T-RAC: Study protocol of a randomised clinical trial for assessing the acceptability and preliminary efficacy of adding an exergame-augmented dynamic imagery intervention to the behavioural activation treatment of depression.

BACKGROUND: Improving the existent effective treatments of depression is a promising way to optimise the effects of psychological treatments. Here we examine the effects of adding a rehabilitation type of imagery based on exergames and dynamic simulations to a short behavioural activation treatment of depression. We investigate the acceptability and the efficacy of an exergame-augmented dynamic imagery intervention added to behavioural activation treatment and associated mechanisms of change. METHODS AND ANALYSES: In a two-arm pilot randomised controlled trial, the acceptability and preliminary efficacy of an exergame-augmented dynamic imagery intervention added to behavioural activation treatment for depressed individuals will be assessed. Participants (age 18-65) meeting criteria for depression are recruited by media and local announcements. 110 participants will be randomly allocated to behavioural activation plus imagery group or to standard behavioural activation group. The primary outcome is depressive symptom severity (Beck Depression Inventory II) and secondary outcomes are anhedonia, apathy and behavioural activation and avoidance. The outcomes are assessed at baseline, mid treatment, posttreatment and 3-month follow-up. Moderation and mediation analyses will be explored. An intention-to-treat approach with additional per-protocol analysis will be used for data analysis.

Positive irrational beliefs are associated with hypomanic personality.

Primary irrational beliefs, such as demanding about attaining personal goals, are a common trans-diagnostic factor involved in many emotional disorders. Although Bipolar Disorder (BPD) is a severe emotional disorder, little is known about the role of primary irrational beliefs in the risk of BPD. Given that the risk for mania is related to responses to positive rather than adverse events, we developed a measure of irrational beliefs in response to cues of positive events. This is the first study that examines the relationship between positive primary irrational beliefs and the risk of BPD. 119 participants completed an online survey including measures for the risk of BPD, irrational beliefs, positive irrational beliefs, mania-related cognitions, and mood measures (depressive and manic mood). Results revealed significant associations between the risk of BPD and positive primary irrational beliefs, irrational beliefs, positive generalization, and mood. Regression analyses revealed that positive primary irrational beliefs, such as demanding to attain significant goals in response to cues for positive events, uniquely predict the risk for BPD independently of mood, mania-related cognitions and irrational beliefs. These findings encourage the treatment approaches focused on restructuring primary irrational beliefs in response to positive situations to reduce the risk of BPD.

The coastal fog and ecological balance for plants in the Jizan region, Saudi Arabia.

Fog water collection provides a sustainable resource for watering of crops. The Jizan region is one of the smallest states in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) but very rich with unique flora, fauna, landscape diversity, and occurrence of fog. According to satellite data from the period between (1991-2021) the average visibility in this fog belt varied between 5 m and 100 m. Specific relief properties, such as elevation contrast, present rare space for flora preservation and sustainable fog utilization and use in the watering of crops. Some results showed that number of foggy days is not equal and can be divided in three big cycles. It was estimated that 8 × 1013 L, or 80 m3 of fresh water from fog per year, could be used for drinking and partly for farming in Jizan region from settlements Al Araq and Al Gandla, city of Jizan, Al Madaya, Al Mubarakiyah, Muwassam. This amount of water varied through time. The last observational period had large amount of water, 10 × 1013 L or 100 m3. The main methodologies used in this research were advanced GIS (Geographical Information Systems), Remote Sensing (RS), and numerical analysis. Satellite data were downloaded from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and Landsat 8 and 9 satellite missions. This kind of alternative water may produce stability for three main plants in Jizan region, palm, wheat and olive. Typical arid regions in KSA can be transformed by water used from the fog.

Supporting Tourism by Assessing the Predictors of COVID-19 Vaccination for Travel Reasons.

The persistence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus imposed vaccination passports for traveling in most countries. We investigated psychological factors that predict the intention to vaccinate for travel. In a cross-sectional study, we examined how demographic variables, vaccination status, perceived risk of infection and severity of disease contracted at travel destination, safety and effectiveness of vaccines against contracting COVID-19 during travel, and conspiracy beliefs are related to intention to vaccinate for travel. Further analyses involved differences between vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals in a Romanian sample regarding conspiracy beliefs, attitudes about vaccines, and self-efficacy of controlling COVID-19 infection. Results showed that the intention to vaccinate for travel reasons is best predicted by vaccination status and perceptions of safety and efficacy of vaccines against COVID-19. Thus, vaccinated individuals believing that vaccines are safe and effective most probably will take another vaccine booster if it will allow them to travel. Positive relationships of the intention to vaccinate for travel reasons were found with age, vaccination status, conspiracy beliefs, perceptions of safety and effectiveness of vaccines, intention to travel, and a more cautious approach to travel. No significant relationships were found between perceptions of risk for self or for transmitting the disease to others, severity of disease, and the intention to vaccinate for travel. We also found significant differences between vaccinated and unvaccinated participants, as unvaccinated participants showed higher levels of conspiracy beliefs and less trust in the safety and efficacy of vaccines. We conclude that campaigns focused on promoting information on the safety and efficacy of vaccines is the most important direction for promoting vaccination in young travelers.

Predictors of Changes in Travel Behavior during the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Role of Tourists' Personalities.

This study investigates travel behavior and psychosocial factors that influence it during the COVID-19 pandemic. In a cross-sectional study, using an online survey, we examined changes in travel behavior and preferences after lifting travel restrictions, and how these changes were influenced by exposure to COVID-19, COVID-19 travel-related risk and severity, personality, fear of travel, coping, and self-efficacy appraisals in the Romanian population. Our results showed that participants traveled less in the pandemic year than the year before-especially group and foreign travel-yet more participants reported individual traveling in their home county during the pandemic period. Distinct types of exposure to COVID-19 risk, as well as cognitive and affective factors, were related to travel behavior and preferences. However, fun-seeking personality was the only major predictor of travel intention, while fear of travel was the only predictor of travel avoidance. Instead, people traveled more cautiously when they perceived more risk of infection at the destination, and had higher levels of fear of travel, but also a high sense of efficacy in controlling the infection and problem-solving capacity. The results suggest that specific information about COVID-19, coping mechanisms, fear of travel, and neuropsychological personality traits may affect travel behavior in the pandemic period.

The vividness of imagining emotional feelings in positive situations is attenuated in non-clinical dysphoria and predicts the experience of positive emotional feelings.

OBJECTIVE: The vividness of imagining emotional feelings in positive situations (EFP) in non-clinically dysphoric and non-dysphoric individuals and its relation to dysphoric and positive feelings was examined. METHOD: Participants were university students in Study 1 (N = 106, 84 women; 18-45 years), in Study 2 (N = 43, 39 women; 20-47 years), in Study 3 (N = 109, 92 women; 18-50 years) who filled out a set of questionnaires assessing depressive symptoms, cognition measures, and then completed an affective imagery task, using a cross-sectional design. RESULTS: Non-clinically dysphoric participants imagined less vividly EFP than non-dysphoric participants. The vividness of imagining EFP accounted for group differences in positive feelings beyond positive and negative cognition and negative mood. CONCLUSIONS: In addition to deficits in the general imagery of positive events, the attenuation of vividness of EFP in non-clinical dysphoric individuals warrants attention as a separate pathway by which non-clinically dysphoric individuals develop deficiencies of conscious positive feelings.