ICBrainDB: An Integrated Database for Finding Associations between Genetic Factors and EEG Markers of Depressive Disorders

In this study, we collected and systemized diverse information related to depressive and anxiety disorders as the first step on the way to investigate the associations between molecular genetics, electrophysiological, behavioral, and psychological characteristics of people. Keeping that in mind, we developed an internet resource including a database and tools for primary presentation of the collected data of genetic factors, the results of electroencephalography (EEG) tests, and psychological questionnaires. The sample of our study was 1010 people from different regions of Russia. We created the integrated ICBrainDB database that enables users to easily access, download, and further process information about individual behavioral characteristics and psychophysiological responses along with inherited trait data. The data obtained can be useful in training neural networks and in machine learning construction processes in Big Data analysis. We believe that the existence of such a resource will play an important role in the further search for associations of genetic factors and EEG markers of depression.

Impact of Long-Rope Jumping on Monoamine and Attention in Young Adults

Previous research has shown that rope jumping improves physical health; however, little is known about its impact on brain-derived monoamine neurotransmitters associated with cognitive regulation. To address these gaps in the literature, the present study compared outcomes between 15 healthy participants (mean age, 23.1 years) after a long-rope jumping exercise and a control condition. Long-rope jumping also requires co-operation between people, attention, spatial cognition, and rhythm sensation. Psychological questionnaires were administered to both conditions, and Stroop task performance and monoamine metabolite levels in the saliva and urine were evaluated. Participants performing the exercise exhibited lower anxiety levels than those in the control condition. Saliva analyses showed higher 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylglycol (a norepinephrine metabolite) levels, and urine analyses revealed higher 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylglycol and 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (a serotonin metabolite) levels in the exercise condition than in the control. Importantly, urinary 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid level correlated with salivary and urinary 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylglycol levels in the exercise condition. Furthermore, cognitive results revealed higher Stroop performance in the exercise condition than in the control condition; this performance correlated with salivary 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylglycol levels. These results indicate an association between increased 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylglycol and attention in long-rope jumping. We suggest that long-rope jumping predicts central norepinephrinergic activation and related attention maintenance.

Personality’s Agency Activity Profile Methodology Standardization

The article presents the results of standardization of the "Personality’s Agency Activity Profile" methodology. This methodology is the author's multidimensional personality questionnaire, with confirmed validity and reliability, and is aimed at discovering the personality positioning system that determines the nature and orientation of the agent’s activity. The problems of standardization of personal psychological questionnaires are raised, in particular, the problems of the relativity of the norms obtained during standardization and the need for additional indicators to receive a correct psychodiagnostic interpretation. A step-by-step scheme for standardizing the methodology scales has been implemented on a sample of 958 people, including a test for the normality and homogeneity of empirical distributions. The need for differentiated standardization of the methodology depending on the gender and age of the respondents has been substantiated using the methods of mathematical statistics. For the middle-aged (25-42 years old) part of the sample, tables for converting raw test scores to stanines have been built up and presented.

Severe Reduction of Energy Availability in Controlled Conditions Causes Poor Endurance Performance, Impairs Explosive Power and Affects Hormonal Status in Trained Male Endurance Athletes

The aim of this study was to severely reduce energy availability (EA) in controlled conditions in trained male endurance athletes to observe any effects on health, performance, and psychological and energy markers. EA was reduced by 50% over 14 days in athletes by maintaining identical energy intake and increasing exercise energy expenditure. Blood was drawn, performance was measured by three specific tests (endurance, explosive power and agility) and two psychological questionnaires were used. Reduced EA (17.3 ± 5.0 kcal/kg FFM/day) resulted in lower body fat% (t(12) = 3.36, p = 0.006), lower power output and relative power output (t(12) = 2.69, p = 0.021 t(12) = 2.34, p = 0.036), explosive power was reduced (t(12) = 6.41, p = 0.000), lactate metabolism was altered (p = 0.001). EA was negatively correlated with haemoglobin and testosterone (r = −0.557, p = 0.30 and r = −0.532, p = 0.037), anaerobic threshold (r = −0.597, p = 0.02) and respiratory compensation point (r = −0.575, p = 0.025). There were significant differences in Well-being (t(12) = 4.11, p = 0.002) and the Three Factor Eating Questionnaire (t(12) = −2.71, p = 0.020). This is the first study to demonstrate that endurance performance and explosive power can be affected before detrimental health effects occur in male athletes. Drastic reductions of EA could lead to poor eating behaviours. The two psychological questionnaires seem to be more sensitive to EA changes than blood markers.

Deep and Wide Transfer Learning with Kernel Matching for Pooling Data from Electroencephalography and Psychological Questionnaires

Motor imagery (MI) promotes motor learning and encourages brain–computer interface systems that entail electroencephalogram (EEG) decoding. However, a long period of training is required to master brain rhythms’ self-regulation, resulting in users with MI inefficiency. We introduce a parameter-based approach of cross-subject transfer-learning to improve the performances of poor-performing individuals in MI-based BCI systems, pooling data from labeled EEG measurements and psychological questionnaires via kernel-embedding. To this end, a Deep and Wide neural network for MI classification is implemented to pre-train the network from the source domain. Then, the parameter layers are transferred to initialize the target network within a fine-tuning procedure to recompute the Multilayer Perceptron-based accuracy. To perform data-fusion combining categorical features with the real-valued features, we implement stepwise kernel-matching via Gaussian-embedding. Finally, the paired source–target sets are selected for evaluation purposes according to the inefficiency-based clustering by subjects to consider their influence on BCI motor skills, exploring two choosing strategies of the best-performing subjects (source space): single-subject and multiple-subjects. Validation results achieved for discriminant MI tasks demonstrate that the introduced Deep and Wide neural network presents competitive performance of accuracy even after the inclusion of questionnaire data.

