California State University, Channel Islands

About: California State University, Channel Islands is a education organization based out in Camarillo, California, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Higher education & Imaging phantom. The organization has 403 authors who have published 750 publications receiving 11574 citations.

Social Cognition in Schizophrenia, Part 1: Performance Across Phase of Illness

Abstract: Social cognitive impairments are consistently reported in schizophrenia and are associated with functional outcome. We currently know very little about whether these impairments are stable over the course of illness. In the current study, 3 different aspects of social cognition were assessed (emotion processing, Theory of Mind [ToM], and social relationship perception) at 3 distinct developmental phases of illness: prodromal, first episode, and chronic. In this cross-sectional study, participants included 50 individuals with the prodromal risk syndrome for psychosis and 34 demographically comparable controls, 81 first-episode schizophrenia patients and 46 demographically comparable controls, and 53 chronic schizophrenia patients and 47 demographically comparable controls. Outcome measures included total and subtest scores on 3 specialized measures of social cognition: (1) emotion processing assessed with the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test, (2) ToM assessed with The Awareness of Social Inference Test, and (3) social relationship perception assessed the Relationships Across Domains Test. Social cognitive performance was impaired across all domains of social cognition and in all clinical samples. Group differences in performance were comparable across phase of illness, with no evidence of progression or improvement. Age had no significant effect on performance for either the clinical or the comparison groups. The findings suggest that social cognition in these 3 domains fits a stable pattern that has outcome and treatment implications. An accompanying article prospectively examines the longitudinal stability of social cognition and prediction of functional outcome in the first-episode sample.

The art of camouflage: Gender differences in the social behaviors of girls and boys with autism spectrum disorder

Abstract: This study examined the extent to which gender-related social behaviors help girls with autism spectrum disorder to seemingly mask their symptoms. Using concurrent mixed methods, we examined the so...

The future of plant-pollinator diversity: understanding interaction networks across time, space, and global change.

Abstract: Structural analysis of plant – pollinator networks has revealed remarkably high species and interaction diversity and highlighted the species important for pollination services. Although techniques to analyze plant – pollinator networks began to emerge a decade ago, the characterization of spatiotemporal variation of interactions is still in its infancy. Understanding the ecological and evolutionary causes and consequences of spatial and temporal variation in plant – pollinator interactions is important for both basic and applied questions in community structure and function, the evolution of fltraits, and the development of optimal conservation strategies. Here we review observational, theoretical, and experimental studies of temporal and spatial variation in plant – pollinator interaction networks to establish a foundation for future studies to incorporate perspectives in spatiotemporal variation. Such perspectives are crucial given the rapid environmental changes associated with habitat loss, climate change, and biological invasions, which we discuss in this context. The inherent plasticity of plant – pollinator interactions and network structure suggests that many species should be able to persist by responding to environmental changes quickly, even though the identity of their mutualistic partners may change.

Digital Image Processing for Medical Applications

Abstract: Image processing is a hands-on discipline, and the best way to learn is by doing. This text takes its motivation from medical applications and uses real medical images and situations to illustrate and clarify concepts and to build intuition, insight and understanding. Designed for advanced undergraduates and graduate students who will become end-users of digital image processing, it covers the basics of the major clinical imaging modalities, explaining how the images are produced and acquired. It then presents the standard image processing operations, focusing on practical issues and problem solving. Crucially, the book explains when and why particular operations are done, and practical computer-based activities show how these operations affect real images. All images, links to the public-domain software ImageJ and custom plug-ins, and selected solutions are available from www.cambridge.org/books/dougherty.