1,721,010 research outputs found
COVID-19 Pandemic: What We Have Learned on Stress, Technology Use, and Psychological Health Among University Students
No full textNowadays, the medical COVID-19 emergency is ending worldwide, whereas there is an increasing need to understand the marks and the lessons learned from over two years of unprecedented changes in all life domains. Recent research has highlighted growing rates of psychological suffering among the general population as well as among university students, who were yet well-recognized as a vulnerable population even before the pandemic. The present work drives from university students’ experience, and it aims to provide an overview of the key dimensions to take into account, in terms of main risks, changes, challenges, and resources, to develop updated tailored research and interventions promoting psychological health conditions in the current time within and beyond the educational context/university students’ population. Implications for research and interventions are highlighted and discussed
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Closed-Loop Vagus Nerve Stimulation for the Treatment of Cardiovascular Diseases: State of the Art and Future Directions
Full text linkThe autonomic nervous system exerts a fine beat-to-beat regulation of cardiovascular functions and is consequently involved in the onset and progression of many cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). Selective neuromodulation of the brain-heart axis with advanced neurotechnologies is an emerging approach to corroborate CVDs treatment when classical pharmacological agents show limited effectiveness. The vagus nerve is a major component of the cardiac neuroaxis, and vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) is a promising application to restore autonomic function under various pathological conditions. VNS has led to encouraging results in animal models of CVDs, but its translation to clinical practice has not been equally successful, calling for more investigation to optimize this technique. Herein we reviewed the state of the art of VNS for CVDs and discuss avenues for therapeutic optimization. Firstly, we provided a succinct description of cardiac vagal innervation anatomy and physiology and principles of VNS. Then, we examined the main clinical applications of VNS in CVDs and the related open challenges. Finally, we presented preclinical studies that aim at overcoming VNS limitations through optimization of anatomical targets, development of novel neural interface technologies, and design of efficient VNS closed-loop protocols
Effect of diode laser in the treatment of patients with nonspecific chronic low back pain: a randomized controlled trial.
No full textPsychological Health Conditions and COVID-19-Related Stressors Among University Students: A Repeated Cross-Sectional Survey
Full text linkThe Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has broadly impacted university students’ customary life, resulting in remarkable levels of stress and psychological suffering. Although the acute phase of the crisis has been overcome, it does not imply that perceived stress related to the risk of contagion and to the changes in the relational life experienced over more than 1 year of the pandemic will promptly and abruptly decrease. This study aims at comparing university students’ psychological health conditions before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, but also at providing information on how psychological health conditions evolved over the 1 year of the pandemic. We analyzed data from a repeated cross-sectional survey on different samples of university students before the pandemic in 2017 (n = 545) and during the pandemic (n = 671). During the pandemic, data were collected at three stages (Stage 1, April 2020 n = 197; Stage 2, November 2020 n = 274; and Stage 3, April 2021 n = 200). The COVID-19 Student Stress Questionnaire (CSSQ) and the Symptom-Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90-R) were used to assess, respectively, COVID-19-related stressors (Relationships and Academic Life, Isolation, and Fear of Contagion) and the presence of psychological symptoms. Psychological health conditions were compared at baseline and during the pandemic, whereas both psychological health conditions and perceived levels of COVID-19-related stressors were compared over the three pandemic stages. In addition, Logistic Regression was used to explore the associations between COVID-19-related stressors and psychological symptoms. Findings revealed a significant increase in symptoms of Depression (DEP), Phobic-Anxiety (PHOB), Obsessive-Compulsive (O-C), and Psychoticism (PSY) from pre to during the pandemic. Perceived levels of COVID-19-related stress and specific psychological symptoms significantly increased as the pandemic was progressing. COVID-19-related stressors emerged as significantly associated with several psychopathological symptoms. Findings are discussed with the aim of providing tailored interventions to prevent mental disease and promote psychological adjustment in this specific stage of transition within this exceptional global emergency
Re-examining the Role of Coping Strategies in the Associations Between Infertility-Related Stress Dimensions and State-Anxiety: Implications for Clinical Interventions With Infertile Couples
