Search

Introduction/Objective. One of the main side effects in patients undergoing valproic acid treatment is weight gain, which might be the reason for drug discontinuation, especially in adolescent girls, and it also has to be considered before introducing the drug. The main goal of our study is to investigate a possible influence of antiepileptic therapy with sodium valproate on weight and glucose homeostasis in pediatric patients with epilepsy. Methods. The investigation included 49 healthy children with recently diagnosed epilepsy. We measured height, weight, and serum 12-hour overnight fasting glucose and insulin level before initiation and after six- and 12-month valproic acid treatment periods. The body mass index and homeostasis model assessment indexes were calculated for each patient and correlated after the initiation of therapy and after six and 12 months of therapy. Results. We found that children significantly gained weight with statistical significance (p < 0.01) even after six months of therapy with a significant glucose metabolism change and statistical difference in average serum glucose and insulin levels (p < 0.05). Conclusion. Our results show that a 12-month treatment with valproic acid in children with epilepsy has a great impact on weight gain and glucose homeostasis and metabolism. We strongly recommend that all children with recently diagnosed epilepsy at the initiation of valproate therapy should be closely monitored on a six-month basis. Consultations with a nutritionist is advised especially in children with a preexisting body weight problem.

I used the occasion of his 70th birthday later this year as an excuse to talk to Michael B. Buchholz about how he developed into the psychoanalyst, psychologist, social scientist, and professor tha...

Background The availability of psychometrically sound instruments for the assessment of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is indispensable for clinical and scientific work with individuals suffering from trauma-related distress. Objective The aim of the present study was to translate the Post-Traumatic Diagnostic Scale for DSM-5 (PDS-5) into German and to evaluate its psychometric properties as well as convergent, discriminant, and factorial validity. Method The authorized German translation of the PDS-5 was completed by 270 patients admitted to specialized outpatient trauma clinics. Of these, 57.8% completed the PDS for a second time (mean time between assessments was 12.0 days). In order to examine convergent and discriminant validity of the PDS-5, the Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Checklist for DSM-5 as well as Patient Health Questionnaire subscales assessing depression (PHQ-9), somatization (PHQ-15), and Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7) were applied. Results The PDS-5 total score showed excellent internal consistency (α = .91) and re-test reliability (rho = .84). Convergent validity was supported by a strong correlation with the total score of the Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5; rho = .91). Correlations with Patient Health Questionnaire subscales of depression (rho = .81), anxiety (rho = .72), and somatization (rho = .65) were significantly lower (all p, HIGHLIGHTS The Post-traumatic Diagnostic Scale for DSM-5 (PDS-5) is one of the most frequently applied self-rating scales for assessing PTSD severity.This study indicates that the German PDS-5 version provides valid and reliable information concerning both PTSD severity and diagnosis.

This paper is one in a series of papers attempting to popularize the application of cube-based Discrete Global Grid Systems (DGGSs). To increase acceptability, a simple but effective implementation is proposed. The paper discusses the fundamental aspects of such an implementation and presents a continuous 2D map creation process, based on such systems.

Recent findings suggest a positive effect of intelligence on psychological well-being but remain inconclusive as to whether this criterion would be better predicted by drawing on emotional and practical abilities–besides traditional “academic” ones–and whether any path from intelligence to well-being bypasses socioeconomic status. We investigated these issues with a sample of 288 working adults (N in path analyses = 157), employing three standard tests of academic intelligence (Matrix Reasoning, Verbal Analogies, General Knowledge); the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test; the practical sections of Sternberg's Triarchic Abilities Test to assess practical intelligence; and Ryff's Scales of Psychological Well-Being. Hierarchical regression analyses yielded academic intelligence (Step 1), specifically Matrix Reasoning, and emotional intelligence (Step 2, with practical intelligence), specifically Understanding and Managing Emotions, as independent predictors of well-being. Subsequent path analyses revealed that the effect of academic intelligence on well-being was indirect (mediated by socioeconomic status) and the effect of emotional intelligence a direct one, the latter also being stronger and primarily due to the Managing Emotions branch. While expanding the evidence on the real-life utility of academic intelligence, the present results draw special attention to knowing/reasoning about emotions as an incremental predictor of well-being, the implications of which are discussed.

