Associations between cardiorespiratory fitness and brain health in healthy older adults have been reported using a variety of cardiorespiratory fitness estimates. Using commonly used methods to determine CRF, we assessed the relationship between CRFe and executive function performance. Healthy older adults, underwent three CRF tests: a Maximal Graded Exercise Test performed on a cycle ergometer, the Rockport Fitness Walking Test, and a Non-Exercise Prediction Equation. Executive function was assessed by a computerized cognitive assessment using an N-Back task and (...) a Stroop task. Multiple hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to assess the relationship between different CRFe and executive function performance. Regardless of age and education, cardiorespiratory fitness estimated from the Maximal Graded Exercise Test and the Rockport Fitness Walking Test was significantly associated with the global switch cost. All CRFe were associated with the interference cost. No association was observed between CRFe and local switching costs or the updating costs. In the present study, not all subcomponents of executive function were related to CRFe. Interestingly, the executive functions that were associated with CRFe are those that are known to be the most affected by aging. (shrink)

ObjectivePrevious research has shown reduced interoceptive accuracy in depression. Attention deficit represents a key symptom of depression. Moreover, IAcc is positively correlated with attention. There is no study that investigates the effect of depression on IAcc and attention. The aim of this study is to examine the mediating effect of IAcc on depression and attention.MethodsThirty-six depressed patients from the Psychosomatic Clinic in Windach were matched with 36 healthy controls according to age and sex and were assessed at Ulm University. (...) All participants completed the Beck Depression Inventory-II, the heartbeat perception task to examine IAcc, and the d2 test assessing selective attention.ResultsDepressed patients showed attention deficits—both for general visual attention and IAcc—compared to healthy controls. The mediation analyses revealed that the relationship between depression and attention is not mediated via IAcc. Furthermore, depression predicts IAcc and attention, but these effects are direct and largely unaffected by the respective other variable.DiscussionThe results of the present study highlight both interoceptive as well as attention deficits in depressed patients. No clear mediation between these variables could be shown in this study. More elaborative research is needed to clarify whether different approaches to improve IAcc are effective for these deficits in depressed patients and could therefore be of importance as an additional aspect of therapy in depression. (shrink)

Alterations to cognitive function are often reported with depression and anxiety symptoms, yet few studies have examined the same associations with mental well-being. This study examined the association between mental well-being, depression and anxiety symptoms and cognitive function in 1502 healthy adult monozygotic and dizygotic twins, and the shared/unique contribution of genetic and environmental variance. Using linear mixed models, mental well-being was positively associated with sustained attention, inhibition, cognitive flexibility, motor coordination and working memory, whereas depression and anxiety symptoms (...) were associated with poorer sustained attention, inhibition, cognitive flexibility and executive function. Bivariate twin modelling showed well-being shared a small environmental correlation with motor coordination and a small genetic correlation with working memory. Trivariate twin modelling showed well-being shared a small genetic correlation with inhibition, whereas depression and anxiety symptoms shared a small environmental correlation with inhibition. The remaining variance was mostly driven by unique G and/or E variance. Overall, well-being and depression and anxiety symptoms show both independent and shared relationships with cognitive functions but this is largely attributable to unique G or E variance and small shared G/E variance between pairs of variables. (shrink)

Healthy eating has long been a focus of professionals and researchers, both to evaluate strategies for improvement and to gain a deeper understanding of its dynamics in order to develop effective promotion methods. This study aims to examine the roles of individuals’ information-seeking abilities and e-health literacy in fostering a healthy eating intention among Iranians. Employing Bayesian Mindsponge Framework analytics on a dataset of 9,755 Iranian participants, the study found positive associations between healthy eating information-seeking ability, e-health (...) literacy, and healthy eating intention among Iranian adults. However, the moderating effect of e-health literacy on the relationship between information-seeking ability and healthy eating intention remains ambiguous. We suggest that enhancing individuals' healthy eating information-seeking abilities and e-health literacy, alongside improving the availability, affordability, and accessibility of reliable healthy eating information, is essential for fostering healthy eating intentions. (shrink)

The physical activity and sport are key elements for a healthy lifestyle. However, a little-investigated element is the presence of a possible relationship between school or academic performance an...

A positive attitude toward later life is crucial for wellbeing among older adults. Maintaining a healthy relationship with adult children can help reduce older parents’ sense of loneliness and nurture a positive life attitude. This study aimed to investigate the associations between multidimensional intergenerational relationship quality and attitudes toward later life among aging Chinese adults in Hong Kong and examine the mediating effects of a sense of loneliness. Representative survey data were collected from 801 participants with at least one (...) adult child. Multiple linear regression was employed to investigate the associations between overall intergenerational relationship quality with a sense of loneliness as well as the attitude toward later life. To examine the mediating effects of a sense of loneliness, causal mediational analyses were performed. Results demonstrated that overall intergenerational relationship quality was positively associated with aging parents’ attitude toward later life, and this relationship could be partially mediated by a sense of loneliness. Among the four subdomains of intergenerational relationship quality, the influences of structural-associational solidarity and intergenerational conflict on attitude toward later life were almost fully mediated by a sense of loneliness, whereas the influences of consensual-normative solidarity and affectual closeness were partially mediated. These findings contributed to an improved understanding of the relationship between intergenerational relationship quality, sense of loneliness, and attitude toward later life, and could inform future policies and service programs that promote aging adults’ social integration and positive aging. (shrink)

