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Purpose: Monitoring player readiness to train and perform is an important practical concept in football. Despite an abundance of research in this area in the male game, to date, research is limited in female football. The aims of this study were, first, to summarize the current literature on the monitoring of readiness in female football; second, to summarize the current evidence regarding the monitoring of the menstrual cycle and its potential impact on physical preparation and performance in female footballers; and third, to offer practical recommendations based on the current evidence for practitioners working with female football players. Conclusions: Practitioners should include both objective (eg, heart rate and countermovement jump) and subjective measures (eg, athlete-reported outcome measures) in their monitoring practices. This would allow them to have a better picture of female players' readiness. Practitioners should assess the reliability of their monitoring (objective and subjective) tools before adopting them with their players. The use of athlete-reported outcome measures could play a key role in contexts where technology is not available (eg, in semiprofessional and amateur clubs); however, practitioners need to be aware that many single-item athlete-reported outcome measures instruments have not been properly validated. Finally, tracking the menstrual cycle can identify menstrual dysfunction (eg, infrequent or irregular menstruation) that can indicate a state of low energy availability or an underlying gynecological issue, both of which warrant further investigation by medical practitioners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early life stress (ELS) is defined as an acute or chronic stressor that negatively impacts a child's development. ELS is associated with substance use and mental health problems. This narrative literature review focuses on sex and gender differences in the effects of ELS on 1) adolescent neuroendocrine development; 2) pubertal brain maturation; and 3) development of internalizing symptoms and subsequent substance use. We posit that ELS may generate larger hormonal dysregulation in females than males during puberty, increasing internalizing symptoms and substance use. Future research should consider sex and gender differences in neuroendocrine developmental processes when studying the link between ELS and negative health outcomes.

University brings many changes and challenges in students inducing a great amount of emotion fluctuation. During these times of emotion fluctuation, students can experience a drop off in academic performance and a rise in stress levels. In these times, effective emotion regulation has demonstrated to be a valuable tool correlated with improving academic performance and lowering stress. Music and light/color have been shown to be effective aspects of a smart environment for emotion regulation. Combining this knowledge along with physiological signal analysis correlating with emotions, we set out to develop a smart environment system set to aid students with emotion regulation. Our goal is to develop a low-cost accessible tool for university students that enhances student performance, emotional self understanding, and positive emotion regulation habits.Faculty Advisor: Professor Dang

BACKGROUND: We examined the relationship between baseline olfactory performance and incident significant depressive symptoms and longitudinal depression trajectories in well-functioning older adults. Inflammation and cognitive status were examined as potential mediators. METHODS: Older adults (n = 2 125, 71-82 years, 51% female, 37% Black) completed an odor identification task at Year 3 (our study baseline) of the Health, Aging, and Body Composition study. Cognitive assessments, depressive symptoms, and inflammatory markers were ascertained across multiple visits over 8 years. Discrete-time complementary log-log models, group-based trajectory models, and multivariable-adjusted multinomial logistic regression were employed to assess the relationship between baseline olfaction and incident depression and longitudinal depression trajectories. Mediation analysis assessed the influence of cognitive status on these relationships. RESULTS: Individuals with lower olfaction had an increased risk of developing significant depressive symptoms at follow-up (hazard ratio = 1.04, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.00, 1.08). Of the 3 patterns of longitudinal depression scores identified (stable low, stable moderate, and stable high), poorer olfaction was associated with a 6% higher risk of membership in the stable moderate (relative risk ratio [RRR] = 1.06, 95% CI: 1.02, 1.10)/stable high (RRR = 1.06, 95% CI: 1.00, 1.12) groups, compared to the stable low group. Poor cognitive status, but not inflammation, partially mediated the relationship between olfactory performance and incident depression symptom severity. CONCLUSIONS: Suboptimal olfaction could serve as a prognostic indicator of vulnerability for the development of late-life depression. These findings underscore the need for a greater understanding of olfaction in late-life depression and the demographic, cognitive, and biological factors that influence these relationships over time.

Reduced cognitive function in major depression (MDD) is often interpreted as a reduced ability to exert cognitive control. Here we used the Effort Foraging Task to test the hypothesis that reduced cognitive function may be due, in part, to decreased willingness to exert control in MDD because of increased cognitive effort "costs". Contrary to our predictions, neither cognitive nor physical effort costs differed with MDD diagnosis (N MDD=52, N Comparisons=27). However, we found distinct patterns of symptom relationships for cognitive and physical effort costs. In MDD, greater anxiety symptoms were selectively associated with lower cognitive, but not physical effort cost (i.e. greater willingness to exert cognitive effort), whereas greater anhedonia and behavioral apathy symptoms were selectively associated with increased physical (but not cognitive) effort costs. These findings support the measurement of both cognitive and physical effort as decision-making function markers that may inform heterogeneity of MDD.

The current study examines the interaction between predisposed mood, perceptual processing, and induced mood using music. We conducted an experiment in which participants were asked to identify stimuli at global or local (G/L) perceptual levels with four different background music conditions, which had different valence and arousal ratings. We used BMIS to assess current mood and PHQ-9 and GAD-7 to assess depression and anxiety, and divided the participants into two groups: distress and no distress (encompassing both disorders). We found a main effect of background music on mood. However, the distress group showed an overall low mood. Further, we observed an overarching effect of predisposed mood, encompassing depression and anxiety, on individuals' transient mood experience and perceptual task performance. Individuals in the non-distress group showed a larger global-precedence effect. The results are discussed in light of emotional reactivity theories and the theory of positive emotion.

Experimentally manipulating alcohol value reliably influences alcohol choice and consumption; however, the cognitive mechanisms that underpin these relationships are not well-understood. Here, we explore whether computational parameters of value-based decision-making (VBDM) change when people experience heightened craving to consume alcohol, and whether parameters of VBDM are predictive of actual drinking behaviour. Prior to completing a novel VBDM task, participants recalled either a positive drinking memory while being exposed to an alcoholic cue (alcohol craving), or a positive alcohol-unrelated memory while being exposed to a soft-drink cue (control). A drift-diffusion model (DDM) was fitted to reaction time and choice data to estimate evidence accumulation (EA) processes and response thresholds during the different blocks in each experimental condition. Subsequently, ad libitum alcohol consumption (disguised as a taste test) was measured. Using computational modelling techniques to quantify the internal processes of decision-making could potentially contribute to identifying innovative targets for treatment interventions.

In our study, we address conflicts between individuals and groups, such as cyberbully on social media, as a challenge related to the distinction between the self and others. To address this issue using technology, we propose the concept of introducing facial synchronization in the virtual realm as a means to manipulate the boundary between oneself and others.We designed an experiment using Cyberball that simulates an ostracism environment, effectively partitioning the boundary between the self and others. This task was conducted in Virtual Reality (VR), with the agent's facial expressions synchronized with those of the participant.Our findings indicated a reduction in feelings of alienation within the ostracism environment. This discovery has potential implications for communication media, particularly in enhancing interfaces for individuals who may experience exclusionary behavior on social media.

