Interferon-alpha treatment was associated with dramatic improvements in the condition of patients with corticosteroid-resistant asthma with and without Churg-Strauss syndrome. Potential mechanisms of action include the establishment of a correct Th1/Th2 balance and the induction of the anti-inflammatory IL-10 gene.

In coronary patients, emotional disturbances in the sense of increased anxiety and depression have often been documented. Over the last years, there has been a growing interest in the effects of exercise on emotion. This meta-analysis, based on 13 to 15 studies on psychological effects of exercise programmes in coronary patients, showed a positive effect size both for anxiety (dmean = .3137) and depression (dmean = .4569). Nevertheless, these effect sizes have to be evaluated as less than medium by convention and in comparison to the effect size of psychotherapeutic interventions. The effect sizes on anxiety or depression were not related to methodological characteristics of the included studies, like duration of the exercise programme, time chosen for follow-up, publication year or use of control groups. But there was a significantly negative correlation between sample size and effect size. This might indicate a potential publication bias in the sense that significant rather than non-significant results may be published on small subject samples. We concluded that exercise programmes should not be considered the only treatment for emotional disturbances in coronary patients, but that they can be psychologically beneficial as an additional treatment component.

No abstract

No abstract

In this experiment, we followed the issue whether nondirective suggestions have an effect on pain threshold, pain tolerance, and perception of pain intensity. 48 healthy subjects consented to take part. At intake into the study (t1), pain threshold and pain tolerance were assessed in all subjects using a pressure algometer. Perception of maximum pain intensity perception was rated on a scale of 0 to 25. Seven days later, the session was repeated (t2). Subjects were randomly assigned to one of two groups. One group received nondirective suggestions as pretreatment. Subjects listened to a tape of 20 min. which consisted of general information about pain theory. In this context, suggestions for coping with pain were placed. The other group served as a control and received no pretreatment. Analysis showed that pain tolerance was significantly prolonged in the group who received nondirective suggestions, while pain threshold and perception of maximum pain intensity did not differ across groups. This study demonstrates that nondirective suggestions are effective in prolonging pain tolerance. It can be stated that, beside information, cues on coping with pain may be helpful in clinical practice.