Symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and the Sense of Gains and Losses during the COVID-19 Pandemic: An International Study.

This study was primarily designed to investigate the perception of changes in selected areas of life experienced by adults of various nationalities in connection to the long-lasting COVID-19 pandemic. The second objective was to identify the factors increasing the risk of perception of negative changes in life during the pandemic. The tools applied in the study include a self-report questionnaire designed to measure sociodemographic data and health status of the subjects, COVID-19 Sense of Life Changes Questionnaire, as well as the Impact of Event Scale: Revised. The study involved over 600 adult subjects. With increased intensity of intrusions, the likelihood of negative perception of the changes emerging as a result of the pandemic was reduced by approximately 7%, whereas a higher intensity of hyperarousal increased that risk. Individuals reporting a sense of negative changes presented a greater degree of hyperarousal compared to those reporting positive changes. In the group of subjects perceiving the changes in a positive way, increasing the intensity of intrusion and/or hyperarousal corresponded to a growing conviction about a negative nature of life changes concerning the relationship with their partner and affecting their work as well as regarding a positive meaning of the changes in relations with their parents and in daily life. Generally, there was a prevailing sense of negative changes; however, there was also a group of subjects that perceived these as positive. Intrusions and hyperarousal in certain individuals may play a role in motivating them to take action in protecting against effects of the pandemic and, in others, may lead to frustration and anxiety.

Interpretation of familiar metaphors and proverbs by Polish people in middle and late adulthood.

BACKGROUND: The ability to understand figurative language, including metaphors and proverbs, decreases with age, although the phenomenon is not universal. Cognitive capacities and education play an important role in the competence connected with figurative language use and comprehension in people during the second half of life. AIMS: To identify possible similarities and differences in task performance by subjects representing middle adulthood (40-49 and 50-59 years old) and late adulthood (60-69 and 70-92 years old). Additionally, the analyses took into account factors significantly affecting the results, that is, tasks type (metaphors versus proverbs), the way the answer is given (open-ended versus multiple choice) and types of answers (abstract and concrete). This study also aimed to identify some cognitive correlates of task completion. METHODS & PROCEDURES: A total of 86 Caucasian subjects, aged 40-92 years, participated in this study (Mwhole group = 62.37, SD = 15.53); the group included 20 subjects aged 40-49 years (Mage = 45.4; SD = 3.05), 20 aged 50-59 years (Mage = 55.50; SD = 2.64), 20 aged 60-69 years (Mage = 64.40; SD = 2.78), and 26 aged 70-92 years (Mage = 79.15; SD = 6.27). A total of 20 well-known Polish metaphors and 20 popular Polish proverbs were used to assess the level of proverb and metaphor comprehension. The Montreal Cognitive Assessment Scale and Vocabulary subtest of the Polish version of WAIS-R were applied to assess the cognitive functions. OUTCOMES & RESULTS: The results of the analyses suggest that there are differences as well as certain similarities between the groups. At 70+ years of age, the ability to explain and comprehend metaphors and proverbs decreases when compared with younger adults. In the 70+ group, the ability to grasp the meaning of both metaphors and proverbs is similar, unlike in the younger groups which present a better ability to explain and comprehend metaphors than proverbs. The conditions related to the types of tasks, that is, spontaneous interpretation and choice of responses, do not affect scores of the oldest subjects. CONCLUSIONS: The analysis of response types, that is, abstract versus concrete, shows that, compared with younger groups, people aged 70+ years tend to less frequently provide abstract explanations and more often give concrete (but correct) responses, referring to situational data or examples from everyday life. Moreover, attention, short-term/delayed memory and lexical reserve influence the ability to use and comprehend figurative language to a varied degree. WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS: What is already known on the subject Studies focusing on metaphor and proverb interpretation by people in middle and late adulthood are rather scarce, and what is more, they provide inconclusive results. Research has shown that the capacities related to attention and memory, as well as language resources and executive functions, all deteriorate in older people, which negatively affects their ability to understand metaphors and proverbs. However, varied methods are applied to assess these skills, which may explain why the related findings are inconsistent. What this paper adds to existing knowledge The novelty of this study lies in the fact that the analyses took into account the type of task (metaphors versus proverbs), the method of responding (open-ended versus multiple-choice) and the nature of the answer (abstract versus concrete). This allowed us to highlight intergroup differences and to show specific characteristics of proverb and metaphor spontaneous interpretation and choice of correct answers. The results were compared among the participants representing relatively narrow age ranges classified as middle and late adulthood. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work? Analysis of how people in middle and late adulthood interpret metaphors and proverbs might constitute an element of preliminary screening assessment showing whether a decrease in this capacity is in the normal range or if it reflects a serious cognitive decline. It would be worthwhile if the diagnostic process included varied task designs, that is, both metaphors and proverbs, as well as spontaneous interpretation and multiple-choice, as well as varied types of responses.