Background : An enhancement in recall of simple instructions is found when actions are performed in comparison to when they are verbally presented – the subject-performed task effect. This enhancement has also been found with older adults. However, the reason why older adults, known to present a deficit in episodic memory, have a better performance for this type of information remains unclear. In this article, we explored this effect by comparing the performance on the SPT task with the performance on (...) other tasks, in order to understand the underlying mechanisms that may explain this effect. Objective : We hypothesized that both young and older adult groups should show higher recall in SPT compared with the verbal learning condition, and that the differences between age groups should be lower in the SPT condition. We aimed to explore the correlations between these tasks and known neuropsychological tests, and we also measured source memory for the encoding condition. Design : A mixed design was used with 30 healthy older adults, comparing their performance with 30 healthy younger adults. Each participant was asked to perform 16 simple instructions and to only read the other 16 instructions. The test phase included a free recall task. Participants were also tested with a set of neuropsychological measures. Results : The SPT effect was found for both age groups; but even for SPT materials, group differences in recall persisted. Source memory was found to be preserved for the two groups. Simple correlations suggested differences in correlates of SPT performance between the two groups. However, when controlling for age, the SPT and VT tasks correlate with each other, and a measure of episodic memory correlated moderately with both SPT and VT performance. Conclusions : A strong effect of SPT was observed for all but one, which still displayed the expected aging deficit. The correlations and source memory data suggest that the SPT and VT are possibly related in respect to their underlying processes, and SPT, instead of being an isolated process, is in connection with both the episodic memory and executive function processes. Under these circumstances, the SPT seems to contribute to an enhancement of the episodic memory trace, presumably from the multimodality it provides, without involving a separated set of cognitive mechanisms. Future research using more pure measures of other cognitive processes that could be related to SPT is necessary. Keywords : aging; subject performed task; memory for actions; episodic memory Responsible Editor: Mathieu Hainselin, Université de Picardie Jules Verne, France. (shrink)

BackgroundMediation analysis is important to test the theoretical framework underpinning an intervention. We therefore aimed to investigate if the healthy body image intervention’s effect on eating disorder symptomatology and use of muscle building supplements was mediated by the change in risk and protective factors for ED development and muscle building supplement use.MethodsThis study used data from the HBI intervention: a cluster randomized controlled universal intervention aiming to promote positive body image and embodiment and reduce the risk for ED development (...) including 30 schools in Norway. A total of 1,713 participants were included in the analyses. Conditional latent growth curve analyses were performed to test for indirect effects on ED symptomatology and weekly frequency of protein and creatine supplement use measured at the 12-month follow-up via change in the proposed mediators.ResultsIn girls, the reduction in ED symptomatology was mediated by positive changes in protective factors and reductions in risk factor scores. Comparable changes in protective and risk factors among boys played no mediating role.ConclusionInterventions aiming to reduce the risk of ED development in girls may benefit from aiming to enhance self-esteem and body image flexibility and reduce perceived media pressure and thin appearance internalization. Future studies should investigate the casual relationship between muscle building supplement use and risk and protective factors for ED development in both girls and boys. (shrink)

Through this book, we offer a map for navigating relationships and analytical tools that provide theoretical and practical contexts for getting to the heart or root of positive relationship building in school environments and beyond.

US citizens perceive their society to be one of the most diverse and religiously tolerant in the world today. Yet seemingly intractable religious intolerance and moral conflict abound throughout contemporary US public life - from abortion law battles, same-sex marriage, post-9/11 Islamophobia, public school curriculum controversies, to moral and religious dimensions of the Black Lives Matter and Occupy Wall Street movements, and Tea Party populism. Healthy Conflict in Contemporary American Society develops an approach to democratic discourse and coalition-building across (...) deep moral and religious divisions. Drawing on conflict transformation in peace studies, recent American pragmatist thought, and models of agonistic democracy, Jason Springs argues that, in circumstances riven with conflict between strong religious identities and deep moral and political commitments, productive engagement may depend on thinking creatively about how to constructively utilize conflict and intolerance. The result is an approach oriented by the recognition of conflict as a constituent and life-giving feature of social and political relationships. (shrink)

The article deals with the role, peculiarities and philosophical issues of upbringing healthy and well-bred generation in Kazakh ethnomedicine, which has been passed down from generation to generation and has not lost its importance. Attention is paid to the peculiarities of the Kazakh people’s attitudes to nature, formed in connection with the natural environment, and the method of treatment based on shamanic beliefs. Philosophical concepts of nobility norms preservation of the Kazakh nation, following the tradition of exogamy in the (...) formation of generation health, have been analysed. The doctrine of blood purity is discussed in Treatise on Healing by Uteiboydak Tleukabyluly, a scientist-healer of 15th century. Tleukabyluly considers debauchery, love relationships outside of marriage, unacceptable. He gives a reason why Kazakhs should be banned from related marriages up to the seventh generation, since, according to his observations, this leads to infertility and miscarriages or the birth of an imbecile child. The role of the mother in the healthy generation was studied in the national philosophical context. (shrink)

The relationship between the neurobiology of speech and music has been investigated for more than a century. There remains no widespread agreement regarding how (or to what extent) music perception utilizes the neural circuitry that is engaged in speech processing, particularly at the cortical level. Prominent models such as Patel’s Shared Syntactic Integration Resource Hypothesis (SSIRH) and Koelsch’s neurocognitive model of music perception suggest a high degree of overlap, particularly in the frontal lobe, but also perhaps more distinct representations in (...) the temporal lobe with hemispheric asymmetries. The present meta-analysis study used activation likelihood estimate analyses to identify the brain regions consistently activated for music as compared to speech across the functional neuroimaging (fMRI and PET) literature. Eighty music and 91 speech neuroimaging studies of healthy adult control subjects were analyzed. Peak activations reported in the music and speech studies were divided into four paradigm categories: passive listening, discrimination tasks, error/anomaly detection tasks and memory-related tasks. We then compared activation likelihood estimates within each category for music versus speech, and each music condition with passive listening. We found that listening to music and to speech preferentially activate distinct temporo-parietal bilateral cortical networks. We also found music and speech to have shared resources in the left pars opercularis but speech-specific resources in the left pars triangularis. The extent to which music recruited speech-activated frontal resources was modulated by task. While there are certainly limitations to meta-analysis techniques particularly regarding sensitivity, this work suggests that the extent of shared resources between speech and music may be task-dependent and highlights the need to consider how task effects may be affecting conclusions regarding the neurobiology of speech and music. (shrink)

