Major psychosis and chromosome 22: genetics meets epigenetics

Elucidation of genetic factors in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder remains a challenging task to psychiatric researchers. As a rule, data from genetic linkage and association studies are quite controversial. In this article, we further explore the possibility that in addition to DNA sequences variation, a putative epigenetic dysregulation of brain genes plays an important role in the etiopathogenesis of major psychosis. We provide an epigenetic interpretation of unclear genetic findings specifically pertaining to chromosome 22 in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. It is suggested that epigenetic strategies, when applied in conjunction with traditional genetic ones, may significantly expedite the uncovering of the molecular causes of major psychosis.     

Tensile properties of precracked tempered martensitic steel specimens tested at ultralow strain rates in high-pressure hydrogen atmosphere

Tensile tests were performed on precracked Cr–Mo martensitic steel (C: 0.38, Si: 0.22, Mn: 0.84, P: 0.024, S: 0.021, Ni: 0.08, Cr: 1.11, Mo: 0.15, Cu: 0.12, Fe: bal. (wt%)) specimens at various strain rates (ranging from 6.5 × 10^?8 s^?1 to 1.0 × 10^?4 s^?1) in high-pressure (95 MPa) hydrogen and helium atmospheres. Irrespective of the strain rate, the tensile strength in the helium atmosphere was 1400 MPa. In the hydrogen atmosphere, the tensile strength decreased to less than 600 MPa at a strain rate of 2.0 × 10^?5 s^?1. However, the tensile strength increased to 900 MPa when the strain rate was decreased to 6.5 × 10^?8 s^?1. This recovery of the tensile strength was because of the decrease in the local stress in the vicinity of the precrack because of hydrogen.     

Should/Can Philosophy be Ethnic? Varieties of Internationalism in Philosophy

This paper describes the situation of philosophy in Japan with respect to the question of internationalism. For more than a hundred years, Japan took Western culture as its model and European philosophy as the authentic philosophy. This tendency was paradoxically strengthened by the post-war humanism. It gave us Japanese philosophers a clear discipline to work in but cut us off from our own native culture, history, and philosophical traditions. In wishing to recover this loss, I argue that it is necessary to distinguish between two forms of internationalism: humanistic and merely fashionable. The latter in fact derives from domestic reasons.     

Women's Psychological Experiences in a Narrative Therapy-Based Group: An Analysis of Participants' Writings and Beck Depression Inventory–Second Edition

The purpose of this study was to explore women's experiences in a narrative therapy-based group conducted to help participants re-author their stories. Seven women who were either patients or individuals enrolled in Transition Support for Employment at a psychiatric clinic participated in the meetings, one every fortnight. Each session explored a theme based on narrative therapy techniques such as externalization. The participants wrote their reflections during each session, and completed the Beck Depression Inventory-Second Edition (BDI-II) during the initial and final sessions. An affinity diagram was developed to classify their written reflections into 22 lower categories (e.g., new understanding of self, forward-looking-understanding of life) and 4 upper categories (“Insight,” “Sharing with others,” “Changes with understanding of lives,” “Higher motivation”). The relationship among five lower categories comprising “Insight” was explored, and it became apparent that clarification of participants' own thoughts about social problems functioned as a mediator promoting the process. The largest portion of depressed feelings emerged during the initial session, and four participants had lower scores for BDI-II items such as self-criticism in the final session. The results suggest that the group's purpose was realized. However, future studies should examine participants' feelings more closely, especially during the initial session.     

A pox on the mind: Disjunction of attention and memory in the processing of physical disfigurement

The unfavorable treatment of people with physical disfigurements is well-documented, yet little is known about basic perceptual and cognitive responses to disfigurement. Here, we identify a specialized pattern of cognitive processing consistent with the hypothesis that disfigurements act as heuristic cues to contagious disease. Disfigurements are often invariant across time and difficult to conceal, and thus observers can detect the presence of such cues without necessarily remembering the particular individuals bearing these cues. Indeed, despite the fact that disfigured faces were especially likely to hold disease-sensitive perceivers’ attention (Study 1), disfigured individuals were often confused with one another and thus not well remembered later (Study 2), revealing a disjunction of the typical relationship between elevated attention and elevated memory. We discuss the implications of our results for stigmatization of people with and without physical abnormalities and suggest the possibility that cognitive mechanisms for processing social information may be functionally tuned to the variant nature of important cues.     

In need of liberation or constraint? How intergroup attitudes moderate the behavioral implications of intergroup ideologies

This study examined how behavioral responses to ideologies prompting other- or self-focus during intergroup exchanges depend on what individuals see when they look out at an outgroup interaction partner or in toward themselves. Specifically, we predicted that the outward focus on learning about and from outgroup members encouraged by multiculturalism would benefit lower-prejudice individuals (LPs) but instead amplify the implications of negative perceptions for higher-prejudice individuals (HPs). In contrast, we predicted that the evaluative concerns and self-focus induced by anti-racism would harm LPs’ behavior by leading them to second-guess acting on positive impulses but improve HPs’ behavior by leading them to rein in unfavorable reactions. Results were generally consistent with these predictions. Color-blindness had a negative effect not moderated by prejudice. These results suggest that tailoring the ideology promoted in a specific setting to the particular individuals who will be exposed to it might enhance the effectiveness of intervention efforts.     

Observation of a threshold impact energy required to cause passive film rupture during slurry erosion of stainless steel

The impact of solid particles during the erosion of stainless steel by a slurry jet reveals a sequence of anodic current transients due to individual impacts. Measurement of these current transients shows that there is a minimum particle energy below which no transients can be detected. The result is interpreted as a threshold energy required to rupture the passivating oxide film on the metal surface. If this energy is exceeded, the current transients arise from electrochemical reaction of the depassivated metal surface after denudation. Below this threshold no rupture occurs and there are no current transients.