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Changes in cerebral blood flow in Asperger syndrome during theory of mind tasks presented by the auditory route.

Lack of theory of mind (ToM) has been considered to be a key feature in Asperger syndrome (AS). The main aim of the present study was to determine whether an exclusively auditory input of ToM stories activated the same brain areas as demonstrated previously using visual stimuli. Eight right-handed otherwise healthy men with AS and eight healthy right-handed male controls participated in a PET activation study using auditory given ToM stories and stories about physical events for induction. Both subjects with AS and controls showed increased activation in the occipitotemporal area bilaterally and in thalamus during ToM tasks. Both groups also showed activation in the medial frontal area during ToM tests.However, this activation was more intensive and extensive in the control group, especially when a more sensitive analysis method was used. As a group, unrelated to the tasks, the AS subjects showed increased activation of the cerebellum. It was concluded that the activation pattern was mainly in agreement with earlier studies using comparable stimuli administered differently. There was no support for a right hemisphere specific dysfunction.

Adult↗

[Psychosomatics, psychotherapy and neuronal plasticity--how words change our mind].

Certain psychosomatic disorders such as chronic psychosomatic pain, phobias and other anxiety disorders as well as depression are often stress-related but may also be acquired by learning associated with traumatic experience. As learning is based on changes in neuronal networks, the brain will be altered in these diseases. In turn, brain structure and function may also be influenced and even changed by effective psychotherapy as well as by other (behavioural) cognitive interventions--words and thoughts--when leading to cognitive restructuring. Due to their neuronal plasticity our brains are capable of constantly rewiring themselves so that we can--in Andreasen's words--"literally change our mind".

Anxiety Disorders↗

Response times of children and adolescents with Asperger syndrome on an 'advanced' test of theory of mind.

In the present study the response times of 10- to 20-year-old participants with Asperger syndrome (AS) (N=21) of normal intelligence and a control group of typically developing individuals (N=20) were recorded on a new 'advanced' test of theory of mind. This test taps the ability to make mental-state inferences versus physical-state inferences in a story context. The participants with AS were significantly slower than the controls on both tasks. In addition, the differences in response times between mental- and physical-state inference were significantly larger in the AS group than in the control group, suggesting that the clinical group experienced more problems than the controls in making inferences about mental states than about physical states.

Adolescent↗

The 'Reading the Mind in the Voice' test-revised: a study of complex emotion recognition in adults with and without autism spectrum conditions.

This study reports a revised version of the 'Reading the Mind in the Voice' (RMV) task. The original task (Rutherford et al., (2002), Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 32, 189-194) suffered from ceiling effects and limited sensitivity. To improve that, the task was shortened and two more foils were added to each of the remaining items. About 50 adults with Asperger Syndrome (AS) or High Functioning Autism (HFA) and 22 matched controls took the revised task. Results show the revised task has good reliability and validity, is harder, and more sensitive in distinguishing the AS/HFA group from controls. Verbal IQ was positively correlated with performance, and females performed worse than males in the AS/HFA group. Results are discussed with regard to multi modal empathizing deficits in autism spectrum conditions (ASC).

Adolescent↗

Quality of life of participants in a mind-body-based self-development course: a descriptive study.

OBJECTIVE: A cross-sectional survey of quality of life of people attending a self-development course involving psychophysiological mind-body medicine (MBM) activities. DESIGN: A questionnaire study using a health-related quality of life (HRQoL) instrument, the SWED-QUAL, with 13 subscales scored 0-100, and questions about utilisation of alternative and standard health care, medication and sick leave. SETTING: A training centre for MBM, established 15 years ago. STUDY GROUP: One hundred and seven eligible course attendants (response rate 88%, age 20-70 years) during the year 2000 assessed their HRQoL just before entering the course. Attendance was self-initiated, without referral. The results on HRQoL were compared with those of control subjects from the general Swedish population. RESULTS: Six of the thirteen HRQoL subscales were strongly and significantly reduced (p < 0.0001) in the study group: Negative affectivity, Role limitation due to emotional health, Positive affectivity, Cognitive functioning, Family functioning and Marital functioning. Long-term sick leave (>6 months) was three times as frequent in the study group as in the general population. Use of psychotropic medication was slightly increased compared to the general population, at least among the younger male participants. The education level was high, health care utilisation was average and body functioning was good. CONCLUSIONS: This group of well-educated men and women gave their emotional health an unexpectedly low rating, on a par with that given by people with chronic diseases.

Adult↗

Sport psychology: training the mind for competition.

An optimal psychologic state for peak athletic performance is strongly documented in the sport psychology literature. A wealth of peer-reviewed studies also strongly supports the role that mental skills training (MST) plays in the development of this state. However, some disagreement exists in the sport psychology community over how best to deliver the MST tools and skills necessary for optimal sport performance. Mental training consultants and intervention researchers have recently suggested that periodization of mental training may be the next major leap forward in applied sport psychology program delivery. This new method of "training the mind" is presented and discussed.

