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Chronotype reflects the morningness-eveningness preference over a 24 h period. Significant data indicate meaningful differences between evening types (ETs) and morning types (MTs) in behavior, personality traits, health, and well-being. This study explores the interactions between chronotype, sleep, personality, and life satisfaction among 254 undergraduate college students (mean age 23.79 ± 1.85). Using online questionnaires, the participants provided demographic information and completed assessments, including the Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ), the Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), a shortened version of the Big Five Inventory (BFI-10), and a life satisfaction uniscale measure. The results revealed a significant association between chronotype and both life satisfaction and sleep quality, where ETs exhibited poorer outcomes compared to MTs. Additionally, the chronotype correlated with agreeableness and conscientiousness, with later chronotypes linked to reduced scores in these personality traits. A key finding in this study was revealed in a mediation analysis in which sleep quality was found to mediate the relationship between chronotype and life satisfaction. The mediation analysis highlighted sleep quality as a crucial process connecting chronotype to life satisfaction. The findings emphasize the importance of addressing sleep quality in interventions aimed at enhancing life satisfaction and overall well-being among ETs. Overall, our results provide valuable insights into the intricate relationships between chronotype, personality, sleep quality, and subjective well-being.

COVID-19 related lockdowns changed our life. Studies report that young women are more susceptible to lockdown-induced adverse effects and stress. As stress and menstrual cycle are associated, we hypothesized that menstrual cycle length might change during lockdown. We examined menstrual cycle length, and sleep-wake behaviors during lockdown in Israel. Participants were 97 women in their fertile years who used Tempdrop fertility sensor™ to track cycles. Data were collected before, during and after lockdown in Israel. Our main finding is that lockdown was associated with changes in menstrual cycle length of most participants, with either increased of decreased length. Changes were reversed when lockdown was terminated. Sleep duration increased during lockdown but we found no relationship between sleep and menstrual cycle. We suggest these findings contribute to the understanding of the relationship between stress, sleep, and menstrual cycle. Further studies should explore the sources for differential effects in sub-groups of women.

Objectives: This study aimed to explore the prevalence of non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) among Druze adolescents in Israel, an ethnic minority, and examine the influence of identity conflict, depression, and performance of risky behaviors on such adolescents' engagement in NSSI. This investigation is important because little is known about NSSI among adolescents from ethnic minorities., Methods: Overall, 290 Druze adolescents aged 16-18 (mean = 16.26, standard deviation = 0.9) years (63.9% female) participated in this study. They were recruited through snowball sampling from three Druze schools that agreed to participate in the study. All participants completed self-report measures for NSSI, depression, anxiety, engagement in risky behaviors, emotion regulation, sleep problems, and identity integration., Results: Almost 20% of the total sample engaged in NSSI. Those who engaged in NSSI reported more significant depression, anxiety, sleep problems, and engagement in risky behaviors when compared with those who did not engage in NSSI. Moreover, those who engaged in NSSI reported experiencing a higher level of identity conflict. Further analysis revealed an indirect effect of identity conflict on NSSI through engagement in risky behaviors., Conclusions: This study's findings clarify the prevalence of NSSI among Druze adolescents, as well as contributing factors, and also highlights the importance of developing interventions that specifically target this unique ethnic group., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Toukhy, Ophir, Stukalin, Halabi and Hamdan.)

To prevent and reduce the spread of COVID-19, governments around the world apply social restrictions and lockdowns. Such lockdowns significantly alter daily routine and habits. A growing body of research indicates that lockdowns affect sleep and circadian rhythms. The current study further explores this effect using sleep logs for a relatively long duration including lockdown and post-lockdown periods in Israel. For two consecutive months, both during lockdown and during post-lockdown periods, from March 13th, 2020 to May 12th, 2020, Israeli students were asked to fill out daily sleep logs in which they report their sleep and wake times. The participants were also asked to fill out the Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ) in the beginning of the study. Data show increase in sleep duration and a delayed midsleep point during lockdown, compared to post-lockdown periods, both on workdays and on weekends. An interaction between chronotype and lockdown was also observed; morning types sleep more both during lockdown and during post-lockdown periods. Interestingly, the midsleep point of late chronotypes is later during both workdays and weekends even during lockdown when social constrains on sleep time are in part removed. Overall, the current results based on detailed and relatively long-term sleep logs analysis confirm previous work using limited measures, such as one-time questionnaires. A lockdown period affects sleep-wake behavior: during lockdown people sleep duration is increased and their sleep onset is delayed. Nevertheless, the circadian preference of individuals is conserved across conditions., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest statementThe authors declare no conflict of interest., (© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Japanese Society of Sleep Research 2022.)

