Neural Circuits, Microtubule Processing, Brain's Electromagnetic Field-Components of Self-Awareness.

The known theories discussing the essence of consciousness have been recently updated. This prompts an attempt to integrate these explanations concerning several distinct components of the consciousness phenomenon such as the ego, and qualia perceptions. Therefore, it is useful to consider the latest publications on the 'Orch OR' and 'cemi' theories, which assume that quantum processing occurs in microtubules and that the brain's endogenous electromagnetic field is important. The authors combine these explanations with their own theory describing the neural circuits realizing imagery. They try to present such an interdisciplinary, integrated theoretical model in a manner intuitively understandable to people with a typical medical education. In order to do this, they even refer to intuitively understandable metaphors. The authors maintain that an effective comprehension of consciousness is important for health care professionals because its disorders are frequent medical symptoms in emergencies, during general anesthesia and in the course of cognitive disorders in elderly people. The authors emphasize the current possibilities to verify these theses regarding the essence of consciousness thanks to the development of functional brain imaging methods-magnetoencephalography, transcranial magnetic stimulation-as well as clinical studies on the modification of perceptions and feelings by such techniques as mindfulness and the use of certain psychoactive substances, especially among people with self-awareness and identity disorders.

Various aspects of caring for elderly people in the interest of their self-reliance and independence, according to the authors' own propositions.

Predictions for the upcoming decades suggest an increase in the number of elderly people in Europe; due to low fertility and the rise in average life expectancy, societies age considerably faster. The nature of these changes signifies that a complex demographic process is taking place. In consequence, one can notice an increase in the demand for personal and nursing care activities provided in the natural human environment, or in various institutions, by adequately prepared, specialized medical staff. Creating the best possible procedures for assisting elderly people is a multifaceted and dynamic problem. The constantly changing expectations regarding healthcare providers, and the higher social and health awareness are challenging medical sciences and social services to provide the oldest generation with the best quality of life. The life satisfaction measure for elderly people is their activity which determines an independent, self-reliant, satisfactory, and long life. Int J Occup Med Environ Health. 2021;34(3):339-50.

Letter to Editor. Conclusions from the application of transcranial magnetic stimulation regarding the psychopathology of depressive syndromes and the essence of self-consciousness. / List do Redakcji. Wnioski ze stosowania przezczaszkowej stymulacji magnetycznej dotyczace psychopatologii zespolów depresyjnych i istoty samoswiadomosci.

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Letter to Editor. Is the nurse able to and should implement some forms of psychotherapy? / List do Redakcji. Czy pielegniarka jest w stanie i powinna realizowac niektóre formy psychoterapii?

no summary.

Does the recent intensification of nationalistic and xenophobic attitudes in Eastern European countries adversely affect public mental health?

BACKGROUND: The authors postulate that the recent intensification of the nationalist and xenophobic attitude in Poland and other Eastern European countries is detrimental to public mental health. The xenophobic attitude is accompanied by a higher incidence of anxiety and depression, disputes due to the polarization of opinions, a sense of embarrassment and a sense of contradictions with so-called Christian values, unfavorable demographic predictions and reduced life satisfaction. DISCUSSION: The authors attempt to describe the sequence of adverse events that led to the intensification of xenophobia and characterize the current state of public mental health in European countries. They formulate and propose possible actions which could counteract the consequences of that transformation. SHORT CONCLUSION: The actions which may be undertaken to counteract the deterioration of public mental health can be based on the recommendations of so-called 'positive psychology' and 'positive psychiatry' as well as the principles of strengthening local social capital.

Letter to Editor. Prerequisites for psychiatric examination detecting the intention to commit suicide.

The recent plane crash caused by the pilot increased the interest in the possibility of medical examination, which would be able to detect the intention of committing suicide. The development of such a diagnostic procedure is not only important for the prevention of events in the civil and military aviation, but also due to increase in the incidence of various suicide terrorist acts. The author expresses his opinion on the nature of such examination, due to his experience of working in Acute Poisoning Treatment Centre. The Centre admits about 1 000 patients per year, who have been rescued after suicide attempts made by the intake of a toxic substance. He discusses the developed scheme of structuralized interview, however, he believes that the ability to detect the existence of suicidal ideation was significantly improved as a result of the formulation of Interpersonal Theory of Suicide, which distinguishes four stages: 1) passive suicidal ideation, 2) suicidal desire, 3) suicidal intent, 4) lethal and near lethal suicide attempts. Next, the author presents his own prediction of the development of methods, enabling the objective detection of "suicidal intent" (plan). In his opinion, such an examination in the future, would be based on brain imaging techniques, which could detect the specific configuration of a person's brain neural circuits representing the existing plan of suicide. The real ability to detect such a configuration of neural circuits can be predicted on the basis of new, quoted results of neurophysiological studies.

