The Actigraphy-Based Identification of Premorbid Latent Liability of Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder.

(1) Background and Goal: Several studies have investigated the association of sleep, diurnal patterns, and circadian rhythms with the presence and with the risk states of mental illnesses such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. The goal of our study was to examine actigraphic measures to identify features that can be extracted from them so that a machine learning model can detect premorbid latent liabilities for schizotypy and bipolarity. (2) Methods: Our team developed a small wrist-worn measurement device that collects and identifies actigraphic data based on an accelerometer. The sensors were used by carefully selected healthy participants who were divided into three groups: Control Group (C), Cyclothymia Factor Group (CFG), and Positive Schizotypy Factor Group (PSF). From the data they collected, our team performed data cleaning operations and then used the extracted metrics to generate the feature combinations deemed most effective, along with three machine learning algorithms for categorization. (3) Results: By conducting the training, we were able to identify a set of mildly correlated traits and their order of importance based on the Shapley value that had the greatest impact on the detection of bipolarity and schizotypy according to the logistic regression, Light Gradient Boost, and Random Forest algorithms. (4) Conclusions: These results were successfully compared to the results of other researchers; we had a similar differentiation in features used by others, and successfully developed new ones that might be a good complement for further research. In the future, identifying these traits may help us identify people at risk from mental disorders early in a cost-effective, automated way.

[Depression screening in the pregnancy care. Results from the area of Békéscsaba]. / Depressziószurés a várandósgondozásban. Eredmények Békéscsaba körzetébol.

Introduction: Pregnancy is usually desired, yet it has its own difficulties that can be overwhelming, thus depression might occur. The prevalence of this is 6.58-26.7% in the international literature and 6.5-17.9% in Hungarian studies. Aim: The aim was to analyze the data of the perinatal depression screening program of Békéscsaba which started in 2014. We wanted to study the pathological rate and the connection between demographic data and depression symptoms. Method: Until august 2019, 1708 women took part in the program. The screening is done by perinatal nurses: they explain the aims and hand over the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale three times during pregnancy and once postpartum. They also suggest women in need to attend the psychological intervention as part of the screening. Results: The prevalence of the pathological questionnaires were 15.31%, 14.29%, 11.87%, and 12.68% at the four measuring occasions. In the whole sample, 18.27% of women had pathological score at least once. The depression scores of the four measurements correlated significantly with each other. Women who did not plan their pregnancies had higher level of depression in all four measurements. In the first trimester, women who were under 21 years old and/or were single had higher depression scores. In the second trimester, multipara women tended to have higher scores. Conclusion: The high prevalence and the constant level of depression emphasize the importance of the screening and psychological intervention, as previous studies found connection between depression and some perinatal complications. Some demographic factors can indicate more vulnerable women. Orv Hetil. 2020; 161(10): 374-381.

Associations Between Depression Symptoms, Psychological Intervention and Perinatal Complications.

Antenatal and postpartum depression has been associated with maternal, child and family-unit complications. Our aim was to assess the impact of a depression screening and intervention program on perinatal complications. This study included 2042 women. They were screened on the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), three times during pregnancy and once after childbirth. If their EPDS score was above the cut-off score, psychological intervention was offered. Significant relationships were found between depression scores and perinatal complications, such as protracted cervical dilation, protracted descent, preeclampsia, intrauterine growth restriction, low birthweight and cesarean section. Depression scores were higher in the intervention group, compared to the non-intervention group, but decreased after the consultations. The cesarean section rate was significantly lower in the consultation group. A rapid screening process can provide an adequate tool to identify women who are more likely to have such complications due to depression.

[Investigation of the burnout syndrome among the employees of the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Szeged]. / A kiégésszindróma vizsgálata a Szegedi Tudományegyetem, Sürgosségi Betegellátó Önálló Osztály dolgozóinak körében.

INTRODUCTION: Burnout has been described as a growing problem amongst healthcare workers. Emergency department staffs experience the burden of stress day by day, yet only a few studies have examined their burnout. AIM: In this study we wanted to investigate the burnout and its relations to other variables amongst the employees of the Department of Emergency Medicine in Szeged. METHOD: Cross-sectional design utilizing a self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data from the staff of the Department. Burnout was measured using the Maslach Burnout Inventory. RESULTS: Burnout is considerably prevalent among the workers of the Emergency Department, especially nurses and physicians. The study found negative relation between burnout and age, number of children, number of years in the healthcare system, number of physical symptoms, social support and psychological immune system. Being single was a risk factor. CONCLUSIONS: The risks and protective factors found to be associated with burnout in this study might help to set up institutional prevention and intervention strategies. Orv Hetil. 2018; 159(3): 113-118.

Explicit instructions and consolidation promote rewiring of automatic behaviors in the human mind.

One major challenge in human behavior and brain sciences is to understand how we can rewire already existing perceptual, motor, cognitive, and social skills or habits. Here we aimed to characterize one aspect of rewiring, namely, how we can update our knowledge of sequential/statistical regularities when they change. The dynamics of rewiring was explored from learning to consolidation using a unique experimental design which is suitable to capture the effect of implicit and explicit processing and the proactive and retroactive interference. Our results indicate that humans can rewire their knowledge of such regularities incidentally, and consolidation has a critical role in this process. Moreover, old and new knowledge can coexist, leading to effective adaptivity of the human mind in the changing environment, although the execution of the recently acquired knowledge may be more fluent than the execution of the previously learned one. These findings can contribute to a better understanding of the cognitive processes underlying behavior change, and can provide insights into how we can boost behavior change in various contexts, such as sports, educational settings or psychotherapy.

[The risk factors of mood changing during the perinatal period]. / A hangulati állapot alakulásának kockázati tényezoi a perinatalis idoszakban.

INTRODUCTION: The screening of perinatal depression was introduced in Szeged in April 2011. AIM: Our aim was to assess the extent of perinatal mood changing and to explore the risk factors of it. METHOD: Perinatal nurses gave the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale to the 3849 participants four times. RESULTS: In the first trimester were the highest average scores (3.74) and pathological rate (10.8%) compared to the other measurement occasions. There was a positive correlation between the scores of the measurement occasions. The higher average scores related to the epidural anesthesia almost significantly, but significantly to the low birth weight, unplanned pregnancies, younger and older age, single marital status and multiparity of the participant. CONCLUSIONS: Even the first trimester is sensitive to pathological mood changes, which besides with other factors could be risk factors to postpartum depression. To avoid this it is important to continue the screening and provide adequate help. Orv. Hetil., 2017, 158(4), 139-146.