Impact of Personality Traits and Socio-Demographic Factors on Depression among Doctors and Nurses

The workplace is not immune to conflict and stress, specifically when fulfilling people's responsibilities at great personal costs. Doctors and nurses are always on the frontline in hospitals, vaulting from one stressful high-stakes situation to the next. The HEXACO model of personality traits: Honesty-humility, Emotionality, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Openness, has long been hypothesized to be a major predicting factor when determining individuals' responses to stress and susceptibility to experiencing depression. Most research suggests that personality traits resonate with a person's cognitive abilities and how they can deal with stress and depression. However, there is a lack of research on their correlation to depression severity in the Middle East. The current study aimed to investigate the impact of HEXACO personality traits and socio-demographic factors on depression amongst doctors and nurses. A sample of 170 doctors and nurses (62.1% doctors) completed HEXACO-60 and PHQ-9 depression severity questionnaires. The data were analyzed through descriptive statistics, independent samples t-test, ANOVA, correlation, and regression analysis. The findings showed that Honesty-humility was the strongest predictor, while extraversion was the second strongest. Emotionality had the least impact on depression. The relationship between Agreeableness and Openness to Experience with depression was insignificant. However, gender, age, working hours, and work experience were significant predictors of depression. Marital status and level of specialization were insignificant predictors. Thus, it was concluded that not all HEXACO traits and socio-demographics predict depression. Study findings could be utilized in the implementation of employee recruitment, job crafting, positive psychology, and coaching.

Effect of adenotonsillectomy on the growth, development, and comprehensive cognitive abilities of children with obstructive sleep apnea: a prospective single-arm study

Background Previous studies did not comprehensively examine the effect of adenotonsillectomy on growth and development, emotional state, quality of life, attention ability, and cognitive dysfunction in children with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). This study aimed to explore the improvement effects of adenotonsillectomy on the growth, development, quality of life, and attention ability in children with OSA. Methods This prospective single-arm study involved children with OSA admitted at The No. 980 Hospital, Joint Logistics Support Force, PLA, China (02/2017–02/2018). The Myklebust Pupil Rating Scale (PRS), Inventory of Subjective Life Quality (ISLQ), Zung Self-rating Anxiety Scale (SAS), Conners Parent Symptom Questionnaire (PSQ), and Continuous Performance Task (CPT) were examined before and at 6 months after adenotonsillectomy. Results Forty-nine patients were enrolled. They all completed the 6-month follow-up. The body mass index increased after surgery (from 18.8 ± 4.9 to 19.3 ± 4.3 kg/m2, P = 0.008). The total PRS score increased 6 months after surgery (from 73.8 ± 12.7 to 84.6 ± 10.3, P < 0.001). All aspects of the ISLQ, except anxiety experience and physical emotion, were improved at 6 months after adenotonsillectomy (all P < 0.01). The SAS score also decreased from 20.1 ± 10.0 to 12.8 ± 6.6 (P < 0.001). All six dimensions of the PSQ, as assessed by the legal guardians, decreased after adenotonsillectomy (all P < 0.01). The proportions of children with auditory and/or visual sustained attention abnormalities decreased after surgery. Conclusions After adenotonsillectomy, the PRS, ISLQ, and PSQ improved, and anxiety and auditory/visual sustained attention abnormalities decreased, suggesting positive impacts on the growth, development, quality of life, and comprehensive cognitive abilities of children with OSA.

