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Facing the COVID-19 pandemic – an assessment of students’ mental health and major coping strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic – an international study
- A. A. Forma, K. H. Karakuła, R. Sitarz, D. Juchnowicz, J. Baj, J. Bogucki, J. Rog, M. L. Tee, C. A. Tee, J. T. Ly-Uson, M. S. Islam, M. T. Sikder, A. H. El-Monshed, A. Loutfy, M. F. H. Qureshi, M. Abbas, S. Taseen, M. Lakhani, C. Wang, X. Wan, Y. Tan, R. Pan, R. Ho, S. Jayakumar, S. Ilango, S. Kumar K, Á. A. Ruiz-Chow, A. Iturbide, D. D. González-Mille, L. P. Doan, H. Karakuła-Juchnowicz
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- Journal:
- European Psychiatry / Volume 66 / Issue S1 / March 2023
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 19 July 2023, pp. S152-S153
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Introduction
TDuring COVID-19 pandemic, it was noticed that it was students who were mostly affected by the changes that aroused because of the pandemic. The interesting part is whether students’ well-being could be associated with their fields of study as well as coping strategies.
ObjectivesIn this study, we aimed to assess 1) the mental health of students from nine countries with a particular focus on depression, anxiety, and stress levels and their fields of study, 2) the major coping strategies of students after one year of the COVID-19 pandemic.
MethodsWe conducted an anonymous online cross-sectional survey on 12th April – 1st June 2021 that was distributed among the students from Poland, Mexico, Egypt, India, Pakistan, China, Vietnam, Philippines, and Bangladesh. To measure the emotional distress, we used the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21), and to identify the major coping strategies of students - the Brief-COPE.
ResultsWe gathered 7219 responses from students studying five major studies: medical studies (N=2821), social sciences (N=1471), technical sciences (N=891), artistic/humanistic studies (N=1094), sciences (N=942). The greatest intensity of depression (M=18.29±13.83; moderate intensity), anxiety (M=13.13±11.37; moderate intensity ), and stress (M=17.86±12.94; mild intensity) was observed among sciences students. Medical students presented the lowest intensity of all three components - depression (M=13.31±12.45; mild intensity), anxiety (M=10.37±10.57; moderate intensity), and stress (M=13.65±11.94; mild intensity). Students of all fields primarily used acceptance and self-distraction as their coping mechanisms, while the least commonly used were self-blame, denial, and substance use. The group of coping mechanisms the most frequently used was ‘emotional focus’. Medical students statistically less often used avoidant coping strategies compared to other fields of study. Substance use was only one coping mechanism that did not statistically differ between students of different fields of study. Behavioral disengagement presented the highest correlation with depression (r=0.54), anxiety (r=0.48), and stress (r=0.47) while religion presented the lowest positive correlation with depression (r=0.07), anxiety (r=0.14), and stress (r=0.11).
Conclusions1) The greatest intensity of depression, anxiety, and stress was observed among sciences students, while the lowest intensity of those components was found among students studying medicine.
2) Not using avoidant coping strategies might be associated with lower intensity of all DASS components among students.
3) Behavioral disengagement might be strongly associated with greater intensity of depression, anxiety, and stress among students.
4) There was no coping mechanism that provided the alleviation of emotional distress in all the fields of studies of students.
Disclosure of InterestNone Declared
Prefrontal cortical thinning links to negative symptoms in schizophrenia via the ENIGMA consortium
- E. Walton, D. P. Hibar, T. G. M. van Erp, S. G. Potkin, R. Roiz-Santiañez, B. Crespo-Facorro, P. Suarez-Pinilla, N. E. M. van Haren, S. M. C. de Zwarte, R. S. Kahn, W. Cahn, N. T. Doan, K. N. Jørgensen, T. P. Gurholt, I. Agartz, O. A. Andreassen, L. T. Westlye, I. Melle, A. O. Berg, L. Morch-Johnsen, A. Færden, L. Flyckt, H. Fatouros-Bergman, Karolinska Schizophrenia Project Consortium (KaSP), E. G. Jönsson, R. Hashimoto, H. Yamamori, M. Fukunaga, N. Jahanshad, P. De Rossi, F. Piras, N. Banaj, G. Spalletta, R. E. Gur, R. C. Gur, D. H. Wolf, T. D. Satterthwaite, L. M. Beard, I. E. Sommer, S. Koops, O. Gruber, A. Richter, B. Krämer, S. Kelly, G. Donohoe, C. McDonald, D. M. Cannon, A. Corvin, M. Gill, A. Di Giorgio, A. Bertolino, S. Lawrie, T. Nickson, H. C. Whalley, E. Neilson, V. D. Calhoun, P. M. Thompson, J. A. Turner, S. Ehrlich
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- Journal:
- Psychological Medicine / Volume 48 / Issue 1 / January 2018
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 26 May 2017, pp. 82-94
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Background
Our understanding of the complex relationship between schizophrenia symptomatology and etiological factors can be improved by studying brain-based correlates of schizophrenia. Research showed that impairments in value processing and executive functioning, which have been associated with prefrontal brain areas [particularly the medial orbitofrontal cortex (MOFC)], are linked to negative symptoms. Here we tested the hypothesis that MOFC thickness is associated with negative symptom severity.
MethodsThis study included 1985 individuals with schizophrenia from 17 research groups around the world contributing to the ENIGMA Schizophrenia Working Group. Cortical thickness values were obtained from T1-weighted structural brain scans using FreeSurfer. A meta-analysis across sites was conducted over effect sizes from a model predicting cortical thickness by negative symptom score (harmonized Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms or Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale scores).
ResultsMeta-analytical results showed that left, but not right, MOFC thickness was significantly associated with negative symptom severity (βstd = −0.075; p = 0.019) after accounting for age, gender, and site. This effect remained significant (p = 0.036) in a model including overall illness severity. Covarying for duration of illness, age of onset, antipsychotic medication or handedness weakened the association of negative symptoms with left MOFC thickness. As part of a secondary analysis including 10 other prefrontal regions further associations in the left lateral orbitofrontal gyrus and pars opercularis emerged.
ConclusionsUsing an unusually large cohort and a meta-analytical approach, our findings point towards a link between prefrontal thinning and negative symptom severity in schizophrenia. This finding provides further insight into the relationship between structural brain abnormalities and negative symptoms in schizophrenia.
The development, use and application of the gas production technique at Cornell University, USA
- A. N. Pell, R. E. Pitt, P. H. Doane, P. Schofield
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- Journal:
- BSAP Occasional Publication / Volume 22 / 1998
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 27 February 2018, pp. 45-54
- Print publication:
- 1998
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Systems to measure gas production to study digestion kinetics have been developed at several locations. The system developed at Cornell University and the rationale behind its evolution are described with an emphasis on whether venting after each observation is necessary and on choice of sensors. Different non-linear-models used to fit gas production data are discussed with an emphasis on the dual-pool logistic model. The third section of the paper includes a theoretical discussion on how gas data can be integrated with data on passage to predict ruminal digestibility. The final section addresses the practical applications of these gas data and ways in which they can be used in models like the Cornell net carbohydrate and protein system. Also included are evaluations of ensiled and freeze-dried samples from the same source as an indication of how gas systems can be used to evaluate the soluble fractions of forages.