Analysis of Cognitive Dysfunction in Patients with Low-Grade Glioma

All living adults with histopatologically proven diagnosis of low-grade glioma in a Swedish county were identified with help of the Regional Cancer Register, half of them (n = 24) participated in a neuropsychological evaluation. A considerable variation was found in cognitive function within this group of patients, ranging from good ability to severe disturbance. Different patterns of cognitive dysfunction emerged resulting in three subgroups; patients with severe, mild, and minimal selective dysfunction. The patients with severe disturbance had a global dysfunction covering most assessed cognitive domains. Slow information-processing speed was obvious in the subgroups with both severe and mild dysfunction. Cognitive problems present in the best performing group seemed related to tumor localization. Cognitive function in the whole sample was related to histopathological diagnosis of the tumor, as well as to educational level of the patients. The nonworking patients had significantly poorer performance than the working patients.     

The assessment of fitness to drive after a stroke: the Nordic Stroke Driver Screening Assessment

The British Stroke Driver Screening Assessment (SDSA) is a set of four simple cognitive tests to evaluate driving fitness in stroke patients. To evaluate its usefulness in a Scandinavian context, we adapted the tests and assessed a group of 97 stroke patients from Sweden and Norway, using a driving test as the criterion. When results were calculated according to the original method, based on a discriminant function, less than 70% of the participants were correctly classified. To improve the predictive potential, a new discriminant analysis was performed, using the scores of a subsample of 49 patients, and validated on the remaining 48 participants. In total, 78% of the patients were correctly classified, but specificity was superior to sensitivity. We conclude that the Nordic version of the SDSA is a useful instrument, provided that test scores are interpreted in a balanced manner, taking into account the possibility of compensatory traffic behavior.     

Expressed emotion in depressed patients and their partners.

This study was designed to assess the expressed emotion (EE) status in the spouses of depressed patients and the patients themselves, to relate the EE status to the severity of depression as measured by the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and to compare the prevalence of high EE between the target and control group. Seventeen depressed patients and their spouses, and 20 control couples participated in the study. The Five-Minute Speech Sample was used to assess the EE status. High EE was significantly more common in spouses of depressed patients and the patients themselves than in controls. There was a significant relationship between the EE status of the patients and their spouses. High EE in the patient and in the spouse corresponded significantly with a high BDI score of the patient. These findings underline the importance that in EE research the patients' EE status as well as their present mental health state must also be taken into account.     

Experiments: Why and How?

An experiment, in the standard scientific sense of the term, is a procedure in which some object of study is subjected to interventions (manipulations) that aim at obtaining a predictable outcome or at least predictable aspects of the outcome. The distinction between an experiment and a non-experimental observation is important since they are tailored to different epistemic needs. Experimentation has its origin in pre-scientific technological experiments that were undertaken in order to find the best technological means to achieve chosen ends. Important parts of the methodological arsenal of modern experimental science can be traced back to this pre-scientific, technological tradition. It is claimed that experimentation involves a unique combination of acting and observing, a combination whose unique epistemological properties have not yet been fully clarified.     

Spatially-limited attention to vibrotactile stimulation

Weak vibrotactile signals were presented to human Os, in some instances to the index finger alone, in other instances to the middle finger alone, and in still other instances to the two fingers simultaneously. When the 0 knew in advance of a trial which finger(s) would be presented a signal, no spatial summation resulted, that is, the sensitivity of two fingers to two signals was no greater than the sensitivity of one finger to one signal. When the 0 was left uncertain about which finger(s) would be presented a signal on any given trial, a result having the appearance of spatial summation was obtained. Theappearance is misleading;the difference between two-finger and one-finger sensitivity in this case reflects, instead, a decrement in the performance of the single fingers. Both results are consistent with a single-channel model of attention.     

THE DEPENDENCE OF VIBROTACTILE THRESHOLD AND MAGNITUDE FUNCTIONS ON STIMULATION FREQUENCY AND SIGNAL LEVEL: A perceptual and neural comparison

F ranzén , O. The dependence of vibrotactile threshold and magnitude functions on stimulation frequency and signal level. A perceptual and neural comparison. Scand. J. Psychol ., 1969, 10 , 289–298.—Apparent intensity of vibrotactile signals was examined as a function of stimulation frequency and displacement. Two sorts of power transformations were observed. (1) The exponent decreased as frequency was increased. (2) At low signal levels perceived intensity was linearly related to the physical input. At a certain point on the intensity continuum an abrupt shift to a power function with a slope of 0.58 occurred. The successive change of the exponent of the magnitude functions is tentatively interpreted as a kind of successively increasing demultiplication in the rate of firing frequency in the sensory pathway. A dual mechanism of mechanoreception is discussed.     

The revenger's paradox

Conclusion Unlike the more commonly discussed paradoxes of deontic logic, the revenger's paradox is present not only in strong logics such as SDL, but also in much weaker logics that have been constructed to avoid the paradoxes of SDL. The paradox shows that any deontic logic with intersubstitutivity makes counter-intuitive truth assignments to some deontic expressions.However, the revenger's paradox does not pose as serious a problem as does Ross's paradox to the logics in which it occurs. A deontic logic in which Ross's paradox does not arise is preferable to one in which it does arise, even if the latter is subject to the revenger's paradox.     

Psychiatric Symptomatology and Family Functioning in Children and Adolescents with Spina Bifida

The purpose of this study was to (a) examine the occurrence of psychiatric symptomatology in children and adolescents with spina bifida, (b) investigate the relationship between psychiatric features and aspects of disability, and (c) explore the impact of spina bifida and psychiatric status on family functioning. Fifty-four children and adolescents ages 6 to 18 years (M = 12.94, SD = 3.59) were examined. Parents completed the Child Symptom Inventory (CSI) and the Family Assessment Device (FAD). Using the CSI, a psychiatric diagnostic screen, 43% of the sample obtained one, and 13% obtained two or more screening cutoff scores reflective of psychiatric diagnoses. The two most prevalent diagnostic categories were Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (33%) and Oppositional Defiant Disorder (13%). The sample as a whole exhibited elevated levels of clinical symptoms, with internalizing symptoms more prominent than externalizing symptoms. No differences in diagnostic categories or overall symptomatology were found based on age, gender, ambulation status, or lesion level. Overall symptom counts were positively correlated with scales on the FAD reflecting problematic family functioning (.42–.65). Results suggest that psychiatric symptomatology occurs at a high rate in children and youth with spina bifida. Although ADHD was the modal diagnostic category, the sample as a whole exhibited extensive psychiatric symptoms independent of specific diagnostic categories. Psychiatric symptoms were also associated with increased problematic functioning in families.     

The Modes of Value

Contrary to the received view, decision theory is not primarily devoted to instrumental (ends-to-means) reasoning. Instead, its major preoccupation is the derivation of ends from other ends. Given preferences over basic alternatives, it constructs preferences over alternatives that have been modified through the addition of value object modifiers (modes) that specify probability, uncertainty, distance in time etc. A typology of the decision-theoretical modes is offered. The modes do not have (even extrinsic) value, but they transform the value of objects to which they are applied. A rational agent's total set of preferences should be coherent, but from this it does not follow that her preferences over mode-containing objects have to be derivable from her preferences over mode-free objects.