Coping with COVID-19: a snapshot of college student mental health, coping, and expectancies during stay-at-home orders

OBJECTIVE

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted people's lives around the world, including college students. This cross-sectional study aimed to 1) describe psychological distress, coping, and expectancies of undergraduates during COVID-19 "stay-at-home" orders and 2) examine the associations among these variables.

PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS

Midwestern US undergraduates (N = 186) completed measures of psychological distress, coping behaviors, and expectancies in March-April 2020 during the initial round of "stay-at-home" orders.

RESULTS

Students engaged in approach coping and disease prevention behaviors and had low expectations for contracting COVID-19. Most students reported clinically significant depression or anxiety. Adherence to disease prevention behaviors was associated with less stress but more anxiety. Positive expectancies and approach coping were associated with less distress. Avoidance coping was associated with more distress.

CONCLUSIONS

This study describes the toll that COVID-19 has had on college students. Continued attention to the mental health of college students during the pandemic is imperative.

Dysmenorrhea and psychological distress: a meta-analysis

Dysmenorrhea is characterized by pelvic pain associated with menstruation. Similar to people with other pain conditions, females who experience dysmenorrhea report increased psychological distress. However, the pooled magnitude of this association has not been quantified across studies. Accordingly, this meta-analytic review quantifies the magnitude of the associations between dysmenorrhea severity and psychological distress. We conducted a systematic search of the literature using PsycINFO, PubMed, CINHAL, Embase, and Web of Science. Analyzed studies provided observational data on dysmenorrhea severity and anxiety symptoms, depressive symptoms, and/or global psychological distress. A total of 44 studies were included, and three random-effects meta-analyses were conducted, with average pooled effect sizes calculated using Person's r. We found significant, positive associations between measures of dysmenorrhea severity and measures of depressive symptoms (r = 0.216), anxiety symptoms (r = 0.207), and global psychological distress (r = 0.311). Our review suggests that females with greater dysmenorrhea severity experience greater psychological distress. Future directions include defining a clinically meaningful dysmenorrhea severity threshold, understanding the mechanisms and directionality underlying the dysmenorrhea-psychological distress relationship, and designing and testing interventions to jointly address dysmenorrhea and psychological distress.

Efficacy of psychological interventions for dysmenorrhea: a meta-analysis

Dysmenorrhea is pelvic pain associated with menstruation and is one of the most common pain conditions among reproductive-age women. It is commonly treated with medications, complementary and alternative medicine, and self-management techniques. However, there is increased focus on psychological interventions which modify thoughts, beliefs, emotions, and behavioral responses to dysmenorrhea. This review examined the efficacy of psychological interventions on dysmenorrhea pain severity and interference. We conducted a systematic search of the literature using PsycINFO, PubMed, CINHAL, and Embase. A total of 22 studies were included; 21 examined within-group improvement (ie, within-group analysis) and 14 examined between-group improvement (ie, between-group analysis). Random-effects meta-analyses were conducted on pain severity and interference, with average effect sizes calculated using Hedges's g. Within-group analyses showed decreased pain severity and interference at post-treatment (g = 0.986 and 0.949, respectively) and first follow-up (g = 1.239 and 0.842, respectively). Between-group analyses showed decreased pain severity at post-treatment (g = 0.909) and decreased pain severity and interference at first follow-up (g = 0.964 and 0.884, respectively) compared to control groups. This review supports the efficacy of psychological interventions for dysmenorrhea, but conclusions are tempered by suboptimal methodological quality of the included studies and high heterogeneity across studies. Additional, rigorous research is needed to determine the clinical utility of psychological interventions for dysmenorrhea.

Feasibility and Accuracy of Measuring Carotid Plaque Volume (Burden) With Contrast-Enhanced Tomographic 3D Ultrasound and Ultrasound Image Fusion

BACKGROUND

Stenosis severity has been the indication for carotid endarterectomy (CEA) for 4 decades, but the annual stroke risk in asymptomatic carotid stenosis >70% is under 2%. Atherosclerotic volume has emerged as a risk factor for future stroke, but needs to be measured noninvasively. Tomographic ultrasound (tUS) is a novel technology that assembles 3D images in seconds. We evaluated accuracy of measuring Carotid Plaque Volume (CPV) with tUS in patients undergoing CEA.

METHOD

Consecutive patients were imaged immediately before CEA by tUS and contrast-enhanced tUS (CEtUS). CPV was measured using tUS, CEtUS, and a fused images incorporating both tUS and CEtUS by trained vascular scientists. Precise volume of the endarterectomy specimen was measured using Archimedes technique.

