Biopsychosocial Assessment of Pain with Thermal Imaging of Emotional Facial Expression in Breast Cancer Survivors

Comparison of infrared thermography of the face between mouth-breathing and nasal-breathing children

PURPOSE

To compare the temperature of thermoanatomic points and areas of the upper and lower lips between mouth-breathing and nasal-breathing children.

METHODS

This cross-sectional observational study had a sample of 30 nasal-breathing and 30 mouth-breathing children aged 4 to 11 years. One front-view, one left-view, and one right-view infrared thermogram of the face were acquired from each participant. A total of 14 thermoanatomic points plus the upper lip and lower lip areas were marked on the front-view thermograms, while on the side-view thermograms, six thermoanatomic points were marked. The research also calculated the difference between the temperature of the upper and lower lip areas (∆T area) and between the temperature of the points on the upper and lower lips (∆T points). The normalized mean temperatures of points and areas and temperature differences were compared between groups with the t-test and Mann-Whitney test.

RESULTS

The temperature of the thermoanatomic points closest to the lip (nasolabial, Labial Commissure, and lower labial), areas of the lips, and external acoustic meatus was lower in mouth breathers than in nasal breathers, which did not happen for most other points. ∆T area and ∆T points were not different between the groups.

CONCLUSION

Thermography is a promising complementary diagnostic tool, since showed mouth-breathing children had lower temperatures in the region of the lips than nasal breathers.

The Assessment of Social Isolation and Loneliness in Cancer Patients and Survivors in the Pre-COVID-19 Period: A Systematic Review

BACKGROUND

In the context of cancer research, identifying social isolation and loneliness is a priority given how both exacerbate poor outcomes and lead to increased mortality in oncological populations. The purpose of this systematic review is to identify all quantitative instruments that have been used to assess either social isolation or loneliness in patients previously or currently diagnosed with cancer in the pre-COVID-19 period.

METHOD

PubMed (Web), Scopus, CINAHL, and PsycINFO were searched on August 22, 2019. All databases were searched from inception with no filters applied. The search strategies included terms that captured the following concepts: instruments/tools, social isolation or loneliness, and cancer.

RESULTS

A total of 289 titles/abstracts were returned. Upon review, 114 titles/abstracts were deemed to be potentially eligible and the full text was retrieved. Of the 114 full texts, 69 articles met inclusion criteria and comprised the final sample. Publications span years 1980 through 2019, with the majority (71%) occurring in the last decade prior to this review, between 2009 and 2019. Average age of the study samples, with few exceptions, was often over 50 years old. Many studies used all-female samples, while only one study used an all-male sample. The most common cancer diagnosis of participants was breast cancer. The most common measure was the UCLA Loneliness Scale, used in 22 studies. Most measures we identified were used only once, and 11 measures were used 2-3 times. When the information was given, response ranges were always Likert-type scales most often ranging from 1-4 or 1-5, and sometimes from 1-10 possible response options. In terms of psychometrics, test-retest reliability and validity were rarely reported; by contrast, internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha) was reported more than half of the time (60.9%).

CONCLUSION

When selecting a measure to assess loneliness in cancer populations, the UCLA Loneliness Scale is both psychometrically strong and versatile across patients with different cancers, ages, and racial backgrounds. When selecting a measure to assess social isolation in cancer populations, both the PROMIS-SF V 2.0 social isolation and the Berkman-Syme Network Index are brief and have been used in patients with non-White racial backgrounds.

Effects of a Single Session of Mindfulness and Compassion on Skin Temperature in Breast Cancer Survivors

Previous studies have suggested that mindfulness programs can be useful, in a significant sector of the population, to reduce stress when practiced for at least 8 weeks. The objective of the present investigation was to explore the effect of a single session of mindfulness practice in reducing stress in female cancer survivors. Two repeated measures studies were applied; in the first one, it was performed individually, while in the second one, it was performed in a group. Psychosocial measures were administered, and skin temperature was recorded as a marker of autonomic nervous activity. The results indicate that only when the mindfulness exercise was presented did the skin temperature increase (p < 0.05), with a large effect size (d > 0.8) during compassion, suggesting sympathetic decline. Furthermore, the psychosocial functioning of the group of female cancer survivors was like that of the non-clinical population. The data are discussed in the context of Polyvagal Theory, a theoretical model of biopsychosocial functioning, and evidence is provided on the effect of mindfulness and compassion on reducing stress and inducing positive affect in female cancer survivors.

