Evaluating the Impact of Metacognitive Reflection and Insight Therapy on Social Functioning in Schizophrenia

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)Objective: Social functioning encompasses interactions with people across situations of varying complexity. Given the frequency of observed social impairments in individuals with schizophrenia, there is a need to identify mechanisms that influence social functioning impairments. One proposed mechanism is metacognition, a mental process that enables the integration and interpretation of mental states and experiences. Impaired metacognition can inhibit one’s ability to engage and navigate through our social world. In individuals with schizophrenia, both social functioning and metacognitive deficits are profound. This study examined three hypotheses. Following Metacognitive Reflection and Insight Therapy (MERIT), (1) individuals will show improvements in social functioning; (2) individuals will show improvements in metacognitive abilities; and (3) improvements in social functioning will be associated with improved metacognitive abilities. Method: Using secondary data from a MERIT therapy feasibility study, data collected from the active condition groups (e.g., individuals with schizophrenia, n =16) at pre-and post-assessment were analyzed using paired samples t-tests for primary outcomes and hierarchical linear regressions to assess metacognition as an underlying mechanism of change. Results: Paired samples t-tests found no significant improvement in social functioning or metacognition. In contrast to the hypothesis, metacognitive abilities significantly declined. When subscales were examined, two subscales (self-reflectivity and awareness of others) significantly decreased. The post-hoc analysis found significant improvements in overall symptoms and disorganization. Lastly, metacognition did not significantly predict post-intervention social functioning. Conclusions: Measurement modality and the length of intervention may help explain the null findings observed in this study. The improvement in overall and disorganized symptoms could indicate that symptom reductions precede social functioning and metacognition changes. Given that the results from this trial were not aligned with previous studies, further research is needed to determine the effectiveness of MERIT on social functioning and metacognition in schizophrenia

Influence of ERβ selective agonism during the neonatal period on the sexual differentiation of the rat hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>It is well established that sexual differentiation of the rodent hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis is principally orchestrated by estrogen during the perinatal period. Here we sought to better characterize the mechanistic role the beta form of the estrogen receptor (ERβ) plays in this process.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>To achieve this, we exposed neonatal female rats to three doses (0.5, 1 and 2 mg/kg) of the ERβ selective agonist diarylpropionitrile (DPN) using estradiol benzoate (EB) as a positive control. Measures included day of vaginal opening, estrous cycle quality, GnRH and Fos co-localization following ovariectomy and hormone priming, circulating luteinizing hormone (LH) levels and quantification of hypothalamic kisspeptin immunoreactivity. A second set of females was then neonatally exposed to DPN, the ERα agonist propyl-pyrazole-triol (PPT), DPN+PPT, or EB to compare the impact of ERα and ERβ selective agonism on kisspeptin gene expression in pre- and post-pubescent females.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>All three DPN doses significantly advanced the day of vaginal opening and induced premature anestrus. GnRH and Fos co-labeling, a marker of GnRH activation, following ovariectomy and hormone priming was reduced by approximately half at all doses; the magnitude of which was not as large as with EB or what we have previously observed with the ERα agonist PPT. LH levels were also correspondingly lower, compared to control females. No impact of DPN was observed on the density of kisspeptin immunoreactive (-ir) fibers or cell bodies in the arcuate (ARC) nucleus, and kisspeptin-ir was only significantly reduced by the middle (1 mg/kg) DPN dose in the preoptic region. The second experiment revealed that EB, PPT and the combination of DPN+PPT significantly abrogated preoptic Kiss1 expression at both ages but ARC expression was only reduced by EB.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our results indicate that selective agonism of ERβ is not sufficient to completely achieve male-typical HPG organization observed with EB or an ERα agonist.</p

On the Floquet Theory of Delay Differential Equations

We present an analytical approach to deal with nonlinear delay differential equations close to instabilities of time periodic reference states. To this end we start with approximately determining such reference states by extending the Poincar'e Lindstedt and the Shohat expansions which were originally developed for ordinary differential equations. Then we systematically elaborate a linear stability analysis around a time periodic reference state. This allows to approximately calculate the Floquet eigenvalues and their corresponding eigensolutions by using matrix valued continued fractions

Multi-barrier resonant tunneling for the one-dimensional nonlinear Schr\"odinger Equation

For the stationary one-dimensional nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation (or Gross-Pitaevskii equation) nonlinear resonant transmission through a finite number of equidistant identical barriers is studied using a (semi-) analytical approach. In addition to the occurrence of bistable transmission peaks known from nonlinear resonant transmission through a single quantum well (respectively a double barrier) complicated (looped) structures are observed in the transmission coefficient which can be identified as the result of symmetry breaking similar to the emergence of self-trapping states in double well potentials. Furthermore it is shown that these results are well reproduced by a nonlinear oscillator model based on a small number of resonance eigenfunctions of the corresponding linear system.Comment: 22 pages, 11 figure