Grief is a reaction to loss that is observed across human cultures and even in other species. While the particular expressions of grief vary significantly, universal aspects include experiences of emotional pain and frequent remembering of what was lost. Despite its prevalence, and its obvious nature, considering grief from a normative perspective is puzzling: Why do we grieve? Why is it painful? And why is it sometimes prolonged enough to be clinically impairing? Using the framework of reinforcement learning with memory replay, we offer answers to these questions and suggest, counter-intuitively, that grief may have normative value with respect to reward maximization. We additionally perform a set of simulations that identify and explore optimal grieving parameters, and use our model to account for empirical phenomena such as individual differences in human grief trajectories.

This study compares creativity test performance in Individual versus Team settings, addressing a gap in research that mostly focuses on individual outcomes. A total of 120 individuals participated in two sessions. The first session involved cognitive assessments, including the Advanced Progressive Matrices (APM), the Creative Reasoning Test (CRT), and the Test for Creative Thinking–Drawing Production (TCT-DP), as well as mood and personality questionnaires. In the second session, participants were assigned to either an Individual or a Team condition (N=3 each), based on and controlling for APM scores. The same assessments, except for the personality questionnaire, were conducted in this second session. In the Team condition, members were encouraged to collaborate in solving the tasks. We tested whether the conditions have a differential effect on the second session performances, particularly on divergent and convergent thinking scores in CRT, and/or on TCT-DP scores and/or on APM scores.

This study investigated the effects of consonant alliteration and meter on valence, arousal, and aesthetic evaluations. In Study 1, native Japanese speakers evaluated valence, arousal, beauty, and understandability of classical Japanese poems after listening to both alliterated and non-alliterated versions. The alliterated poems were rated as slightly calmer than the non-alliterated ones, although the difference was not statistically significant. In Study 2, native Japanese speakers listened to poems that consisted of pseudowords. The poems used as stimuli were systematically made in terms of alliteration and meter. The metered poems were perceived as more preferable, calmer, and more beautiful than the non-metered ones, regardless of the presence or absence of alliteration. Additionally, the alliterated and metered poems were perceived as more exciting than non-alliterated and metered poems. These results suggest that metered poems make people feel beautiful and comfortable. It might be applicable to clinical treatment.

Outrage has often been interpreted as a shorthand for “moral outrage,” anger upon a moral standard being violated (Batson et al., 2007). We ask whether a violation of a moral standard is necessary for producing outrage or whether other variables can also produce it. By presenting participants with a series of potentially outrage-inducing scenarios and measuring their emotional responses, we seek to identify the predictors of outrage. We find that anger and disgust are the strongest predictors of level of outrage compared to sense of threat, level of surprise, level of uncomfortableness, severity of the moral violation, and how much one values the moral being violated. Mediation analyses suggest that moral violations do not mediate the effects of anger and disgust on outrage. However, anger and disgust do mediate the effect of moral violations on outrage. Our findings suggest that moral violations elicit anger and disgust, which in turn produce feelings of outrage.

Others not only influence our behavior, but also our metacognitive evaluations of those behavior (i.e. decision confidence), even when feedback is random and uninformative. Here we ask if metacognitive ability to monitor reliability of one's decisions predicts social susceptibility. We also ask if mood (anxiety and depression) further modulates this effect. We gave 46 healthy participants a perceptual task and presented them with random social feedback (positive, negative, neutral). Participants rated their confidence in their decisions before and after feedback, and lastly had an opportunity to change their initial decisions. In a separate task we also measured their metacognitive abilities, as well as their anxiety and depression scores. Results showed metacognitive ability to increase susceptibility to random social feedback. Surprisingly for those with high levels of metacognitive ability anxiety exacerbates this effect, whereas depression suppresses it.

With the embodied interaction paradigm, research on human emotions has rapidly increased. In parallel, the advent of artificial intelligence and automated technologies has spurred research on trust towards interactive systems. However, little research has directly investigated the effects of emotions on trust in the context of technology use. The present paper surveyed empirical studies using the PRISMA framework. After briefly introducing emotional effects on cognitive processes, twenty-nine studies were systematically analyzed. In many papers positive emotions or empathically congruent systems led to higher trust. Some studies indicated that emotions can be a mediator between different factors and trust, whereas other studies showed only partial effects depending on different users or situations. Note that some research showed null effects or even negative effects (backfire effects) because emotional systems can be perceived as sarcastic or uncanny. In addition to the pervasive mood congruent effect or emotional contagion, various psychological mechanisms and theories were identified, such as entitativity, cognitive appraisal, or affect infusion model. Considerations for future design and research are discussed with results. This survey paper is expected to deepen the theoretical aspects of emotional effects on trust towards diverse technologies (robots, agents, or other interactive systems) and provide practical design directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Depression is characterized by a loss of positive and pronounced negative memory bias, which persists after remission. While theoretical accounts of depressive realism, emotional inertia, and mood-congruency substantiate the compelling evidence of weak positive memory in depression, they cannot fully explain negative memory bias in depression. We used Ecologically Momentary Assessments (EMA) of memory bias to provide insight into the accuracy and depression status-dependency of recall of previous positive and negative mood states. Currently- (n = 46), remitted- (n = 90), and never-depressed individuals (n = 55) provided positive mood and negative mood ratings (7x/day for six days), while also recalling their recent (i.e., previous prompt; 3x/day) or distal (i.e., one day lag; 1x/day) mood states. Currently depressed individuals displayed most accuracy and hence least bias in recall of both positive and negative mood; with accuracy in currently and remitted depressed individuals being independent of their current mood state. Conversely, mood at the time of recall significantly related to memory accuracy among never-depressed individuals with more negative mood, resulting in a depressotypic memory bias. Results are consistent with depressive realism and mood-congruency accounts, as well as with evidence for loss of positive memory bias (but not for negative memory bias) in depression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Reducing anxiety and depression in adolescents is a global health priority. Personal and social resources (e.g., hobbies and socialising) may reduce distress. Yet, there is insufficient understanding of how adolescents use such resources to reduce distress.Objective: To identify resources that reduced distress in the everyday lives of adolescents and whether resource use differed according to symptoms of anxiety and depression.Methods: The experience sampling method was used, a longitudinal method requiring participants to report on context and mood at randomly selected moments across a week. A total of 5 558 reports were contributed by 151 adolescents, including 90 with symptoms of anxiety and/or depression. The study was conducted in the poorest neighbourhoods of Bogotá, Buenos Aires, and Lima.Results: Multi-level modelling indicated that using resources was significantly associated with less nervousness and sadness. Adolescents with symptoms of anxiety and/or depression were less likely to use some resources (e.g., sport). Cross-level interactions showed the efficacy of resources differed according to the severity of symptomatology. For adolescents with symptoms of anxiety and depression, some resources (e.g., peer support) improved mood, while others (e.g., music listening) did not.Discussion: Personal and social resources are important