Role of panic appraisal in predicting the severity of panic and agoraphobic symptoms.

OBJECTIVE: The present study examined the contribution of panic appraisal (PA) dimensions to the prediction of panic and agoraphobic symptoms, above and beyond anxiety sensitivity (AS), among patients with panic disorder. PA dimensions consist of anticipated panic, perceived panic consequences, and panic coping efficacy. METHOD: Panic disorder patients (N = 84, 60.7% female, M = 38 years) completed self-report measures of panic and agoraphobic symptoms, three dimensions of PA, AS, anxiety, and depression symptoms. RESULTS: PA dimensions significantly contributed to the prediction of overall and all facets of panic and agoraphobic symptoms, as well as anxiety symptoms, but not depressive symptoms, above and beyond AS. Of the three PA dimensions, both anticipated panic and panic coping efficacy uniquely contributed to agoraphobic avoidance after controlling for AS and the other dimensions of PA. CONCLUSION: PA dimensions may emerge as an important predictor of panic and agoraphobic or anxiety symptoms.

The Relationship Between Depression, Perceived Social Support, and Suicide Risk in Natural Disaster Survivors.

Objective: Natural disasters often cause a wide array of post-traumatic psychological difficulties among survivors. Increased suicide risk was recently added to the list of lingering traumatic reactions that interfere with natural disaster survivors' adjustment and recovery. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between psychological symptoms, perceived social support, and the risk of suicide among natural disaster survivors in Korea. Methods: A total of 451 Korean national disaster survivors participated in this study. Their depressive and post-traumatic stress symptoms, perceived social support, and suicide risk were measured. The participants were classified into three groups (minimal, low, and high suicide risk), and the psychosocial factors of the three groups were compared. Results: The risk of suicide increased with the severity of depressive symptoms and decreased as social support (particularly family support) increased. Depressive symptoms were identified as the most potent predictor of suicidality. Conclusion: Several psychosocial factors, particularly depressive symptoms, may have an impact on suicide risk in natural disaster survivors. Therefore, it is essential to focus on their depressive symptoms when assessing and treating natural disaster survivors.

Banha-sasim-tang improves gastrointestinal function in loperamide-induced functional dyspepsia mouse model.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Banha-sasim-tang (BST; Hange-shashin-to in Kampo medicine; Banxia xiexin tang in traditional Chinese medicine) is a traditional Chinese harbal medicine that has been commonly used for gastrointestinal disorders. AIM OF THE STUDY: To investigate the pharmacological effects of BST, a standardized herbal drug, on main symptoms of functional dyspepsia including delayed gastric emptying, and underlying mechanisms of action in mouse model. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Balb/C mice were pretreated with BST (25, 50, 100 mg/kg, po) or mosapride (3 mg/kg, po) for 3 days, and then treated with loperamide (10 mg/kg, ip) after 19 h fasting. A solution of 0.05% phenol red (500 µL) or 5% charcoal diet (200 µL) was orally administered, followed by scarifying and assessment of gastric emptying or gastro-intestinal motility. C-kit (immunofluorescence), nNOS (western blot) and gastric contraction-related gene expression were examined in stomach tissue. RESULTS: The loperamide injection substantially delayed gastric emptying, while the BST pretreatment significantly attenuated this peristaltic dysfunction, as evidenced by the quantity of stomach-retained phenol red (p < 0.05 or 0.01) and stomach weight (p < 0.05 or 0.01). The BST pretreatment significantly tempered the loperamide-induced inactivation of c-kit and nNOS (p < 0.05 or 0.01) as well as the contraction-related gene expression, such as the 5HT4 receptor (5HT4R), anoctamin-1 (ANO1), ryanodine receptor 3 (RYR3) and smooth muscle myosin light chain kinase (smMLCK). The BST pretreatment also significantly attenuated the alterations in gastro-intestinal motility (p < 0.01). CONCLUSION: Our results are the first evidence of the prokinetic agent effects of Banha-sasim-tang in a loperamide-induced FD animal model. The underlying mechanisms of action may involve the modulation of peristalsis via activation of the interstitial cells of Cajal and the smooth muscle cells in the stomach.

Uwhangchungsimwon, A Standardized Herbal Drug, Exerts an Anti-Depressive Effect in a Social Isolation Stress-Induced Mouse Model.

