BACKGROUND Emergence agitation (EA) frequently occurs after desflurane anesthesia in children. Ketamine, because of its sedative and analgesic properties, might be useful for the management of separation anxiety and EA. We investigated the preventive effect of ketamine on separation anxiety and EA after desflurane anesthesia in children for brief ophthalmic surgery. METHODS Sixty children, ra...

The identification of biological mechanisms underlying emotional behavior is crucial for our understanding of the pathogenesis of mental disorders. Besides genes modulating neural transmission and influencing amygdala reactivity and anxiety-related temperamental traits a different plasticity regulating genes affect interindividual differences in emotional regulation. Recently it has been demons...

The change of steroid levels may also exert different modulatory effects on the number and class of serotonin receptors present in the plasma membrane. The effects of chronic treatment of testosterone for anxiety were examined and expression of 5-HT2A serotonergic receptor, neuron, astrocyte, and dark neuron density in the hippocampus of gonadectomized male mice was determined. Thirty-six adult...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Assessment of state anxiety is frequently required in clinical and research settings, but its measurement using standard multi-item inventories entails practical challenges. Such inventories are increasingly complemented by paper-and-pencil, single-item visual analog scales measuring state anxiety (VAS-A), which allow rapid assessment of current anxiety states. Compute...

BACKGROUND Psychological factors are thought to drive inter-patient variations in anaesthetic and analgesic requirements. This cross-sectional study investigated whether preoperative psychological factors can predict anaesthetic requirements and postoperative pain. METHODS Before total thyroidectomy, 100 consecutive women completed the Spielberger's State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and th...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES The current study examines effects of exposure in multiple contexts on fear reduction and renewal and the moderating effect of baseline threat-specific and nonspecific emotionality. METHODS Snake-fearful participants received a negative or neutral emotion induction and were randomized to video exposure to a snake in a single context, multiple context, or a no exposur...

AIM The effect of prenatal mental health on the risk of obstetric interventions is unclear. The present study examined the associations between depressive and anxiety symptoms in the second and third trimesters and mode of delivery, epidural use and labor induction in a large community-based pregnancy cohort, in Alberta, Canada. MATERIAL AND METHODS Women who had singleton pregnancies, delive...

The ability to accurately verify facial identity has important forensic implications, but this ability is fallible. Research suggests that anxiety at the time of encoding can impair subsequent recall, but no studies have investigated the effects of anxiety at the time of recall in an experimental paradigm. This study addresses this gap using the carbon dioxide (CO2) model of anxiety induction. ...

We performed a cross-sectional study to explore a potential association between preoperative anxiety and postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV). The study enrolled 51 unpremedicated children 5–16 yr old undergoing outpatient surgery and standardized general anesthesia. Anxiety of children was assessed in the preoperative holding area and during the induction of anesthesia. The incidence of na...

Anxiety disorders can be treated both pharmacologically and psychologically, but many individuals either fail to respond to treatment or relapse. Improving outcomes is difficult, in part because we have incomplete understanding of the neurobiological mechanisms underlying current treatments. In a sequence of studies, we have identified 'affective bias-related' amygdala-medial cortical coupling ...