Effort and Personality According to Rudolf Laban: An Artistic Inquiry of Mobile State

This thesis addresses literature on movement psychology, through the artistic application of Rudolf Laban’s theory on effort and personality. Unpublished and published literature was compiled to synthesize concepts developed by Laban and his successors, including William Carpenter, a primary co-developer of effort and personality theory. This research focuses on Mobile state, as a combination of the effort qualities within Time and Flow. Personal familiarity with these qualities and a desire for increased self-awareness were factors that contributed to choosing literature on and movement application of Mobile state. Artistic inquiry was applied to increase my body knowledge of Mobile state, while reducing any body prejudice. Journal entries written throughout the explorative process showed a similarity between Laban and Carpenter’s evolved theory on movement personality and experience of the mover. The experience of moving within Laban’s Mobile state effort combinations and reflecting on the body-mind experience was effective in providing a greater understanding of the theory, serving my personal and professional development as a dance/movement therapist

Epidemiological and clinical aspects of the Guillain-Barre Syndrome

The Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS) is an acute immune-mediated disorder of the peripheral nerves. The essential features are a rapidly progressive, more or less symmetrical weakness of the limbs and decreased or absent tendon reflexes. The weakness reaches its nadir (maximum severity) by definition within four weeks, but it is usually seen within two weeks. In 20-30% of the patients, weakness is so severe that artificial ventilation is needed. People of all age, gender or race can be affected by this polyneuropathy. The first symptoms of GBS are often preceded by an infection. Seventy percent of the patients report influenzalike symptoms, a respiratory infection or a gastro-enteritis within the three weeks prior to the onset of the disease. The first description of what is now called the Guillain-Barre syndrome, was given by J.B.O. Landry in 1859 1 . The summation of clinical characteristics was extended by typical findings in the cerebrospinal fluid as described by G. Guillain, JA Barre and A Strohl in 1916 2 • As research progressed, many studies reported on the clinical diversity of GBS. As a consequence, the concept of GBS shifted from a single clinical entity to a disease with heterogeneity in presentation, course and outcome. Nowadays GBS is considered to be a post-infectious immune-mediated acute polyneuropathy with a heterogeneous symptomatology

IVIG Treatment and Prognosis in Guillain–Barré Syndrome

Introduction Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) is an acute, immune-mediated polyneuropathy that often leads to severe weakness. Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) is a proven effective treatment for GBS (class 1 evidence). However, about 25% of patients need artificial ventilation and 20% are still unable to walk unaided after 6 months. Important clinical factors associated with poor outcome are age, presence of preceding diarrhea and the severity of disability in the early course of disease. These clinical factors were combined in a clinical prognostic scoring scale, the Erasmus GBS Outcome Scale (EGOS). Materials and Methods GBS patients being unable to walk unaided are currently treated with a standard single IVIg dose (0.4 g/kg bodyweight for 5 days). A recent retrospective study in 174 GBS patients enrolled in one of our randomized controlled clinical trials showed that patients with a minor increase of serum IgG level after standard single IVIg dose recovered significantly slower. Additionally, fewer patients reached the ability to walk unaided at six months after correction for the known clinical prognostic factors (multivariate analysis; P<0.022). Discussion It is yet unknown why some GBS patients only have a minor increase after standard IVIg treatment. By using the EGOS it is possible to select GBS patients with a poor prognosis. These patients potentially may benefit from a second IVIg dose. Conclusion A standard dose of IVIG is not sufficiently effective in many GBS patients. Whether these patients might benefit from a second IVIg dose needs further investigation

Bright light increases alertness and not cortisol in healthy men:A forced desynchrony study under dim and bright light (I)