There have been theoretical speculations and empirical indications that individual differences in emotional intelligence (EI) are associated with quality of attachment, yet many issues regarding this relationship have remained unsettled or even unexplored. Spelling out and attempting to fill some of these gaps, the present study examined the specific contribution of attachment quality in explaining variance in both ability EI and trait EI, with traditionally conceived intelligence and the basic personality traits controlled for. Participants were 251 employed adults (116 males; age range 21–62, M = 40.3, SD = 8.14), who completed a test of ability EI; a questionnaire assessing trait EI; a battery of standard intelligence tests; a Five-Factor inventory of personality; and two self-report measures of attachment quality. Attachment security was found to be related to higher EI, associations being small-to-moderate for ability EI, and moderate-to-large for trait EI. In hierarchical regression analyses, attachment predicted a significant amount of unique variance in both ability and trait EI, beyond intelligence and personality. Moreover, attachment Anxiety surfaced as the best single (understandably, negative) predictor of both EIs, their only other mutual predictors being the g-factor and Conscientiousness. Altogether, these results yield a fuller picture of what constitutes individual differences in objectively assessed and self-perceived emotional abilities, revealing that a substantial portion of them may be understood with reference to attachment security. The present study thus warrants more extensive, longitudinal research into the developmental interplay between attachment and the two EIs.

If psychoanalysis is to avoid total marginalization, something has to be changed in the way future generations are prepared for working with patients and doing research. Reformation of psychoanalyt...

An earthquake runs through the psychotherapeutic professions (Neimeyer & Taylor, 2014). Since the 1980s, psychoanalysis has lost its leading position in clinical psychotherapy and its discursive le...

This paper discusses the integration of three-dimensional 3D geographic information systems GIS and video surveillance systems using augmented reality AR techniques. The motivation for this integration is to overcome problems faced by conventional video surveillance systems. Explicit information concerning which camera currently monitors what area in such systems is missing; therefore, insight into the situation depends heavily on the operator’s training and experience. To ensure the complete coordination and monitoring of a situation in a system with multiple cameras, it is necessary to introduce a single reference system. GIS arises as a natural solution because it not only provides a solid ground truth but also provides semantic information that can be highly important in certain video surveillance applications. To integrate information into a GIS application, that information must be georeferenced. Based on our previous research regarding the addition of georeferencing information to surveillance video, this paper introduces models that can be applied to help integrate video and GIS. With an analogy to Milgram’s continuum between the real world and virtual reality, and analogous to the augmented reality and augmented virtuality in Milgram’s continuum, two models of integration are defined here: GIS-augmented video and video-augmented GIS. Then, we define the architecture of GIS-based video surveillance based on these proposed integration models, and finally, a prototype is implemented. The implemented prototype serves as a basis for analysing possible applications of real-world systems based on the integration of GIS and video.

Background Adverse childhood experiences, especially maltreatment, are regarded as significant risk factors for the development of antisocial behavior in adolescence. However, possible correlates are still to be investigated after considering the history of criminal records and the experience of institutionalization. Objective In this study, differences in attachment anxiety and avoidance, and reflective functioning (RF) between traumatized incarcerated juvenile offenders and non-delinquent adolescents institutionalized in child services because of domestic violence were examined. Participants, setting and method Forty-two juvenile offenders (Nfemale = 19) and 43 inmates of institutions for adolescents without parental care (Nfemale = 20) with the history of trauma filled in the childhood trauma and attachment dimensions questionnaires, and were scored on the Reflective Functioning Scale. Groups were matched on age and education. Results Results indicate that both groups reported equally high levels of attachment anxiety and avoidance. Male juvenile offenders had lower scores on reflective functioning than both female convicted minors (B = 1.06; Odds Ratio = 2.88; Nagelkerkes R2 = 45) and non-delinquent adolescents of both genders (B = −.65; Odds Ratio = .52; Nagelkerkes R2 = 42). In comparison to non-convicted males, male offenders also had higher scores on the control scale of idealization (B = .35; Odds Ratio = 1.42; Nagelkerkes R2 = 42). No differences between females with and without a history of crimes were found. Conclusions Results indicate a need for building RF in both traumatized samples, especially in male delinquents, and encourage further research in females.