INTRODUCTION: Uwhangchungsimwon (UCW) is one of the most representative standardized herbal drugs for the treatment of central nervous system diseases, including mood disorders, and has been used for over 600 years in Korea and China. In spite of the long clinical application of UCW, no experimental evidence for its use against depressive disorders exists. Here, we performed an animal study to investigate the anti-depressive effect of UCW and the underlying mechanisms. METHODS: A social isolation-induced depressive-like model was produced using C57BL/6J male mice by housing the mice individually for 31 days, and the mice underwent daily oral administration of distilled water, UCW (100, 200, 400 mg/kg) or fluoxetine (20 mg/kg) during the final 17 days. A tail suspension test (TST), forced swimming test (FST), and open field test (OFT) were used to explore the effects of UCW on depressive-like behaviors. 5-Hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) was measured in the dorsal raphe nuclei (DRN) using immunofluorescence. The serum corticosterone level was measured with its receptor and catecholamine, along with cAMP response element-binding protein (CREB) and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in the hippocampus. RESULTS: Social isolation stress effectively induced depressive-like behaviors, and UCW treatment significantly improved the symptoms of depressive-like behavior in the FST, TST, and OFT. The isolation stress-induced depletion of 5-HT was significantly ameliorated by UCW treatment. UCW also attenuated the activation of the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) and the elevated serum corticosterone level, as well as the hippocampal levels of dopamine and norepinephrine. Dexametasone-derived translocation of GR was inhibited by UCW treatment in PC12 cells and HT22 cells. In addition, alterations of tryptophan hydroxylase 2 (TPH2), BDNF, and CREB in the protein analyses were notably regulated by UCW treatment. CONCLUSIONS: These results provide animal-based evidence for the anti-depressive effect of UCW, and its underlying mechanisms may involve regulating the serotonergic system, the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, and neurotrophin.

Exploratory Factor Analysis of the Beck Anxiety Inventory and the Beck Depression Inventory-II in a Psychiatric Outpatient Population.

BACKGROUND: To further understand the relationship between anxiety and depression, this study examined the factor structure of the combined items from two validated measures for anxiety and depression. METHODS: The participants were 406 patients with mixed psychiatric diagnoses including anxiety and depressive disorders from a psychiatric outpatient unit at a university-affiliated medical center. Responses of the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI)-II, and Symptom Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90-R) were analyzed. We conducted an exploratory factor analysis of 42 items from the BAI and BDI-II. Correlational analyses were performed between subscale scores of the SCL-90-R and factors derived from the factor analysis. Scores of individual items of the BAI and BDI-II were also compared between groups of anxiety disorder (n = 185) and depressive disorder (n = 123). RESULTS: Exploratory factor analysis revealed the following five factors explaining 56.2% of the total variance: somatic anxiety (factor 1), cognitive depression (factor 2), somatic depression (factor 3), subjective anxiety (factor 4), and autonomic anxiety (factor 5). The depression group had significantly higher scores for 12 items on the BDI while the anxiety group demonstrated higher scores for six items on the BAI. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that anxiety and depressive symptoms as measured by the BAI and BDI-II can be empirically differentiated and that particularly items of the cognitive domain in depression and those of physical domain in anxiety are noteworthy.

Depressive symptoms following natural disaster in Korea: psychometric properties of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale.

BACKGROUND: Depressive symptoms have been recognized as one of the most frequent complaints among natural disaster survivors. One of the most frequently used self-report measures of depressive symptoms is the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). To our knowledge, no study has yet examined the factor structure, reliability, and validity of the CES-D in a sample of natural disaster survivors. Thus, the present study investigated the factor structure, reliability, and validity of a Korean language version of the CES-D (KCES-D) for natural disaster survivors. METHODS: We utilized two archived datasets collected independently for two different periods in 2008 in the same region of Korea (n = 192 for sample 1; n = 148 for sample 2). Participants were survivors of torrential rains in the mid-eastern region of the Korean peninsula. For analysis, Samples 1 and 2 were merged (N = 340). Confirmatory factor analysis was performed to evaluate the one-factor model, the four-factor model, and the bi-factor models, as well as the second-order factor model. Composite reliability was computed to examine the internal consistency of the KCES-D total and subscale scores. Finally, Pearson's r was computed to examine the relationship between the KCES-D and the trauma-related measures. RESULTS: The four-factor model provided the best fit to the data among the alternatives. The KCES-D showed adequate internal consistency, except for the 'interpersonal difficulties' subscale. Also regarding concurrent validity, weak to moderate positive correlations were observed between the KCES-D and the trauma-related measures. CONCLUSIONS: The results support the four-factor model and indicate that the KCES-D has adequate psychometric properties for natural disaster survivors. If these findings are further confirmed, the KCES-D can be used as a useful, rapid, and inexpensive screening tool for assessing depressive symptoms in natural disaster survivors.

