Anger and aggression in borderline personality disorder and attention deficithyperactivity disorder – does stress matter?

BACKGROUND: The impact of stress on anger and aggression in Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) has not been thoroughly investigated. The goal of this study was to investigate different aspects of anger and aggression in patients with these disorders. METHODS: Twenty-nine unmedicated female BPD patients, 28 ADHD patients and 30 healthy controls (HC) completed self-reports measuring trait anger, aggression and emotion regulation capacities. A modified version of the Point Subtraction Aggression Paradigm and a state anger measurement were applied under resting and stress conditions. Stress was induced by the Mannheim Multicomponent Stress Test (MMST). RESULTS: Both patient groups scored significantly higher on all self-report measures compared to HCs. Compared to ADHD patients, BPD patients reported higher trait aggression and hostility, a stronger tendency to express anger when provoked and to direct anger inwardly. Furthermore, BPD patients exhibited higher state anger than HCs and ADHD patients under both conditions and showed a stress-dependent anger increase. At the behavioral level, no significant effects were found. In BPD patients, aggression and anger were positively correlated with emotion regulation deficits. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest a significant impact of stress on self-perceived state anger in BPD patients but not on aggressive behavior towards others in females with BPD or ADHD. However, it appears to be pronounced inwardly directed anger which is of clinical importance in BPD patients. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s40479-017-0057-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

INCIDENCE OF SYMPTOMATIC AND ASYMPTOMATIC \u3ci\u3ePLASMODIUM FALCIPARUM\u3c/i\u3e INFECTION FOLLOWING CURATIVE THERAPY IN ADULT RESIDENTS OF NORTHERN GHANA

Adult residents of holoendemic malaria regions in Africa have a naturally acquired immunity (NAI) to malaria that renders them more resistant to new infections, limits parasitemia, and reduces the frequency and severity of illness. Given such attributes, it is not clear how one might evaluate drug or vaccine efficacy in adults without serious confounding. To determine symptomatic and asymptomatic malaria attack rates in adults of northern Ghana, 197 men and women underwent curative therapy for any pre-existing malaria infections at the start of the high transmission (wet) season. They were monitored for first parasitemia and first clinical episode of infection by Plasmodium falciparum over a 20-week period (May–October 1996). The cumulative incidence of primary infection by P. falciparum was 0.98 and incidence density of infection was calculated to be 7.0 cases/person-year. Symptoms were reported by 19.5% of the individuals at the time of first recurrent parasitemia. Incidence of infection, parasite density, and the frequency of symptoms were comparable in males and females. The results suggest that NAI did not provide these adults with significant defense against rapid re-infection and suggest that this population-infection design could serve to demonstrate the efficacy of a drug or vaccine in preventing parasitemia

Energy landscapes, ideal glasses, and their equation of state

Using the inherent structure formalism originally proposed by Stillinger and Weber [Phys. Rev. A 25, 978 (1982)], we generalize the thermodynamics of an energy landscape that has an ideal glass transition and derive the consequences for its equation of state. In doing so, we identify a separation of configurational and vibrational contributions to the pressure that corresponds with simulation studies performed in the inherent structure formalism. We develop an elementary model of landscapes appropriate to simple liquids which is based on the scaling properties of the soft-sphere potential complemented with a mean-field attraction. The resulting equation of state provides an accurate representation of simulation data for the Lennard-Jones fluid, suggesting the usefulness of a landscape-based formulation of supercooled liquid thermodynamics. Finally, we consider the implications of both the general theory and the model with respect to the so-called Sastry density and the ideal glass transition. Our analysis shows that a quantitative connection can be made between properties of the landscape and a simulation-determined Sastry density, and it emphasizes the distinction between an ideal glass transition and a Kauzmann equal-entropy condition.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figure

Sheared Solid Materials

We present a time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau model of nonlinear elasticity in solid materials. We assume that the elastic energy density is a periodic function of the shear and tetragonal strains owing to the underlying lattice structure. With this new ingredient, solving the equations yields formation of dislocation dipoles or slips. In plastic flow high-density dislocations emerge at large strains to accumulate and grow into shear bands where the strains are localized. In addition to the elastic displacement, we also introduce the local free volume {\it m}. For very small $m$ the defect structures are metastable and long-lived where the dislocations are pinned by the Peierls potential barrier. However, if the shear modulus decreases with increasing {\it m}, accumulation of {\it m} around dislocation cores eventually breaks the Peierls potential leading to slow relaxations in the stress and the free energy (aging). As another application of our scheme, we also study dislocation formation in two-phase alloys (coherency loss) under shear strains, where dislocations glide preferentially in the softer regions and are trapped at the interfaces.Comment: 16pages, 11figure

Identifying the electronic character and role of the Mn states in the valence band of (Ga,Mn)As

We report high-resolution hard x-ray photoemission spectroscopy results on (Ga,Mn)As films as a function of Mn doping. Supported by theoretical calculations we identify, over the entire 1% to 13% Mn doping range, the electronic character of the states near the top of the valence band. Magnetization and temperature dependent core-level photoemission spectra reveal how the delocalized character of the Mn states enables the bulk ferromagnetic properties of (Ga,Mn)As.Comment: prl submitte

QTL mapping of improving forage maize starch degradability in European elite maize germplasm

Improving maize starch content is of great importance for both forage and grain yield. In this study, 13 starch degradability traits were analyzed including percentage of the seedling area, floury endosperm, hard endosperm of total grain area, percentage of the floury endosperm surface, and vitreousness ratio surface hard: floury endosperm surface, etc. We mapped quantitative trait loci (QTL) in a biparental population of 309 doubled haploid lines (DHL) based on field phenotyping at two locations. A genetic linkage map was constructed using 168 SSR (simple sequence repeat) markers, which covered 1508 cM of the maize genome, with an average distance of 9.0 cM. Close phenotypic and genotypic correlations were found for all traits, and were all statistically significant (P = 0.01) at two locations. Major QTL for more than two traits were detected, especially in two regions in bins 4.05-4.06 and 7.04-7.05, associated with 13 and 9 traits, respectively. This study contributes to marker assisted breeding and also to fine mapping candidate genes associated with maize starch degradability

A high incidence of vertebral fracture in women with breast cancer

Because treatment for breast cancer may adversely affect skeletal metabolism, we investigated vertebral fracture risk in women with non-metastatic breast cancer. The prevalence of vertebral fracture was similar in women at the time of first diagnosis to that in an age-matched sample of the general population. The incidence of vertebral fracture, however, was nearly five times greater than normal in women from the time of first diagnosis [odds ratio (OR), 4.7; 95% confidence interval (95% CI), 2.3–9.9], and 20-fold higher in women with soft-tissue metastases without evidence of skeletal metastases (OR, 22.7; 95% CI, 9.1–57.1). We conclude that vertebral fracture risk is markedly increased in women with breast cancer. © 1999 Cancer Research Campaig