Social neuroscience in psychiatry: unravelling the neural mechanisms of social dysfunction

Social neuroscience is a flourishing, interdisciplinary field that investigates the underlying biological processes of social cognition and behaviour. The recent application of social neuroscience to psychiatric research advances our understanding of various psychiatric illnesses that are characterized by impairments in social cognition and social functioning. In addition, the upcoming line of social neuroscience research provides new techniques to design and evaluate treatment interventions that are aimed at improving patients’ social lives. This review provides a contemporary overview of social neuroscience in psychiatry. We draw together the major findings about the neural mechanisms of social cognitive processes directed at understanding others and social interactions in psychiatric illnesses and discuss their implications for future research and clinical practice

Swelling strains from gamma-irradiated silica - Evaluation of results by Shelby

Water introduced in silica reacts with the silica network under hydroxyl generation that causes a volume swelling. This effect has been discussed quantitatively in much detail in [1] for the case of water entrance by a heat treatment procedure. In the present Report we include also data by Shelby [8] obtained by in-situ generation of hydroxyl in gamma-irradiated silica. This procedure resulted in stronger density changes compared with the heat-treated material. Independent of this fact, we can show that the same volume swelling results for both methods. As an application of the results an estimation of the molar volume of hydroxyl is made

Inert strength measurement on silica soaked at 250°C in liquid water and water vapour

The effect of water soaking and heat-treatment in saturated water vapour at 250°C for 192 h on the strength of silica glass is studied. Bending strength meaurements in liquid nitrogen showed a clear increase of the inert strength for heat-treated specimens over that of the untreated material. The increase in strength is interpreted as the consequence of water diffusion into exposed surfaces of the test specimen, which results in swelling of the glass and shielding of cracks, present in the surface of the glass. Experimental results are compared with theoretical predictions

Learning to trust: trust and attachment in early psychosis

Background Distrust and social dysfunction are characteristic in psychosis and may arise from attachment insecurity, which is elevated in the disorder. The relationship between trust and attachment in the early stages of psychosis is unknown, yet could help to understand interpersonal difficulties and disease progression. This study aimed to investigate whether trust is reduced in patients with early psychosis and whether this is accounted for by attachment avoidance and attachment anxiety. Method We used two trust games with a cooperative and unfair partner in a sample of 39 adolescents with early psychosis and 100 healthy controls. Results Patients had higher levels of attachment anxiety, but the groups did not differ in attachment avoidance. Basic trust was lower in patients than controls, as indicated by lower initial investments. During cooperation patients increased their trust towards levels of controls, i.e. they were able to learn and to override initial suspiciousness. Patients decreased their trust less than controls during unfair interactions. Anxious attachment was associated with higher basic trust and higher trust during unfair interactions and predicted trust independent of group status. Discussion Patients showed decreased basic trust but were able to learn from the trustworthy behaviour of their counterpart. Worries about the acceptance by others and low self-esteem are associated with psychosis and attachment anxiety and may explain behaviour that is focused on conciliation, rather than self-protection

Women’s perspectives on smartphone apps for fertility tracking and predicting conception : a mixed methods study

Acknowledgement We would like to thank all our survey respondents and interview participants, without whom this research would not have been possible. Additionally, we would like to thank the Clearblue team at SPD Development Company Ltd., for their assistance and support with volunteer recruitment and assistance with implementation of the research. Funding This work was conducted as an MPH research project at the University of Aberdeen. SPD Development Company Ltd. (Clearblue) provided pregnancy and ovulation tests as rewards for participants who completed interviews.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Evaluation of crack-terminating angles in heat-treated silica DCDC-specimens

Cracks terminating at free surfaces are affected by local stresses in the surface region. Under residual compression, the crack front must retard and under residual tensile stresses advance, both compared with the crack contour in the absence of stresses. This effect can be used for an estimation of residual surface stresses in silica generated during the silica/water reaction and caused by volume swelling. A strong shielding stress intensity factor of about -2.5 MPa$\sqrt{m}$ was found for DCDC specimen heat-treated for 192h at 250°C in water. This result is a clear indication for compressive stresses developing in the water diffusion zone at the surface

v-K-data for silica from interrupted lifetime measurements

Different methods were applied so far in order to determine subcritical crack growth for silica. Mostly, fracture mechanics standard tests with macro cracks were used for this purpose. In this report, we evaluated the subcritical crack growth curves from interrupted lifetime tests on silica bending specimens containing small natural flaws. The resulting v-K-curve showed crack growth rates down to 10$^{-14}$ m/s indicating a threshold for subcritical crack growth at K$_{th}$$\approxeq$0.31 MPa$\sqrt{m}$ In the plot of v=f(K/K$_{Ic}$) slight material differences could be eliminated and suitable agreement with macro-crack results by Wiederhorn and Bolz [1] on DCB-specimens and Michalske et al. [2] on DCDC-specimens could be stated

Neuroimaging oxytocin modulation of social reward learning in schizophrenia.

