Emotional intelligence compensates for low IQ and boosts low emotionality individuals in a self-presentation task

The research on emotional intelligence (EI) has focused mainly on testing the incremental validity of EI with respect to general intelligence and personality; less attention has been devoted to investigating the potential interaction effects. In a self-presentation task that required participants to obtain positive evaluations from others, individuals low in IQ but high in EI performed as well as the high IQ individuals. In addition, the low emotionality individuals performed significantly higher when also high in EI. The results extend the previous findings on the compensatory effect of EI on low IQ to the domain of interpersonal effectiveness and shed light on the effective functioning of personality traits when interpreted with the interaction of EI. Overall this study suggests that the role of EI in predicting performance might have been overlooked by checking solely for main effects and illustrates new venues for understanding the contribution of EI in explaining emotion-laden performance.

Spontaneous Speech and Emotional Response modeling based on One-class classifier oriented to Alzheimer Disease diagnosis

The purpose of our project is to contribute to earlier diagnosis of AD and better estimates of its severity by using automatic analysis performed through new biomarkers extracted from non-invasive intelligent methods. The methods selected in this case are speech biomarkers oriented to Sponta-neous Speech and Emotional Response Analysis. Thus the main goal of the present work is feature search in Spontaneous Speech oriented to pre-clinical evaluation for the definition of test for AD diagnosis by One-class classifier. One-class classifi-cation problem differs from multi-class classifier in one essen-tial aspect. In one-class classification it is assumed that only information of one of the classes, the target class, is available. In this work we explore the problem of imbalanced datasets that is particularly crucial in applications where the goal is to maximize recognition of the minority class as in medical diag-nosis. The use of information about outlier and Fractal Dimen-sion features improves the system performance.

Problems of the architecture design in the system integration

This thesis studies the problems and their reasons a software architect faces in his work. The purpose of the study is to search and identify potential factors causing problens in system integration and software engineering. Under a special interest are non-technical factors causing different kinds of problems. Thesis was executed by interviewing professionals that took part in e-commerce project in some corporation. Interviewed professionals consisted of architects from technical implementation projects, corporation's architect team leader, different kind of project managers and CRM manager. A specific theme list was used as an guidance of the interviews. Recorded interviews were transcribed and then classified using ATLAS.ti software. Basics of e-commerce, software engineering and system integration is described too. Differences between e-commerce and e-business as well as traditional business are represented as are basic types of e-commerce. Software's life span, general problems of software engineering and software design are covered concerning software engineering. In addition, general problems of the system integration and the special requirements set by e-commerce are described in the thesis. In the ending there is a part where the problems founded in study are described and some areas of software engineering where some development could be done so that same kind of problems could be avoided in the future.

Quality of life after pulmonary embolism, validation of the French version of the PEmb-QoL questionnaire

Background: The PEmb-QoL is a validated 40-item questionnaire to quantify health-related quality of life in patients having experienced pulmonary embolism (PE). It covers six health dimensions: frequency of complaints, activities of daily living limitations, work-related problems, social limitations, intensity of complaints, and emotional complaints. Originally developed in Dutch and English, we sought to prospectively validate the psychometric properties of a French version of the PEmb-QoL. Methods: We performed a forward and backward translation of the English version of the PEmb-QoL into French. French-speaking consecutive adult patients with an acute, objectively confirmed PE admitted to the emergency department of a Swiss university hospital between 08/2009 and 09/2011 were recruited telephonically. We used standard psychometric tests and criteria to evaluate the acceptability, reliability, and validity of the French version of the PEmb-QoL. We also performed an exploratory factor analysis. Results: Overall, 102 patients were enrolled in the study. The French version of the PEmb-QoL showed good reliability (internal consistency, item-total and inter-item correlations), reproducibility (test-retest reliability), and validity (convergent, discriminant) in French-speaking patients with PE. The exploratory factor analysis suggested three underlying dimensions: limitations in daily activity (items 4b-m, 5a-d), symptoms (items 1a-h and 7), and emotional complaints (items 9a-f and j). Conclusion: We successfully validated the French version of the PEmb-QoL questionnaire in patients with PE. Our results show that the PEmb-QoL is a valuable tool for assessing health-related quality of life after PE in French-speaking patients.

Fischbesatz: Komplex und emotional

In fast allen Schweizer Gewässern werden von Fischern und Natur- schützern Besatzmassnahmen mit verschiedenen Fischarten durchge- führt. Es gibt allerdings viele offene Fragen, die die Forschung nur zu- sammen mit der Praxis beantworten kann.

