Microstructural integrity of the corpus callosum linked with neuropsychological performance in adolescents

Background: Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) has revealed microstructural aspects of adolescent brain development, the cognitive correlates of which remain relatively uncharacterized. Methods: DTI was used to assess white matter microstructure in 18 typically developing adolescents (ages 16–18). Fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusion (MD) were evaluated within the splenium and body of the corpus callosum in relation to cognitive performance. Results: Visuospatial construction abilities were associated with white matter integrity in both the splenium and body of the corpus callosum, while only splenium integrity was associated with language and psychomotor function. Conclusion: Results suggest that, for typically developing adolescents, white matter coherence positively relates to visuospatial, psychomotor, and language skills. These findings may have implications for the cognitive functioning of clinical populations in which typical white matter development is altered.     

Thanatos and massive psychic trauma: the impact of the death instinct on knowing,remembering, and forgetting

The connection between massive psychic trauma and the concept of the death instinct is explored using the basic assumptions that the death instinct is unleashed through and is in a sense characteristic of traumatic experience, and that the concept of the death instinct is indispensable to the understanding and treatment of trauma. Characteristics of traumatic experience, such as dissolution of the empathic bond, failure to assimilate experience into psychic representation and structure, a tendency to repeat traumatic experience, and a resistance to remembering and knowing, are considered as trauma-induced death instinct derivatives. An initial focus is on the individual, on how death instinct manifestations can be discerned in the survivors of trauma. Next the intergenerational force of trauma is examined; a clinical vignette illustrates how the death instinct acts on and is passed on to the children of survivors. Finally, the cultural or societal aspects of trauma are considered, with an eye to how death instinct derivatives permeate cultural responses (or failures to respond) to trauma. Because trauma causes a profound destructuring and decathexis, it is concluded that the concept of the death instinct is a clinical and theoretical necessity.     

Adolescents' use of tobacco and alcohol: correlations with habits of parents and friends

Correlations for use of tobacco and alcohol of a Finnish sample of 321 adolescents (164 boys, 157 girls; age range 12-16 years) and those of their mothers, fathers, and best friends showed adolescents' use of both tobacco and alcohol correlated more with use by their friends than with parental use. The r for tobacco smoking was higher with maternal than with paternal smoking.     

Hispanic Infants with Cystic Fibrosis Show Low CFTR Mutation Detection Rates in the Illinois Newborn Screening Program

States develop specific protocols for cystic fibrosis (CF) newborn screening to reflect the population served. We hypothesized that mutation distribution and detection rates would differ between Hispanic and non-Hispanic CF patients diagnosed by IL newborn screen with more Hispanic infants carrying mutations not detected by the state panel. Data from CF cases diagnosed via newborn screen in IL between 3/1/2008 and 10/31/2010 were reviewed. More Hispanic infants with CF had one or more undefined mutations after screening, in comparison to non-Hispanic Caucasian patients (40% vs. 9.5%; p?相似文献   

Initial Psychometric Properties of a Brief Parent-Report Instrument for Assessing Tic Severity in Children with Chronic Tic Disorders

This article describes the development and initial psychometric properties of the Parent Tic Questionnaire (PTQ)—a new measure assessing the number, frequency, and intensity of motor and vocal tics in children and adolescents with Chronic Tic Disorder (CTD). Parents of 40 children with a CTD completed the PTQ as part of a larger assessment battery. Results show the PTQ to have excellent internal consistency and good to excellent 2-week test-retest reliability. The motor tic severity subscale, vocal tic severity subscale, and total severity score of the PTQ correlated highly with the corresponding scales of the gold-standard clinician-rated Yale Global Tic Severity Scale (YGTSS), indicating excellent convergent validity. Correlations between the YGTSS and PTQ remained strong after controlling for measures of obsessive-compulsive disorder and inattention, suggesting good discriminant validity. The PTQ is a promising supplement to current methods for assessing tic severity and further research on the validity, reliability, and clinical utility of the scale are warranted.     

“With a Little Help from My Friends”: Affect Regulation and Emergence of Group Experience in Treatment of Young Adolescents

The pair group provides a powerful and most useful regulatory function for adolescents. A group-based approach aims to create an inter-subjective field in which an adult group conductor and the individual group members interact with the complex dynamics of the pair group. The author maintains that the core task in her approach is to understand and follow the pair group and help it learn to self-regulate and self-organize so that each member becomes aware of the affective meaning of “belonging to the group system.” The group members thus develop the ability to explore new ways of relatedness—with self and others—through coconstruction of an environment of shared intimacy and safety. Clinical vignettes illustrate an approach that aims to strengthen affect regulation in young adolescent groups in the public school setting.