Competitive Behavior↗

Autism: beyond "theory of mind".

The theory of mind account of autism has been remarkably successful in making specific predictions about the impairments in socialization, imagination and communication shown by people with autism. It cannot, however, explain either the non-triad features of autism, or earlier experimental findings of abnormal assets and deficits on non-social tasks. These unexplained aspects of autism, and the existence of autistic individuals who consistently pass false belief tasks, suggest that it may be necessary to postulate an additional cognitive abnormality. One possible abnormality-weak central coherence--is discussed, and preliminary evidence for this theory is presented.

Adult↗

Molecular genetics of the single-minded locus: a gene involved in the development of the Drosophila nervous system.

The embryonic neuroepithelium of Drosophila gives rise to the central nervous system. We have studied the mutant phenotype and expression of a gene, single-minded (sim), which is involved in generating a specific region of this neuroepithelium. In sim mutant embryos, a subset of neuronal and nonneuronal precursor cells lying along the midline fail to emerge with the rest of the neuroepithelium. We have identified the sim transcription unit and have shown by in situ hybridization to embryos that the sim gene is expressed specifically in the midline neuroepithelium. Both the mutant phenotype and the temporal and spatial expression of transcripts suggest that the sim gene plays a key role in the emergence of this subset of cells along the midline of the developing central nervous system.

Animals↗

The Drosophila single-minded gene encodes a nuclear protein with sequence similarity to the per gene product.

Mutations in the single-minded (sim) gene of Drosophila result in the loss of the precursor cells giving rise to the midline cells of the embryonic central nervous system. We have examined the structure of the sim product by sequencing a sim cDNA clone, and have also determined the subcellular localization of the protein and its developmental expression by staining embryos with an antiserum against a sim fusion protein. The results indicate that sim is a nuclear protein specifically expressed along the midline of the neuroepithelium, the same subset of cells that are missing in the mutant. No similarity is observed between sim and any known nuclear protein, but, surprisingly, it is similar to the Drosophila period (per) locus gene product, which controls the periodicity of biological rhythms.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

The single-minded gene of Drosophila is required for the expression of genes important for the development of CNS midline cells.

The single-minded (sim) gene of Drosophila encodes a nuclear protein that plays a critical role in the development of the neurons, glia, and other nonneuronal cells that lie along the midline of the embryonic CNS. Using distinct cell fate markers, we observe that in sim mutant embryos the midline cells fail to differentiate properly into their mature CNS cell types and do not take their appropriate positions within the developing CNS. We further present evidence that sim is required for midline expression of a group of genes including slit, Toll, rhomboid, engrailed, and a gene at 91F; that the sim mutant CNS defect may be largely due to loss of midline slit expression; and that the snail gene is required to repress sim and other midline genes in the presumptive mesoderm.

Animals↗

The Drosophila single-minded gene encodes a helix-loop-helix protein that acts as a master regulator of CNS midline development.

Development of the Drosophila CNS midline cells is dependent upon the function of the single-minded (sim) gene. Sequence analysis shows that sim is a member of the basic-helix-loop-helix class of transcription factors. Cell fate experiments establish that sim is required for early events in midline cell development, including a synchronized cell division, proper formation of nerve cell precursors, and positive auto-regulation of its midline expression. Induction of ectopic sim protein under the control of the hsp70 promoter shows that sim can direct cells of the lateral CNS to exhibit midline cell morphology and patterns of gene expression. We propose that sim functions as a master developmental regulator of the CNS midline lineage.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

An outpatient program in behavioral medicine for chronic pain patients based on the practice of mindfulness meditation: theoretical considerations and preliminary results.

The practice of mindfulness meditation was used in a 10-week Stress Reduction and Relaxation Program to train chronic pain patients in self-regulation. The meditation facilitates an attentional stance towards proprioception known as detached observation. This appears to cause an "uncoupling " of the sensory dimension of the pain experience from the affective/evaluative alarm reaction and reduce the experience of suffering via cognitive reappraisal. Data are presented on 51 chronic pain patients who had not improved with traditional medical care. The dominant pain categories were low back, neck and shoulder, and headache. Facial pain, angina pectoris, noncoronary chest pain, and GI pain were also represented. At 10 weeks, 65% of the patients showed a reduction of greater than or equal to 33% in the mean total Pain Rating Index (Melzack) and 50% showed a reduction of greater than or equal to 50%. Similar decreases were recorded on other pain indices and in the number of medical symptoms reported. Large and significant reductions in mood disturbance and psychiatric symptomatology accompanied these changes and were relatively stable on follow-up. These improvements were independent of the pain category. We conclude that this form of meditation can be used as the basis for an effective behavioral program in self-regulation for chronic pain patients. Key features of the program structure, and the limitations of the present uncontrolled study are discussed.

