Nonverbal social communication and gesture control in schizophrenia

Schizophrenia patients are severely impaired in nonverbal communication, including social perception and gesture production. However, the impact of nonverbal social perception on gestural behavior remains unknown, as is the contribution of negative symptoms, working memory, and abnormal motor behavior. Thus, the study tested whether poor nonverbal social perception was related to impaired gesture performance, gestural knowledge, or motor abnormalities. Forty-six patients with schizophrenia (80%), schizophreniform (15%), or schizoaffective disorder (5%) and 44 healthy controls matched for age, gender, and education were included. Participants completed 4 tasks on nonverbal communication including nonverbal social perception, gesture performance, gesture recognition, and tool use. In addition, they underwent comprehensive clinical and motor assessments. Patients presented impaired nonverbal communication in all tasks compared with controls. Furthermore, in contrast to controls, performance in patients was highly correlated between tasks, not explained by supramodal cognitive deficits such as working memory. Schizophrenia patients with impaired gesture performance also demonstrated poor nonverbal social perception, gestural knowledge, and tool use. Importantly, motor/frontal abnormalities negatively mediated the strong association between nonverbal social perception and gesture performance. The factors negative symptoms and antipsychotic dosage were unrelated to the nonverbal tasks. The study confirmed a generalized nonverbal communication deficit in schizophrenia. Specifically, the findings suggested that nonverbal social perception in schizophrenia has a relevant impact on gestural impairment beyond the negative influence of motor/frontal abnormalities.

Electron cryomicroscopy of E. coli reveals filament bundles involved in plasmid DNA segregation.

Bipolar elongation of filaments of the bacterial actin homolog ParM drives movement of newly replicated plasmid DNA to opposite poles of a bacterial cell. We used a combination of vitreous sectioning and electron cryotomography to study this DNA partitioning system directly in native, frozen cells. The diffraction patterns from overexpressed ParM bundles in electron cryotomographic reconstructions were used to unambiguously identify ParM filaments in Escherichia coli cells. Using a low-copy number plasmid encoding components required for partitioning, we observed small bundles of three to five intracellular ParM filaments that were situated close to the edge of the nucleoid. We propose that this may indicate the capture of plasmid DNA within the periphery of this loosely defined, chromosome-containing region.

Structural brain correlates of defective gesture performance in schizophrenia

INTRODUCTION The neural correlates of impaired performance of gestures are currently unclear. Lesion studies showed variable involvement of the ventro-dorsal stream particularly left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) in gesture performance on command. However, findings cannot be easily generalized as lesions may be biased by the architecture of vascular supply and involve brain areas beyond the critical region. The neuropsychiatric syndrome of schizophrenia shares apraxic-like errors and altered brain structure without macroanatomic lesions. Schizophrenia may therefore qualify as a model disorder to test neural correlates of gesture impairments. METHODS We included 45 schizophrenia patients and 44 healthy controls in the study to investigate the structural brain correlates of defective gesturing in schizophrenia using voxel based morphometry. Gestures were tested in two domains: meaningful gestures (transitive and intransitive) on verbal command and imitation of meaningless gestures. Cut-off scores were used to separate patients with deficits, patients without deficits and controls. Group differences in gray matter (GM) volume were explored in an ANCOVA. RESULTS Patients performed poorer than controls in each gesture category (p < .001). Patients with deficits in producing meaningful gestures on command had reduced GM predominantly in left IFG, with additional involvement of right insula and anterior cingulate cortex. Patients with deficits differed from patients without deficits in right insula, inferior parietal lobe (IPL) and superior temporal gyrus. CONCLUSIONS Impaired performance of meaningful gestures on command was linked to volume loss predominantly in the praxis network in schizophrenia. Thus, the behavioral similarities between apraxia and schizophrenia are paralleled by structural alterations. However, few associations between behavioral impairment and structural brain alterations appear specific to schizophrenia.

