Emotional Aspects Of Life Research Articles

Micturition problems in relation to quality of life in men with prostate cancer or benign prostatic hyperplasia: comparison with men from the general population.

The aim of the study was to investigate men with prostate cancer and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) in comparison with men from the general population in aspects of presence and frequency of micturition problems in remembrance of prior to treatment and currently. Further, the aim was to investigate the impact of micturition problems on quality of life and the association with micturition problems, and quality of life and sense of coherence (SOC). The samples consisted of 155 men with prostate cancer, 131 with BPH, and 129 from the general population. Micturition problems were assessed with study-specific questions, modified International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS), quality of life questionnare (QLQ C-30), and SOC questionnaires. Parametric and nonparametric statistics were applied. Most troublesome urinary problems were leakage, feelings of discomfort, and disrupted urinary function and frequency. Men with urological diagnosis had more micturition problems, fatigue, and sleeping difficulties than men from the general population, but the cancer diagnosis did not add to the problems. Role and social functioning (prostate cancer), emotional functioning (BPH), and grade of fatigue (general population) showed itself vital for overall quality of life. Thus, help in solving issues of micturition problems, fatigue, and sleeping disturbances may contribute to maintenance of role, social, and emotional aspects of life.

Onychomycosis. Treatment, quality of life, and economic issues.

Onychomycosis is a public health concern because of its high worldwide incidence and prevalence, and its potential for spread of fungal elements to others, as well as complications such as cellulitis, bacterial infection, pain, and extensive dermatophytic infections. The incidence of onychomycosis has been increasing, particularly in individuals over 60 years of age, patients with HIV infection, and patients with diabetes mellitus. Onychomycosis may impact upon physical, functional, psychosocial, and emotional aspects of life. Difficulty walking, wearing shoes, and embarrassment are common complaints. Quantification of such quality-of-life changes are significant to clinical practice in that many factors can affect overall patient health. In light of the potential clinical implications on physical and mental health, onychomycosis should be considered a medical condition that deserves rigorous clinical management. Onychomycosis can be treated effectively and with comparative safety with the new generation of oral antifungal agents (itraconazole, fluconazole and terbinafine). Significantly improved pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic profiles permit markedly reduced duration of administration, individual drug exposure, and ultimately enhanced patient compliance and satisfaction with therapy. In addition, a number of pharmacoeconomic studies have documented the cost effectiveness of these newer agents compared with both traditional pharmacologic treatment and topical therapies. The currency figures quoted are 1997 values. With regard to continuous oral antifungal regimens, terbinafine therapy has been found to be most cost effective in the treatment of toenail onychomycosis, with a drug acquisition cost of $US522.50. However, improved safety, tolerability, efficacy and cost effectiveness have been documented with itraconazole intermittent, pulse regimens. With itraconazole pulse therapy, the drug acquisition cost decreases to $US488.90. Additionally, the total cost of medical management is less for itraconazole therapy compared with that of terbinafine ($US261.00 vs $US306.00). Because sensitivity analyses for itraconazole and terbinafine have been found to be somewhat comparable in terms of mycological cure, clinical response, and relapse rates, other variables such as safety and efficacy profiles, and patient attitudes and expectations toward therapy need to be considered when formulating an onychomycosis pharmacologic treatment plan. The drug aquisition cost of fluconazole given as a 300 mg dose once weekly for 6 months is $US562.76 and given as a 150 mg dose once weekly (for 6 months) $US281.38.

Narratives of the children left behind: Home and identity in globalised Caribbean families

The long history of population movements in the Caribbean has led to the establishment of globalised families in which diffuse networks of relationships tie migrants and the relatives they leave behind into coherent social fields. Migration studies have documented that migrants often leave children behind with relatives, and that these children constitute pivotal points in the social fields. Yet there has been little focus on the children who grow up in these global family networks. This article examines four life stories related by young people from the Leeward Island of Nevis who were left behind by their migrant parents to live with their grandparents when they were small children. The aim of the analysis is to elucidate how children experience growing up in a home environment which is based on global relations as far as the most fundamental social, economic and emotional aspects of life are concerned. This study may also lead to a broader understanding of the cultural values associated with a good family life among people for whom population mobility and socioeconomic connectivity on a global scale have long constituted a basic framework of existence.

