Indigenous and Mestizo Mexican Migrant Farmworkers: A Comparative Mental Health Analysis

Mexican-origin migrant farmworkers using: (a) lifetime prevalence of culture-bound syndromes, (b) self-rated emotional/mental health, (c) depression measured by PHQ-9, (d) stress level. Demographic and psychosocial variables were examined by ethnicity and gender using Chi square and independent t-tests. Logistic and linear regression models were constructed for mental health variables. Indigenous participants reported significantly higher stress compared to mestizos, and indigenous women reported significantly higher stress compared to all groups. Prevalence of culture-bound syndromes and mean PHQ-9 severity score was highest for indigenous females. Mean self-rated emotional/mental health was lowest among indigenous females. Controlling for main effects and other interactions, (a) indigenous females were significantly more likely to report culture-bound syndromes, and reported significantly higher levels of stress, (b) more Spanish literate indigenous respondents were less likely to report culture-bound syndromes, and more educated indigenous respondents were less likely to have a depressive syndrome. Indigenous participants living in U.S. for seven years or more: (a) were significantly less likely to report poorer emotional/mental health, and (b) reported significantly lower stress. Adult education and literacy programs may be especially effective emotional/mental health intervention for newly arrived indigenous Mexican-origin migrants

Strategy for quantum algorithm design assisted by machine learning

We propose a method for quantum algorithm design assisted by machine learning. The method uses a quantum-classical hybrid simulator, where a "quantum student" is being taught by a "classical teacher." In other words, in our method, the learning system is supposed to evolve into a quantum algorithm for a given problem assisted by classical main-feedback system. Our method is applicable to design quantum oracle-based algorithm. As a case study, we chose an oracle decision problem, called a Deutsch-Jozsa problem. We showed by using Monte-Carlo simulations that our simulator can faithfully learn quantum algorithm to solve the problem for given oracle. Remarkably, learning time is proportional to the square root of the total number of parameters instead of the exponential dependance found in the classical machine learning based method.Comment: published versio

fMRI biomarkers of social cognitive skills training in psychosis: Extrinsic and intrinsic functional connectivity.

Social cognitive skills training interventions for psychotic disorders have shown improvement in social cognitive performance tasks, but little was known about brain-based biomarkers linked to treatment effects. In this pilot study, we examined whether social cognitive skills training could modulate extrinsic and intrinsic functional connectivity in psychosis using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Twenty-six chronic outpatients with psychotic disorders were recruited from either a Social Cognitive Skills Training (SCST) or an activity- and time-matched control intervention. At baseline and the end of intervention (12 weeks), participants completed two social cognitive tasks: a Facial Affect Matching task and a Mental State Attribution Task, as well as resting-state fMRI (rs-fMRI). Extrinsic functional connectivity was assessed using psychophysiological interaction (PPI) with amygdala and temporo-parietal junction as a seed region for the Facial Affect Matching Task and the Mental State Attribution task, respectively. Intrinsic functional connectivity was assessed with independent component analysis on rs-fMRI, with a focus on the default mode network (DMN). During the Facial Affect Matching task, we observed stronger PPI connectivity in the SCST group after intervention (compared to baseline), but no treatment-related change in the Control group. Neither group showed treatment-related changes in PPI connectivity during the Mental State Attribution task. During rs-fMRI, we found treatment-related changes in the DMN in the SCST group, but not in Control group. This study found that social cognitive skills training modulated both extrinsic and intrinsic functional connectivity in individuals with psychotic disorders after a 12-week intervention. These findings suggest treatment-related changes in functional connectivity as a potential brain-based biomarker of social cognitive skills training