A wildland fire model with data assimilation

A wildfire model is formulated based on balance equations for energy and fuel, where the fuel loss due to combustion corresponds to the fuel reaction rate. The resulting coupled partial differential equations have coefficients that can be approximated from prior measurements of wildfires. An ensemble Kalman filter technique with regularization is then used to assimilate temperatures measured at selected points into running wildfire simulations. The assimilation technique is able to modify the simulations to track the measurements correctly even if the simulations were started with an erroneous ignition location that is quite far away from the correct one.Comment: 35 pages, 12 figures; minor revision January 2008. Original version available from http://www-math.cudenver.edu/ccm/report

Geometric Resonances in Bose-Einstein Condensates with Two- and Three-Body Interactions

We investigate geometric resonances in Bose-Einstein condensates by solving the underlying time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii equation for systems with two- and three-body interactions in an axially-symmetric harmonic trap. To this end, we use a recently developed analytical method [Phys. Rev. A 84, 013618 (2011)], based on both a perturbative expansion and a Poincar\'e-Lindstedt analysis of a Gaussian variational approach, as well as a detailed numerical study of a set of ordinary differential equations for variational parameters. By changing the anisotropy of the confining potential, we numerically observe and analytically describe strong nonlinear effects: shifts in the frequencies and mode coupling of collective modes, as well as resonances. Furthermore, we discuss in detail the stability of a Bose-Einstein condensate in the presence of an attractive two-body interaction and a repulsive three-body interaction. In particular, we show that a small repulsive three-body interaction is able to significantly extend the stability region of the condensate.Comment: 27 pages, 13 figure

Towards Blockchain-Based Identity and Access Management for Internet of Things in Enterprises

With the Internet of Things (IoT) evolving more and more, companies active within this area face new challenges for their Identity and Access Management (IAM). Namely, general security, resource constraint devices, interoperability, and scalability cannot be addressed anymore with traditional measures. Blockchain technology, however, may act as an enabler to overcome those challenges. In this paper, general application areas for blockchain in IAM are described based on recent research work. On this basis, it is discussed how blockchain can address IAM challenges presented by IoT. Finally, a corporate scenario utilizing blockchain-based IAM for IoT is outlined to assess the applicability in practice. The paper shows that private blockchains can be leveraged to design tamper-proof IAM functionality while maintaining scalability regarding the number of clients and transactions. This could be useful for enterprises to prevent single-point-of-failures as well as to enable transparent and secure auditing & monitoring of security-relevant events

Evaluating the Impact of Metacognitive Reflection and Insight Therapy on Social Functioning in Schizophrenia

Objective: Social functioning encompasses interactions with people across situations of varying complexity. Given the frequency of observed social impairments in individuals with schizophrenia, there is a need to identify mechanisms that influence social functioning impairments. One proposed mechanism is metacognition, a mental process that enables the integration and interpretation of mental states and experiences. Impaired metacognition can inhibit one’s ability to engage and navigate through our social world. In individuals with schizophrenia, both social functioning and metacognitive deficits are profound. This study examined three hypotheses. Following Metacognitive Reflection and Insight Therapy (MERIT), (1) individuals will show improvements in social functioning; (2) individuals will show improvements in metacognitive abilities; and (3) improvements in social functioning will be associated with improved metacognitive abilities. Method: Using secondary data from a MERIT therapy feasibility study, data collected from the active condition groups (e.g., individuals with schizophrenia, n =16) at pre-and post-assessment were analyzed using paired samples t-tests for primary outcomes and hierarchical linear regressions to assess metacognition as an underlying mechanism of change. Results: Paired samples t-tests found no significant improvement in social functioning or metacognition. In contrast to the hypothesis, metacognitive abilities significantly declined. When subscales were examined, two subscales (self-reflectivity and awareness of others) significantly decreased. The post-hoc analysis found significant improvements in overall symptoms and disorganization. Lastly, metacognition did not significantly predict post-intervention social functioning. Conclusions: Measurement modality and the length of intervention may help explain the null findings observed in this study. The improvement in overall and disorganized symptoms could indicate that symptom reductions precede social functioning and metacognition changes. Given that the results from this trial were not aligned with previous studies, further research is needed to determine the effectiveness of MERIT on social functioning and metacognition in schizophrenia