Impairments in cognitive empathy and alexithymia occur independently of executive functioning in college students with autism.

Reduced empathy and alexithymic traits are common across the autism spectrum, but it is unknown whether this is also true for intellectually advanced adults with autism spectrum disorder. The aim of this study was to examine whether college students with autism spectrum disorder experience difficulties with empathy and alexithymia, and whether this is associated with their cognitive levels of executive functioning. In total, 53 college students with autism spectrum disorder were compared to a gender-matched group of 29 neurotypical students on cognitive and affective dimensions of empathy and alexithymia.

Responsive Aggression Regulation Therapy (Re-ART): An Evaluation Study in a Dutch Juvenile Justice Institution in Terms of Recidivism.

This article describes a quasi-experimental study of the effectiveness of Responsive Aggression Regulation Therapy (Re-ART) in terms of recidivism for 16- to 21-year-old juveniles with aggression problems and high risk of recidivism. In a Dutch juvenile justice institution, an experimental group received Re-ART ( n = 63, Re-ART group) and a waitlist control group received Treatment as Usual ( n = 28, TAU group). Results indicated that Re-ART is significantly more effective than TAU in reducing the juveniles' recidivism risk for violent offending.

Aggressive Incidents in Residential Youth Care.

It is assumed that group climate can have an effect on aggressive behavior in adolescents living in residential facilities, but it is largely unknown whether there are climate differences between the various types of residential institutions, and whether group climate differently affects aggression incidents among adolescents placed in institutions that differ in levels of security (and openness). In current research, the differences in perception of group climate between open, semi-secure, and secure residential youth care facilities were examined as well as the association between group climate and aggression. In total, 159 adolescents (96 males, 63 females) completed the Prison Group Climate Instrument (PGCI), and (aggressive) incidents were recorded during a period of 3 months.

A Captive, a Wreck, a Piece of Dirt: Aging Anxieties Embodied in Older People With a Death Wish.

The aims of this present study were to explore the use and meaning of metaphors and images about aging in older people with a death wish and to elucidate what these metaphors and images tell us about their self-understanding and imagined feared future. Twenty-five in-depth interviews with Dutch older people with a death wish (median 82 years) were analyzed by making use of a phenomenological-hermeneutical metaphor analysis approach. We found 10 central metaphorical concepts: (a) struggle, (b) victimhood, (c) void, (d) stagnation, (e) captivity, (f) breakdown, (g) redundancy, (h) subhumanization, (i) burden, and (j) childhood.

Simultaneous Real-Time Analysis of Bulk and Bottom Cure of Ultraviolet-Curable Inks Using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy.

The curing characteristics of an ultraviolet (UV) ink layer are of utmost importance for the development of UV inks. Measuring either bulk or bottom cure in itself is not new and has been the subject of many articles. In this article, two methods are described based on Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectrometry to measure in real time and simultaneously the bulk and bottom cure of a thin UV ink layer.

Multicausal systems ask for multicausal approaches: A network perspective on subjective well-being in individuals with autism spectrum disorder.

Given the heterogeneity of autism spectrum disorder, an important limitation of much autism spectrum disorder research is that outcome measures are statistically modeled as separate dependent variables. Often, their multivariate structure is either ignored or treated as a nuisance. This study aims to lift this limitation by applying network analysis to explicate the multivariate pattern of risk and success factors for subjective well-being in autism spectrum disorder.

Characteristics and Post-Decision Attitudes of Non-Reporting Sexual Violence Victims.

Although the physical and psychological consequences of sexual violence can be severe, many victims do not report the violence to the police force. The current study examined the characteristics and the post-decisional attitude of the non-reporting sexual violence victims. In total, 287 victims of sexual violence completed an anonymous online questionnaire that assessed characteristics of the violence, whether or not the crime was reported, reasons for not reporting, and aspects that would have convinced non-reporters to report in retrospect.

Assessing Temporal Emotion Dynamics Using Networks.

