Communicating Mental Illness in the Black American Community

Human-human interactions are of central relevance for the success in professional and occupational environments, which also substantially influence quality of life. This is especially true in the case of individuals with high-functioning autism (HFA), who experience deficits in social cognition that often lead to social exclusion and unemployment. Despite good education and high motivation, individuals with HFA do not reach employment rates that are substantially higher than 50 %. This is an alarmingly high rate of unemployment considering that the United Nations have recently emphasized the inclusion of handicapped persons as a mandatory human right. To date, the specific needs of autistic persons with respect to their working environment are largely unexplored. It remains moreover an open question how support systems and activities, including newly developed communication devices for professional environments of individuals with HFA, should look like. The German health and social care systems are not adequately prepared for the proper support of this population. This leads us to suggest that supported employment programs should be developed for adults with HFA that specifically address their needs and requirements. Such programs should comprise (1) the adequate assessment of HFA, including a neuropsychological profile and an individual matching of persons' preferences with requirements of the working place, (2) on-the-job coaching activities that include systematic communication and interaction training, and (3) instruction of non-autistic peers, including colleagues and supervisors, about weaknesses and strengths of HFA

Vitamin D Deficiency in Adult Patients with Schizophreniform and Autism Spectrum Syndromes: A One-Year Cohort Study at a German Tertiary Care Hospital

Introduction: Vitamin D has many immunomodulatory, anti-inflammatory, and neuroprotective functions, and previous studies have demonstrated an association between vitamin D deficiency and neuropsychiatric disease. The aim of our study was to analyze the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in a one-year cohort of adult inpatients with schizophreniform and autism-spectrum syndromes in a naturalistic in-patient setting in Germany. Participants and methods: Our study was comprised of 60 adult schizophreniform and 23 adult high-functioning autism spectrum patients who were hospitalized Page: 2between January and December of 2015. We compared our findings with a historical German reference cohort of 3,917 adults using Pearson’s two-sided chi-squared test. The laboratory measurements of 25-hydroxyvitamin D2/3 (25(OH)vitamin D) were obtained using a chemiluminescence immunoassay. Results: In the schizophreniform group, we found decreased ( 30 ng/ml were observed in only 5% of the schizophreniform patients, 8.7% of the autism spectrum patients, and 21.9% of the healthy controls. Discussion: We found very high rates of 25(OH)vitamin D deficiency in both patient groups, and have discussed whether our findings might be related to alterations in the immunological mechanisms. Irrespective of the possible pathophysiological links between vitamin D deficiency and schizophrenia or autism spectrum disorders, a more frequent measurement of vitamin D levels seems to be justified in these patient groups. Further prospective, controlled, blinded, and randomized research should be conducted to analyze the effectiveness of vitamin D supplementation on the improvement of psychiatric symptoms

Hippocampal and amygdala volumes in borderline personality disorder: A meta-analysis of magnetic resonance imaging studies

Background Structural brain abnormalities have been described in borderline personality disorder (BPD), but previous studies have generally been small and have implicated different brain regions to varying extents.Method We therefore conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of published volumetric region-of-interest structural magnetic resonance imaging studies of patients with BPD and healthy controls. We additionally used meta-regression to investigate the modulating effects of clinical parameters, including age, on regional brain volumes.Results The meta-analysis revealed significant bilateral decreases in hippocampal and amygdala volumes in patients with BPD compared with healthy control participants, in the absence of differences in whole-brain volume. Metaregression demonstrated an association between increasing age and reduced hippocampal volumes in BPD.Discussion Overall, these findings demonstrate clear structural changes in the medial temporal lobe in BPD, showing similarity to the biological effects of early life stress. Copyright (C) 2010 John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd.</p