RESULTS

Mean ± sd (range) CPV in 129 endarterectomy specimens was 0.75 ± 0.43 cm³ (0.10-2.47 cm³). Mean ± sd CPV measured by tUS (n = 114) was 0.87 ± 0.51 cm³, CEtUS (n = 104) was 0.75 ± 0.45 cm³ and with fusion (n = 95) was 0.83 ± 0.49 cm³. Differences between specimen volume and CPV measured by tUS (0.13 ± 0.24 cm³), CEtUS (-0.01 ± 0.21 cm³) or fusion (-0.08 ± 0.20) were clinically insignificant. Intra-/interobserver differences were minimal.

CONCLUSIONS

tUS accurately measures CPV with excellent intra-/interobserver agreement. CEtUS improves accuracy if precise CPV measurement is needed for research but tUS alone would be sufficient for population screening.

The multilayer perceptron as an approximation to a Bayes optimal discriminant function

The multilayer perceptron, when trained as a classifier using backpropagation, is shown to approximate the Bayes optimal discriminant function. The result is demonstrated for both the two-class problem and multiple classes. It is shown that the outputs of the multilayer perceptron approximate the a posteriori probability functions of the classes being trained. The proof applies to any number of layers and any type of unit activation function, linear or nonlinear.

Computer-aided breast cancer detection and diagnosis of masses using difference of Gaussians and derivative-based feature saliency

A new model-based vision (MBV) algorithm is developed to find regions of interest (ROI's) corresponding to masses in digitized mammograms and to classify the masses as malignant/benign. The MBV algorithm is comprised of five modules to structurally identify suspicious ROI's, eliminate false positives, and classify the remaining as malignant or benign. The focus of attention module uses a difference of Gaussians (DoG) filter to highlight suspicious regions in the mammogram. The index module uses tests to reduce the number of nonmalignant regions from 8.39 to 2.36 per full breast image. Size, shape, contrast, and Laws texture features are used to develop the prediction module's mass models. Derivative-based feature saliency techniques are used to determine the best features for classification. Nine features are chosen to define the malignant/benign models. The feature extraction module obtains these features from all suspicious ROI's. The matching module classifies the regions using a multilayer perceptron neural network architecture to obtain an overall classification accuracy of 100% for the segmented malignant masses with a false-positive rate of 1.8 per full breast image. This system has a sensitivity of 92% for locating malignant ROI's. The database contains 272 images (12 b, 100 microm) with 36 malignant and 53 benign mass images. The results demonstrate that the MBV approach provides a structured order of integrating complex stages into a system for radiologists.

Methodology and feasibility of a home-based examination in disabled older women: the Women's Health and Aging Study

BACKGROUND

To ascertain disease and functional capacity in community-resident disabled older women in the Women's Health and Aging Study (WHAS), a prospective investigation of the causes and course of disability, a home-based standardized physical examination and performance test battery were developed. Thirty-nine tests were administered, 9 by a lay interviewer and 30 by a nurse. This scope and intensity of testing had not been performed previously in a home environment or on such a functionally limited population. Thus, substantial developmental work was required. This report describes the administrative procedures and field experience for each exam component, highlighting innovations pertinent to home administration.

METHODS

Exclusion criteria, safety issues, administration time, completion rates, and reasons for incomplete data are reported. Administration time is based on 30 exams conducted over a 3-week period 90% of the way through baseline data collection. Completion status was determined using all 1,002 participants and is categorized as follows: complete; partial; not done, health; not done, other; and refused.

RESULTS

Seventy-two percent of the screened, eligible respondents completed the 30-min interviewer-administered physical assessment and the 2-hr, 10-min nurse examination. Classifiable data were obtained for 90% of participants on 36 examination items. Lower completion rates were obtained on the other three tests primarily due to exclusions for health-related conditions; environmental constraints and participant refusal were minimal.

CONCLUSION

Extensive, research-oriented physical evaluation can be successfully and safely performed in a home setting. In future studies, home-based examination may be preferable, as participation in the WHAS examination substantially exceeded rates for clinic-based exams in similar populations.

Optical wavelet transforms from computer-generated holography

An optical implementation of a wavelet transform is presented. Optical Haar wavelets are created by the use of computer-generated holography. Two different holographic techniques are explored: (1) interferogram and (2) detour-phase. A discrete representation of a continuous wavelet transform is obtained by the optical correlation of an image with a Haar mother wavelet. Experimental results are compared with their digital simulations.