Adult↗

The balance of positive and negative affects in major depression: a further test of the States of Mind model.

The States of Mind (SOM) model provided a framework for assessing the balance between self-reported positive and negative affects in a sample of 39 outpatients with major depression and 43 healthy control subjects. The SOM model proposes that healthy functioning is characterized by an optimal balance of positive (P) and negative (N) cognitions or affects (P/(P + N) approximately 0.63), and that psychopathology is marked by deviations from the optimal balance. Research thus far has focused on the functional significance of cognitive rather than affective balance. Within this framework, we hypothesized that patients in untreated episodes of major depression would balance their positive and negative affects at the same level where depressed patients in other studies have balanced their positive and negative cognitions--namely, at P/(P + N) approximately 0.37. Points and confidence interval (CI) estimation procedures yielded results (mean = 0.35, 95% CI = 0.30 - 0.40) consistent with this hypothesis in a sample of 39 depressed male outpatients. Correlational analysis indicated that affect balance is inversely related to symptom severity as measured by self-report (Beck) and clinician-rating (Hamilton) scales.

Adult↗

From non-random molecular structure to life and mind.

The evolutionary hierarchy molecular structure-->macromolecular structure-->protobiological structure-->biological structure-->biological functions has been traced by experiments. The sequence always moves through protein. Extension of the experiments traces the formation of nucleic acids instructed by proteins. The proteins themselves were, in this picture, instructed by the self-sequencing of precursor amino acids. While the sequence indicated explains the thread of the emergence of life, protein in cellular membrane also provides the only known material basis for the emergence of mind in the context of emergence of life.

Cell Membrane↗

Marketing 'mind mechanics': decoding antidepressant drug advertisements.

Advertisers have adopted the use of highly abstract visual metaphors and symbols in addressing physicians about antidepressant drugs. Campaigns built around an abstract visual aesthetics are designed to generate cognitive connections between named drug entities and the meaning of abstract visual images: these connections are called 'carry-over symbols'. In this study we critically dismantle and analyze the encoding practices used in two recent ad campaigns for antidepressants. In addition to asking what the ads mean, we ask how they mean it. This analysis is joined to a comparison of the information provided by these ads with the pharmacological and therapeutic properties of the drugs themselves. Our analysis suggests this style of drug advertising produces, as a social side-effect, a reified and medicalized account of psychiatric illness (depression). It also poses an obstacle to scientific discourse and understanding; privileges certain types of social knowledge concerning mental illness, psychiatric patients, and drug taking; and discourages professional d debate regarding therapeutic approaches to treating illness. These ads reflect a positivistic conceptualization of mental illness and doctoring as mind mechanics.

Advertising↗

A set-theoretical requirement for nonphysical specificity in embodied evaluations of physical models of mind.

When confronting assertions that minds are physically driven, humans necessarily engage their capacity to imagine objects moving in ways unexhibited in visual examples of physical phenomena. This variety of mental imagery, however, being unspecifiable in a given human in point-to-point mappings on to physically constrained events (even in principle), therefore has a physically undefined necessity. Intervention in neurologic patients, therefore, if done according to criteria no more comprehensive than those delimiting physical paths from stimuli to responses, could not provide for that necessity. Provision for necessarily embodied mental imagery might be feasible if, in a given human, every progression through that human's mental space is permitted unique specification in mathematical hypotheses of brain.

Brain↗

The Drosophila melanogaster similar bHLH-PAS gene encodes a protein related to human hypoxia-inducible factor 1 alpha and Drosophila single-minded.

The Drosophila melanogaster (Dm) similar (sima) gene was isolated using a low-stringency hybridization screen employing a Dm single-minded gene basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) DNA probe. sima is a member of the bHLH-PAS gene family and the conceptual protein shares a number of structural features, including a bHLH domain, PAS domain, and homopolymeric amino acid stretches. Sima is most closely related to the human hypoxia-inducible factor 1 alpha bHLH-PAS protein. In situ hybridization experiments reveal that sima is transcribed in most or all cells throughout embryogenesis. It has been cytologically mapped to position 99D on the third chromosome, and is not closely linked to other known bHLH-PAS genes.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Coping with a chronic disease: the role of the mind and spirit.

This article presents personal experience of surgeons with the rehabilitation of disabled people. Attention is paid to the role of mind and spirit in the rehabilitation with particular attention to people with leprosy. The consequences for patient education, emotional support and attitudes of professionals are described. The influence of hope and faith in the case for disabled people is stressed.

Adaptation, Psychological↗