Internet addiction and problematic Internet use: A systematic review of clinical research

AIM: To provide a comprehensive overview of clinical studies on the clinical picture of Internet-use related addictions from a holistic perspective. A literature search was conducted using the database Web of Science. METHODS: Over the last 15 years, the number of Internet users has increased by 1000%, and at the same time, research on addictive Internet use has proliferated. Internet addiction has not yet been understood very well, and research on its etiology and natural history is still in its infancy. In 2013, the American Psychiatric Association included Internet Gaming Disorder in the appendix of the updated version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (DSM-5) as condition that requires further research prior to official inclusion in the main manual, with important repercussions for research and treatment. To date, reviews have focused on clinical and treatment studies of Internet addiction and Internet Gaming Disorder. This arguably limits the analysis to a specific diagnosis of a potential disorder that has not yet been officially recognised in the Western world, rather than a comprehensive and inclusive investigation of Internet-use related addictions (including problematic Internet use) more generally. RESULTS: The systematic literature review identified a total of 46 relevant studies. The included studies used clinical samples, and focused on characteristics of treatment seekers and online addiction treatment. Four main types of clinical research studies were identified, namely research involving (1) treatment seeker characteristics; (2) psychopharmacotherapy; (3) psychological therapy; and (4) combined treatment. CONCLUSION: A consensus regarding diagnostic criteria and measures is needed to improve reliability across studies and to develop effective and efficient treatment approaches for treatment seekers

Preventing harmful Internet use-related addiction problems in Europe: a literature review and policy options

Internet use-related addiction problems are increasingly being recognized on a European scale due to international health organizations considering gaming addiction. In April 2013, the American Psychiatric Association recognized Internet Gaming Disorder in the fifth Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, and in April 2018, the World Health Organization included Gaming Disorder in the eleventh International Classification of Diseases. However, findings on these problems within this period are lacking in Europe, and a preventive approach is missing globally. A detailed critical literature review was conducted using PsycINFO and Web of Science in this five-year period. A total of 19 studies were reviewed and problems identified were: generalized Internet addiction and online gaming and gambling addictions across seven European countries (i.e., Spain, Germany, France, Italy, Greece, The Netherlands, and Denmark). The individuals with problematic use were found to be educated adolescents, usually young males with comorbid disorders, and gaming and gambling disorders were implicated in the most severe cases. Cognitive behavioral therapy was the main treatment, sometimes combined with a systemic approach for adolescents. Prevalence, high-risk populations, and factors contributing to these addiction problems are discussed, and a set of policy options are developed for this region. The implications for early detection, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention in Europe are considered

Association of CD69 Up-Regulation on CD4+ CLA+ T cells versus patch test, strip patch test and clinical history in nickel sensitization

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Objective</p> <p>The patch test (PT) with its modification - the strip patch test (SPT) - is the standard in vivo procedure to diagnose an allergic contact dermatitis (ACD). To date, none of the in vitro tests for the diagnosis of ACD fulfils the requirements of an easy, valid and reliable test. To investigate the prediction ability of a flow cytometric assay of CD69 up-regulation on CD4+ CLA+ T cells in nickel-sensitive and non-nickel-sensitive patients.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In a prospective, investigator-blinded, clinical study a total of 85 nickel-sensitive (n = 44; 51.8%) and non-nickel-sensitive patients (n = 41; 48.2%) were enrolled. The association between CD69 up-regulation on CD4+ CLA+ T cells on the one hand and PT, SPT, and clinical history on the other hand was measured. Association is expressed with c statistic values (receiver operating characteristic analysis) and corresponding 95% CIs.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The associations were c = 0.57 (95% CI: 0.42-0.72) between CD69 up-regulation and PT, c = 0.49 (95% CI: 0.36-0.62) between CD69 up-regulation and SPT, and c = 0.51 (95% CI: 0.37-0.64) between CD69 up-regulation and clinical history.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>CD69 up-regulation on CD4+ CLA+ T cells in vitro could not predict neither a positive PT or SPT result nor a positive clinical history to nickel sulfate. The combination of clinical history and patch testing still remains the basis for diagnosing ACD.</p