Guidelines for prevention and treatment of cognitive impairment in the elderly.

The aim of this study is to present the available and verified methods of prevention of cognitive decline in healthy older adults and to review clinical trials of therapies to improve impaired cognitive performance. We discuss data about the actual possibility of pharmacological treatment, usefulness of physical exercises, and effectiveness of different cognitive training methods. In a separate chapter we discuss why older people cope much better in life challenges then it would appear from the measurements made by use of neuro-psychological tests. We also discuss the so-called issue of transfers, ie, the question of how certain cognitive characteristics, improved through cognitive training, are transferred to other mental skills. We distinguish between simple and sophisticated (usually computerized) forms of cognitive training and pay particular attention to methods that are simple and easy to use. In particular, we discuss the so-called "learning therapy", which amounts to "reading aloud and simple arithmetic calculations", the method based on "switching between words and imagination", and also the method consisting of personal counseling, support, and assistance in learning, especially in the form of home visits. In the final chapter we formulate practical advice, not only for individuals who want to undertake the preventing or correction activities alone with eventual help of medical professionals, but also for the members of health institutions that wish to implement preventive and therapeutic actions directed to a chosen population. We also discuss the indications and rationale for further research and clinical trials.

Have recent investigations into remission from childhood asthma helped in understanding the pathogenesis of this disease?

Studies show that a significant proportion of young people suffering from childhood onset asthma later recovered, usually in adolescence. In this article we argue that an understanding of the differences between children who recover from asthma and those who do not would contribute to increased understanding of the pathogenic mechanisms of the disease and could provide new clues about prevention and treatment. We note that some researchers have recently published results from these kinds of investigations. This paper reports results regarding genetic determinants, distorted mechanisms of inflammation, and mind/body relationships. We also try to integrate findings from these 3 areas to formulate general conclusions about the pathogenesis of asthma.

Letter to Editor. Is it possible to support cognitive behavioral therapy, led remotely, by determining so-called therapeutic tasks?

In this letter to the Editor, the authors comment recent publications about the attempts to remote realizations of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) in the treatment of anxiety disorders in elderly. The distinguished clinical situation is a part of a wider problem that can be named as "global crisis of aging populations". The use of CBT in many geriatric clinical situations is very effective, however, such therapy is very time-consuming, what hamper its widespread utilizations in practice. The authors therefore propose to support this form of treatment by determining so-called 'therapeutic tasks'. They derive the rationale for the proposed method from the analysis of the acting elements of various, new forms of CBT in combination with the analysis of sources of psychological resistance (resilience) of those older people who are doing well. The essence of the method proposed by the authors is assigning tasks which facilitate to patients' remembering of their 'trajectory of life'. The patients are then much more aware of unresolved psychological conflicts. The next tasks aid the patients to search for solutions to such mental problems and create a balanced imagery of their lives.

In search of memory tests equivalent for experiments on animals and humans.

Older people often exhibit memory impairments. Contemporary demographic trends cause aging of the society. In this situation, it is important to conduct clinical trials of drugs and use training methods to improve memory capacity. Development of new memory tests requires experiments on animals and then clinical trials in humans. Therefore, we decided to review the assessment methods and search for tests that evaluate analogous cognitive processes in animals and humans. This review has enabled us to propose 2 pairs of tests of the efficiency of working memory capacity in animals and humans. We propose a basic set of methods for complex clinical trials of drugs and training methods to improve memory, consisting of 2 pairs of tests: 1) the Novel Object Recognition Test - Sternberg Item Recognition Test and 2) the Object-Location Test - Visuospatial Memory Test. We postulate that further investigations of methods that are equivalent in animals experiments and observations performed on humans are necessary.