This Special Collection focuses on both theoretical and practical dimensions of the smart healthy age-friendly environments (SHAFE). The SHAFE concept is more and more widely discussed and used in the fields and interventions related to population ageing and intergenerational relationships around the world. The SHAFE idea is one of the most recent iterations of the age-friendly cities and communities (AFCC) concept that was introduced by the World Health Organization in 2007. The discourse on the development of standards for (...) adapting cities and communities to the needs of older adults and ageing societies initially focused on eight domains: housing, transportation, outdoor spaces and buildings, community support and health services, communication and information, social participation, respect, and social inclusion as well as civil participation and employment. The SHAFE concept launched in 2018 by the Cáritas Diocesana de Coimbra, AFEdemy, and their Stakeholders Network is adding three additional layers to the AFCC in order to more dynamically take into account diverse needs and capacities of ageing societies, design accessible products, services and infrastructure to people of all ages as well as solutions related to the contemporary social, health, and environmental challenges. In the first layer, the SHAFE idea supports citizen development in terms of digital skills needed in using smart age-friendly solutions, understanding data processing and management, increasing health literacy, improving civil participation and engagement, as well as maintaining or improving their social networks and relationships. In the second layer, the SHAFE concept focuses on environmental-oriented solutions such as retrofitting and adapting the housing stock, fostering accessibility of public spaces and transport, implementing climate-neutral solutions, and promoting health and well-being in the workplace. Finally, the third layer of the SHAFE concept concentrates on health and care by promoting reliable, safe and accessible big data and artificial intelligence-based solutions, implementation of robust and interoperable digital infrastructures, fostering the development of integrated, personalised, affordable and person-centred solutions, implementing new guidelines and long-term funding solutions and business models as well as training care professionals on digital skills. Goals of this Special Collection: (1) to discuss the theoretical basis of the SHAFE, including critical appraisal and review of this concept; (2) to identify and share the best practices and innovations related to the implementation of SHAFE; (3) to debate on governance modes, management solutions as well as evaluation and impact assessment tools relevant for SHAFE; (4) to gather knowledge and know-how regarding challenges in the areas of management, financing, designing, implementing, testing, and maintaining the sustainability of SHAFE-related products, services, and infrastructures; and (5) to recognise and analyse insights for the potential revisions and updates of the SHAFE concept. (shrink)

Haṭhayoga texts, influential in the development of modern posture-based yoga, offer a conceptual framework intertwining physical cultivation, health, and soteriological aims. This article explores two interconnected inquiries regarding early Haṭhayoga texts: How do they conceptualize health, and how do they perceive the relationship between health and soteriology? These investigations illuminate the place of health in early yoga texts within Hindu traditions prior to its global recognition. This article reveals that early _haṭha_ texts present a holistic approach to health, highlighting the (...) interconnectedness of curing the mind and healing the body. This process entails not only eradicating physical diseases but also the transcendence of all forms of suffering. The transformative process of eliminating the misleading self-identity (_ahaṁkāra_) is pivotal, leading directly to health. This relationship extends beyond metaphorical comparisons of healing ignorance and suffering. This ontological framework proposes a harmonious integration between the material and soteriological realms, viewing the healthy body as a physical manifestation of the divine essence. Thus, the emergence of the biomedical discourse surrounding yoga in modern times did not occur autonomously. Haṭhayoga, with its roots dating back to the beginning of the second millennium CE, played a crucial role in shaping this historical transformation. (shrink)

Effective multiethnic church formation involves assessing discipleship aims and structures with sensitivity and consideration to the various ethnic elements within each congregation. This fosters ethnic accommodation rather than cultural assimilation. In order to assist these dynamics, multiethnic church education requires cultivating participatory community that includes each ethnic voice represented in the church, egalitarian relationships rather than hierarchical ones, affirmation of ethnic cultures, and perspective taking to each of them. When nurtured this produces fluid ethnic identities that cultivate richer and (...) transcultural biblical perspectives. This article explores these discipleship components towards the purpose of nurturing healthier multiethnic churches. (shrink)

Objective: This study aimed to explore the relationship among cognitive fusion, experiential avoidance, and obsessive–compulsive symptoms in patients with obsessive–compulsive disorder.Methods: A total of 118 outpatient and inpatient patients with OCD and 109 healthy participants, gender- and age-matched, were selected using cognitive fusion questionnaire, acceptance and action questionnaire−2nd edition, Yale–Brown scale for obsessive–compulsive symptoms, Hamilton anxiety scale, and Hamilton depression scale for questionnaire testing and data analysis.Results: The levels of cognitive fusion and experiential avoidance in the OCD group were (...) significantly higher than those in the healthy control group. Regression analysis results showed that, in predicting the total score of obsessive–compulsive symptoms, AAQ-II and CFQ entered the equation, which explained 17.1% variance. In predicting anxiety, only AAQ-II entered the equation, which explained 13% variance. In the prediction of depression, AAQ-II entered the equation, which explained 17.7% variance.Conclusion: Cognitive fusion and experiential avoidance may be important factors for the maintenance of OCD, and experiential avoidance can positively predict the anxiety and depression of OCD patients. (shrink)

Background: Psychopathy and substance use disorders are highly co-morbid and their co-occurrence is associated with higher severity of addictive behavior and increased risk of violent offending. Both substance use disorders and psychopathy are related to prominent impairments in emotion processing, which are also central features of alexithymia. The nature of the relationship between psychopathy and alexithymia is not well understood and has been particularly understudied among substance dependent individuals. Aims: Our goal was to evaluate the levels of psychopathy and alexithymia (...) in a relatively homogeneous sample of heroin dependent individuals and healthy controls and to examine group differences in the pattern of associations between these constructs. Methods: We examined 62 participants (31 heroin dependent individuals and 31 healthy controls) with the Psychopathy Checklist: Screening version (PCL:SV, Hart et al., 1995) and the Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20 (TAS-20, Bagby et al., 1994). Results: Heroin dependent individuals were characterized by higher levels of both psychopathy and alexithymia as compared to the control group. In addition, heroin dependent individuals with higher levels of psychopathy reported more difficulties in identifying and verbalizing emotional states. In the heroin group, alexithymia was more strongly associated with the impulsive/antisocial characteristics (impulsivity, irresponsibility, antisocial behavior) than with the interpersonal/affective features of psychopathy (grandiosity, manipulativeness, lack of empathy and remorse). Conclusions: Our findings suggest that alexithymia may be one potential mechanism linking psychopathy with opioid use disorders. The development of interventions targeting alexithymia could have significant applications in relapse prevention programs and psychotherapy of substance use disorders with concurrent psychopathy. (shrink)

