Psychological factors underlying adherence to COVID-19 regulations: A commentary on how to promote compliance through mass media and limit the risk of a second wave

Considering the possibility of a second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, this brief commentary is intended to share some suggestions on how to phrase public health advice about maintaining social distancing, using face masks in public spaces and adhering to personal hygiene measures. The discussion will be focused on three factors: empathy, positive mood and social influence. The commentary concludes with a series of brief suggestions aimed at policy makers and stakeholders involved in promoting adherence to regulations to avoid a second wave of the pandemic through mass media communications.</p

An investigation of autonomic arousal and attentional mechanisms in children with ADHD and Autism

The present doctoral project was aimed at investigating the impact of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) on measures of physiological arousal, alerting/vigilance, attention orienting and executive functions. 106 children between 7 and 15 years of age (31 typically developing; 24 ADHD-only; 18 ASD-only; 33 ADHD&ASD) performed a battery of eye-tracking and EEG experimental paradigms, while parent-reported measures were used to evaluate the severity of symptoms of ASD, ADHD and other psychiatric conditions. Children with clinical diagnoses of ADHD and ASD showed condition-specific signs of dysregulated physiological arousal and vigilance, with ADHD more likely to be associated with difficulties in up-regulating and maintaining an optimal level of vigilance to the environment, and ASD more associated with over-reactivity to sensory information and difficulties in down-regulating autonomic arousal in line with contextual demands. We also demonstrated that executive function and cognitive control mechanisms are likely to be less effective in children with comorbid ADHD+ASD, with negative effects on performance accuracy. In the discussion of this dissertation, some suggestions for clinical practice and future research studies, besides a description of the implications of the findings on the everyday life of people with ADHD and/or ASD, are provided

An investigation of autonomic arousal and attentional mechanisms in children with ADHD and Autism

The present doctoral project was aimed at investigating the impact of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) on measures of physiological arousal, alerting/vigilance, attention orienting and executive functions. 106 children between 7 and 15 years of age (31 typically developing; 24 ADHD-only; 18 ASD-only; 33 ADHD&ASD) performed a battery of eye-tracking and EEG experimental paradigms, while parent-reported measures were used to evaluate the severity of symptoms of ASD, ADHD and other psychiatric conditions. Children with clinical diagnoses of ADHD and ASD showed condition-specific signs of dysregulated physiological arousal and vigilance, with ADHD more likely to be associated with difficulties in up-regulating and maintaining an optimal level of vigilance to the environment, and ASD more associated with over-reactivity to sensory information and difficulties in down-regulating autonomic arousal in line with contextual demands. We also demonstrated that executive function and cognitive control mechanisms are likely to be less effective in children with comorbid ADHD+ASD, with negative effects on performance accuracy. In the discussion of this dissertation, some suggestions for clinical practice and future research studies, besides a description of the implications of the findings on the everyday life of people with ADHD and/or ASD, are provided

Content of Selected Phytoestrogens and Phenolics in Czech Alfalfa Cultivars

In functional food field the research of nutraceutical compounds plays a very important role. Among the nutraceuticals, phytoestrogens are one of the most interesting categories. They are able to bond the animal and human estrogen receptor acting similarly to endogen hormone and consequently influencing the hormone related diseases. Alfalfa is rich in compounds which act as phytoestrogens. These compounds belong to the category of isoflavonoids. In this study we aim at indentifying and quantifying the flavonoids and isoflavonoids in 15 Czech cultivars grown in three experimental fields. Moreover, this work finds out the correlation between phenolics compounds content and characteristics of the plants such as the stems features and the cultivars or the field influence . An High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled with a Diode array detector (DAD) method has been developed in order to succeed in the quantification and a first identification of these compounds. A liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) set up for the identification of 54 phenolic compound has been performed in order confirm the previous results. Coumestrol and Apigenin resulted as the isoflavonoid and the flavone, respectively, with the major concentration among their classes. The quantification focused on six selected peaks that were characteristic of all the samples. A statistical analysis of the data led us to identify Morava as the variety with the highest content of coumestrol followed by Zuzana and Litava, while the variety Jarka has the lower concentration, in the range of 15.5 µg/g to 52.2 µg/g. The apigenin content was relatively higher if compared with the coumestrol content. It ranged from of ZE XLII to 94.0 µg/g of Holyna, Morava and Zuzana. Thus, Morava and Zuzana results as the varieties with the highest concentration of both the compounds. Statistical analysis showed also the influence of the original field where the plants were grown on the concentration of the selected compounds. The field C seems to enhance the concentration of Apigenin this is probably due to particular environmental condition. Analyzing the obtained data there is no correlation between apigenin and coumestrol content neither between coumestrol content and stem features