Objectives: The "Bipolar Disorders: Improving Diagnosis, Guidance, and Education" (BRIDGE-II-Mix) study aimed to estimate the frequency of mixed states in patients with a major depressive episode (MDE) according to different definitions and to compare their clinical validity, looking into specific features such as rapid cycling (RC)., Methods: Psychiatric symptoms, socio-demographic, and clinical variables were collected from a sample of 2811 MDE patients, of which 726 (25.8%) were diagnosed with bipolar disorder (BD). The characteristics of bipolar patients with RC (BD-RC) and without (BD-NRC) RC were compared., Results: Of 726 BD patients, 159 (21.9%) met DSM-5 criteria for RC. BD-RC group presented a higher number of lifetime depressive episodes (p < 0.001) with shorter duration of depressive episodes, and more psychiatric comorbidities, as well as higher rates of atypical features (p = 0.016) and concomitant (hypo)manic symptoms (irritable mood (p = 0.001); risky behavior (p = 0.005); impulsivity (p = 0.006); and psychomotor agitation (p = 0.029)). Patients with RC had a worse functioning (p = 0.033), more obesity (p = 0.003), and were significantly more likely to be treated with three or more drugs (p = 0.007)., Conclusions: Important clinical differences between bipolar patients with and without a RC include more depressive morbidity, higher incidence of anxiety disorders, addiction, bulimia, and borderline personality disorder, as well as atypical features during depression and symptoms such as irritability, risky behavior, impulsivity, and agitation. RC patients had poorer functioning than patients without RC, more obesity, and had to be treated with more drugs., (© 2020 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Background: With the constant urgent need to meet the demands of the future workforce, nursing education institutes are under increasing pressure to graduate more quality students. One way to achieve higher numbers of graduates would be to identify factors that predict nursing students' academic success. No reports of such predictors were found for students in accelerated programs for non-nursing Bachelor's degree graduates., Objectives: This study was designed to examine the relationships between demographic characteristics, course grades in basic science and medical-surgical courses, and the final scores achieved by students in the Israel mandatory RN certification test., Design, Settings, and Participants: 164 students, enrolled in four courses of a second career in nursing program (accelerated program) in an academic nursing school in central Israel, participated in this retrospective study., Methods: Socio-demographic data and the final grades for basic science courses (chemistry and biochemistry, microbiology, anatomy and physiology, pathology, and pharmacology), the major Medical-Surgical course, and the RN certification test, were collected from the institutional database and analyzed., Results: Positive correlations were found between the mandatory RN certification test score, and the final grades of all the studies except the pathology course and Medical-Surgical course. The final RN certification test score was predicted by the final grades, with anatomy and physiology (p < 0.001), and pharmacology (p < 0.003), explaining 40% of the variance of the dependent variable. There were no statistical effects of demographic variables., Conclusions: Early evaluation and prediction of academic success for nursing students in the second career program may guide effective interventions designed to promote students' skills and improve their ability to complete the mandatory RN certification test successfully., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