Influence of latent iron deficiency on cognitive abilities in students

The aim of the study is to assess the impact of latent iron deficiency on students' cognitive abilities. Material and methods. The study was conducted during 2018-2021 at the Department of Hygiene and Medical Ecology of Odessa National Medical University. A survey of 188 medical students aged 18-20 was conducted using a screening survey. Estimation of the qualitative content of iron compounds in the diet was performed by a calculation method using the USDA / FDA database. Persons with probable iron deficiency were examined for hemoglobin, erythrocytes, hematocrit (general clinical blood test) and serum ferritin. Additionally, the cognitive abilities of people with latent iron deficiency were assessed using MoSA, TMT, GPB, Schulte tables and TAS-20. As a control, 30 students aged 18-20 years who showed no signs of latent or overt iron deficiency were interviewed. Statistical processing was performed by methods of variance and correlation anamnesis using the software Statistica 13.0 (TIBCO, USA). Results. When evaluating diets, probable iron deficiency was identified in 69 (36.7%) students surveyed. A significant number of students reported signs of iron deficiency, namely general weakness (27 or 14.4%), increased fatigue (30 cases or 15.9%), pale skin and mucous membranes (6 or 3.2%), drowsiness (8 or 4.3%), dry mouth (11 or 5.9%), brittle hair (4 or 2.1%), bleeding gums (3 or 1.6%). In isolated cases, hyposmia, dysgeusia and dysphagia have occurred. Probable iron deficiency was found at the previous stage of the study in 29 (15.4%) patients, they subsequently underwent verifying laboratory tests. In the analysis of the obtained data, the diagnosis of mild iron deficiency anemia was confirmed in 2 (6.9%) girls. Latent iron deficiency was identified in 16 (55.2%) students, among whom girls predominated (10 people or 62.5%). Subsequent studies have shown that a significant number of students with latent iron deficiency showed moderate signs of decreased cognition. Conclusions: 1. The frequency of latent iron deficiency in the surveyed contingent was 8.5%, with an absolute predominance of girls (62.5%). 2. Latent iron deficiency in student youth can be manifested by cognitive impairment, and therefore affect academic performance. 3. The most pronounced correlation was found for ferritin content and severity of alexithymia (r = -0.61).

Influence of the Use of the Approach of Blended Learning Model Rotation Based Moodle on Motivation and Cognitive Abilities of Students in the Subjects of Physics

Students' motivation to learn is the main aspect to achieve student success. Based on the results of observation and interview, the learning motivation of students in SMA Negeri 2 Kutacane is still relatively less, so the impact on the low cognitive ability of the students. The purpose of this study is to see the influence of the approach blended learning type station rotation on differences in motivation and cognitive abilities after the study. This research use approach uses quasi-experiments design pretest-posttest control group design. The population of this research is all students of class XI, the sample taken is of class XI IPA 2 as the experimental class and XI IPA 3 as the control class. Using a data collection instrument sheet, questionnaires, and interviews to measure the motivation to learn and use the instrument on a test to measure the cognitive abilities of the students. The results of data analysis using t-test (independent sample t-test) show the differences in motivation and cognitive abilities of students with a significance of 0.000 < 0.05 means there is a significant difference between the motivation and ability of cognitive control and experimental classes. Therefore, it can be concluded that there is an influence of the use of the approach blended learning type station rotation motivation and cognitive abilities of the students.

Application and Analysis of Education and Teaching Mode Based on 5G and Smart Technology

The development of information technology has brought tremendous changes to our country’s education. Based on the 5G + Internet, the article proposes a brand-new intelligent education model and proposes an ST analysis method, which mainly studies the teacher and students in the classroom. Class performance, based on Yebes network, proposed a learning decision method and application. The research results of the article show the following: (1) The article compares the monthly test scores of three variables under two different teaching modes. The results show that the performance of the online teaching mode is generally better than that of the traditional teaching mode, and the performance of the experimental class has increased more, with an average growth score of 4.83, indicating that there are significant differences in students’ learning and cognitive abilities under different teaching models. (2) The article compares the students’ knowledge mastery under two different teaching modes. The results show that under the traditional teaching mode, the students’ knowledge mastery is low, and the complete mastery rate is only 15%. In the network multimedia teaching mode, the students’ knowledge mastery rate has been greatly improved, the complete mastery rate is as high as 45%, and the students’ mastery of knowledge has been extremely improved, indicating that the network multimedia teaching mode can stimulate students’ learning interest more, improve learning efficiency. (3) Studying the differences in the source of curriculum resources of three different types of teachers, and the results show that the proportion of curriculum resources downloaded through the Internet is the largest; in the investigation of the impact of multimedia teaching on the classroom, the cooperation rate of students when multimedia teaching is not used, classroom practice accuracy and classroom completion rate are low, but after using multimedia teaching, students’ cooperation rate and classroom practice accuracy rate have been greatly improved, among which the accuracy rate of the experimental class is as high as 62.4%, and the students’ thinking ability is also good. Great improvement.

