Search

Background: This study on a breast cancer survivor investigated how episodic practice of various complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) techniques affected the dynamics of emotional states and urinary neopterin—an inflammation marker. Methods: The 49-year-old female patient (diagnosis: ductal breast carcinoma 5 years before study start, suffering from chronic fatigue and depression) collected her entire urine in 12-hour intervals (from about 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and from about 8 p.m. to 8 a.m.) for 28 days. The resulting 55 consecutive urine samples were analyzed for neopterin and creatinine levels using HPLC. Also in 12-hour intervals, the patient filled out questionnaires on emotional states and everyday routine, including CAM practice. Weekly, she was interviewed to identify emotionally meaningful everyday incidents, including use of CAM techniques. Time series analysis consisted of ARIMA modeling and cross-correlational analyses. Results: Qualitative evaluation revealed that, with the exception of Tai Chi, all CAM techniques, that is, Jin Shin Jyutsu, music, physiotherapy and energy healing, were experienced as positive. Cross-correlational analyses showed that practice of such CAM techniques was followed first by significant ( P Conclusion: Cyclic psychophysiological response patterns following CAM practice were attributable to biopsychosocial feedback mechanisms involving personally meaningful experiences. As lower neopterin levels following CAM point to a health-promoting effect, the patient of this study may have actively contributed to her healing process through episodic CAM practice.

In contrast to the stereotypical overuse of /v/ in English by German speakers, as in ve vill vait (‘we will wait’), the reverse pattern, wisiting Wienna (‘visiting Vienna’), is the more commonly encountered feature among younger, more experienced and more proficient speakers of English. In simple terms, /w/ for /v/ usage (henceforth: w for v) can be understood as the result of overgeneralization and hypercorrection. That is, the ‘English sound’ /w/ is successfully acquired but used beyond its standard scope, replacing /v/ in syllable-initial position. Thus, the contrast in pairs such as vary/wary, vine/wine and vicar/wicker is neutralized, with both and realized as /w/. Instances of overgeneralization and hypercorrection are, unsurprisingly, also found in other areas of German speakers' English. Most such instances tend to be dynamic and subject to change as proficiency increases. W for v, however, is a firmly established feature that, in light of its frequency and distribution, has arguably attained ‘preferred’ sociolinguistic status, i.e. as a marker of (assumed) English competence.

This study on a patient with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) investigated the impact of positive emotionally pleasing incidents on hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and cellular immune system activity under complex everyday conditions. A 52 year-old woman collected her entire urine for 56 days in 12-h intervals for the determination of cortisol and neopterin, a cellular immune parameter. Psychological variables were based on daily questionnaires and weekly interviews. Time series analysis consisted of ARIMA modeling and cross-correlational analysis. Positive everyday incidents were associated with three distinct emotional reactions: short-term positive reactions, anticipatory negative reactions, and long-term negative reactions. Short-term positive reactions were associated with a decrease in urine cortisol after 36 h and an increase after a total of 48 h, while urine neopterin increased 24 h after the incidents and decreased after a total of 84 h. Anticipatory negative reactions were associated with an initial increase in urine cortisol 24 h before the incident occurred and with a subsequent decrease a total of 12 h following the incident. Long-term negative reactions were associated with an ultimate increase in urine neopterin 144 h after the incidents. These findings empirically demonstrate that one specific category of positive everyday incidents can be associated with multiple emotional reactions that differ in valence (positive/negative) and duration (short-term/long-term), and also depend on whether an incident was expected (anticipated/not anticipated). This calls for a careful categorization of positive incidents when testing stress system functioning under complex everyday life conditions. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic autoimmune disease characterized by flare-ups, the cause of which is unknown. According to new stress concepts, two "integrative single-case studies" have been conducted in order to gather evidence about whether daily stressful incidents and associated emotions interfere with the dynamics of urine cortisol and urine neopterin in SLE. Patients under study collected their urine at home, for a period of at least 50 days, on a daily basis, divided into day and night urine. Additionally, patients filled out questionnaires twice a day to determine their emotional state, life style and disease activity. Each week, patients were examined clinically and interviewed to identify the past week's stressors using the Incidents and Hassles Inventory (IHI, Brown and Harris). Statistical analysis of the serial data was performed using time-series analysis according to Box and Jenkins. In both "integrative single-case studies" we were able to demonstrate that stressful incidents predicted an increase in urine neopterin 36 hours (Case 1) to 60 hours (Case 2) later (p < 0.05). Additionally, in Case 1 the neopterin levels were highly associated with stress resulting from the weekly examinations and interviews. Furthermore, in Case 2 it turned out that depending on their predictability stressful incidents were preceded by a decrease in urine cortisol 12 hours earlier or were followed by a decrease in urine cortisol 36 hours later. And finally, emotional irritation was highly correlated with the course of urine-neopterin. In Case 2 irritation led to an increase in urine neopterin 84 hours later. There were no clinical signs of SLE during both prospective studies. In conclusion, our results validate the idea of "integrative single-case studies" as a new "bio-psycho-social" approach in psychoneuroimmunology. Further studies with SLE patients as well as with healthy probands will be necessary in order to both strengthen and generalize these results.

