Individual differences and personality traits across situations

peer reviewedBackground According to the Big Five theory, personality can be classified into five traits (i.e., extraversion, neuroticism, conscientiousness, agreeableness, and openness), and past research showed that situations impact personality. In the present study, (1) we measured which of these five personality traits changed according to different situations and (2) tested whether the across-situation variability (ASV; i.e., a continuous variable showing how much people change their personality traits according to situations) was significantly connected with specific personality domains, revealing a potential marker of personality disturbance. Participants and procedure We recruited 80 participants (40 women) to complete the five situation-version (family, work, friends, romantic partner, and hobbies/leisure) of the Big Five Inventory to measure whether personality traits significantly changed across these situations. In addition, we ran a network analysis to reveal how the ASV is related to personality traits. Results The findings showed that all traits significantly changed across the situations, except openness, which remained stable. The network analysis revealed that the ASV variable was especially connected with conscientiousness (in romantic partner and family situations). Conclusions Most personality traits were flexible, showing how important it is to consider the role of situations in the study of personality. Openness appeared to be particularly stable and understanding its nature represents a challenge for future studies. Finally, the network analysis demonstrated that the ASV shows specific connections with conscientiousness and might be a potential psychopathology marker

Effect of surgical experience and spine subspecialty on the reliability of the {AO} Spine Upper Cervical Injury Classification System

OBJECTIVE The objective of this paper was to determine the interobserver reliability and intraobserver reproducibility of the AO Spine Upper Cervical Injury Classification System based on surgeon experience (< 5 years, 5–10 years, 10–20 years, and > 20 years) and surgical subspecialty (orthopedic spine surgery, neurosurgery, and "other" surgery). METHODS A total of 11,601 assessments of upper cervical spine injuries were evaluated based on the AO Spine Upper Cervical Injury Classification System. Reliability and reproducibility scores were obtained twice, with a 3-week time interval. Descriptive statistics were utilized to examine the percentage of accurately classified injuries, and Pearson’s chi-square or Fisher’s exact test was used to screen for potentially relevant differences between study participants. Kappa coefficients (κ) determined the interobserver reliability and intraobserver reproducibility. RESULTS The intraobserver reproducibility was substantial for surgeon experience level (< 5 years: 0.74 vs 5–10 years: 0.69 vs 10–20 years: 0.69 vs > 20 years: 0.70) and surgical subspecialty (orthopedic spine: 0.71 vs neurosurgery: 0.69 vs other: 0.68). Furthermore, the interobserver reliability was substantial for all surgical experience groups on assessment 1 (< 5 years: 0.67 vs 5–10 years: 0.62 vs 10–20 years: 0.61 vs > 20 years: 0.62), and only surgeons with > 20 years of experience did not have substantial reliability on assessment 2 (< 5 years: 0.62 vs 5–10 years: 0.61 vs 10–20 years: 0.61 vs > 20 years: 0.59). Orthopedic spine surgeons and neurosurgeons had substantial intraobserver reproducibility on both assessment 1 (0.64 vs 0.63) and assessment 2 (0.62 vs 0.63), while other surgeons had moderate reliability on assessment 1 (0.43) and fair reliability on assessment 2 (0.36). CONCLUSIONS The international reliability and reproducibility scores for the AO Spine Upper Cervical Injury Classification System demonstrated substantial intraobserver reproducibility and interobserver reliability regardless of surgical experience and spine subspecialty. These results support the global application of this classification system

Does electrical stimulation of knee extensor and flexor muscles induce DOMS?

peer reviewe

Lhermitte-Duclos disease with obstructive hydrocephalus: An illustrative case treated with endoscopic ventriculo-cisternostomy

Lhermitte-Duclos disease (LDD) is a rare tumor characterized by dysplastic expansion of ganglion cells within the cerebellum, leading to replacement of the internal granular cell layer and widening of the outer molecular layer (Lhermitte and Duclos, 1920, Robinson and Cohen, 2006). Over time, LDD has been identified as a major criterion for Cowden syndrome (CS), a Mendelian autosomal dominant hamartoma tumor condition where patients are at risk of developing mucocutaneous lesions, benign hamartomas, macrocephaly, and increased predisposition to cancers (Table 1). CS is caused by germline mutation in the tumor suppressor gene PTEN, located at 10q22-23 (Robinson and Cohen, 2006, Blumenthal and Dennis, 2008). We report a patient with a cerebellar dysplastic gangliocytoma (LDD) as phenotype variant of CS, revealed by an obstructive hydrocephalus

Day-hospital: theater of an always changing institutional psychotherapy

peer reviewe

Moral Decision-Making in Trolley Problems and Variants: How Do Participants' Perspectives, Borderline Personality Traits, and Empathy Predict Choices?

peer reviewedThe aim of the present study was to demonstrate and extend the causal effect of participants' perspectives on moral decision-making using trolley problems and variants. Additionally, we investigated whether empathy and borderline (BDL) personality traits predicted participants' choices in these scenarios. We used both a classical trolley problem (a causing harm scenario) and an everyday trolley-like problem (a causing inconvenience scenario). Participants (N = 427, women: 54%) completed BDL traits and empathy questionnaires and, randomly, the two types of trolley problems, presenting both three different perspectives. Our study provided strong evidence that the perspective from which participants were enrolled in the trolley problem caused significant changes in their moral decision-making. Furthermore, we found that affective empathy and BDL traits significantly predicted participants' decisions in the causing inconvenience scenario, while only BDL traits predicted choices in the causing harm scenario. This study was original in providing new experimental materials, causal results, and highlighting the significant influence of BDL traits and affective empathy on moral decision-making. These findings raised fundamental questions, which are further developed in the discussion section

