Mentalizing in Adolescents and Young Adults with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: Associations with Age and Attention Problems

Introduction: Growing, albeit heterogenous evidence questions whether attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is associated with socio-cognitive impairments, especially beyond childhood. This study focuses on mentalizing - the socio-cognitive ability to attribute and reason in terms of mental states. We aimed to characterize mentalizing performance in terms of correct scores and types of errors in adolescents and young adults with ADHD. Methods: Forty-nine adolescents and adults with ADHD and 49 healthy controls matched for age and gender completed a computerized naturalistic mentalizing task, the Movie for Assessment of Social Cognition (MASC). Repeated measures analyses of variance examined the effects of age group and ADHD diagnosis on MASC performance. Additionally, associations between mentalizing scores, the severity of attention problems, and the presence of comorbidity were explored in the ADHD group. Results: Results showed an increased prevalence of hypomentalizing errors in adolescents with ADHD. Lower mentalizing scores in adolescents with ADHD were correlated with indices of inattentiveness, impulsivity, and vigilance problems. Hypomentalizing errors in adolescents showed to be particularly associated with inattentiveness, after controlling for age and comorbidity. In contrast, adults with ADHD performed similarly to controls and their scores on the mentalizing task were not correlated to attention problems. Conclusion: These findings highlight potential developmental differences in mentalizing abilities in ADHD youths and their association with attentional impairments

Impairment in Theory of Mind in Parkinson’s Disease Is Explained by Deficits in Inhibition

Objective. Several studies have reported that people with Parkinson's disease (PD) perform poorly on tests of 'Theory of Mind' (ToM), suggesting impairment in the ability to understand and infer other people's thoughts and feelings. However, few studies have sought to separate the processes involved in social reasoning from those involved in managing the inhibitory demands on these tests. In this study, we investigated the contribution of inhibition to ToM performance in PD. Methods. 18 PD patients and 22 age-matched healthy controls performed a ToM test that separates the ability to infer someone else's perspective from the ability to inhibit one's own. Participants also completed a battery of standard measures of social and executive functioning, including measures of inhibition. Results. The PD patients performed worse on the ToM test only when the inhibitory demands were high. When the level of inhibition required was reduced, there were no significant group differences. Furthermore, executive impairments in PD patients were limited to measures of inhibition, with disadvantages associated with poorer ToM performance in this group. Conclusions. This study provides convincing evidence that the apparent impairment observed on ToM tests in PD is explained by deficits in inhibition

Predictors of executive, emotional and quality of life difficulties after aneurysmal subarachnoid haemorhage

Background: Aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH) had been associated with chronic cognitive and psychosocial difficulties, which all impede recovery of premorbid functioning, independence and successful reintegration in society. The present study aimed to investigate a) cognitive impairment (global cognitive dysfunction and executive deficits specifically) b) emotional difficulties (anxiety and depression) and c) Quality of Life impairment in aSAH patients 3 months after aSAH...

ESTIMATION OF AMPLIFICATION FACTOR IN EARTHQUAKE ENGINEERING

The authors are the developers of Odyssey Software (Eurosoft Co.) for the analysis of seismological data and computing of seismic loads and their parameters. While communicating with the users of the software, the authors have revealed some uncertainty about both understanding of the term "amplification factor (AF)" and calculation of the amplification factor using various methods. In this article, a simple example shows that the determination of the amplification factor as the ratio of the acceleration’s spectrum to the maximal acceleration is derived from the classical definition of AF in the form of the ratio of maximal dynamic displacement to the displacement by the action of static load. Deterministic and probabilistic ap-proaches for the calculating of the AF were discussed. There was an example of AFs calculation and their envelopes for translational and rotational components of seismic impact by using Odyssey Software

NLPR3 Inflammasomes and Their Significance for Atherosclerosis

Atherosclerosis is a serious disorder, with numerous potential complications such as cardiovascular disease, ischemic stroke, and myocardial infarction. The origin of atherosclerosis is related to chronic inflammation, lipid metabolism alterations, and oxidative stress. Inflammasomes are the cytoplasmic multiprotein complex triggering the activation of inflammatory response. NLRP3 inflammasomes have a specific activation pathway that involves numerous stimuli, including a wide range of PAMPs and DAMPs. Recent studies of atherosclerotic pathology are focused on the mitochondria that appear to be a promising target for therapeutic approach development. Mitochondria are the main source of reactive oxygen species (ROS) associated with oxidative stress. It was previously shown that NLRP3 inflammasome activation results in mitochondrial damage, but the exact mechanisms of this need to be specified. In this review, we focused on the features of NLRP3 inflammasomes and their significance for atherosclerosis, especially concerning mitochondria

