Change of Emotional Experience in Major Depression and Borderline Personality Disorder During Psychotherapy: Associations With Depression Severity and Personality Functioning.

This study examines emotional experience in major depressive disorder (MDD) with and without comorbid borderline personality disorder (BPD). It investigates if depression severity or personality functioning mediates group differences and which aspects of emotional experience change during psychotherapy. The emotional experience of MDD-BPD patients (n = 44) was compared to MDD-only patients (n = 35) before and after multimodal short-term psychotherapy. Emotions were classified based on valence and an active/passive polarity. MDD-BPD patients exhibited more active-negative emotions. This group difference was mediated by the level of personality functioning, but not by depression severity. Although passive-negative emotions decreased and positive emotions increased during therapy, there was no significant change in active-negative emotions. The two patient groups did not significantly differ in the change of emotional experience. Lower levels of personality functioning in depressed patients with BPD are associated with a broader spectrum of negative emotions, specifically more active-negative emotions.

What constitutes a compassionate response? The important role of culture.

American compassionate responses (i.e., sending sympathy cards) focus more on the positive (e.g., comforting memories) and less on the negative (e.g., the pain of someone's death) than German compassionate responses, partly because of cultural differences in how much people want to avoid feeling negative (i.e., avoided negative affect [ANA]). However, are these culture-specific compassionate responses considered more comforting and compassionate within their respective cultural context? We predicted that Americans would find responses that focus on the negative less and those that focus on the positive more comforting and compassionate than Germans will and that ANA would mediate these differences. In Study 1, 152 Americans and 315 Germans reported their ANA and rated how comforting they considered receiving different sympathy cards. As predicted, Americans found sympathy cards that contained negative content less and cards that contained positive content more comforting than Germans did. In Studies 2a and 2b, to examine whether these culture-specific conceptualizations of a comforting response would generalize to how people conceptualize a compassionate face, 118 Americans and 80 Germans selected stimuli that most resembled a compassionate (or happy) face using a reverse correlation task. As predicted, people's mental representation of a compassionate face contained more happiness/less sadness in an American than German context. Across studies, ANA partially mediated the cultural differences. This research demonstrates that responses that are intended to be compassionate might not be considered equally compassionate and comforting across cultures, which has implications for relief efforts, which are often organized internationally. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Development and validation of a duplex real-time PCR method for the simultaneous detection of celery and white mustard in food.

The developed duplex real-time PCR method allows the simultaneous detection of traces of potentially allergenic white mustard (Sinapis alba) and celery roots (Apium graveolens var. rapaceum), celery stalks (A. g. var. dulce) and leaf celery (A. g. var. secalinum). The duplex assay does not show any cross-reactivity with 64 different biological species, including various members of the Brassicaceae and Apiaceae family. In raw model sausages spiked with white mustard and celery roots, the LOD was found to be 0.001% white mustard and 0.005% celery. In model sausages brewed at 75-78°C for 15 min the LOD was found to be 0.005% white mustard and 0.005% celery. The duplex real-time PCR assay was applied to check if commercial food products are labelled in compliance with the legal regulations.

Development and validation of a real-time PCR method for the detection of white mustard (Sinapis alba) in foods.

This paper presents a real-time PCR method allowing the detection of traces of white mustard ( Sinapis alba ) in complex food matrices. The primers and the probe are targeted at the gene coding for S. alba MADS D. The real-time PCR method was found to be specific for white mustard and did not show any cross-reactivity with 67 biological species, including 12 members of the Brassicaceae family. The limit of detection, determined by analyzing serially diluted white mustard DNA extracts, was 1 pg of white mustard DNA/µL, corresponding to 5 pg of white mustard DNA. In model sausages, the limit of detection was found to be 0.001% white mustard (corresponding to 10 ppm or 10 mg/kg). The real-time PCR method was applied to verify the correct declaration of 20 foodstuffs purchased from Austrian supermarkets. White mustard DNA was detected in one of three samples labeled with "may contain traces of mustard" and in one of seven samples without any information on the presence of mustard.