for reducing distress in the everyday life of adolescents, giving insight into potential interventions to help mitigate symptoms of anxiety and depression before escalation. Further research could assess the quality of experiences (e.g., appraisal) to deepen understanding of how engagement promotes resilience.Conclusions: Care must be taken when recommending resource use, since some forms (e.g., music listening) may be unhelpful to adolescents with symptoms of anxiety and depression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Key points Heart failure (HF) patients suffer from cognitive decline and mood impairments, but the molecular signals and brain circuits underlying these effects remain elusive. The hypothalamic neuropeptide oxytocin (OT) is critically involved in regulating mood, and OTergic signalling in the central amygdala (CeA) is a key mechanism that controls emotional responses including anxiety‐like behaviours. Still, whether an altered OTergic signalling contributes to mood disorders in HF remains unknown. To address this, we used an ischaemic rat HF model, along with a highly multidisciplinary approach, to mechanistically study multiple levels of the hypothalamus‐to‐CeA OTergic circuit in male rats with HF. We aimed to test the hypothesis that sustained activation of the OT system following an infarct leads to depletion of OT content in this pathway, with subsequent changes in OT receptor expression and blunted modulation of local GABAergic circuits. We found that most of OTergic innervation of the CeA originated from the supraoptic nucleus (SON). While no differences in the numbers of SON→CeA OTergic neurons was observed between sham and HF rats, we observed a blunted content and release of OT from axonal terminals within the CeA. Moreover, we report downregulation of neuronal and astrocytic OT receptors, and impaired OTR‐driven GABAergic synaptic activity within the CeA microcircuit of HF rats. We provide the first evidence that male HF rats display perturbations in the hypothalamus‐to‐amygdala OTergic circuit, laying the foundation for future translational studies targeting either the OT system or GABAergic amygdalar microcircuit to ameliorate mood impairments in rats or patients with chronic HF. Heart failure patients suffer from cognitive decline, depression and mood impairments, but the underlying mechanisms remain elusive. Acting within the central amygdala, the neuropeptide oxytocin regulates emotional responses, including anxiety‐like behaviours. However, whether changes in oxytocin signalling occurs during heart failure is unknown. In this study, we used an ischaemic rat heart failure model to mechanistically study multiple levels of the hypothalamus‐to‐amygdala oxytocinergic circuit in this disease. We report an overall blunted oxytocinergic signalling pathway in rats with heart failure, including blunted content and release of oxytocin from axonal terminals, downregulation of neuronal and astrocytic oxytocin receptors, and impaired oxytocin‐driven GABAergic synaptic activity within the central amygdala microcircuit of HF rats. These studies shed light on mechanisms that contribute to mood disorders in cardiovascular disease states and help to identify potential molecular targets for their improved treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To evaluate the impact of physical activity on the mood states of active and insufficiently active Italian adolescents and the relationships with sleep quality, sex, and academic performance, analyzing guidelines for the post-COVID-19 scenario. Methods: This is a cross-sectional, quantitative, and descriptive study. Data collection was carried out through an electronic questionnaire via Google Forms. Adolescent students from schools in the Lazio region, Italy, were evaluated. Results: In total, 437 Italian adolescents were included, with a mean age of 15.9 ± 1.37 years. The average time of exercise reported by the students was 277 min per week. Physical activity appears to be positively correlated with improved mood states, particularly in adolescents who engage in 150 min or more of physical activity per week, who exhibited notably higher levels of vigor. It was found that female adolescents presented a worse mood state, greater tension, depression, anger, fatigue, and mental confusion, and worse vigor when compared to boys and that adolescents who had poor sleep quality presented significantly worse mood state. Adolescents with an insufficient perception of academic performance demonstrated a significantly worse mood state, tension, depression, anger, and mental confusion, with a submerged mood profile when compared to adolescents who perceived themselves as excellent, with an iceberg profile. In the regression analysis, it was found that for each minute of physical activity practiced, the score in the state of vigor of the adolescents increased by 0.02 and mental confusion decreased by 0.002. Conclusion: From the present findings, we conclude that recommendations on PA practices for adolescents should be strengthened, as a way to mitigate possible damage to mood states, especially in the post-COVID-19 scenario. Future studies need to deepen the relationships between the mental health, sex, and academic performance of adolescents to strengthen positive mood states and elucidate information on the type, intensity, and dosage of physical activity to achieve mood benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This prospective, randomized, placebo-controlled study assessed the effects of Ashwagandha root extract (ARE) on cognition, energy, and mood in adults with self-reported cognitive and energy problems. Healthy subjects aged 30–75 years were randomized to receive ashwagandha (Withania somnifera) root extract (ARE) 600 mg/day (n = 60)/identical placebo (n = 60) orally for 8 weeks. Cognitive function was assessed at baseline and week 8 using a Computerized Mental Performance Assessment System (COMPASS). Secondary outcomes were Profile of Mood States Abbreviated Version (POMS-A), Mental Fatigue Scale (MFS) and Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function-Adult (BRIEF-A) for effects on mood, mental fatigue and executive function, respectively, assessed at baseline, week 4 and 8. Greater improvement (p < .05) from baseline scores were seen with ARE as against placebo for COMPASS items episodic memory, working memory and accuracy of attention. ARE also improved the POMS-A, MFS and BRIEF-A scores from baseline suggesting an improvement in mood, vigor, and an increase in the executive functioning respectively with ARE. The herb was well tolerated and had a good patient compliance with no serious adverse events reported in either of the groups. This study suggests that a dose of 600 mg a day can improve cognition, energy, and mood in adults with self-reported cognitive and energy problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Sleep and mental health problems are very common in university students. The objective of this study was to assess the effectiveness of a multi-component sleep-mood intervention on improving sleep and mental health in university students with clinically significant insomnia symptoms, and to investigate possible mediators. Methods: Thirty-five participants were randomized to the Sleep Mood Intervention: Live Effectively (SMILE) intervention (n = 23), or wait-list group (n = 12). SMILE is a multi-component group therapy and includes elements of cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I), mindfulness, and lifestyle modifications, in four weekly two-hour sessions. The primary outcome was insomnia severity. Secondary outcomes were severity of depression and anxiety, and quality of life (QoL). Dysfunctional beliefs and attitudes about sleep and pre-sleep arousal were assessed as mediators. Results: Intention-to-treat analysis showed significant time x treatment interaction on insomnia symptoms p =.02, partial η²= 0.15, d = 0.84 [95% CI: 0.63 to 1.14], with significantly lower insomnia severity for SMILE compared to waitlist at post-test. No significant effects were found on depression d = 0.02 [95% CI: -0.35 to 0.37], anxiety d = 0.15 [95% CI: -0.16 to 0.53], and QoL d = 0.09 [95% CI: -0.25 to 0.42]. Dysfunctional beliefs mediated the effect on insomnia severity, but pre-sleep arousal did not. Conclusions: This integrated group intervention is associated with reductions in insomnia symptoms in university students. Since no significant effects were detected on mood and QoL, future studies with larger sample size may explore the effects of this intervention on these outcomes. Trial registration: Registry: Overzicht van Medisch-wetenschappelijk Onderzoek. Registration number: NL-OMON46359. Date of registration: September 18th, 2018. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Physical activity is associated with both the hedonic (e.g. affect) and eudaimonic (e.g. purpose in life) aspects of well-being. While there is evidence linking momentary physical activity and affect in daily life, the examination of momentary purpose remains largely unexplored. Purpose This study investigates the bidirectional associations between physical activity, positive and negative affect, and momentary purpose using Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) and accelerometer data. Methods Middle-aged participants (40–70 years old, n = 291) wore accelerometers and completed three daily EMA surveys on momentary experiences for 8 consecutive days. Physical activity (active time and counts) from 20- to 60-min periods before and after EMA surveys were used in the analyses. Multilevel models were adjusted for temporal and contextual factors, age, sex, education, work status, and race/ethnicity. Results When participants were more physically active than usual, they reported feeling more purpose-driven and positive affect. Similarly, when participants reported feeling more purpose-driven or experiencing positive affect, they engaged in more physical activity in the subsequent time period. These associations were similar for physical activity from 20- to 60-min periods before and after the EMA survey. Physical activity and negative affect were not related in either direction. Conclusions In middle-aged adults' daily lives, physical activity has bidirectional relations with purpose and positive affect. This study highlights the dynamic associations between physical activity and the positive aspects of both hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. Future interventions or public health programs should integrate physical activity and mental well-being to maximize mutual benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly affected young adults' lives globally, including those in Germany. This study investigated mental health and quality of life during the pandemic, with a particular focus on mood. Immune fitness, the body's capacity to respond to health challenges (such as infections) by activating an appropriate immune response, was assessed as a physical health indicator. Methods: Data were collected from 317 participants, aged 18 to 35, via an online survey conducted between November 2021 and March 2022. Participants included 103 men (32.5%) and 214 women (67.5%), with a mean age of 25.5 years (SD = 4.1). Results: Compared to pre-pandemic levels, significant declines in mood, quality of life, immune fitness, and sleep quality were observed during the lockdown periods of the COVID-19 pandemic (p < 0.0125). The most pronounced effects were observed during the second lockdown, with declines extending into the second no-lockdown period for fatigue, depression, happiness, optimism, and immune fitness (p < 0.0125). Significant sex differences were found for the magnitude of mood effects (anxiety, depression, stress). No significant differences were found according to age or occupational status (student vs. work). Conclusions: The COVID-19 pandemic and associated lockdown periods had a significant negative effect on the mood, immune fitness, and well-being of young adults living in Germany. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Mood assessment is challenging when people have cognitive and receptive communication impairments after severe brain injury. This study explored how UK-based medical and psychology professionals working with people with severe cognitive and communication impairments after brain injury assess mood in this population. Design: Following their participation in an online survey, professionals were invited to participate in individual semi-structured interviews. Interviews were analysed using thematic analysis to label explicit data (semantic themes) and implicit data (latent themes). Participants: Twenty-three clinical psychologists and nine medical professionals participated in online or in-person interviews. Results: Both groups explicitly reported using a combination of collateral information, history, observations, and patient interviews when assessing mood in this population. Medical professionals did not routinely use standardised measures and clinical psychologists often adjusted them when they used them. The respondents discussed difficulties conceptualising depression after brain injury, the experience needed by the assessor, and the need for an individualised approach for this population. Clinical psychologists discussed the pressures of working in healthcare systems and medical professionals discussed how symptoms may influence prescription choices. Seven latent themes were labelled which highlighted additional challenges and complexities experienced by those assessing mood, beyond the actual assessment process itself. Conclusions: No 'gold standard' approach to assessing mood in those with cognitive and communication difficulties after severe brain injury was identified. There was overlap in assessment approaches but no clear consensus. Interviewees felt that mood assessment must be approached differently in this population and that self-report measures are not useful. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the effect of acute acetaminophen (ACTP) ingestion on physical performance during the 5 m shuttle run test (5mSRT), attention, mood states, and the perception of perceived exertion (RPE), pain (PP), recovery (PRS), and delayed onset of muscle soreness (DOMS) in well-trained female athletes. In a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind, crossover trial, fifteen well-trained female athletes (age 21 ± 2 years, height 165 ± 6 cm, body mass 62 ± 5 kg) swallowed either 1.5 g of ACTP or 1.5 g of placebo. The profile of mood states (POMS) and digit cancellation (DCT) were assessed 45 min postingestion, and 5mSRT was performed 60 min postingestion. The RPE and PP were determined immediately after each 30-s repetition of the 5mSRT, and the PRS and DOMS were recorded at 5 min and 24 h post-5mSRT. For the 5mSRT, ACTP ingestion improved the greatest distance (+ 10.88%, p < 0.001), total distance (+ 11.33%, p = 0.0007) and fatigue index (+ 21.43%, p = 0.0003) compared to PLA. Likewise, the DCT score was better on the ACTP (p = 0.0007) than on the PLA. RPE, PP, PRS, and DOMS scores were improved after ACTP ingestion (p < 0.01 for all comparisons) compared to PLA. POMS scores were enhanced with ACTP ingestion compared to PLA (p < 0.01). In conclusion, this study indicates that acute acetaminophen ingestion can improve repeated high intensity short-term maximal performance, attention, mood states, and perceptions of exertion, pain, recovery, and muscle soreness in well-trained female athletes, suggesting potential benefits for their overall athletic performance and mood state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite their widespread use, research is needed to evaluate the weight loss and related health/wellness outcomes of herbal plants. Preliminary research found that the fruit of Dichrostachys glomerata is safe and has potential weight loss effects. This study aimed to examine the effect of a standardized powder of D. glomerata fruit pods (DYG-400®) on weight, food cravings, mood, and health-related quality of life of overweight and mildly obese adults. In this CONSORT-compliant double-blind placebo-controlled trial, 56 adults (Mean [M] age = 44.50, M [body mass index] BMI = 31.66) were randomized to either the D. glomerata Group (DG; 300 mg/d) or Placebo Group (PG; rice protein, 300 mg/d) for 60 days. Participants weight was assessed along with self-report assessments of the Food Cravings Questionnaire, CDC Health-related Quality of Life, Perceived Stress Scale, Trait Anxiety Inventory, and Profile of Mood States at Baseline, Day 30, and Day 60. The data were collected from March 2023 to June 2023 and stored electronically, and analyzed using general linear models with repeated measures. DG lost more weight at Day 60 compared to PG, p =.05 (4.11 vs. 2.19 lbs). DG had reduced food cravings from Baseline to Day 30 and Day 60 compared to PG, p <.001. Perceived stress, p <.001, and mood, p =.017, improved from Baseline to Day 60 for DG compared to PG. Anxiety decreased from Baseline to Day 60 for DG and from Baseline to Day 30 for PG, p <.001. Health-related Quality of Life improved for DG compared to PG, p <.001. D. glomerata (DYG-400®) may be an effective herbal intervention to promote weight loss and health. Extended clinical trials across diverse populations and settings are needed. Clinical trial registry number and website: ISRCTN10099861, https://doi.org/10.1186/ISRCTN10099861. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prospective memory (PM) is the accurate execution of an intention in the future. PM may be negatively impacted by negative affect, but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Rumination may increase the frequency of task-irrelevant thoughts, which deplete attentional capacity and reduce performance. To date, no studies have examined state and trait rumination on an online measure of PM. The present study examined the effects of state and trait rumination on an event-based, focal PM task embedded within a one-back task over multiple sessions. 