Psychophysiological Assessment of Children with Cerebral Palsy during Robotic-Assisted Gait Training through Infrared Imaging

Cerebral palsy (CP) is a non-progressive neurologic pathology representing a leading cause of spasticity and concerning gait impairments in children. Robotic-assisted gait training (RAGT) is widely employed to treat this pathology to improve children's gait pattern. Importantly, the effectiveness of the therapy is strictly related to the engagement of the patient in the rehabilitation process, which depends on his/her psychophysiological state. The aim of the study is to evaluate the psychophysiological condition of children with CP during RAGT through infrared thermography (IRT), which was acquired during three sessions in one month. A repeated measure ANOVA was performed (i.e., mean value, standard deviation, and sample entropy) extracted from the temperature time course collected over the nose and corrugator, which are known to be indicative of the psychophysiological state of the individual. Concerning the corrugator, significant differences were found for the sample entropy (F (1.477, 5.907) = 6.888; p = 0.033) and for the mean value (F (1.425, 5.7) = 5.88; p = 0.047). Regarding the nose tip, the sample entropy showed significant differences (F (1.134, 4.536) = 11.5; p = 0.041). The findings from this study suggests that this approach can be used to evaluate in a contactless manner the psychophysiological condition of the children with CP during RAGT, allowing to monitor their engagement to the therapy, increasing the benefits of the treatment.

Revista Digital Internacional de Psicología y Ciencia Social | Volumen 5 | Número 1 | Enero-Junio 2019 | Los campos transdisciplinares de la psicología

Hablar de psicología y ciencia social es hablar de un amplio campo de aplicaciones de técnicasy conocimientos, así como el uso de distintas habilidades y recursos con un objetivo en común: ampliar el campo de conocimiento de los individuos y de la sociedad.Si bien se ha discutido mucho acerca de los términos que se refieren a este tipo de trabajo, para lograr este objetivo hoy existen varias disciplinas que se encargande investigar diversas problemáticas y temas de interés; sin embargo, aunque cada una de esas profesiones tiene sus principios para hacerlo, éstas pueden trabajar en conjunto con un interés en común; esta investigación es lo que conocemos como investigación transdisciplinaria, y no es sólo la investigación que se efectúa en conjunto respecto a una problemática en común.Este trabajo conjunto responde a las demandas que se presentan en la sociedad actual en que vivimos, donde se ha visto que en los últimos años se han reunido profesionales para investigar problemáticas desde distintos puntos de vista y que en algún punto ha surgido la necesidad de complementarse entre sí. Dicho trabajo corresponde también a la apertura que se ha tenido de otras profesiones de requerir ese trabajo con otros profesionales para explicar algunas problemáticas y que no sólo terminará enriqueciendo en conocimiento e investigaciones, sino en una experiencia profesional importante basada en comunicación, responsabilidades y ética.

Intervención psicofisiológica para el manejo afectivo de una paciente con trastorno depresivo bipolar-II

Se presenta el caso de una paciente femenina de 25 años de edad, soltera, con problemas de pareja y diagnóstico depresivo bipolar tipo II. Para el manejo afectivo de su depresión se utilizaron estrategias de intervención psicofisiológicas que regularan la actividad autonómica subyacente al nivel de estrés, ansiedad y depresión, así como la promoción del lenguaje afectivo mediante la escritura emocional autorreflexiva, y estrategias cognitivo-conductuales como entrenamiento asertivo, solución de problemas y activación conductual. Los resultados de regulación autonómica muestran cambios clínicos en la temperatura periférica en manos para el manejo de estrés; un decremento en la tasa respiratoria cuando la paciente logra expresar su lenguaje afectivo de manera asertiva e incremento de lenguaje propositivo. Los índices psicométricos de ansiedad y depresión disminuyeron clínicamente. Se concluye que el manejo psicofisiológico es útil para regular el estado afectivo negativo y se propone ampliar su manejo posterior con estrategias de aceptación y compromiso.

Effects of the Trier Social Stress Test on the distributions of IL-6 and MAP levels

Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) is an experimental psychological test that induces changes in autonomic, endocrinological and immunological activity. Two measures used to evaluate the inflammatory activity induced by this test are the interleukin 6 (IL-6), a cytokine sensitive to changes in sympathetic nervous activity, and the mean arterial pressure (MAP), a measure sensitive to changes in autonomic activity. This study had two goals: first, the study examined whether TSST increases IL-6 and MAP levels; second, pre- and post-TSST IL-6 levels were compared for participants whose IL-6 levels increased or decreased due to the TSST. Saliva samples of IL-6 and MAP were taken from 42 participants clinically healthy, without psychiatric history, and data were analysed via quantile comparisons. The results showed that TSST did not lead to an increase in sympathetic activity as indexed by IL-6. Instead, TSST led to increases in MAP. Also, there were significant differences between the IL-6 distributions of people whose IL-6 levels changed from low to high (63%) and from high to low (37%) before and after the TSST. These findings suggest that the TSST will not have the same effect on all participants; that is, individual differences can be assessed using a biomarker to identify people with specialized psychological care needs.