Enhanced Cold Tolerance in Transgenic Tobacco Expressing a Chloroplast Omega-3 Fatty Acid Desaturase Gene under the Control of a Cold-inducible Promoter

A new cold-inducible genetic construct was cloned using a chloroplast-specific omega-3-fatty acid desaturase gene (FAD7) under the control of a cold-inducible promoter (cor15a) from Arabidopsis thaliana. RT-PCR confirmed a marked increase in FAD7 expression, in young Nicotiana tabacum (cv. Havana) plants harboring cor15a-FAD7, after a short-term exposure to cold. When young, cold-induced tobacco seedlings were exposed to low-temperature (0.5, 2 or 3.5 degrees C) for up to 44 days, survival within independent cor15a-FAD7 transgenic lines (40.2-96%) was far superior to the wild type (6.7-10.2%). In addition, the major trienoic fatty acid species remained stable in cold-induced cor15a-FAD7 N. tabacum plants under prolonged cold storage while the levels of hexadecatrienoic acid (16:3) and octadecatrienoic acid (18:3) declined in wild type plants under the same conditions (79 and 20.7% respectively). Electron microscopy showed that chloroplast membrane ultrastructure in cor15a-FAD7 transgenic plants was unaffected by prolonged exposure to cold temperatures. In contrast, wild type plants experienced a loss of granal stacking and disorganization of the thylakoid membrane under the same conditions. Changes in membrane integrity coincided with a precipitous decline in leaf chlorophyll concentration and low survival rates in wild type plants. Cold-induced double transgenic N. alata (cv. Domino Mix) plants, harboring both the cor15a-FAD7 cold-tolerance gene and a cor15a-IPT dark-tolerance gene, exhibited dramatically higher survival rates (89-90%) than wild type plants (2%) under prolonged cold storage under dark conditions (2 degrees C for 50 days).

Na 1 Nachlass Max Horkheimer, 6 - Korrespondenzen u.a. mit Célestin Bouglé (p. I 3, 188-402)

66 Briefe zwischen Célestin Bouglé, C. Bouglé, Jeanne Bouglé und Max Horkheimer, 1933-1940; 2 Briefe von Henri Bergson an Célestin Bouglé, 1933, 1935; 1 Brief von Bouvier & Beale an Max Horkheimer, 19.08.1936; 8 Briefe zwischen C. M. Bowra und Max Horkheimer, 1936-1937; 13 Briefe zwischen Ralph Raoul Boyer und Max Horkheimer, 1943-1946; 1 Brief von Max Horkheimer an Justice Louis Brandeis, 18.06.1940; 1 Brief von Karl Brandt von der Notgemeinschaft Deutscher Wissenschaftler im Ausland New York an Max Horkheimer, 27.11.1935; 4 Briefe zwischen Alfred Braunthal und Max Horkheimer, 03.08.1938, 1936-1938; 1 Brief von Trude Briess an Max Horkheimer, 07.06.1938; 4 Briefe zwsichen Lilly Brill und Max Horkheimer, 1947-1948; 1 Brief von Max Horkheimer an Chandis H. Brauchler, 03.09.1949; 1 Brief von Max Horkheimer an Lilian Broadwin, 07.03.1939; 4 Briefe zwischen Lola Bronstein und Max Horkheimer, 1940; 1 Brief von Ferdinand Bruckner an Max Horkheimer, 02.02.1938; 6 Briefe zwischen Paul Bruell udn Max Horkheimer, 1939; 1 Brief von H. Brungs an Max Horkheimer, 20.07.1949; 2 Briefe zwischen Fritz Brupbacher und Max Horkheimer, 31.03.1940, 17.04.1940; 4 Briefe zwischen Gerhard Bry und Max Horkheimer, 1937-1940, 26.01.1940; 1 Brief von Max Horkheimer an Richard Büchner, 29.06.1937; 2 Briefe zwischen Erika Buhlmann und Max Horkheimer, 1949; 13 Briefe zwischen Else Buki und Max Horkheimer, 1940-1941; 1 Brief von Max Horkheimer an Hans Buki, 14.07.1943; 1 Brief von Max Horkheimer an Friedrich Burschell, 29.08.1938; 7 Briefe und 5 Entwürfe zwischen dem Präsident der Columbia University Nicholas Murray Butler und Max Horkheimer, 1938-1941; 1 Brief von Max Horkheimer an Pierce Butler, 03.05.1938;