95 non-depressed adults (18–53 years) completed measures of state/trait rumination, mood, and PM on at least two occasions. Using multi-level modelling, we found that a derived measure of trait rumination, but not an established trait rumination survey, nor negative mood, predicted poorer PM accuracy. These novel findings demonstrate that trait rumination may partially underlie the association between negative affect & PM in a non-clinical sample, and highlight the potential of online methods to study PM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current research examined how people forecast and experience screen time, social interaction, and solitude. When participants could freely use their smartphone, they forecasted (Study 1) and experienced (Study 2) better mood for face-to-face conversation, but worse mood for sitting alone. When participants were instructed to engage in specific screen time activities, they forecasted (Study 3) and experienced (Study 4) the best mood after watching television; followed by conversation, texting, and browsing social media (no difference); then sitting alone. Although participants in Studies 1 and 2 ranked conversation as their most preferred activity, participants in Studies 3 and 4 ranked it below television and texting, even though conversation improved mood compared to baseline (Study 4). These findings suggest that people may use their smartphones because they enable them to escape the unpleasant experience of being alone, or because they do not recognize or prioritize the mood benefits of social interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and objectives: Examination anxiety is a common occurrence, and is potentially detrimental to student attainment. In recent theorizing, it has been suggested that cognitive appraisals, as put forth in cognitive appraisal theory, and irrational beliefs, as put forth in rational emotive behavior therapy, may interact to predict affectivity. The current research examines the antecedents and associates of examination affect and academic self-concept in undergraduate students. Design: A preliminary study applied confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to test the factor structure of an irrational beliefs inventory. Study 1 utilized a cross-sectional and correlational approach to testing core theoretical assumptions. Study 2 took a two-wave longitudinal and path analytical approach to examine temporal effects between target variables. Method: All self-report data collection took place in the United Kingdom with university students. We recruited n = 1150, n = 362, n = 662 for preliminary, study 1, and study 2, respectively. Results: Across studies, data indicated that a pattern of adaptive cognitive appraisal was associated with more advantageous affectivity, and better academic self-concept. Conclusions: Reciprocal temporal relationships were revealed between many variables, supporting an interactive and bidirectional view of how cognition and affect are related pertaining to examination anxiety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emotional consequences of online social contact in adolescents are a controversial topic. Social interactions and membership in social groups have been identified as essential protection against negative mood. However, different modes of online and offline communication differ in their ability to satisfy the individuals' need for social closeness. Using a daily diary study, the current work investigated how in-person contact, text messaging, and (video) phone calls were related to adolescents' mood. Study 1 was conducted during strict school closures in the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany in February 2021 (N individual s = 290; N observations = 1796; M age = 14.47; 59% girls and 41% boys) and Study 2 in November 2021 after schools had reopened (N individuals = 160; N observations = 1061; M age = 15.21; 66% girls and 34% boys). Hybrid mixed-effects regression models showed that while in-person contact had the most consistent mood effect, text messaging, and (video) phone calls were also at least partially associated with more positive mood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Patients with PD with constipation had more serious motor and non-motor symptoms. • Emotional and cognitive impairments are related to constipation in patients with PD. • PD patients with constipation have abnormal brain functional activity & connectivity. • Insula and orbitofrontal cortex are involved in the regulation of constipation in PD. Constipation frequently occurs in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) and may be related to cognitive and emotional disorders. The aim of this study is to investigate the clinical and brain functional characteristics of patients with PD presenting with constipation. The motor and non-motor symptoms of patients with PD were evaluated, and a resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (RS-fMRI) study was conducted based on propensity score matching. Alterations in brain function were analyzed using regional homogeneity (ReHo) and functional connectivity (FC). Compared with patients without constipation (PD-NC group), patients with constipation (PD-C group) had more serious motor and non-motor symptoms (including cognitive and emotional disorders along with visual hallucinations). Further, emotional and cognitive disorders were correlated with the occurrence of constipation in patients with PD. Compared with the PD-NC group, the PD-C group showed a reduced ReHo of the right insula and bilateral orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), increased ReHo of the left postcentral gyrus, and enhanced FC between the right OFC and the left middle temporal gyrus (MTG) and middle occipital gyrus (MOG). Additionally, the activity of the OFC and insula was significantly correlated with the constipation, mood, and cognitive levels of patients with PD. Constipation in patients with PD is closely related to emotional and cognitive impairments, abnormal activity and FC of brain regions such as the right insula and bilateral OFC may play an important role in this. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, we develop a new framework to deal numerically with discontinuous solutions in nonconservative hyperbolic systems. First an extension of the MOOD methodology to nonconservative systems based on Taylor expansions is presented. This extension combined with an in‐cell discontinuous reconstruction operator are the key points to develop a new family of high‐order methods that are able to capture exactly isolated shocks. Several test cases are proposed to validate these methods for the Modified Shallow Water equations and the Two‐Layer Shallow Water system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Increased inflammation and heightened physiological stress reactivity have been associated with pathophysiology of depressive symptoms. The underlying biological mechanisms by which inflammation and stress may influence neurogenesis are changes in the kynurenine (KYN) pathway, which is activated under stress. Supplementation with n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFAs) has anti-inflammatory properties and can increase stress resilience. Whether n-3 PUFAs alter KYN stress response is unknown. Objectives: This placebo-controlled study investigated the effect of n-3 PUFAs on KYN metabolism, inflammation, depressive symptoms, and mood. Moreover, stress-induced changes following a laboratory stressor have been assessed. Methods: In this placebo-controlled study, 47 healthy male adults received either 4 g n-3 PUFAs per day (Omega-3 group) or a placebo (Placebo group) for 12 weeks. Results: A significant group-by-time interaction was found for the inflammatory markers gp130 (F = 7.07, p = 0.011), IL-6R alpha (F = 10.33, p = 0.003), and TNF_RI (F= 10.92, p = 0.002). No significant group-by-time interactions were found for KYN metabolites, depressive symptoms, and mood (except for Hedonic tone (F = 6.50, p = 0.014)), nor for stress-induced changes in KYN metabolites and mood following a laboratory stressor. Conclusions: Overall, increased n-3 PUFA levels in healthy men ameliorate inflammatory markers but do not ameliorate KYN metabolism, depressive symptoms, mood, or KYN metabolism and mood following a stress induction. This study was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov with the identifier NCT05520437 (30/08/2022 first trial registration). