Cognitive Factors in Fibromyalgia: The Role of Self-Concept and Identity Related Conflicts

Fibromyalgia is a syndrome characterized by the presence of diffuse and chronic musculoskeletal pain of unknown etiology. Clinical diagnosis and the merely palliative treatments considerably affect the patient's experience and the chronic course of the disease. Therefore, several authors have emphasized the need to explore issues related to self in these patients. The repertory grid technique (RGT), derived from personal construct theory, is a method designed to assess the patient's construction of self and others. A group of women with fibromyalgia (n = 30) and a control group (n = 30) were assessed using RGT. Women with fibromyalgia also completed the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire and a visualanalogue scale for pain, and painful tender points were explored. Results suggest that these women had a higher present self-ideal self discrepancy and a lower perceived adequacy of others, and it was more likely to find implicative dilemmas among them compared to controls. These dilemmas are a type of cognitive conflict in which the symptom is construed as "enmeshed" with positive characteristics of the self. Finally, implications of these results for the psychological treatment of fibromyalgia are suggested to give a more central role to self-identity issues and to the related cognitive conflicts.     

In vitro hippocampal gamma oscillation power as an index of in vivo CA3 gamma oscillation strength and spatial reference memory

Neuronal synchronisation at gamma frequencies (30-100 Hz) has been implicated in cognition and memory. Gamma oscillations can be studied in various in vitro models, but their in vivo validity and their relationship with reference memory remains to be proven. By using the natural variation of wild type C57bl/6J mice, we assessed the relationships between reference memory and gamma oscillations recorded in hippocampal area CA3 in vivo and in vitro. Local field potentials (LFPs) were recorded from area CA3 in behaviourally-characterised freely moving mice, after which hippocampal slices were prepared for recordings in vitro of spontaneous gamma oscillations and kainate-induced gamma oscillations in CA3. The gamma-band power of spontaneous oscillations in vitro correlated with that of CA3 LFP oscillations during inactive behavioural states. The gamma-band power of kainate-induced oscillations correlated with the activity-dependent increase in CA3 LFP gamma-band power in vivo. Kainate-induced gamma-band power correlated with Barnes circular platform performance and object location recognition, but not with object novelty recognition. Kainate-induced gamma-band power was larger in mice that recognised the aversive context, but did not correlate with passive avoidance delay. The correlations between behavioural and electrophysiological measures obtained from the same animals show that the gamma-generating capacity of the CA3 network in vitro is a useful index of in vivo gamma strength and supports an important role of CA3 gamma oscillations in spatial reference memory.     

Visual perceptual learning

Perceptual learning refers to the phenomenon that practice or training in perceptual tasks often substantially improves perceptual performance. Often exhibiting stimulus or task specificities, perceptual learning differs from learning in the cognitive or motor domains. Research on perceptual learning reveals important plasticity in adult perceptual systems, and as well as the limitations in the information processing of the human observer. In this article, we review the behavioral results, mechanisms, physiological basis, computational models, and applications of visual perceptual learning.     

The association between infants' self-regulatory behavior and MAOA gene polymorphism

Self-regulatory behavior in early childhood is an important characteristic that has considerable implications for the development of adaptive and maladaptive functioning. The present study investigated the relations between a functional polymorphism in the upstream region of monoamine oxidase A gene (MAOA) and self-regulatory behavior in a sample of Chinese infants at 6 months of age. Self-regulation was assessed by observing infants' behavior of orienting visual attention away from a threatening event in the laboratory situation. The results indicated that regulatory behavior was associated with the functional MAOA gene polymorphism in girls, but not boys. Girls with 4/4 genotypes displayed significantly higher regulation than girls with 3/3 and 3/4 genotypes. The present study provided evidence for gender differences on the role of MAOA gene polymorphism in socioemotional functioning in the early years.     