Shostakovich's Tenth Symphony and The Musical Expression of Cognitively Complex Emotions

In his influential book, Vom Musikalisch-Schinen, Eduard Hanslick argued that it is impossible to represent the emotions in music because music cannot represent the "conceptions" or cognitive content which help to define the emotions. "The feeling of hope cannot be separated from the representation of a future happy state which we compare with the present; ... Love cannot be thought without the representation of a beloved person, without desire and striving after felicity, glorification and possession of a particular object."' Yet music cannot represent these ideas or objects; all it can do is to represent the "dynamic" aspects of emotional life. Hanslick's words have echoed down the years, influencing both philosophers of music and music theorists and critics. Among philosophers, Susanne Langer repeats almost verbatim Hanslick's strictures on emotional expression in music, claiming that music can represent only the dynamic aspects of emotional life, its patterns of motion and rest, tension and relaxation. On her view, music "reveals the rationale of feelings, the rhythm and pattern of their rise and decline and intertwining, to our minds ..."2 Unlike Langer, Peter Kivy believes that music can express particular emotions. In The Corded Shell he argues that some musical phrases mimic human gestures which are expressive of a particular state of human feeling, and other musical features are expressive of particular feelings by virtue of some conventional association. Music can sound like a person loudly lamenting or joyfully jumping; or it can sound sad just because music in a low register and the minor key conventionally signifies sadness.3 Significantly, however, virtually all the musical examples of expressive music which Kivy cites are confined to a very limited set of feelings, mostly joy, sadness, and restlessness. The vast majority are also accompanied by words, which, of course, help to establish expressiveness. In a more recent book on music, Music Alone, which deals with "pure" or "absolute" music, Kivy continues to maintain that music can express particular emotions, but he echoes Hanslick in arguing that the emotions which music can express are only those which need not be directed toward any kind of object. Music can be sad or joyful or restless without being sad, joyful, or restless about anything in particular.4 This requirement would seem to rule out the possibility that music can express cognitively complex emotions. Like Hanslick, Kivy seems to think that it simply cannot be done. Tendencies in twentieth-century music and music theory have helped to establish the notion that music cannot express complex human emotions. In the second quarter of the century, for example, Igor Stravinsky was at the forefront of a reaction against romantic music and musical aesthetics, claiming that "music is, by its very nature, essentially powerless to express anything at all,"5 while cultivating a more reticent neoclassical style. Somewhat later, the serialists and advocates of aleatoric music began to experiment with mathematical procedures that increased the temptation to think of music in the medieval way, as belonging with arithmetic, geometry, and astronomy in the quadrivium. More recently, the dominant theoretical systems, including Schenkerian theory and set theory, have tended to concentrate on what they take to be music's internal relationships, emphasizing rigidly recursive structural hierarchies and quasi-mathematical manipulations and terminology, respectively. In the last decade, however, a number of

Putting Emotion in Context: Its Place Within Individual and Social Narratives

Abstract The articles presented in this special issue have located emotional responses within more complex narratives dictated by both individual histories and the larger sociocultural context. A major thesis running through these articles is that the study of emotion as a physiological response in the laboratory loses sight of the meanings expressed by emotions in interpersonal and social trans-actions. A deeper understanding of anger, love, and even boredom can be reached by looking at how these aspects of emotional life are expressed in narrative scenarios that involve the adopting of roles, the sharing of expecta-tions, and the stipulation of particular actions. Finally, contextual perspectives challenge researchers to scrutinize and bring to light the narrative expectations their own studies create for the participants involved. (Personality Psychology)

The relationship between comprehensive functional assessment and optimal pharmacotherapy in the older patient.

Older patients hospitalized for treatment of an acute medical illness will have improved outcomes when approached in a comprehensive fashion focusing on the physical, social, and emotional aspects of life. When used by an interdisciplinary team, comprehensive functional assessment can address social, biomedical, nutrition, continence, mobility, pharmacotherapy, and psychological issues to enhance patient care. Although the appropriate use of medications is often cited as an important part of medical care for the older person, it has not been defined for this group of patients. This article outlines steps pharmacists can take to achieve optimal pharmacotherapy in older patients. Prior to attending a team conference, the pharmacist should interview the patient and review the chart. During the team conference, a comprehensive patient database will be generated that allows medications to be linked to diagnoses. To aid in selecting appropriate medications, the potential for drug-induced functional impairment of mobility, continence, and mental state is reviewed. Recommendations for therapy and establishment of therapeutic endpoints will conclude the patient conference. The pharmacist can contribute much in the process of comprehensive functional assessment and to the goal of achieving optimal pharmacotherapy in older patients.