Entropy and gravity concepts as new methodological indexes to investigate technological convergence: patent network-based approach.

The volatility and uncertainty in the process of technological developments are growing faster than ever due to rapid technological innovations. Such phenomena result in integration among disparate technology fields. At this point, it is a critical research issue to understand the different roles and the propensity of each element technology for technological convergence. In particular, the network-based approach provides a holistic view in terms of technological linkage structures. Furthermore, the development of new indicators based on network visualization can reveal the dynamic patterns among disparate technologies in the process of technological convergence and provide insights for future technological developments. This research attempts to analyze and discover the patterns of the international patent classification codes of the United States Patent and Trademark Office's patent data in printed electronics, which is a representative technology in the technological convergence process. To this end, we apply the physical idea as a new methodological approach to interpret technological convergence. More specifically, the concepts of entropy and gravity are applied to measure the activities among patent citations and the binding forces among heterogeneous technologies during technological convergence. By applying the entropy and gravity indexes, we could distinguish the characteristic role of each technology in printed electronics. At the technological convergence stage, each technology exhibits idiosyncratic dynamics which tend to decrease technological differences and heterogeneity. Furthermore, through nonlinear regression analysis, we have found the decreasing patterns of disparity over a given total period in the evolution of technological convergence. This research has discovered the specific role of each element technology field and has consequently identified the co-evolutionary patterns of technological convergence. These new findings on the evolutionary patterns of technological convergence provide some implications for engineering and technology foresight research, as well as for corporate strategy and technology policy.

The factor structure and concurrent validity of the Korean version of the Metacognitions Questionnaire 30 (K-MCQ-30).

OBJECTIVES: We aimed to examine the factor structure of a Korean version of the Metacognitions Questionnaire 30 (K-MCQ-30) and to further evaluate its concurrent validity. METHOD: Confirmatory factor analyses were conducted on the data sets from two independent samples of Korean college students (n = 662; n = 664). Correlation and multiple regression analyses were conducted on the cross-sectional data from another sample (n = 97). RESULTS: The 5-factor model of the K-MCQ-30 showed a good fit to the first sample after minor modification. The revised 5-factor model was replicated with the second sample. Five factors of the K-MCQ-30 had positive correlations with measures of emotional disorder symptoms and predicted each of the symptoms in different ways. CONCLUSIONS: These results provide general support for the 5-factor structure of the K-MCQ-30 and its good concurrent validity in nonclinical samples.

Mechanism of change in cognitive-behavioral treatment of panic disorder: evidence for the fear of fear mediational hypothesis.

Numerous clinical trials have demonstrated the efficacy of cognitive-behavioral treatment (CBT) for panic disorder. However, studies investigating the mechanisms responsible for improvement with CBT are lacking. The authors used regression analyses outlined by R. M. Baron and D. A. Kenny (1986) to test whether a reduction in fear of fear (FOF) underlies improvement resulting from CBT. Pre- and posttreatment measures were collected from 90 CBT-treated patients and 40 wait-list control participants. Overall, treatment accounted for 31% of the variance in symptom reduction. The potency of FOF as a mediator varied as a function of symptom facet, as full mediation was observed for the change in global disability, whereas the effects of CBT on agoraphobia, anxiety, and panic frequency were partially accounted for by reductions in FOF. Clinical implications and future research directions are discussed.

The Speech Anxiety Thoughts Inventory: scale development and preliminary psychometric data.

Cognitions have been known to play a central role in the development, maintenance, and treatment of speech anxiety. However, few instruments are currently available to assess cognitive contents associated with speech anxiety. This report describes three studies examining the psychometric characteristics of a revised English version of the Speech Anxiety Thoughts Inventory (SATI)-an instrument measuring maladaptive cognitions associated with speech anxiety. In Study 1, factor analyses of the SATI revealed a two-factor solution-"prediction of poor performance" and "fear of negative evaluation by audience", respectively. In Study 2, the two-factor structure was replicated. In addition, results revealed stability over a four-week period, high internal consistency, and good convergent and discriminant validity. In Study 3, the scale demonstrated sensitivity to change following brief exposure-based treatments. These findings suggest that the SATI is a highly reliable, valid measure to assess cognitive features of speech anxiety.