Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the decision regret scale. Methods: The data of 704 patients who completed the DRSc were used for the analyses. We evaluated the construct, convergent/discriminant, and known-group validity; internal consistency and test–retest reliability; and the item invariance of the DRSc. A receiver operating characteristic curve was employed to confirm the optimal cutoff point of the scale. Results: A confirmatory factor analysis indicated that a one-factor (...) model fits the data. The internal consistency and test–retest reliability [intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.71] of the DRSc were acceptable. The DRSc demonstrated unidimensionality and invariance for use across the sexes. It was confirmed that an optimal cutoff point of 25 could discriminate between patients with high and low decisional regret during clinical practice. Conclusion: The DRSc is a parsimonious instrument that can be used to measure the uncertainty inherent in medical decisions. It can be employed to provide knowledge, offer support, and elicit patient preferences in an attempt to promote shared decision-making. (shrink)

ObjectiveTo elucidate the clinical, radiologic characteristics of Leber’s hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON) associated with the other diseases.Materials and methodsClinical data were retrospectively collected from hospitalized patients with LHON associated with the other diseases at the Neuro-Ophthalmology Department at the Chinese People’s Liberation Army General Hospital (PLAGH) from December 2014 to October 2018.ResultsA total of 13 patients, 24 eyes (10 men and 3 women; mean age, 30.69 ± 12.76 years) with LHON mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) mutations, were included in the cohort. 14502(5)11778(4)11778 (...) &11696(1)12811(1)11696(1)3460(1). One patient was positive for aquaporin-4 antibody (AQP4-Ab), and two were positive for myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein antibody (MOG-Ab). Three patients were associated with idiopathic optic neuritis (ON). Two patients were with compression optic neuropathy. Three patients were with the central nervous system (CNS) diseases. One patient was with proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) and one with idiopathic orbital inflammatory syndrome (IOIS). At the onset, visual acuity (VA) in eighteen eyes was below 0.1, one eye was 0.5, five eyes were above 0.5, while VA in sixteen eyes was below a 0.1 outcome, three eyes experienced moderate vision loss. MRI images showed T2 lesions and enhancement in nine patients who received corticosteroids treatment; additional immune modulators treatment was performed on two patients. None of the patients had relapse during the follow-up time.ConclusionLeber’s hereditary optic neuropathy can be accompanied with multiple-related diseases, especially different subtypes of ON, which were also exhibited with IOIS and compression optic neuropathy for the first time in this cohort. This condition may be a distinct entity with an unusual clinical and therapeutic profile. (shrink)

Adolescents who believe that their parents treat them differently from their siblings have poorer psychosocial well-being than otherwise. This phenomenon, which is known as parental differential treatment or PDT occurs in up to 65% of families. Past studies have examined socio-demographic variables (e.g., child gender, age, and birth order) as predictors of PDT, but these immutable characteristics do little to inform interventions and help these adolescents. Hence, this study extends past research by investigating links among parent empathy, parent perception of (...) PDT, child perception of PDT, child perception of fairness and child well-being (self-esteem, depression, anxiety, and trust in the relationship with parents). Furthermore, this study tests whether adolescent personality (openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism), child empathy, and child perception of fairness moderate these links. This study will utilize a two-wave longitudinal design with a one-year lapse. Data will be collected from 760 Chinese adolescents studying from Secondary One to Secondary Three in 18 schools in Hong Kong and from their parents. We test our theoretical model via a multilevel structural equation model. This study both addresses (a) theoretical debates about relations among empathy, PDT, fairness, and psychosocial well-being and (b) focuses on modifiable factors and behaviors, to inform future interventions, such as parent education. (shrink)

ObjectiveInvestigating the mental health status of Chinese resident physicians during the 2019 new coronavirus outbreak.MethodsA cluster sampling method was adopted to collect all China-wide resident physicians during the epidemic period as the research subjects. The Symptom Checklist-90 self-rating scale was used to assess mental health using WeChat electronic questionnaires.ResultsIn total, 511 electronic questionnaires were recovered, all of which were valid. The negative psychological detection rate was 93.9%. Among the symptoms on the self-rating scale, more than half of the Chinese resident (...) physicians had mild to moderate symptoms of mental unhealthiness, and a few had asymptomatic or severe unhealthy mental states. In particular, the detection rate of abnormality was 88.3%, obsessive-compulsive symptoms was 90.4%, the sensitive interpersonal relationship was 90.6%, depression abnormality was 90.8% /511), anxiety abnormality was 88.3%, hostility abnormality was 85.3%, terror abnormality was 84.9%, paranoia abnormality was 86.9%, psychotic abnormalities was 89.0%, and abnormal sleeping and eating status was 90.8%. The scores of various psychological symptoms of pediatric resident physicians were significantly lower than those of non-pediatrics.ConclusionThe new coronavirus epidemic has a greater impact on the mental health of Chinese resident physicians. (shrink)

