Validity and Reliability of a Persian Version of the Screen for Cognitive Impairment in Psychiatry Scale in Patients with Bipolar Type One Disorder

Background: The screen for cognitive impairment in psychiatry scale (SCIP) is designed for assessment of cognitive function in patients with psychiatry disorders. English and Spanish versions of SCIP have been shown to be sensitive enough to cognitive dysfunction as a standard test. The SCIP is a scale intended to quickly and easily assess the cognitive impairment in patient with sever psychiatric disorders. This study aimed to assess the psychometric properties of Persian version of SCIP when applied to patients diagnosed with bipolar type one disorder. Methods: Psychometric properties were evaluated in a group of 30 patients aged between 18 and 55 years who were in stable phase of bipolar type one disorder and a control group of 30 healthy people using Persian version of SCIP, controlled oral word association test (COWAT), Rey auditory verbal learning test (RAVLT), digit symbol coding (Wechsler adult intelligence III) test, and Trail Making Test (TMT) part A and B. Results: The subscales of Persian version of SCIP were significantly correlated with the corresponding standard neurocognitive tests with an adequate internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.85). Test-retest reliability showed intraclass correlation coefficient as 0.94. Conclusion: Generally, Persian version of SCIP showed reasonable validity and reliability in order to assess cognitive impairments in patients with bipolar type one disorder and differentiate these patients from healthy control group in this term. Keywords Bipolar Disorder; Cognitive Impairment; Screening; Psychiatr

Can Inform Economics

Who knows what I want to do? Who knows what anyone wants to do? How can you be sure about something like that? Isn’t it all a question of brain chemistry, signals going back and forth, electrical energy in the cortex? How do you know whether something is really what you want to do or just some kind of nerve impulse in the brain. Some minor little activity takes place somewhere in this unimportant place in one of the brain hemispheres and suddenly I want to go to Montana or I don’t want to go to Montana. (White Noise, Don DeLillo) 1

Mutualistic Coupling Between Vocabulary and Reasoning Supports Cognitive Development During Late Adolescence and Early Adulthood.

One of the most replicable findings in psychology is the positive manifold: the observation that individual differences in cognitive abilities are universally positively correlated. Investigating the developmental origin of the positive manifold is crucial to understanding it. In a large longitudinal cohort of adolescents and young adults ( N = 785; n = 566 across two waves, mean interval between waves = 1.48 years; age range = 14-25 years), we examined developmental changes in two core cognitive domains, fluid reasoning and vocabulary. We used bivariate latent change score models to compare three leading accounts of cognitive development: g-factor theory, investment theory, and mutualism. We showed that a mutualism model, which proposes that basic cognitive abilities directly and positively interact during development, provides the best account of developmental changes. We found that individuals with higher scores in vocabulary showed greater gains in matrix reasoning and vice versa. These dynamic coupling pathways are not predicted by other accounts and provide a novel mechanistic window into cognitive development.The Neuroscience in Psychiatry Network is supported by a strategic award from the Wellcome Trust to the University of Cambridge and University College London (095844/Z/11/Z). R. A. Kievit is supported by the Wellcome Trust (Grant No. 107392/Z/15/Z) and the UK Medical Research Council (MC-A060-5PR61). P. Fonagy is funded by a National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Senior Investigator Award (NF-SI-0514-10157). P. Fonagy was in part supported by the NIHR Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC) North Thames at Barts Health National Health Service (NHS) Trust. The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR, or the UK Department of Health

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Abstract. Brain-Computer Interfaces based on electrocorticography (ECoG) or electroencephalography (EEG), in combination with robot-assisted active physical therapy, may support traditional rehabilitation procedures for patients with severe motor impairment due to cerebrovascular brain damage caused by stroke. In this short report, we briefly review the state-of-the art in this exciting new field, give an overview of the work carried out at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics and the University of Tübingen, and discuss challenges that need to be addressed in order to move from basic research to clinical studies. Current rehabilitation methods for patients with severe motor impairment due to cerebrovascular brain damage are limited in providing significant long-term functional recovery. In stroke patients, functional recovery beyond one year post-stroke is rare (Johnston et al. [2004]), and functional independence often displays a long-term decline (Dhamoon et al. [2009]). As such, novel strategies in stroke rehabilitation are required. Robot-assisted physical therapy (Riener et al. [2005]) and motor imagery (Dijkerman et al. [2004], Page et al. [2007]) have been shown to be beneficial in stroke rehabilitation

Construction and Validation of the Narcissism and Vulnerable Narcissism Scale in a Non-clinical Sample in Iran

Background: This study was carried out to construct and validate Narcissism and Vulnerable Narcissism Scale (NVS) in a non-clinical sample in Iran. Methods: Through a review of literature, the affecting factors for narcissism and vulnerable narcissism were identified. Items for them were designed and their face validity and content validity were assessed via consultation with 5 psychoanalysts. 804 students, recruited through stratified sampling, completed the designed scale and Maladaptive Covert Narcissism Scale (MCNS). Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was applied for factor analysis. Cronbach alpha was used to confirm the reliability of factors. The difference between two genders was investigated using t test. The frequency of narcissism and vulnerable narcissism were estimated based on the z-scores. Results: Three factors of “grandiosity”, “devaluation”, and “social detachment” for narcissism part (24 items) and four factors of “negative emotions”, “fear of defect”, “low and fluctuating self-esteem”, and “withdrawal” for vulnerable narcissism part (27 items) of the scale showed reasonable validity and reliability. Pearson correlation coefficient between the two parts of narcissism and vulnerable narcissism and MCNS was estimated 0.42 and 0.47, respectively. Based on the score of 2 standard deviation (SD) above the mean, 2.0% of men, and 2.6% of women had narcissism, among which, 14.2% and 45.4% showed vulnerable narcissism, respectively. Conclusion: This scale showed suitable validity and reliability for screening narcissism and vulnerable narcissism. It needs to be replicated in other clinical and non-clinical samples with various demographic characteristics. Keywords Narcissism; Self report; Surveys; Scale