Expertise, control, and relational discourse in health care settings

Expertise and control are fundamental, integral and intricately related components constituting human interaction. Previous studies on control in discourse in health care settings have analyzed control predominantly from the perspective of the individual. The main purpose of our study is to investigate it from the interpersonal perspective, in which control is seen as a relational phenomenon. Our research focuses on language use in expert and lay discourse exploited and realized as interactive control sequences. The analysis suggests that the choice of different control mechanisms realized by the interlocutors is motivated by the acknowledgement of and adherence to the institutional framework. Control may well interact with the participants’ role expectations, which in turn results in a struggle to fulfi l intended roles against conventionally assigned roles. The paper discerns discourse strategies as they are applied in both explorative and therapeutic interviewing

Emotion-Related Visual Mismatch Responses in Schizophrenia: Impairments and Correlations with Emotion Recognition.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES:Mismatch negativity (MMN) is an event-related potential (ERP) measure of preattentional sensory processing. While deficits in the auditory MMN are robust electrophysiological findings in schizophrenia, little is known about visual mismatch response and its association with social cognitive functions such as emotion recognition in schizophrenia. Our aim was to study the potential deficit in the visual mismatch response to unexpected facial emotions in schizophrenia and its association with emotion recognition impairments, and to localize the sources of the mismatch signals. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN:The sample comprised 24 patients with schizophrenia and 24 healthy control subjects. Controls were matched individually to patients by gender, age, and education. ERPs were recorded using a high-density 128-channel BioSemi amplifier. Mismatch responses to happy and fearful faces were determined in 2 time windows over six regions of interest (ROIs). Emotion recognition performance and its association with the mismatch response were also investigated. PRINCIPAL OBSERVATIONS:Mismatch signals to both emotional conditions were significantly attenuated in patients compared to controls in central and temporal ROIs. Controls recognized emotions significantly better than patients. The association between overall emotion recognition performance and mismatch response to the happy condition was significant in the 250-360 ms time window in the central ROI. The estimated sources of the mismatch responses for both emotional conditions were localized in frontal regions, where patients showed significantly lower activity. CONCLUSIONS:Impaired generation of mismatch signals indicate insufficient automatic processing of emotions in patients with schizophrenia, which correlates strongly with decreased emotion recognition

General models in min-max continous location

In this paper, a class of min-max continuous location problems is discussed. After giving a complete characterization of th stationary points, we propose a simple central and deep-cut ellipsoid algorithm to solve these problems for the quasiconvex case. Moreover, an elementary convergence proof of this algorithm and some computational results are presented

Association Study with 77 SNPs Confirms the Robust Role for the rs10830963/G of MTNR1B Variant and Identifies Two Novel Associations in Gestational Diabetes Mellitus Development

CONTEXT: Genetic variation in human maternal DNA contributes to the susceptibility for development of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). OBJECTIVE: We assessed 77 maternal single nucleotide gene polymorphisms (SNPs) for associations with GDM or plasma glucose levels at OGTT in pregnancy. METHODS: 960 pregnant women (after dropouts 820: case/control: m99'WHO: 303/517, IADPSG: 287/533) were enrolled in two countries into this case-control study. After genomic DNA isolation the 820 samples were collected in a GDM biobank and assessed using KASP (LGC Genomics) genotyping assay. Logistic regression risk models were used to calculate ORs according to IADPSG/m'99WHO criteria based on standard OGTT values. RESULTS: The most important risk alleles associated with GDM were rs10830963/G of MTNR1B (OR = 1.84/1.64 [IADPSG/m'99WHO], p = 0.0007/0.006), rs7754840/C (OR = 1.51/NS, p = 0.016) of CDKAL1 and rs1799884/T (OR = 1.4/1.56, p = 0.04/0.006) of GCK. The rs13266634/T (SLC30A8, OR = 0.74/0.71, p = 0.05/0.02) and rs7578326/G (LOC646736/IRS1, OR = 0.62/0.60, p = 0.001/0.006) variants were associated with lower risk to develop GDM. Carrying a minor allele of rs10830963 (MTNR1B); rs7903146 (TCF7L2); rs1799884 (GCK) SNPs were associated with increased plasma glucose levels at routine OGTT. CONCLUSIONS: We confirmed the robust association of MTNR1B rs10830963/G variant with GDM binary and glycemic traits in this Caucasian case-control study. As novel associations we report the minor, G allele of the rs7578326 SNP in the LOC646736/IRS1 region as a significant and the rs13266634/T SNP (SLC30A8) as a suggestive protective variant against GDM development. Genetic susceptibility appears to be more preponderant in individuals who meet both the modified 99'WHO and the IADPSG GDM diagnostic criteria

Cognitive Systems, Semantic Constraints and Fragmented Narratives in the Digital Age

The present study consists of two, seemingly disparate but not incongruous parts. The first part discusses two ground-breaking semantic theories whose common theme is semantic constraints on natural language. Pierre-Yves Raccah’s semantic theory discusses the direct and objective contribution of semantic objects in linguistic structure which takes effect in imposing constraints on the interpreted senses of utterances. Leonard Talmy’s cognitive semantics assumes semantics to be a language specific manifestation of concept structuring in linguistic cognition. A possible platform for reconciliation between the two views on semantics is offered by re-conceptualizing the notion “constraints on meaning construction”. The second part of the study aims at pointing at the emerging novel conditions provided by digital culture which may lead to fundamental changes in the practices of social cognition. The discussion raises the issues of meaning-creation and learning techniques in the digital era as traditional cultural narratives tend to become fragmented and linguistic cognition seems to lack the unquestionable common ground for negotiated and consensual patterns of interpretation

Cognitive Systems, Semantic Constraints and Fragmented Narratives in the Digital Age

The present study consists of two, seemingly disparate but not incongruous parts. The first part discusses two ground-breaking semantic theories whose common theme is semantic constraints on natural language. Pierre-Yves Raccah’s semantic theory discusses the direct and objective contribution of semantic objects in linguistic structure which takes effect in imposing constraints on the interpreted senses of utterances. Leonard Talmy’s cognitive semantics assumes semantics to be a language specific manifestation of concept structuring in linguistic cognition. A possible platform for reconciliation between the two views on semantics is offered by re-conceptualizing the notion “constraints on meaning construction”. The second part of the study aims at pointing at the emerging novel conditions provided by digital culture which may lead to fundamental changes in the practices of social cognition. The discussion raises the issues of meaning-creation and learning techniques in the digital era as traditional cultural narratives tend to become fragmented and linguistic cognition seems to lack the unquestionable common ground for negotiated and consensual patterns of interpretation

Effect of myog genotypes on growth rate and production traits in Hungarian Large White pigs

The effect of the porcine myogenin (Myog) 3' polymorphism on birth weight, growth rate, carcass weight, lean weight, lean meat percentage and backfat thickness has been investigated in Hungarian Large White pigs. MYOG genotypes were determined by PCR-RFLP assay. The obtained MYOGAfrequency value was 0.6275. Due to the small number of BB piglets the effect of the MYOG genotypes on birth weight was not significant; however, an increasing tendency was observed from genotype AA to BB. The growth rate difference between MYOG genotypes was significant: BB animals showed the highest growth rate values during the fattening period. Since few results are available on the possible use of MYOG gene polymorphism in selection to improve carcass and growth traits, by this study the authors hope to provide additional data on this particular subject