Julieta Freitas Ramalho da Silva

Morphometric hemispheric asymmetry of orbitofrontal cortex in women with borderline personality disorder: a multi-parameter approach.

Functional imaging studies have implicated the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) in the pathophysiology of borderline personality disorder (BPD). To date, however, volume-based magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies have yielded mixed results. We used a surface-based processing approach that allowed us to measure five morphometric cortical features of the OFC, including volumetric (cortical thickness and surface area) and geometric (mean curvature, depth of sulcus, and metric distortion - three indicators of cortical folding) parameters. Participants comprised 25 female BPD patients with no other current psychiatric comorbidity and 25 age- and gender-matched healthy controls who received structural MRI scans. Images were processed using the Freesurfer package. All BPD patients had a history of comorbid psychiatric disorder(s) and were currently on medications. Compared with controls, the BPD group showed reduced cortical thickness, surface area, mean curvature, depth of sulcus, and metric distortion in the right medial OFC. In the left medial OFC, the BPD group had reduced cortical thickness and mean curvature, but increased metric distortion. This study confirmed the utility of surface-based analysis in the study of BPD cortical structures. In addition, we observed extensive structural abnormalities in the medial OFC of female subjects with BPD, findings that were most pronounced in the right OFC, with preliminary data suggesting hemispheric asymmetry.

Psicanálise e Universidade: a interface possível por meio da pesquisa psicanalítica clínica. Alice quebra-vidros

The relationships between Psychoanalysis, Science and Universities have been discussed since Freud and gained relevance over the 21st century as an important subject for Psychoanalysis. Psychoanalysts who work in Universities are supposed to conduct research. This article comments on possible psychoanalytical research models and supports individual case clinical research through the psychoanalytical method itself, added on qualitative research elements. The authors study the psychoanalytical psychotherapy process and the mental functioning of a borderline patient treated for four years in a public university institution. Approximately 120 of 340 sessions were registered. They were read and re-read by the investigator-psychoanalyst as if they were narratives and revealed some meaningful developments from the psychoanalyst-patient.

Rorschach and the WAIS-III after one and two years of psychotherapy

This study aimed at identifying what aspects of personality are modified after one and two years of psychoanalytic psychotherapy in adults attending a free university healthcare service in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The instruments were the Rorschach and the WAIS-III tests which were administered before and after one and two years of treatment. The participants were 34 adult individuals, both genders. After one year of psychotherapy in the Rorschach method there was an increase in effective and adaptive interpersonal relationship, an enhancement in sensitiveness related to the capacity of modulating affect, the need for close contact as well as the arousal of feelings of discomfort associated with intensification of self-regard, and a decrease in narcissistic tendencies. As well as in WAIS-III, there was an increase in motivation, attention and speed processing.

NAES: Natural Adaptive Exponential Smoothing Algorithm for WLAN Channel Prediction in Mobile Environment

The advent of wireless networks has increased the demand for research. Context-aware applications must adapt to the environment in which they are inserted, and, for this, information on both devices hardware and the characteristics of the environment is crucial. In this work, we propose a method - called natural adaptive exponential smoothing algorithm (NAES) - to describe and forecast, in real time, the channel behavior of IEEE 802.11 WLAN networks. The NAES method uses a variation of the exponential smoothing technique to compute the channel quality indicators, namely the signal strength and the link quality. A comparison with the results obtained by other linear prediction methods shows that NAES outperforms them.

NAES: A Natural Adaptive Exponential Smoothing for Channel Prediction in WLANs

The advent of wireless networks has increased the demand for research greatly. Context-aware applications must adapt to the environment in which they are inserted, and, for this, information on both devices hardware and the characteristics of the environment is crucial. In this work, we propose a method - called natural adaptive exponential smoothing (NAES) - to describe and forecast, in real time, the channel behavior of IEEE 802.11 WLAN networks. The NAES method uses a variation of the exponential smoothing technique to compute the channel quality indicators, namely the received signal strength (RSS) and the link quality. A comparison with the results obtained by the Trigg and Leach (1967)(TL) method shows that NAES outperforms TL method.