Na 50 Nachlass Arthur Schopenhauer - 'Schopenhauer-Archiv', 172 - Vereherungsschreiben von Gustav Wilhelm Körber mit Hinweis auf die Verbreitung der Popularität Schopenhauers in Schlesien

u.a.: Vermittlung der Bekanntschaft durch Marie von Gayette; Hegelianismus; Schopenhauer-Schule; Rezeption von Schopenhauer in Schlesien; Jeanne Marie von Gayette; Julius Frauenstädt;

Les torrens spirituels

par l'auteur

Na 1 Nachlass Max Horkheimer, 671 - Dokumente zu "Studies in Prejudice" "Forschungsprojekte über Antisemitismus, Vorurteile, Autorität: Einzeluntersuchungen (p. IX 135-IX 136)

Über Probleme der Interpretation von Umfrageergebnissen, Datierung unklar, Typoskript, englisch, mit handschriftlichen und eigenhändigen Korrekturen, 2 Blatt; Über Zielsetzungen, Methoden und Inhalte der "Studies in Prejudice", Datierung unklar, um 1950, Typoskript, 3 Blatt; "Autorität und Familie" (GS 3, S. 336-417), 1932-1934; Materialien zur Veröffentlichung (Alcan, Paris 1936); Zur Sachverständigenerhebung: Horkheimer, Max bzw. Bouglé, Jeanne: Rundschreiben an Sachverständige, als Typoskript vervielfältigt, 3 Blatt; Fragebogen für Sachverständige, als Typoskript, vervielfältigt, 6 Blatt; Zur Erhebung bei Jugendlichen; Entwurf des Fragebogens, Typoskript mit handschriftlichen Korrekturen, 2 Blatt; Fragebögen, verschiedene Entwürfe, als Typoskript vervielfältigt und Drucke, 19 Blatt; Berichte über ausgefüllt Fragebögen aus der Schwez und Belgien, Typoskrip, 13 Blatt; "Anmerkungen für die Ausfüllung der Fragebögenpässe". Typoskript, 4 Blatt; "Zusätzliche Angabn in den Pässen für Jugendliche nach Vorschlag von Dr. Leichter". Typoskript, 1 Blatt; Anleitung zu zusätzlichen Interviews, Typoskript, 1 Blatt; "Questionaires de la jeunesse envoyés de la part du bureau de Paris le 3 juillet 1934". Typoskript, 1 Blatt; "Korrelationen", Liste, 5 Blatt; Auswertungskarte, 1 Blatt; Horkheimer, Max und Pollock, Friedrich: Stichworte zur Befragung, eigenhändige Notizen, 2 Blatt; Zur Erhebung bei Arbeitslosen: Vorbemerkung und Fragebogen, verschiedene Fassungen, Typoskript, vervielfältigt, 37 Blatt; Zur Vorbereitung und Gliederung der Untersuchung; "Untergliederung der Hauptthemen", Stichworte, Typoskript, 2 Blatt; "Die Familie", Stichworte, Typoskript, 4 Blatt; "Allgemeine Richtlinien für die Arbeit von H[ilde] W[eiss]". Typoskript, 2 Blatt; Horkheimer, Max: Zur Gliederung, eigenhändige Notizen, 1 Blatt; Sternheim, Andries: "Die Rolle des ökonomischen Motivs in der Familie der Gegenwart". Typoskript mit handschriftlichen Korrekturen, 59 Blatt [Bericht darüber in "Autoritätund Familie", Paris 1936, S. 575 ff]; Bibliographien zur Familienthematik, Typoskript, 12 Blatt; Burri, Eduard: "Offener Brief an das Institut für Sozialforschung Genf", Zeitungsdruck, Eidgenössische Nachrichten, 15.03.1934; Horkheimer, Max: "Wissenschaft und soziale Not", zwei Antwortschreiben an Eduard Burri, Zeitungsdruck, Eidgenössische Nachrichten, 04.04.1934;