Biomedical subjects

S Hala

Publications and source records attributed to S Hala.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2004

Molecular basis for the apparent mineralocorticoid excess syndrome in the Oman population.

11beta-Hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 2 (11beta-HSD2) plays a crucial role in converting hormonally active cortisol to inactive cortisone, thereby conferring specificity upon the mineralocorticoid receptor (MR). Mutations in the gene encoding 11beta-HSD2 (HSD11B2) account for an inherited form of hypertension, the syndrome of "Apparent Mineralocorticoid Excess" (AME) where cortisol induces hypertension and hypokalaemia. We report five different mutations in the HSD11B2 gene in four families from Oman with a total of 9 affected children suffering from AME. Sequence data demonstrate the previously described L114Delta6nt mutation in exon 2 and new mutations in exon 3 (A221V), exon 5 (V322ins9nt) and for the first time in exon 1 (R74G and P75Delta1nt) of the HSD11B2 gene. These additional mutations provide further insight into AME and the function of the 11beta-HSD2 enzyme. The prevalence of monogenic forms of hypertension such as AME remains uncertain. However, our data suggests AME may be a relevant cause of hypertension in certain ethnic groups, such as the Oman population.

11-beta-Hydroxysteroid Dehydrogenases↗

PubMed2001

Executive control within strategic deception: a window on early cognitive development?

Recently it has been claimed that the difficulty young children have with tests of strategic deception may be due to limitations in executive control rather than lack of insight into mental concepts. In the studies reported here we asked how reducing the executive demands of one measure of strategic deception, the windows task (J. Russell, N. Mauthner, S. Sharpe, & T. Tidswell, 1991), would affect performance. Study 1 demonstrated that both providing an artificial response medium and having children play in partnership enabled 3-year-olds to adopt a successful strategy. Study 2 examined whether social or executive factors accounted for the good performance of children when they played in partnership. Study 3 ruled out the possibility that the effectiveness of the artificial media was a result of reducing social intimidation-the manipulations were effective even in the presence the opponent. These results argue for executive factors playing a substantial role in the development of strategic deception.

Child, Preschool↗

PubMed1996

The role of strategic planning in accessing false-belief understanding.

Recently, Chandler and Hala found that actively involving 3-year-olds in planning a deception facilitated performance on false-belief questions. The methodology used, however, provided no basis for determining whether the good performance of these young subjects was the result of the deceptive intent of their planning efforts, or whether other sorts of planning would have been equally effective. The research reported here systematically varied both (a) subjects' responsibility for planning where to relocate an object and (b) whether the goal behind this relocation was a deceptive one. The present research demonstrated, first, when subjects simply watched the transfer take place, it made no difference whether the object was moved for deceptive or some more practical reason. In contrast, those subjects who had themselves strategically planned a deception were markedly better at answering questions about another's false beliefs than those who simply witnessed the transfer taking place. No comparable facilitating effect was found when subjects planned a transfer but without deceptive intent. We argue that strategic planning works to underscore the importance of the belief states of others and provide opportunities not afforded by "standard" unexpected change or transfer tasks for showcasing 3-year-olds' emerging understanding of the possibility of false belief.

Age Factors↗

PubMed1989

Small-scale deceit: deception as a marker of two-, three-, and four-year-olds' early theories of mind.

This research report summarizes the results of a study into the abilities of 2-, 3-, and 4-year-old children to deceptively lead others into false beliefs, and is intended to help arbitrate a growing controversy as to when young persons first acquire some theory-like understanding of other minds. Utilizing a novel hide-and-seek board game as a context within which to observe children's spontaneous use of deceptive strategies, a total of 50 subjects between the ages of 2 1/2 and 5 were tested. In contrast to the competing findings of others, which are claimed to establish that children younger than approximately 4 suffer a cognitive deficit that wholly blocks them from the possibility of entertaining any sort of contrastive beliefs about beliefs, the results of this study show that even 2 1/2-year-olds are capable of already successfully employing a range of deceptive strategies that both trade upon an awareness of the possibility of false beliefs and presuppose some already operative theory of mind.

Attention↗