Full text linkResearch has shown a direct relationship between infertility-related stress and anxiety in infertile patients. The present study goes into this relationship in depth, testing the moderating role of coping strategies (Seeking Social Support, Avoidant, Positive Attitude, Problem-Solving, Turning to Religion) in the associations between specific infertility-related stress dimensions (Social Concern, Need for Parenthood, Rejection of Childfree Lifestyle, Couple’s Relationship Concern) and State-Anxiety among male and female partners of infertile couples. Gender differences were also explored. Both members of 254 infertile couples completed a questionnaire consisting of Socio-demographics, Fertility Problem Inventory–Short Form (FPI-SF), Coping Orientation to Problem Experienced–New Italian Version (COPE-NIV), and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory-Y (STAI-Y). The results revealed that Social Concern and Couple’s Relationship Concern, in both partners, and Need for Parenthood, in female partners, had positive correlations with State-Anxiety. Seeking Social Support and Avoidant coping were related to increasing levels of State-Anxiety in both partners, whereas Positive Attitude coping strategies were related to lower levels of State-Anxiety in female partners. Problem-Solving and Avoidant coping played moderating roles between specific infertility-related stress dimensions and State-Anxiety in unexpected directions. Problem-Solving exacerbated the negative effects of Social Concern, whereas Avoidant coping buffered the negative effects of several infertility-related stress dimensions in both partners. Interventions to improve stress management and psychological health in infertile couples should consider that the adequacy of coping strategies is inherently situation specific. It therefore follows that patient-centered clinical interventions should consider the potential inadequacy of promoting Problem-Solving strategies, and that even Avoidance can be an efficient strategy for dealing with specific infertility-related stress dimensions
COVID-19 Student Stress Questionnaire: Development and Validation of a Questionnaire to Evaluate Students’ Stressors Related to the Coronavirus Pandemic Lockdown
Full text linkClinical observations suggest that during times of COVID-19 pandemic lockdown university students exhibit stress-related responses to fear of contagion and to limitations of personal and relational life. The study aims to describe the development and validation of the 7-item COVID-19 Student Stress Questionnaire (CSSQ), a measurement tool to assess COVID-19-related sources of stress among university students. The CSSQ was developed and validated with 514 Italian university students. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was conducted with one split-half sub-sample to investigate the underlining dimensional structure, suggesting a three-component solution, which was confirmed by the Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) with the second one split-half sub-sample (CFI = 0.95; TLI = 0.95; RMSEA = 0.06). The CSSQ three subscales measure COVID-19 students’ stressors related to (1) Relationships and Academic Life (i.e., relationships with relatives, colleagues, professors, and academic studying); (2) Isolation (i.e., social isolation and couple’s relationship, intimacy and sexual life); (3) Fear of Contagion. A Global Stress score was also provided. The questionnaire revealed a satisfactory internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.71; McDonald’s omega = 0.71). Evidence was also provided for convergent and discriminant validity. The study provided a brief, valid and reliable measure to assess perceived stress to be used for understanding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown among university students and for developing tailored interventions fostering their wellbeing
A method to establish functional vagus nerve topography from electro-neurographic spontaneous activity
Full text linkBioelectronic medicine is an emerging approach to treat many types of diseases via electrical stimulation of the autonomic nervous system (ANS). Because the vagus nerve (VN) is one of the most important nerves controlling several ANS functions, stimulation protocols based on knowledge of the functional organization of the VN are particularly interesting. Here, we proposed a method to localize different physiological VN functions by exploiting electro-neurographic signals recorded during spontaneous VN fibers activity. We tested our method on a realistic human cervical VN model geometry implanted via epineural or intraneural electrodes. We considered in silico ground truth scenarios of functional topography generated via different functional neural fibers activities covered by background noise. Our method accurately estimated the underlying functional VN topography by outperforming state-of-the-art methods. Our work paves the way for development of spatially selective stimulation protocols targeting multiple VN bodily functions
Design methods for training teachers in conflict management within multi-ethnic and multicultural classes: A proposed psychological framework
No full textEducational systems play a pivotal role to prevent social exclusion and discrimination and to promote equity, mutual understanding and respect. Teachers, in particular, are required to take an active stand in supporting social inclusion, adapting their practices and developing new skills to successfully deal with the increasingly diverse range of learners in their classrooms. Therefore, enhancing teachers’ intercultural skills and competencies represents a key priority in the contemporary challenging educational context. The present study aims at describing the psychological framework underpinning the development of an original e-learning tool created for teachers and educators to self-assess and to improve their intercultural skills and competencies. In particular, the study will describe in detail the Dryden and Constantinou’ Model of Effective Communication and the Rahim’ Model of Conflict Management styles, clarifying their application for the design of a Technologically Enhanced Educational Role-Playing Game (EduTechRPG), namely ACCORD Game, developed to train teachers to deal with interethnic conflicts within realistic school context scenarios
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