Knowledge of risk factors for post-traumatic stress disorder, specific to men and women, may help identify the parents in whom probability of the occurrence of this disorder is increased.

Our study highlights the fact that post-traumatic growth in the parents of neonates hospitalised in the neonatal intensive care units remains under-evaluated.

Several lines of evidence suggest that up-regulation of immune response and alterations of kynurenine pathway function are involved in pathogenesis of schizophrenia. Correlations among clinical status (using PANNS, SANS and SAPS scales) and blood levels of kynurenic acid (KYNA), 3-hydroxykynurenine (3-HK) and levels of selected immunoactive molecules, soluble interleukin-2 receptor (sIL-2R), interferon-α (IFN-α) and IL-4 were analyzed in 51 chronic schizophrenia patients during acute relapse, after four weeks of therapy and at remission. KYNA levels were significantly lower in comparison with controls (N=45) throughout the study, whereas 3-HK did not differ from controls at admission and during therapy, but increased at remission. The KYNA/3-HK ratio and IL-4 levels, but not sIL-2R and IFN-α levels, were consistently decreased in schizophrenia patients at all analyzed time points. KYNA level and KYNA/3-HK ratio measured at admission correlated negatively with the duration of illness, whereas 3-HK level correlated negatively with the improvement of SANS score at discharge. sIL-2R level before treatment was positively linked with number of relapses. In the subgroup of patients with poor response to pharmacotherapy, treated with clozapine later on, initial KYNA level and the ratio KYNA/3-HK correlated negatively with number of relapses. Positive association of sIL-2R level with number of relapses was also evident in this subgroup. Furthermore, among these patients, starting IFN-α level was negatively linked with the improvement of total PANSS score at discharge. Presented here data support the concept of disturbed kynurenine pathway function in schizophrenia and suggest that assessment of KYNA and 3-HK levels during acute relapse might be useful in prediction of response to antipsychotic therapy. Deficit of peripheral KYNA and higher 3-HK levels could be associated with more severe symptoms of schizophrenia. Further studies with larger samples size are needed to validate our results.

IntroductionDysregulation of the apoptotic process is associated with the etiopathogenesis of schizophrenia, which is observed at the brain and peripheral blood levels. A significant negative correlation between the duration of the disease and serum sFasL concentration was demonstrated by other authors. It was shown that an increased rate of apoptosis is more pronounced in neuroleptic-free patients with the first-episode of schizophrenia than in patients with chronic disease.AimSearch for a predictor of good response to antipsychotic treatment based on the analysis of the sFasL plasma level and its relationship with clinical symptoms.MethodsFifty-three patients with chronic schizophrenia and 46 healthy individuals were enrolled in the study. The concentration of sFasL was measured by ELISA. Clinical assessments (PANSS, SANS, SAPS) and blood analyses were conducted three times: during the active phase of disease (at admission), after 4 weeks of pharmacotherapy, and after reaching remission.ResultsIn the schizophrenia group, non-altered levels of sFasL (P = 0.1; U Mann-Whitney test), compared to the control, were detected at admission. The initial level of sFasL correlated negatively (r = −0.33; P = 0.04; Spearman's rank) with blood leukocyte count. Despite clinical improvement, no significant changes in the level of sFasL were observed. However, the sFasL level correlated negatively with the PANSS general psychopathology reduction after 4 weeks of pharmacotherapy (r = −0.7; P = 0.04) and after remission (r = −0.39; P = 0.026).ConclusionsThe results indicate a possible role of sFasL in apoptosis of blood leukocytes and suggest that the reduction of sFasL level can predict level of PANSS general psychopathology after antipsychotic treatment in schizophrenia.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

This article shows recognition of biomedical time series from Body Surface Potential Mapping by means of different convolutional and recurrent neural networks models. The various kinds of neural networks models were examined and compared: model with 1D convolutional layer, model with Long - Short Term Memory layer and model with Gated Recurrent Unit layer.

Stuttering is a speech impediment that is a very complex disorder. It is difficult to diagnose and treat, and is of unknown initiation, despite the large number of studies in this field. Stuttering can take many forms and varies from person to person, and it can change under the influence of external factors. Diagnosing and treating speech disorders such as stuttering requires from a speech therapist, not only good profes-sional preparation, but also experience gained through research and practice in the field. The use of acoustic methods in combination with elements of artificial intelligence makes it possible to objectively assess the disorder, as well as to control the effects of treatment. The main aim of the study was to present an algorithm for automatic recognition of fillers disfluency in the statements of people who stutter. This is done on the basis of their parameterized features in the amplitude-frequency space. The work provides as well, exemplary results demonstrating their possibility and effectiveness. In order to verify and optimize the procedures, the statements of seven stutterers with duration of 2 to 4 minutes were selected. Over 70% efficiency and predictability of automatic detection of these disfluencies was achieved. The use of an automatic method in conjunction with therapy for a stuttering person can give us the opportunity to objectively assess the disorder, as well as to evaluate the progress of therapy.

In this article we introduce the concept of computer graphics and graphical application C.a.R (Compasses and Ruler), its basic commands and several examples associated with the geometry. This subject is at all levels of knowledge in various stages of development. We will present the C.a.R possibilities that can be used in secondary schools, high schools and colleges. We show function graphs of varying degrees of difficulty that are too complicated for the human imagination.

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