Sex differences in anxiety and depression clinical perspectives

Sex differences are prominent in mood and anxiety disorders and may provide a window into mechanisms of onset and maintenance of affective disturbances in both men and women. With the plethora of sex differences in brain structure, function, and stress responsivity, as well as differences in exposure to reproductive hormones, social expectations and experiences, the challenge is to understand which sex differences are relevant to affective illness. This review will focus on clinical aspects of sex differences in affective disorders including the emergence of sex differences across developmental stages and the impact of reproductive events. Biological, cultural, and experiential factors that may underlie sex differences in the phenomenology of mood and anxiety disorders are discussed.     

Repairing a relationship imperiled by infidelity: combining individual work,Relationship Enhancement® couple therapy and guided visualization to break through an emotional impasse

This article presents an extended case analysis involving the impact of infidelity on an intimate relationship where the emotional connection between the two partners runs very deep but where the involved partner's multiple infidelities and the hurt partner's wounded and defended heart keep them stuck, the couple neither being able to end the relationship nor heal from the emotional trauma to the relationship. The analysis relates the intensive individual work with the involved partner on his personal struggles with ego-driven serial infidelity, the joint work with both partners utilizing the Relationship Enhancement® therapy dialogue process and how the spontaneous introduction of an image and guided visualization helped break the emotional impasse in a manner that permitted the couple to move to a place of genuine healing and reconciliation.     

Traumatic stress reactivity promotes excessive alcohol drinking and alters the balance of prefrontal cortex-amygdala activity

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and alcoholism are highly comorbid in humans and have partially overlapping symptomatic profiles. The aim of these studies was to examine the effects of traumatic stress (and stress reactivity) on alcohol-related behaviors and neuronal activation patterns. Male Wistar rats were trained to respond for alcohol, were exposed to predator odor (bobcat urine) paired with context and were tested for short- and long-term avoidance of the predator odor-paired context, alcohol self-administration and compulsivity of alcohol responding. Rats were re-exposed to the odor-paired context for western blot analysis of ERK phosphorylation in subregions of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and the amygdala. Rats that avoided the predator-paired chamber (Avoiders) exhibited persistent avoidance up to 6 weeks post conditioning. Avoiders exhibited increases in operant alcohol responding over weeks, as well as more compulsive-like responding for alcohol adulterated with quinine. Following re-exposure to the predator odor-paired context, Avoiders and Non-Avoiders exhibited unique patterns of neuronal activation in subregions of the mPFC and the amygdala, which were correlated with changes in avoidance and alcohol drinking. Furthermore, activity of upstream regions was differentially predictive of downstream regional activity in the Avoiders versus Non-Avoiders. An animal model for assessing the effect of traumatic stress on alcohol drinking reveals individual differences in neuronal activation patterns associated with re-exposure to traumatic stress-related stimuli, and may provide insight into the neural mechanisms underlying excessive alcohol consumption in humans with PTSD.     

Solution of linear optimal control problems with time delay using a composite Chebyshev finite difference method

In this paper, a composite Chebyshev finite difference method is introduced and applied for finding the solution of optimal control of time‐delay systems with a quadratic performance index. This method is an extension of the Chebyshev finite difference scheme. The proposed method can be regarded as a nonuniform finite difference scheme and is based on a hybrid of block‐pulse functions and Chebyshev polynomials using the well‐known Chebyshev–Gauss–Lobatto points. Various types of time‐delay systems are included to demonstrate the validity and the applicability of the technique. The method is easy to implement and provides very accurate results. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

镇江市个别正常（牙合）学生EPQ常模的性别影响研究

目的：根据流行病学调查的方法,对艾森克个性问卷（EPQ）进行信效度检验,并建立该问卷镇江市个别正常（牙合）学生性别常模,对临床工作指导更具针对性.方法：根据学校综合实力的不同,采用随机分层整群抽样的方法,随机抽取镇江市9所学校不同年级38个班的1430学生,根据纳入和排除标准筛选出符合标准的个别正常（牙合）学生,并根据年龄分为幼年（12～15岁）组和成人（16岁以上）组,然后在相同的环境条件和相同的指导语指导下进行艾森克个性问卷测量,根据测量结果建立镇江市个别正常（牙合）学生艾森克个性问卷性别常模.结果：男性个别正常（牙合）学生在P分量表和E分量表上的评分高于女生的评分,但男女学生在E分量表上的差异没有统计学意义;男性个别正常（牙合）学生在N分量表和L分量表上的评分低于女生的评分,但幼年男女生在N分量表上的差异没有统计学意义.结论：可采用艾森克个性问卷建立镇江市个别正常（牙合）学生EPQ的性别常模,女性对错牙（牙合）畸形所致的容貌影响更为关注.     

Comparing deaf and hearing Dutch infants: Changes in the vowel space in the first 2 years

The influence of the mother tongue on vowel productions in infancy is different for deaf and hearing babies. Audio material of five hearing and five deaf infants acquiring Dutch was collected monthly from month 5–18, and at 24 months. Fifty unlabelled utterances were digitized for each recording. This study focused on developmental paths in vowel productions. The applied automated band filtering analysis is F₀‐independent and results in a spectral envelope, sampled in a 40‐dimensional space. Via a Principal Component Analysis (PCA, data reduction), a vowel space for normally hearing 2‐year‐olds was constructed, enabling the projection of the individual developmental data of the infants in a two‐dimensional reference plane. Comparison of the results for the hearing and the deaf infants over 2 years indicates individual as well as group differences. The amount of hearing loss as well as the communication styles seem to be important factors in explaining differences between the infant categories.