An interesting phenomenon called “hidden opportunity cost of time effect” was detected in intertemporal choices. The majority of our participants preferred the smaller but sooner (SS) option to the larger but later (LL) option if opportunity cost was explicit. However, a higher proportion of participants preferred the LL to SS option if opportunity cost was hidden. This shift violates the invariance principle and opens a new way to encourage future-oriented behavior. By simply mentioning the ‘obvious’ opportunity cost of alternatives, decision (...) makers can be more informed in prioritizing their long-term goals rather than short-term goals. (shrink)

Recent theoretical advances describing consciousness from information and integration have highlighted the unique role of the thalamocortical system in leading to integrated information and thus, consciousness. Here, we examined the differential distributions of specific and nonspecific thalamocortical functional connections using resting-state fMRI in a group of healthy subjects and vegetative-state patients. We found that both thalamic systems were widely distributed, but they exhibited different patterns. Nonspecific connections were preferentially associated with brain regions involved in higher-order cognitive processing, self-awareness and introspective (...) mentalizing . In contrast, specific connections were prevalent in the ventral and posterior part of the prefrontal and precuneus, known involved in representing externally-directed attentions. Significant reductions of functional connectivity in both systems, especially the nonspecific system, were observed in VS. These data suggest that brain networks sustaining information and integration may be differentiated by the nature of their thalamic functional connectivity. (shrink)

Sinologism 汉学主义is a recent cultural theory that focuses on Sinology, China–West studies, and cross-cultural knowledge production. Since its proposition at the turn of the 21st century, it has aroused substantial interest and given rise to discussions and debates both in and outside China. The special issue has selected seven articles in full or excerpted form to offer an initial introduction to the topic.

Cognitive Science, Volume 46, Issue 2, February 2022.

ObjectiveThe level of health literacy is one of the important factors affecting health outcomes. Family is an important place to shape personality traits, and people with different personalities will adopt different lifestyles, which will lead to variations in health outcomes. Therefore, this article aims to explore the relationship between health literacy and personality and its influencing factors in different family structures.MethodsThis was a cross-sectional study with 1,406 individuals. A questionnaire was utilized to measure health literacy, personality and demographic variables, including (...) family structure. Canonical correlation analysis and hierarchical multiple regression analysis were used to examine the relation between health literacy and personality traits between two types of family structure.ResultsCCA showed that the canonical correlation coefficients were 0.309 and 0.347, in two-parent family and single-parent family, respectively. The openness of personality traits exhibited the highest correlation with health literacy. Compared with the remaining personality traits, openness yielded the strongest effect in two types of family structure, respectively. Education and monthly income were significantly associated with health literacy.ConclusionOur results support the relation between health literacy and personality traits in two types of family structure. (shrink)

Family financing has become a powerful channel for entrepreneurs to obtain entrepreneurial funding. How do family members use intent and quality signals to select new ventures to provide lending support? Building on the signaling theory, this study provides the first quantitative evidence using a sample of 166 samples of family lenders in China. Our findings reveal that psychological capital can support entrepreneurs to obtain family lending. As an intent signal, psychological capital becomes more influential when quality signals, corporate competitive advantage, (...) and firm performance perform more positively. This study emphasizes that family financing support is not only out of love or altruism and extends the literature concerning the influence of positive psychological capital in financial investment decisions. (shrink)