Influence of Informal Education in the Forest Stand Redevelopment Area on the Psychological Restoration of Working Adults

Background and Objectives: Nowadays, a significant part of the human population lives and works in urban agglomerations. Limited contact with nature, polluted air, stress, and a sedentary work style all contribute to problems with the physical and mental health of a considerable number of city dwellers. There are many studies indicating the positive, restorative properties of natural environments, such as forests, on human well-being. Our aim was to investigate whether suburban commercial forests in combination with informal environmental education can bring restorative properties to people, especially those who are economically active. Materials and Methods: Four psychological questionnaires were used to determine the restorative properties of a suburban commercial forest on young active people: the Profile of Mood Scale (POMS), the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS), the Restorative Outcome Scale (ROS), and the Subjective Vitality Scale (SVS). The experiment involved 60 participants who took forest baths (the act of spending time in a forest and opening your senses to the natural surroundings to experience feelings of peace and wellbeing) in a suburban commercial forest surrounding Świdnik, a city of 40,000 inhabitants located directly next to Lublin (a provincial city with a population of 339,811). The volunteers were divided into three groups; Group A walked an educational route with educational boards (route A1). Group B walked another route with a forest educator who described various forest management activities conducted in this forest (route A2). Group C walked alone, without an educator, along route A2. All three groups arrived at the site of forest stand redevelopment as the end of their route. After a short 10-min exposure to this site, the volunteers again completed the psychological questionnaires. Results: Our study clearly indicates a positive effect from forest bathing in suburban commercial forests. Both the walk with a forest educator and the walk along the educational trail supported psychological recovery for the participants of the experiment, which shows that informal environmental education carried out in forests can be successfully combined with forest bathing, supporting the positive effects of this activity.

How Should Athletes Coping With COVID-19: Focus on Severity and Psychological Support

Objective: Athletes are suffering from many uncertainties and hope to achieve the best possible position under the current circumstances of this global coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. In this study, we aimed to address the severity and psychological support for athletes with COVID-19.Methods: We extracted public data and news reports of the up-to-date first seven cases of elite athletes with COVID-19 confirmed in China and made psychological recommendations based on scientific evidence.Results: The severity and mortality in athletes who tested positive to COVID-19 are mild and extremely low. The included cases from different sports are two soccer players, two athletes from ice hockey, and three from fencing. In this study, we adapted well-recognized psychological questionnaires, improvised it for athletes to use under the COVID-19 pandemic, and also provided recommended psychological support.Conclusion: The severity and mortality in Chinese athletes contracted with COVID-19 are mild and low with zero death. Psychological support of any kind from nurses, team medical staff, psychologists, family, and friends through social media and telecommunication should be adopted and can be of great help.

How do you feel during the COVID-19 pandemic? A survey using psychological and linguistic self-report measures, and machine learning to investigate mental health, subjective experience, personality, and behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic among university students

Background The WHO has raised concerns about the psychological consequences of the current COVID-19 pandemic, negatively affecting health across societies, cultures and age-groups. Methods This online survey study investigated mental health, subjective experience, and behaviour (health, learning/teaching) among university students studying in Egypt or Germany shortly after the first pandemic lockdown in May 2020. Psychological assessment included stable personality traits, self-concept and state-like psychological variables related to (a) mental health (depression, anxiety), (b) pandemic threat perception (feelings during the pandemic, perceived difficulties in describing, identifying, expressing emotions), (c) health (e.g., worries about health, bodily symptoms) and behaviour including perceived difficulties in learning. Assessment methods comprised self-report questions, standardized psychological scales, psychological questionnaires, and linguistic self-report measures. Data analysis comprised descriptive analysis of mental health, linguistic analysis of self-concept, personality and feelings, as well as correlational analysis and machine learning. N = 220 (107 women, 112 men, 1 = other) studying in Egypt or Germany provided answers to all psychological questionnaires and survey items. Results Mean state and trait anxiety scores were significantly above the cut off scores that distinguish between high versus low anxious subjects. Depressive symptoms were reported by 51.82% of the student sample, the mean score was significantly above the screening cut off score for risk of depression. Worries about health (mental and physical health) and perceived difficulties in identifying feelings, and difficulties in learning behaviour relative to before the pandemic were also significant. No negative self-concept was found in the linguistic descriptions of the participants, whereas linguistic descriptions of feelings during the pandemic revealed a negativity bias in emotion perception. Machine learning (exploratory) predicted personality from the self-report data suggesting relations between personality and subjective experience that were not captured by descriptive or correlative data analytics alone. Conclusion Despite small sample sizes, this multimethod survey provides important insight into mental health of university students studying in Egypt or Germany and how they perceived the first COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in May 2020. The results should be continued with larger samples to help develop psychological interventions that support university students across countries and cultures to stay psychologically resilient during the pandemic.

COVID19 Stress Scale - Hindi Version

Here, I present the Hindi version of the COVID Stress Scale (Taylor et al., 2020). Given the relevance in providing regional translations for psychological questionnaires for carrying out psychological surveys for every geographical location sans linguistic barriers and obtaining relevant insights for future public policy-making, the COVID Stress Scale has been translated into the language Hindi - the primary national language for country India.