Psychiatry

Reversal learning has been extensively studied across species as a task that indexes the ability to flexibly make and reverse deterministic stimulus–reward associations. Although various brain lesions have been found to affect performance on this task, the behavioral processes affected by these lesions have not yet been determined. This task includes at least two kinds of learning. First, subjects have to learn and reverse stimulus–reward associations in each block of trials. Second, subjects become more proficient at reversing choice preferences as they experience more reversals. We have developed a Bayesian approach to separately characterize these two learning processes. Reversal of choice behavior within each block is driven by a combination of evidence that a reversal has occurred, and a prior belief in reversals that evolves with experience across blocks. We applied the approach to behavior obtained from 89 macaques, comprising 12 lesion groups and a control group. We found that animals from all of the groups reversed more quickly as they experienced more reversals, and correspondingly they updated their prior beliefs about reversals at the same rate. However, the initial values of the priors that the various groups of animals brought to the task differed significantly, and it was these initial priors that led to the differences in behavior. Thus, by taking a Bayesian approach we find that variability in reversal-learning performance attributable to different neural systems is primarily driven by different prior beliefs about reversals that each group brings to the task.

Mentally disordered offenders are a group of service users who experience substantial amounts of control and supervision. This article uses theories of social control to analyse the way in which mechanisms of control are understood by this group. Semi-structured interviews with mentally disordered offenders in England who were subject to a restriction order under the Mental Health Act 1983 (as amended by the Mental Health Act 2007) provided the empirical basis for this study. The offenders had a number of perspectives on the restriction order. Firstly, it was seen as a mechanism for identifying those suffering from a mental disorder and for providing appropriate treatment. Secondly, the restriction order was viewed as a form of disciplinary control through which societal norms might be internalised. Thirdly, it was seen as labelling offenders in a manner that was experienced as limiting and oppressive. A number of research participants were aware that the order acted to limit staff actions. These participants saw the order as a means by which they might shape the support that they received in order to further their own aims.A video abstract of this article can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwIwDI2sOTY&feature=youtu.be

Aim: There are several studies on tricyclic antidepressant (TCA) intoxication in the literature; however, there is no
specific study on amitriptyline, a specific TCA, intoxication.
Materials and methods: Forty adult patients who had been admitted to the emergency department due to suicide
attempts with amitriptyline were included. Medical and social histories of the patients were obtained. The estimated
amount of amitriptyline ingested was determined. The psychiatric support and psychiatric diagnosis were all recorded.
All patients were contacted by phone 6 months later.
Results:Main reason of suicidal attempt was family problems. The stated amount of ingested amitriptyline by the patient
or parents was between 60 mg and 1250 mg. Mean cost of diagnosis and treatment were US$ 87.9 ± 83.5 and US$ 290.5
± 164.8, respectively. Somnolence was the main complaint. Sinus tachycardia and hypocalcaemia were the most common
findings. Seven and a half percent of the patients had a GCS score under 8. There was a significant negative correlation
between mean arterial pressure and the estimated ingested amitriptyline dose. After discharge, 52.5% of the patients
visited the psychiatry outpatient clinics. There was only 1 patient with recurrent suicidal attempt.
Conclusion: Amitriptyline was usually abused by young females in our region. Drowsiness, dizziness, and urinary
retention were the most common clinical features. Family conflicts and communication problems were the most cited
reasons of suicide attempts.

Resumen
Se expone el plan de la trilogía Esferas como la constitución de una antropológica de las comunicaciones. Toda historia de los medios es una historia de las transferencias de pensamientos. Los seres humanos agitados componen un concierto de vinculaciones  convirtiéndose ellos mismos en operadores de múltiples influjos creadores. Lo que el siglo XVI  los europeos llaman magología es a la acción del hombre mental y espiritualmente abierto al mundo, que se ejercita para cooperar con las acciones y efectos recíprocos discretos entre las cosas en un universo altamente comunicativo. Para entender este proceso en relación con los nuevos fenómenos mediales, se analiza el pensamiento arcaico y la metafísica clásica, a partir de la idea de que el medio primordial es el cerebro humano. Se analizan los fenómenos actuales de la profusión de la información, la telecomunicación global y las comunicaciones entre medios aparáticos.

Abstract

This article refers the plan of the trilogy Spheres of Sloterdijk, that is to say, the constitution of an anthropological one of the communications. For it the thesis is investigated according to which, all history of means is a history of the transferences of thoughts. The shaken human beings compose everything a concert of entailments, becoming they themselves operators of multiply creative influences. What century XVI, the great time of consolidation and growth of the European, calls magologic is to the action of the mind man and spiritually abierto to the world, that is exercised to cooperate with the actions and discreet reciprocal effects between the things in a highly communicative universe. In order to understand the specificity of this process in relation to the new medial phenomena, a roundup by the archaic thought and classic metaphysics is realised, from the idea that the fundamentally means are the human brain. Thence, the present phenomena of the profusion of the information, the global telecommunication and the communications between average accessority are analyzed.


Palabras clave:

Esferas, medios, transferencia, mente, globalización, pensamiento, metafísica, telecomunicaciones, neurolingüística.

Keywords:
Spheres, means, transference, mind, globalisation, thought, metaphysics, telecommunications, neurolinguistics.

Objectives
Insufficient data are available comparing medical costs, hospitalization or
admission rate, and drugs used for the treatment of pregnant and nonpregnant
women admited to the emergency department (ED) due to suicide
attempts following drug intoxication. We sought to evaluate these
differences in our ED.
Methods
This is a prospective, cross-sectional study; hence we attempted to follow
all pregnant and non-pregnant women who were admitted in our ED at
Ataturk University, Erzurum-Turkey, due to suicide attempt with drug intoxication.
We have obtained records of management plans, estimated
costs and hospital admission rate in the ED from 2008 to 2011 and compared
in both groups.
Results
A total of 309 women were registered as suicide attempts with drug intoxication.
Out of these, 23 (7.4%) were pregnant and 286 (92.6%) were
non-pregnant. The pregnant women had lower rate of past history of
psychiatric illness as compared to non-pregnant women (4.3% vs. 26.2%;
p=0.019). Comparison of drug intoxication revealed a higher rate of intake
of organophosphate (39.1%; vs. 34.8% p<0.001) and paracetamol (39.1%
vs. 19.9%; p=0.031), but a lower rate of multidrug ingestion (39.1% vs.
67.8%; p=0.005) in pregnant women. Furthermore, pregnant women have
a lower rate of hospitalization in ED (56.5% vs. 77.6%), but higher rates of
hospitalization in internal services (13% vs. 6.3%), and intensive care units
(13% vs. 3.1%; p=0.039) compared to non-pregnant women. Consequently,
the cost of therapy was also higher in pregnant (2553.5±6206.7 TL vs.
581.3±490.3 TL; p<0.001).
Conclusions
Though pregnant women were admitted less frequently compared to
non-pregnant women, suicide attempts with drug intoxication among
pregnant women have increased consequences in terms of hospitalization
rate and cost. Thus there is an urgent need to incorporate a special screening
program to measure suicide risk followed by counseling for pregnant
women during post-conceptual care.