Clinical and epidemiological studies, further supported by meta-analytic studies, indicate a possible association between chronicity (i.e., persistence or recurrence) of depression and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis responsiveness to psychosocial stress. In the present study, we examined whether and how chronicity of depressive problems predicts cortisol responses to a standardized s...

BACKGROUND The role of positive family history in the etiology of alcohol dependence has been demonstrated repeatedly but little is known about the effect of this risk factor on the chronicity of alcohol dependence once it has begun. METHODS We studied the effects of parental and sibling history in conjunction with frequency of binge drinking in a sample of 169 community residents who met cri...

The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between chronicity of patellar instability on the prevalence, grade, and location of chondral lesions in patients with recurrent patellar instability. Patellofemoral chondral status was documented and graded according to the Outerbridge classification in 38 patients who underwent arthroscopic examination at the time of a medial patell...

The relationships between severity, chronicity, and timing of maternal depressive symptoms and child outcomes were examined in a cohort of 4,953 children. Mothers provided self-reports of depressive symptoms during pregnancy, immediately postpartum, and when the child was 6 months old and 5 years old. At the age 5 follow-up, mothers reported on children's behavior and children completed a recep...

Chronic wounds by their very nature are recalcitrant and resistant to treatment. The pervading illness and pathology associated with the particular background disease, be it venous insufficiency, diabetes or the pathology underlying pressure ulcers have in the past been used as an explanation for non-healing and chronicity in these wounds. Thus managing poor perfusions, nutrition, sugar control...

This paper examines the interplay among schizoid personality traits, chronicity of homelessness, and engagement in treatment in a homeless mentally ill population. Both qualitative and quantitative information will be provided about a sample of 125 homeless mentally ill individuals receiving psychiatric treatment in a comprehensive services drop-in clinic. Naturalistic observations and a case v...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the use of pain coping strategies by community-living older people with pain in the hip or knee and the mediating role of coping with pain in the relationship between the chronicity of pain and physical disability. METHODS A group of 157 people with pain "in the last month" was identified. Coping with pain was assessed with the Pain Coping Inventory, physical disabili...

This paper addresses the nature of the prior probabilities of diseases for probabilistic diagnostic reasoning. Because diseases differ in their chronicity, occurrence, reoccurrence, and likelihood of becoming part of the patient population, reasoning in terms of the frequency of disease episodes is necessary to capture the important distinctions. Even with these complexities, it is possible to ...

 Abstract Background: Psoriasis is a chronic proliferative condition of the skin. Its accurate pathogenesis has not been known yet, but interactions between genes and environmental factors have been implicated in its initiation. The role of malassezia in psoriasis is still undetermined, but several reports have associated these lipophilic yeasts with the development of skin lesions in psoriasis...