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some data suggest that increased depressive symptoms may occur in women using combined oral contraceptives (OCs). However, this idea is controversial and the existing evidence is conflicting. The present study compared negative affect in 53 healthy women (Mage = 19.9 years) during intervals of active daily OC hormone intake and during the washout week of the contraceptive cycle when no exogenous estrogens or progestins are used. A prospective counterbalanced repeated-measures study design was employed. Depressive affect was evaluated using standard psychometric tests of explicit (self-perceived) and implicit negative affect. Implicit measures are considered less subject to bias related to social expectations, self-awareness, or willingness to disclose. Other than their usual OCs, participants were medication-free and had been using OCs for a median of 12 mo. We found that measures of implicit affect (e.g., Affect Misattribution Procedure, Emotional Stroop Test) displayed a more depressive-like pattern of performance during active hormone intake, particularly among a subgroup of OC users who reported experiencing high levels of depressive affect more generally. In contrast, participants' self-perceptions suggested that they perceived their negative symptoms to be greater during the 'off' phase of the OC cycle, when OC steroids are withdrawn and menses occurs. The present findings reinforce the possibility of depressive mood effects associated with OC usage, and highlight the utility of including implicit measures, but also illustrate the complexity of mood assessment in OC users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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ABSTRACT The affective state of animals, that is, their mood and emotions, is altered by stressful (negative) or enriching (positive) experiences. In turn, the affective state influences decision making, thereby helping animals when coping with environmental challenges and opportunities. However, it is largely unknown how social experiences modulate the affective state. Here, we performed a judgement bias test to study the effects of rearing group‐size and experimentally assigned current rank on the affective state of the cooperatively‐breeding cichlid fish Neolamprologus pulcher. To assess affective state, we developed and validated a judgement bias test for this species. Fish learned to discriminate between a positive and a negative stimulus as shown by different latencies to approach the stimulus. Furthermore, the response curves to the stimuli conformed to the ones expected in judgement bias tests: fish showed an intermediate latency to approach an ambiguous stimulus, which significantly differed from the latencies to approach the positive and the negative stimulus. Unexpectedly, there were no significant effects of rearing group size and current social rank on the affective state of N. pulcher, despite known effects of these two social parameters on behaviours and physiology of this species. This may mean that observed behavioural and physiological differences in the treatment environments do not allow valid predictions about the affective state elicited by these environments. Alternatively, it may need more socioecologically relevant testing paradigms when evaluating the valence of social environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Mood-tailored communications may help increase the effectiveness of smoking cessation messaging interventions. We used both self-report and psychophysiological measures to test the impact of mood on responses to cessation messages in adults who smoke. Methods: In a two-part (crowdsourcing and psychophysiological studies) study, the impact of 30 smoking cessation messages comprised of five themes (i.e., financial, health, quality-of-life, challenges in quitting, motivation to quit) were tested. In a crowdsourcing study, participants (N = 600) were randomly placed into one of three mood induction tasks (i.e., positive, negative, neutral), and then viewed the smoking cessation messages. After each message, they were asked to self-report their motivation to quit, message receptivity, and the perceived relevance of the messages. In an in-lab, psychophysiological study, participants (N = 42) completed the same tasks as the crowdsourcing participants but were monitored for heart rate, skin conductance, and eye-tracking while viewing the cessation messages. Using a multi-attribute decision-making model (MADM) using outcomes from both studies, messages were ranked for each mood state. Results: The top messages for participants in the positive mood condition included the challenges in quitting, financial costs/rewards, and motivations to quit themes. The top messages for participants assigned to the negative mood condition included the challenges in quitting, quality-of-life, and financial costs/rewards themes. For participants in the neutral mood condition, messages in the challenges in quitting and quality of life themes performed best. Conclusions: Variations in the preferences of messages and themes by mood condition suggest that mood-tailored communication may increase the effectiveness of smoking cessation messages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and purpose: Among patients with solid tumors, those with breast cancer (BC) experience the most severe psychological issues, exhibiting a high global prevalence of depression that negatively impacts prognosis. Depression can be easily missed, and clinical markers for its diagnosis are lacking. Therefore, this study in order to investigate the diagnostic markers for BC patients with depression and anxiety and explore the specific changes of metabolism. Method and results: Thirty-eight BC patients and thirty-six matched healthy controls were included in the study. The anxiety and depression symptoms of the participants were evaluated by the 17-item Hamilton Depression Scale (HAMD-17) and Hamilton Anxiety Scale (HAMA). Plasma levels of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and lipocalin-2 (LCN2) were evaluated using enzyme linked immunosorbent assay, and plasma lactate levels and metabolic characteristics were analyzed. Conclusion: This study revealed that GFAP and LCN2 may be good diagnostic markers for anxiety or depression in patients with BC and that plasma lactate levels are also a good diagnostic marker for anxiety. In addition, specific changes in metabolism in patients with BC were preliminarily explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractPurposeMethodsResultsConclusion\nIMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATION:The review aims to identify what characteristics are reported in randomised controlled trials for the non-pharmacological management of post-stroke anxiety and/or depression and whether research has explored the correlation between participant characteristics and their outcomes.A comprehensive systematic search was completed of five databases: CINAHL, Medline, PsychInfo, Web of Science, and The World Health Organisation. Google Scholar was also accessed. The reporting of participant characteristics was assessed by adapting the PROGRESS-Plus framework, a research framework of protected characteristics known to impact health equity (such as, age).19 papers (n = 2187) were included. There was generally poor reporting of characteristics associated with an increased likelihood of post-stroke anxiety and/or depression. All studies reported the gender/sex of participants, 18 studies reported the age of participants, and 11 studies reported lesion location. None of the studies reported the sexual orientation or pre-existing disabilities of participants.There was variation in the reporting and analyses of protected characteristics. Future research should follow a health equity framework to ensure reporting of protected characteristics to support clinicians in identifying whether the proposed interventions are relevant to their stroke population and consider undergoing subgroup analyses to compare outcomes across protected characteristics.Overall review on the reporting of protected characteristics known to impact the engagement with services and outcomes of stroke survivors.Reviewing the lack of reporting on who is taking part in stroke research and how this impacts evidence-based practice in stroke services.Identifying how demographic and social factors can impact post-stroke anxiety and depression rehabilitation.Supporting the understanding of the effectiveness of non-pharmacological interventions for post-stroke anxiety and/or depression across subgroups.Identification of which characteristics should be reported in services and in stroke rehabilitation research.Furthering the consideration of health equity in stroke rehabilitation research.Overall review on the reporting of protected characteristics known to impact the engagement with services and outcomes of stroke survivors.Reviewing the lack of reporting on who is taking part in stroke research and how this impacts evidence-based practice in stroke services.Identifying how demographic and social factors can impact post-stroke anxiety and depression rehabilitation.Supporting the understanding of the effectiveness of non-pharmacological interventions for post-stroke anxiety and/or depression across subgroups.Identification of which characteristics should be reported in services and in stroke rehabilitation research.Furthering the consideration of health equity in stroke rehabilitation research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study aims to investigate the efficacy of an eight-week mindfulness training intervention on improving mood among a Chinese urban sample seeking stress reduction and to explore the potential mediating effect of mindfulness and rumination. Method: Fifty-seven participants were recruited and randomly assigned to either the mindfulness training group or a waitlist control group. The mindfulness training group received an eight-week mindfulness intervention, while the waitlist control group received no intervention during this period. The Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ), the Brief Profile of Mood States (BPOMS), and the Ruminative Response Scale (RRS) were assessed at both pre- and post-test. Results: The final analysis included 52 participants (24 in the mindfulness training group and 28 in the waitlist control group). Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) revealed that, compared with the control group, participants who received mindfulness training showed significant improvements in their FFMQ Total Score (p <.01), Observing score (p <.05), and Non-reactivity score (p <.01); BPOMS Total Score (p <.01), Depression-dejection (p <.01), Anger-hostility (p <.01), and Tension-anxiety (p <.05); as well as RRS Total Score, Symptom Rumination, and Reflective Pondering (all p <.05). Mediation analysis of mindfulness training intervention on negative mood revealed a significant chain mediating effect of improvements in mindfulness and reductions in maladaptive rumination (95% CI = [0.0022, 0.2459], excluding 0). Conclusion: Mindfulness training can effectively improve the negative mood of urban populations facing stress through the mechanism of enhancing mindfulness and reducing rumination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The incidence of various mood disorders and temperaments in ADHD patients is well-documented, irrespective of age. These temperamental differences cause emotional and behavioral instability, impacting individual and social functioning, and overall quality of life. This study evaluates different temperaments in adults with ADHD compared to those without ADHD. Methods: This case–control study was performed on 75 adult ADHD patients as the case group and 75 adults without ADHD as the control group. A demographic questionnaire and a shortened Persian version of the TEMPS-A questionnaire were given and completed to the people included in the study to assess different mood temperaments. Results: Comparing different components of mood temperaments between the patients with and without ADHD showed significantly higher mean scores for irritable, anxious, depressed, and cyclothymic temperaments in those with ADHD as compared to a control group. In the group suffering from ADHD, women had significantly higher mean scores for dysthymic and anxious temperaments as compared to men, while the mean score for cyclothymic temperaments was significantly higher in men than in women. A high academic degree was associated with lower scores for mood temperaments, while mood temperaments were independent of patients' age. Conclusions: The higher score of various mood temperaments in patients with ADHD compared to people without this disorder is completely predictable, and this score can potentially affect the gender of the patients as well as their education level. Given the higher scores of temperamental traits in patients with adult ADHD, implementing screening programs aimed at identifying temperamental disorders in these patients is highly emphasized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Automated frailty screening tools like the Hospital Frailty Risk Score (HFRS) are primarily validated for care consumption outcomes. We assessed the predictive ability of the HFRS regarding care consumption outcomes, frailty domain impairments and mortality among older adults with cancer, using the Geriatric 8 (G8) screening tool as a clinical benchmark. Methods This retrospective, linkage-based study included patients aged ≥70 years with solid tumor, enrolled in the Elderly Cancer Patients (ELCAPA) multicentre cohort study (2016–2020) and hospitalized in acute care within the Greater Paris University Hospitals. HFRS scores, which encompass hospital-acquired problems and frailty-related syndromes, were calculated using data from the index admission and the preceding 6 months. A multidomain geriatric assessment (GA), including cognition, nutrition, mood, functional status, mobility, comorbidities, polypharmacy, incontinence, and social environment, was conducted at ELCAPA inclusion, with computation of the G8 score. Logistic and Cox regressions measured associations between the G8, HFRS, altered GA domains, length of stay exceeding 10 days, 30-day readmission, and mortality. Results Among 587 patients included (median age 82 years, metastatic cancer 47.0%), 237 (40.4%) were at increased frailty risk by the HFRS (HFRS>5) and 261 (47.5%) by the G8 (G8≤10). Both HFRS and G8 were significantly associated with cognitive and functional impairments, incontinence, comorbidities, prolonged length of stay, and 30-day mortality. The G8 was associated with polypharmacy, nutritional and mood impairment. Discussion Although showing significant associations with short-term care consumption, the HFRS could not identify polypharmacy, nutritional, mood and social environment impairments and showed low discriminatory ability across all GA domains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine: 5-HT), a neurotransmitter that regulates mood in the brain and signaling in the gut, has receptors throughout the body that serve various functions, especially in the gut and brain. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are used to treat depression, but their efficacy is uncertain. Depression is often associated with early gastrointestinal symptoms. Gut disorders such as functional dyspepsia (FD), irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), including ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD), are linked to elevated serotonin levels. In this review, we would like to discuss the approach of using serotonin as a biomarker for gut–brain, and body-wide organ communication may lead to the development of preventive and innovative treatments for gut–brain disorders, offering improved visibility and therapeutic monitoring. It could also be used to gauge stress intensity for self-care and mental health improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Issue Addressed: Nostalgia—the bittersweet reliving of the past—has been linked to social connection and psychological wellbeing. Although food consumption is often an intrinsically social experience, relatively little research has examined how individuals experience and understand how food consumption relates to feelings of nostalgia, food and mood. Methods: In the current study, semi‐structured interviews were conducted with eight Australians from varying cultural backgrounds to explore their experiences with nostalgia, food and mood. Results: Reflexive thematic analysis identified three key themes from the data: (i) The bittersweet experiences of food‐evoked nostalgia—individuals' descriptions of food‐evoked nostalgia and how it impacted their mood both positively and negatively (ii) social connection and identity continuity—participants' description of food‐evoked nostalgia and how this provides an opportunity for social connection and identity continuity throughout life, which positively influences mood, and (iii) the role and relationship of food‐evoked nostalgia and mood—individual descriptions of the important role that nostalgic food plays in their life, in addition to their relationship with food, and how this impacts mood. Conclusions: Understanding the positive component of nostalgic foods allowed individuals to bolster positive mood states with food‐evoked nostalgia, increasing their quality of life. So What?: Understanding the link between food‐evoked nostalgia and mood has significant implications, suggesting that negative mood states altered by nostalgic foods may result in positive mood states. Appropriate use of food‐evoked nostalgia may increase the quality of life for individuals experiencing low mood states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cerebellum is a key-structure for the modulation of motor, cognitive, social and affective functions, contributing to automatic behaviours through interactions with the cerebral cortex, basal ganglia and spinal cord. The predictive mechanisms used by the cerebellum cover not only sensorimotor functions but also reward-related tasks. Cerebellar circuits appear to encode temporal difference error and reward prediction error. From a chemical standpoint, cerebellar catecholamines modulate the rate of cerebellar-based cognitive learning, and mediate cerebellar contributions during complex behaviours. Reward processing and its associated emotions are tuned by the cerebellum which operates as a controller of adaptive homeostatic processes based on interoceptive and exteroceptive inputs. Lobules VI-VII/areas of the vermis are candidate regions for the cortico-subcortical signaling pathways associated with loss aversion and reward sensitivity, together with other nodes of the limbic circuitry. There is growing evidence that the cerebellum works as a hub of regional dysconnectivity across all mood states and that mental disorders involve the cerebellar circuitry, including mood and addiction disorders, and impaired