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Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health :... Apr 2024To date, there is no evidence supporting the existence of an association between Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and extremism in the general population. However, there...
BACKGROUND
To date, there is no evidence supporting the existence of an association between Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and extremism in the general population. However, there is increasing recognition that several features of ASD may provide the context of vulnerability to engage in extremist behaviour.
AIMS
This paper sets out the case for a dedicated clinical approach to better integrate clinical risk appraisal processes with an assessment of ASD individuals' vulnerabilities within the Criminal Justice System.
METHODS AND RESULTS
In this paper the Framework for the Assessment of Risk & Protection in Offenders on the Autistic Spectrum (FARAS): A Guide for Risk Assessors Working with Offenders on the Autistic Spectrum is explored. In developing the FARAS, Al-Attar proposed seven facets of ASD that 'may have different functional links with push and pull factors to terrorism' (p. 928), which include circumscribed interests; rich vivid fantasy and impaired social imagination; need for order, rules, rituals, routine and predictability; obsessionality, repetition and collecting; social interaction and communication difficulties; cognitive styles and Sensory processing.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
We describe the FARAS within the context of the most widely used clinical risk appraisal 'aide memoire' instruments integral to the Structured Professional Judgement of risk process, namely the HCR20v3.
Topics: Humans; Autism Spectrum Disorder; Risk Assessment; Criminals; Terrorism
PubMed: 38341798
DOI: 10.1002/cbm.2330 -
Journal of Neuropsychology Sep 2023The hub-and-spoke model of semantic cognition proposes that conceptual representations in a heteromodal 'hub' interact with and emerge from modality-specific features or...
The hub-and-spoke model of semantic cognition proposes that conceptual representations in a heteromodal 'hub' interact with and emerge from modality-specific features or 'spokes', including valence (whether a concept is positive or negative), along with visual and auditory features. As a result, valence congruency might facilitate our ability to link words conceptually. Semantic relatedness may similarly affect explicit judgements about valence. Moreover, conflict between meaning and valence may recruit semantic control processes. Here we tested these predictions using two-alternative forced-choice tasks, in which participants matched a probe word to one of two possible target words, based on either global meaning or valence. Experiment 1 examined timed responses in healthy young adults, while Experiment 2 examined decision accuracy in semantic aphasia patients with impaired controlled semantic retrieval following left hemisphere stroke. Across both experiments, semantically related targets facilitated valence matching, while related distractors impaired performance. Valence congruency was also found to facilitate semantic decision-making. People with semantic aphasia showed impaired valence matching and had particular difficulty when semantically related distractors were presented, suggesting that the selective retrieval of valence information relies on semantic control processes. Taken together, the results are consistent with the hypothesis that automatic access to the global meaning of written words affects the processing of valence, and that the valence of words is also retrieved even when this feature is task-irrelevant, affecting the efficiency of global semantic judgements.
Topics: Young Adult; Humans; Semantics; Aphasia; Stroke; Cognition; Judgment
PubMed: 37010272
DOI: 10.1111/jnp.12312 -
Neuropsychologia Jul 2023Damage to the medial temporal lobe (MTL), which is traditionally considered to subserve memory exclusively, has been reported to contribute to impaired face perception....
Damage to the medial temporal lobe (MTL), which is traditionally considered to subserve memory exclusively, has been reported to contribute to impaired face perception. However, it remains unknown how exactly such brain lesions may impact face representations and in particular facial shape and surface information, both of which are crucial for face perception. The present study employed a behavioral-based image reconstruction approach to reveal the pictorial representations of face perception in two amnesic patients: DA, who has an extensive bilateral MTL lesion that extends beyond the MTL in the right hemisphere, and BL, who has damage to the hippocampal dentate gyrus (DG). Both patients and their respective matched controls completed similarity judgments for pairs of faces, from which facial shape and surface features were subsequently derived and synthesized to create images of reconstructed facial appearance. Participants also completed a face oddity judgment task (FOJT) that has previously been shown to be sensitive to MTL cortical damage. While BL exhibited an impaired pattern of performance on the FOJT, DA demonstrated intact performance accuracy. Notably, the recovered pictorial content of faces was comparable between both patients and controls, although there was evidence for atypical face representations in BL particularly with regards to color. Our work provides novel insight into the face representations underlying face perception in two well-studied amnesic patients in the literature and demonstrates the applicability of the image reconstruction approach to individuals with brain damage.