Roles of age, gender and psychological difficulties in adolescent mentalizing

Adolescence is a critical period for the development of mentalizing - the imaginative capacity to understand one's own and others' behaviour in terms of underlying mental states. Yet, factors and mechanisms underlying individual differences in adolescent mentalizing remain poorly understood. This exploratory study examined whether and how a) age and gender and b) psychological difficulties correlate with mentalizing performance in adolescents from the general population

Mentalizing in adolescents and young adults with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder : associations with age and attention problems

Introduction: Growing, albeit heterogenous evidence questions whether attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is associated with socio-cognitive impairments, especially beyond childhood. This study focuses on mentalizing – the socio-cognitive ability to attribute and reason in terms of mental states. We aimed to characterize mentalizing performance in terms of correct scores and types of errors in adolescents and young adults with ADHD. Methods: Forty-nine adolescents and adults with ADHD and 49 healthy controls matched for age and gender completed a computerized naturalistic mentalizing task, the Movie for Assessment of Social Cognition (MASC). Repeated measures analyses of variance examined the effects of age group and ADHD diagnosis on MASC performance. Additionally, associations between mentalizing scores, the severity of attention problems, and the presence of comorbidity were explored in the ADHD group. Results: Results showed an increased prevalence of hypomentalizing errors in adolescents with ADHD. Lower mentalizing scores in adolescents with ADHD were correlated with indices of inattentiveness, impulsivity, and vigilance problems. Hypomentalizing errors in adolescents showed to be particularly associated with inattentiveness, after controlling for age and comorbidity. In contrast, adults with ADHD performed similarly to controls and their scores on the mentalizing task were not correlated to attention problems. Conclusion: These findings highlight potential developmental differences in mentalizing abilities in ADHD youths and their association with attentional impairments.</p

Is There a Relationship between Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes and Future Development of Atherosclerosis?

Cardiovascular disease is one of the main death causes globally. Effective cardiovascular risk management requires a thorough understanding of the mechanisms underlying the disorder. Establishing early markers of the disease allows a timely intervention and prevention of further atherosclerosis development. Multiple studies confirm the correlation between pregnancy disorders and cardiovascular disease in the postpartum period. Moreover, over 30% of women experience adverse pregnancy outcomes. Thus, the examination of the links between these conditions and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease may help to identify gender-specific risk factors. In this review, we will explore the association between several adverse pregnancy outcome conditions and atherosclerosis. The current analysis is based on the data from several recent studies on the mechanisms behind gestational diabetes, hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, miscarriages, and stillbirths and their implications for the female cardiovascular system

Innovations and changes in the ICD-11 classification of mental, behavioural and neurodevelopmental disorders

Following approval of the ICD-11 by the World Health Assembly in May 2019, World Health Organization (WHO) member states will transition\ua0from the ICD-10 to the ICD-11, with reporting of health statistics based on the new system to begin on January 1, 2022. The WHO Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse will publish Clinical Descriptions and Diagnostic Guidelines (CDDG) for ICD-11 Mental, Behavioural and Neurodevelopmental Disorders following ICD-11’s approval. The development of the ICD-11 CDDG over the past decade, based on the principles of clinical utility and global applicability, has been the most broadly international, multilingual, multidisciplinary and participative revision process ever implemented for a classification of mental disorders. Innovations in the ICD-11 include the provision of consistent and systematically characterized information, the adoption of a lifespan approach, and culture-related guidance for each disorder. Dimensional approaches have been incorporated into the classification, particularly for personality disorders and primary psychotic disorders, in ways that are consistent with current evidence, are more compatible with recovery-based approaches, eliminate artificial comorbidity, and more effectively capture changes over time. Here we describe major changes to the structure of the ICD-11 classification of mental disorders as compared to the ICD-10, and the development of two new ICD-11 chapters relevant to mental health practice. We illustrate a set of new categories that have been added to the ICD-11 and present the rationale for their inclusion. Finally, we provide a description of the important changes that have been made in each ICD-11 disorder grouping. This information is intended to be useful for both clinicians and researchers in orienting themselves to the ICD-11 and in preparing for implementation in their own professional contexts