Consumer indirect misbehavior in access-based consumption is a significant challenge for enterprises. The literature is in short of a deep understanding of the antecedent conditions of consumer indirect misbehavior in this context and limited by inconsistent findings, calling for developing a holistic and integrative theoretical framework. This study integrates three commonly used theoretical perspectives in the consumer misbehavior literature to present holistic archetypes of consumer indirect misbehavior formation. In accordance with this theoretical objective, we adopted an emerging approach for configurational (...) analysis, i.e., fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis, to analyze the complex combinations of six influencing factors. We collected data using a scenario-based field survey of 264 experienced consumers of a popular bike-sharing service in China. The scenarios were developed based on relevant literature and a Delphi study. The fsQCA results reveal multiple configurations for high and low levels of consumer misbehavior intention. Specifically, perceived benefits and moral definition play important roles, while the effect of sanctions is highly dependent on other factors. These results lead us to derive three theoretical propositions for antecedent conditions leading to consumers’ indirect misbehavior intentions in access-based consumption. This study enriches our understanding of the causes of misbehavior and provides novel insights for management practitioners to take appropriate countermeasures. (shrink)

It is widespread that the consumers browse relevant reviews for reference before purchasing the products when online shopping. Some stores or users may write deceptive reviews to mislead consumers into making risky purchase decisions. Existing methods of deceptive review detection did not consider the valid product review sets and classification probability of feature weights. In this research, we propose a deceptive review detection algorithm based on the target product identification and the calculation of the Metapath feature weight, noted as TM-DRD. (...) The review dataset of target product is modeled as a heterogeneous review information network with the feature nodes. The classification method of graph is used to detect the deceptive reviews, which can improve the efficiency and accuracy of deceptive review detection due to the sparsity, imbalance of deceptive reviews, and the absence of category probability of feature weight calculation. The TM-DRD algorithm we proposed is validated on the real review dataset Yelp and compared with the SpEagle, NFC, and NetSpam algorithm. The experiment results demonstrate that the TM-DRD algorithm performs better than the other method with regard to the accuracy and efficiency. (shrink)

Adopting free word association test, the present study investigated the developmental features of Yi students’ Chinese mental lexicon. Eighty primary school students and 85 senior high school students in two typical Yi-Han bilingual schools in Yuexi County were recruited as the research subjects. With Yi language as their L1, all the participants started learning Chinese after entering primary school. The stimuli were 108 words selected from the 9,000 most frequently used words in modern Chinese, including 36 nouns, 36 verbs, and (...) 36 adjectives. The responses were analyzed using the framework proposed by the responses were analyzed using a three-layer framework. The results showed that the mental lexicon of Yi primary and middle school students were mainly connected with each other by meanings, with form-based connection followed. Compared with previous studies, their phonological associations accounted for a relatively higher proportion, while semantic associations were relatively weakened. Syntagmatic associations were of primary importance, with paradigmatic and encyclopedic associations followed. While syntagmatic relation was centered on determinative and governing associations, paradigmatic relation was dominated by adjacent and reverse associations. The development rate of syntagmatic associations was faster than that of paradigmatic and encyclopedic associations; no significant improvement was found on students’ adjacent, layer, homogeneous and supplement associations from primary school to high school. The findings generate important implications for Yi students’ Chinese language education. (shrink)

Customized bus services are conducive to improving urban traffic and environment, and have attracted widespread attention. However, the problems encountered in the new customized bus mode include the large difference between the basis of customized bus passenger flow data analysis and the basis of the traditional bus passenger flow data analysis, and the difficulty in different vehicle scheduling caused by the combination of traditional and customized bus modes. We propose a customized bus passenger flow analysis algorithm and multi-destination customized bus (...) line capacity scheduling algorithm, and display them in an intuitive way. The experimental results show that the algorithm model established in this paper can basically meet the data requirements of operation and management, and can provide decision support for customized bus line planning. (shrink)

The fate of new ventures incubated by the same corporate ecosystem is different. Can entrepreneurs’ ideas affect the way out of incubating companies? Based on self-verification theory and symbiosis theory, we took millennial entrepreneurs as the research object, combined with entrepreneurial enterprises’ data in the makerspace. We analyzed the impact of millennials’ entrepreneurial values on new ventures growth and explored the mediating role of entrepreneurial symbiosis networks. The following conclusions are obtained by analyzing the questionnaire of 191 millennial entrepreneurs: Millennials’ (...) entrepreneurial values significantly promote new ventures growth. The strength and scale of the entrepreneurial symbiosis network have a positive impact on new ventures growth. The entrepreneur symbiosis network acts as an intermediary between the millennials’ entrepreneurial values and new ventures growth. (shrink)

