In the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV; APA, 1994), bulimia nervosa (BN) is classified as an eating disorder. The disease is characterized by discrete periods of binge ...eating during which, large amounts of food are consumed and a sense of control over eating is absent, followed by differing types of purging behaviour to prevent weight gain. Since the first descriptions of the diagnosis, little is known about the aetiological background of the disease. BN is accompanied by, or due to, alterations of serotonin and/or norepinephrine activity. These changes may possibly be involved in the pathological eating behaviour and in causing associated depression.
Aims: Prior studies indicate that alcohol-dependent patients have impaired olfactory sensitivity, odor quality discrimination and identification ability. However, olfactory functioning with regard to ...the immediate, perception driven odor associations is unknown. Therefore, this study assessed olfactory judgements in nonamnesic and nondemented patients with alcohol dependence. Methods: Thirty alcohol-dependent patients and 30 healthy control subjects, well matched for gender, age and smoking status, and screened for olfactory sensitivity, were asked to rate intensity, familiarity, edibility and pleasantness of 16 odors using visual rating scales. Results: Compared with controls, patients showed lower scores in odor familiarity and impaired edibility judgements. These impairments were observed bilaterally, were present independently of age, gender, general mental abilities and length of abstinence, and not attributable to smoking or impaired olfactory sensitivity. No differences between groups were found in odor intensity and pleasantness judgements. Conclusion: These results extend prior findings of alcohol-related olfactory deficits, indicating impairments in olfactory processes of odor familiarity and edibility in alcohol-dependent patients. Although the basis of these deficits is still unknown, our finding of a distinct pattern of olfactory functional, with spacing of perception of pleasantness and familiarity, suggests that there is no generalised olfactory impairment but that, neural olfactory networks may be affected differently.
Background: The risk factors for adolescent eating disorders are poorly understood. It is generally agreed, however, that interactions with one’s body and interactions with others are two important ...features in the development of anorexia and bulimia nervosa. Therefore, we assessed a variety of childhood body-focused behaviors and childhood social behaviors in eating-disordered patients as compared to non-eating-disordered subjects. Method: We compared 50 female inpatients with eating disorders (anorexia or bulimia nervosa), 50 female inpatients with polysubstance dependence, and 50 nonpatient female control subjects with no history of eating or substance abuse disorders (all defined by DSM-IV criteria), using a semi-structured interview of our own design. We asked questions about (1) childhood body-focused behaviors (e.g. thumb-sucking) and body-focused family experiences (e.g. bodily caresses), and (2) childhood social behaviors (e.g. numbers of close friends) and family social styles (e.g. authoritarian upbringing). Results: Many body-focused measures, such as feeding problems, auto-aggressive behavior, lack of maternal caresses, and family taboos regarding nudity and sexuality, characterized eating-disordered patients as opposed to both comparison groups, as did several social behaviors, such as adjustment problems at school and lack of close friends. However, nail-biting, insecure parental bonding, and childhood physical and sexual abuse were equally elevated in both psychiatric groups. Conclusion: It appears that eating-disordered patients, as compared to substance-dependent patients and healthy controls, show a distinct pattern of body-focused and social behaviors during childhood, characterized by self-harm, a rigid and ‘body-denying’ family climate, and lack of intimacy.
BackgroundDespite the high prevalence of cannabis use in schizophrenia, few studieshave examined the potential relationship between cannabis exposure andbrain structural abnormalities in ...schizophrenia.AimsTo investigate prefrontal grey and white matter regions in patientsexperiencing a first episode of schizophrenia with an additionaldiagnosis of cannabis use or dependence (n=20) comparedwith similar patients with no cannabis use (n=31) andhealthy volunteers (n=56).MethodVolumes of the superior frontal gyrus, anterior cingulate gyrus andorbital frontal lobe were outlined manually from contiguous magneticresonance images and automatically segmented into grey and whitematter.ResultsPatients who used cannabis had less anterior cingulate grey mattercompared with both patients who did not use cannabis and healthyvolunteers.ConclusionsA defect in the anterior cingulate is associated with a history ofcannabis use among patients experiencing a first episode of schizophreniaand could have a role in poor decision-making and in choosing more riskyoutcomes.
Facial emotion recognition is crucial for social interaction. However, in times of a global pandemic, where wearing a face mask covering mouth and nose is widely encouraged to prevent the spread of ...disease, successful emotion recognition may be challenging. In the current study, we investigated whether emotion recognition, assessed by a validated emotion recognition task, is impaired for faces wearing a mask compared to uncovered faces, in a sample of 790 participants between 18 and 89 years (condition mask vs. original). In two more samples of 395 and 388 participants between 18 and 70 years, we assessed emotion recognition performance for faces that are occluded by something other than a mask, i.e., a bubble as well as only showing the upper part of the faces (condition half vs. bubble). Additionally, perception of threat for faces with and without occlusion was assessed. We found impaired emotion recognition for faces wearing a mask compared to faces without mask, for all emotions tested (anger, fear, happiness, sadness, disgust, neutral). Further, we observed that perception of threat was altered for faces wearing a mask. Upon comparison of the different types of occlusion, we found that, for most emotions and especially for disgust, there seems to be an effect that can be ascribed to the face mask specifically, both for emotion recognition performance and perception of threat. Methodological constraints as well as the importance of wearing a mask despite temporarily compromised social interaction are discussed.
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Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Virtual exchanges can be seen as a powerful tool in fostering digital- pedagogical, intercultural, and foreign language competences in teacher education. Since the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, virtual ...exchanges in teacher education have gained increasing attention both in research and practice. Despite a growing number of publications and various fields and themes covered by research and reports, few publications are concerned with connecting and systematising the discourse on virtual exchanges between 2020-2023. This paper, thus, aims to offer a comprehensive overview of how virtual exchanges are employed in teacher education by adopting a scoping study approach and examining research papers published in this period of time. Our findings cover the planning, implementation, and evaluation of virtual exchanges, as well as some overarching recommendations for improving the delivery of virtual exchanges in teacher education as they are provided in the research papers. Virtual exchanges in teacher education are a multifaceted field since it has multiple aims, usages, and impacts, which largely depend on the (mostly voluntary) work of teacher educators, the institutional framework within which the exchanges take place, and student teachers’ motivation to participate. The future of virtual exchanges in teacher education would benefit by opening up beyond foreign language teacher education and combining small-scale with large-scale studies to better inform research and practice.
Zn-based biodegradable metallic materials have been regarded as new potential biomaterials for use as biodegradable implants, mainly because of the ideal degradation rate compared with those of ...Mg-based alloys and Fe-based alloys. In this study, we developed and investigated a novel Zn-4 wt % Ag alloy as a potential biodegradable metal. A thermomechanical treatment was applied to refine the microstructure and, consequently, to improve the mechanical properties, compared to pure Zn. The yield strength (YS), ultimate tensile strength (UTS) and elongation of the Zn-4Ag alloy are 157 MPa, 261 MPa, and 37%, respectively. The corrosion rate of Zn-4Ag calculated from released Zn ions in DMEM extracts is approximately 10.75 ± 0.16 μg cm
day
, which is higher than that of pure Zn corrected. In vitro cytotoxicity tests showed that the Zn-4Ag alloy exhibits acceptable toxicity to L929 and Saos-2 cells, and could effectively inhibit initial bacteria adhesion. This study shows that the Zn-4Ag exhibits excellent mechanical properties, predictable degradation behavior, acceptable biocompatibility, and effective antibacterial properties, which make it a candidate biodegradable material.
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