No abstract

The relationship between depressed mood and alexithymia, measured by the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS) was investigated in a group of psychiatric inpatients (n = 81) and outpatients (n = 97). In both cohorts correlations between the TAS and obsessoid personality style were significant when controlled for mood. The obsessoid style, measured by the Hysteroid-Obsessoid Scale was the most powerful predictor of alexithymia in regression models for each cohort. These data suggest that alexithymia is not a function of depression in such psychiatric patients.

The relationship between abnormal illness behavior, measured by the Illness Behavior Questionnaire and alexithymia, measured by the Toronto Alexithymia Scale, was studied in four cohorts of subjects. The two measures overlap in that the more alexithymic subjects endorsed more disease conviction, hypochondriacal concern, affective inhibition, affective disturbance, and irritability. Denial was not related to alexithymia, which supports the construct validity of alexithymia. Regression models developed for the four cohorts that consisted of psychiatric outpatients, psychiatric inpatients, medically ill patients and controls differed to suggest that alexithymia state phenomena interact with trait characteristics.

A central challenge in biology is to understand the cellular processes that direct morphogenesis and the formation of the basic body plan during development. These events are controlled to large extent, by adhesive interactions of cells with one another and with their extracellular environments. Specifically, we are investigating the structure, function and expression of two groups of molecules thought to play important roles in promoting cell adhesion and migration in the embryo: fibronectins (FNs), which are large extracellular matrix (ECM) glycoproteins with many adhesion related functions; and integrins, which are the cellular transmembrane-receptors for FNs and several other components of the ECM.