This book brings together a variety of approaches to English corpus linguistics and shows how corpus methodologies can contribute to the linking of diachronic and synchronic studies. The articles in this volume investigate historical changes in the English language as well as specific aspects of Middle and Modern English and, moreover, of English dialects. The contributions also discuss the development of English corpus linguistics generally and its potential in the future. Special focus is given to the continuity between Middle and Modern English much in line with the linking in previous studies of Middle English and Old English under the generic term medievalism. This volume highlights the continual development of English from the medieval to modern period.

This study investigated the complex biochemical responses to personally meaningful everyday stressors in a patient with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). For this purpose, a 52 year-old woman with SLE collected her entire urine for 56 days on a 12-h basis for the determination of cortisol as well as neopterin, a cellular immune parameter. Additionally, using questionnaires, daily notes and interviews, extensive psychosocial and psychological time-series data were collected every 12 h. Cross-correlational analyses of the resulting time-series revealed that stressful incidents were associated with cyclic fluctuations in both urine cortisol and urine neopterin. Specifically, whenever the patient anticipated a moderately stressful incident, urine cortisol initially increased 24 h before the incident and then decreased 12 h before the incident. Moderate stressors not anticipated by the patient were associated with an initial increase 24 h following the incident and then with a decrease after a total of 36 h. Moreover, stressors having to do with the patient's extramarital relationship were followed initially by a decrease in urine neopterin after 36 h and then by an increase after a total of 60 h. Our findings indicate that when investigating the relationship between psychosocial stressors and biochemical activity in SLE, appropriate consideration of the data's dynamic nature may be necessary to avoid flawed conclusions.

OBJECTIVE: Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic autoimmune disease characterized by flare-ups, the causes of which are not known. In accordance with new concepts in stress research, this study investigated whether daily psychosocial stressors interfere with immunological processes in SLE. Because such processes are unique to each individual, single-case design using time-series analysis (Box and Jenkins) was applied. METHODS: A 40-year-old woman with SLE (last flare-up September 1995) was interviewed initially to determine major life events and difficulties (using the Life Events and Difficulties Schedule) in the previous 2 years. She was then observed for 63 days. Urine neopterin, an immunological parameter demonstrated to parallel disease activity in SLE patients, was measured in daily overnight urine. Daily incidents were identified weekly by the Incidents and Hassles Inventory and independently rated. Intervening factors, including infections, medication, and lifestyle, were controlled. RESULTS: Retrospectively, data obtained from the Life Events and Difficulties Schedule indicated that major life events and difficulties had preceded the patient's last flare-up in 1995. Although there were no clinical signs of SLE during this prospective study of 63 days, cross-correlational analyses revealed that "moderately" stressful incidents associated with higher levels of emotional irritation (lag 0: +0.271, p < .05) predicted an increase in urine neopterin the following day (lag 1: +0.441, p < .05). Moreover, a 7-day cyclicity in neopterin levels that corresponded to the weekly examinations and interviews was found. CONCLUSIONS: This study showed a causal relationship between psychosocial stressors and urine neopterin concentrations that may be related to SLE disease activity. Furthermore, the workability of an integrative approach using single-case design and time-series analysis in psychoneuroimmunology was demonstrated for the first time.