BackgroundThe Chinese version of the Mini-Mental State Examination and the Beijing version of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment are the most commonly used scales to screen for Alzheimer’s disease among Chinese patients; however, their consistency varies according to populations and languages. Equivalent conversion of MMSE-C and MoCA-BJ scores is important for meta-analysis.Materials and methodsMMSE-C and MoCA-BJ scoring were performed on the enrolled patients with AD. Consistency analysis of MMSE-C and MoCA-BJ scores of patients in the conversion groups was performed. The circle-arc (...) method was used to convert the MMSE-C scores of the conversion groups into MoCA-BJ scores, and the conversion formula was generated. The MMSE-C data of the verification group was converted to MoCA-BJ according to the formula, and the consistency analysis of the original MoCA-BJ of the verification group and the converted MoCA-BJ was performed to verify the conversion model.ResultsThe results of the consistency analysis of MMSE-C and MoCA-BJ in group A showed that the correlation coefficients of the total group, high education years subgroup, medium education years subgroup, and low education years subgroup were 0.905, 0.874, 0.949, and 0.874, respectively, with high consistency and statistical significance. After applying the circle-arc method for equivalent conversion, the consistency analysis results of the original and the converted MoCA-BJ of the patients in group B of the total group, high education years subgroup, medium education years subgroup, and low education years subgroup were 0.891, 0.894, 0.781, 0.909, respectively, with high consistency and statistical significance.ConclusionWe established and validated a model of MMSE-C and MoCA-BJ score conversion for Chinese patients with AD using the circle-arc method. This model could be useful for multi-centers clinical trials and meta-analysis. (shrink)

The entrepreneurial institutional environment is the external factor that entrepreneurial enterprises rely on for survival. Our interest is in how entrepreneurs cultivate entrepreneurial orientation in response to the highly uncertain entrepreneurial situation. Based on the cognitive appraisal theory of emotion, we analyzed the impact of the entrepreneurial institutional environment on entrepreneurial orientation through entrepreneurial passion. This study applied stepwise regression analyses to test the hypotheses on a sample of 197 entrepreneurs from the co-creation space in China. The output of the (...) study showed that the entrepreneurial institutional environment had a positive effect on entrepreneurial orientation and that entrepreneurial passion played a mediating role between the entrepreneurial institutional environment and entrepreneurial orientation. (shrink)

Focusing on Hangzhou, a famous tourist city in China, in this study, four regression models were constructed through four items of tourist loyalty to investigate the influence of tourist perceptions and characteristics on male and female tourist loyalty to shared bicycles. A questionnaire survey and ordered logistic regression model techniques were used. Survey data from 467 tourists indicated that there were significant differences between male and female tourists. For male tourists, their willingness to reuse shared bicycles was positively correlated with (...) ease of access to cycles, environmental awareness, psychological benefit, and management provision; however, their willingness to recommend shared bicycles was only affected by environmental awareness, psychological benefit, and management provision. Among female tourists, willingness to reuse shared bicycles was affected by ease of access to cycles, environmental awareness, and rule adherence, while their willingness to recommend shared bicycles was affected by ease of access to cycles, environmental awareness, psychological benefit, and managerial provision. In addition, female tourists’ socio-demographic and behavioral characteristics had a significant impact on their loyalty, among which length of stay in Hangzhou and education were significant in the four regression models, and number of visits to Hangzhou had a positive impact on female tourists’ willingness to reuse. In addition, female tourists who used Hellobike had higher willingness to reuse and recommend than those who used Mobike. For male tourists, only length of stay in Hangzhou had a significant impact on their reuse intention. The current study extends the theory of attribution to explore the factors which may affect tourist’s loyalty to bicycle-sharing from the perspectives of tourists’ perceptions. It will provide further support to decision makers in the development of new shared-bicycle systems at Chinese tourist destinations, with the aim of strengthening tourist loyalty to shared-bicycle programs. (shrink)