Topics: Humans; Facial Recognition; Amnesia; Temporal Lobe; Parahippocampal Gyrus; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted
PubMed: 37119985
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2023.108573 -
American Family Physician Jan 2024The mental status examination relies on the physician's clinical judgment for observation and interpretation. When concerns about a patient's cognitive functioning arise...
The mental status examination relies on the physician's clinical judgment for observation and interpretation. When concerns about a patient's cognitive functioning arise in a clinical encounter, further evaluation is indicated. This can include evaluation of a targeted cognitive domain or the use of a brief cognitive screening tool that evaluates multiple domains. To avoid affecting the examination results, it is best practice to ensure that the patient has a comfortable, nonjudgmental environment without any family member input or other distractions. An abnormal response in a domain may suggest a possible diagnosis, but neither the mental status examination nor any cognitive screening tool alone is diagnostic for any condition. Validated cognitive screening tools, such as the Mini-Mental State Examination or the St. Louis University Mental Status Examination, can be used; the tools vary in sensitivity and specificity for detecting mild cognitive impairment and dementia. There is emerging evidence for the validity of cognitive screening performed during telemedicine visits, but it should not replace in-person evaluation of patients who have comorbidities that would preclude reliable testing via telephone or video. The workup after abnormal results of a mental status examination or cognitive screening tool is based on clinical judgment and primarily focuses on ruling out reversible causes of impairment and considering the need for further neuropsychiatric evaluation.
Topics: Humans; Dementia; Mental Status Schedule; Cognitive Dysfunction; Cognition; Primary Health Care; Neuropsychological Tests
PubMed: 38227871
DOI: No ID Found -
Cancer Treatment Reviews Sep 2023For the past 2 decades, cisplatin-based adjuvant chemoradiotherapy (CRT) has remained the standard of care for patients with resected, locally advanced squamous cell... (Review)
Review
For the past 2 decades, cisplatin-based adjuvant chemoradiotherapy (CRT) has remained the standard of care for patients with resected, locally advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (LA SCCHN) who are at high risk of disease recurrence. However, many patients are deemed ineligible for cisplatin-based CRT because of poor performance status, advanced biological age, poor renal function, or hearing loss. Because outcomes with radiotherapy (RT) alone remain poor, patients at high risk of disease recurrence deemed ineligible to receive cisplatin are a population with a significant unmet medical need, and alternative systemic therapy options in combination with RT are urgently needed. Clinical guidelines and consensus documents have provided definitions for cisplatin ineligibility; however, areas of debate include thresholds for age and renal impairment and criteria for hearing loss. Furthermore, the proportion of patients with resected LA SCCHN who are cisplatin ineligible remains unclear. Because of a scarcity of clinical studies, treatment selection for patients with resected, high-risk LA SCCHN who are deemed ineligible to receive cisplatin is often based on clinical judgment, with few treatment options specified in international guidelines. In this review, we discuss considerations related to cisplatin ineligibility in patients with LA SCCHN, summarize the limited clinical evidence for adjuvant treatment of patients with resected high-risk disease, and highlight ongoing clinical trials that have the potential to provide new treatment options in this setting.
Topics: Humans; Cisplatin; Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Head and Neck; Standard of Care; Head and Neck Neoplasms; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local; Chemoradiotherapy
PubMed: 37392723
DOI: 10.1016/j.ctrv.2023.102585 -
Burns : Journal of the International... Apr 2024Since insight into the motivation of behaviour in bioethanol related burn accidents is lacking, this study aimed to qualitatively examine influencing factors in...
BACKGROUND
Since insight into the motivation of behaviour in bioethanol related burn accidents is lacking, this study aimed to qualitatively examine influencing factors in bioethanol related burn accidents. In order to identify target points for effective burn prevention.
METHODS
Patients previously admitted with bioethanol related acute non-intentional burn injury to the three Dutch burn centres were eligible. One interviewer conducted fourteen semi-structured interviews. Interviews were transcribed and coded by two independent researchers. Conclusions were drawn based on generalised statements on the concerned topics.
RESULTS
Four overall themes in influencing factors were found, namely 1) motivation; including non-designated use and impaired judgement, 2) knowledge and education; including unknown product and properties and information overload, 3) risk perception; including poor recognisability of risks and preferred trial and error and 4) thresholds; including easy availability and unclear liability.
CONCLUSION
Trust in consumers may be over-estimated, as proper use cannot be expected. To prevent future bioethanol related burn incidents, thresholds for obtaining and using bioethanol should be increased, safe alternatives to ignite open fires and wood stoves should be provided and knowledge and warnings should be improved.
