Cognitive and emotional empathy in patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders: A replication and extension study.

Impairments of social cognition are defined as core features in the pathology of schizophrenia. In a study by Lehmann and colleagues (2014), patients with schizophrenia have been shown to demonstrate a diminished capacity to understand others' emotions (i.e.

A complex pattern of autonomic dysfunction in familial Mediterranean fever. Results from a controlled cross-sectional study.

Objectives: Autonomic dysfunction (AD) has been described in various chronic inflammatory diseases. Studies of AD in patients with familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) are inconclusive. We aimed to assess AD in a cohort of FMF patients.

Frontal hypoactivation and alterations in the reward-system during humor processing in patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders.

Humor is a ubiquitous human ability with important implications for both social and emotional functioning. Patients with neuropsychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia, experience difficulties in the comprehension and appreciation of humor. However, the specific neural mechanisms underlying these deficits are unknown.

Pupillary autonomic dysfunction in patients with ANCA-associated vasculitis.

Objective: To assess autonomic function by infrared dynamic pupillometry in patients with ANCA-vasculitis (AAV) in correlation to autonomic symptoms, disease specific clinical parameters and cardiovascular reflex tests.

Methods: Patients with AAV and healthy controls underwent pupillometry at rest and after sympathetic stimulation (cold pressor test). Three parasympathetic parameters (amplitude, relative amplitude, maximum constriction velocity) and one sympathetic parameter (late dilatation velocity) were assessed.

Assessment of autonomic function in a cohort of patients with ANCA-associated vasculitis.

Objective: To assess symptoms and objective parameters of autonomic dysfunction (AD) in patients with ANCA-associated vasculitides.

Methods: Symptoms and objective parameters of AD were assessed in patients with ANCA-associated vasculitis and in age-matched healthy controls. Autonomic symptoms were explored by COMPASS31, a validated questionnaire addressing symptoms of six autonomic domains (orthostatic, vasomotor, secretomotor, gastrointestinal, pupillomotor, and bladder dysfunction).

The effects of inhibiting leukocyte migration with fucoidin in a rat peritonitis model.

Objectives: To study the effects of fucoidin on leukocyte rolling and emigration and bacterial colonization in a peritonitis sepsis model in rats.

Design And Interventions: A controlled study in 64 male Wistar rats, anesthetized and rendered septic by cecal ligation and puncture (CLP). Immediately after CLP 32 animals received a continuous infusion of fucoidin and 32 a continuous infusion of Ringer's lactate.