The developmental programs of eukaryotic organisms involve the programmed transcription of genes. A characteristic gene expression pattern is established and preserved in each different cell type. Therefore, gene activation at a particular time and its maintenance during cell division are significant for cellular differentiation and individual development. Although many studies have sought to explain the molecular mechanisms of gene expression regulation, the mechanism through which gene expression states are inherited during cell division has not been fully elucidated yet. This review (...) illustrates the general principles and the complexities involved in the establishment and maintenance of active transcription through cell cycles. It focuses on the most‐recent findings about the ways in which molecular memory marks for active transcription are coordinated with cell cycle events, such as replication, mitosis and nuclear organization, to mediate transcription memory across cell division events, which may establish a unifying memory process of active transcription. BioEssays 27:1239–1245, 2005. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (shrink)

Since Oregon implemented its Death with Dignity Act, many additional states have followed suit demonstrating a growing understanding and acceptance of aid in dying processes. Traditionally, the patient has been the one to request and seek this option out. However, as Death with Dignity acts continue to expand, it will impact the role of physicians and bring up questions over whether physicians have the ethical obligation to facilitate a conversation about AID with patients during end of life discussions. Patients have (...) the right to make informed decisions about their health, which implies that physicians have an obligation to discuss with and inform patients of the options that will accomplish the patients’ goals of care. We will argue that physicians have an ethical obligation to inform certain patients about AID during end of life care discussions. We will also address what this obligation encompasses and explore guidelines of when and how these conversations should occur and proceed. Earlier guidelines, presented by various palliative care and ethics experts, for proceeding with such conversations have mostly agreed that the discussion of hospice and end of life care with patients should be initiated early and that the individual goals of a patient during the remaining duration of life should be thoroughly examined before discussion of appropriate options. In discussing AID, physicians should never recommend but inform patients about the basics so that they can make an informed decision. If patients express further interest in AID, the physician should open up the dialogue to address the reasoning behind this decision versus other possible treatments to ensure that patients clearly comprehend the process and implications of their decision. Ultimately, any end of life choice should be made by patients with the full capacity to express what they envision for the remaining duration of life and to comprehend the advantages and disadvantages of all the possible options. (shrink)

Pseudo-clefts are the building blocks of coherent discourse progression and serve as a rhetorical toolkit to construct an authorial stance in the academic discourse. Despite an increasing interest in grammatical constructions in the academic discourse, researchers have not treated pseudo-clefts in much detail. This paper explores the features of pseudo-clefts in the corpus of academic discourse in the field of applied linguistics. Here, we take the textual and the interpersonal perspectives, focusing on the use of pseudo-clefts in terms of their (...) distribution in generic structure, discourse functions with reference to clefted constituents, and evaluative meaning. The results show that pseudo-clefts were more frequently used in “Results and Discussion” and Literature Review, performing the functions such as the specification of key terms, generalization of the literature, the description and explanation of findings, etc. They are facilitative in creating information gaps and establishing a logic-semantic expansive relationship between the clauses. The findings also suggest that the pseudo-clefts are evaluative devices and are involved in the construction of authorial identities. (shrink)

This study exploratively conducted two investigations of timbre influenced by harmonic loudness. Investigation 1 examined piano timbre preference between non-processed melodies and two kinds of adjustments created via an equalizer–a basic tool used for sound engineering and for producing audio materials. Using the paired comparison method, 98 respondents were surveyed. The results show that in the bass range of the piano sound, the preferred audio material was that produced via an equalizer by reducing the loudness of the 7th and 9th (...) harmonics by 15 dB, while enhancing the loudness of the 8th harmonic by 15 dB. Investigation 2 examined three degrees of the processed melodies—adjusting the harmonics by 15, 10, and 5 dB. The results show that the 15 dB change was the best, while the 10 dB change was the worst. These results provide a new approach to improving the sound timbre for sound engineering and artificial intelligence music production. (shrink)

Social media has become an important way for science communication. Some scholars have examined how to help scientists engage with social media from operational training, policy guidance, and social media services improving. The main contribution of this study is to construct a symbiosis evolution model of science communication ecosystem between scientists and social media platforms based on the symbiosis theory and the Lotka–Volterra model to discuss the evolution of their symbiotic patterns and population size under different symbiosis coefficients. The results (...) indicate that the size of the symbiosis coefficients determines the equilibrium outcome of the symbiosis evolution of scientists and social media platforms; scientists and social media platforms can promote each other’s population size under the mutualism pattern, which can achieve sustainable science communication; “1 + 1 > 2” effect can only be achieved under the symmetric mutualism pattern and the growth of scientists and social media platforms is more stable and sufficient than that of other patterns. The findings will provide additional perspectives for promoting the sustainable development of science communication based on social media. (shrink)

