BACKGROUND Substantial evidence indicates that perinatal mental disturbances are associated with the risk for negative maternal-newborn outcomes. A neuroendocrine brain-placenta interaction has been described to explain the association between prenatal stress-related disorders and placental abnormalities. Whether these mechanisms may affect the likelihood of mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) ...

Many researchers have identified impulsivity-related personality traits as correlates of and risk factors for nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI). Using a longitudinal design, we tested the hypothesis that one such trait, negative urgency (the tendency to act rashly when distressed), predicts the onset of NSSI during the first year of college and a different trait, lack of perseverance (the disposit...

BACKGROUND Assessment of comorbid personality disorders (PDs) in patients with substance use disorders (SUDs) is challenging due to symptom overlap, additional mental and physical disorders, and limitations of the assessment methods. Our in-depth study applied methods to overcome these difficulties. METHOD A complete catchment area sample of 61 consecutively admitted patients with SUDs, with ...

Heart rate variability (HRV) is a vagal nerve-mediated biomarker of cardiac function used to investigate chronic illness, psychopathology, stress and, more recently, attention-regulation processes such as meditation. This study investigated HRV in relation to maladaptive perfectionism, a stress-related personality factor, and mindfulness meditation, a stress coping practice expected to elevate ...

Introduction: It is essential to consider the clinical assessment of psychological aspects in patients with Diabetes Mellitus (DM), in order to prevent potentially adverse self-management care behaviors leading to diabetes-related complications, including declining levels of Quality of Life (QoL) and negative metabolic control. Purpose: In the framework of Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), th...

Neuroticism is the heritable and stable personality trait defined by the tendency to experience negative emotion, be easily stressed, and slow to soothe. Neuroticism poses a risk for poor social and health outcomes that has been identified as a major public health concern. To date, factors that attenuate neuroticism's costs have not been identified. The goal of this work was to test the hypothe...

The problems of distressed urban areas are getting worse year after year. Due to limited resources and Amenities of municipal organizations for solving every problem concerning urban distressed textures, it is essential to determine the priorities of each area based on identified factors and criteria. In distressed areas, there are different circumstances and distinctive citizens with their nee...

This paper proposes a combined coarse-grained multifractal method to discriminate between distressed and normal foetuses. The coarse-graining operation was performed by means of a coarse-grained procedure and the multifractal operation was based on a structure function. The proposed method was evaluated by one hundred recordings including eighty normal foetuses and twenty distressed foetuses. W...

Neuroticism has been shown to adversely influence the development and outcome of psychosis. However, how this personality trait associates with the individual's responses to psychotic symptoms is less well known. Auditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs) have been reported by patients with psychosis and non-clinical individuals. There is evidence that voice-hearers who are more distressed by and re...