Conventional pharmacological approaches have limited effectiveness for schizophrenia. There is interest in the application of oxytocin, which is involved in social cognition. Clinical trials have yielded mixed results, with a gap in understanding neural mechanisms. To evaluate the behavioural impact of oxytocin administration on a social learning task in individuals with schizophrenia, and elucidate any differential neural activity produced. We recruited 20 clinically stable right-handed men diagnosed with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder. In a double-blind cross-over randomised controlled study, 40 IU of oxytocin or placebo were administered before functional magnetic resonance imaging of participants playing a multi-round economic exchange game of trust. Participants had the role of investors (investment trials) receiving repayment on their investments (repayment trials), playing one session against a computer and a second against a player believed to be human. During investment trials, oxytocin increased neural signalling in the right lateral parietal cortex for both human and computer player trials, and attenuated signalling in the right insula for human player trials. For repayment trials, oxytocin elicited signal increases in left insula and left ventral caudate, and a signal decrease in right amygdala during the human player trials; conversely it resulted in right dorsal caudate activation during the computer player trials. We did not find a significant change in behavioural performance associated with oxytocin administration, or any associations with symptoms. During a social learning task oxytocin modulates cortical and limbic substrates of the reward-processing network. These perturbations can be putatively linked to the pathoaetiology of schizophrenia

Cooperation and sensitivity to social feedback during group interactions in schizophrenia

Patients with schizophrenia show reduced cooperation and less sensitivity to social cues in pairwise interactions, however, it remains unclear whether these mechanisms are also present in interactions within social groups. We used a public goods game to investigate cooperation and sensitivity to social feedback in group interactions in 27 patients with schizophrenia and 27 healthy controls. Participants played 40 trials in two conditions: 1) no fine (20 trials): participants had the choice of investing into the public good (i.e. cooperating) or not (i.e. defecting), 2) fine (20 trials): participants had the same choice but defectors could be punished by the other players. On the first trial, patients invested less in the public good than healthy controls. In the no fine condition, controls decreased their investments over time, but patients did not. The possibility of being fined for defecting and actually being fined led to significantly higher cooperation in both groups. This shows that the groups were equally sensitive to social enforcement and social feedback. Our findings suggest that patients tend to approach social group interactions with less cooperative behaviour, which could contribute to social dysfunction in daily-life. However, an intact sensitivity to social enforcement and feedback indicates that patients can adjust their behaviour accordingly in group interactions

Progress in strength, toughness and lifetime methods for ceramics

Fortschritte auf dem Gebiet der Festigkeit, Risszähigkeit und Lebensdauer von Keramik Zur Charakterisierung des Versagensverhaltens keramischer Werkstoffe sind Festigkeits- und Risszähigkeitsmessungen erforderlich. Weist eine Keramik noch den Effekt des unterkritischen Risswachstums auf, sind auch Lebensdauermessungen unter statischer Belastung von großer Wichtigkeit. Neuere Beiträge der Autoren zur Untersuchungs-Methodik sind in diesem Bericht zusammengefasst. Teil A befasst sich mit der Berechnung der maximalen Spannungen in runden Scheiben unter Kugelbelastung. Hierbei werden der “ball-on-ring test”, der “ball-on-3-balls test” und der kürzlich von den Verfassern entwickelte „3-balls-on-3-balls test“ betrachtet. Als praktische Anwendung der ermittelten Spannungen im “ball-on-3-balls test” wird das bei grobkörnigem Aluminiumoxid gefundene stabile Bruchverhalten als Effekt einer stark ansteigenden Risswiderstandskurve diskutiert. In Teil B wird auf eine von den Verfassern entwickelte Methode eingegangen, die es gestattet, sehr kurze Kerben mit extrem kleinen Kerbradien zu erzeugen. Bei einer ZrO2-Keramik konnten Kerbradien von unter 0.1 μm bei einer Kerbtiefe von nur 40μm erzeugt werden. Derartig kurze und scharfe Kerben sollten geeignet sein, das Verhalten natürlicher Risse in Keramiken anzunähern. Schließlich wird in Teil C über eine Prozedur berichtet, die sich dafür eignet, eine vorhandene Anzahl an Lebensdauer-Versuchsproben optimal auszunutzen. Hierbei kann aus der erneuten Verwendung von auf niederem Lastniveau angefallenen „Durchläufern“ zusätzliche Information über das Risswachstumsgesetz gewonnen werden. Die Methode wird an Lebensdauermessungen von SIALON in destilliertem Wasser von 20°C demonstriert