Light-induced improvements in alertness are more prominent during nighttime than during the day, suggesting that alerting effects of light may depend on internal clock time or wake duration. Relative contributions of both factors can be quantified using a forced desynchrony (FD) designs. FD designs have only been conducted under dim light conditions (<10 lux) since light above this amount can induce non-uniform phase progression of the circadian pacemaker (also called relative coordination). This complicates the mathematical separation of circadian clock phase from homeostatic sleep pressure effects. Here we investigate alerting effects of light in a novel 4 × 18 h FD protocol (5 h sleep, 13 h wake) under dim (6 lux) and bright light (1300 lux) conditions. Hourly saliva samples (melatonin and cortisol assessment) and 2-hourly test sessions were used to assess effects of bright light on subjective and objective alertness (electroencephalography and performance). Results reveal (1) stable free-running cortisol rhythms with uniform phase progression under both light conditions, suggesting that FD designs can be conducted under bright light conditions (1300 lux), (2) subjective alerting effects of light depend on elapsed time awake but not circadian clock phase, while (3) light consistently improves objective alertness independent of time awake or circadian clock phase. Reconstructing the daily time course by combining circadian clock phase and wake duration effects indicates that performance is improved during daytime, while subjective alertness remains unchanged. This suggests that high-intensity indoor lighting during the regular day might be beneficial for mental performance, even though this may not be perceived as such

Bright light decreases peripheral skin temperature in healthy men:A forced desynchrony study under dim and bright light (II)

Human thermoregulation is strictly regulated by the preoptic area of the hypothalamus, which is directly influenced by the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN). The main input pathway of the SCN is light. Here, thermoregulatory effects of light were assessed in humans in a forced desynchrony (FD) design. The FD experiment was performed in dim light (DL, 6 lux) and bright white light (BL, 1300 lux) in 8 men in a semi-randomized within-subject design. A 4 × 18 h FD protocol (5 h sleep, 13 h wake) was applied, with continuous core body temperature (CBT) and skin temperature measurements at the forehead, clavicles, navel, palms, foot soles and toes. Skin temperature parameters indicated sleep-wake modulations as well as internal clock variations. All distal skin temperature parameters increased during sleep, when CBT decreased. Light significantly affected temperature levels during the wake phase, with decreased temperature measured at the forehead and toes and increased navel and clavicular skin temperatures. These effects persisted when the lights were turned off for sleep. Circadian amplitude of CBT and all skin temperature parameters decreased significantly during BL exposure. Circadian proximal skin temperatures cycled in phase with CBT, while distal skin temperatures cycled in anti-phase, confirming the idea that distal skin regions reflect heat dissipation and proximal regions approximate CBT. In general, we find that increased light intensity exposure may have decreased heat loss in humans, especially at times when the circadian system promotes sleep

Bright light during wakefulness improves sleep quality in healthy men:A forced desynchrony study under dim and bright light (III)

Under real-life conditions, increased light exposure during wakefulness seems associated with improved sleep quality, quantified as reduced time awake during bed time, increased time spent in non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep, or increased power of the electroencephalogram delta band (0.5-4 Hz). The causality of these important relationships and their dependency on circadian phase and/or time awake has not been studied in depth. To disentangle possible circadian and homeostatic interactions, we employed a forced desynchrony protocol under dim light (6 lux) and under bright light (1300 lux) during wakefulness. Our protocol consisted of a fast cycling sleep-wake schedule (13 h wakefulness-5 h sleep; 4 cycles), followed by 3 h recovery sleep in a within-subject cross-over design. Individuals (8 men) were equipped with 10 polysomnography electrodes. Subjective sleep quality was measured immediately after wakening with a questionnaire. Results indicated that circadian variation in delta power was only detected under dim light. Circadian variation in time in rapid eye movement (REM) sleep and wakefulness were uninfluenced by light. Prior light exposure increased accumulation of delta power and time in NREM sleep, while it decreased wakefulness, especially during the circadian wake phase (biological day). Subjective sleep quality scores showed that participants rated their sleep quality better after bright light exposure while sleeping when the circadian system promoted wakefulness. These results suggest that high environmental light intensity either increases sleep pressure buildup during wakefulness or prevents the occurrence of micro-sleep, leading to improved quality of subsequent sleep

Low-temperature specific heat and thermal conductivity of glycerol

We have measured the thermal conductivity of glassy glycerol between 1.5 K and 100 K, as well as the specific heat of both glassy and crystalline phases of glycerol between 0.5 K and 25 K. We discuss both low-temperature properties of this typical molecular glass in terms of the soft-potential model. Our finding of an excellent agreement between its predictions and experimental data for these two independent measurements constitutes a robust proof of the capabilities of the soft-potential model to account for the low-temperature properties of glasses in a wide temperature range.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures. To be published in Phys. Rev. B (2002