Positive Affect and Health

ABSTRACT— Negative affective styles such as anxiety, depression, and hostility have long been accepted as predictors of increased risk for illness and mortality. In contrast, positive affective styles have been relatively ignored in the health literature. Here we highlight consistent patterns of research associating trait positive affect (PA) and physical health. The evidence we review suggests an association of trait PA and lower morbidity and decreased symptoms and pain. PA is also associated with increased longevity among community-dwelling elderly. The association of PA and survival among those with serious illness is less clear and suggests the possibility that PA may be harmful in some situations. We conclude by raising conceptual and methodological reservations about this literature and suggesting directions for future research.     

Forever is Always Finite: Reflections on Radical Life Extension

This essay reflects on the Radical Life Extension movement from six critical perspectives: RLE (1) ignores the benefits of finitude; (2) perpetuates the denial of death by seeking to vanquish it; (3) disregards the paradoxical nature of death as problem and mystery; (4) turns death and the Bronze Dream into idols; (5) overlooks a plethora of ethical dilemmas; and (6) fails to ask the central life question: “how well can we live?.” RLE is not only problematic: it is redundant. Being kept in the love of God forever is a different kind of ‘radical life extension’ that includes finitude and death.     

Cognitive impairment and the 10-year survival probability of a normal 62-year-old population

The predictive value of cognitive impairment together with demographic and health factors on long-term survival was evaluated. The population sample comprised 389 subjects, all 62 years old. Cognitive performances were measured using verbal, visuomotor and memory tests. Cognitive impairment was determined by comparing performances with norms derived from healthy controls. Ten years after testing, the probability of survival was 89% for the cognitively preserved subjects, 80% for those with mild impairment, and 71% for those with moderate impairment (p = 0.009). Relative risk (RR) for shortened survival was 1.7 (95% CI 0.9-3.2) for the mildly, and 2.6 (95% CI 1.4-4.8) for the moderately impaired. Perceived health problems were, as expected, related to reduced survival (p < 0.001, RR 3.6, 95% CI 2.1-6.0), and there was an association between cognitive impairment and impaired perceived health (p = 0.040). Multivariate analyses with Cox's regression models showed that cognitive impairment, in particular, impaired episodic memory had an association with survival, in addition to the expected effects. Thus, memory impairment may reflect very early signs of underlying disease, and so the findings provide predictive validity for the cognitive methods used.     

Cognitive Neuroscience, Temporal Ordering, and the Human Spirit

Understanding purpose and intent requires attention to our experience of time. Cognitive neuroscientific research into the functional and neural substrates of higher cognitive functions have direct bearing on the experience of temporal ordering. Consciousness, located within the short span of working memory, is made cognitively possible and evolutionarily valuable by biological constraints in time. These constraints, including our longevity, make thought about more extended events both possible and useful. Such cognitive processes, rooted in the neurophysiology of cortical function, are a sine qua non for the construction of meaning, relationship, morality, and purposes that may extend beyond our mortality. Research in the cognitive neurosciences is overviewed, and implications are discussed for questions of mortality, design and intention, the reconstruction of meaning, and the experience of eternity.     

Personality,threat and affective responses to cultural diversity

The present study tried to reconcile assumptions from Terror Management Theory that individual differences in openness to diversity are enhanced by existential threat with own recent findings suggesting that individual differences are diminished by threat. A model was supported assuming that it is the nature of the threat that determines which pattern will hold. We predicted that for stress‐related but not for social traits, threat enhances individual differences in reactions to diversity. Students were confronted with a videotaped meeting of a homogeneous versus diverse work group. Threat was induced using a Terror Management Intervention. Indeed, whereas for Emotional Stability individual differ ences in responses to diversity were restricted to conditions of threat, for Social Initiative, individual differences solely occurred under normal circumstances. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Recommendations from Multi-disciplinary Focus Groups on Cascade Testing and Genetic Counseling for Fragile X-associated Disorders

The purpose of this paper is to report the outcome of a collaborative project between the Fragile X Research and Treatment Center at the Medical Investigation of Neurodevelopmental Disorders (M.I.N.D.) Institute at the University of California at Davis, the National Fragile X Foundation (NFXF), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The objective of this collaboration was to develop and disseminate protocols for genetic counseling and cascade testing for the multiple disorders associated with the fragile X mental retardation 1 (FMR1) mutation. Over the last several years, there has been increasing insight into the phenotypic range associated with both the premutation and the full mutation of the FMR1 gene. To help develop recommendations related to screening for fragile X-associated disorders, four, two day advisory focus group meetings were conducted, each with a different theme. The four themes were: (1) fragile X-associated tremor/ataxia syndrome (FXTAS); (2) premature ovarian failure (POF) and reproductive endocrinology; (3) psychiatric, behavioral and psychological issues; and (4) population screening and related ethical issues.     

Psychological Sequelae in Parents of Extreme Low and Very Low Birth Weight Infants

The current study evaluated the psychological sequelae in 66 parents of extreme low and very low birth weight infants (mean weight of 842 g). Parents who had given birth within a 3-year period prior to the study were chosen from the archives of a neonatal ward and surveyed regarding posttraumatic stress, coping strategies, and social support. Thirty-five percent of the parents reported that their child had a handicap. Twenty percent of the women met the criteria of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) at the time of the study, and an additional 10% met the criteria for a subclinical PTSD diagnosis. Female gender, handicap of the child, general distress during hospitalization, distressing contact with hospital staff, experienced distress at homecoming, and emotional coping, explained 72% of the degree of traumatization. Psychological support and intervention is recommended during the hospital stay of a premature infant who has a handicap and after the homecoming to prevent the development of chronic PTSD and reduce the associated distress.     

早期气管切开对非肺部疾病长期机械通气患者的影响

为了评价早期气管切开对非肺部疾病长期机械通气患者的影响,我们回顾性分析158例非肺部疾病长期机械通气患者,根据气管切开时间的早晚（气管插管7天为界）分为早期气管切开组（n=88）和延迟气管切开组（n=70）。比较两组患者的抗生素使用时间、镇静剂和镇痛剂用量、病死率、医院获得性肺炎发生率等。结果显示早期气管切开可以明显缩短患者机械通气时间和ICU住院时间,降低抗生素使用天数、减少镇痛剂的用量,降低总住院费用。所以,非肺部疾病长期机械通气患者可以从早期气管切开中获益。     

Sense of home buffers threats to the self

We hypothesised that sense of home serves as a buffer against self‐threat. In three experiments, we induced sense of home (vs. control) and assessed its buffering function to threat. Sense of home augmented openness to stereotype threat information (Experiment 1), increased performance on a spatial rotation ability test after stereotype threat (Experiment 2), and reduced the desire for high‐status products following mortality salience (Experiment 3). This “proof of concept” research establishes the buffering potential of sense of home and raises theoretical and practical implications.     

Impact of skin-to-skin contact on the autonomic nervous system in the preterm infant and his mother

Before, during and after mother-newborn skin-to-skin contact (SSC), parasympathetic activity was evaluated by heart rate variability (HRV) analysis. SSC had a favorable impact on maternal and premature infant parasympathetic activities with a more pronounced response for neonates when the basal HRV values were lower, without modifications of EDIN scores, temperatures or oxygen saturation.