Self-assessment of executive function and lateralization of brain pathology: What does the DEX-S profile show? / Subiektywna ocena funkcji wykonawczych a lateralizacja patologii mózgowej: co pokazuje profil DEX-S?

OBJECTIVES: The DEX-S Questionnaire is a tool often used in the self-report of executive difficulties. Numerous data demonstrate that the result of the DEX-S do not differentiate between healthy and clinical groups or people with different characteristics of brain pathology. Limited research taking into account lateralization of damage also did not provide the conclusive data. There were no relationships between the DEX-S result and the results of tasks evaluating cognitive function, including executive functions. There is an ongoing discussion on the clinical and ecological value of the DEX-S. In the face of inconclusive data, the own study was undertaken. The objective was: (1) to compare the overall result and the DEX-S profile of healthy people and people with brain pathology including the lateralization of brain pathology; and (2) determining the relationships between the result of the DEX-S and the level of selected cognitive competences. 115 people were enrolled in the study, including people without brain pathology (C; N = 74), people with damage to the left hemisphere (LH; N = 6), people with damage to the right hemisphere (RH, N = 12) and people with damage to both hemispheres (BH, N = 23). METHODS: In the research the DEX-S, WAIS subtests: Vocabulary, Digit span forward and backwards, the MoCA test and the Affect Scale from the ProCog Questionnaire were applied. RESULTS: The DEX-S overall result did not differentiate the groups. However, the RH and BH groups obtained the highest average scores and the LP group - the lowest. There were intergroup differences in the results of only a few DEX-S items. Patients with right and both hemispheres pathology reported a significantly higher level of difficulties in attention, greater susceptibility to distractors, deficits in planning, sequential operation and problem solving. The RH group performed poorer in tasks involving cognitive functions in comparison to other patients. All clinical groups differed from healthy persons in terms of results of tests/tasks evaluating selected cognitive functions. There were positive correlations between the DEX-S score and sense of anxiety, no association with age, and incidental correlations with the results of cognitive tasks in each research group. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that mechanisms of sense of executive deficits depend on lateralization of pathology. The higher sense of executive deficits in people with right hemisphere pathology may be due to the efficiency of delayed memory, and may reflect an adequate self-assessment of own competence. The low DEX-S result of the group with the left hemisphere pathology may result from reduced, despite the absence of aphasia, language /semantic skills and not from the lack of insight into executive deficits.

Valence of Affective Verbal Fluency: fMRI Studies on Neural Organization of Emotional Concepts Joy and Fear.

The present study was designed to examine the underlying brain mechanisms of positive and negative emotional verbal fluency. Three verbal fluency tasks (one non-emotional phonemic task, two emotional tasks: Joy and Fear) were used in this study. The results were analyzed for 35 healthy, Polish-speaking, right-handed adults aged 20-35. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (3T) was used to show brain activity during active participation in emotional verbal fluency tasks. The results reported for emotional fluency confirmed activation of different brain regions for the negative and positive emotional verbal fluency: in positive emotional verbal fluency Joy elicits greater activation in the frontal regions and the cingulate cortex, while in negative verbal fluency Fear is reflected in activation of parietal and temporal areas. The study provides an evidence for differentiation in neural mechanisms between positive and negative emotional verbal fluency and/or positive and negative retrieving processes, and differentiation in brain-related determinants of the emotional concepts organization.