Terrain visualization is an important aspect of many applications, especially of 3D geographic information systems, which try to preserve the accuracy of the applied terrain model. A discrepancy of data representation, efficient streaming and the application to a chosen mathematical model of the whole planet, still imposes a challenge to a number of large terrain rendering engines. In this paper, we present ellipsoidal clipmaps - a new way to apply geometry clipmaps to an ellipsoid. The ellipsoid is divided into three partitions, seamlessly stitched together. Unlike previous geometry clipmap approaches, based on preloaded grid upon which the terrain is elevated, the underlying ellipsoidal grid is generated on the fly in the vertex shader. The proposed method guarantees sub-pixel precision of the planet Earth reference ellipsoid surface calculation, exploiting GPU single precision floating-point arithmetic. A tight coupling with the implementation of clipmaps enables consistent caching and fast data streaming, while the usage of equidistant cylindrical projection for the source data minimizes preprocessing and preserves low-to-moderate texture distortion. Graphical abstractDisplay Omitted HighlightsA real-time visualization of the planet Earth.The surface is divided into three partitions seamlessly stitched in the globe.A sub-pixel precise WGS84 reference ellipsoid generation on the fly.Consistent caching and fast data streaming through geometry clipmap application.Minimizing texture distortion through the usage of geographic projection.

Throughout the history of mental health care field, trauma was prescribed different and frequently opposing roles. In psychoanalysis, the attitude toward trauma was ambiguous: it was considered a crucial factor, but at the same time its role could happen to be minimized. In biological psychiatry, it is seen as a dominant cause of some disorders and completely irrelevant for the others. In this paper, two issues are discussed: frequency of traumatic events in general population and among persons with mental disorders; and hypothesized intrapsychic mechanisms that lead to detrimental consequences of trauma on mental health. It is advocated that prevention of early, especially attachment, trauma should be the focus of our work in dealing with mental disorders.

The integration of a surveillance camera video with a three-dimensional (3D) geographic information system (GIS) requires the georeferencing of that video. Since a video consists of separate frames, each frame must be georeferenced. To georeference a video frame, we rely on the information about the camera view at the moment that the frame was captured. A camera view in 3D space is completely determined by the camera position, orientation, and field-of-view. Since the accurate measuring of these parameters can be extremely difficult, in this paper we propose a method for their estimation based on matching video frame coordinates of certain point features with their 3D geographic locations. To obtain these coordinates, we rely on high-resolution orthophotos and digital elevation models (DEM) of the area of interest. Once an adequate number of points are matched, Levenberg–Marquardt iterative optimization is applied to find the most suitable video frame georeference, i.e., position and orientation of the camera.

The psychometric properties of a new 28-item self-report measure of mentalization, the Mentalization Scale (MentS), were examined in 2 studies: with a sample of employed adults and university students (N1 = 288 + 278) and with a sample of persons with borderline personality disorder (BPD) and matched controls (N2 = 62 + 62). Besides the MentS, both studies employed measures of attachment and the Big Five; Study 1 also included assessments of empathy and emotional intelligence. MentS whole-scale internal consistency was good in the community and acceptable in the clinical sample (α = .84 and .75, respectively). A principal components analysis of Study 1 data yielded 3 interpretable factors, or subscales: Self-Related Mentalization (MentS-S), Other-Related Mentalization (MentS-O), and Motivation to Mentalize (MentS-M). These showed acceptable reliabilities (α = .74-.79), except for MentS-M in the clinical sample (α = .60). MentS scores further exhibited a coherent pattern of correlations with cognate constructs and the Big Five, relating positively to empathy, trait and ability emotional intelligence, openness, extraversion, and conscientiousness, and negatively to attachment avoidance and anxiety, and neuroticism. Persons with BPD scored significantly lower on MentS total and MentS-S. The proposed scale is thus deemed suitable for quick, yet meaningful, assessments of mentalization in both individual differences research and clinical contexts.