Sensory deficits are a feature of autism and schizophrenia, as well as the upper end of their non-clinical spectra. The mismatch negativity (MMN), an index of pre-attentive auditory processing, is particularly sensitive in detecting such deficits; however, little is known about the relationship between the visual MMN (vMMN) to facial emotions and autism and schizophrenia spectrum symptom domains. We probed the vMMN to happy, sad, and neutral faces in 61 healthy adults (18–40 years, 32 female), and evaluated their degree (...) of autism and schizophrenia spectrum traits using the Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ) and Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ). The vMMN to happy faces was significantly larger than the vMMNs to sad and neutral faces. The vMMN to happy faces was associated with interpersonal difficulties as indexed by AQ Communication and Attention to Detail subscales, and SPQ associated with more interpersonal difficulties. These data suggest that pre-attentive processing of positive affect might be more specific to the interpersonal features associated with autism and schizophrenia. These findings add valuable insights into the growing body of literature investigating symptom-specific neurobiological markers of autism and schizophrenia spectrum conditions. (shrink)

Establishing healthy dietary habits in childhood is crucial in preventing long-term repercussions, as a lack of dietary variety in childhood leads to enduring impacts on both physical and cognitive health. Poor conceptual knowledge about food has recently been shown to be a driving factor of food rejection. The majority of studies that have investigated the development of food knowledge along with food rejection have mainly focused on one subtype of conceptual knowledge about food, namely taxonomic categories (e.g., vegetables or (...) meat). However, taxonomic categorization is not the only way to understand the food domain. We also heavily rely on other conceptual structures, namely thematic associations, in which objects are grouped because they share spatial-temporal properties or exhibit a complementary relationship (e.g., soft-boiled egg and soldiers). We rely on such thematic associations between food items, which may not fall into the same taxon, to determine the acceptability of food combinations. However, the development of children's ability to master these relations has not been systematically investigated, nor alongside the phenomenon of food rejection. The present research aims to fill this gap by investigating (i) the development of conceptual food knowledge (both taxonomic and thematic) and (ii) the putative relationship between children's food rejection (as measured by the Child Food Rejection Scale) and both thematic and taxonomic food knowledge. A proportional (A:B::C:?) analogy task, with a choice between taxonomic (i.e., bread and pasta) and thematic (i.e., bread and butter) food associates, was conducted on children between 3 and 7-years-old (n= 85). The children were systematically presented with either a thematic or taxonomic food base pair (A:B) and then asked to extend the example type of relation to select the respective thematic or taxonomic match to the target (C:?). Our results revealed, for the first time, that increased levels of food rejection were significantly predictive of poorer food identification and decreased thematic understanding. These findings entitle us to hypothesize that knowledge-based food education programs to foster dietary variety in young children, should not only aim to improve taxonomic understanding of food, but also thematic relations. (shrink)

PurposeGross motor skills and inhibitory control which are both development in preschool stage is significant for preschooler to healthy growth. However, the evidence of relationship between them in preschoolers are still insufficient, most of studies only focus on youth. Thus, the aim of this research is to examine the association between GMS and IC in preschool children.MethodsThis cross-sectional study used baseline data from a previous intervention study of preschoolers conducted in 2018. GMS were assessed by using the Test for (...) Gross Motor Development in preschoolers, which includes two subtests of locomotor and object control skills. Total GMS is calculated from the sum of these two subtests. The Fish Flanker task was used to evaluate both accuracy and reaction time of IC. Multivariate linear regression models were established to analyze the relationships between GMS and IC.ResultsA total of 123 preschool-age children were included in the final analysis. After adjusting for confounders, GMS, locomotor, and object control skills were all negatively related with reaction time of IC.ConclusionThere was a significant negative correlation between gross motor skills and the reaction time of inhibitory control in preschool children. Further research is needed to verify this finding in prospective and experimental studies. (shrink)

A Healthier Relationship with Technology Starting from Children’s Opinion on It. A Case Study from the Philosophy for Children Workshops in the Local Library. One of the most discussed problems in parenting is children’s relationship with technology. The article analyses a few of parents’ fears that drives their attitude and some of the skills developed while using technology, mirrored by the skills of the future work. Also includes a case study from our philosophy for children workshops on technology held in (...) the local libraries in 2019. Children are prepared to understand the arguments of a parent in a real dialogue. In order to create one, parents should consider the opposite of the truth they know as well as children’s opinion. Due to the attractiveness of technology, every child needs help from adults in order to create a strategy for a healthy relationship with technology. (shrink)

We investigated the contribution of bilingual experience to the development of cognitive reserve when compared with other, traditionally more researched, CR proxies, in a sample of cognitively healthy senior bilingual speakers. Participants performed in an online study where, in addition to a wide inventory of factors known to promote CR, we assessed several factors related to their second language use. In addition, participants’ inhibitory executive control was measured via the Flanker Task. We used Structural Equation Modeling to derive a (...) latent composite measure of CR informed by traditional CR proxies. We examined whether bilingualism may act as a mediator of the effects of such proxies on cognitive performance therefore assessing the unique contribution of dual language use to CR. First, our analyses revealed facilitatory effects of both L2 age of acquisition and L2 proficiency on the executive performance. Second, our analyses confirmed the moderating role of bilingual experience on the relationship between other factors known to promote CR and cognitive integrity, revealing a strong contribution by bilingualism to CR development. Our findings provide further support to the notion that bilingualism plays an important role in mitigating cognitive decline and promoting successful aging. (shrink)

Perceived control in contingency learning is linked to psychological wellbeing with low levels of perceived control thought to be a cause or consequence of depression and high levels of control considered to be the hallmark of mental healthiness. However, it is not clear whether this is a universal phenomenon or whether the value that people ascribe to control influences these relationships. Here we hypothesize that values affect learning about control contingencies and influence the relationship between perceived control and symptoms (...) of mood disorders. We tested these hypotheses with European university samples who were categorized as endorsing (or not) values relevant to control - individualist and collectivist values. Three online experimental contingency learning studies (N1 = 127, N2 = 324, N3 = 272) were carried out. Evidence suggested that individualist values influenced basic learning processes via an effect on learning about the context in which events took place. Participants who endorsed individualist values made control judgments that were more in line with an elemental associative learning model, whilst those who were ambivalent about individualist values made judgments that were more consistent with a configural process. High levels of perceived control and individualist values were directly associated with increased euphoric symptoms of bipolar disorder, and such values completely mediated the relation between perceived control and symptoms. The effect of low perceived control on depression was moderated by collectivist values. Anxiety created by dissonance between values and task may be a catalyst for developing mood symptoms. Conclusions are that values play a significant intermediary role in the relation between perceived control and symptoms of mood disturbance. (shrink)

