Self-face recognition in schizophrenia is related to insight.

A core feature of schizophrenia is the breakdown of the sense of self. A widespread clinical consequence of impaired self-awareness is a lack of insight. Self-face recognition is regarded as one aspect of self-awareness; how this relates to other self-referential processes such as insight into the disorder is as yet unknown. Nineteen patients with schizophrenia performed a facial recognition task using video morphings during which an average face gradually transformed into one's own, a famous or an unfamiliar face (and vice versa). Reaction times to detect faces during the transitions were compared between patients and a matched control group. In the patient group, we also examined correlations between face recognition and insight, psychopathology, and self-evaluation. Both patients with schizophrenia and controls recognised their own faces faster than unfamiliar faces. Whereas healthy subjects recognised a famous face at an intermediate speed that did not differ significantly from the recognition of one's own and unfamiliar faces, schizophrenia patients recognised the famous face, similar to their own face, significantly faster than an unfamiliar face. Moreover, in the patient group, higher insight correlated with faster reaction times in distinguishing one's own from famous faces. Patients with schizophrenia seem to distinguish less than controls between their own and a famous face relative to an unfamiliar face. Patients with good insight into the disorder, however, were better able to differentiate between their own and a famous face. This study supports the view that self-face recognition is an indicator for higher-order self-awareness.

Estradiol and triiodothyronine differentially modulate reproductive and thyroidal genes in male goldfish.

While the reproductive and thyroidal systems are extensively studied in fish, they are largely studied in isolation from one another, but there is evidence supporting cross-regulation between these two systems. To better understand hormone action and the potential cross-regulation between estrogen and thyroid hormones, we examined gene expression changes in estrogen receptor (ER) and thyroid receptor (TR) subtypes and key enzymes responsible for the local synthesis and availability of estrogen and thyroid hormones (aromatase B and deiodinase, respectively) in sexually regressed, adult, male goldfish in response to 3 days waterborne exposures to 17ß-estradiol (E2; 1 nM), triiodothyronine (T3; 20 and 100 nM), and co-treatments thereof. Treatments with E2 alone did not effect ER subtype transcripts in the liver, telencephalon, or testis; however, in the testis, 1 nM T3 decreased ERα and ERß1 and co-treatments of T3 and E2 decreased ERß1 levels. TRα-1 and TRß transcripts were not auto-regulated by T3 or cross-regulated by E2. Although deiodinase type I levels were also unaffected, deiodinase type II decreased in response to T3 treatments. Liver deiodinase type III transcripts increased in response to T3 treatments, while E2 exhibited antagonistic effects on this T3-mediated induction. These results provide novel evidence of cross-talk between the reproductive and thyroid endocrine axes in a model teleost.

Assessment of thyroid system disruption in Rana pipiens tadpoles chronically exposed to UVB radiation and 4-tert-octylphenol.

Many studies have considered recent increases in ultraviolet B radiation (UVBR) and endocrine disrupting chemicals polluting the environment as possible contributing factors to the reduction in amphibian populations. It has been demonstrated that exposure of amphibians to estrogenic chemicals or UVBR can affect the timing of larval development and metamorphosis. However, amphibians in the wild are exposed to multiple environmental stressors simultaneously. Therefore, our study examines the effects of UVBR and the estrogenic chemical 4-tert-octylphenol (OP), alone and in combination, on the thyroid system of Rana pipiens tadpoles, which is the main regulator of amphibian metamorphosis. Results demonstrate that thyroid gland histomorphology measurements in Gosner stage 31 tadpoles continuously exposed to UVBR (0.21W/m(2)) were not different than those measured in animals from the control group. In a separate experiment, tadpoles exposed to environmentally relevant levels of UVBR (0.22W/m(2)) and/or OP (0.01nM or 10nM) exhibited significantly delayed development starting from Gosner stage 29, given that fewer tadpoles developed past stage 29 in these groups. In addition, significantly fewer UVBR-treated tadpoles developed past stage 34 and metamorphosed. Samples were collected from stages 29 and 34 tadpoles for gene expression analysis in tail tissue and measurements of T3 (triiodothyronine) whole body levels (minus tail). UVBR and/or OP exposure did not affect T3 levels in stages 29 and 34 tadpoles. However, a decrease in deiodinase type 2 (D2) or increase in deiodinase type 3 (D3) mRNA levels was observed in groups of tadpoles with slowed developmental rates at those developmental stages. Given that D2 activates and D3 inactivates thyroid hormones (TH), UVBR/OP mediated disruptions in development are likely caused by dysfunctions in the localized metabolism of THs through alterations in the expression of these enzymes in peripheral tissues. This is the first study to our knowledge reporting a potential thyroid-based mechanism of action for the developmental delays in amphibians exposed to UVBR and/or OP.

Quadratic trend analysis and heartbeat detection.