Artificial neural networks for early detection and diagnosis of cancer

Why use neural networks? The reasons commonly cited in the literature for using artificial neural networks for any problem are many and varied. They learn from experience. They work where other algorithms fail. They generalize from the training examples to perform well on independent test data. They reduce the number of false alarms without increasing significantly the number of false negatives. They are fast and are easier to use than conventional statistical techniques, especially when multiple prognostic factors are needed for a given problem. These factors have been overly promoted for the neural techniques. The common theme of this paper is that artificial neural networks have proven to be an interesting and useful alternate processing strategy. Artificial neural techniques, however, are not magical solutions with mystical abilities that work without good engineering. With good understanding of their capabilities and limitations they can be applied productively to problems in early detection and diagnosis of cancer. The specific cancer applications which will be used to demonstrate current work in artificial neural networks for cancer detection and diagnosis are breast cancer, liver cancer and lung cancer.

Spectral analysis of the electroencephalographic response to motion sickness

Ten subjects participated in a laboratory experiment using cross-coupled angular stimulation to induce motion sickness symptoms. A 14-channel montage using subdermal electrodes was employed to record the electroencephalogram during a pre-Coriolis stimulation baseline through to imminent emesis. Spectral analyses of the EEG were performed upon the recorded data and individual band energies were quantified to attempt to characterize the cortical electrical response to motion sickness. Power spectral analysis was performed upon the temporo-frontal signals through the entire period over the delta, theta, and alpha EEG bands. The power in each of these bands was integrated and the baseline periods compared with that during frank sickness. Mean power spectral energy in the delta band during frank sickness increased by a factor of 13.7 over baseline. Mean theta band energy increased by a factor of 2.2. Mean alpha band energy was not significantly different. EEG power spectral levels in the delta and theta bands increased along with the level of motion sickness symptoms. These changes, particularly those in the delta band, suggest that intense low frequency oscillatory stimulation is being diffusely projected about the central nervous system. These EEG changes, similar to those sometimes seen in partial seizures, and the similarity of the symptom/sign complex in the two disorders, provide evidence that the pathophysiology and electrophysiology of motion sickness may be a variant of seizure activity.

Herpes simplex virus neurovirulence and productive infection of neural cells is associated with a function which maps between 0.82 and 0.832 map units on the HSV genome

A herpes simplex virus (HSV) intertypic recombinant (RE6) has been shown to be completely and specifically non-neurovirulent in mice. Direct intracranial inoculation of 10(8) PFU of RE6 does not result in a lethal encephalitis. Neurovirulent recombinant viruses were generated by cotransfection of RE6 DNA with DNA fragments cloned from the pathogenic HSV-1 strain 17 syn+. It was found that a 1.6-kb fragment mapping between 0.82-0.832 m.u. could restore the neurovirulent phenotype. Recombinants which incorporated at least part of this fragment were at least 100,000-fold more neurovirulent than RE6. The recombinants displayed a greatly enhanced capacity to replicate in mouse brain in vivo, but did not display enhanced replication over that of RE6 in cultured mouse cells at 38.5 degrees. Immunohistochemical analysis of infected mouse brain tissue revealed that the permissive host cell range of the recombinants was dramatically altered from that of RE6. While antigen positive cells were extremely rare in mouse brain tissue infected with RE6, the neurovirulent recombinants produced antigens in many cell types including neurons. Thus, wild-type HSV-1 sequences mapping between 0.82-0.832 m.u. can donate a highly neurovirulent phenotype to RE6.

Two-wave mixing in Ta-doped KNbO(3)

This Communication describes preliminary experimental two-wave mixing results with a new electrooptic material, 1% tantalum (Ta)-doped potassium niobate, KNbO(3).

Sidelobe reduction via multiaperture optical systems

The impulse responses of multiaperture optical systems can generate large sidelobe irradiances. The purpose of this research was to design multiaperture systems with impulse responses that exhibit sidelobe irradiances less than that of the Airy pattern and central lobe widths no greater than that of a single large aperture of an equivalent diameter. Multiaperture systems composed of 19, 37, 61, and 91 apertures satisfy these performance criteria. However, the amount of energy in the central lobes of the multiaperture systems was less than that of a single large aperture.

Optical preprocessing using liquid crystal televisions

The suitability of a low-cost liquid crystal TV to function as a spatial light modulator in an optical preprocessor for an electronic pattern recognition system is investigated. The application presented is optical edge enhancement. The liquid crystal TV performs reasonably well where high-quality images are not required. Three optical edge enhancement methods are presented: spatial filtering; image cancellation; and phase cancellation. The phase cancellation method was discovered during the course of this research.