The usefulness of monitored therapy using Clozapine concentration in the blood serum for determining drug dose in Polish schizophrenic patients.

BACKGROUND: The aim of the study is to evaluate the advisability of systematic monitoring of clozapine (CLO) concentration in serum during treatment of schizophrenia in Polish psychiatric patients. METHOD: The concentration of CLO and its metabolites: norclozapine (NCLO) and clozapine N-oxide (CLO-NO) in serum obtained from 107 patients suffering from schizophrenia was determined by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method. There were two groups of patients. In the first group of patients (n=95) the concentration of drug and its metabolites was determined by one-time testing. Correlations were tested using the test statistics. In the second group of patients (n=12), 51 samples of serum were provided by the same patient in different time spans (from 6days to 14 months after the beginning of the treatment). RESULTS: Concentrations of CLO and its metabolites in blood serum do not always show a linear dependence on the applied dose for individual patients. CONCLUSION: The high volatility of CLO concentrations in blood serum of patients treated with identical doses of the drug confirmed the validity of the monitored therapy.

Trait Anxiety Modulates Brain Activity during Performance of Verbal Fluency Tasks.

Trait anxiety is thought to be associated with pathological anxiety, and a risk factor for psychiatric disorders. The present study examines the brain mechanisms associated with trait anxiety during the performing of verbal fluency tasks. The aim is to show how trait anxiety modulates executive functions as measured by verbal fluency, and to explore the link between verbal fluency and anxiety due to the putative negative biases in high-anxious individuals. Seven tasks of verbal fluency were used: letter "k," "f," verbs, "animals," "vehicles," "joy," and "fear." The results of 35 subjects (whole sample), and 17 subjects (nine men, eight women) selected from the whole sample for the low/high-anxious groups on the basis of Trait Anxiety scores were analyzed. The subjects were healthy, Polish speaking, right-handed and aged from 20 to 35 years old. fMRI (whole-brain analysis with FWE corrections) was used to show the neural signals under active participation in verbal fluency tasks. The results confirm that trait anxiety slightly modulates neural activation during the performance of verbal fluency tasks, especially in the more difficult tasks. Significant differences were found in brain activation during the performance of more complex tasks between individuals with low anxiety and those with high anxiety. Greater activation in the right hemisphere, frontal gyri, and cerebellum was found in people with low anxiety. The results reflect better integration of cognitive and affective capacities in individuals with low anxiety.

Semantic and affective verbal fluency: sex differences.

Sex may have an important influence on verbal fluency. The aim of this study is to examine possible sex differences in different types of verbal fluency. Four tasks of verbal fluency were used in this study: two tasks of semantic verbal fluency (Animals, Fruits) and two tasks of affective verbal fluency (Pleasant, Unpleasant). The results were analysed for 200 adults aged 18 to 70 years. The number of correctly enumerated words, the number of phonemic clusters, the number of semantic clusters, and the number of phonemic and semantic switches were recorded. The results confirmed data about sex differences in verbal fluency performance. Statistically significant differences in verbal fluency between men and women were found only in affective tasks. Sex is not a strong predictor of semantic verbal fluency performance, but a statistically significant predictor for negative affective verbal fluency.

[The neutral and affective verbal fluency in people with right, left or both hemisphere brain pathology]. / Fluencja slowna neutralna i afektywna u chorych z uszkodzeniem prawej, lewej lub obu pólkul mózgu.