In heartbeat detection tasks based on the Method of Constant Stimuli (MCS), subjects judge the simultaneity between their heartbeats and stimuli presented at six intervals ranging from 0 to 500 ms after the R-waves on an electrocardiogram. Because research suggests that subjects do not perceive stimuli at 0 or 500 ms as simultaneous, individual performance was indexed with quadratic trend analysis to test for distributions of simultaneity judgments across intervals that peak between 0 and 500 ms. Further, because some tasks use only two intervals, performance was also indexed using intervals of either 0 and 200 ms or 200 and 500 ms. Continuous performance scores from quadratic trend and two-interval analysis tended to correlate more highly with variables previously shown to correlate with heartbeat detection than scores from the commonly-used chi(2) analysis. These findings support the use of both quadratic trend analysis and two-interval tasks for assessing heartbeat detection ability.

Nonconscious fear conditioning, visceral perception, and the development of gut feelings.

When people are presented with backward-masked images of fear-relevant stimuli and only some of these images are paired consistently with electric shocks, they can predict the occurrence of shocks even though they do not consciously know which images they have seen. We postulated that they may use the perception of visceral cues from the conditional fear response to facilitate the prediction of shocks. In this study, ability to detect heartbeats was used to index sensitivity to visceral cues. The results showed that subjects who could detect their heartbeats performed better than chance in predicting whether or not they would receive a shock during the conditioning task. The findings support the notion that hunches, or "gut feelings," are based in part on the perception of visceral cues.

Examination of the behavior and liver and thyroid histology of juvenile rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) exposed to high dietary concentrations of C(10)-, C(11)-, C(12)- and C(14)-polychlorinated n-alkanes.

Juvenile rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) were exposed to high dietary concentrations of six polychlorinated n-alkane (PCAs) (C(10)H(15.5)C(6.5), C(10)H(15.3)Cl(6.7),C(11)H(18.4)Cl(5.6),C(12)H(19.5)Cl(6.5),C(14)H(24.9)Cl(5.1) and C(14)H(23.3)Cl(6.7)) for 21 to assess their effects on behavior and liver and thyroid histology and for 85 days to assess histology for a longer term exposure. This is the first histological work using PCAs of known carbon chain length and chlorine content and the first effort to examine the histopathology of fish exposed to PCAs. PCAs, also known as chlorinated paraffins, are complex industrial products for which there is a lack of toxicological data on individual congeners. With the exception of trout exposed to C(14)H(24.9)Cl(5.1), which had much lower exposure concentrations, many of the trout exposed to the PCAs (whole fish concentrations 0.22-5.5 microg g(-1)) showed a diminished or no startle response, loss of equilibrium, and developed a dark coloration. These responses are indicative of a narcotic toxicological mode-of-action. Histopathological lesions were observed in the livers of trout from each exposure group. However, the most severe histopathologies were observed in the livers of fish exposed to C(10)H(15.3)Cl(6.7) and C(11)H(18.4)Cl(5.6) (whole fish concentrations 0.92 and 5.5 microg g(-1), respectively), in which extensive fibrous lesions were present that were not observed in any other exposure group. Other alterations observed in all treatment groups included hepatocyte necrosis, sites of inflammation, and glycogen/lipid depletion. The relative sizes of hepatocytes of PCA exposed trout were smaller than control trout, although only a few of the observed differences were statistically significant. No lesions were present in the thyroid, although trout exposed to C(10)H(15.5)Cl(6.5) (whole fish concentration 0.84 microg g(-1)) had slightly more active thyroids, as indicated by an increased mean thyroid epithelium cell height relative to controls. It would appear that PCA toxicity is inversely related to carbon chain length, as has been observed in similar studies using mammals. The concentrations in the fish from this experiment were at levels that have been reported in invertebrates and fish from contaminated sites in the Great Lakes. However, the exposure concentrations were likely much greater in these experiments compared with the environment and require further study.

Cardiovascular reactivity and adaptation to recurrent psychological stress: the moderating effects of evaluative observation.

The impact of evaluative observation on cardiovascular reactivity and adaptation to recurrent psychological stress was evaluated in 162 undergraduate men and women. All participants performed three mental arithmetic tasks with or without evaluative observation. Impedance cardiographic, blood pressure, task performance, and stress appraisal measures were recorded for each task. Evaluative observation moderated the effects of task repetition on cardiac reactivity but not vascular reactivity. The introduction of evaluative observation disrupted cardiac adaptation, resulting in a resurgence of beta-adrenergic cardiac reactivity (p < .005), whereas the removal of evaluative observation promoted cardiac adaptation. Evaluative observation also increased stress appraisals and slowed task performance. The results support the dual process theory of habituation, rather than stimulus comparator theory, but only partially support cognitive appraisal theory.

Cardiovascular reactivity and adaptation to recurrent psychological stress: effects of prior task exposure.

