Morphology and nanostructure of CeO2(111) surfaces of single crystals and Si(111) supported ceria films.

The surface morphology of CeO(2)(111) single crystals and silicon supported ceria films is investigated by non-contact atomic force microscopy (NC-AFM) and Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM) for various annealing conditions. Annealing bulk samples at 1100 K results in small terraces with rounded ledges and steps with predominantly one O-Ce-O triple layer height while annealing at 1200 K produces well-ordered straight step edges in a hexagonal motif and step bunching. The morphology and topographic details of films are similar, however, films are destroyed upon heating them above 1100 K. KPFM images exhibit uniform terraces on a single crystal surface when the crystal is slowly cooled down, whereas rapid cooling results in a significant inhomogeneity of the surface potential. For films exhibiting large terraces, significant inhomogeneity in the KPFM signal is found even for best possible preparation conditions. Applying X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), we find a significant contamination of the bulk ceria sample with fluorine while a possible fluorine contamination of the ceria film is below the XPS detection threshold. Time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectroscopy (TOF-SIMS) reveals an accumulation of fluorine within the first 5 nm below the surface of the bulk sample and a small concentration throughout the crystal.

A perfectly stoichiometric and flat CeO2(111) surface on a bulk-like ceria film.

In surface science and model catalysis, cerium oxide (ceria) is mostly grown as an ultra-thin film on a metal substrate in the ultra-high vacuum to understand fundamental mechanisms involved in diverse surface chemistry processes. However, such ultra-thin films do not have the contribution of a bulk ceria underneath, which is currently discussed to have a high impact on in particular surface redox processes. Here, we present a fully oxidized ceria thick film (180 nm) with a perfectly stoichiometric CeO2(111) surface exhibiting exceptionally large, atomically flat terraces. The film is well-suited for ceria model studies as well as a perfect substitute for CeO2 bulk material.

Personality related effects of nicotine, mode of application, and expectancies on performance, emotional states, and desire for smoking.

Three separate factors relevant to nicotine effects have been investigated in this experiment in combination: the experimentally induced expectation about receiving a sham or a nicotine cigarette, the mode of application of nicotine by a tablet, by a cigarette or not at all, while the belief of receiving the nicotine via smoking was held constant in each condition (by nicotine or sham smoking), and the personality factors of extraversion or neuroticism, respectively. Ninety-six healthy female student smokers were tested in a 2 x 3 x 2 factorial group comparison design with respect to critical flicker fusion and reaction time performance as well as to self-ratings on emotional and cortical arousal and ratings on desire for further cigarettes (satisfaction from smoking a single cigarette containing either 0.8 mg nicotine or a sham cigarette). In each case, a tablet containing either nicotine or placebo was administered together with the cigarette. The results showed that performance is sensitive to interaction effects of instruction and mode of application. The instruction of sham or nicotine assignment when applied with a congruent treatment (sham with a sham cigarette, or nicotine with a nicotine cigarette) both increased performance, while groups with discordant information showed worse performance. The administration of nicotine by tablets or by smoking differs considerably, nicotine cigarettes causing a stronger increase in emotional arousal, tablets rather a decrease or no effect, while the true placebo condition increases arousal due to deprivation effects. This leads to an enhancement of the nicotine effect with real smoking and to reactive increase of effort when sham smoking. The instruction affects alertness, the nicotine illusion leading to a lower reduction in subjective reports of alertness and concentration than that observed with the sham instruction. Neurotic subjects become more anxious and tense with nicotine cigarettes than stable subjects. This effect is less pronounced or even reversed with tablets. No interactions with instructions are observed with neuroticism. Extraverts tend to show a decrease in performance but an increase in alertness with the instruction of receiving nicotine as opposed to the sham expectation, whereas introverts behave the opposite way. Subjective ratings on arousal seem to follow the law of transmarginal inhibition, with extraverts being pushed from low arousal to high and introverts vice versa by the mere expectation.

Cholinergic REM induction test: muscarinic supersensitivity underlies polysomnographic findings in both depression and schizophrenia.