Based on the daily data from January 2, 2019, to September 30, 2020, this paper uses the extended CoVaR model to measure the spillover effect of systemic risk among top 10 securities companies by market value in China, All Share Brokerage Index, All Share Financials Index, All Share Insurance Index, and CSI Banks Index. The conclusions are as follows: there are risk spillover effects among 10 securities companies, which are asymmetric and bidirectional and highly volatile in a short period of (...) time; the spillover effect of systematic risk of securities companies is not necessarily related to the market value of securities companies but has a strong relationship with the stock market; there are risk spillover effects between the sample securities companies and the four major indexes, but there are significant differences in the size of the spillover effects; the securities industry has a great risk spillover effect on the financial industry, but the risk spillover effect of other financial sectors on the securities industry is very small. Finally, we put forward countermeasures and suggestions. (shrink)

Background: The pregnancy and psychological status of infertile couples has always been a concern, but there is no clear evidence for the efficacy of psychotherapy for infertile couples. This study aimed to summarize the current evidence of the effects of psychotherapy on psychological and pregnancy outcomes for infertile couples. Method: We searched Ovid MEDLINE, Ovid EMbase, The Cochrane Library, and Web of Science for articles published from 1946 to June 26, 2020. The pregnancy outcomes, psychological outcomes, and acceptability were involved (...) in the study. Results: Overall, 29 studies with a combined total of 3,522 adult participants were included in the meta-analysis. Compared with a placebo, psychotherapy was associated with the pregnancy rate [risk ratio = 1.43, 95% CI [1.07, 1.93]], total psychological scales associated with infertility [standardized mean difference = −0.33 95% CI [−0.63, −0.02]], subsymptoms of psychological scores using the 28-item version of GHQ, and the integrative body–mind–spirit ; total psychological scales associated with infertility using other treatments and more than a month; and anxiety using BMS had significant statistical significance. The funnel plots of all outcomes were approximately symmetrical, and no significant publication bias was found. Conclusions: The study showed that psychotherapy can lead to improvements in the pregnancy rate for infertile patients, especially for patients receiving assisted fertility. In addition, it may help improve total psychological scales associated with infertility and depression. CBT and BMS play an important role in improving rate of pregnancy, and BMS is associated with reducing anxiety. Although psychological interventions had limited effects on the pregnancy outcomes of infertility, our study still recommended that psychotherapies, in particular CBT and BMS, were applied to the therapeutic regimen for infertility, especially for patients receiving assisted fertility. (shrink)

In economic researches, much effort was devoted to the problem of how to increase the economics of countries. However, the development of a country may fluctuate a lot due to international and domestic problems. Thus, we should also evaluate the robustness of countries against unexpected economic recessions. In this paper, we use perturbation to quantify the robustness of countries using two renowned algorithms: method of reflections and fitness-complexity method. The robustness characterizes the stability of countries’ competitiveness against economic recessions. The (...) experiments in the international trade networks show that FCM could characterize the robustness better than MR. High fitness countries of FCM have strong robustness against economic crises, which enlarges the application fields of FCM. Additionally, we simulate the trade conflict between USA and China. The simulation results show that China suffers much in the trade conflict, while USA loses very little and has strong robustness in this conflict. (shrink)

Sinologism 汉学主义is a recent cultural theory that focuses on Sinology, China–West studies, and cross-cultural knowledge production. Since its proposition at the turn of the 21st century, it has aroused substantial interest and given rise to discussions and debates both in and outside China. The special issue has selected seven articles in full or excerpted form to offer an initial introduction to the topic.