Multivariate psychological processes have recently been studied, visualized, and analyzed as networks. In this network approach, psychological constructs are represented as complex systems of interacting components. In addition to insightful visualization of dynamics, a network perspective leads to a new way of thinking about the nature of psychological phenomena by offering new tools for studying dynamical processes in psychology.

Modeling BAS Dysregulation in Bipolar Disorder.

Time series analysis is a technique that can be used to analyze the data from a single subject and has great potential to investigate clinically relevant processes like affect regulation. This article uses time series models to investigate the assumed dysregulation of affect that is associated with bipolar disorder. By formulating a number of alternative models that capture different kinds of theoretically predicted dysregulation, and by comparing these in both bipolar patients and controls, we aim to illustrate the heuristic potential this method of analysis has for clinical psychology.

TRACING THE DEVELOPMENT OF TYPEWRITING SKILLS IN AN ADAPTIVE E-LEARNING ENVIRONMENT.

Typewriting studies which compare novice and expert typists have suggested that highly trained typing skills involve cognitive process with an inner and outer loop, which regulate keystrokes and words, respectively. The present study investigates these loops longitudinally, using multi-level modeling of 1,091,707 keystroke latencies from 62 children (M age=12.6 yr.

"I Don't Care About What You Want!" The Relation Between Juvenile Delinquents' Responses to Social Problem Situations and Empathy in Secure Juvenile Institutions.

The present study examined the relation between juvenile delinquents' responses to social problem situations and empathy in secure juvenile institutions. The sample consisted of 79 delinquent boys (62%) and 49 delinquent girls (38%), aged 12 to 19 years. Results showed problems with accepting authority to be negatively related to both affective and cognitive empathy.

Deep down on a Caribbean reef: lower mesophotic depths harbor a specialized coral-endosymbiont community.

The composition, ecology and environmental conditions of mesophotic coral ecosystems near the lower limits of their bathymetric distributions remain poorly understood. Here we provide the first in-depth assessment of a lower mesophotic coral community (60-100 m) in the Southern Caribbean through visual submersible surveys, genotyping of coral host-endosymbiont assemblages, temperature monitoring and a growth experiment. The lower mesophotic zone harbored a specialized coral community consisting of predominantly Agaricia grahamae, Agaricia undata and a "deep-water" lineage of Madracis pharensis, with large colonies of these species observed close to their lower distribution limit of ~90 m depth.

ECHS1 mutations in Leigh disease: a new inborn error of metabolism affecting valine metabolism.

Two siblings with fatal Leigh disease had increased excretion of S-(2-carboxypropyl)cysteine and several other metabolites that are features of 3-hydroxyisobutyryl-CoA hydrolase (HIBCH) deficiency, a rare defect in the valine catabolic pathway associated with Leigh-like disease. However, this diagnosis was excluded by HIBCH sequencing and normal enzyme activity. In contrast to HIBCH deficiency, the excretion of 3-hydroxyisobutyryl-carnitine was normal in the children, suggesting deficiency of short-chain enoyl-CoA hydratase (ECHS1 gene).

Physiological and genomic features of highly alkaliphilic hydrogen-utilizing Betaproteobacteria from a continental serpentinizing site.

Serpentinization, or the aqueous alteration of ultramafic rocks, results in challenging environments for life in continental sites due to the combination of extremely high pH, low salinity and lack of obvious electron acceptors and carbon sources. Nevertheless, certain Betaproteobacteria have been frequently observed in such environments. Here we describe physiological and genomic features of three related Betaproteobacterial strains isolated from highly alkaline (pH 11.

Do the quality of the trials and the year of publication affect the efficacy of intervention to improve seasonal influenza vaccination among healthcare workers?: Results of a systematic review.

Introduction: Despite longstanding recommendations by public-health authorities vaccination coverage in health care workers worldwide are poor. The aim of this study is to conduct a systematic review of the trials conducted to increase seasonal influenza vaccination rates among health care workers.

Results: Ten articles met the pre-determined criteria.