Machine Learning, Deep Learning, and Data Preprocessing Techniques for Detecting, Predicting, and Monitoring Stress and Stress-Related Mental Disorders: Scoping Review.

BACKGROUND: Mental stress and its consequent mental health disorders (MDs) constitute a significant public health issue. With the advent of machine learning (ML), there is potential to harness computational techniques for better understanding and addressing mental stress and MDs. This comprehensive review seeks to elucidate the current ML methodologies used in this domain to pave the way for enhanced detection, prediction, and analysis of mental stress and its subsequent MDs. OBJECTIVE: This review aims to investigate the scope of ML methodologies used in the detection, prediction, and analysis of mental stress and its consequent MDs. METHODS: Using a rigorous scoping review process with PRISMA-ScR (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews) guidelines, this investigation delves into the latest ML algorithms, preprocessing techniques, and data types used in the context of stress and stress-related MDs. RESULTS: A total of 98 peer-reviewed publications were examined for this review. The findings highlight that support vector machine, neural network, and random forest models consistently exhibited superior accuracy and robustness among all ML algorithms examined. Physiological parameters such as heart rate measurements and skin response are prevalently used as stress predictors due to their rich explanatory information concerning stress and stress-related MDs, as well as the relative ease of data acquisition. The application of dimensionality reduction techniques, including mappings, feature selection, filtering, and noise reduction, is frequently observed as a crucial step preceding the training of ML algorithms. CONCLUSIONS: The synthesis of this review identified significant research gaps and outlines future directions for the field. These encompass areas such as model interpretability, model personalization, the incorporation of naturalistic settings, and real-time processing capabilities for the detection and prediction of stress and stress-related MDs.

Factors effecting on health-promoting behaviors in iranian pregnant women and their husbands: the actor-partner interdependence model (APIM).

INTRODUCTION: Pregnancy is an important period of life for women and their husbands as the couple's health is essential. The present study evaluated the impact of some factors (marital adjustment with depressive symptoms) on health-promoting behaviors in pregnant women and their husbands based on the actor-partner interdependence model (APIM). MATERIALS AND METHODS: This descriptive study examined 211 couples (pregnant women and their husbands) in pregnancy clinics of Babol University of Medical Sciences using a convenience sampling method. The participants completed Spanier's Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS) (1979), Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) (1987), and Walker's Health Promoting Lifestyle Profile II (HPLPII) questionnaire (1997). The relationships between women and their husbands were also evaluated using structural equation modeling with R software according to the Lavaan (latent variable analysis) package based on APIM-SEM. RESULTS: The pregnant women's marital adjustment positively affected their health-promoting behaviors (ß = 0.456, 95% Cl: 0.491-0.998, p < 0.001) and their husbands' (ß = 0.210, 95% Cl: 0.030-0.726, p = 0.048). Pregnant woman's depressive symptoms also negatively affected their health-promoting behaviors (ß=-0.088, 95% Cl: -0.974-0.074, P = 0.236) and their husbands' health-promoting behaviors (ß=-0.177, 95% Cl: -0.281 - -0.975, P = 0.011). Furthermore, the husband's marital adjustment only positively affected his studied behaviors (ß = 0.323, 95% Cl: 0.0303-0.895, P < 0.001) but did not affect the pregnant woman's health behaviors. The husband's depressive symptoms had a negative impact on his studied behaviors (ß = 0.219, 95% Cl: -0.122 - -0.917, P = 0.001) and did not affect the pregnant woman's depressive symptoms. Our findings confirmed the mediating role of depressive symptoms in pregnant women and their husbands on the association of marital adjustment and health-promoting behaviors. According to the actor-partner study, a pregnant woman's marital adjustment scores positively affected her studied behaviors and her husband (ß = 0.071, 95% Cl: 0.042-0.278, P = 0.015) by decreasing her depression score. Therefore, the husband's marital adjustment score positively affected his studied behaviors by decreasing his depression score (ß = 0.084, 95% Cl: -0.053 -0.292, P = 0.005), and it did not affect his wife's health-promoting behaviors. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: These findings suggest healthcare providers, obstetricians, and psychologists evaluate the husbands' symptoms of depression and health-promoting behaviors in the routine pregnancy care of pregnant women. They also pay great attention to marital adjustment as a determinant of reducing depressive symptoms in pregnant women and their husbands.