According to the shared signal hypothesis the impact of facial expressions on emotion processing partially depends on whether the gaze is directed toward or away from the observer. In autism spectrum disorder several aspects of face processing have been found to be atypical, including attention to eye gaze and the identification of emotional expressions. However, there is little research on how gaze direction affects emotional expression processing in typically developing individuals and in those with ASD. This question is investigated here (...) in two multimodal experiments. Experiment 1 required processing eye gaze direction while faces differed in emotional expression. Forty-seven children participated. Their Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule scores ranged from 0 to 6 in the experiment. Event-related potentials were sensitive to gaze direction and emotion, but emotion processing did not depend on gaze direction. However, for angry faces the gaze direction effect on the N170 amplitude, as typically observed in TD individuals, diminished with increasing ADOS score. For neutral expressions this correlation was not significant. Experiment 2 required explicit emotion classifications in a facial emotion composite task while eye gaze was manipulated incidentally. A group of 22 children with ASD was compared to a propensity score-matched group of TD children. The same comparison was carried out for a subgroup of nine children with ASD who were less trained in social cognition, according to clinician’s report. The ASD group performed overall worse in emotion recognition than the TD group, independently of emotion or gaze direction. However, for disgust expressions, eye tracking data revealed that TD children fixated relatively longer on the eyes of the stimulus face with a direct gaze as compared with averted gaze. In children with ASD we observed no such modulation of fixation behavior as a function of gaze direction. Overall, the present findings from ERPs and eye tracking confirm the hypothesis of an impaired sensitivity to gaze direction in children with ASD or elevated autistic traits, at least for specific emotions. Therefore, we conclude that multimodal investigations of the interaction between emotional processing and stimulus gaze direction are promising to understand the characteristics of individuals differing along the autism trait dimension. (shrink)

Background: Individuals’ information processing includes automatic and effortful processes and the latter require sustained concentration or attention and larger amounts of cognitive “capacity.” Event-related potentials reflect all neural activities that are related to a certain stimulus. Investigating ERP characteristics of effortful cognitive processing in people with schizophrenia would be helpful in further understanding the neural mechanism of schizophrenia.Methods: Both schizophrenia patients and health controls completed ERP measurements during the performance of the basic facial emotion identification test and the face-vignette task. (...) Data of ERP components, BFEIT and FVT performances were analyzed.Results: Schizophrenia patients’ accuracies of face emotion detection in the BFEIT and vignette emotion detection in the FVT were both significantly worse than the performance of the HC group. Repeated-measures ANOVAs performed on mean amplitudes and latencies revealed that the interaction effect for group × experiment × site was significant for N250 amplitude. In FVT experiment, N250 amplitudes at prefrontal and frontal sites in schizophrenia group were larger than those of HC group; the maximum N250 amplitude was present at the prefrontal site in both the groups. For N250 latency, the interaction effect for group × experiment was significant; N250 latencies in the schizophrenia group were longer than those of the HC group.Conclusion: Schizophrenia patients present effortful cognitive processing dysfunctions which reflect in abnormal ERP components, especially N250 at prefrontal cortex and frontal cortex sites. These findings have important implications for further clarifying the neural mechanism of effortful cognitive processing deficits in schizophrenia. (shrink)

ObjectiveThis study aims to investigate the effectiveness of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy combined with medication therapy in preventing the recurrence of major depressive disorder in convalescent patients.MethodsA total of 130 patients with convalescent MDD were enrolled in this prospective study. Sixty-five patients were assigned to the experimental group and received medication therapy combined with MBCT, and 65 patients were assigned to the control group and treated with medication alone. The recurrence rate and related hormonal changes were compared between the two groups.ResultsAfter (...) 1 year of MBCT intervention, eight patients experienced recurrence in the experimental group, a recurrence rate of 12.31%, and 19 patients experienced recurrence in the control group, a recurrence rate of 29.23%. The Hamilton Depression Rating Scale and the World Health Organization Quality of Life Scale scores in both the experimental and the control groups were significantly improved after treatment. The difference in the HAM-D scores before and after treatment in the experimental group was 16.74 ± 4.54; this was significantly higher than that of the control group. The WHOQOL-BREF scores in the experimental group were significantly improved compared with those of the control group. The differences in the levels of corticotrophin-releasing hormone, adrenocorticotropic hormone, and cortisol before and after treatment in the experimental group and the control group were statistically significant. The difference in CRH before and after treatment in the experimental group was 16.8 ± 7.2, which was higher than that of the control group. The intervention with MBCT had a significant impact on the recurrence of MDD [β = 1.206, P = 0.039, 95% CI = 0.0790–1.229]. The difference in the HAM-D scores also had a significant impact on the recurrence of MDD.ConclusionCompared with medication therapy alone, the use of MBCT combined with medication therapy can effectively prevent the recurrence of MDD in convalescent patients. (shrink)