Multiple measures of decision-making under uncertainty (e.g. jumping to conclusions (JTC), bias against disconfirmatory evidence (BADE), win-switch behavior, random exploration) have been associated with delusional thinking in independent studies. Yet, it is unknown whether these variables explain shared or unique variance in delusional thinking, and whether these relationships are specific to paranoia or delusional ideation more broadly. Additionally, the underlying computational mechanisms require further investigation. To investigate these questions, task and self-report data were collected in 88 individuals (46 (...) class='Hi'>healthy controls, 42 schizophrenia-spectrum) and included measures of cognitive biases and behavior on probabilistic reversal learning and explore/exploit tasks. Of those, only win-switch rate significantly differed between groups. In regression, reversal learning performance, random exploration, and poor evidence integration during BADE showed significant, independent associations with paranoia. Only self-reported JTC was associated with delusional ideation, controlling for paranoia. Computational parameters increased the proportion of variance explained in paranoia. Overall, decision-making influenced by strong volatility and variability is specifically associated with paranoia, whereas self-reported hasty decision-making is specifically associated with other themes of delusional ideation. These aspects of decision-making under uncertainty may therefore represent distinct cognitive processes that, together, have the potential to worsen delusional thinking across the psychosis spectrum. (shrink)

Wherever I Go the Ministry Follows is an answer to a vision given to Matthew Webster at the young age of fifteen. The book took six years to complete and is a testimony of how God can use the most ordinary people to accomplish extraordinary things through Jesus Christ. It is Matt's prayer that you will be inspired, convicted, and prompted by the Holy Spirit to answer the calling from God to be and act as a chosen generation, a royal (...) priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvelous light 1 Peter 2:9. The goal of Wherever I Go the Ministry Follows is for you the reader to meditate individually on each chapter and how it relates to surrendering yourself totally to God. This book is short because it is intended to be read slowly and read over and over again. It is an ideal book for a ten or eleven week Bible study. As you read each chapter you are faced with the question, am I taking the gospel everywhere I go? You are challenged to move towards a holy and a righteous lifestyle, to effectively reflect the image of Christ. The amazing thing about Wherever I Go the Ministry Follows is that as you read it you can see how each chapter is intricately woven together to give us the whole picture of what God expects from His people and what God is trying to mold each one of us into. Wherever I Go the Ministry Follows does not shy away from answering the tough questions we face in life like; What is God's will for my life? Is healing for everyone and if so then why am I not healed? Instead of dancing around the issues this book tackles the issues head on. This book is a great book for non-believers, new Christians, and mature Christians alike, because it has something unique to offer each person and it has challenges for all walks with the Lord or for those who currently are not in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. (shrink)

Little is known about how ethical organizational contexts influence employees’ perceived stress levels and well-being. This study used two theoretical lenses, ethical impact theory (Promislo et al. in Handbook of Unethical Work Behavior, M.E. Sharpe, Armonk, 2013) and ethical decision-making theory (Schwartz in J Bus Ethics 139(4): 755–776, 2016), to investigate the relationships among perceived organizational ethics (comprised of ethical climate, leader/manager ethics, and corporate social responsibility), work-related stress, and employee well-being (comprised of vitality, life satisfaction, personal growth initiative, (...) flourishing, positive mental health, and self-actualization). Findings across two studies indicated that organizational ethics was negatively related to work-related stress, and that work-related stress was negatively related to employee well-being. Perceived organizational ethics is positively related to employee well-being, with post hoc mediation tests indicating that work-related stress partially mediates this relationship. Our findings suggest that organizations should be proactive in improving their ethical climate, such as choosing ethical leaders, developing a robust and well-communicated code of ethics, and actively practicing CSR. These measures should reduce excessive work-related stress and improve employee well-being. (shrink)

Background Healthy aging is one of the essential aspects of a health promotion program in the elderly. Aim Exploring ethical challenges in healthy elderly care from the perspective of nurses, older adults, and families in the Iranian context. Research Design This qualitative study was conducted using a content analysis approach in 4 health centers in northeastern Iran from 2017 to 2019. Semi-structured interviews, observation, review of elderly files, and focus groups were used to collect data. Ethical considerations The (...) ethics committee of the university approved this study in Iran. This study adhered to the principles of the Helsinki Declaration. Ethical principles autonomy, confidentiality, and anonymity were considered for the participants. Participants were informed about the purpose of the study and submitted written informed consent regarding their participation. Findings The central theme was: An unfair approach to caring for healthy older adults. The three categories were as follows: Forgotten human care, disrespect, and lack of a meaningful and trustworthy relationship. The 14 subcategories highlighted the ethical challenges of healthy aging care in health centers. Discussion The findings showed that due to nurses’ unfamiliarity with the concept of healthy aging, older adults are discriminated against in care centers. Creating a standard care program for healthy older adults ensures that ethical principles are followed for these clients. Conclusion Various individual and organizational factors lead to an unfair approach to caring for healthy elderly in health centers. The following factors can help improve the care of healthy aging and reduce ethical challenges in this area: Introducing nurses to the concept of healthy old age and its dimensions, creating a community-based approach in health centers, prioritizing health issues over health issues, Involvement of families and older adults in needs assessment-goal setting-implementation and evaluation of health services, and design of home visit programs to provide services to healthy elderly. (shrink)

Diabetes has been associated with affective disorders which complicate the management of the disease. Emotional intelligence, or the ability to perceive, facilitate, understand, and regulate emotions, has shown to be a protective factor of emotional disorders in general population. The main objective of this study was to systematically review the role of the EI construct in Type 1 and Type 2 diabetics and to observe how EI is related to biological and psychological variables. Comprehensive searches were conducted in PubMed, Scopus, (...) PsycInfo, and Cochrane without time limitations, for studies examining the link between diabetes and EI. A total of 12 eligible studies were selected according to the inclusion criteria. We divided the results into four sections: EI and hemoglobin glycosylated, EI training effects, differences in EI between persons with diabetes and without diabetes, and EI and psychological adjustment and well-being. The results showed negative correlations between EI and HbA1c, positive effects of EI training on quality of life, anxiety, and glycemic control, no differences in EI between people with diabetes and healthy individuals, and, finally, negative correlations between EI and different psychological variables such as diabetes-related anxiety and distress, and positive correlations with quality of life, well-being, and marital satisfaction. This systematic review offers a starting point for a theoretical and practical understanding of the role played by EI in the management of diabetes and reveals that EI is a promising protective factor for biological and psychological variables in this population. (shrink)

