Desensitization

Drug hypersensitivity reactions to chemotherapy agents are an important problem that Allergy Departments should be proactively prepared to confront, by meeting the necessary high standards to offer optimal management pathways, including high-risk techniques such as drug provocation testing or rapid drug desensitisation, which will cost-effectively improve the prognosis of many patients. Comprehensive risk management strategies, access to expert staff, specific diagnostic techniques, and a dedicated allergy-led area are fundamental to ensure safety. In this manuscript, we will explore current diagnostic and management pathways for hypersensitivity reactions to chemotherapy agents.

Signal detection theory has evolutionary foundations in which our ancestors who were able to detect signals of aggression survived, while those who could not were extinguished. The purpose of this study is to examine the detection of conflict escalation signals in a domestic argument in a married couple as a consequence of history with prior victimization and perpetration of violence.  The purpose of this study is threefold: 1. escalation detection differences between a trained special victim’s detective and untrained individuals, 2. escalation detection for individuals with domestic violence victimization, and 3. physiological arousal during escalation detection.  A series of hypotheses and research questions tested untrained people’s signal detection abilities with a trained, special victim’s unit police investigator as a consequence of male and female-initiated conflict.  Untrained viewers reported fewer aggression signals than the police investigator.  A repeated measures general linear model using two measures of physiological arousal revealed significant effects on electrodermal activity while watching escalating conflict as a function of victimization history.  Results are discussed in terms of signal detection and excitation transfer theories towards explaining responses to escalating conflict.

The theoretical part, Part 1:
(if you don’t feel you need the “science”, skip these 70+ pages of annotated references, cites and quotes and go right on to Part 2: the practical application)
1) How did Systematic Desensitization (SD) get started and what’s happened to it in terms of research since those beginnings? How effective is it compared to “other” techniques? How is it done today in human fear, anxiety and phobia treatments?
2) How did Counterconditioning (CC) get started and what’s happened to it in terms of research since those beginnings? How effective is it compared to “other” techniques? How is it done today in human fear, anxiety and phobia treatments?
3) What is SD&CC, how did it get started and what’s happened to it in terms of research since those beginnings? How effective is it compared to “other” techniques? How is it done today in human fear, anxiety and phobia treatments?
4) What OTHER evidence based behavior change techniques are there that we could tap into and how effective are they compared to SD or CC?
5) What other aspects of behavior change have been investigated by science with what evidence, and how could they effect/help what we’re doing?

The practical application part, Part 2:
Showing how the product of all of the above can be transferred for use in so-called canine fear reduction/coping strategies. Lots of “new” (for many of us) ideas, steps-by-steps and demo-videos

What’s new in version 4.5?
Expanded the theoretical part to include annotated tie-ins to the following theories and effects, which are at work in many of the procedures, both old and “new”. These are theories which for the most part were conceived with/by direct observations of them in animals and/or hypothesised and tested with animals in lab situations before being entered into clinical trials:
✦ Evaluative Conditioning
✦ Secure Base Effect/Attachment Theory
✦ Social Referencing
✦ Self-Efficacy
✦ Internal vs External Locus of Control
✦ What the concept of Empowerment consists of, and how it can be implemented
✦ Orienting Response
✦ What is resilience, where did it come from and what does that have to do with fear?
✦ Adding a bit of neuroscience to Social (Cognitive) Learning
✦ Aversive Non-Reward and Frustration Theory and why these can be important to consider
✦ How one can combine Social Learning techniques and various other techniques in “the field”

I also completely reworked the practical exercises having to do with Reinforced Practice

A discussion of the important difference between Reward/Reinforcement and Treats (with a shout-out to Jennifer Arnold’s “All You Need is Love”)

Reworked the practical applications of upgrading Relationship with many games which are well known, but do not depend upon the dichotomy of right vs wrong , i.e. reinforcement vs punishment oriented performance.
Included a section on Resource Guarding and why Participant Modeling is NOT recommended for dogs exhibiting this towards their caretaker(s).

In motion sickness desensitization programs, the motion sickness provocative stimulus is often a forward bending of the trunk on a rotating chair, inducing Coriolis effects. Since respiratory relaxation techniques are applied successfully in these courses, we investigated whether these repetitive trunk movements by themselves may induce hyperventilation and consequently add to the motion sickness. There were 12 healthy subjects who participated in our study. In the Baseline condition, subjects sat relaxed on the stationary chair. In the Hypervent condition, subjects performed voluntary hyperventilation (the level was prescribed). In two other conditions subjects rhythmically bent their trunk on a stationary chair (Tilt-Stat condition) and on a rotating chair (Tilt-Rot condition). In all conditions we measured respiratory and cardiovascular activity (heart frequency, tidal volume, end-tidal CO2, and respiration frequency). Of the 12 subjects, 9 had to stop prematurely in the Tilt-Rot...