The effects of prior task exposure on cardiovascular reactivity to stress were examined in two experiments by randomly assigning participants to repeated exposure groups that performed mental arithmetic pretest and test tasks versus delayed exposure groups that performed only the test task after prolonged rest. Impedance cardiographic and blood pressure measures were recorded continuously from 60 undergraduate men in Experiment 1 and 112 undergraduate men and women in Experiment 2. Task repetition attenuated cardiovascular reactivity and improved task performance in repeated exposure groups (p < .001), suggesting an integrated process of behavioral adaptation. During the test task, delayed exposure groups showed greater cardiac reactivity (p < .01), but not vascular reactivity, than repeated exposure groups. Thus, cardiac reactivity varied as a specific function of prior task exposure, whereas vascular reactivity varied as a general function of time.

Synthetic stimuli attenuate the effect of attention on the dichotic right-ear advantage.

This study assessed attentional effects on the right-ear advantage (REA) for a dichoticlistening task that used synthetic-speech syllables. Presenting subjects with monaural tone cues at various intervals prior to dichotic pairs of natural-speech syllables, T. A. Mondor and M. P. Bryden 1991 (The influence of attention on the dichotic REA. Neuropsychologia, 29, 1179-1190) found a reduced REA with longer intervals. This suggested that tone cues at longer intervals helped overcome a right-ear attentional bias. Despite sufficient statistical power, in the present study no reduction in the REA was found with longer intervals between tones and synthetic-speech syllables. As synthetic-speech stimuli tend to fuse better into the percept of a single stimulus than do natural-speech stimuli, attentional effects on the REA may be reduced with dichotic stimuli that fuse.

Stability of total respiratory resistance under multiple baseline conditions, isometric arm exercise and voluntary deep breathing.

Little is known about total respiratory resistance (TRR) as a psychophysiological parameter in normal subjects. Therefore, we investigated TRR in 45 healthy students under multiple baseline conditions, isometric arm muscle tension and voluntary deep breathing (VDB). TRR was measured by the forced oscillation technique. In addition, heart rate (HR) as well as volume and time components of the respiratory cycle, respiratory timing and respiratory drive were monitored. Subjects repeated the protocol 14 days later. Coefficients of stability and dependability were calculated for 20 s measurement epochs within and between both sessions. Increases of HR and shortening of time components of the respiratory cycle were found during muscle tension, prolongation of time components and increases in volume were found for deep breathing. During both experimental tasks TRR increased significantly. Short-term as well as long-term stability of absolute TRR scores proved to be comparable or even better than reliability of other physiological parameters, however, difference scores from baseline revealed only low coefficients.

The ensemble-averaged impedance cardiogram: an evaluation of scoring methods and interrater reliability.

The interrater reliability and concurrent validity of two methods of scoring the ensemble-averaged impedance cardiogram were evaluated. Impedance cardiographic and electrocardiographic signals were recorded from 40 undergraduate men and women during a baseline rest period and a vocal mental arithmetic task period. Recordings were scored by four rates using a conventional method, involving ensemble averaging after careful editing of beat-to-beat waveforms, and a streamlined method, involving ensemble averaging without beat-to-beat editing. Intraclass correlations for interrater reliability exceeded .92, whereas intraclass correlations for concurrent validity exceeded .97, indicating excellent agreement between rates and scoring methods for all cardiac measures. The streamlined method was significantly faster than the conventional method. The results indicate that variations in beat-to-beat editing do not constitute a serious source of error in the ensemble-averaged impedance cardiogram and support the interrater reliability and concurrent validity of the two scoring methods.

Response bias affects perceptual asymmetry scores and performance measures on a dichotic listening task.

A dichotic listening paradigm discussed by Sidtis and Bryden (Neuropsychologia, 1978, 16, 627-632) allows one to present non-verbal as well as verbal material. This paradigm also permits signal-detection analyses to separate response biases from discrimination abilities. The present study used Sidtis' (Neuropsychologia, 1981, 19, 103-112) Complex Tone Task as an example of the paradigm. Employing signal-detection analyses, we demonstrated that commonly used performance and asymmetry indices are confounded by response bias. Several indices based on signal-detection measures are suggested to replace current widely used measures. As pointed out by Bryden and Sprott (Neuropsychologia, 1981, 19, 571-581), currently the usefulness of a perceptual asymmetry score is mainly determined by mathematical and statistical properties rather than by a theoretical framework. Thus, the choice of a particular index based on signal-detection theory is arbitrary. The present results and those of Katsuki et al. (Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 1984, 27, 444-448) suggest that the confounding effect of response bias may be present in a variety of experiments investigating lateral processing.

[Postoperative analgesics consumption]. / Postoperativer Analgetikaverbrauch.

Prescription habits, dose and form of application of analgesics were investigated in a retrospective study of postoperative pain alleviation involving 250 patients. On the basis of clinical and pharmacological criteria, a prescription regime is presented for Paracetamol as used singly and in combination with Codeine. The prescription regime has been tested in a prospective study involving 50 patients and found to be effective.