Disinhibition of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep (e.g. shortening of REM latency, heightened REM density) is frequently encountered in patients with a major depressive disorder (MDD). Administration of cholinomimetics prior to or during sleep leads to a more pronounced advance of REM sleep in depressed patients compared to healthy controls and patients with other psychiatric disorders. The present study tested whether the cholinergic REM induction test (CRIT) with 1.5 mg RS 86 (an orally acting muscarinic agonist) differentiates patients with MDD (n = 40) from those with schizophrenia (n = 43) and healthy controls (n = 36). The most pronounced shortening of REM latency after cholinergic stimulation occurred in patients with MDD. However, a significant number of patients with schizophrenia also displayed short REM latencies (REM latency < 25 minutes) under placebo conditions and after cholinergic stimulation. REM density measures more clearly differentiated patients with MDD from those with schizophrenia. It is concluded that a subgroup of patients suffering from schizophrenia displays signs of a muscarinic receptor supersensitivity.

Patterns of recovery of autonomic dysfunctions and neurocognitive deficits in schizophrenics after acute psychotic episodes.

In this study, the authors aimed to identify patterns of autonomic dysfunction and neurocognitive deficit recovery. The authors performed laboratory assessments on 66 patients with schizophrenia immediately after an acute psychotic episode and 6, 12, and 18 months later. Shortly after the psychotic episode, the patients displayed cardiovascular hyperarousal at rest, cardiovascular and electrodermal hyporeactivity during 2 Continuous Performance Tasks (CPTs) and deficits in 2 behavioral CPT measures (i.e., reaction time and omission error rate) compared with 29 normal controls. In the subsequent postpsychotic course, changes indicative of a process of recovery occurred in all measurement areas, although with regard to autonomic hyporeactivity amelioration was limited to a subgroup of schizophrenics with complete and persistent symptomatic remission. Neurocognitive improvement in CPTs did not appear to depend on unimpaired autonomic reactivity mechanisms.

Alcoholic women treated by behaviorally orientated therapy: an 18-month follow-up study.

Follow-up results of a behaviorally orientated treatment program for alcoholic women are presented. Sixty patients, carefully screened, were admitted on a special ward in groups of not larger than 12 for a period of 3 months. Abstinence was the declared goal of all individual and group treatments. More than 13 months after discharge interviews were carried out with 58 of the 60 former patients in their homes. Further information was collected from relatives and social workers. Forty per cent of those interviewed qualified as abstinent, 9% had improved, 3% were controlled drinkers, 5% had become worse and 43% had not improved. Specific aspects of the program are discussed.

Ritanserin as add-on medication to neuroleptic therapy for patients with chronic or subchronic schizophrenia.

The effect of ritanserin, a potent 5HT 2A/2C receptor antagonist, used as an add-on medication to neuroleptic treatment in patients with schizophrenia, was compared with that of placebo, in an international, double-blind, parallel-group study. Previously established neuroleptic therapy was maintained, and ritanserin 10 mg or placebo was given once daily for 8 weeks. Psychopathology was assessed with the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) and the Clinical Global Impression (CGI) cale. Safety assessments included the Extrapyramidal Symptom Rating Scale (ESRS), and the requirement for antiparkinsonian medication was monitored. About 70 per cent of patients completed the treatment. There was no difference between the two groups in the numbers of patients with clinical improvement at endpoint on the PANSS negative subscale and total PANSS. The CGIs of overall severity of schizophrenia were better under placebo. The overall prevalence of side effects and the requirements for antiparkinsonism medication were comparable in the two groups. Copyright 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The dimensional complexity of the EEG during cognitive tasks reflects the impaired information processing in schizophrenic patients.

The aim of the present study was to investigate whether schizophrenic patients show a different change of the dimensional complexity of the EEG, as represented by the Grassberger-Procaccia correlation dimension D(2,) under cognitive challenge compared to normal control subjects. With respect to results reported in the literature, it was expected that the complexity of the signal under cognitive challenge is higher in schizophrenic patients than in normal control subjects reflecting the impaired information processing abilities of the patients. Eighty-seven schizophrenic and 30 matched control subjects performed two different types of the continuous performance task. The results revealed differences between schizophrenic patients and control subjects for the performance as well as the complexity measures. Schizophrenic patients produced more omission errors than normal subjects did. For the EEG complexity measure no differences occurred under the baseline condition. In contrast, during the first minute under task conditions the control subjects showed a decrease of the dimension while no changes were found for the schizophrenic group. These results occurred for both types of the cognitive task but they reached clear significance only in one of them. The results are interpreted as reflecting the ability of normal subjects to adapt their information processing system to the cognitive challenge and to focus their attention on the task while schizophrenic subjects do not show this adaptation to the task.