BackgroundKinarm Standard Tests is a suite of upper limb tasks to assess sensory, motor, and cognitive functions, which produces granular performance data that reflect spatial and temporal aspects of behavior. We have previously used principal component analysis to reduce the dimensionality of multivariate data using the Kinarm End-Point Lab. Here, we performed PCA using data from the Kinarm Exoskeleton Lab, and determined agreement of PCA results across EP and EXO platforms in healthy participants. We additionally examined whether further dimensionality (...) reduction was possible by using PCA across behavioral tasks.MethodsHealthy participants were assessed using the Kinarm EXO and EP. Four behavioral tasks were performed that quantified arm sensory and motor function, including position sense [Arm Position Matching ] and three motor tasks [Visually Guided Reaching, Object Hit, and Object Hit and Avoid ]. The number of components to include per task was determined from scree plots and parallel analysis, and rotation type was decided on a per-task basis. To assess agreement, we compared principal components across platforms using distance correlation. We additionally considered inter-task interactions in EXO data by performing PCA across all six behavioral assessments.ResultsBy applying PCA on a per task basis to data collected using the EXO, the number of behavioral parameters were substantially reduced by 58–75% while accounting for 76–87% of the variance. These results compared well to the EP analysis, and we found good-to-excellent agreement values between PCs from the EXO and those from the EP. Finally, we were able to reduce the dimensionality of the EXO data across tasks down to 16 components out of a total of 76 behavioral parameters, which represents a reduction of 79% while accounting for 73% of the total variance.ConclusionPCA of Kinarm robotic assessment appears to capture similar relationships between kinematic features in healthy individuals and is agnostic to the robotic platform used for collection. Further work is needed to investigate the use of PCA-based data reduction for the characterization of neurological deficits in clinical populations. (shrink)

To study whether Tai Chi practice can improve the brain connectivity of the prefrontal lobe of college students, the positive psychological capital questionnaires and resting EEG signals were acquired from 50 college students including 25 TC practitioners and 25 demographically matched TC healthy controls. The results showed that the score of the positive psychological capital questionnaire of the TC group was significantly higher than that of the control group, and the node degree of the frontal lobe and temporal lobe (...) of both groups was positively correlated with the score of the positive psychological capital questionnaire. In addition, the response time of the TC group under auditory stimulation was significantly shorter than that of the control group, and there was a significant positive correlation between response time and its characteristic path length, and a significant negative correlation with global efficiency. Meanwhile, during the selected range of sparsity, the difference in global network parameters between two groups is significant in the alpha band. Under all single sparsity, the clustering coefficient, global efficiency, and local efficiency of the TC group have a higher trend, while the characteristic path length tended to be shorter. In the analysis of the local characteristics of the resting brain functional network, it was found that the node degree of the frontal lobe and temporal lobe of the TC group was higher, and the difference was significant in some nodes. These results all point to the fact that TC practice has a certain impact on specific brain areas of the brain. (shrink)

The purpose of this scoping review is to investigate the value of creative arts therapies in healthy older adults. This article aims to shed light on current knowledge concerning the effectiveness of art therapies for the prevention of common age-related conditions using the definition of art therapy provided by the American Art Therapy Association, as well as Cohen’s conceptual framework for the psychological conceptualization of the relationship between the arts and health in later life. The objective is to carefully (...) capture subthreshold situations of distress, which are often not taken into account and primarily involve psychological aspects that are crucial in the multidimensional perspective of healthy aging. Twelve articles were selected and examined following an initial electronic search on 3 databases. A thematic analysis of the results identified four major themes: improving cognitive performance and proprioception; enhancing self-identity and meaningful life; reducing feelings of loneliness and depressive symptoms; and the importance of socialization. All these aspects constitute the basis for preventing psychological distress and enhancing mental well-being for healthy aging. (shrink)

Every individual in this world seeks to achieve a healthy, wealthy, secured and blissful life as suggested by Maslow’ Need Hierarchy. A regression analysis taking Life Satisfaction Index (as obtained from World Database of Happiness between 1995–2005) as the dependent variable indicated rule of law, voice and accountability, regularity authority as well as economic freedom indicators (as obtained from Heritage Foundation Database, 1995–2006) as very significant predictors. In this article, an attempt has been made to understand this tridimensional concept (...) of happiness and combining them to arrive at a Composite Index of Happiness. Efforts have also been made to evaluate performance of various nations in their persistency to achieve these dimensions of happiness. Most studies have been either in direction of Subjective Well-being or Developmental Well-being. This article has been in an effort to combine both the factors and incorporating age-old values and virtues required for reaching higher realm of lasting peace, tranquility and happiness for one and all. The study shows that mental happiness has significant positive correlation with materialistic and spiritualistic happiness, perhaps for being the intermediary step, but materialistic has no significant correlation with spiritualistic happiness. (shrink)

Dispositional forgiveness is positively associated with many facets of wellbeing and has protective implications against depression and anxiety in adolescents. However, little work has been done to examine neurobiological aspects of forgiveness as they relate to clinical symptoms. In order to better understand the neural mechanisms supporting the protective role of forgiveness in adolescents, the current study examined the middle frontal gyrus, which comprises the majority of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and is associated with cognitive regulation, and its relationship to (...) forgiveness and clinical symptoms in a sample of healthy adolescents. In this cross-sectional study, larger MFG volume was significantly associated with higher self-reported dispositional forgiveness scores and lower levels of depressive and anxiety symptoms. Forgiveness mediated the relationship between MFG volume and both depressive and anxiety symptom levels. The mediating role of forgiveness in the relationship between MFG volume and clinical symptoms suggests that one way that cognitive regulation strategies supported by this brain region may improve adolescent mental health is via increasing a capacity for forgiveness. The present study highlights the relevance of forgiveness to neurobiology and their relevance to emotional health in adolescents. Future longitudinal studies should focus on the predictive quality of the relationship between forgiveness, brain volume and clinical symptoms and the effects of forgiveness interventions on these relationships. (shrink)

