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Subjective Indices (subjective + index)
Selected AbstractsThe Emotional Climate of Nations and Their Culture of PeaceJOURNAL OF SOCIAL ISSUES, Issue 2 2007Joseph De Rivera Societies seem to have emotional climates that affect how people feel and act in public situations. Unlike the emotions experienced in an individual's personal life, these modal feelings reflect a collective response to the socio-economic-political situation of the society and influence how most people behave toward one another and their government. A government may foster a climate of fear to ensure social control, or it may encourage the formation of heterogeneous social groups to facilitate a climate of trust between people from different groups. On one hand, emotional climates may be viewed as reflecting the relative peacefulness or violence of a society. Thus, an assessment of emotional climate may provide a subjective index of human security to complement objective measures of democracy, human rights, equality, and other factors that we presume are beneficial to human welfare. On the other hand, we may view emotional climates as influences that act to further or to impede the development of the culture of peace advocated by the General Assembly of the United Nations. Thus, their assessment may have predictive power, and measuring a society's emotional climate may help us to create desirable policy. In this article we show that it is possible to measure some important aspects of the emotional climates of three nations that have different degrees of a culture of peace: Norway, the United States, and India. We show that estimates of the collective emotions that constitute climate can be distinguished from reports of personal emotions in that the former are more influenced by nation and the latter by social class. It is the subjective experience of national emotional climate, rather than personal emotional experience, that appears most related to objective indices for the culture of peace in the different nations. [source] A cardiac signature of emotionalityEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE, Issue 11 2007Stefan Koelsch Abstract Human personality has brain correlates that exert manifold influences on biological processes. This study investigates relations between emotional personality and heart activity. Our data demonstrate that emotional personality is related to a specific cardiac amplitude signature in the resting electrocardiogram (ECG). Two experiments using functional magnetic resonance imaging show that this signature correlates with brain activity in the amygdala and the hippocampus during the processing of musical stimuli with emotional valence. Additionally, this cardiac signature correlates with subjective indices of emotionality (as measured by the Revised Toronto Alexithymia Scale), and with both time and frequency domain measures of the heart rate variability. The results demonstrate intricate connections between emotional personality and the heart by showing that ECG amplitude patterns provide considerably more information about an individual's emotionality than previously believed. The finding of a cardiac signature of emotional personality opens new perspectives for the investigation of relations between emotional dysbalance and cardiovascular disease. [source] A methodology using subjective and objective measures to compare plaque inhibition by toothpastesJOURNAL OF CLINICAL PERIODONTOLOGY, Issue 12 2004N. Claydon Abstract Objectives: Plaque scoring usually employs subjective indices. The aim was to compare plaque inhibition of three toothpastes using two objective and one subjective measures of plaque. Material and Methods: Formulations were: (1) an experimental anti-plaque paste (test); (2) an experimental paste (minus active or negative control); and (3) a proprietary anti-plaque toothpaste product (positive control). The study was a blind, randomised crossover design using a 4-day, no tooth brushing, plaque regrowth model and involving 22 healthy subjects. After baseline plaque removal, subjects rinsed twice a day with slurries of the allocated paste. On day 5, plaque was scored by index, wet weight and optical density of extracted disclosing solution from the plaque (stain intensity). Results: All data showed the same pattern. There were highly significant subject and treatment effects but not period effects. The positive control was highly significantly more effective in plaque control than the test and minus active experimental formulations, which in turn were not significantly different from each other. There were strong and significant correlations between pairs of scoring methods particularly wet weight and stain intensity. Conclusion: The use of objective methods of plaque alongside conventional subjective indices provided convincing evidence for increased discriminatory power in a study comparing plaque inhibition by toothpastes. [source] Quality of life in mild to moderate acne: relationship to clinical severity and factors influencing change with treatmentJOURNAL OF THE EUROPEAN ACADEMY OF DERMATOLOGY & VENEREOLOGY, Issue 2 2007M Jones-Caballero Abstract Background, Because of its effects on quality of life, acne vulgaris is more than a merely physiological or cosmetic entity. Objectives, To describe the influence of mild to moderate acne on patients' quality of life, measured using Skindex-29, and to correlate changes in Skindex-29 scores with changes in objective and subjective indices in clinical severity after treatment with topical 4% erythromycin 0.2% zinc. Also, to evaluate efficacy and side-effects of the treatment. Methods, Observational, prospective study of 1878 patients cared for by 252 clinicians in Spain. Data included epidemiological information and responses to Skindex-29, a subjective change and objective severity index. Results, Baseline Skindex scale scores were worse in women, older patients, and those with more severe clinical disease. Skindex was sensitive to changes in objective severity but changes in Skindex scale scores were also related to other factors. Patients