Stressi ja pitkä QT -oireyhtymä : stressiherkkyyden ja stressaavan ympäristön vaikutukset

Sudden deaths among seemingly healthy young individuals often have a cardiac origin. The long QT-syndrome (LQTS) is one of such potentially lethal cardiac conditions. LQTS is inherited and congenital, and it is typically characterized by a prolonged QT- interval in the electrocardiogram. The mutations that cause LQTS are known and they form several different LQTS subtypes. These mutations most commonly affect the potassium-channel encoding genes KCNQ1 and KCNH2 which define subtypes LQTS1 and LQTS2, and the sodium-effecting ion channel gene SCN5A which defines the subtype LQTS3. It is still unknown why some LQTS mutation carriers become symptomatic while others do not. Previous studies have attempted to uncover the causes behind LQTS symptoms by asking patients about specific events in their imminent environments during symptom onset ( what were you doing/what happened before you had the arrhythmia ). However, these studies typically have not employed rigorous psychometric questionnaires. In the current studies, data from 70-259 symptomatic and 103-328 asymptomatic LQTS mutation carriers, 203 relatives and 79-2056 people from the general Finnish population were utilised. The goal of the thesis was to study what causes symptoms in LQTS. More specifically, it was studied whether or not the symptomatic LQTS mutation carriers differ from asymptomatic ones in their stress proneness, as measured by two temperament scales: Cloninger's TCI and Gray's RST. In addition, to assess environmental stress, questionnaires measuring work stress based on the models by Karasek and Siegrist and their job control-demand and effort-reward scales were employed. Also two additional measures (scales) were employed to assess the interaction between environment and personality traits related to experiencing stress. First, Framingham s type A scale was employed to assess stressful work involvement i.e., individual tendency to experience one's working environment as stressful. Second, the Cope questionnaire and Stressful life events scale were employed to measure the level of emotional distress subjects experienced in response to a stressful life event in the past 12 months. The results indicated that all LQTS mutation carriers (symptomatic and asymptomatic) were equally stress prone, as measured by stress-related temperament sub-scales (harm avoidance and behavioural inhibition). However, the symptomatic patients experienced higher levels of work stress of both scales. In addition, the symptomatic patients experienced higher levels of both stressful work involvement and emotional distress in response to a stressful life event in the past 12 months. Subsequent research should combine the data on the environmental stressors which most likely lead to symptoms, whereby a putative risk score system could be established. Risk scores would enable identifying individuals who are at high risk. Subsequently, pertinent interventions and medical and other attention could be directed at these individuals.Joka vuosi useita perusterveitä nuoria aikuisia kuolee äkillisesti Suomessa. Useimmiten syyt äkillisille kuolemille ovat sydänperäisiä. Pitkä QT -oireyhtymä (LQTS) on sydämen rytmihäiriösairaus, joka voi johtaa perusterveiden nuorten äkillisiin kuolemiin. LQTS:n aiheuttavat mutaatiot on selvitetty. Yleisimmät näistä ovat kaliumionikanavamutaatio KCNQ1:ssä tai KCNH2:ssa, jotka aiheuttavat alatyypit LQTS1 ja LQTS2, ja mutaatio natriumionikanavageenissä SCN5a joka aiheuttaa alatyypin LQTS3. LQTS:ää luonnehtii tyypillisesti pidentynyt QT-aika, joka näkyy sydänsähkökäyrässä. Kaikki mutaationkantajat eivät koskaan oireile. Ei täysin tiedetä, miksi jotkut mutaationkantajista saavat oireita ja toiset eivät. Aiemmissa samalla tutkimusaineistolla tehdyissä tutkimuksissa on selvinnyt, että esimerkiksi krooninen stressi saattaa altistaa oireille pitkä QT -oireyhtymässä. Muissa maissa tehdyissä tutkimuksissa on puolestaan selvitetty esimerkiksi sitä, millaisessa tilanteessa oireet ovat tulleet ( mitä teit/mitä tapahtui kun sait oireita ). On havaittu että LQTS -alatyypit poikkeavat toisistaan myös oireisiin liittyneen tilanteen suhteen. Ulkomaisissa tutkimuksissa asiaa ei ole kuitenkaan tutkittu vakiintuneilla psykometrisilla mittareilla. Tässä tutkimuksessa käytettiin 70 259 oireisen ja 103 328 oireettoman LQTS mutaationkantajan, 203 heidän sukulaisensa, ja 79 2056 Suomen yleisväestöön kuuluvan tietoja. Tutkimuksen päätavoite oli selvittää, mitkä tekijät johtavat oireisuuteen LQTS:ssä. Tavoitteena oli arvioida sisäisen stressiherkkyyden ja ympäristön stressin vaikutuksia. Yksi kysymys oli, poikkeavatko oireiset ja oireettomat LQTS mutaationkantajat toisistaan temperamenttiin liittyvässä stressiherkkyydessä, eli Cloningerin TCI ja Grayn RST -temperamenttimittareilla arvioituna. Ympäristöstä aiheutuvan stressin mittaamiseen käytettiin työstressimittareita, jotka perustuvat Karasekin ja Siegristin työstressimalleihin. Lisäksi hyödynnettiin kahta muuta stressiin liittyvää mittaria. Toisella näistä arvioitiin stressaavaa työhönsitoutumista (Framinghamin A-tyyppisyysmittarista [FTAS] muokatuilla kysymyksillä). Toisella puolestaan arvioitiin emotionaalista pahaa oloa 12 kuukauden sisällä sattuneesta elämäntapahtumasta (mittari perustui the Cope - ja Stressful life events scale -kyselyihin). Tulosten mukaan kaikki LQTS -mutaationkantajat ovat yhtä stressiherkkiä (temperamenttipiirteet vaikeuksien välttäminen ja käyttäytymisen estoisuus ). Toisaalta oireiset kokivat korkeampaa työstressiä (kontrolli-vaatimus-asteikko ja panostus-palkkio-asteikko). Lisäksi oireisilla havaittiin oireettomia korkeampaa stressaantuvaa työhönsitoutumista, ja vahvempaa emotionaalista pahaa oloa 12 kk:n sisällä stressaavasta elämäntapahtumasta. Tutkimustuloksille voidaan ehdottaa merkittäviä käytännön sovelluksia. Ympäristön stressiin liittyvän LQTS -oireisuusriskin määrittäminen ja mahdollisesti muuntaminen yleistettävän riskiluokituksen muotoon olisi syytä olla tulevaisuuden tutkimuksen tavoitteena. Käynnissä on parhaillaan laboratorio- ja pitkittäisseurantatutkimus, joissa LQTS:n kausaalisia ympäristön stressiin liittyviä yhteyksiä voidaan selvittää. Luokittelemalla ihmisiä stressiperäisesti korkeaan rytmihäiriöriskiryhmään voitaisiin mahdollisesti pelastaa ihmishenkiä suuntaamalla esimerkiksi stressinvähennysinterventioita kyseisille potilaille. Lisäksi Suomessa LQTS:n tutkimukselle on hyvät mahdollisuudet: LQTS on Suomessa yleisempi kuin muualla maailmassa. Suomessa ylläpidetään rekisteriä kaikista diagnosoiduista LQTS -mutaationkantajista