Introduction. Vitamin D intoxication represents a rare and potentially serious pathological condition caused by the excess of calcium and phosphorus. We are presenting an infant with vitamin D intoxication due to excessive daily administration, as well as therapeutic procedures that prevented its adverse effects. Case Outline. A 1.5-month-old female infant, born at term, exclusively breastfed and without any complaints and abnormalities of physical findings, was observed due to the data that during the preceding month, by her mother?s mistake, she had received about 200,000 IU of vitamin D3. Laboratory analyses showed a high serum level of 25(OH)D (>400 nmol/L) and calcium (2.72 mmol/L), lowered PTH (6.6 pg/ml) and high urinary calcium/creatinine ratio (1.6), while other findings, including urotract ultrasonography image, were within normal limits. Treatment based on the discontinuation of vitamin D administration, infant?s forced water intake, as well as the application of 2-month prednisolone and 4-month phenobarbitone and furosemide, resulted in complete normalization of the laboratory indicators of vitamin D overdose, as well as the prevention of its adverse effects. Conclusion. By timely recognition and adequate treatment, including triple therapy with prednisolone, phenobarbitone and furosemide, adverse effects of acute vitamin D intoxication can be prevented.

The psychological approach to juvenile delinquency introduced in recent years postulates “empathy impairment” as one of the origins of youth criminal behaviour. This means that in order to be cruel, people need to be unable to imagine the pain their victims experience. To test that hypothesis, we compare a group of convicted juvenile offenders (N=43) with a control group of adolescents (N=47) on self-report and ability measures of cognitive empathy (Interpersonal Reactivity Index and Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test, respectively). Discriminant Analysis reveals a significant difference between the two groups, most notably in the dimensions of personal distress, RMET score, and perspective taking. However, after the control for age and education, only the differences in measures of cognitive empathy remain. Although delinquents perceive themselves as less capable of taking the vantage point of another person and, when tested, prove themselves to be inferior in perceiving emotions and facial expressions, there are no differences in self-report scores of the affective component of empathy. On the basis of these findings, we draw several practical implications concerning everyday work with delinquents. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 179018 i br. 47011]

Persons diagnosed with schizophrenia can both inflict and suffer violence. For centuries there has been a firmly held belief that they are dangerous and, due to this belief, they are still frequently isolated from the community and exposed to involuntary treatment and restraint. Research data illustrates that persons with this diagnosis are at greater risk of performing violent acts more frequently than the general population. In recent years, the general framework has been set in a more complex manner due to the inclusion in analysis of several mediating variables such as gender, social status, childhood trauma, personality traits, stress and many others. Numerous studies have shown that violent tendencies are evident in persons with co-morbidity of schizophrenia and anti- social personality disorder and/or substance abuse disorders. This paper is focused on reviewing data scrutinizing the role of drug abuse and alcoholism in the violent behavior of persons diagnosed with schizophrenia. Data obtained through meta- analyses of tens of thousands of cases demonstrates unequivocally that the percentage of persons with schizophrenia who commit violent acts without abusing drugs is relatively higher than in the general population (8.5% : 5.3%), while persons who abuse drugs and/or alcohol have been more frequently violent regardless of being psychotic or not (27.6%). Having taken these findings into account, the understanding that persons diagnosed with schizophrenia are prone to violence must be made more specific and their treatment, follow- up and public image changed accordingly. Some of these implications are discussed in this paper and changes suggested.

Low EI is claimed to be implicated in various maladaptive behaviors, including adolescent delinquency. In this study, we sought to establish whether juvenile delinquents are indeed lower on trait EI compared to their peers from the nonclinical population. Study participants were 45 convicted juvenile offenders (all male, Mage = 16.44) and 54 adolescents from the general population (all male, Mage = 14.24), equaling with respect to years of schooling. All participants completed the Serbian translation of the TEIQue-AF. According to the results of ANCOVAs, with age as the covariate, the delinquent group scored significantly lower on global trait EI, and on three out of its four factors: Emotionality, Well-being, and Self-control. Thus, the delinquents exhibit lower self-efficacy when it comes to perceiving, expressing, and regulating emotions, and are more likely to have a gloomy vision of their present and future. Implications for assessment and possible intervention programs are discussed.