Hypoglycemia Detection Using Hand Tremors: Home Study of Patients With Type 1 Diabetes.

BACKGROUND: Diabetes affects millions of people worldwide and is steadily increasing. A serious condition associated with diabetes is low glucose levels (hypoglycemia). Monitoring blood glucose is usually performed by invasive methods or intrusive devices, and these devices are currently not available to all patients with diabetes. Hand tremor is a significant symptom of hypoglycemia, as nerves and muscles are powered by blood sugar. However, to our knowledge, no validated tools or algorithms exist to monitor and detect hypoglycemic events via hand tremors. OBJECTIVE: In this paper, we propose a noninvasive method to detect hypoglycemic events based on hand tremors using accelerometer data. METHODS: We analyzed triaxial accelerometer data from a smart watch recorded from 33 patients with type 1 diabetes for 1 month. Time and frequency domain features were extracted from acceleration signals to explore different machine learning models to classify and differentiate between hypoglycemic and nonhypoglycemic states. RESULTS: The mean duration of the hypoglycemic state was 27.31 (SD 5.15) minutes per day for each patient. On average, patients had 1.06 (SD 0.77) hypoglycemic events per day. The ensemble learning model based on random forest, support vector machines, and k-nearest neighbors had the best performance, with a precision of 81.5% and a recall of 78.6%. The results were validated using continuous glucose monitor readings as ground truth. CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate that the proposed approach can be a potential tool to detect hypoglycemia and can serve as a proactive, nonintrusive alert mechanism for hypoglycemic events.

COVID-19 and Parent-Child Interactions: Children's Educational Opportunities and Parental Challenges During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Objectives: The coronavirus disease pandemic affected people's lives in different ways, including child education and parent-child interactions. The present study aimed to identify the educational opportunities of children and challenges of parents during this pandemic. Methods: This study was conducted using a qualitative and phenomenological method. The participants were 23 parents of children aged 7-12 years, selected by purposive sampling method. Data were collected by semi-structured interviews, which continued until data saturation was reached, and then classified and processed following Strauss and Glasser's approach. Results: The findings were classified as parenting transformation, attachment challenges, and parenting challenges due to macro-systemic changes. Online education and changes caused by social distancing were the most significant parenting challenges. Moreover, children did not have the necessary space to be independent and self-sufficient. Conclusion: For many children, adapting to virtual education has been challenging; therefore, parents should change their parenting control and support. The emergence of such challenges has led to the creation of more opportunities in the field of child education.

Synergistic effects of anionic surfactants on coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) virucidal efficiency of sanitizing fluids to fight COVID-19.

Our surrounding environment, especially often-touched contaminated surfaces, plays an important role in the transmission of pathogens in society. The shortage of effective sanitizing fluids, however, became a global challenge quickly after the coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) outbreak in December 2019. In this study, we present the effect of surfactants on coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) virucidal efficiency in sanitizing fluids. Sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate (SDBS), sodium laureth sulfate (SLS), and two commercial dish soap and liquid hand soap were studied with the goal of evaporation rate reduction in sanitizing liquids to maximize surface contact time. Twelve fluids with different recipes composed of ethanol, isopropanol, SDBS, SLS, glycerin, and water of standardized hardness (WSH) were tested for their evaporation time and virucidal efficiency. Evaporation time increased by 17-63% when surfactant agents were added to the liquid. In addition, surfactant incorporation enhanced the virucidal efficiency between 15 and 27% according to the 4-field test in the EN 16615:2015 European Standard method. Most importantly, however, we found that surfactant addition provides a synergistic effect with alcohols to inactivate the SARS-CoV-2 virus. This study provides a simple, yet effective solution to improve the virucidal efficiency of commonly used sanitizers.

Culture and Sexuality: Cognitive-Emotional Determinants of Sexual Dissatisfaction Among Iranian and New Zealand Women.