Belgique

Les dilemmes moraux font régulièrement référence au dilemme du trolley (i.e., un train qui se précipite sur cinq travailleurs et vous avez la possibilité de dévier ce dernier sur une autre voie où se trouve un seul ouvrier ; l’issue sera fatale soit pour l’individu isolé, soit pour les cinq). De nombreuses études ont utilisé ce matériel pour comprendre quels étaient les facteurs qui prédisaient les choix des participants. Ces dernières études se sont portées principalement sur l’empathie, puis sur la psychopathie. En effet, une faible empathie affective est apparue comme un prédicteur significatif des Choix Orientés vers le Groupe (COG ; sauver les cinq individus). La psychopathie, caractérisée par une empathie affective faible, a également présenté le même pattern de résultat. Dans notre étude, nous avons sélectionné la psychopathologie située à l’extrême opposé du continuum de l’empathie affective : les individus borderline (BDL). D’ailleurs, le profil émotionnel de ces deux psychopathologies sont diamétralement opposés : la psychopathie est définie par un émoussement affectif, tandis que le trouble BDL est plutôt caractérisé par une réactivité émotionnelle plus intense et labile. Dès lors, nous nous attendions à ce que les traits BDL et l’empathie affective prédisent de manière similaire les prises de décision (i.e., plus l’empathie affective ou les traits BDL sont élevés moins il y aura de COG et inversement). Nous avons recruté 427 participants, leur avons demandé de compléter deux questionnaires (empathie et traits BDL) et, ensuite, de procéder à différents choix dans deux types de dilemmes moraux (un dilemme du trolley classique et une variante plus écologique). Le dilemme classique visait à sauver la vie d’une ou de cinq personnes tandis que la variante écologique visait à sauver l’emploi d’un ou cinq individus. De plus, chaque dilemme présentait trois perspectives que devaient incarner le participant (i.e., un des cinq, l’individu isolé ou l’individu périphérique [= la position habituelle du participant dans ce type de dilemme]). Les résultats ont été particulièrement surprenants car les traits BDL ont prédit significativement les choix moraux dans les deux dilemmes de façon opposée et dans des perspectives différentes. Effectivement, dans la version écologique, les traits BDL prédisaient significativement moins les COG quand l’individu devait choisir entre son emploi ou celui de ses 5 collègues. Ici, l’empathie affective présentait le pattern contraire : plus l’empathie affective était élevée, plus les participants avaient tendance à favoriser des COG. Par ailleurs, dans le dilemme classique, les traits BDL apparaissaient comme prédicteur significatif lorsque le participant incarnait un des 5 individus : plus les traits étaient élevés, plus les COG étaient élevés. Ces résultats ont démontré que les individus qui présentaient des traits BDL saillants présentaient de manière subtile des choix égocentriques

Alteration of muscle function after electrical stimulation bout of knee extensors and flexors

The purpose was to study the effects on muscle function of an electrical stimulation bout applied unilaterally on thigh muscles in healthy male volunteers. One group (ES group, n = 10) received consecutively 100 isometric contractions of quadriceps and 100 isometric contractions of hamstrings (on-off ratio 6-6 s) induced by neuromuscular electrical stimulations (NMES). Changes in muscle torque, muscle soreness (0-10 VAS), muscle stiffness and serum creatine kinase (CK) activity were assessed before the NMES exercise (pre-ex) as well as 24h (d+1), 48h (d+2) and 120h (d+5) after the bout. A second group (control group, n = 10) were submitted to the same test battery than the ES group and with the same time-frame. The between-group comparison indicated a significant increase in VAS scores and in serum levels of CK only in the ES group. In the ES group, changes were more pronounced in hamstrings than in quadriceps and peaked at d+2 (quadriceps VAS scores = 2.20 ± 1.55 a.u. (0 at pre-ex); hamstrings VAS scores = 3.15 ± 2.14 a.u. (0 at pre-ex); hip flexion angle = 62 ± 5° (75 ± 6° at pre-ex); CK activity = 3021 ± 2693 IU·l-1 (136 ± 50 IU·l-1 at pre-ex)). The results of the present study suggested the occurrence of muscle damage that could have been induced by the peculiar muscle recruitment in NMES and the resulting overrated mechanical stress. The sensitivity to the damaging effects of NMES appeared higher in the hamstrings than in quadriceps muscle

Pathogenic Tracks in Fatigue Syndromes

This review analyses the recent literature devoted to two related fatigue syndromes: chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and acute onset postviral fatigue syndrome (PVFS). The articles are grouped into five pathogenic tracks: infectious agents, immune system, skeletic muscle, hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and psychiatric factors. Although a particular infectious agent is unlikely to be responsible for all CFS cases, evidence is shown that host-parasite relationships are modified in a large proportion of patients with chronic fatigue. Antibody titres against infectious agents are often elevated and replication of several viruses could be increased. Chronic activation of the immune system is also observed and could be due to the reactivation of persistent or latent infectious agents such as herpes viruses (i.e. HHV-6) or enteroviruses. It could also be favorised by an impaired negative feedback of the HPA axis on the immune system. A model is proposed where the abnormalities of the HPA axis are primary events and are mainly responsible for a chronic activation of the immune system which in turn induces an increased replication of several viruses under the control of cellular transcription factors. These replicating viruses together with cytokines such as TNF-alpha would secondarily induce functional disorders of muscle and several aspects of asthenia itself