Exploring innovative moments in a brief integrative psychotherapy case study

The present study examined the emergence of innovative moments in a successful case of Brief Integrative Psychotherapy (BIP) based on Hill's 3-stage model. Hill's model suggests that optimally therapeutic processes involve exploration (based on client-centered therapy), insight (based on psychoanalytic therapy), and action (based on behavioral therapy). Innovative moments are exceptions to the problematic pattern of meaning that brought the client to therapy. Previous studies showed that their occurrences in the therapeutic conversation were related to symptomatic improvement in different therapeutic models; nevertheless, they have not yet been explored in integrative psychotherapy, and especially psychotherapy that contains explicit psychodynamic components. The aim of the study was too examine the relations between innovative moments, on the one hand, and (a) symptomatic improvement, (b) therapist's interventions, and (c) client's subjective experience, session by session, on the other. A 12-session case study of a 27-year-old female client was coded according to the Innovative Moments Coding System. Outcome improvement was measured by the Outcome Questionnaire (OQ-45.2). Therapist's interventions were coded according to the Helping Skills Scale (HSS). The subjective experience for each session was measured by the Session Evaluation Questionnaire (SEQ). The findings suggest that innovative moments are related to symptomatic change. Exploration and insight interventions were related to the emergence of more elementary innovative moments, whereas action interventions were found to be related to more highly developed innovative moments. Finally, innovative moments were strongly associated with 3 out of the 4 dimensions of client's subjective experience of the session (depth, smoothness. and positivity). These results should he further explored at a sample level.- (undefined

Motion Capture Visualisation For Mixed Animation Techniques

In this paper we discuss a novel multidisciplinary method for computer animation, using motion capture ( 'mocap') as reference, combining techniques from 2D and 3D animation, and digital sculpting. Our method develops a process to create animation based on mocap data, without being restricted by standard practices that depend on existing rigged 3D models, allowing for visual expression and improvisation while taking advantage of naturalistic motion and interaction within a 3D environment. The standard mocap methodology for creating animation consists of retargeting (transferring) the recorded data from actors and performers to existing digital characters, providing them with movement. The motion is then polished and tweaked by animators, until the final result is achieved. The character’s animation is the result of the captured performance and the original character design, but they are not created at the same time, as they are put together later on. Something similar happens with 3D computer animation: in order for animators to articulate characters into poses that are interpolated by the computer, a model of a character has to be built first. Here, the animators fully control the performance, but the design of the character pre-dates this process, and can only be modified within certain constraints. Mocap is bound by physics and naturalistic movements, animation can be exaggerated, weight and force have to be conveyed, rather than imposed. Both differ aesthetically but none of the approaches takes full advantage of 2D animation methods, where drawings dictate shape, form and motion at the same time. The characters here can be designed for the movement they perform in particular shots. This opens possibilities for a more experimental approach, where abstraction can exist. Our method combines the different disciplines and allows form to be created for each key pose, using digital sculpting tools for development and mocap as reference. Then, poses can be interpolated so the method is still interactive, allowing for experimentation. Using drawing as the starting point from the mocap data allows for greater understanding of the poses by studying the human figure in motion. This creates new opportunities for designing the animation, regarding shapes, forms and movement.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Vascular relaxation, antihypertensive effect, and cardioprotection of a novel peptide agonist of the Mas receptor

Mas stimulation with angiotensin (Ang)-(1-7) produces cardioprotective effects and vasorelaxation. Using a computational discovery platform for predicting novel naturally occurring peptides that may activate G protein-coupled receptors, we discovered a novel Mas agonist peptide, CGEN-856S. An endothelium- and NO-dependent vasodilating effect was observed for CGEN-856S in thoracic aorta rings of rats (maximal value for the relaxant effect: 39.99+/-5.034%), which was similar to that produced by Ang-(1-7) (10(-10) to 10(-6) mol/L). In addition, the vasodilator activity of this peptide depended on a functional Mas receptor, because it was abolished in aorta rings of Mas-knockout mice. CGEN-856S appears to bind the Mas receptor at the same binding domain as Ang-(1-7), as suggested by the blocking of its vasorelaxant effect with the Ang-(1-7) analogue D-Ala(7)-Ang-(1-7), and by its competitive inhibition of Ang-(1-7) binding to Mas-transfected cells. The effect of CGEN-856S on reperfusion arrhythmias and cardiac function was studied on ischemia reperfusion of isolated rat hearts. We found that picomolar concentration of CGEN-856S (0.04 nmol/L) had an antiarrhythmogenic effect, as demonstrated by a reduction in the incidence and duration of reperfusion arrhythmias. Furthermore, acute infusion of CGEN-856S produced a shallow dose-dependent decrease in mean arterial pressure of conscious spontaneously hypertensive rats. The maximum change during infusion was observed at the highest dose. Strikingly, blood pressure continued to drop in the postinfusion period. The results presented here indicate that the novel Mas agonist, CGEN-856S, might have a therapeutic value, because it induces vasorelaxing, antihypertensive, and cardioprotective effects