Physical PEGylation to Prevent Insulin Fibrillation

Insulin is one of the most marketed therapeutic proteins worldwide. However, its formulation suffers from fibrillation, which affects the long-term storage limiting the development of novel devices for sustained delivery including portable infusion devices. We have investigated the effect of physical PEGylation on structural and colloidal stability of insulin by using 2 PEGylating agents terminating with polycyclic hydrophobic moieties, cholane and cholesterol: mPEG5kDa-cholane and mPEG5kDa-cholesterol, respectively. Microcalorimetric analyses showed that mPEG5kDa-cholane and mPEG5kDa-cholesterol efficiently bind insulin with binding constants (Ka) of 3.98 104 and 1.14 105 M-1, respectively. At room temperature, the 2 PEGylating agents yielded comparable structural stabilization of \u3b1-helix conformation and decreased dimerization of insulin. However, melting studies showed that mPEG5kDa-cholesterol has superior stabilizing effect of the protein conformation than mPEG5kDa-cholane. Furthermore, the fibrillation study showed that at a 1:1 and 1:5 insulin/polymer molar ratios, mPEG5kDa-cholesterol delays insulin fibrillation 40% and 26% more efficiently, respectively, as compared to mPEG5kDa-cholane which was confirmed by transmission electron microscopy imaging. Insulin was released from the mPEG5kDa-cholane and mPEG5kDa-cholesterol assemblies with comparable kinetic profiles. The physical PEGylation has a beneficial effect on the stabilization and shielding of the insulin structure into the monomeric form, which is not prone to fibrillation and aggregation

Is autonomic nervous system function atypical in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)? A systematic review of the evidence

Although arousal mechanisms have frequently been found to be atypical in ADHD, these findings usually emerged from indirect behavioural measures which give only a limited understanding of arousal dysregulation in this condition. To assess the hypothesis that functioning of the autonomic nervous system (ANS), one component of arousal, is atypical in ADHD, we carried out a systematic review of the literature on 55 studies investigating electro-dermal, heart rate and pupillometry measures under different experimental conditions (resting-state, cognitive tasks and in response to reinforcers or socio-emotional stimuli). Our literature review identified ANS dysfunction in individuals with ADHD, more often in the direction of hypo-arousal than hyper-arousal, particularly at rest and during tasks requiring response regulation and sustained attention. Almost half of the reported findings were null. Stimulant medications increased ANS activity and, in some studies, reinforcers and rewards produced a similar effect, suggesting that ANS function can be modified in ADHD. Further research is needed to assess the influence of comorbid symptoms and to explore methodological parameters that may influence findings

Is autonomic function during resting-state atypical in Autism: A systematic review of evidence

Background: Theories of differences in resting-state arousal in autistic individuals are influential. Differences in arousal during resting-state would impact engagement and adaptation to the environment, having a cascading effect on development of attentional and social skills. Objectives: We systematically evaluated the evidence for differences in measures of autonomic arousal (heart rate, pupillometry or electrodermal activity) during resting-state in autistic individuals; to understand whether certain contextual or methodological factors impact reports of such differences. Data sources: We searched PsycInfo, MEDLINE and EMBASE databases for papers published until 16th May 2019. Of 1207 titles initially identified, 60 met inclusion criteria. Results and Conclusions: Of the 51 studies that investigated group differences between neurotypical and autistic participants, 60.8 % found evidence of group differences. While findings of hyperarousal were more common, particularly using indices of parasympathetic function, findings of hypo-arousal and autonomic dysregulation were also consistently present. Importantly, experimental context played a role in revealing such differences. The evidence is discussed with regard to important methodological factors and implications for future research are described

Indices of heart rate variability and performance during a response-conflict task are differently associated with ADHD and autism

Objective. We investigated autonomic arousal, attention and response conflict, in ADHD and autism. Method. Heart rate variability (HRV), and behavioural and electrophysiological indices of performance, were recorded during a task with low and high levels of response conflict in 78 children/adolescents (7-15 years old) with ADHD, autism, comorbid ADHD+autism, or neurotypical. ANOVA models were used to investigate effects of ADHD and autism, while a mediation model was tested to clarify the relationship between ADHD and slower performance. Results. Slower and less accurate performance characterised ADHD and autism; however, atypical electrophysiological indices differently characterised these conditions. The relationship between ADHD and slower task performance was mediated by reduced HRV in response to the cue stimulus. Conclusions. Autonomic hypo-arousal and difficulties in mobilising energetic resources in response to sensory information (associated with ADHD), and atypical electrophysiological indices of information processing (associated with autism), might negatively affect cognitive performance in those with ADHD+autism

Heart rate variability in children and adolescents with autism, ADHD and co-occurring autism and ADHD, during passive and active experimental conditions

Despite overlaps in clinical symptomatology, autism and ADHD may be associated with opposite autonomic arousal profiles which might partly explain altered cognitive and global functioning. We investigated autonomic arousal in 106 children/adolescents with autism, ADHD, co-occurring autism/ADHD, and neurotypical controls. Heart rate variability was recorded during resting-state, a ‘passive’ auditory oddball task and an ‘active’ response conflict task. Autistic children showed hyper-arousal during the active task, while those with ADHD showed hypo-arousal during resting-state and the passive task. Irrespective of diagnosis, children characterised by hyper-arousal showed more severe autistic symptomatology, increased anxiety and reduced global functioning than those displaying hypo-arousal, suggesting the importance of considering individual autonomic arousal profiles for differential diagnosis of autism/ADHD and when developing personalised interventions

The effects of music and auditory stimulation on autonomic arousal, cognition and attention : A systematic review

Peer reviewe