The authors reviewed the meanings of a psychoanalytic setting, which is composed of a patient's free association and an analyst's analytic neutrality. In particular, this was done by discussing the definitions of a psychoanalytic setting, the functions of free association, and the development of the meanings of analytic neutrality over time. The purpose this wasto provide an understanding of a psychoanalytic setting for psychoanalytic therapists. To fully understanda psychoanalytic setting, the several points must be considered. Firstly, a patient's introspection about his/her inner world in the presence of an analyst in a psychoanalytic setting facilitates the development of the psychoanalytic process. Secondly, both a patient's reflective functioning of his/her mental process and a patient's relational experiences of transference feelings toward their analyst is important for analytic treatment. Thirdly, a patient's progress withfree association during treatment sessions indicates spontaneity, a motivation to be cured from a patient's standpoint. Fourthly, a patient and an analyst become aware of the meaning of a patient's materials from free association through the process of Ed-highlight: Unclear. I'm not sure what you mean by this word. Are you referring to the patient's thoughts or feelings? free association itself. Fifth, the main aim of analytic neutrality is to understand the patient's psychic reality, and it is important to understand this reality through interaction between a patient and an analyst
Free Association ; Humans ; Motivation ; Psychoanalysis

The mechanism of psychotherapy is explained by the recent developments in neuroscience and neuroimaging. The purpose of this study is to understand the nature of psychotherapy and to discuss the future of psychotherapy improvement with the help of advances of the neurobiological findings in psychotherapy. For this study, we investigated a wide range of materials. We searched for various researches on psychotherapy, brain, and neurobiology. In addition to the conventional psychodynamic psychotherapy, we investigated research findings on cognitive behavioral therapy, interpersonal psychotherapy and eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR). Moreover, based on the actual experiences of treating patients, we speculated the neurobiological mechanisms of the process and results of psychotherapy. With the development of neuroscience, we are now able to understand the personal consciousness, unconsciousness and developmental process. Also subdividing the disease is made possible. Personalized treatment has become available, and we are able to predict the prognosis of patients. Our memories are composed by implicit memory and explicit memory. By psychotherapy, we can consciously remember explicit memory, and it becomes easier to explore implicit memory through free association. Through psychotherapy, we will also be able to learn the effect of acquired environment and experience. Psychotherapy is able to correct human behaviors by modifying the memories. Through the regulation of emotions, it becomes possible to modify the memories and correct the behaviors. In this process, doctor-patient relationship is the main factor which cause positive treatment effects. Furthermore imagination therapy or unconscious, non-verbal stimuli could bring about positive treatment effects. Now psychotherapy could be explained and studied by neuroscientific researches. In this sense, we could provide the direction of future advances in neuroscience by the neurobiological understanding of psychotherapy.
Brain ; Cognitive Therapy ; Consciousness ; Eye Movements ; Free Association ; Humans ; Imagination ; Memory ; Neurobiology ; Neuroimaging ; Neurosciences ; Prognosis ; Psychotherapy ; Unconscious (Psychology) ; Unconsciousness

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Societal factors seem to exercise a strong influence on hearing aid uptake, use, and satisfaction. In particular, knowledge, perception, and attitude of people will have bearing towards their and others health behavior and decisions. The current study aimed at understanding the perception of hearing aids by adults belonging to the general population in different countries. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: The study employed a crosssectional design. A sample of 404 adults from India, Iran, Portugal, and the United Kingdom were recruited by relying on a convenience sampling. Previously published data was re-analyzed but it was applied for different approach. Free association task was used to collect the data. They were asked to provide up to five words or phrases that come to mind when thinking about “hearing aids.” The data was initially analyzed based on qualitative content analysis. This was followed by quantitative cluster analysis and chi square analysis. RESULTS: The content analysis suggested 39 main categories of responses related to hearing aids. The cluster analysis resulted in five main clusters, namely: 1) positive attitude, 2) external factors, 3) hearing aid use and satisfaction, 4) etiology, and 5) benefits and limitations of technology. A few demographic factors (i.e., education, occupation type, country) showed association with different clusters, although country of origin seemed to be associated with most clusters. CONCLUSIONS: The study provides us with unique insights into the perception of hearing aids by the general public, and additionally, the way demographic variables may influence these perceptions.
Adult ; Demography ; Education ; Free Association ; Great Britain ; Health Behavior ; Hearing Aids ; Hearing Loss ; Humans ; India ; Iran ; Occupations ; Portugal ; Thinking

PURPOSE: Nowadays, chromosomal regions containing genes associated with the risk of lung cancer are identified by a number of genome-wide association studies (GWASs). As part of the study, GWAS has identified the association of six chromosomal regions, 1q23, 4q22, 4q31, 5p15, 6p21, and 15q25, as being associated with lung cancer risk in the European population. We investigated the impact of genetic variants identified in GWASs for lung cancer susceptibility on the survival outcomes in patients with early stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Three hundred and sixty-three patients with surgically resected NSCLC were enrolled. Eight single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), rs2808630 on 1q23, rs7671167 on 4q22, rs1489759 and rs2202507 on 4q31, rs2736100 and rs402710 on 5p15, rs1052486 on 6p21 and rs16969968 on 15q25, were genotyped using a polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism assay. The associations between genotypes and overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) were analyzed. RESULTS: None of the eight SNPs were significantly associated with OS or DFS. In addition, when the patients were categorized according to age, gender, smoking status, tumor histology and pathologic stage, there were no significant associations between the eight SNPs and the survival outcomes. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that the genetic variants identified by GWASs for lung cancer susceptibility may not affect the prognosis of early stage NSCLC.
Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung ; Disease Susceptibility ; Disease-Free Survival ; Genome-Wide Association Study ; Genotype ; Humans ; Lung ; Lung Neoplasms ; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide ; Prognosis ; Smoke ; Smoking