In this study we investigated whether psychology students differ than students who have chosen non-helping professions in psychological features important for helping activities: attachment and empathy. The sample consisted of psychology students from Belgrade and Novi Sad (N=452) and students from several Belgrade University faculties for non-helping professions. The revised version of Attachment Questionnaire was used for assessment of attachment, while empathy was assessed by Empathy Quotient. The results confirmed hypotheses about the greater prevalence of secure attachment pattern, higher empathic capacity, better mentalizing, and more positive model of the other among the future helpers. These differences between student groups are present at the enrolment, with gender controlled. Finally, the prevalence of the secure attachment pattern and high empathy scores rises with the years spent at studying psychology. We concluded that psychology studies are chosen by persons with higher motivation and capacities for helping professions. Although women outnumber men, differences between the future helping professionals and others cannot be explained by the gender structure of the sample, since men in the helping professions have better results than women in the nonhelping ones.

Introduction. Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome (WHS) is a rare chromosomal disorder characterized by facial dismorphy, multiple congenital anomalies, delayed psychomotor development and pharmaco-resistant epilepsy. Case Outline. We present a 5-year-old girl with severe delay in growth and development, microcephaly, mild facial dismorphy and epilepsy. The pregnancy was complicated by intrauterine growth retardation. Generalized muscle hypotonia was observed at birth. First seizures started at age of 9 months as unilateral convulsive status epilepticus (SE), sometimes with bilateral generalization. Seizures were often triggered by fever and were resistant to antiepileptic treatment. Introduction of lamotrigine and valproate therapy led to complete seizure control at the age of 33 months. Electroencephalographic (EEG) finding was typical at the beginning. After transitory improvement between age four and five years, epileptiform EEG activity appeared again at the age of five years, without observed clinical seizures. Magnetic resonance imaging showed diffuse brain atrophy and delay in myelination. Using Multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification (MLPA) method, we disclosed heterozygote microdeletation of the distal part of the short arm of chromosome 4 (4p16). Conclusion. We present a clinical course of epilepsy in a patient with Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome. The diagnosis was verified by modern molecular technique. This is the first molecular characterization of a patient with WHS performed in our country.

Registration in augmented reality is a process that merges virtual objects generated by a computer with real-world images captured by a camera. In this article, we present a method for registration of geospatial data applicable to outdoor video surveillance systems consisting of several PTZ cameras. PTZ is an abbreviation for pan-tilt-zoom, and in the terminology of video surveillance it indicates cameras that can rotate in the horizontal (pan) and vertical planes (tilt) and change their level of magnification (zoom). Registration is based on transforming these relative camera view parameters into the absolute position, orientation and field of view required by the three-dimensional geographic information systems (3D GISs). Once the 3D GIS and camera views are aligned, it is possible to identify geospatial objects from the camera image, as well as to overlap the virtual scene with the real one. In addition, inverse transformation of the view parameters allows for selecting and pointing the appropriate camera to some geo-referenced feature or event. Based on the proposal, we developed GeoScopeAVS, a GIS-based system for augmented video surveillance and suggested application of such a system in emergency situation management and urban planning.

The paper reviews and discusses Groddeck's conception of illness. I first argue that Groddeck was a late Romanticist as much as he was a "wild" psychoanalyst. Then I use Groddeck's scattered formulations regarding definition, foundation, and meaning of illness in order to articulate them in the form of more explicit scientific statements. Finally, I suggest that Groddeck's theory of illness is fundamentally different from current medical conceptions, which, nevertheless, does not make our dialogue with him either less useful or indeed less necessary. It is through an investigation of Groddeck's therapeutic attitude and the spirit of his work that psychoanalysis and medicine can build foundations of bold, innovative, and healing future.

