Data Interpretation, Statistical

In a 3rd meta-analysis of the effect of adding hypnosis to cognitive-behavioral treatments for weight reduction, additional data were obtained from authors of 2 studies, and computational inaccuracies in both previous meta-analyses were corrected. Averaged across posttreatment and follow-up assessment periods, the mean weight loss was 6.00 lbs. (2.72 kg) without hypnosis and 11.83 lbs. (5.37 kg) with hypnosis. The mean effect size of this difference was 0.66 SD. At the last assessment period, the mean weight loss was 6.03 lbs. (2.74 kg) without hypnosis and 14.88 lbs.

CONTEXT. Many health plans have started to cover the cost of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). National survey data indicate that CAM use is highly prevalent among adults. However, little is known about CAM use among health plan members. OBJECTIVE: To describe CAM users, the prevalence of CAM use, and how CAM use relates to utilization of conventional preventive services and health care satisfaction among health plan members. DESIGN: Cross-sectional mail survey in 1997. SETTING: Managed care organization in Minnesota.

Although clinicians typically possess considerable interest in research, especially about which interventions do and do not work, all too often they dismiss the notion that they themselves can make viable scientific contributions to the outcome literature. This derives from an unfortunate assumption that the only true experiment is a between-groups experiment. There is another form of true experiment that is perfectly compatible with real-world clinical practice: the single-case time-series design.

The aim of this study was to investigate the analgesic effects of hypnotic pain control on experimental pain by measuring pupil reactions as an objective psycho-physiologic parameter. Twenty-two healthy volunteers (11 female and 11 male) aged between 22 and 35 years participated in the study. Pupil diameter was measured as baseline measurement (i.e., static measurement) in the non-hypnotic and in the hypnotic state. Pupil diameter changes to a standardized pain stimulus were measured in the non-hypnotic and hypnotic state and compared.

Postural control in subjects with high (Highs) and low (Lows) susceptibility to hypnosis is differentially affected by changes in visual and neck tactile/proprioceptive input. The aim of the present experiment was to investigate whether imagery of the visual and tactile sensory modalities also induces different modulation of postural control in Highs and Lows. Fourteen Highs and 16 Lows were included in the study; they were recorded while standing upright with eyes closed during visual and tactile imagery tasks and during mental computation.

This study aimed at investigating the Bispectral Index (BIS) profile during carotid cross clamping (CXC). The study involved a pilot group of 10 patients undergoing routine carotid endarterectomy with shunt insertion under total intravenous anesthesia, and a study group of 26 additional patients. In all patients, rates of propofol and remifentanil providing a steady-state level of hypnosis (BIS: 40-60) were maintained constant throughout a recording period ranging from 3 minutes before CXC to shunt insertion.

An alternative statistic, the D-value, is presented for the evaluation of the performance of EEG-based depth-of-hypnosis measures against the Observers' Assessment of Alertness/Sedation scale. The measures considered here are spectral entropy, approximate entropy, Lempel-Ziv complexity and Higuchi fractal dimension. The study is based on recordings from 45 patients, divided into three groups of 15 recordings each. Patients of Group I received no remifentanil while patients of Groups II and III received 2 and 4 ng/ml effect compartment controlled remifentanil.

The effect of neuromuscular block on the anaesthetic depth of hypnosis is an elusive question. We simultaneously investigated the influence of neuromuscular block on the bispectral index, a measure of hypnosis during general anaesthesia, and on the electroencephalogram. Patients were anaesthetized with sevoflurane. Noxious tetanic electrical stimulation was applied on two occasions: before and after profound neuromuscular block achieved with rocuronium.

INTRODUCTION: After a hypnotic induction, medium and highly hypnotizable individuals often report spontaneous alterations in various dimensions of consciousness. Few studies investigating these experiences have controlled for the inherent demands of specific hypnotic suggestions and fewer still have considered their dynamic properties and neural correlates.

Cognitive hypotheses of hypnotic phenomena have proposed that executive attentional systems may be either inhibited or overactivated to produce a selective alteration or disconnection of some mental operations. Recent brain imaging studies have reported changes in activity in both medial (anterior cingulate) and lateral (inferior) prefrontal areas during hypnotically induced paralysis, overlapping with areas associated with attentional control as well as inhibitory processes.