A longitudinal study of emotional experience,expressivity, and psychopathology in psychotherapy inpatients and psychologically healthy persons

The authors investigated changes of emotional experience and expressivity in 34 inpatients undergoing psychodynamic therapy and in 29 healthy persons who were assessed at parallel time intervals. Participants completed 2 measures of psychopathology (Symptom Checklist‐90 Revised and Inventory of Interpersonal Problems‐64) and took part in relationship episode interviews. The emotional experiences they reported and their nonverbal emotional expressivity during the interviews were assessed by independent raters. Regardless of when they were assessed, the patients reported a greater number of emotions and a greater variety of emotions. Psychopathology in the patient group decreased in the course of treatment, but there were no systematic changes in the emotional domain. The findings challenge the common notion of psychopathology being associated with impaired awareness and expression of emotions. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Psychol 66:1–17, 2010.     

Open volume in bioadhesive detected by positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy

Barnacles attach to a wide variety of surfaces underwater and show substrate-specific adhesion mechanisms. Investigating and understanding these mechanisms is a key for developing new technical adhesives. We expected open volume (porosity) at the sub-nanometre scale to occur in barnacle adhesive. With positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy (PALS) it is possible to detect porosity at the nanometre scale by determining the lifetime of positrons. This method has not been applied to bioadhesives so far. We showed that PALS is a suitable technique for the investigation of the barnacle base and its adhesive with respect to open volume. The results were interpreted using a standard model adapted from polymers. We thereby estimated pore sizes of 0.5 nm.     

Evaluation of low-viscosity bulk-fill composites regarding marginal and internal adaptation

This study aimed at evaluating the marginal and internal adaptation of low-viscosity bulk-fill composites to enamel and dentin using a self-etch or an etch-and-rinse adhesive without and with artificial ageing. Hundred and twenty-eight MOD cavities in extracted molars were assigned to eight groups (n = 16), restored with the adhesives OptiBond FL (OFL) or Xeno V+ (X) and two low-viscosity bulk-fill composites SDR or x-tra base, covered with Premise. Tetric EvoCeram Bulk Fill and Premise served as a control. n = 8 per group were subjected to prolonged water storage (180 days) and thermocycling (2500×). Scanning electron microscopy was used to determine marginal gaps (MG) and interfacial adhesive defects (IAD). There were no significant differences between composite types in 44 out of 48 (MG) or 43/48 (IAD) comparisons. More MG were observed with X than with OFL (14 out of 16 comparisons, two significant), while in 16 of 16 comparisons with X more IAD were observed (14 significant). After artificial ageing, MG generally increased (9/16 significant), compared to IAD (one significant). The performance of the investigated composite types concerning the integrity of the tooth-composites interface was comparable. Compared to the 1-step self-etch system, the bond with the 3-step etch-and-rinse adhesive was raised.

     

Autorisierte Übersetzung Zusammenfassung der Praxisleitlinien: Inzidenzraten und Risikofaktoren des plötzlichen unerwarteten Todes bei Epilepsie

Clinical Epileptology - Ziel dieser Praxisleitlinie ist es, die Häufigkeit von plötzlichen unerwarteten Todesfällen bei Epilepsie (SUDEP) in verschiedenen Epilepsiepopulationen zu...     

Wenn das Es den Affekt bestimmt. Psychoanalytische Theorien zur Affektdynamik bei schizophrenen Psychosen

Ausgehend von S. Freuds Positionen zur Funktion der Affekte und ihrer Kontrolle durch das Ich werden die Affekt-Konzepte von Winnicott, Bion, Kernberg und Fonagy vorgestellt. Die Kompatibilit?t dieser Positionen mit neurowissenschaftlichen Affekt-Modellen sowie die Relevanz einer psychoanalytischen Haltung speziell im psychiatrisch-klinischen Umgang mit Psychosen werden diskutiert.     

Effects of positive affect on risk perceptions in adolescence and young adulthood

Affective influences may play a key role in adolescent risk taking, but have rarely been studied. Using an audiovisual method of affect induction, two experimental studies examined the effect of positive affect on risk perceptions in adolescence and young adulthood. Outcomes were risk perceptions regarding drinking alcohol, smoking a cigarette, riding in a car with a drunk driver, getting into a fight, and having unprotected sexual intercourse. Study 1 showed that positive affect led to lower risk perceptions than neutral affect for young adults (mean age 23). Study 2 replicated the effect for early adolescents (mean age 13), mid-adolescents (mean age 17), and young adults (mean age 23). Moreover, Study 2 showed that the effect was most pronounced at high levels of impulsiveness. Adolescents and young adults may be more risk averse in contexts that do not give rise to emotions, but have markedly lower risk perceptions under positive affect.     

The clinical implications of mouse models of enhanced anxiety

Mice are increasingly overtaking the rat model organism in important aspects of anxiety research, including drug development. However, translating the results obtained in mouse studies into information that can be applied in clinics remains challenging. One reason may be that most of the studies so far have used animals displaying 'normal' anxiety rather than 'psychopathological' animal models with abnormal (elevated) anxiety, which more closely reflect core features and sensitivities to therapeutic interventions of human anxiety disorders, and which would, thus, narrow the translational gap. Here, we discuss manipulations aimed at persistently enhancing anxiety-related behavior in the laboratory mouse using phenotypic selection, genetic techniques and/or environmental manipulations. It is hoped that such models with enhanced construct validity will provide improved ways of studying the neurobiology and treatment of pathological anxiety. Examples of findings from mouse models of enhanced anxiety-related behavior will be discussed, as well as their relation to findings in anxiety disorder patients regarding neuroanatomy, neurobiology, genetic involvement and epigenetic modifications. Finally, we highlight novel targets for potential anxiolytic pharmacotherapeutics that have been established with the help of research involving mice. Since the use of psychopathological mouse models is only just beginning to increase, it is still unclear as to the extent to which such approaches will enhance the success rate of drug development in translating identified therapeutic targets into clinical trials and, thus, helping to introduce the next anxiolytic class of drugs.