Preliminary study of relationships between hypnotic susceptibility and personality disorder functioning styles in healthy volunteers and personality disorder patients

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Hypnotic susceptibility is one of the stable characteristics of individuals, but not closely related to the personality traits such as those measured by the five-factor model in the general population. Whether it is related to the personality disorder functioning styles remains unanswered.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In 77 patients with personality disorders and 154 healthy volunteers, we administered the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale: Form C (SHSSC) and the Parker Personality Measure (PERM) tests.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Patients with personality disorders showed higher passing rates on SHSSC Dream and Posthypnotic Amnesia items. No significant correlation was found in healthy volunteers. In the patients however, SHSSC Taste hallucination (β = 0.26) and Anosmia to Ammonia (β = -0.23) were significantly correlated with the PERM Borderline style; SHSSC Posthypnotic Amnesia was correlated with the PERM Schizoid style (β = 0.25) but negatively the PERM Narcissistic style (β = -0.23).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our results provide limited evidence that could help to understand the abnormal cognitions in personality disorders, such as their hallucination and memory distortions.</p

Software for the frontiers of quantum chemistry:An overview of developments in the Q-Chem 5 package

This article summarizes technical advances contained in the fifth major release of the Q-Chem quantum chemistry program package, covering developments since 2015. A comprehensive library of exchange–correlation functionals, along with a suite of correlated many-body methods, continues to be a hallmark of the Q-Chem software. The many-body methods include novel variants of both coupled-cluster and configuration-interaction approaches along with methods based on the algebraic diagrammatic construction and variational reduced density-matrix methods. Methods highlighted in Q-Chem 5 include a suite of tools for modeling core-level spectroscopy, methods for describing metastable resonances, methods for computing vibronic spectra, the nuclear–electronic orbital method, and several different energy decomposition analysis techniques. High-performance capabilities including multithreaded parallelism and support for calculations on graphics processing units are described. Q-Chem boasts a community of well over 100 active academic developers, and the continuing evolution of the software is supported by an “open teamware” model and an increasingly modular design

FDG uptake of pulmonary lesions in synchronous primary lung cancers and lung metastases

Purpose: In lung cancer patients, the distinction between synchronous primary lung cancer and intrapulmonary metastasis can be challenging. The intensity of FDG uptake in pulmonary lesions has been shown to be potentially useful in classifying synchronous lung cancer. The aim of this retrospective study is to investigate the effectiveness of FDG uptake in differentiating metastases from synchronous primary lesions in the setting of lung cancer. Methods: Consecutive patients with primary lung cancer with two or more malignant lung lesions referred for (18F)-FDG PET-CT imaging between 2010 and 2019 were reviewed and classified into synchronous and metastasis groups. Lesional maximum standardized uptake values (SUVmax), relative differences in SUVmax and SUVmax ratios were calculated and compared using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. Intra-group correlation in SUVmax between lesion pairs was examined using Pearson's and Spearman's correlation analysis. Results: 94 patients were included for analysis, divided into synchronous (n = 62; 68 lesion pairs) and metastasis (n = 32; 33 lesion pairs) groups. The correlation of FDG uptake between lesions in the metastasis group was strong (r = 0.81). A significant difference in mean relative difference in SUVmax (synchronous: 0.50±0.23 metastasis: 0.34±0.17, p = 0.001) and mean SUVmax ratio (synchronous: 2.6 ± 1.7 metastasis: 1.7 ± 0.6, p < 0.001) was observed. ROC analysis revealed a fair AUC (0.71–0.72) for these parameters, with an associated sensitivity of 59 % and specificity of 82 % at optimal cut-off values. Conclusion: Differences in FDG uptake intensity among multiple synchronously presenting malignant nodules may be helpful to distinguish second primary lung tumours from metastatic spread

Modelling Heart Rate Variability due to Respiration and Baroreflex

This chapter is devoted to the interactions of heart beat, respiration, and blood pressure oscillations. A nonlinear model is derived which describes the essential parts of the baroreceptor loop: blood pressure wave, baroreceptor activity, cardiorespiratory center, and regulation of heart rate and vascular resistance via the autonomic nerves. Special attention is devoted to the phase response properties of the cardiac pacemaker. The model covers heart rate regulation, respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), and resonant interaction of respiration and blood pressure oscillations (Mayer waves). External stimulations can induce toroidal oscillations, resonances, perioddoubling, and chaotic behavior. 1. Introduction For some decades, it has been realized that the dynamics of living beings are more than homeostasis and the relaxation towards it. Very complex rhythms can occur, sometimes they are normal or even necessary, sometimes they are pathological or mortal. Dysfunctions originating from ..