Housing taxation in the Nordics : efficiency and equity

In many countries, owner-occupied housing enjoys a tax-favoured status relative to rental housing and many other forms of wealth. I first use simple examples to illustrate why the tax status of owner-occupied housing relates crucially to the tax treatment of the so-called imputed rent and mortgage interest expenses. I then discuss other issues related to capital income taxation as well as property taxation and housing market transaction taxes against basic principles of good taxation, referring to tax policies in the Nordic countries. I also discuss the connection between certain macroprudential policies and housing taxation.Peer reviewe

Norwegian Men and Women Value Similar Mate Traits in Short-Term Relationships

Previous research has provided evidence that females are generally the more selective sex in humans. Moreover, both sexes have been found to be more selective in long-term mating compared to short-term mating. In this study, we have examined the effects of sex, mating strategy (preferred relationship length) and their interaction on mate preferences (i.e., mate selection criteria) in an egalitarian Nordic society, namely Norway. The study sample consisted of 1,000 individuals, 417 of whom were male and 583 female respondents. According to our findings, men were more selective in physical appearance, whereas women were more selective in all the other mate preferences (e.g., understanding, dominant, kind, intellectual etc.). The respondents that were seeking short-term relationships had higher preference for physical appearance, humorousness and sociability. On the other hand, the respondents that were seeking long-term relationships were more selective in most of the other mate preferences (i.e., understanding, kind, cultivated, domestic, reliable, and similar). Interestingly, no interaction effect was found between sex and mating strategy in that differences between long-term and short-term seekers in mate preferences did not change depending on sex. This suggests that men and women value the same traits in short-term relationships.Peer reviewe

Cooperativeness – A necessary trait for interpreters? A study on temperament and character dimensions of experts in different fields

