Two Sides of Theory of Mind: Mental State Attribution to Moving Shapes in Paranoid Schizophrenia Is Independent of the Severity of Positive Symptoms.

Background: Theory of Mind (ToM) impairment has repeatedly been found in paranoid schizophrenia. The current study aims at investigating whether this is related to a deficit in ToM (undermentalizing) or an increased ToM ability to hyperattribute others' mental states (overmentalizing).

Methods: Mental state attribution was examined in 24 patients diagnosed with schizophrenia (12 acute paranoid (APS) and 12 post-acute paranoid (PPS)) with regard to positive symptoms as well as matched healthy persons using a moving shapes paradigm.

Real-Time fMRI Neurofeedback in Patients With Tobacco Use Disorder During Smoking Cessation: Functional Differences and Implications of the First Training Session in Regard to Future Abstinence or Relapse.

One of the most prominent symptoms in addiction disorders is the strong desire to consume a particular substance or to show a certain behavior (craving). The strong association between craving and the probability of relapse emphasizes the importance of craving in the therapeutic process. Former studies have demonstrated that neuromodulation using real-time fMRI (rtfMRI) neurofeedback (NF) can be used as a treatment modality in patients with tobacco use disorder.

Profiling and quantification of grain anthocyanins in purple pericarp × blue aleurone wheat crosses by high-performance thin-layer chromatography and densitometry.

Background: Anthocyanins are abundant secondary metabolites responsible for most blue to blue-black, and red to purple colors of various plant organs. In wheat grains, anthocyanins are accumulated in the pericarp and/or aleurone layer. Anthocyanin pigmented wheat grains can be processed into functional foods with potential health benefits due to the antioxidant properties of the anthocyanins.

À côté calibration - Making optimal use of time and space in quantitative high performance thin layer chromatography.

Quantitative High Performance Thin Layer Chromatography (HPTLC) requires the application of several standards to each plate, reducing the number of actual samples that can be analyzed in a single run. Using pure standard compounds and a selective detection method, the standards for quantitation can be applied besides - à côté - the chromatography area. This frees the sample application space to accommodate the maximal number of sample on each plate.

Valve tissue characterization by magnetic resonance imaging in calcific aortic valve disease.

Background: Calcific aortic valve disease affects 10%-15% of the elderly population, causing considerable morbidity and mortality. There is no imaging technique that allows for the assessment of tissue composition of the valve in vivo. We thus investigated whether multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) could characterize and quantify lipid, fibrous, and mineralized tissues within aortic valve (AV) cusps.

Predictors of outcome of non-ischemic mitral valve surgery.

Background: Data on the risk stratification of patients undergoing mitral valve (MV) surgery for non-ischemic mitral disease are sparse. The present study seeks to define them in a contemporary cohort.

Methods: 193 consecutive patients referred to non-ischemic MV surgery were prospectively studied.

Gender differences in clinical presentation and surgical outcome of aortic stenosis.

Background: Little is known about the gender differences of patients undergoing aortic valve replacement (AVR) for isolated severe aortic stenosis.

Methods And Results: 408 consecutive patients (215 women and 193 men; p=0.9) were analysed.

Predictors of outcomes in low-flow, low-gradient aortic stenosis: results of the multicenter TOPAS Study.

Background: Patients with low-flow, low-gradient aortic stenosis have a poor prognosis with conservative therapy but a high operative mortality if treated surgically. Recently, we proposed a new index of aortic stenosis severity derived from dobutamine stress echocardiography, the projected aortic valve area at a normal transvalvular flow rate, as superior to other conventional indices to differentiate true-severe from pseudosevere aortic stenosis. The objective of this study was to identify the determinants of survival, functional status, and change in left ventricular ejection fraction during follow-up of patients with low-flow, low-gradient aortic stenosis.

Systemic pressure does not directly affect pressure gradient and valve area estimates in aortic stenosis in vitro.

Aims: Hypertension is a frequent finding in patients with aortic stenosis (AS). However, controversial data about the influence of systemic blood pressure on the quantification of AS have been published.

Methods And Results: Various models of AS (plates and biological valves) were studied in an in vitro circuit.

B-type natriuretic peptide in low-flow, low-gradient aortic stenosis: relationship to hemodynamics and clinical outcome: results from the Multicenter Truly or Pseudo-Severe Aortic Stenosis (TOPAS) study.

Background: The prognostic value of B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) is unknown in low-flow, low-gradient aortic stenosis (AS). We sought to evaluate the relationship between AS and rest, stress hemodynamics, and clinical outcome.

Methods And Results: BNP was measured in 69 patients with low-flow AS (indexed effective orifice area < 0.

A hierarchical 3D segmentation method and the definition of vertebral body coordinate systems for QCT of the lumbar spine.

We have developed a new hierarchical 3D technique to segment the vertebral bodies in order to measure bone mineral density (BMD) with high trueness and precision in volumetric CT datasets. The hierarchical approach starts with a coarse separation of the individual vertebrae, applies a variety of techniques to segment the vertebral bodies with increasing detail and ends with the definition of an anatomic coordinate system for each vertebral body, relative to which up to 41 trabecular and cortical volumes of interest are positioned. In a pre-segmentation step constraints consisting of Boolean combinations of simple geometric shapes are determined that enclose each individual vertebral body.

An anatomic coordinate system of the femoral neck for highly reproducible BMD measurements using 3D QCT.

In this paper, a procedure for the determination of an anatomically oriented coordinate system of the femoral neck (NCS) in 3D spiral CT datasets is described. The origin of the NCS is centered in the minimal cross-sectional area of the neck. Its three axes are defined as follows: the so called neck axis is perpendicular to this area and points towards the femoral head, the second axis is the principal axis of the minimal cross-sectional area and the third axis is perpendicular to the other two.

Tracing myelin protein zero (P0) in vivo by construction of P0-GFP fusion proteins.

Background: Mutations in P0, the major protein of the myelin sheath in peripheral nerves, cause the inherited peripheral neuropathies Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 1B (CMT1B), Dejerine-Sottas syndrome (DSS) and congenital hypomyelination (CH). We reported earlier a de novo insertional mutation c.662_663GC (Ala221fs) in a DSS patient.