Bimanual coordination in chronic schizophrenia

Anomalies of movement are observed both clinically and experimentally in schizophrenia. While the basal ganglia have been implicated in its pathogenesis, the nature of such involvement is equivocal. The basal ganglia may be involved in bimanual coordination through their input to the supplementary motor area (SMA). While a neglected area of study in schizophrenia, a bimanual movement task may provide a means of assessing the functional integrity of the motor circuit. Twelve patients with chronic schizophrenia and 12 matched control participants performed a bimanual movement task on a set of vertically mounted cranks at different speeds (1 and 2 Hz) and phase relationships. Participants performed in-phase movements (hands separated by 0 degrees ) and out-of-phase movements (hands separated by 180 degrees ) at both speeds with an external cue on or off. All participants performed the in-phase movements well, irrespective of speed or cueing conditions. Patients with schizophrenia were unable to perform the out-of-phase movements, particularly at the faster speed, reverting instead to the in-phase movement. There was no effect of external cueing on any of the movement conditions. These results suggest a specific problem of bimanual coordination indicative of SMA dysfunction per se and/or faulty callosal integration. A disturbance in the ability to switch attention during the out-of-phase task may also be involved.     

A defense of peace as a human right

Abstract

Recent years have seen increased debate about the contributions that human rights make to the creation of conditions of peace. However, less attention has been paid to the claim that peace itself is a genuine human right. Whereas some critics argue that a focus on rights results in an overly formal juridical account of peace at the expense of a more robust notion of positive peace, others contend that a legal framework of rights is all that is needed to eliminate violent conflict. In this paper I strike a position between these two arguments and articulate a normative defense of the human right to peace embedded within a broader discourse of social justice. I do so by demonstrating that a right to peace is a genuine human right because it satisfies appropriate justificatory tests, including those concerning its scope, the duties it generates, and its economic feasibility.     

Sick-building syndrome fatigue as a possible predation defense

Sick-building syndrome is an illness characterized by fatigue, headache, and upper-respiratory complaints. It is usually associated with modern office buildings, structures with an impervious outer shell and inoperable windows. Poor air quality, specific pollutants, and inadequate ventilation are considered common causes. The ability to smell faint odors requires air that is free of contamination. Human evolutionary ancestors depended on odors for survival. Even the slightest increase in the ability to smell a predator conveyed a distinct, immediate survival advantage. Conversely, an enormous survival advantage would also accrue to the animal that sought protection or avoided activity when this vital olfactory information was unavailable. Such would be the case with fire on the savannah. The foraging, olfactory dependent animal, unable to smell predators because of contaminated air, would be quickly snatched by a keen-sighted carnivore. There exist, however, well-described reflexes from the nose mediated through the trigeminal nerve that discourage activity when these free nerve endings are irritated. This mechanism may serve as a defense against predation. In adulterated atmosphere the animal, subdued by these reflexes, would be less likely to venture forth and, therefore, less vulnerable to predators. Similar reflexes may persist in humans, activated by poor air quality, air ill-suited for the dissemination of odors. I suggest that the human perception of these inhibitory reflexes is the feeling of fatigue associated with the sick building syndrome.     

Not as a Means: Killing as a Side Effect in Self‐defense

A person drives her well‐maintained car cautiously and alertly to the movies. Freak circumstances send the car out of control. It veers in the direction of a pedestrian whom it will kill unless she, or a third party, blows it up with a grenade. Whether the driver is liable to be thusly killed polarizes debates about the ethics of self‐defense. But debaters frequently conflate the questions of whether and by what means the driver is liable to be killed. The paper separates these questions: it argues the driver's liability to lethal harm need not entail her liability to the grenade.     

Regression weights as a function of test length

A battery of pencil-and-paper tests is commonly used for predicting a single criterion. If the score on each test is the number of correct answers, the composite battery score would normally be the sum of the weighted test scores, where the weights are the raw score regression weights. Knowing the reliability of each test, it is possible to alter the lengths of the tests in a manner such that the weights will all be equal. The composite battery score would then simply be the total number of items answered correctly and scoring would be greatly simplified. Such simplification is particularly desirable where the volume of testing is large. Section I of the article outlines the procedure for altering the lengths of the tests, and Section II gives a proof of the method.     

Effective psychotherapy of chronic schizophrenia

A method has been described to modify psychotherapy attitudinally and technically so that it is helpful with chronic psychotics--patients in a state hospital aftercare clinic. The method usually enables medications to be reduced and sometimes to be discontinued altogether. Two cases have been presented to demonstrate how the various new elements of the treatment method relate to each other, and to the rehabilitative services most chronic psychotics need.