Abstract Aims and Objectives: The aim of the present study was to investigate whether particular temperament and personality traits are more characteristic to interpreters’ expert performancethan to expert performance in other fields. Design: To these ends, the Temperament and Character Inventory by Cloninger et al. (1994) and the distractibility scale of the Revised Dimensions of Temperament Survey by Windle (1992) were used. Data and Analyses: The data was gathered from two groups of interpreters (simultaneous and consecutive) and was compared to one group of foreign language teachers and one of non-linguistic experts from different fields of society. The group size varied between 20 and 23 participants each. The analyses were carried out with multivariate analysis of variance, supplemented with Bonferroni corrected contrasts. Findings: The results seem to indicate that temperament and character traits may have different impacts on different expert groups. In this study, in comparison to the control groups of foreign language teachers and non-linguistic experts, high cooperativeness was found to be more characteristic to simultaneous and consecutive interpreters. Cooperativeness also appears to be valued by recruiters and trainers of interpreters, for instance. Originality: The study was the first one comparing interpreters’ temperament and character dimensions with those of other expert groups, such as foreign language teachers and non-linguistic experts.Aims and Objectives: The aim of the present study was to investigate whether particular temperament and personality traits are more characteristic to interpreters’ expert performance than to expert performance in other fields. Design: To these ends, the Temperament and Character Inventory by Cloninger et al. (1994) and the distractibility scale of the Revised Dimensions of Temperament Survey by Windle (1992) were used. Data and Analyses: The data was gathered from two groups of interpreters (simultaneous and consecutive) and was compared to one group of foreign language teachers and one of non-linguistic experts from different fields of society. The group size varied between 20 and 23 participants each. The analyses were carried out with multivariate analysis of variance, supplemented with Bonferroni corrected contrasts. Findings: The results seem to indicate that temperament and character traits may have different impacts on different expert groups. In this study, in comparison to the control groups of foreign language teachers and non-linguistic experts, high cooperativeness was found to be more characteristic to simultaneous and consecutive interpreters. Cooperativeness also appears to be valued by recruiters and trainers of interpreters, for instance. Originality: The study was the first one comparing interpreters’ temperament and character dimensions with those of other expert groups, such as foreign language teachers and non-linguistic experts. Significance and Limitations: Among the different temperament and personality traits, at least cooperativeness seems to have a connection to the abilities and skills needed in the profession of an interpreter. More research, however, is needed to reveal possible connections of various temperament and personality traits with expertise in different fields. In this particular case, additional studies could show whether individuals with high cooperativeness become more easily interested in such professions as interpreting, or whether the high cooperativeness is a result of more experience and expertise in interpreting.Peer reviewe

Onko sisu terveellistä? : Katsaus sisunkaltaisiin piirteisiin ja niiden vaikutuksiin

Vertaisarvioitu.Sisunkaltaisten piirteiden tutkimusta on tehty englannin kielen käsitteistöön pohjautuvilla itserapor¬tointi¬kyselyillä jo melko pitkään. Yhteyksiä on löytynyt esimerkiksi koulumenestykseen, asepalveluksessa suoriutumiseen, hyvinvointiin, mielenterveyteen, fyysiseen terveyteen ja terveyskäyttäytymiseen. Käymme läpi aiemman kirjallisuuden perusteella näitä yhteyksiä. Esittelemme myös lyhyesti suomen kieleen ensimmäistä kertaa pohjautuvan kehittämämme sisukyselymittarin. Siinä on sekä samankaltaisuuksia että eroavaisuuksia englannin kieleen pohjautuviin kyselymittareihin verrattuna, mutta alustavien tulosten perusteella yhteyksiä tärkeisiin hyvinvointimuuttujiin on runsaasti. Sisulla ja yleisemmin sisupiirteillä on yhteyksiä persoonallisuuspiirteisiin, mutta yhteydet eivät ole kovinkaan voimakkaita. Sisupiirteitä ei voi siis tutkia suoraan persoonallisuuskyselyillä, vaan niitä on tutkittava erillisillä, tarkoitusta varten kehitetyillä kyselyillä.Peer reviewe

Influence of Personality and Differences in Stress Processing Among Finnish Students on Interest to Use a Mobile Stress Management App : Survey Study

