Psychiatric and non-psychiatric patients during the midst of Covid-19: Pandemic distress, psychosis and the belief in conspiracy theories.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic was associated with increased levels of psychological distress in the general population, at the same time providing a perfect breeding ground for conspiracy beliefs. Psychiatric patients are considered as a population with an increased vulnerability for stressful events, and conspiracy beliefs show overlaps with paranoid ideations. The aim of the present study was to investigate if psychiatric patients experienced higher levels of pandemic distress than non-psychiatric patients, if they were more prone to conspiracy beliefs and if pandemic distress as well as other mental health variables were associated with believing in conspiracy theories.

Eleven strategies for making reproducible research and open science training the norm at research institutions.

Reproducible research and open science practices have the potential to accelerate scientific progress by allowing others to reuse research outputs, and by promoting rigorous research that is more likely to yield trustworthy results. However, these practices are uncommon in many fields, so there is a clear need for training that helps and encourages researchers to integrate reproducible research and open science practices into their daily work. Here, we outline eleven strategies for making training in these practices the norm at research institutions.

Multisensor hyperspectral imaging approach for the microchemical analysis of ultramarine blue pigments.

This work presents a multisensor hyperspectral approach for the characterization of ultramarine blue, a valuable historical pigment, at the microscopic scale combining the information of four analytical techniques at the elemental and molecular levels. The hyperspectral images collected were combined in a single hypercube, where the pixels of the various spectral components are aligned on top of each other. Selected spectral descriptors have been defined to reduce data dimensionality before applying unsupervised chemometric data analysis approaches.

Auditory top-down control and affective theory of mind in schizophrenia with and without hallucinations.

Social cognitive impairments may represent a core feature of schizophrenia and above all are a strong predictor of positive psychotic symptoms. Previous studies could show that reduced inhibitory top-down control contributes to deficits in theory of mind abilities and is involved in the genesis of hallucinations. The current study aimed to investigate the relationship between auditory inhibition, affective theory of mind and the experience of hallucinations in patients with schizophrenia.

Theoretical considerations of monitor unit calculations for intensity modulated beam treatment planning.

A treatment planning system to compute intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) treatments using inverse planning was investigated. The system was designed to optimize the intensity patterns required to treat a specified target volume with specified normal structure constraints. A beam model that uses the convolution of pencil beams was used to compute the dose distributions.