The prevalence of food allergy has risen over the last 20 years such that
it now illustrates a major public health problem. Approximately 1-2% of the
paediatric population within the UK are hen’s egg-allergic, representing the second
most common childhood allergy. There is no cure for food allergy; management can
only be achieved by avoidance. Egg allergy will in many cases resolve over time, but
persistent egg-allergic children will struggle with avoidance, as egg is found in a
multitude of products. Persistent egg-allergic children need a safe and effective
treatment. Oral immunotherapy (OIT) has been demonstrated as a promising
treatment to desensitise egg-allergic children in the United States (US), but has yet to
be conducted in a research context within the UK. Translating OIT into the context of
the UK health system is complex. Very little is known about the practical issues
regarding feasibility and acceptability of OIT in the UK. Thus, these issues need to be
explored through a literature review, and in a qualitative manner, to inform the
development of a protocol for a pilot egg OIT randomised-controlled trial (RCT).

This study investigated the desensitization to violence over a short period of time. Participants watched nine violent movie scenes and nine comedy scenes, and reported whether they enjoyed the violent or comedy scenes and whether they felt sympathetic toward the victim of violence. Using latent growth modeling, analyses were carried out to investigate how participants responded to the different scenes across time. The findings of this study suggested that repeated exposure to media violence reduces the psychological impact of media violence in the short term, therefore desensitizing viewers to media violence. As a result, viewers tended to feel less sympathetic toward the victims of violence and actually enjoy more the violence portrayed in the media. Additionally, desensitization to media violence was better represented by a curvilinear pattern, whereas desensitization to comedy scenes was better represented by a linear pattern. Finally, trait aggression was not related to the pattern of change over time, although significant effects were found for initial reports of enjoyment and sympathy. Aggr. Behav. 35:179–187, 2009. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

It was reported in a recent study that, like capsaicin, menthol is capable of producing a desensitization to sensory irritation in the oral cavity. Whereas capsaicin is known to be able to cross-desensitize with other chemical irritants, no such information exists for menthol. To address this question, the first experiment was designed to reveal whether cross-desensitization would occur between menthol and capsaicin. After a pretest on the tongue tip in which subjects rated the intensity of irritation and cold produced by 3.5 ppm capsaicin or 0.3% l-menthol, five samples of the same stimuli were sipped and swished at 1-min intervals for 5 min. Fifteen minutes later subjects were tested on the tongue tip with either capsaicin or menthol. The results 1) confirmed self-desensitization for both chemicals, 2) demonstrated cross-desensitization of menthol by capsaicin, and 3) revealed cross-sensitization of capsaicin by menthol. This series of outcomes suggests that menthol produces much ...

The aim of this clinical study was to investigate the comparative effectiveness of two dental desensitisers based on 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (Gluma desensitizer and Shield activ desensitizer), in decreasing the dentinal painful sensitivity caused by cervical erosions.The clinical trial consisted of 63 patients (323 teeth), with minimum three teeth which presented cervical erosion with dentinal hypersensitivity. The sensitive teeth were treated with Gluma Desensitizer-Heraeus Kulzer (first batch of teeth), Shield activ desensitiser (second batch) and distilled water (third batch of teeth=control group). We effectuated in total three desensitisation sessions, at 5 days difference. The level of cervical dentinal hypersensitivity (CDH) was determined in six sessions, after the patient's response to air-blast stimuli. We used the Visual Analog Scale (VAS) to assess the CDH. The results proved the effectiveness of used desensitizing agents in treating CDH in the first and the second batch of teeth, in comparison with the control group teeth. We noticed that after the second application of Gluma and Shield products significant differences, in comparison with the baseline, appeared. After 3 month follow-up, we ascertained that both products induced the decreasing of CDH. No significant differences were recorded between the two products. A placebo effect in reduction of CDH was observed in the group of teeth treated with distilled water. Both dentin desensitizing agents have proven effective in reducing CDH.

With the advent and popularity of Television by the end of 1950s and early 1960s, researchers focused the role and effects of this new medium on its growing audience. Himmelweit (1958) and Schramm (1961) are considered the pioneer researchers in the field. The volume of scientific studies regarding televised violence was largely increased following the landmark State Reports in US published between 1972 and 1982. These reports indicated that the proliferation of TV has exposed children to media violence at home. However, violence is rarely caused by a single factor, it rather involves multiple factors. Signorielli (2005) in her book Violence in the Media rightly commented that television plays a unique role of an entertaining storyteller but the increasing commercialization of TV is a serious matter of concern. The objective of this literature review is to provide a holistic overview of the landmark studies conducted on televised violence and its contribution to real life crimes and violence in society.