One problem areas of animal models and tests for neuropsychiatric disorders is unclear reproducibility, including both internal and external validity. One way to examine external validity is with systematic reviews and meta-analyses, a standard practice in clinical research that is relatively neglected in preclinical research. Considering the need to evaluate the validity and reproducibility of frequently used animal models, this study presents a meta-analysis of the effects of prototypic benzodiazepines and specific serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) in the mouse defensive marble burying test (MBT). These drug groups were selected because although they differ in their biological targets as well as in their clinical use, they are both commonly used for the treatment of anxiety disorders. A PubMed literature search was performed to identify studies that examined the effects of benzodiazepines (diazepam, alprazolam, chlordiazepoxide, clonazepam) or SSRIs (fluoxetine, citalopram, escitalopram, fluvoxamine, paroxetine) in the MBT in mice. For benzodiazepines, 73 experiments were included. Benzodiazepines effect size was 2.04 and Q statistics was 1959 with a significant correlation between dose and effect size (r = 0.31, p = 0.007). For SSRIs we identified 47 experiments. Effect size of SSRIs was 2.24 and Q statistics was 493.38. No correlation was found between dose and effect size (r = 0.23, p = 0.12). The current results support the external validity of the defensive marble burying test as a screening test for anxiolytic effects. However, these results indicate that significant attention should be given to the administration schedules of benzodiazepines and SSRIs., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest None, (Copyright © 2020. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Animal models in neuropsychiatric research need validation. One way to address external validity is systematic reviews and meta-analyses. The present study presents a meta-analysis of the effects of antidepressants in the mouse tail suspension test (TST). A PubMed search identified studies that examined imipramine and fluoxetine effects in the TST. Inclusion criteria were testing in the light phase; trial duration was six minutes; immobility time scored 6 or (last) 4 min; adult mice; acute intraperitoneal (IP) administration. Effect sizes (ES) were estimated using Cohen's d, heterogeneity of ES with Cochran's Q test, correlations between dose and ES with Pearson's correlation and differences between strains with Analysis of variance. Results show that antidepressants decrease immobility time in the TST and a correlation between drug dose and ES but no effects of strain. We suggest that the TST is a valid tool to quantitatively, consistently and reproducibly capture the immobility-reducing aspects of fluoxetine and imipramine and that the lack of strain effects is due to small number of experiments in many of the strains., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: Bipolar disorder (BD) is a highly heritable and disabling mental illness, commonly associated with substance abuse, being alcohol abuse the most frequent. Comorbid BD and substance abuse disorders are often associated with high levels of health service utilization and destabilization of the course of illness resulting in poor treatment outcomes. Although recent genome-wide association studies have detected a number of risk genes for BD, the data is still sparse and inconclusive for those genes that may contribute to the increased risk of comorbid alcohol abuse (AA) in BD. The primary aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of 46 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within eight genes on different phenotypes of BD patients, such as comorbid alcohol abuse. We further assessed clinical variables associated with AA., Methods: One-hundred fifty-eight BD I and II patients were enrolled in a naturalistic cohort study. Genomic DNA of 92 patients was extracted from whole blood using standard procedures and 46 tag SNPs in eight genes of interest (ANK, CACNA1C, CACNB2, FKBP5, GRM7, ITIH3, SYNE1 and TCF4) were genotyped., Results: Seventy-one patients out of 158 (45%) satisfied diagnostic criteria for comorbid AA. Among 46 SNPs analyzed, the only SNP associated with comorbid AA was rs1034936 polymorphism in the CANCA1C gene. This polymorphism was also associated with lifetime cocaine abuse, manic switch and current atypical antipsychotics., Conclusions: Our findings suggest a role of rs1034936 CACNA1C gene variant in BD-AA group. Despite their preliminary nature, the present results may provide new insight on mechanisms underlying AA in BD., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The increased risk of psychological distress among bariatric surgery candidates may be attributed, at least in part, to body image dissatisfaction (BID). The aim of the present study was to test the hypotheses that body image could be correlated with the psychological distress variables, and that emotional eating behaviours could mediate the relationship between body image and psychological distress. A sample of consecutive participants seeking bariatric surgery (N = 169, 67% females, mean age, 41.8 years [SD = 11.46], mean body mass index 42.0 kg/m 2 [SD = 11.0]) was recruited from a university-based bariatric centre, a week prior to scheduled surgery. Results showed that BID was positively correlated with suicidality (r = 0.18, P < 0.05), depression (r = 0.39, P < 0.01) and anxiety (r = 0.20, P < 0.05). The relation between BID and depression was partially mediated by emotional eating, whereas the relation between BID and suicidality was fully mediated by emotional eating. Physicians and other health professionals who treat bariatric surgery patients should be encouraged to detect behaviours indicating emotional eating, as these could be an indicator of psychological distress resulting from poor body image., (© 2019 World Obesity Federation.)

Background: One concern regarding animal models of psychopathology is unclear external validity. One way to establish external validity is to examine measures representing separate facets of the pathology with a battery of tests in the same cohort of animals. Additionally, utilizing the same animals in a battery of tests can help to reduce the number of animals in research. However, issues had been raised regarding the analysis of data coming from batteries and the standard practice is to analyze each test separately. This approach introduces two problems: (1) the analysis answers the question regarding separate tests but not regarding the general effect; (2) there is no correction for multiple comparisons. One way to overcome these challenges is to use transformations to Z-scores. We suggest an additional approach, analyzing test batteries with multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA)., Methods: To compare the outcomes of Z-score analysis and MANOVA we re-analyzed two published studies where data were initially analyzed separately for each test. Additionally, we computed effect sizes., Results: The first study tested interaction between sex and lithium in a battery of manic-like behaviors, the second study tested asenapine in a battery of anxiety-like behaviors. For the first study, the MANOVA analysis indicated no effects of sex and a significant antimanic-like effect of lithium and for the second study, the MANOVA indicated a significant anxiolytic effect of asenapine. Z-score analysis resulted in a significant general antimanic-like effect in the lithium study but failed to demonstrate the anxiolytic effects of asenapine in the second study., Conclusions: It is possible to suggest that MANOVA is an appropriate way to analyze data from test batteries and that its use, when appropriate, can increase the validity, predictability and reproducibility of results., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)