Method. To address these limitations, 55 clinically stable schizophrenia out-patients and 44 healthy controls completed a validated Animations Task designed to assess spontaneous attributions of social meaning to ambiguous abstract visual stimuli. In this paradigm, 12 animations depict two geometric shapes ‘interacting’ with each

other in three conditions: (1) ToM interactions that elicit attributions of mental states to the agents, (2) Goal-Directed (GD) interactions that elicit attributions of simple actions, and (3) Random scenes in which no interaction occurs. Verbal descriptions of each animation are rated for the degree of Intentionality attributed to the agents and for accuracy.

Results. Patients had lower Intentionality ratings than controls for ToM and GD scenes but Linsitinib the groups did not significantly differ for Random scenes. The descriptions of the patients less closely matched the situations intended by BAY 1895344 research buy the developers of the task. Within the schizophrenia group, performance on the Animations Task showed minimal associations

with clinical symptoms.

Conclusions. Patients demonstrated disturbances in the spontaneous attribution of mental states to abstract visual stimuli that normally evoke such attributions. Hence, in addition to previously established impairment on mentalizing tasks that require logical inferences about others’ mental states, individuals with schizophrenia show disturbances in implicit aspects of mentalizing.”
“There has been a steady increase in the prevalence of adolescent hypertension in recent years. In order to prevent target organ damages, it is important to determine the group of hypertensive E7080 mw adolescents. If repeatedly elevated blood pressure values are observed, with special emphasis on white coat hypertension, which is particularly frequent at this age, ambulatory blood pressure monitoring is highly recommended before pharmacological

treatment is started. In addition, performing ambulatory blood pressure monitoring is recommended with target organ damage, resistance to therapy, and suspicion of secondary hypertension. The results of the widely available, simple-to-use device are easy to reproduce. Copyright (C) 2011 S. Karger AG, Basel”
“Visual self-recognition is often controversially cited as an indicator of self-awareness and assessed with the mirror-mark test. Great apes and humans, unlike small apes and monkeys, have repeatedly passed mirror tests, suggesting that the underlying brain processes are homologous and evolved 14-18 million years ago. However, neuroscientific, developmental, and clinical dissociations show that the medium used for self-recognition (mirror vs photograph vs video) significantly alters behavioral and brain responses, likely due to perceptual differences among the different media and prior experience.