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Background: The extant literature indicates that patients with acute psychosis or schizophrenia, as well as nonpsychotic first-degree relatives of patients with schizophrenia, all exhibit “Theory of Mind” (TOM) impairments. Objective: To assess TOM functioning and identify its correlates among a sample of patients with acute psychosis, schizophrenia and healthy controls. Methods: Case control study conducted on 20 patients with acute psychosis, 40 patients with schizophrenia and 60 healthy control volunteers. Patients admitted at Okasha Institute of Psychiatry, Ain Shams University Hospitals, diagnosed using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I Disorders (SCID-I). Severity of symptoms assessed by the Scale for the Assessment of Positive Symptoms and the Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms, while volunteers were assessed by General health questionnaire. All groups were assessed by Reading the mind in the eyes test (RMET). Results: There was significant difference between patients with schizophrenia who scored worse at the RMET than patients with acute psychosis while both have TOM deficit in comparison with the control group. No significant correlation between age or gender in all the three groups and their TOM functioning. There was significant negative correlation between duration of illness of patients with schizophrenia and their TOM functioning. In patients with acute psychosis group, negative symptoms were negatively correlated with the TOM functioning, while in patients with schizophrenia group positive and negative symptoms were negatively correlated with their TOM functioning.

Purpose: To develop a reversed phase high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method for the determination of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) in dietary supplements. Methods: A reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method was developed for the determination of DHEA in dietary supplements. An isocratic system consisting of methanol and water (70:30 v/v) was run at a flow rate of 1 mL/min on a C18 HPLC column to achieve the separation. The method was validated with regard to linearity, intra-day and inter-day precision, and limits of both detection and quantification. Results: The method achieved a retention time of 10.8 min, a resolution of 4.12, a detection limit (LOD) of 50 ng/μL, a quantification limit (LOQ) of 166.7 ng/μL and a label claim of 108.6 % with a relative standard deviation (RSD) of 0.38 % over a range of 0.0625 – 0.50 mg/mL with a correlation coefficient of 0.9997. Conclusion: The method is simple, cost effective, time-saving and reliable for determining DHEA when compared to other reported methods in literature. Thus, it will be of benefit to manufacturers of this dietary supplement to adopt the method for quantitative laboratory analysis.

Since the ancient ages plant species have been used as key part in traditional medicine and curing practices. Recently a huge body of literature showed that medicinal plant species used by the Jordanian people for the treatment of cancer were screened for their potential as cytotoxic therapy at least in vitro. This review summarizes an updated evidence on different features of traditionally used chemotherapeutic plants in addition to the screened ones for their antiproliferative activity and to shed light on them for further investigation. Studies of screening for selective cytotoxicity and antiproliferative activity of plants are briefly discussed.

Sammanfattning/Abstract Syftet med studien är att öka kunskapen om och förståelsen för grupparbete som arbetsmetod i matematikundervisningen i årskurserna 7–9. Vårt intresse är riktat mot hur matematiklärare upplever grupparbete som arbetsmetod och hur de ser på grupparbetets potential för vad gäller kunskapsutveckling. I denna studie har vi använt oss av en kvalitativ metodansats, semistrukturerade intervjuer och tematisk analys för att kunna få svar på våra frågeställningar och belysa matematiklärarnas egna erfarenheter, synsätt och uppfattningar kring grupparbete som undervisningsmetod. Resultatet understryker vikten av lärarens roll och ledarskap vid grupparbete. Resultatet betonar även grupparbetets betydelse för elevernas lärande, kunskapsutveckling och sociala förmågor såsom samarbetsförmåga och kommunikationsförmåga. I studiens resultat framkommer att lärarna tycks ha en negativ inställning gentemot grupparbete som undervisningsmetod i ämnet matematik. Lärarna i studien anser vidare att denna arbetsform som kan ge upphov till obekanta processer bland eleverna fordrar lärarens engagemang från början till slut och även utgör utmaning för både lärare och elever.