The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ-Fin) among Finnish children and adolescents

Objective: The psychometric properties of The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ-Fin), a Finnish version of a brief screening instrument were studied. Emotional and behavioural problems of 7- to 15-year-olds measured by the SDQ were reported, as well as the occurrence of self-reported eating disturbance symptoms and alcohol use among adolescents. Methods and samples: The cross-sectional school survey included 25 items of the SDQ-Fin, items about eating disturbance, alchol use and child psychiatric help-seeking. The study consists of three community samples: 1. The SDQ-Fin parent (n = 703) and teacher (n = 376) versions of 7 – 12 –year-olds, and self-report versions (n = 528) of 11 – 16 years-olds were obtained, and 2. the parent (n = 81) and self-report versions of 15-16 –year olds (n = 129) were obtained in Laitila and Pyhäranta. 3. The self-report versions of 13 – 16 – year-olds (n = 1458) in Salo and Rovaniemi were obtained. Results: The psychometric properties of the SDQ-Fin were for the most part comparable with the other European SDQ research results. The internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.71 in all informants’ reports) and inter-rater reliability (between the pairs of reports r = 0.38 - 0.44) were adequate. The concurrent validity (r = 0.75 between the SDQ and the CBCL total scores; r = 0.71 between the SDQ and the YSR total scores) was sufficient. Factor analysis of the SDQ self-report generally confirmed the postulated structure for girls and boys, except for the conduct problems scale of boys, which was fused with emotional symptoms and with hyperactivity. The response rates, means and cut-off points of the SDQ self-report scores were similar to those found, e.g. in Norway and in Britain. A high level of psychological problems, especially emotional and conduct problems and hyperactivity-inattention, were associated with high level of eating disturbance symptoms and alcohol use. Conclusion: The results showed that the psychometric properties of the SDQ-Fin are adequate and provide additional confirmation of the usefulness of the SDQ-Fin for, e.g. screening, epidemiological research and clinical purposes.

Verbal emotional memory in a case with left amygdala damage.

The amygdala nuclei appear to be critically implicated in emotional memory. However, in most studies, encoding and consolidation processes cannot be analyzed separately. We thus studied the verbal emotional memory in a young woman with a ganglioglioma of the left amygdala and analyzed its impact (1) on each step of the memory process (encoding, retrieval, and recognition) (2) on short- and long-term consolidation (1-hour and 1-week delay) and (3) on processing of valence (positive and negative items compared to neutral words). Results showed emotional encoding impairments and, after encoding was controlled for, emotional long-term consolidation. Finally, although the negative words were not acknowledged as emotionally arousing by the patient, these words were specifically poorly encoded, recalled, and consolidated. Our data suggest that separate cerebral networks support the processing of emotional versus neutral stimuli.

Précarité et problèmes cutanés [Skin problems associated with poor living conditions].

Les personnes vivant dans une situation de précarité sont susceptibles de développer un large éventail de problèmes médicaux et les atteintes cutanées sont très fréquentes. Nous présentons quatre situations cliniques de problèmes cutanés fréquemment retrouvés au sein des populations précaires. Leurs diagnostic et prise en charge précoces sont essentiels pour en prévenir l'ultérieure dissémination dans des contextes de promiscuité. People living in poor conditions are at high risk of developing different medical diseases of which dermatological diseases are very common. We present 4 clinical cases of skin diseases, which are the most prevalent amongst the majority of socially and economically vulnerable patients. Early diagnosis and appropriate treatment are of paramount importance, in order to avoid their spread in close- knit communities where these patients often live.

Delirium in the elderly: Current problems with increasing geriatric age.

Delirium is an acute disorder of attention and cognition seen relatively commonly in people aged 65 yr or older. The prevalence is estimated to be between 11 and 42 per cent for elderly patients on medical wards. The prevalence is also high in nursing homes and long term care (LTC) facilities. The consequences of delirium could be significant such as an increase in mortality in the hospital, long-term cognitive decline, loss of autonomy and increased risk to be institutionalized. Despite being a common condition, it remains under-recognised, poorly understood and not adequately managed. Advanced age and dementia are the most important risk factors. Pain, dehydration, infections, stroke and metabolic disturbances, and surgery are the most common triggering factors. Delirium is preventable in a large proportion of cases and therefore, it is also important from a public health perspective for interventions to reduce further complications and the substantial costs associated with these. Since the aetiology is, in most cases, multfactorial, it is important to consider a multi-component approach to management, both pharmacological and non-pharmacological. Detection and treatment of triggering causes must have high priority in case of delirium. The aim of this review is to highlight the importance of delirium in the elderly population, given the increasing numbers of ageing people as well as increasing geriatric age.