BACKGROUND: Several studies have demonstrated that culture plays a fundamental role in individuals' beliefs, attitudes, and values toward sexuality, and influences their ability to enjoy sex. It follows that culture may influence sexual satisfaction or dissatisfaction. AIM: To examine and compare cognitive-emotional variables related to women's sexual dissatisfaction in Iran and New Zealand. METHODS: In total, 196 Iranian women and 207 New Zealand women participated in the study, answering questionnaires evaluating dysfunctional sexual beliefs, automatic thoughts, emotional and sexual response during sexual activity, as well as sexual satisfaction. OUTCOMES: Sexual beliefs were measured by the Sexual Dysfunctional Beliefs Questionnaire, thoughts and emotional responses were measured by the Sexual Modes Questionnaire, and sexual satisfaction was measured by the Sexual Satisfaction Index. RESULTS: Findings indicated that in both Iranian and New Zealand women, failure and disengagement thoughts, lack of erotic thoughts, and emotions of fear during sexual activity were significant predictors of sexual dissatisfaction. Besides these common predictors, results also indicated that sexual conservatism and women's sexual passivity beliefs, sexual abuse thoughts, and fear during sexual activity were significant predictors of sexual dissatisfaction in Iranian women. Beliefs of sexual desire and pleasure as a sin; age-related beliefs; and emotions such as sadness, disillusion, and hurt were significant predictors of sexual dissatisfaction in New Zealand women. CLINICAL TRANSLATION: The present findings could facilitate a better understanding of cultural differences in the roles played by dysfunctional sexual beliefs, negative automatic thoughts, and negative emotions during sexual activity, and the value of these beliefs, thoughts, and emotions in predicting sexual dissatisfaction. CONCLUSIONS: The strength of this study is in providing an examination of the role of culturally bound beliefs in predicting sexual dissatisfaction in women from different cultural backgrounds. Limitations include the lack of evaluation of psychological and interpersonal variables that may impact on women's sexual dissatisfaction. These findings suggest that there may be a role of culture in shaping beliefs, attitudes, and values toward sexuality; and provide evidence for the effect of cognitive-emotional variables in predicting women's sexual dissatisfaction. Abdolmanafi A, Nobre P, Winter S, et al. Culture and Sexuality: Cognitive-Emotional Determinants of Sexual Dissatisfaction Among Iranian and New Zealand Women. J Sex Med 2018;15:687-697.

Use of amphetamine-type stimulants in the Islamic Republic of Iran, 2004-2015: a review.

Amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) are the second most commonly used illicit drugs in the world, after cannabis. The production of ATS has increased worldwide, including in the Middle East. This review aims to assess ATS use in the Islamic Republic of Iran. PubMed, Scientific Information Database (a national database) and Iranian Center for Addiction Studies were searched. The review included studies on the general population, university and high school students, other specific populations, and drug users. The result show that self-reported methamphetamine and ecstasy use in 2016 was < 1% in the general population and university and high-school students, but the prevalence was higher in certain groups. There has also been an increase in the proportion of ATS users among clients of drug treatment centres. The findings highlight the need for high quality epidemiological studies and closer monitoring of stimulant use in different populations.

Determinants of Women's Sexual Dissatisfaction: Assessing a Cognitive-Emotional Model.

INTRODUCTION: Recent studies have demonstrated the role of sexual dysfunctional beliefs, negative automatic thoughts, and emotional responses in relation to sexual functioning. Nevertheless, no studies seem to have evaluated the role of these cognitive-emotional factors in determining sexual dissatisfaction. AIM: To test a cognitive-emotional model of sexual dissatisfaction in women. METHODS: In total, 207 women answered questionnaires assessing sexual dissatisfaction and cognitive and emotional variables that might affect sexual dissatisfaction. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Sexual dissatisfaction was measured by the Index of Sexual Satisfaction, sexual beliefs were measured by the Sexual Dysfunctional Beliefs Questionnaire, and thoughts and emotional responses were measured by the Sexual Modes Questionnaire. RESULTS: A path analysis was conducted to assess the conceptual model proposed. Results indicated that dysfunctional sexual beliefs work as predisposing factors by eliciting negative automatic thoughts and emotions, which impair the processing of erotic stimuli and interfere negatively with sexual satisfaction. CONCLUSION: This finding suggests a role for cognitive and emotional factors in predisposing and maintaining sexual dissatisfaction in women, suggesting relevant implications for intervention.