Peripheral NF-κB dysregulation in people with schizophrenia drives inflammation: putative anti-inflammatory functions of NF-κB kinases

Elevations in plasma levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines and C-reactive protein (CRP) in patient blood have been associated with impairments in cognitive abilities and more severe psychiatric symptoms in people with schizophrenia. The transcription factor nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) regulates the gene expression of pro-inflammatory factors whose protein products trigger CRP release. NF-κB activation pathway mRNAs are increased in the brain in schizophrenia and are strongly related to neuroinflammation. Thus, it is likely that this central immune regulator is also dysregulated in the blood and associated with cytokine and CRP levels. We measured levels of six pro-inflammatory cytokine mRNAs and 18 mRNAs encoding NF-κB pathway members in peripheral blood leukocytes from 87 people with schizophrenia and 83 healthy control subjects. We then assessed the relationships between the alterations in NF-κB pathway genes, pro-inflammatory cytokine and CRP levels, psychiatric symptoms and cognition in people with schizophrenia. IL-1β and IFN-γ mRNAs were increased in patients compared to controls (both p < 0.001), while IL-6, IL-8, IL-18, and TNF-α mRNAs did not differ. Recursive two-step cluster analysis revealed that high levels of IL-1β mRNA and high levels of plasma CRP defined ‘high inflammation’ individuals in our cohort, and a higher proportion of people with schizophrenia were identified as displaying ‘high inflammation’ compared to controls using this method (p = 0.03). Overall, leukocyte expression of the NF-κB-activating receptors, TLR4 and TNFR2, and the NF-κB subunit, RelB, was increased in people with schizophrenia compared to healthy control subjects (all p < 0.01), while NF-κB-inducing kinase mRNAs IKKβ and NIK were downregulated in patients (all p < 0.05). We found that elevations in TLR4 and RelB appear more related to inflammatory status than to a diagnosis of schizophrenia, but changes in TNFR2 occur in both the high and low inflammation patients (but were exaggerated in high inflammation patients). Further, decreased leukocyte expression of IKKβ and NIK mRNAs was unique to high inflammation patients, which may represent schizophrenia-specific dysregulation of NF-κB that gives rise to peripheral inflammation in a subset of patients.

Exploring Higher-Order Conceptual Learning in an Arthropod with a Large Multisensory Processing Center

Comparative cognition aims to understand the evolutionary history and current function of cognitive abilities in a variety of species with diverse natural histories. One characteristic often attributed to higher cognitive abilities is higher-order conceptual learning, such as the ability to learn concepts independent of stimuli—e.g., ‘same’ or ‘different’. Conceptual learning has been documented in honeybees and a number of vertebrates. Amblypygids, nocturnal enigmatic arachnids, are good candidates for higher-order learning because they are excellent associational learners, exceptional navigators, and they have large, highly folded mushroom bodies, which are brain regions known to be involved in learning and memory in insects. In Experiment 1, we investigate if the amblypygid Phrynus marginimaculatus can learn the concept of same with a delayed odor matching task. In Experiment 2, we test if Paraphrynus laevifrons can learn same/different with delayed tactile matching and nonmatching tasks before testing if they can transfer this learning to a novel cross-modal odor stimulus. Our data provide no evidence of conceptual learning in amblypygids, but more solid conclusions will require the use of alternative experimental designs to ensure our negative results are not simply a consequence of the designs we employed.

Psychometric Validation of The Cognitive Abilities Screening Instrument Using Rasch Analysis In People With Dementia

Background: The Cognitive Abilities Screening Instrument (CASI) is one of the most commonly used cognitive screening tools to assess overall cognitive function in people with dementia. However, the unidimensionliaty of the CASI using Rasch analysis has not been evaluated in people with dementia, limiting its utility in clinical and research settings. Unidimensionality verifies whether all items of a measure reflect a single theoretical construct, which is necessary to determine whether clinicians and researchers can appropriately use the sum scores of the CASI to describe overall cognitive function. This study aimed to examine unidimensionality of the CASI using Rasch analysis and estimate Rasch person reliability in people with dementia. Methods: CASI data of people with dementia was collected from medical records of one general hospital in northern Taiwan. A total of 506 people with dementia were recruited from the Department of Neurology. Unidimensionality was confirmed through two assumptions: (1) the infit and outfit mean square (MnSq) were 0.6-1.4, and (2) residual variance of the first principal component in principal component analysis was ≤ 20%. Rasch person reliability was estimated after undimensionality was supported. Results: One item from the list-generating fluency dimension was misfitted (outfit MnSq=1.42) and was deleted. The unidimensionality of the remaining 45 items (referred to as the CASI-45) was supported with an infit and outfit MnSq (0.85-1.24 and 0.84-1.28, respectively) and low residual variance of the first principal component (12.8%). The Rasch person reliability of the CASI-45 was 0.62. Conclusion: The CASI-45 showed a unidimensional construct and had acceptable Rasch person reliability in people with dementia.