* These authors contributed equally.Background: Excessive stress has a negative impact on many aspects of life for both individuals and societies, from studying and working to health and well-being. Each individual has their unique level of stress-proneness, and positive or negative outcomes of stress may be affected by it. Technology-aided interventions have potential efficacy in the self-management of stress. However, current Web-based or mobile stress management solutions may not reach the individuals that would need them the most, that is, stress-sensitive people. Objective: The aim of this study was to examine how personality is associated with stress among Finnish university students and their interest to use apps that help in managing stress. Methods: We used 2 structured online questionnaires (combined, n=1001) that were advertised in the University of Helsinki's mailing lists. The first questionnaire (n=635) was used to investigate intercorrelations between the Big Five personality variables (neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness) and other stress-related background variables. The second questionnaire (n=366) was used to study intercorrelations between the above-mentioned study variables and interest in using stress management apps. Results: The quantitative findings of the first questionnaire showed that higher levels of extraversion, agreeableness, and conscientiousness were associated with lower self-reported stress. Neuroticism, in turn, was found to be strongly associated with rumination, anxiety, and depression. The findings of the second questionnaire indicated that individuals characterized by the Big Five personality traits of neuroticism and agreeableness were particularly interested to use stress management apps (r=.27, P Conclusions: Our results indicated that personality traits may have an influence on the adoption interest of stress management apps. Individuals with high neuroticism are, according to our results, adaptive in the sense that they are interested in using stress management apps that may benefit them. On the contrary, low agreeableness may lead to lower interest to use the mobile stress management apps. The practical implication is that future mobile stress interventions should meaningfully be adjusted to improve user engagement and support health even among less-motivated users, for instance, to successfully engage individuals with low agreeableness.Peer reviewe

Evidence for a Behaviourally Measurable Perseverance Trait in Humans

The aim was to create and study a possible behavioural measure for trait(s) in humans that reflect the ability and motivation to continue an unpleasant behaviour, i.e., behavioural perseverance or persistence (BP). We utilised six different tasks with 54 subjects to measure the possible BP trait(s): cold pressor task, hand grip endurance task, impossible anagram task, impossible verbal reasoning task, thread and needle task, and boring video task. The task performances formed two BP factors. Together, the two-factor solution is responsible for the common variance constituting 37.3% of the total variance in the performances i.e., performance times. Excluding the impossible anagram task, the performance in any given task was better explained by performances in the other tasks (i.e., “trait”, η2 range = 0.131–0.253) than by the rank order variable (“depletion”, i.e., getting tired from the previous tasks, η2 range = 0–0.096)

Unobtrusive stress detection on the basis of smartphone usage data

Peer reviewe

Socioeconomic inequalities in impairment associated with depressive symptoms : Evidence from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health

Objective: Individuals with low socioeconomic status have higher rates of depression, but it is unknown whether the socioeconomically disadvantaged also have more disabling depressive symptoms. We examined (1) the associations of three indicators of socioeconomic status with depression-related severe role impairment, and (2) whether socioeconomic factors moderate the association between individual depression symptoms and depression-related severe role impairment. Methods: We used data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH). Depressive symptoms, role impairment and socioeconomic indicators (poverty, participation in workforce, educational attainment) were self-reported by participants. The analytic sample consisted of participants who screened positive for a depressive episode during past 12 months (n = 32 661). We used survey-weighted logistic models to examine the associations of depressive symptoms with severe role impairment and the modifying effects of socioeconomic indicators. Results: The association between depression symptom count and severe role impairment was stronger among those not in workforce (OR = 1.12[1.02-1.23]). The association between specific depression symptoms and severe role impairment was stronger for conditions of poverty (fatigue, OR = 2.97 [1.54-5.73]; and anhedonia, OR = 1.93[1.13-3.30]), workforce non-participation (inability to concentrate/indecisiveness, OR = 1.54 [1.12-2.12]), and lower educational attainment (anhedonia, OR = 0.77 [0.59-0.99]). Feelings of worthlessness was the only symptom with independent associations for all socioeconomic groups (adjusted OR = 1.91 [1.35-2.70]). Conclusion: Depression was more frequent and also more disabling for socioeconomically disadvantaged groups, especially when assessed with workforce participation. Additionally, some specific symptoms showed socioeconomic differences. Our findings highlight the need to prioritize population groups with more severe impairment associated with depressive symptoms.Peer reviewe

Evidence for a Behaviourally Measurable Perseverance Trait in Humans

The aim was to create and study a possible behavioural measure for trait(s) in humans that reflect the ability and motivation to continue an unpleasant behaviour, i.e., behavioural perseverance or persistence (BP). We utilised six different tasks with 54 subjects to measure the possible BP trait(s): cold pressor task, hand grip endurance task, impossible anagram task, impossible verbal reasoning task, thread and needle task, and boring video task. The task performances formed two BP factors. Together, the two-factor solution is responsible for the common variance constituting 37.3% of the total variance in the performances i.e., performance times. Excluding the impossible anagram task, the performance in any given task was better explained by performances in the other tasks (i.e., “trait”, η2 range = 0.131–0.253) than by the rank order variable (“depletion”, i.e., getting tired from the previous tasks, η2 range = 0–0.096)