Placebo injections and surveillance of alcohol intake during inpatient treatment of female alcoholics.

Institutions for treating alcoholics differ widely with respect to how restrictively they apply psychopharmacological agents and how rigorously they control patients for intake of alcohol. This study investigates the impact of such policies on relapse rates. During a three month inpatient treatment, 70 female alcoholics were assigned to one of four conditions: (a) strict surveillance of alcohol intake by means of breath tests and frequent checks of patient's rooms as well as injections of a placebo purportedly reducing craving, (b) no surveillance but placebo injections, (c) surveillance but no placebo injections, and (d) neither surveillance nor placebo injections. The amount of surveillance did not influence relapse rates. However, during inpatient treatment more relapses occurred among patients who received the placebo injections than among those who did not. Although this effect was no longer significant following treatment, the increase of relapse rates suggests caution in the application of nonspecific medication in the treatment of alcoholics.

[Smoking reduction during inpatient alcohol detoxification: a controlled clinical pilot trial]. / Rauchreduktion bei Alkoholkranken im Rahmen einer stationären Alkohol-Entzugsbehandlung: Eine kontrollierte klinische Pilotstudie.

Health care professionals tend to advise alcohol dependent patients to quit tobacco consumption only after longer periods of alcohol abstinence. This recommendation reflects concerns that smoking intervention programs may adversely interfere with the outcome of ongoing alcohol detoxification and rehabilitation treatment. However, the issue of appropriate time windows for initiating changes of smoking behaviour in alcoholic patients is still in need of empirical evaluation. Thus the aim of the present study is to investigate whether alcohol dependent smokers may be able to reduce cigarette consumption very early during alcohol detoxification and rehabilitation treatment. We performed a non-randomized controlled clinical pilot trial with 56 female and male alcohol dependent smokers in an inpatient setting providing a 3-weeks alcohol detoxification program. 28 individuals received a smoking reduction program consisting of a 6-sessions approach in a group format following behavioural principles. For the control group of 28 individuals the program was not available. Tobacco consumption was assessed daily by staff members. Alcohol dependent patients participating in the smoking reduction program reduced their daily cigarette consumption rates significantly, whereas the control group showed a tendency to increase tobacco consumption. According to the tentative findings of this pilot study early smoking interventions already during alcohol detoxification appear to be a feasible approach.

Reduction of side effects by combining clozapine with amisulpride: case report and short review of clozapine-induced hypersalivation-a case report.

Side effects from a high-dose clozapine treatment for a schizophrenic patient led to massive compliance problems. The dose of clozapine could be halved without recurrence of an acute psychotic symptomatology by concomitantly administering amisulpride. The side effects, especially hypersalivation, disappeared almost entirely, which in turn led to good compliance. In a short review we would like to present the pathophysiology and therapeutic options of clozapine-induced hypersalivation.

Alcohol withdrawal states and the need for treatment.

In an attempt to evaluate the clinical significance of alcohol withdrawal, the rate of symptoms and incidence of treatment were determined in 84 female alcoholics following abrupt withdrawal. Results indicated that abstinence symptoms of an emergency type (delirium tremens, convulsions) only rarely occur and require active treatment, whereas those physical and emotional disturbances frequently seen in alcohol withdrawal need very little medical help. This finding is in contradistinction to current clinical opinion.

[An attribution psychological approach for explaining productive psychotic symptoms]. / Ein attributionspsychologischer Ansatz zur Erklärung produktiv-psychotischer Symptome.

This study is an attempt to interpret productive psychotic symptoms within the framework of attribution psychology. The fundamental principles of this approach were supplied by Schachter in his publications on attribution research (basing on his theory of emotionality). First of all, an outline of Schachter's somatocognitive theory of emotion is given where emotions are interpreted as a result of (unspecific) neurovegetative excitation and certain characteristics of the external situation (the so-called cognitions). Experimental findings in connection with this approach are described. The concept of "incongruence attribution" was developed by us using a central element of Schachter's concept as well as currently accepted principles of attribution psychology. "Incongruence attribution" points to situations in which an individual is confronted by somatic alterations without the presence of attributable external cognitions. The present article refers to two psychiatric cases where a somatocognitive incongruence existed in the form of excessive physical changes. The psychotic pattern of symptoms occurring in both patients is interpreted by us as a result of incongruence attribution. Finally, the article deals with an extension of these deliberations in the sense of a large-scale application of concepts of attribution psychology to the range of psychoses. Productive symptoms as seen in endogenous and exogenous psychoses should generally be interpreted as examples of incongruence attribution.

