BackgroundAutism is characterised by atypical social-communicative behaviour and restricted range of interests and repetitive behaviours. These features exist in a continuum in the general population. Behavioural measures validated across cultures and languages are required to quantify the dimensional traits of autism in these social and non-social domains. Bengali is the seventh most spoken language in the world. However, there is a serious dearth of data on standard measures of autism-related social and visual cognition in Bengali.MethodsBengali translations of two measures related to social-communicative functioning (the Children’s Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET) and a facial emotion recognition test with stimuli taken from the Karolinska Directed Emotional Faces database), one measure of visual perceptual disembedding (the Embedded Figures Test), and a questionnaire measure (the Children’s Empathy Quotient) were tested in 25 children with autism spectrum conditions (ASC) and 26 control children (mean age = 10.7 years) in Kolkata, India. Group differences were analysed by t test and multiple regression (after accounting for potential effects of gender, IQ, and age).ResultsBehavioural and trait measures were associated with group differences in the expected directions: ASC children scored lower on the Children’s Empathy Quotient and the RMET, as well as on facial emotion recognition, but were faster and more accurate on the Embedded Figures Test. Distributional properties of these measures within groups are similar to those reported in Western countries.ConclusionsThese results provide an empirical demonstration of cross-cultural generalisability and applicability of these standard behavioural and trait measures related to autism, in a major world language.

Abstract. Let R be a ring satisfying the maximal condition on annihilator left ideals and a be an automorphism of R. We show that the Jacobson radical of the skew polynomial ring R" [.x] is nonzero if and only if the prime radical of #"[x] is nonzero. Furthermore, it is so if and only if the prime radical of R is nonzero. In general, an example is given of a commutative semisimple algebra R and an automorphism o such that R"[x] is prime but the Levitzki radical of R"[-x] is nonzero.0. Introduction. Let R be a ring and a an automorphism of R. In this paper we study the semisimplicity of the skew polynomial ring Ra [x], and that of the skew group ring Ra (x ) of the infinite cyclic group.If R satisfies the maximal chain condition on annihilator left ideals, then we prove that the conditions:P(Ra(x)) ¥= 0, (v) P(Ra[x\) ¥= 0, are equivalent (Theorem 2.1). In general, we construct a commutative semisimple algebra R and an algebra automorphism a where we prove, using Van der Waerden's result about arbitrary long arithmetic progressions, that the Levitzki radical t(Ra

Personality disorders (PDs) are common among psychiatric outpatients and are associated with increased morbidity and worse treatment outcomes. Epidemiological research conducted among this population in Asian countries is limited, reflecting a significant gap in the current literature. One barrier to this research is the lack of appropriate screening tools. The current research assessed the feasibility of using the SAPAS (Standardized Assessment of Personality-Abbreviated Scale) screening tool to identify individuals at high risk of PD in an Indian psychiatric outpatient population and provides an initial estimate of PD prevalence by using a validated diagnostic interview, the ICD-10 International Personality Disorder Examination. The findings suggest that whilst use of the SAPAS was feasible, acceptable to patients and led to clinically useful findings, when using the recommended cut-off score of 4, the SAPAS largely overdiagnoses the risk for PD in psychiatric outpatients in India (positive predictive value = 26.3%). The estimated prevalence of personality disorder in the sample was 11.1%, based on administering the International Personality Disorder Examination diagnostic interview to high-risk patients scoring 4 and above on the SAPAS, which is higher than previous estimates for this population and still likely to be an underestimation. Future studies should translate the measure into Bengali and evaluate its sensitivity and specificity at different cut-off points in order to optimize its use in Indian populations. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Sir: Healy & Nuüstate (Psychiatric Bulletin November, 22, 680-684) that "the defence unions would not support the prescriber pre scribing off-licence in the event that things went wrong". On behalf of both the Medical Protection Society and the Medical Defence Union, I write to correct this misleading statement. Members of our respective organisations are entitled to apply for advice and assistance in relation to any legal problem arising from their medical practice. So long as the prescription of a drug 'ofi-licence' is a part of normal clinical practice, we would of course respond to a member's request for assistance. As a separate issue, if litigation were to ensue following an adverse event then, as in all medical negligence cases, the defensibility of the doctors' management is dependent upon obtaining expert support from other doctors practising in that (sub-)speciality. Broadly speaking, provided there is supportive expert opinion, then the claim will be defensible, irrespective of the wording of the drug licence. We trust this clarifies the position for the readership of your journal.

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