Alterations in Cerebrospinal Fluid in Patients with Bipolar Syndromes

Bipolar disorder (BD) is a severe and lifelong condition. Primary endogenic polygenetic forms are common. Secondary organic forms have received increasing interest recently due to the detection of immunological encephalopathies that mimic various psychiatric syndromes, including bipolar disorder. However, only limited data about routine findings of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) analyses in bipolar disorder are available. Therefore, we investigated the frequency of alterations in the CSF in patients with BD and the association with autoantibodies, cerebral magnetic resonance imaging, and electroencephalography findings.CSF samples of patients with BD collected from January 1998 until December 2015 were analyzed retrospectively. Patients with preexisting causes for alterations in the CSF (e.g., patients with obvious past or current neurological disorders) were excluded. In total, 63 patients with BD fulfilled the inclusion criteria for the study. In 1.6% of the patients with BD, an increased white blood cell count was found in the CSF. Increased albumin quotients were found in 12.9% of the patients, oligoclonal bands (OCBs) in 1.6%, and increased immunoglobulin (Ig) G indices in 3.2% (OCBs were not measured in case of increased IgG indices). No significant differences in CSF findings were found between patients with manic and depressive episodes. The main findings of this open uncontrolled study are that alterations in the CSF may be found in a small but potentially relevant subgroup of patients with BD. These findings are discussed in light of the new concepts of mild encephalitis and immunological encephalopathy. The detection of patients with possibly secondary organic bipolar syndromes could open up new causal treatment options with immunomodulatory medication

In-situ formation of solidified hydrogen thin-membrane targets using a pulse tube cryocooler

An account is given of the Central Laser Facility's work to produce a cryogenic hydrogen targetry system using a pulse tube cryocooler. Due to the increasing demand for low Z thin laser targets, CLF (in collaboration with TUD) have been developing a system which allows the production of solid hydrogen membranes by engineering a design which can achieve this remotely; enabling the gas injection, condensation and solidification of hydrogen without compromising the vacuum of the target chamber. A dynamic sealing mechanism was integrated which allows targets to be grown and then remotely exposed to open vacuum for laser interaction. Further research was conducted on the survivability of the cryogenic targets which concluded that a warm gas effect causes temperature spiking when exposing the solidified hydrogen to the outer vacuum. This effect was shown to be mitigated by improving the pumping capacity of the environment and reducing the minimum temperature obtainable on the target mount. This was achieved by developing a two-stage radiation shield encased with superinsulating blanketing; reducing the base temperature from 14 0.5 K to 7.2 0.2 K about the coldhead as well as improving temperature control stability following the installation of a high-performance temperature controller and sensor apparatus. The system was delivered experimentally and in July 2014 the first laser shots were taken upon hydrogen targets in the Vulcan TAP facility.</p

High resolution Thomson Parabola Spectrometer for full spectral capture of multi-species ion beams

We report on the experimental characterisation of laser-driven ion beams using a Thomson Parabola Spectrometer (TPS) equipped with trapezoidally-shaped electric plates, proposed by Gwynne et al. in Rev. Sci. Instrum. 85, 033304 (2014). While a pair of extended (30 cm long) electric plates was able to produce a significant increase in the separation between neighbouring ion species at high energies, deploying a trapezoidal design circumvented the spectral clipping at the low energy end of the ion spectra. The shape of the electric plate was chosen carefully considering, for the given spectrometer configuration, the range of detectable ion energies and species. Analytical tracing of the ion parabolas matches closely with the experimental data, which suggests a minimal effect of fringe fields on the escaping ions close to the wedged edge of the electrode. The analytical formulae were derived considering the relativistic correction required for the high energy ions to be characterised using such spectrometer

Amygdala and dlPFC abnormalities, with aberrant connectivity and habituation in response to emotional stimuli in females with BPD

Background: Little is known about the frontolimbic abnormalities thought to underlie borderline personality disorder (BPD). We endeavoured to study regional responses, as well as their connectivity and habituation during emotion processing. Methods: 14 BPD patients and 14 normal female controls (NC) controlled for menstrual phase underwent emotion-induction during an fMRI task using standardised images in a block design. We then performed psychophysiological interaction (PPI) analysis to investigate functional connectivity. Results: BPD patients reported more disgust in questionnaires compared to controls. Relative to NC, they showed reduced left amygdala and increased dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) activation to all emotions collapsed versus neutral. Habituation of ventral striatal activity to repeated emotional stimuli was observed in controls but not in BPD. Finally, in the context of disgust (but not other emotions) versus neutral, BPD patients displayed enhanced left amygdala coupling with the dlPFC and ventral striatum. Limitations: Strict inclusion criteria reduced the sample size. Conclusions: In summary, BPD showed abnormal patterns of activation, habituation and connectivity in regions linked to emotion regulation. Amygdala deactivation may be mediated by abnormal top-down regulatory control from the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Aberrant emotion processing may play a unique role in the pathophysiology of BPD