Previous research indicates that individuals with depressive disorders have aberrant resting state functional connectivity and may experience memory dysfunction. While resting state functional connectivity may be affected by experiences preceding the resting state scan, little is known about this relationship in individuals with DD. Our study examined this question in the context of object memory. 52 individuals with DD and 45 healthy controls completed clinical interviews, and a memory encoding task followed by a forced-choice recognition test. A 5-min resting (...) state fMRI scan was administered immediately after the forced-choice task. Resting state networks were identified using group Independent Component Analysis across all participants. A network modeling analysis conducted on 22 networks using FSLNets examined the interaction effect of diagnostic status and memory accuracy on the between-network connectivity. We found that this interaction significantly affected the relationship between the network comprised of the medial prefrontal cortex, posterior cingulate cortex, and hippocampal formation and the network comprised of the inferior temporal, parietal, and prefrontal cortices. A stronger positive correlation between these two networks was observed in individuals with DD who showed higher memory accuracy, while a stronger negative correlation was observed in individuals with DD who showed lower memory accuracy prior to resting state. No such effect was observed for HC. The former network cross-correlated with the default mode network, and the latter cross-correlated with the dorsal attention network. Considering that the DMN and DAN typically anticorrelate, we hypothesize that our findings indicate aberrant reactivation and consolidation processes that occur after the task is completed. Such aberrant processes may lead to continuous “replay” of previously learned, but currently irrelevant, information and underlie rumination in depression. (shrink)

_Background:_ Experimental research exploring the sleep/pain-relationship has typically focused on total or partial sleep deprivation, hereby failing to reproduce the mere fragmented sleep pattern typically observed in patients with chronic pain. Further, little research is done on how affect moderates the sleep–pain relationship after sleep fragmentation. The present study sought to clarify the relationship between pain, sleep and positive and negative affect. _Methods:_ In an experimental counterbalanced crossover design, 35 healthy young adults were subjected to several pain measures after (...) one night of fragmented sleep, compared to one control night of normal sleep, both conducted in their own homes, and respectively, positive and negative affect induction using validated film clips and facial feedback procedures. Sleep was monitored using sleep diaries. _Results:_ Increased pain sensitivity after one night of experimentally induced sleep fragmentation was found, compared to after one control night of undisturbed sleep. No main effects of induced affect on pain were found, and sleep x induced affect interaction was not significant. _Conclusion:_ The present study supports the adverse effect of sleep fragmentation on pain sensitivity, however, affect was not found to be a moderator in the sleep–pain relationship. The results underline the need for further research within this field. (shrink)

We evaluated the relationships of daily sleep duration and inconsistency with soft tennis competitive performance among 15 healthy collegiate soft tennis players (13 male, 2 female, mean age = 19.7 ± 0.8 years, height = 170.8 ± 7.3 cm, weight = 60.3 ± 5.6 kg, soft tennis experience = 8.7 ± 2.0 years). Sleep duration and inconsistency were determined by a 50-day sleep diary, which recorded sleep and wake times of sleep. Soft tennis athletic performance was evaluated by (...) a service and baseline stroke accuracy test and the spider run test. Mean sleep duration was 7.4 ± 1.7 h. No correlation was found between long-term mean sleep duration and athletic performance. But inconsistency in sleep duration (SD of sleep duration) was inversely correlated with service score after controlling for soft tennis experience and sex (r = −0.56, p = 0.046). There was no significant relationship between sleep inconsistency and other athletic performance. This result indicates that reducing the instability of sleep duration (i.e., sleep regular hours) in the long-term may have a positive effect on soft tennis players’ service performance. Although participants’ current mean sleep duration (7.4 h) was not as sufficient as the recommendation in sleep extension experiments (9–10 h), it revealed the importance for athletes to maintain regular sleep in daily life. (shrink)

Introduction: Screen-based and mobile technology has grown at an unprecedented rate. However, little is understood about whether increased screen-use affects executive functioning, the range of mental processes that aid goal attainment and facilitate the selection of appropriate behaviors. To examine this, a systematic review was conducted.Method: This systematic review is reported in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses statement. A comprehensive literature search was conducted using Web of Science, MEDLINE, PsycINFO and Scopus databases to identify (...) articles published between 2007 and March 2020, examining the use of mobile technologies on aspects of EF in healthy adults aged 18–35 years. In total 6079 articles were screened by title, and 39 screened by full text. Eight eligible papers were identified for inclusion. Our methods were pre-registered on the PROSPERO international prospective register of systematic reviews.Results: A total of 438 participants were included across the eight studies. Five of the eight studies examined more than one EF. Five studies measured inhibition, and four studies measured decision-making. Smartphone use was negatively associated with inhibition and decision-making. Working memory performance was found to be improved by increased time engaging in video games and by refraining from smartphone use prior to bedtime. Quality assessments indicated high risk of methodological biases across the studies and a low quality of evidence for determining the relationship between technology use and executive functioning.Conclusions: This review highlights the scarcity of the literature in this area. It presents a call for rigorous and objective research to further our understanding of the impact of mobile technology on different aspects of executive function. (shrink)

The diagnosis of a chronic illness during young adulthood represents a non-normative life transition influencing the identity definition process, as well as the individual psychological adjustment. The study examined if relationships between identity motives (self-esteem, efficacy, continuity, distinctiveness, belonging, and meaning), health-related quality of life, and depressive symptoms differ between healthy young adults and young adults diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS). Two hundred one people (101 MS patients and 100 healthy controls), aged 18–35 years, completed a self-report (...) questionnaire. Young adults with MS reported lower health-related quality of life and lower efficacy motive than their healthy peers. Among MS patients, high meaning was related to lower depressive symptoms, whereas high continuity and high belonging were related to higher health-related quality of life than in healthy controls. The study highlights the relevance of identity motives for the adjustment to MS and has implications for psychological interventions with young patients. (shrink)