[An analysis of experimental studies of Schachter's theory of emotion]. / Eine Analyse experimenteller Untersuchungen zu Schachters Theorie der Emotion.

The present paper is concerned with Schachter's theory of emotion and with experiments evaluating its empirical significance. Three studies are examined, those by Schachter a. Singer (1962), Erdmann a. Janke (1978) and Marschall a. Zimbardo (1979). They differ considerably in their results. The view is taken, that the seemingly inconsistent findings could be related to a common denominator, with no immediate need of abandoning Schachter's basic ideas. In addressing this issue the concept of "cognitive-physiological incongruity" is introduced referring to altered relations between a person's bodily reactions and his cognitions. An attempt is made to show, that cognitive-physiological incongruity, assumed to be present in the experimental studies under consideration, accounts for most of their conflicting results.

[Controlled study of an abbreviated form of the Hamburg-Wechsler Intelligence Test for Adults (HAWIE, Dahl's WIP) in a heterogenous clinical group]. / Eine Kontrolluntersuchung zu einer HAWIE-Kurzform (WIP von Dahl) bei einer heterogenen klinischen Gryppe

The "reduzierte Wechsler-Intelligenztest für psychiatrische Kranke (WIP)" by Dahl, a short form of the German version (HAWIE) of the Wechsler-Bellevue Intelligence Scale, comprising the subtests Information, Similarities, Picture Completion and Block Design was applied in a replication study to a heterogeneous group of 420 mental patients. Results show a sufficiently high level of agreement (multiple correlation) between the present test and the HAWIE-IQ. With this result and a sample independence of the correlation, two of the requirements of board clinical application of the WIP are met. On the other hand Dahl's assumption that the WIP represents the optimal (quadruple)combination of subtests of the full scale was not confirmed. Criticisms of the WIP in the literature are discussed. On the basis of previous studies and the present investigations it is held that the WIP is a useful contribution to measurement of general ability in a clinical setting.

Spontaneous fluctuations of electrical skin conductance and the actual clinical state in schizophrenics.

The present paper examines in a group of 48 schizophrenics, whether spontaneous fluctuations (SF) in electrical skin conductance show a relationship to psychiatric symptomatology. Subjects participated in an experiment that delivered nonsignal auditory stimuli. Their clinical state was assessed by the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) and the Nurses' Observation Scale for Inpatient Evaluation (NOSIE). An additional set of factors with a possible influence on SF rates was also taken into account. A stepwise regression analysis showed BPRS Activation and NOSIE Manifest Psychosis to be of significance, the BPRS subscale displaying a positive and the NOSIE subtest a negative partial correlation to SF frequency. Results are discussed with regard to their implication for experiments using tonic electrodermal measurement; they are also compared with the literature on phasic electrodermal arousal.

[Patient evaluation of inpatient psychiatric occupational therapy. Determinants of reported patient satisfaction]. / Patientenbewertungen stationärer psychiatrischer Ergotherapie. Bedingungsfaktoren der berichteten Patientenzufriedenheit.

OBJECTIVE: The present study, which falls back on data collected within an extensive evaluation of indoor psychiatric ergotherapy, aims at the investigation of the interaction between patients' satisfaction and patients' characteristics, duration of treatment, and patients' assessments of specific single treatment aspects. METHODS: Fifty-eight inpatients assigned to three ergotherapeutic treatment programs were included into study. Assessments included--among others--a German version of the Client Satisfaction Questionnaire as well as a 74-items questionnaire on specific treatment aspects, such as perceived support, perceived practical orientation, and perceived personal problem orientation. RESULTS: As expected, a high level of satisfaction with treatment was reported. Patients' satisfaction is correlated with some variables under study, such as patients' subjective well-being and patients' assessments of psychosocial and professional treatment aspects. CONCLUSIONS: Findings indicate that--for the purpose of high patient satisfaction--ergotherapeutic treatment programs should distinguish themselves by supportive therapists, practical orientation, and personal problem orientation.