Anomalous gauge-boson couplings and the Higgs-boson mass

We study anomalous gauge-boson couplings induced by a locally SU(2) x U(1) invariant effective Lagrangian containing ten operators of dimension six built from the boson fields of the Standard Model (SM) before spontaneous symmetry breaking (SSB). After SSB some operators lead to new three- and four-gauge-boson interactions, some contribute to the diagonal and off-diagonal kinetic terms of the gauge bosons and to the mass terms of the W and Z bosons. This requires a renormalisation of the gauge-boson fields, which, in turn, modifies the charged- and neutral-current interactions, although none of the additional operators contain fermion fields. Bounds on the anomalous couplings from electroweak precision measurements at LEP and SLD are correlated with the Higgs-boson mass m_H. Rather moderate values of anomalous couplings allow m_H up to 500 GeV. At a future linear collider the triple-gauge-boson couplings gammaWW and ZWW can be measured in the reaction e+e- --> WW. We compare three approaches to anomalous gauge-boson couplings: the form-factor approach, the addition of anomalous coupling terms to the SM Lagrangian after and, as outlined above, before SSB. The translation of the bounds on the couplings from one approach to another is not straightforward. We show that it can be done for the process e+e- --> WW by defining new effective ZWW couplings.Comment: 50 pages, 4 figures; version to appear in EPJ

Populações de plantas e estratégias de manejo de irrigação na cultura da soja.

Este trabalho teve por objetivo verificar o efeito do manejo da irrigação e da população de plantas sobre o rendimento de grãos em soja semeada após a época recomenda. O experimento foi conduzido de janeiro a maio de 2005 na Universidade Federal de Santa Maria. O delineamento experimental utilizado foi blocos ao acaso com parcelas subdivididas e quatro repetições. Nas parcelas principais foram distribuídos três manejos de irrigação: 1) não-irrigado; 2) irrigado todo o ciclo; e 3) irrigado nos períodos críticos. Nas subparcelas foram distribuídas duas populações de plantas (250.000 e 400.000 plantas ha-1). Para as plantas irrigadas todo o ciclo ou somente nos períodos críticos, o rendimento de grãos não diferiu entre as populações testadas. O rendimento de grãos das plantas não-irrigadas teve um incremento de 21% com o aumento da população de plantas para 400.000 plantas ha-1

The arousing and attentional effects of facial expressions on time perception: a systematic review

Although time perception has mainly been explored through the prospective paradigm, it appears that emotional stimuli lead to an overestimation of time either through an arousing or an attentional effect. Amongst the emotional stimuli, emotional expressions are of interest due to their social importance. The purpose of this paper was to systematically review research carried out into emotional expression interference on time perception. A systematic literature review of 13 peer-reviewed papers with an empirical design that tested healthy participants was conducted on studies exploring both time perception and emotional expression. Furthermore, the papers were only included if they were written in English language and dated from at least the year 1964 (i.e. following Treisman's model of time perception in 1963). Findings showed a congruent overestimation when participants were exposed to emotional faces, especially when they expressed anger. This interaction was mediated by the dynamism of the stimuli used (i.e. there was a stronger effect if the expressions were animated), the model gaze and direction (i.e. nullified effect when the face was directed away from the participant), the embodiment effect (i.e. nullified effect when participants could not mimic the expression), and participant age (i.e. stronger effect of positive expressions amongst elderly participants). In conclusion, it emerged that two underlying mechanisms explain the overestimation observed when confronted with emotional expressions-attention and arousal. Although these two mechanisms appear to impair time perception independently, the studies on the stimuli dynamism indicated a potential conjoint effect of these mechanisms

Generalized estimating equations to estimate the ordered stereotype logit model for panel data

By modeling the effects of predictor variables as a multiplicative function of regression parameters being invariant over categories, and category-specific scalar effects, the ordered stereotype logit model is a flexible regression model for ordinal response variables. In this article, we propose a generalized estimating equations (GEE) approach to estimate the ordered stereotype logit model for panel data based on working covariance matrices, which are not required to be correctly specified. A simulation study compares the performance of GEE estimators based on various working correlation matrices and working covariance matrices using local odds ratios. Estimation of the model is illustrated using a real-world dataset. The results from the simulation study suggest that GEE estimation of this model is feasible in medium-sized and large samples and that estimators based on local odds ratios as realized in this study tend to be less efficient compared with estimators based on a working correlation matrix. For low true correlations, the efficiency gains seem to be rather small and if the working covariance structure is too flexible, the corresponding estimator may even be less efficient compared with the GEE estimator assuming independence. Like for GEE estimators more generally, if the true correlations over time are high, then a working covariance structure which is close to the true structure can lead to considerable efficiency gains compared with assuming independence.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version