The role of head circumference and cerebral volumes to phenotype male adults with autism spectrum disorder

Background: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has been repeatedly associated with enlargements of head circumference in children with ASD. However, it is unclear if these enlargements persist into adulthood. This is the first study to investigate head circumference in a large sample of adults with ASD. Methods: We apply a fully automated magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) based measurement approach to compute head circumference by combining 3D and 2D image processing. Head circumference was compared between male adults with ASD (n = 120) and healthy male controls (n = 136), from the Autism Brain Imaging Data Exchange (ABIDE) database. To explain which brain alterations drive our results, secondary analyses were performed for 10 additional morphological brain metrics. Results: ASD subjects showed an increase in head circumference (p = .0018). In addition, ASD patients had increased ventricular surface area (SA) (p = .0013). Intracranial volume, subarachnoidal cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) volume, and gray matter volume explained 50% of head circumference variance. Using a linear support vector machine, we gained an ASD classification accuracy of 73% (sensitivity 92%, specificity 68%) using head circumference and brain-morphological metrics as input features. Head circumference, ventricular SA, ventricular CSF volume, and ventricular asymmetry index contributed to 85% of feature weighting relevant for classification. Conclusion: Our results suggest that head circumference increases in males with ASD persist into adulthood. Results may be driven by morphological alterations of ventricular CSF. The presented approach for an automated head circumference measurement allows for the retrospective investigation of large MRI datasets in neuropsychiatric disorders

Psychosocial therapeutic approaches for high-functioning autistic adults

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by impaired social interaction and communication skills, repetitive behaviors, restricted interests, and specific sensory processing. Particularly, adults with high-functioning ASD often remain unrecognized, presumably due to their high compensatory skills, but at the cost of high stress, which is often linked to anxiety and depression. This may further explain the significantly high suicide rates and reduced life expectancy among individuals with ASD. Thus, providing support to high-functioning autistic adults in managing core symptoms, as well as co-occurring anxiety and depression, appears essential. To date, only a limited number of evidence-based psychosocial therapeutic options are available, and very few of them have undergone rigorous evaluation in a clinical context. To obtain a comprehensive understanding, a systematic literature search was conducted according to the PRISMA checklist, and only studies demonstrating robust methodological quality were included and discussed in this review article. Although promising initial key factors and methods have been identified, additional evidence-based studies are imperative to ascertain the optimal treatment and evaluate the long-term outcomes for adults with high-functioning ASD.Peer Reviewe

Mona Lisa is always happy - And only sometimes sad

The worldwide fascination of da Vinci’s Mona Lisa has been dedicated to the emotional ambiguity of her face expression. In the present study we manipulated Mona Lisa’s mouth curvature as one potential source of ambiguity and studied how a range of happier and sadder face variants influences perception. In two experimental conditions we presented different stimulus ranges with different step sizes between stimuli along the happy-sad axis of emotional face expressions. Stimuli were presented in random order and participants indicated the perceived emotional face expression (first task) and the confidence of their response (second task). The probability of responding ‘happy’ to the original Mona Lisa was close to 100%. Furthermore, in both conditions the perceived happiness of Mona Lisa variants described sigmoidal functions of the mouth curvature. Participants’ confidence was weakest around the sigmoidal inflection points. Remarkably, the sigmoidal functions, as well as confidence values and reaction times, differed significantly between experimental conditions. Finally, participants responded generally faster to happy than to sad faces. Overall, the original Mona Lisa seems to be less ambiguous than expected. However, perception of and reaction to the emotional face content is relative and strongly depends on the used stimulus range