The concept of placebo

This paper attempts to define the concept of placebo as it is used in the clinical context The author claims that X is a placebo if and only if X has such a property d_p, that whenever in a therapeutic situation T a stimulus S appears, then in attending conditions A, it will cause a beneficial reaction R in the patient. Formally, the same structure may be used to define any pharmacologically active drug. The main difference between the drug and a placebo is in the range of possible substitutions for X and the property d. For the active drug there is only one possible substitution for X and property d and it can be scientifically explained why, and how the drug works. In the case of a placebo a set of possible substitutions for X and d is open, and so far it is impossible to offer any scientifically valid explanation of the action mechanism of placebo.     

Wynikanie semantyczne a wynikanie formalne

Allatum est die 3 Martii 1959     

Sensation-seeking and preference for emotional visual stimuli

The Zuckerman Sensation-seeking Scale (SSS) was administered to 190 men and 197 women, who were also asked to choose 5 pictures out of a group of 21. Seven of these pictures had been rated as emotionally positive, 7 as emotionally neutral and 7 as emotionally negative. Choices of the high and low sensation-seeking groups were compared, and it was found that the high sensation-seekers had a stronger preference for the hegative stimuli than the lows, and the low sensation-seekers had a stronger preference for the positive stimuli than the highs. The results are discussed in terms of optimum level of arousal.     

Neuroticism and marital satisfaction

Thirty happily married and thirty unhappily married couples were examined by means of the MPI questionnaire to test the hypothesis that emotional instability impaired satisfaction in marriage. Unhappily married partners were very significantly higher on neuroticism than happily married partners, but there were no differences in extraversion/introversion. The data suggest that the high neuroticism of the unhappily married partners antedates their marriage.     

Psychoticism and marital satisfaction

The author has tested the hypothesis that psychoticism, as described in Eysenck's theory of personality, is related to marriage outcome. Thirty happy and 30 unhappy couples answered the Eysencks' EPQ questionnaire. The unhappy husbands and unhappy wives scored significantly higher on the P scale than their happy counterparts respectively. The results suggest that psychoticism (like neuroticism) may impair the marriage satisfaction. In addition, happily married spouses show greater similarity with respect to personality than do unhappily married spouses. Thus the results support the likeness and go counter to the complementaries theories of marital satisfaction.     

NSGC Practice Guideline: Prenatal Screening and Diagnostic Testing Options for Chromosome Aneuploidy

The BUN and FASTER studies, two prospective multicenter trials in the United States, validated the accuracy and detection rates of first and second trimester screening previously reported abroad. These studies, coupled with the 2007 release of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) Practice Bulletin that endorsed first trimester screening as an alternative to traditional second trimester multiple marker screening, led to an explosion of screening options available to pregnant women. ACOG also recommended that invasive diagnostic testing for chromosome aneuploidy be made available to all women regardless of maternal age. More recently, another option known as Non-invasive Prenatal Testing (NIPT) became available to screen for chromosome aneuploidy. While screening and testing options may be limited due to a variety of factors, healthcare providers need to be aware of the options in their area in order to provide their patients with accurate and reliable information. If not presented clearly, patients may feel overwhelmed at the number of choices available. The following guideline includes recommendations for healthcare providers regarding which screening or diagnostic test should be offered based on availability, insurance coverage, and timing of a patient’s entry into prenatal care, as well as a triage assessment so that a general process can be adapted to unique situations.