who reported their skin condition to be ,the same' or ,worse' at the end of the study had significantly worse baseline scores on the ,symptoms' and ,emotions' scales but ,functioning' scores were not worse than for those who reported their condition had improved. Conclusion, The effects of acne vulgaris on quality of life and changes in quality of life after treatment are not only explainable by objective severity of acne. Patients' and clinicians' judgements about acne severity are different. [source] Personal view: a potential novel treatment for fatigue complicating chronic liver disease , how should its efficacy be evaluated?ALIMENTARY PHARMACOLOGY & THERAPEUTICS, Issue 8 2006E. A. JONES Summary Profound fatigue is a clinically significant complication of chronic liver disease. A mechanism of fatigue in experimental animals and male athletes appears to be increased serotoninergic neurotransmission in the brain. Recently, attempts have been made to assess the efficacy of a serotonin antagonist, specifically the 5-HT3 receptor subtype antagonist, ondansetron, in ameliorating fatigue in patients with chronic liver disease. However, the results of a randomized controlled trial of ondansetron for fatigue in patients with primary biliary cirrhosis did not indicate that ondansetron was either effective or ineffective. The reasons for the uncertain outcome of the randomized controlled trial are not clear. One contributing factor may have been the use of subjective indices of fatigue as primary efficacy endpoints. There is a need to develop objective quantitative primary efficacy endpoints for use in trials of therapy for fatigue. Another contributing factor may relate to the conduct of a randomized controlled trial not invariably being the optimal approach to resolve a specific clinical issue, particularly when the application of statistical methods yields equivocal findings. When the results of a randomized controlled trial are indecisive, findings based on clinical judgement, medicine's most important asset, should be carefully evaluated. [source] The effect of acid suppression on sleep patterns and sleep-related gastro-oesophageal refluxALIMENTARY PHARMACOLOGY & THERAPEUTICS, Issue 2 2005W. C. Orr Summary Background :,Several studies have demonstrated that night-time gastro-oesophageal reflux affects sleep quality, and thereby impairs daytime functioning. Aim :,To determine whether treatment with a proton-pump inhibitor (rabeprazole) would improve both objective and subjective measures of sleep. Methods :,Individuals with complaints of significant gastro-oesophageal reflux disease were studied by polysomnography and 24-h pH monitoring on two separate nights. On one occasion, participants received 20 mg rabeprazole b.d., and on another they received placebo. Both study conditions were preceded by a week of treatment with either rabeprazole or placebo. The order of treatments was randomized. Results :,Rabeprazole significantly reduced overall acid reflux, but it did not significantly reduce night-time acid contact. Rabeprazole treatment significantly improved subjective indices of sleep quality. There were no significant differences on objective measures of sleep between placebo and rabeprazole treatment. Conclusions :,Consistent with other studies of pharmacological treatments for gastro-oesophageal reflux, subjective measures of sleep improved with heartburn medication but objective measures were not affected. [source] The Influence of Testosterone Combined with a PDE5-inhibitor on Cognitive, Affective, and Physiological Sexual Functioning in Women Suffering from Sexual DysfunctionTHE JOURNAL OF SEXUAL MEDICINE, Issue 3 2009Flip Van Der Made MD ABSTRACT Introduction., Women with female sexual dysfunction have a reduced sensitivity to sexual stimuli. Activation of central mechanisms may open a window for phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitors (PDE5) to be effective; as a consequence, the combination of testosterone and a PDE5 inhibitor will restore sexual function. Aim., To demonstrate that the combination of testosterone and vardenafil will increase the sensitivity for sexual stimuli and will improve the desire and arousal components of the sexual response. Methods., In a double-blind randomly assigned placebo-controlled crossover design, 28 women with desire and/or arousal disorder underwent four different drug treatments on four separate experimental days. A masked version of the emotional Stroop task with sexual and nonsexual words was used to measure sensitivity for sexual content. Neutral and erotic film fragments were used to determine genital,physiological and subjective reactions. Main Outcome Measures., A masked version of the emotional Stroop task, vaginal pulse amplitude. For subjective measurement, responses were collected continuously with a lever and two self-report measures were used. Results., In two subgroups, which were differentiated on the basis of their initial preconscious attentional bias for sexual cues, a different sexual response profile was found. In an initially low-attention group, preconscious attentional bias for sexual cues increased under the testosterone condition. In these women, the combination of testosterone and vardenafil caused an improvement in genital response and subjective indices of sexual functioning. In the group that had initially a high attention for sexual cues, preconscious attentional bias for sexual cues decreased under the condition of testosterone. In these women, the combination of testosterone and vardenafil had no effect on any of the indices of their sexual functioning. Conclusion., In women suffering from low sexual desire,associated with low attention for sexual cues,the combination of testosterone and vardenafil may be a promising new treatment. van der Made F, Bloemers J, Yassem WE, Kleiverda G, Everaerd W, van Ham D, Olivier B, Koppeschaar H, and Tuiten A. The influence of testosterone combined with a PDE5-inhibitor on cognitive, affective, and physiological sexual functioning in women suffering from sexual dysfunction. J Sex Med 2009;6:777,790. [source] | ||||||||||