Valoració de la qualitat de vida dels familiars de pacients amb fibromiàlgia

Fonament i objectiu: La Fibromiàlgia (FM) és una malaltia reumàtica caracteritzada per dolor generalitzat, que afecta a un tant per cent elevat de la població general , majoritàriament dones i d’etiologia desconeguda, i que pensem que no afecta tan sols als qui la pateixen, sinó que també als seus familiars. En aquest estudi s’han avaluat diferents variables com l’impacte emocional, la vida social, aspectes econòmics i laborals i altres activitats en familiars de primer grau de pacients amb FM. L’objectiu principal és determinar quin és el grau d’afectació negativa en la seva qualitat de vida. Material i mètodes: Es va fer un estudi observacional clínic a un grup de 27 familiars de 1er grau que convivien a la mateixa casa que els respectius afectats per FM. Se’ls va passar un qüestionari ad- hoc de 16 preguntes tancades, basades en estudis previs , i també una entrevista oberta amb l’objectiu de reforçar les dades estadístiques. Les entrevistes es varen fer a la Unitat de Fibromiàlgia de l’Hospital Santa Maria de Lleida. Resultats: Es va entrevistar a 27 familiars, 85’2 % homes, la majoria de entre 51 – 70 anys (63%). El 85’2 % eren casats, amb estudis primaris el 59’3% i el 88% tenien coneixements sobre la malaltia del familiar afectat. El percentatge de familiars que van opinar que hi havia una minva del grau de felicitats amb la malaltia era del 74’1%. El 85% no havia pensat mai en trencar la relació familiar. El 70% referien canvis en la vida social i relacional arrel del diagnòstic de FM , un 88’9% havien tingut que augmentar l’ajut en tasques domèstiques i el 70’4% patien efectes econòmics negatius arrel de la malaltia. La relació sexual es va veure afectada en un 85% dels casos, en canvi no es varen veure alteracions del son ni de la percepció de salut. Conclusions: El fet de conviure amb una persona afectada de FM suposa pèrdua del grau de felicitat i canvis en la vida social, relacional i sexual amb empitjorament del nivell econòmic.

Latent Class Analysis of Gambling Activities in a Sample of Young Swiss Men : Association with Gambling Problems, Substance Use Outcomes, Personality Traits and Coping Strategies.

The study aimed to identify different patterns of gambling activities (PGAs) and to investigate how PGAs differed in gambling problems, substance use outcomes, personality traits and coping strategies. A representative sample of 4989 young Swiss males completed a questionnaire assessing seven distinct gambling activities, gambling problems, substance use outcomes, personality traits and coping strategies. PGAs were identified using latent class analysis (LCA). Differences between PGAs in gambling and substance use outcomes, personality traits and coping strategies were tested. LCA identified six different PGAs. With regard to gambling and substance use outcomes, the three most problematic PGAs were extensive gamblers, followed by private gamblers, and electronic lottery and casino gamblers, respectively. By contrast, the three least detrimental PGAs were rare or non-gamblers, lottery only gamblers and casino gamblers. With regard to personality traits, compared with rare or non-gamblers, private and casino gamblers reported higher levels of sensation seeking. Electronic lottery and casino gamblers, private gamblers and extensive gamblers had higher levels of aggression-hostility. Extensive and casino gamblers reported higher levels of sociability, whereas casino gamblers reported lower levels of anxiety-neuroticism. Extensive gamblers used more maladaptive and less adaptive coping strategies than other groups. Results suggest that gambling is not a homogeneous activity since different types of gamblers exist according to the PGA they are engaged in. Extensive gamblers, electronic and casino gamblers and private gamblers may have the most problematic PGAs. Personality traits and coping skills may predispose individuals to PGAs associated with more or less negative outcomes.

Procesos oncológicos y afectación de la imagen corporal

El cáncer es una enfermedad de elevada incidencia que puede desencadenar diferentes modificaciones que afectan a la autopercepción de la imagen corporal y comprometer la calidad de vida del individuo. Objetivos: Analizar los cambios corporales que se derivan del proceso oncológico y de los tratamientos aplicables. Por otro lado, se pretende averiguar cómo repercuten dichos cambios en la calidad de vida del paciente, identificar las consecuencias psicológicas y analizar las posibles intervenciones enfermeras. Material y métodos: Revisión de la literatura a través de la consulta de diferentes bases de datos. Resultados: La localización del tumor es un factor atribuible a la afectación de la imagen corporal, siendo los tumores más visibles los que comportan un mayor impacto en el individuo. Por otro lado, los diferentes tratamientos antineoplásicos así como la propia progresión del proceso tumoral conllevan, en muchos casos, cambios importantes en la apariencia física del paciente que afectan a su bienestar psicológico. La enfermera tiene un papel primordial en la identificación y manejo de problemas relacionados con la imagen corporal de los pacientes oncológicos. Establecer una relación terapéutica basada en la confianza, ofrecer apoyo emocional, así como orientar sobre posibles recursos para disminuir el impacto de los cambios físicos, son algunas de las intervenciones que este colectivo puede realizar para mejorar la autoestima y facilitar la aceptación de la nueva imagen corporal. Conclusiones: Los cambios corporales derivados del proceso neoplásico o sus tratamientos provocan un fuerte impacto emocional en el paciente y alteran su calidad de vida. Por este motivo, es aconsejable la aplicación de medidas dirigidas a favorecer la adaptación del paciente a su nueva apariencia física, a través de una atención integral y personalizada. Palabras clave: imagen corporal, cáncer, cirugía, quimioterapia, calidad de vida, anorexia-caquexia.