The neurological manifestations of trauma: lessons from World War I

Changes in the clinical presentation of functional disorders and the influence of social and cultural factors can be investigated through the historical case notes from mental hospitals. World War I (WWI) was a potent trigger of functional disorders with neurological or psychiatric symptoms. We analysed 100 randomly selected case files of German servicemen admitted to the Department of Psychiatry of the Charité Medical School of Berlin University during WWI and classified them according to contemporaneous and retrospective modern diagnoses. We compared the clinical presentations with accounts in the German and British medical literature of the time. Most patients obtained the contemporaneous diagnosis of ‘psychopathic constitution’ or hysteria reflecting the general view of German psychiatrists that not the war but an individual predisposition was the basis for the development of symptoms. The clinical picture was dominated by pseudoneurological motor or sensory symptoms as well as pseudoseizures. Some soldiers relived combat experiences in dream-like dissociative states that partly resemble modern-day post-traumatic stress disorder. Most servicemen were classified as unfit for military service but very few of them were granted compensation. Severe functional disorders of a neurological character could develop even without traumatic exposure in combat, which is of interest for the current debate on triggers of stress disorders. The high incidence of pseudoseizures accords with the psychiatric literature of the time and contrasts with accounts of war-related disorders in Britain. The tendency of German psychiatrists not to send traumatised servicemen back to active duty also distinguished between German and British practice. Our data contribute to the debate on the changing patterns of human responses to traumatic experience and their historical and social context

At the crossroads of logics: Automating newswork with artificial intelligence : (Re)defining journalistic logics from the perspective of technologists

As artificial intelligence (AI) technologies become more ubiquitous for streamlining and optimizing work, they are entering fields representing organizational logics at odds with the efficiency logic of automation. One such field is journalism, an industry defined by a logic enacted through professional norms, practices, and values. This paper examines the experience of technologists developing and employing natural language generation (NLG) in news organizations, looking at how they situate themselves and their technology in relation to newswork. Drawing on institutional logics, a theoretical framework from organizational theory, we show how technologists shape their logic for building these emerging technologies based on a theory of rationalizing news organizations, a frame of optimizing newswork, and a narrative of news organizations misinterpreting the technology. Our interviews reveal technologists mitigating tensions with journalistic logic and newswork by labeling stories generated by their systems as nonjournalistic content, seeing their technology as a solution for improving journalism, enabling newswork to move away from routine tasks. We also find that as technologists interact with news organizations, they assimilate elements from journalistic logic beneficial for benchmarking their technology for more lucrative industries.Peer reviewe

Cognitive deficits in childhood, adolescence and adulthood in 22q11.2 deletion syndrome and association with psychopathology

22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome (22q11.2DS) is associated with high risk of psychiatric disorders and cognitive impairment. It remains unclear to what extent key cognitive skills are associated with psychopathology, and whether cognition is stable over time in 22q11.2DS. 236 children, adolescents and adults with 22q11.2DS and 106 typically developing controls were recruited from three sites across Europe. Measures of IQ, processing speed, sustained attention, spatial working memory and psychiatric assessments were completed. Cognitive performance in individuals was calculated relative to controls in different age groups (children (6–9 years), adolescents (10–17 years), adults (18+ years)). Individuals with 22q11.2DS exhibited cognitive impairment and higher rates of psychiatric disorders compared to typically developing controls. Presence of Autism Spectrum Disorder symptoms was associated with greater deficits in processing speed, sustained attention and working memory in adolescents but not children. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in children and adolescents and psychotic disorder in adulthood was associated with sustained attention impairment. Processing speed and working memory were more impaired in children and adults with 22q11.2DS respectively, whereas the deficit in sustained attention was present from childhood and remained static over developmental stages. Psychopathology was associated with cognitive profile of individuals with 22q11.2DS in an age-specific and domain-specific manner. Furthermore, magnitude of cognitive impairment differed by developmental stage in 22q11.2DS and the pattern differed by domain

Low-energy peak structure in strong-field ionization by mid-infrared laser-pulses: two-dimensional focusing by the atomic potential

We analyze the formation of the low-energy structure (LES) in above-threshold ionization spectra first observed by Quan et al.\ \cite{quan09} and Blaga et al.\ \cite{blaga09} using both quasi-classical and quantum approaches. We show this structure to be largely classical in origin resulting from a two-dimensional focusing in the energy-angular momentum plane of the strong-field dynamics in the presence of the atomic potential. The peak at low energy is strongly correlated with high angular momenta of the photoelectrons. Quantum simulations confirm this scenario. Resulting parameter dependences agree with experimental findings \cite{quan09,blaga09} and, in part, with other simulations \cite{liu10,yan10,kast11}.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figure

Electrophysiological network alterations in adults with copy number variants associated with high neurodevelopmental risk

Rare copy number variants associated with increased risk for neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders (referred to as ND-CNVs) are characterized by heterogeneous phenotypes thought to share a considerable degree of overlap. Altered neural integration has often been linked to psychopathology and is a candidate marker for potential convergent mechanisms through which ND-CNVs modify risk; however, the rarity of ND-CNVs means that few studies have assessed their neural correlates. Here, we used magnetoencephalography (MEG) to investigate resting-state oscillatory connectivity in a cohort of 42 adults with ND-CNVs, including deletions or duplications at 22q11.2, 15q11.2, 15q13.3, 16p11.2, 17q12, 1q21.1, 3q29, and 2p16.3, and 42 controls. We observed decreased connectivity between occipital, temporal and parietal areas in participants with ND-CNVs. This pattern was common across genotypes and not exclusively characteristic of 22q11.2 deletions, which were present in a third of our cohort. Furthermore, a data-driven graph theory framework enabled us to successfully distinguish participants with ND-CNVs from unaffected controls using differences in node centrality and network segregation. Together, our results point to alterations in electrophysiological connectivity as a putative common mechanism through which genetic factors confer increased risk for neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders

Hydrological Modeling in Data-Scarce Catchments: The Kilombero Floodplain in Tanzania

Deterioration of upland soils, demographic growth, and climate change all lead to an increased utilization of wetlands in East Africa. This considerable pressure on wetland resources results in trade-offs between those resources and their related ecosystem services. Furthermore, relationships between catchment attributes and available wetland water resources are one of the key drivers that might lead to wetland degradation. To investigate the impacts of these developments on catchment-wetland water resources, the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) was applied to the Kilombero Catchment in Tanzania, which is like many other East African catchments, as it is characterized by overall data scarcity. Due to the lack of recent discharge data, the model was calibrated for the period from 1958–1965 (R2 = 0.86, NSE = 0.85, KGE = 0.93) and validated from 1966–1970 (R2 = 0.80, NSE = 0.80, KGE = 0.89) with the sequential uncertainty fitting algorithm (SUFI-2) on a daily resolution. Results show the dependency of the wetland on baseflow contribution from the enclosing catchment, especially in dry season. Main contributions with regard to overall water yield arise from the northern mountains and the southeastern highlands, which are characterized by steep slopes and a high share of forest and savanna vegetation, respectively. Simulations of land use change effects, generated with Landsat images from the 1970s up to 2014, show severe shifts in the water balance components on the subcatchment scale due to anthropogenic activities. Sustainable management of the investigated catchment should therefore account for the catchment–wetland interaction concerning water resources, with a special emphasis on groundwater fluxes to ensure future food production as well as the preservation of the wetland ecosyste

Correction: The psychiatric phenotypes of 1q21 distal deletion and duplication.

Copy number variants are amongst the most highly penetrant risk factors for psychopathology and neurodevelopmental deficits, but little information about the detailed clinical phenotype associated with particular variants is available. We present the largest study of the microdeletion and -duplication at the distal 1q21 locus, which has been associated with schizophrenia and intellectual disability, in order to investigate the range of psychiatric phenotypes. Clinical and cognitive data from 68 deletion and 55 duplication carriers were analysed with logistic regression analysis to compare frequencies of mental disorders between carrier groups and controls, and linear mixed models to compare quantitative phenotypes. Both children and adults with copy number variants at 1q21 had high frequencies of psychopathology. In the children, neurodevelopmental disorders were most prominent (56% for deletion, 68% for duplication carriers). Adults had increased prevalence of mood (35% for deletion [OR = 6.6 (95% CI: 1.4–40.1)], 55% for duplication carriers [8.3 (1.4–55.5)]) and anxiety disorders (24% [1.8 (0.4–8.4)] and 55% [10.0 (1.9–71.2)]). The adult group, which included mainly genetically affected parents of probands, had an IQ in the normal range. These results confirm high prevalence of neurodevelopmental disorders associated with CNVs at 1q21 but also reveal high prevalence of mood and anxiety disorders in a high-functioning adult group with these CNVs. Because carriers of neurodevelopmental CNVs who show relevant psychopathology but no major cognitive impairment are not currently routinely receiving clinical genetic services widening of genetic testing in psychiatry may be considered

Psychopathology in adults with copy number variants

Background Copy number variants (CNVs) have been associated with the risk of schizophrenia, autism and intellectual disability. However, little is known about their spectrum of psychopathology in adulthood. Methods We investigated the psychiatric phenotypes of adult CNV carriers and compared probands, who were ascertained through clinical genetics services, with carriers who were not. One hundred twenty-four adult participants (age 18–76), each bearing one of 15 rare CNVs, were recruited through a variety of sources including clinical genetics services, charities for carriers of genetic variants, and online advertising. A battery of psychiatric assessments was used to determine psychopathology. Results The frequencies of psychopathology were consistently higher for the CNV group compared to general population rates. We found particularly high rates of neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) (48%), mood disorders (42%), anxiety disorders (47%) and personality disorders (73%) as well as high rates of psychiatric multimorbidity (median number of diagnoses: 2 in non-probands, 3 in probands). NDDs [odds ratio (OR) = 4.67, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.32–16.51; p = 0.017) and psychotic disorders (OR = 6.8, 95% CI 1.3–36.3; p = 0.025) occurred significantly more frequently in probands (N = 45; NDD: 39[87%]; psychosis: 8[18%]) than non-probands (N = 79; NDD: 20 [25%]; psychosis: 3[4%]). Participants also had somatic diagnoses pertaining to all organ systems, particularly conotruncal cardiac malformations (in individuals with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome specifically), musculoskeletal, immunological, and endocrine diseases. Conclusions Adult CNV carriers had a markedly increased rate of anxiety and personality disorders not previously reported and high rates of psychiatric multimorbidity. Our findings support in-depth psychiatric and medical assessments of carriers of CNVs and the establishment of multidisciplinary clinical services