Topics: Humans; Burns; Accidents, Home; Accidents; Causality; Hospitalization
PubMed: 38242767
DOI: 10.1016/j.burns.2023.12.007 -
Iranian Journal of Nursing and... 2023Depression is the most important postpartum mental disorder that can lead to irreversible damage to family health if not addressed, including inability to provide...
BACKGROUND
Depression is the most important postpartum mental disorder that can lead to irreversible damage to family health if not addressed, including inability to provide maternal care, impaired mother-child relationship, impaired growth, and development of the child, to marital problems, and sometimes the risk of suicide and infant death. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between self-compassion and body image with postpartum depression.
MATERIAL AND METHOD
In this study, 150 pregnant women in the third trimester and 6 weeks postpartum completed the Short Form Self-Compassion Questionnaire (SCS-SF), Multidimensional Self-Body Relationships (MBSRQ), and Edinburgh Postpartum Depression Inventory (EPDS). Depending on the type of study, descriptive statistics such as mean, median, and standard deviation were calculated for quantitative, frequency, and relative frequency variables. Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was used to evaluate the normality of the distribution of scores in each questionnaire. Data were analyzed using parametric proportional statistical tests (paired t-test, Pearson correlation, and linear regression) at the level of significance less than 0.05.
RESULTS
Based on the findings, the relationship between self-compassion and postpartum depression was not significant. Self-kindness had a significant positive relationship, and self-judgement had a significant negative relationship with depression ( < 0.01). Body image had a significant predictive effect on postpartum depression ( < 0.05).
CONCLUSIONS
Negative body image as a risk factor for postpartum depression should be considered by healthcare providers and used in the prevention and treatment of postpartum depression.
PubMed: 37694201
DOI: 10.4103/ijnmr.ijnmr_269_21 -
Quarterly Journal of Experimental... Mar 2024The modulation of part-list cuing on item memory has been well-documented, whereas its impact on associative memory remains largely unknown. The present study explored...
The modulation of part-list cuing on item memory has been well-documented, whereas its impact on associative memory remains largely unknown. The present study explored the effect of part-list cuing on associative recognition and, more specifically, whether this forgetting effect caused by part-list cuing is more sensitive to recollection or familiarity in recognition memory. Experiments 1a and 1b combined the intact/rearranged/new judgement task of associative recognition with the classical part-list cuing paradigm, and the result showed that part-list cuing impaired the recognition accuracy of "intact" and "rearranged" face-scene pairs. Moreover, the discriminability score of relational recognition and item recognition was significantly decreased in the part-list cuing condition compared to the no-part-list cuing condition. Experiments 2a and 2b further used the Remember/Know/Guess task to explore which recognition processes (recollection vs. familiarity) were sensitive to the presentation of part-list cuing. The results showed that part-list cuing reduced the familiarity of relational recognition and the recollection and familiarity of item recognition. These findings suggest that part-list cuing was harmful to the recognition of relationships (familiarity) and items (recollection and familiarity) in associative memory.
PubMed: 38326325
DOI: 10.1177/17470218241234145 -
Neuropsychological Rehabilitation Sep 2023This is the first study to estimate the prevalence and predictors of spouse and patient perceptions of global/overall personality change (PC) in patients with multiple...
OBJECTIVES
This is the first study to estimate the prevalence and predictors of spouse and patient perceptions of global/overall personality change (PC) in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS).
METHODS
69 clinic patients and their spouses completed parallel measures of perceived PC and semantic differential scales measuring pre-MS and current specific behaviours. We correlated perceived personality changes with the following measures of perceived physical, cognitive, emotional, and social functioning: MS Impact Scale, MS Neuropsychological Questionnaire, Beck Depression Inventory-FastScreen; Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale; Family Questionnaire, McMaster Assessment Device; and Social Provisions Scale.
RESULTS
Spouses and patients reported comparable levels of substantial change. Both associated PC with patient distress, perceived cognitive impairment, spouse distress, and poorer family functioning. Spouse, but not patient, PC ratings predicted severity of physical symptoms and social support. Principal component analysis of semantic differential ratings yielded a Compassionate Empathy component correlating with PC within spouse, but not patient, data.
CONCLUSIONS
These partially overlapping potential triggers for spouse and patient PC judgments raise questions about the extent they overlap with clinicians' criteria for PC, since spouses did not link impulsivity with PC. It is also suggested that the initial focus of treatment of PC should focus on partner-agreed changes.
Topics: Humans; Spouses; Judgment; Social Support; Personality; Multiple Sclerosis
PubMed: 35857651
DOI: 10.1080/09602011.2022.2101478