AIM: The comparison of neutral and affective fluency realisation in patients with right, left or both hemisphere brain damage and the control group, was the aim of our study. 31 healthy persona and 31 persons with vascular brain damage participated. (the left hemisphere (N = 11), right (N = 14) or both hemispheres (N = 6)). METHOD: 4 fluency tasks were used: animals, "k" letter (the neutral tasks), pleasant and unpleasant (the affective tasks). The aim of our research was the assessment of the number of correct answers, number of mistakes, clusters as well as the switches between compliant and discordant with the type of the task. The level of depression as well as the level of linguistic abilities were considered in analyses. RESULTS: The group of people with the CNS pathology generated less words and less clusters of both types (compliant and discordant with type of the task) in comparison to healthy people. The character of CNS pathology did not differ the results, however we noted the tendencies to diverse realisation of affective fluency. In the neutral tasks persons generated more words than affective tasks independently of their clinical state, and they applied strategies compliant with the type of the task. CONCLUSIONS: The applying of the affective fluency can enrich the workshop of the clinical diagnosis. Tasks of this type engage other psychological and neuronal mechanisms than the traditional neutral fluency.

[The cognitive functioning of patients with heart disease treated cardiosurgically--assessment before and after surgery. Preliminary study]. / Funkcjonowanie poznawcze osób z choroba niedokrwienna serca leczonych kardiochirurgicznie--ocena przed i po zabiegu. Badania pilotazowe.

BACKGROUND: The coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG) serves the improvement of blood supply of the heart muscle. Better blood supply augurs the improvement of cognitive functioning in surgically operated persons. The patients who have undergone these kind of operations, in fact are endangered with unfavourable working factors, connected with different techniques of intervention. Many studies have suggested the generalised and unspecific deterioration of cognitive functioning after CABG. AIM: The aim of our research was the assessment of the cognitive processes (the recognition of visual items, thinking abstract, the verbal fluency) as well as subjective opinion of one's own memory in cardiac surgery patients, and qualification of clinical and individual variables which could influence on pre- and post-surgical cognitive functioning. METHODS: The group consisted of 18 patients (9 women, 9 men), at the age of 55-81 years. The psychological assessment was executed twice--before and after operation. In the psychological assessment, the following were used: the Benton test of visual memory, verbal fluency (animals, supermarket), subtest similarities (WAIS-PL) as well as the questionnaire of opinion of efficiency own memory Giovagnoli. RESULTS: The patients receivedhigher results in the majority of cognitive tasks in the second (postoperative) investigation, in this especially, in estimating the ability ofrecalling the words (verbal fluency--animals; supermarket) as well as abstract thinking (Similarities). CONCLUSIONS: The cognitive functioning of patients treated with the use CABG improved in several days after the operation in relation to their state before intervention. Higher results were noted in tasks of abstract thinking as well as verbal fluency. The clinical and individual factors modify the patients' results in various degrees.

Quality of life in patients suffering from seborrheic dermatitis: influence of age, gender and education level.

Seborrheic dermatitis is a common inflammatory skin condition occurring mostly on the face, scalp and chest. Despite its high frequency, the impact of seborrheic dermatitis on patients' quality of life (QoL) has not been studied well so far. The objectives of this study were to analyse how seborrheic dermatitis affects the patients' QoL and which socio-economic factors could modulate QoL in these patients. A total of 3000 patients with seborrheic dermatitis and/or dandruff were enrolled into the study. All participants were divided into subgroups according to gender, age and education level. A specially designed questionnaire with demographic and clinical details of patients as well as Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) was completed during a patient visit in an outpatient clinic. Data were collected by local dermatologists who were instructed regarding the inclusion and exclusion criteria and the questionnaires were sent back to us upon completion. The mean DLQI score for all patients was 6.92±5.34 points. Patients with dandruff had significantly better QoL than subjects with seborrheic dermatitis (5.34±4.67 points vs. 7.73±5.3 points, respectively; P<0.001) or individuals with dandruff plus seborrheic dermatitis (7.54±5.6 points, P<0.001). In addition, women, younger patients and subjects with higher educational level were more affected than the rest of the patients. Seborrheic dermatitis had significant, negative influence on patients' QoL. Observed discrepancies between subgroups could be explained by different roles played by different patient subgroups in the society. DLQI can be successfully used for the assessment of QoL in large populational studies.