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the cardiovascular outcome of statin medication in individuals retrospectively categorized on the basis of the 2013 American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association (ACC/AHA) guidelines risk assessment and to determine the additional prognostic value of coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) in assessing cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk in this group. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This retrospective study reviewed 4255 asymptomatic individuals who had undergone self-referred CCTA with a median follow-up period of 87 months. The primary endpoint was major adverse cardiac events (MACEs); these included cardiac death, nonfatal myocardial infarction, and unstable angina. Individuals recommended for statins according to the ACC/AHA guidelines were analyzed by their assessed risk. RESULTS: MACE occurrence was significantly higher in the statin-recommended (SR) group with significant coronary artery disease (CAD) than in those with insignificant CAD (p < 0.001). In individuals with a normal coronary artery on CCTA, MACEs did not occur regardless of statin medication. In the SR group with significant CAD, there was no significant difference between statin users and non-users (p = 0.810). However, in cases with insignificant CAD, the event-free survival was significantly lower among statin users (p = 0.034). In patients recommended for moderate-intensity statins, the segment involvement score on CCTA was significantly associated with a higher risk of MACEs (hazard ratio 2.558; p = 0.001). CONCLUSION: CCTA might have a potential role in CVD risk stratification among asymptomatic statin candidates.
American Heart Association ; Angina, Unstable ; Angiography ; Atherosclerosis ; Cardiology ; Cardiovascular Diseases ; Cholesterol ; Coronary Artery Disease ; Coronary Vessels ; Death ; Disease-Free Survival ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA Reductase Inhibitors ; Myocardial Infarction ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Assessment

Mutations in the calreticulin gene, CALR, have recently been discovered in subsets of patients with essential thrombocythemia (ET) or primary myelofibrosis (PMF). We investigated Korean patients with ET and PMF to determine the prevalence, and clinical and laboratory correlations of CALR/JAK2/MPL mutations. Among 84 ET patients, CALR mutations were detected in 23 (27.4%) and were associated with higher platelet counts (P=0.006) and lower leukocyte counts (P=0.035) than the JAK2 V617F mutation. Among 50 PMF patients, CALR mutations were detected in 11 (22.0%) and were also associated with higher platelet counts (P=0.035) and trended to a lower rate of cytogenetic abnormalities (P=0.059) than the JAK2 V617F mutation. By multivariate analysis, triple-negative status was associated with shorter overall survival (HR, 7.0; 95% CI, 1.6-31.1, P=0.01) and leukemia-free survival (HR, 6.3; 95% CI, 1.8-22.0, P=0.004) in patients with PMF. The type 1 mutation was the most common (61.1%) type among all patients with CALR mutations, and tended toward statistical predominance in PMF patients. All 3 mutations were mutually exclusive and were never detected in patients with other myeloid neoplasms showing thrombocytosis. CALR mutations characterize a distinct group of Korean ET and PMF patients. Triple-negative PMF patients in particular have an unfavorable prognosis, which supports the idea that triple-negative PMF is a molecularly high-risk disease.
Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Calreticulin/*genetics ; Disease-Free Survival ; Female ; Gene Frequency ; Genetic Association Studies ; Humans ; Janus Kinase 2/*genetics ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Mutation/genetics ; Primary Myelofibrosis/*genetics/mortality ; Receptors, Thrombopoietin/*genetics ; Republic of Korea ; Thrombocythemia, Essential/*genetics/mortality ; Young Adult

BACKGROUND: Autophagy plays a crucial role in chemotherapy resistance of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). Hence, autophagy-related gene 5 (ATG5), an essential molecule involved in autophagy regulation, is presumably associated with recurrence of TNBC. This study was aimed to investigate the potential influence of single-nucleotide polymorphisms in ATG5 on the disease-free survival (DFS) of early-stage TNBC patients treated with anthracycline- and/or taxane-based chemotherapy. METHODS: We genotyped ATG5 SNP rs473543 in a cohort of 316 TNBC patients treated with anthracycline- and/or taxane-based chemotherapy using the sequenom's MassARRAY system. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and Cox proportional hazard regression analysis were used to analyze the association between ATG5 rs473543 genotypes and the clinical outcome of TNBC patients. RESULTS: Three genotypes, AA, GA, and GG, were detected in the rs473543 of ATG5 gene. The distribution of ATG5 rs473543 genotypes was significantly different between patients with and without recurrence (P = 0.024). Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that patients carrying A allele of ATG5 rs473543 had an increased risk of recurrence and shorter DFS compared with those carrying the variant genotype GG in rs473543 (P = 0.034). In addition, after adjusting for clinical factors, multivariate Cox regression analyses revealed that the AA/GA genotype of rs473543 was an independent predictor for DFS (hazard risk [HR], 1.73; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.04-2.87; P = 0.034). In addition, DFS was shorter in node-negative patients with the presence of A allele (AA/GA) than in those with the absence of A allele (P = 0.027). CONCLUSION ATG5 rs473543 genotypes may serve as a potential marker for predicting recurrence of early-stage TNBC patients who received anthracycline-and/or taxane-based regimens as adjuvant chemotherapy.
Adult ; Aged ; Anthracyclines ; administration & dosage ; adverse effects ; Autophagy-Related Protein 5 ; genetics ; Bridged-Ring Compounds ; administration & dosage ; adverse effects ; Chemotherapy, Adjuvant ; Disease-Free Survival ; Female ; Genetic Association Studies ; Genetic Predisposition to Disease ; Humans ; Kaplan-Meier Estimate ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local ; drug therapy ; genetics ; pathology ; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide ; genetics ; Taxoids ; administration & dosage ; adverse effects ; Triple Negative Breast Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; genetics ; pathology