The three books reviewed here would be inconceivable only a few decades ago. In the first half of the twentieth century, the sciences were mainly dealing with categories that implied essences. We believed we k new who we were. As in Milan Kundera’s famous short story, we were able to say “I am I” and enjoy the reassuring pleasures of the tautology. Even in the more recent past, so many courses and so many textbooks have aimed to prove that our identities consist of some kind of personality structure that included traits, factors, instances, cognitive structures, and emotional and temperamental dispositions. We were taught that there was a structural core of the personality: Ego, das Selbst , the Self, the Proprium. And we were supposed to become scientists devoted to understanding the characteristics of these elements, their interrelationships, and development. The change that came along is, therefore, properly called “a tectonic shift” (Brockmeier and Carbaugh 2001:39). The positivistic approach lost a lot of its value. Structures matter much less than they used to. The first-person singular was REVIEW ESSAY

The first part of this paper reviews different notions of personality boundaries in dynamic psychology. Although the explicit treatment of this topic was scarce, three different approaches may be discerned. Paul Federn's introduction of the concept, the notion of boundaries in object relation theories, and various contemporary notions subsumed under the heading ?relational theories.? In the second part, the author reviews both experimental and clinical research and theory regarding the emergence of personality boundaries during the first eight weeks of development. Special attention is paid to the importance of developmentally most primitive mental representations of skin experiences for this process.

Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome is a rare X-linked immunodeficiency disorder with a variable phenotype.3.5-year-old boy diagnosed with Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome.Unusual and persistent thrombocytopenia with increased platelet volume (10fL). He did not exhibit characteristic clinical and laboratory finding for the syndrome.Maternally inherited causative mutation in the exon 2 of the WAS gene was disclosed.This is a need for multidisciplinary assessment of patients with congenital or early infantile thrombocytopenia, including testing for mutations of the WAS gene in all unexplained cases even in the absence of characteristic microthrombocytopenia.

Objective. The aim of this paper is to examine the implications for healing in a contemporary Balkan post-war context, and to provide a bridge-building model of trauma transformation, reconciliation and recovery through academic reconstruction and cross-border dialogue. Post-war societies are marked by the effects of massive, large group traumatization, and if not properly dealt with, long-term rehabilitation and social recovery cannot be expected. Unprocessed cumulative trauma that has become deeply embedded in the collective memory of the Balkan peoples over centuries, „chosen trauma“, its trans-generational transmission and periodical reactivations across the Balkan have often been addressed in recent literature, in ethno-psychology, psychoanalysis, psychiatry, sociology and anthropology. In order to deepen our understanding of the roots of collective (social) trauma and the specific traumatic experiences of different groups, and to offer different perspectives and information on how trauma can be dealt with, the “Trauma Trust Memory” multinational interdisciplinary research network is being established, and a groundbreaking workshop was held in May 2013 in Tuzla, Bosnia-Herzegovina. Conclusion. The Tuzla Workshop showed that the active participation of affected groups in adequate coping with the past is required for post-conflict reconstruction, trauma healing and peacebuilding in the long run.

We present details about the validation of the Serbian version of the Experiences in Close Relationships–Revised questionnaire modified to measure attachment in close relationships in general (SM–ECR–R). Its psychometric features were examined with 2 samples of students (N = 719 and N = 91) and 1 group of employed adults (N = 259). The results obtained in the student sample were equivalent to those obtained in validation studies worldwide, whereas in the more heterogeneous sample of employed adults, internal consistency of both avoidance and anxiety was lower and their intercorrelation was higher. Test–retest reliability was satisfactory, and relations with measures of attachment, empathy, and personality structure were meaningful. The results support the SM–ECR–R as a reliable and valid research instrument, but its internal structure and consistency might vary in different samples, depending on age, education, gender, and culture.

Neuromyelitis optica is a rare autoimmune demyelinating disease of the central nervous system in childhood. Its relapsing form is usually reported in adults. We report a 3-year-old girl with relapsing, IgG seropositive neuromyelitis optica. Initially she presented with optic neuritis, followed by three relapses with deterioration of optic neuritis and developing transverse myelitis. With each relapse, the treatment was less effective. Four years after the onset of the disease, the patient was blind, had paraplegia associated with urinary and bowel incontinence and short stature.