Subjective and Autonomic Arousal toward Emotional Stimuli in Preadolescents with Externalizing Problems and the Role of Explicit and Implicit Emotion Regulation.

Children and adolescents with externalizing problems show physiological hypo-reactivity toward affective stimuli, which may relate to their disruptive, antisocial, and thrill-seeking behaviors. This study examines differences in explicit and implicit emotion regulation between preadolescents with and without externalizing problems as well as the role of emotion regulation in subjective and autonomic responses to emotional stimuli. Preadolescents showing self- and other-reported externalizing psychopathology, and a control sample, without such difficulties, participated in a passive affective picture-viewing task with neutral, fearful, joyful, and sad images, while their heart rate and heart rate variability were measured. Participants also reported on their emotion regulation difficulties using the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale. Compared to controls, youths scoring high on externalizing problems (1) reported greater emotion regulation difficulties, especially a lack of emotional clarity and difficulty in controlling impulsive actions, (2) showed higher resting heart rate variability and a lower resting heart rate, suggestive of higher emotion/autonomic regulation ability, and (3) showed both subjective and physiological hypo-arousal to emotional pictures. Heart rate variability and, to a lesser degree difficulties in emotional clarity, modulated the effects of emotional pictures on subjective and physiological arousal. Findings suggest that interventions to improve emotion regulation and awareness may help to prevent externalizing problems.

Synthesis and Characterization of Statistical and Block Copolymers of n-Hexyl Isocyanate and 3-(Triethoxysilyl) Propyl Isocyanate via Coordination Polymerization.

Well-defined statistical copolymers of n-hexyl isocyanate, HIC, and 3-(triethoxysilyl)propyl isocyanate, TESPI, were synthesized via coordination polymerization mechanism, employing a chiral half-titanocene complex as initiator. The monomer reactivity ratios of the statistical copolymers were calculated using linear graphical methods and the computer program COPOINT in the frame of the terminal model. The molecular and structural characteristics of the copolymers were also calculated. The kinetics of the thermal decomposition of the statistical copolymers was studied by Thermogravimetric Analysis, TGA, and Differential Thermogravimetry, DTG, and the activation energy of this process was calculated employing several theoretical models. In addition, block copolymers constituted from PHIC and PTESPI blocks were synthesized by sequential coordination polymerization. All samples were characterized by nuclear magnetic resonance, NMR, spectroscopy and size exclusion chromatography, SEC. The thermal stability of the blocks was also studied by TGA and DTG and compared to the corresponding statistical copolymers.

Adaptive and maladaptive emotion processing and regulation, and the case of alexithymia.

In this conceptual review, we discuss models of emotion and its regulation and identify a spectrum of processes that characterise adaptive adjustment to the affective environment. We describe a dynamic-phasic model of emotion processing and regulation, focusing on five stages: anticipation, response, recovery, habituation and rest as part of a cascade of responses to emotional challenges, as these become progressively expected, proximal, chronic or repeated. We argue for the need to investigate beyond simple reactivity to emotional stimuli, in order to understand mental and physical health conditions where emotional dysregulation plays a role. We propose that a hallmark of an effective and adaptive emotion regulation system is its flexibility, in the service of life goals and values. Consistent with McEwen's model (1998, Stress, adaptation, and disease: Allostasis and allostatic load. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 840(1), 33-44), inflexible emotion regulation can lead to increased allostatic load, from frequent stress, inadequate reactivity, failed shutdown and habituation, which may result in physical and mental illness. Alexithymia exemplifies inflexible emotion regulation, with dysfunctions potentially across all stages of emotion processing, both psychologically and physiologically. These maladaptive processes and their consequence on allostatic load potentially explain the association between alexithymia and physical and mental illness.

Valence, arousal or both? Shared emotional deficits associated with Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder and Oppositional/Defiant-Conduct Disorder symptoms in school-aged youth.

We examined emotional responses in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity and Oppositional Defiant/Conduct Disorder to affective pictures. Eighty seven children (42 female, Mage = 11.2), with clinical or subclinical symptoms and controls viewed joy, fear, sadness or neutral pictures while heart rate, skin conductance, corrugator and zygomaticus responses were recorded. The moderating role of Callous-Unemotional and anxiety traits was evaluated. Lower resting heart rate and decreased skin conductance across picture types was associated with ADHD symptoms. Decreased heart rate reactivity to fear and sad stimuli was associated with ADHD and ODD/CD. Corrugator and zygomaticus responses were not associated with ADHD or ODD/CD. Findings are mostly consistent with a fearlessness account of disruptive behavior, and seem to also pertain to ADHD, with intact valence systems. Findings are discussed in light of the significance of identifying common pathogenic mechanisms across traditional diagnostic categories, consistent with trans-diagnostic approaches to the study of psychopathology.