Background: Multiple studies have shown that people who have experienced a serious health problem such as an injury tend to overrate the quality of health they had before that event. The main objective of this study was to test whether the phenomenon of respondents overrating their past health can also be observed in people from the general population. A second aim was to test whether habitual optimism is indeed focused on events in the future.Method: A representatively selected community sample from (...) Leipzig, Germany was examined. Respondents were asked to assess their current health, their past health, and their expected future health on a 0–100 scale. In addition, the study participants completed several questionnaires on specific aspects of physical and mental health.Results: Respondents of all age groups assessed their health as having been better in the past than it was at present. Moreover, they also assessed their earlier state of health more positively than people 5 years younger did their current state. Habitual optimism was associated with respondents having more positive expectations of how healthy they will be in 5 years time, but the correlation with their assessments of their current health was nearly as high.Conclusion: Highly positive scores of retrospectively assessed health among people who have experienced a health problem cannot totally be accounted for by a response to that health problem. (shrink)

There is much public focus in North America today on issues of corporate governance and ethics due mainly to the malpractice of several high profile corporate leaders and the negative impact of this on their corporation's stakeholders, employees and communities. This has caused a crisis of trust in the public and lead to much discussion on ways to prevent such unethical behavior by adopting new approaches through legislation and the structure of corporations. This article is not about introducing a new (...) approach to corporate ethics and governance as there is much change already taking place. The National Quality Institute in Canada offers a demonstrated and proven way, through the application of the Excellence Frameworks, of providing for good corporate guidance and ethical leadership practices. Organizations, which adopt a strategic focus on Excellence, attain great results and become healthy organizations, as their leaders understand the dynamic relationship and the balance that exists between "employees, customers, and stakeholders". These organizations build trust by acting responsibly. NQI works with many organizations in Canada that have a strategic leadership focus on organizational excellence utilizing the criteria in the NQI Canadian Excellence Frameworks for Quality and for Healthy Workplace. Organizations that take an integrated approach to Excellence also perform well in such areas as corporate social responsibility, employee health and customer satisfaction. This article has specific references to three organizations that have achieved Canada's prime recognition the Canada Awards for Excellence. (shrink)

This study investigates the role of locality (a task/material-related variable), demographic factors (age, education, and sex), cognitive capacities (verbal working memory [WM], verbal short-term memory [STM], speed of processing [SOP], and inhibition), and morphosyntactic category (time reference and grammatical aspect) in verb-related morphosyntactic production (VRMP). A sentence completion task tapping production of time reference and grammatical aspect in local and nonlocal configurations, and cognitive tasks measuring verbal WM capacity, verbal STM capacity, motor SOP, perceptual SOP, and inhibition were administered to (...) 200 neurotypical Greek-speaking participants, aged between 19 and 80 years. We fitted generalized linear mixed-effects models and performed path analyses. Significant main effects of locality, age, education, verbal WM capacity, motor SOP, and morphosyntactic category emerged. Production of time reference and aspect did not interact with any of the significant factors (i.e., age, education, verbal WM capacity, motor SOP, and locality), and locality did not interact with any memory system. Path analyses revealed that the relationships between age and VRMP, and between education and VRMP were partly mediated by verbal WM; and the relationship between verbal WM and VRMP was partly mediated by perceptual SOP. Results suggest that subject-, task/material- and morphosyntactic category-specific factors determine accuracy performance on VRMP; and the effects of age, education, and verbal WM on VRMP are partly indirect. The fact that there was a significant main effect of verbal WM but not of verbal STM on accuracy performance in the VRMP task suggests that it is predominantly the processing component (and not the storage component) of verbal WM that supports VRMP. Lastly, we interpret the results as suggesting that VRMP is also supported by a procedural memory system whose efficiency might be reflected in years of formal education. (shrink)

A number of sociologists have identified the emergence of a ‘new paradigm’ of health, based on the principle that the National Health Service should seek to prevent ill-health rather than simply treat the sick. The sociology of health promotion that has emerged over the past 15 years has contributed to debates about risk, lifestyle and consumerism, but the gendered nature of what some refer to as the ‘new morality of health’, and in particular its urging of feminine attributes, has largely (...) been neglected. This article provides a critical examination of the ‘new paradigm’ of health and its relationship to femininity. I suggest that femininity involves a certain attitude to the body that we also find in current health policy, and cultural representations of health more generally: that the body is essentially uncontrollable (yet something we should seek to control, as a matter of virtue), that it is a good in and of itself, and that it is synonymous with the self. (shrink)

This paper examines trust as a fundamental aspect of fiduciary relationships in education. The specific relationship under examination is that of academic employee and university employer. Both have the value of trust assigned to them as an implicit part of their social and professional contract. The setting is Australia, but the principles apply to any democratic jurisdiction and educational level or location, where fiduciary principles are a pre-condition for healthy and trustworthy working relationships. The paper firstly discusses (...) the meaning and application of ‘trust’ and ‘fiduciary’, and considers the codes that regulate fiduciary relationships in education. It then asks what happens if and when the fiduciary duties and obligations are not upheld, advancing that question through an employment law case against an Australian university, for alleged breach of the Fair Work Act. The analysis shows what may be the outcome when fiduciary trust between employee and employer is breached, how it may happen, and the consequences of this. The aim of the paper is to throw light on the value of trust for robust working relationships in academic life. Ultimately, the paper shows that trust is axiomatic to a working system of justice in a healthy educational workplace. (shrink)

It is widely accepted that some characteristics and aspects of spirituality have been mentioned in the religious beliefs, teachings and practices of many divine religions, including Islam. This has recently drawn researchers’ attention, working in the fields of psychology and religion, towards the relationship between religion and spirituality. At present, research on industrial and organisational psychology seeks to shed light on the relationship between religiosity, intelligence and cognitive abilities. In addition, a healthy organisation is a place where individuals attend (...) their workplace with interest and are proud to work there. In fact, a healthy organisation can be achieved with regard to physical–mental health, security, belongings, meritocracy and the valuation of knowledge and expertise. Considering the significance of this study, it aimed to reflect on the relationship between workplace spirituality and organisational health in manufacturing and service companies in Malaysia. Hence, a total number of 30 trading companies in Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Langkawi were selected as the statistical population of the study and 3820 employees in these organisations were investigated by simple random sampling through questionnaires distributed to collect the data required for analysis in SPSS software. The results revealed that the given organisations had good levels of spirituality and health. Accordingly, it was concluded that WPS had a significant positive effect on OH.Contribution: This article contributes to the relationship between WPS and OH in manufacturing companies. (shrink)