The role of beliefs about the impact of illness on fertility and close relationships for psychopathological symptoms in women treated for hypothyroidism.

OBJECTIVE: As demonstrated in a pilot study, hypothyroidism has a highly stressful impact on some areas of functioning. This study aims to evaluate the connection between illness-related beliefs (IRBs) and the impact of hypothyroidism on fertility and close relationships, which were the strongest stressors, and the level of depressive, anxiety, and anger symptoms. METHODS: Two hundred and thirteen women being treated for hypothyroidism took part in an online survey and completed the modified Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, Hypothyroidism Symptoms Severity rating scales, and a measure of IRBs. Other relevant clinical data were also collected. RESULT: Mean levels of thyroid-stimulating hormone indicated that the women were euthyroid. Four groups of participants were identified based on IRBs. The group holding a strong IRB about the negative impact of illness only on close relationships scored significantly higher on depressive symptoms than women in the other groups. The group holding strong IRBs about the negative impact of illness on both close relationships and fertility scored significantly higher on anxiety symptoms than the women in the other groups. Regression analysis showed that IRBs about the negative impact of hypothyroidism predicted anxiety, depressive, and anger symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: Negative IRBs about the impact of illness on fertility and close relationships contribute to increased levels of emotional distress symptoms in women being treated for hypothyroidism.

The role of psychological and medical variables in the process of adaptation to life with chronic illness in a group of COPD outpatients.

Many studies suggest that psychological factors play an important role in chronic diseases. This study aimed to describe the role of certain medical variables (airflow obstruction indicators), personal resources, coping strategies, and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in the process of adaptation to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The Brief COPE inventory, the General Self-Efficacy Scale, COPD Assessment Test, and the Acceptance of Life with the Disease Scale were completed by 111 outpatients. Groups of patients distinguished based on degree of airflow obstruction did not differ in frequency of use of coping strategies, General Self-efficacy, HRQoL, or level of acceptance of life with the disease. Groups distinguished in terms of frequency of the strategies used differed in terms of indicators of airflow obstruction and acceptance of life with the disease. General Self-efficacy was correlated with active coping, use of emotional support, and planning. The best predictors of Acceptance of Life with the Disease were coping strategies, HRQoL, and General Self-efficacy. The obtained data indicated that psychological factors play an important role in adapting to life with illness. This study also found that self-efficacy is a very significant personal resource which future psychological interventions for COPD could focus on.

Commentary on COVID-19 situation in Poland: Practical and empirical evaluation of current state.

This commentary describes some of the aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic in Poland. The 1st part of the text covers issues related to actions introduced by the Polish government to minimize the risk of infection as well as statistics and difficulties resulting from the restrictions introduced. In the 2nd part, we present the results of our own research, including predictors of posttraumatic stress disorder symptom severity associated with the pandemic situation, and we discuss the results. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Smoking Status, Body Mass Index, Health-Related Quality of Life, and Acceptance of Life With Illness in Stable Outpatients With COPD.

Smoking and obesity are important factors related to the etiology and clinical features of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The aim of this study was to carry out deeper analyses of the links between smoking status and body mass index as well as of the links between individual dimensions of health-related quality of life (QoL) and acceptance of life with disease in patients with COPD. Information about BMI, smoking status, clinical features of COPD, a COPD assessment test, and airflow obstruction indicators were obtained from 105 outpatients attending a pulmonary clinic. Analysis of covariance demonstrated that the subgroups of patients distinguished based on smoking status and BMI differed significantly in severity of Cough, Dyspnea, Limitation of daily activities, Lack of self-confidence, and Quality of sleep, independently of sociodemographic factors and clinical features of COPD. The results of our study suggest a certain path of the potential effects of obesity and smoking status on QoL. Risky health behaviors, such as smoking and at-risk body mass, only affect some aspects of health-related QoL.

Stimulus-seeking in rats is accompanied by increased c­Fos expression in hippocampal CA1 as well as short 22 kHz and flat 50 kHz calls.

We determined CA1 hippocampal field to be involved in self-exposure, a type of novelty­seeking behaviour that has also been associated with short 22 kHz and flat 50 kHz ultrasonic vocalizations (USV) in adult male Long-Evans rats. Rats were habituated for three days to a self-exposure cage with two nose-poke holes. On day four, the animals from the experimental group were allowed to turn the cage light off for 5 s with a nose­poke (test/self­exposure session), while rats from control-yoked group had changing light conditions coupled and identical to the experimental animals. The experimental rats performed more nose-pokes during self-exposure session than animals from the control group. This effect was accompanied by a higher density of c-Fos-positive nuclei in the hippocampal CA1. There were no significant group differences in c-Fos expression in other brain regions analysed. However, possible involvement of several other structures in self-exposure (i.e., CA3, the dentate gyrus, amygdala, prefrontal cortex, and nucleus accumbens) is also discussed, as their correlational activity, reflected by c-Fos immunoactivity, was observed in the experimental rats. During test sessions, there were more nose-pokes accompanied by short 22 kHz calls and 50 kHz calls performed by the rats of the experimental group than of the control group. The CA1 region has previously been associated with novelty; short 22 kHz USV and flat 50 kHz USV could be associated with self-exposure, also they appear to be emitted correlatively.