Development and Testing of a Novel Anaesthesia Induction/Ventilation Protocol for Patients With Cardiogenic Shock Complicating Acute Myocardial Infarction.

BACKGROUND: Cardiogenic shock is a life-threatening condition and patients might require rapid sequence induction (RSI) and mechanical ventilation. In this study, we evaluated a new RSI/mechanical ventilation protocol in patients with acute myocardial infarction complicated by cardiogenic shock. METHODS: We included consecutive adult patients who were transferred to the emergency department. The RSI protocol included 5 phases: preoxygenation, pretreatment, induction/paralysis, intubation, and mechanical ventilation (PPIIM). A posteriori, we selected historical patients managed with standard RSI as a control group. The primary outcome was hemodynamic derangement or hypoxemia from enrollment until intensive care unit (ICU) admission. RESULTS: We studied 31 consecutive patients who were intubated using the PPIIM protocol and 22 historical controls. We found significant differences in systolic (85.32 ± 4.23 vs 71.72 ± 7.98 mm Hg; P < 0.0001), diastolic (58.84 ± 5.84 vs 39.05 ± 5.63 mm Hg; P < 0.0001), and mean arterial pressure (67.71 ± 4.90 vs 49.90 ± 5.66 mm Hg; P < 0.0001), as well as in partial pressure of oxygen (85.80 ± 19.82 vs 164.73 ± 43.07 mm Hg; P < 0.0001) between the PPIIM and control group at 5 minutes of automated ventilation. Also, statistically significant differences were observed in diastolic (59.74 ± 4.93 vs 47.86 ± 11.47 mm Hg; P < 0.0001) and mean arterial pressure (68.65 ± 4.10 vs 60.23 ± 11.67 mm Hg; P < 0.0001), as well as in partial pressure of oxygen (119.84 ± 50.57 vs 179.50 ± 42.17 mm Hg; P < 0.0001), and partial pressure of carbon dioxide (39.81 ± 10.60 vs 31.00 ± 9.30 mm Hg; P = 0.003) between the 2 groups at ICU admission. Compared with the control group, with PPIIM more patients survived to ICU admission (100% vs 77%) and hospital discharge (71% vs 31.8%), as well as at 90 days (51.6% vs 18.2%), and at 180 days (38.7% vs 13.6%). CONCLUSIONS: The PPIIM protocol allows safe intubation of acute myocardial infarction patients with cardiogenic shock and improves hemodynamic and oxygenation parameters.

A computational study on outliers in world music.

The comparative analysis of world music cultures has been the focus of several ethnomusicological studies in the last century. With the advances of Music Information Retrieval and the increased accessibility of sound archives, large-scale analysis of world music with computational tools is today feasible. We investigate music similarity in a corpus of 8200 recordings of folk and traditional music from 137 countries around the world. In particular, we aim to identify music recordings that are most distinct compared to the rest of our corpus. We refer to these recordings as 'outliers'. We use signal processing tools to extract music information from audio recordings, data mining to quantify similarity and detect outliers, and spatial statistics to account for geographical correlation. Our findings suggest that Botswana is the country with the most distinct recordings in the corpus and China is the country with the most distinct recordings when considering spatial correlation. Our analysis includes a comparison of musical attributes and styles that contribute to the 'uniqueness' of the music of each country.

Comparative study of the paracasein fraction of two ewe's milk cheese varieties.

The aim of the present work was to assess the characteristics of the paracasein of two ewe's milk cheese varieties using various concentrations of urea and EDTA to solubilise caseins and calcium. The solubilised paracasein elements were evaluated by means of RP-HPLC and AAS. For this purpose cheeses with different physical and biochemical characteristics, i.e. Feta (53.1% moisture and pH 4.32) and Graviera Kritis (33.2% moisture and pH 5.54) were analysed. Soluble calcium of Feta was 71% of total calcium much higher than the 25% in Graviera. Treatment with 4 m urea fully solubilised Feta paracasein, whereas 6 m urea was needed to solubilise caseins from Graviera. Caseins were released from both cheeses by 100 mm EDTA. Solubilisation of paracasein induced by urea or EDTA was not significantly affected (P < 0.05) by the type of cheese. Similarly to urea, EDTA induced significantly (P < 0.05) lower solubilisation of αs1-casein in Graviera than in Feta, based on αs1-cn/ß-cn ratio. A great part of calcium in both cheeses was solubilised by 50 mm EDTA while the release of casein was poor, confirming the important role of types of interactions other than protein-calcium bonds in the paracasein network. Hydrophobic interactions, hydrogen bonds and electrostatic attractions, contributed substantially to the paracasein stability of both cheese types. The interactions of αs1-casein with calcium played a more significant role in Graviera cheese than in Feta. Finally, the present study demonstrated that the profile of bonds and interactions within the cheese paracasein network was dynamicly configured by the conditions of cheese manufacture.