青少年气质对其情绪调节的影响：教师情感能力的作用

青少年情绪调节近年来受到越来越多研究的关注,但环境变量是如何通过个体内变量对情绪调节施加影响还不清楚,我们现在采用多层线性模型探索教师情感能力在青少年学生气质影响其情绪调节中的作用。研究选取7-12年级1385名男女学生,和对应的36名班主任,分别施测学生问卷--情绪调节问卷、青少年早期气质问卷和教师情感能力问卷。结果表明：在学生水平,认知重评与气质维度的努力控制和亲和性正相关,与激情负相关;抑制只和负性情感正相关。在教师水平,教师的情感管理减弱了激情和亲和性对认知重评的影响,而教师的情感沟通增加了亲和性对认知重评的影响;教师的情感管理增强了负性情感对抑制的作用,反而教师情感理解降低了负性情感对抑制的作用。因此,气质的不同维度对学生情绪调节的影响不同,教师情感能力的不同方面对这种影响发挥着不同的调控作用。提示在开展情感教学过程中,对不同气质学生选择不同的情感策略有利于提高学生情绪调节的效果。     

机体蛋白质复杂性与植物药复方的统一

植物药复方是中医辨证施治的主要手段。药物是通过蛋白质起作用的。蛋白质复杂多样的功能与其时空的复杂演变密切相关,复方如何对蛋白质时空产生影响、如何对其结构与功能发生作用以及两者之间相互作用、相互影响的深入研究可能发现新的生命现象,为阐明疾病发病机理以及植物药的创新研制奠定理论基础和提供技术支持。     

卵巢肿瘤蒂扭转急腹症诊治进展

卵巢肿瘤可因肿物扭转、破裂、出血等而导致剧烈腹痛、恶心呕吐、甚至出现失血性休克等急腹症的表现,是妇科临床常见的急腹症之一,有时容易误诊而导致严重后果。随着医疗水平的提高及微创观念的引入,目前对一些妇科急腹症如卵巢囊肿蒂扭转的处理等在诊断与治疗方面发生了很大的变化,现综述如下。     

现代人为什么不重视美德

现代人重视权利而不重视美德。必须通过对传统社会到现代社会之历史转变过程的全面考察,才能理解现代人为何不再重视美德。现代性有强烈的去道德化倾向。现代政治、经济和科学都表现出不同程度的去道德化倾向。正因为如此,道德"场"大为弱化。人们觉得不需要过多的美德,过多的美德是浪费(品质浪费),这是现代人不重视美德的内在原因;现代社会不容有太多具有美德的人,这是现代人不重视美德的外在原因。     

Recruitment of the pre-motor area in human inductive reasoning: An fMRI study

Recent studies indicated that the pre-motor area may be recruited in human higher level cognitive functions, including inductive reasoning. In the present study, a typical task of inductive reasoning, function-finding, was explored using functional MRI. fMRI results showed the significant activation of bilateral pre-motor cortex (BA 6), and its left lateralization. Taking together the previous studies and the present experimental design, we concluded that the left pre-motor cortex in the present study may associate with implicit relation synthesis, while the right pre-motor cortex may reflect spatial information processing involved in arithmetic rules.     

RTbox: A device for highly accurate response time measurements

Although computer keyboards and mice are frequently used in measuring response times (RTs), the accuracy of these measurements is quite low. Specialized RT collection devices must be used to obtain more accurate measurements. However, all the existing devices have some shortcomings. We have developed and implemented a new, commercially available device, the RTbox, for highly accurate RT measurements. The RTbox has its own microprocessor and high-resolution clock. It can record the identities and timing of button events with high accuracy, unaffected by potential timing uncertainty or biases during data transmission and processing in the host computer. It stores button events until the host computer chooses to retrieve them. The asynchronous storage greatly simplifies the design of user programs. The RTbox can also receive and record external signals as triggers and can measure RTs with respect to external events. The internal clock of the RTbox can be synchronized with the computer clock, so the device can be used without external triggers. A simple USB connection is sufficient to integrate the RTbox with any standard computer and operating system.