eating behaviors where the cerebellum might be involved in longer time scales of prediction as compared to motor operations. Cerebellar patients exhibit aberrant social behaviour, showing aberrant impulsivity/compulsivity. The cerebellum is a master-piece of reward mechanisms, together with the striatum, ventral tegmental area (VTA) and prefrontal cortex (PFC). Critically, studies on reward processing reinforce our view that a fundamental role of the cerebellum is to construct internal models, perform predictions on the impact of future behaviour and compare what is predicted and what actually occurs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This study aims to explore the psychological effects of chronic exercise on mood and well-being in adults. Methods: A qualitative research design was employed, utilizing semi-structured interviews with 20 participants from Iran who engage in regular exercise routines for at least six months. Participants ranged in age from 22 to 58 years and represented a variety of occupations and exercise preferences. Data were collected until theoretical saturation was reached and analyzed using thematic analysis to identify key themes and subthemes related to the psychological effects of exercise. Results: The analysis revealed several key themes: psychological benefits, barriers to exercise, motivational factors, and challenges in sustaining exercise. Participants reported significant improvements in mood, self-esteem, emotional resilience, and cognitive functions such as focus and memory. Barriers to exercise included time constraints, physical barriers, lack of motivation, environmental factors, and financial constraints. Motivational factors were primarily health benefits, personal goals, social influence, psychological benefits, and habit formation. Challenges in sustaining exercise included monotony, physical fatigue, balancing life demands, health setbacks, lack of immediate results, and accessibility issues. Conclusion: Regular physical activity is associated with numerous psychological benefits, including improved mood, reduced anxiety, and enhanced cognitive function. However, barriers such as time constraints, lack of motivation, and financial constraints must be addressed to sustain these benefits. Community-based exercise programs, educational support for instructors, and public health campaigns can help overcome these challenges. Future research should include larger, more diverse samples and explore the long-term psychological effects of chronic exercise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Research has indicated potentially neutral or even positive cognitive effects of e-cigarette usage in adults, but whether these findings extend to adolescents remains uncertain. This study aimed to examine the interplay between e-cigarette use, mind wandering and self-efficacy, and mood. Method: The responses of 432 adolescents aged 11-18 years from an online survey were analyzed. Among them, 88 adolescents had used e-cigarettes. Results: Adolescents who have used e-cigarettes reported poorer academic self-efficacy, t (430) = 3.26, 95% CI [1.12, 4.51], p < 0.001; greater mind-wandering tendencies t(430) = −3.38, 95% CI [-4.14, −1.10], p < 0.001; and greater severity of depression, t(430) = −3.38, p < 0.001, anxiety t(430) = −2.67, p = 0.01, and stress t(430) = −3.32, p <.001. Increased frequency of e-cigarette use was also associated with attitudes toward e-cigarette use, r (86) = 0.31, p = 0.003 and lower academic self-efficacy, r (86) = −0.27, p =.010. However, there was no significant correlation between frequency of use and mind-wandering. Further network analysis suggested negative relationships between frequency of e-cigarette use, academic self-efficacy and mind-wandering. Conclusion: Our findings suggest a potential adverse impact of e-cigarette use on mind-wandering and academic confidence among adolescents. However, the direct or indirect relationship between e-cigarette use and these effects could not be definitively determined due to the cross-sectional survey design employed in our study. Nonetheless, our findings underscore the importance of considering developmental differences and the unique vulnerabilities of adolescents when assessing the impact of e-cigarette use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Popular and professional psychology merge to produce novel forms on TikTok—a platform on which therapeutic content grew enormously during the pandemic, rendering it a productive site to examine mediated mental health subjectivities, including ways people come to understand themselves in terms of mental health pathologies. Examining the dynamic interplay of capacities and constraints of therapeutic and algorithmic frameworks reveals ways in which therapeutic roles and rituals are re-negotiated in this space. Therapists utilize memetic tropes of the platform to position themselves within its affective flows, while leveraging beliefs about the algorithm to connect with users. The affective engagement of users' works to curate a stream of content against which mental health and therapeutic frameworks are evaluated, ultimately designating a diagnostic gaze to a charismatic algorithm—a potentially emergent social media case of automated forms becoming paradigmatic in the ways we conceive of mental health and therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the traditional methods of treating obesity through education on controlling eating and increasing exercise have largely failed beyond the very short term, a more intensive focus on psychosocial correlates of those weight-loss behaviors has been suggested. Multiple behavioral theories incorporate self-regulation, self-efficacy, and mood; however, their interrelations and effects over both the short and long term within cognitive-behavioral obesity treatments remain unclear. Within a novel community-based program with women with obesity who had either low (n = 29) or high (n = 71) mood disturbance scores, there were significant improvements in exercise- and eating-related self-regulation and eating-related self-efficacy—primary targets of that intervention—with no significant difference in those changes by mood disturbance grouping. Changes in the summed exercise- and eating-related self-regulation scores significantly mediated relationships between changes in eating-related self-efficacy and weight (over both 6 and 12 months). There were similar results with mediation assessed via the extent exercise-related self-regulation carried over to eating-related self-regulation. In both of those models a reciprocal relationship between self-regulation and self-efficacy changes was indicated. In serial multiple mediation equations, paths of changes in exercise-related self-regulation → eating-related self-regulation → eating-related self-efficacy → weight were significant. However, paths were not significant when change in self-efficacy was entered as the predictor (initial) variable. Findings suggest viability in first focusing on exercise-related self-regulation, then eating-related self-regulation, in the course of increasing self-efficacy and probabilities for inducing enough sustained weight loss to improve obesity-associated health risks. Benefits of field-based research findings generalizing to weight-management applications were suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many female military service members choose to use hormonal contraception to prevent pregnancy and/or to control or suppress menses. Hormonal contraception, which comes in many different forms based on dose, estrogen/progestin type, and route of administration (oral, vaginal, transdermal, implant, intrauterine device, injectable), may cause side effects, some of which can influence military medical readiness, or the health status necessary to perform assigned missions. This expert review summarizes the evidence around common military-relevant side effects of hormonal contraception that could impact readiness, including effects on weight and body composition, bone health, psychological health, and physical performance, and serves as a tool for uniformed and civilian clinicians counseling female service members about hormonal contraception. Current evidence suggests some hormonal contraception can lead to weight and fat gain, may modulate susceptibility to mood or mental health disorders, and could impact bone mineral density and stress fracture risk; more research is needed on physical performance effects. Clinicians must be familiar with readiness considerations of each type of hormonal contraception to provide comprehensive patient education and allow for optimal shared decision-making about hormonal contraception use among female Service members. Considering the relative lack of data on the effects of nonoral hormonal contraception routes on readiness outcomes and the growing interest in long-acting reversible contraceptives among female service members, future research should continue to investigate effects of all hormonal contraception methods available to service members. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]