human studies implicate forebrain neural circuits in maternal behavior. Here, we hypothesized that human brain response to emotional stimuli relevant for social interactions between infants and adults are modulated by sex- and experience-dependent factors. METHODS: We used functional magnetic resonance imaging and examined brain response to infant crying and laughing in mothers and fathers of young children and in women and men without children. RESULTS: Women but not men, independent of their parental status, showed neural deactivation in the anterior cingulate cortex, as indexed by decreased blood oxygenation level-dependent signal, in response to both infant crying and laughing. The response pattern changed fundamentally with parental experience: in the amygdala and interconnected limbic regions, parents (independent of sex) showed stronger activation from crying, whereas nonparents showed stronger activation from laughing. CONCLUSIONS: Our data show sex- and experience-dependent modulation of brain response to infant vocalizations. Successful recognition and evaluation of infant vocalizations can be critical for bonding mechanisms and for offspring well-being and survival. Thus, the modulation of responses by experience seems to represent an adaptive mechanism that can be related to reproductive fitness.

Acoustic Stimulation↗
PubMed1998

Autonomic and hormonal ictal changes in gelastic seizures from hypothalamic hamartomas.

OBJECTIVES: We describe two patients with hypothalamic hamartoma and gelastic seizures. METHODS: We performed ictal neurophysiological studies with polygraphic recordings of autonomic parameters and hormonal ictal plasma concentration measurements. RESULTS: Ictal recordings showed a stereotyped modification of autonomic parameters: increase in blood pressure and heart rate, peripheral vasoconstriction and modification of respiratory activity. At seizure onset, the norepinephrine plasma level was high and epinephrine unchanged, whereas prolactin and adrenocorticotropic hormone were increased in both cases. Growth hormone and cortisol plasma concentrations in each patient showed a different response to seizures. CONCLUSIONS: These data provide evidence that gelastic seizures are accompanied by an abrupt sympathetic system activation, probably due to the direct paroxysmal activation of limbic and paralimbic structures or other autonomic centres of the hypothalamus and medulla.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

Pathological laughing and crying in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: an association with prefrontal cognitive dysfunction.

Pathological laughing and crying (PLC) frequently occurs in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The etiology of the syndrome is unclear, but frontal-subcortical circuits are implicated, given their known association with mood and affect regulation. Ten ALS patients with PLC, eight patients without, and ten healthy controls were compared on a number of psychometric measures. Three indices of prefrontal cortical function were given: the Wisconsin Card Sort Test (WCST), the novel 'Gambling task' and a measure of olfactory discrimination. Global cognitive ability, psychiatric symptoms, and illness variables were also examined. No significant between-groups differences emerged with respect to global cognitive ability, mood, olfaction, and performance on the Gambling task. On the WCST, however, patients with PLC made significantly more total errors than the other two groups, and showed a strong trend in a similar direction for perseverative errors. A discriminant function analysis revealed that the WCST variable 'total errors' correctly predicted the presence or absence of pathological affect in 75% of cases. Thus, PLC appears to be associated with impairment in the functional integrity of the prefrontal cortex. Although this was not found for all prefrontal measures, further investigation of this area appears warranted.

Aged↗