Predicting Health Access During Critical Public Health Crises: An Analysis of Medical Office Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Objectives: This study explores how ambulatory medical practices adapted their policies in response to the global COVID-19 crisis. Practice and provider characteristics were used to build an artificial intelligence model that predicts future medical practice closures during critical events.

Methods: We surveyed 261 outpatient medical practices and collected information on clinician age, gender, the protective measures implemented, closure status, and utilization of telemedicine services.

The Long-Term Physical-Psychiatric Comorbidities Related to Childhood Exposure to 9/11 Trauma.

Extensive research has explored the enduring effects of childhood trauma on health, revealing its potential to produce chronic health problems. Despite findings that adults exposed to 9/11 suffer from enduring concurrent psychiatric and physical illnesses, investigations into the long-term physical-psychiatric comorbidities experienced by children and adolescents affected by the 9/11 trauma remain limited. In our study, we examined individuals directly exposed to 9/11 as children (N = 844 high exposure and N = 104 low exposed) and compared them to a matched unexposed, control group (N = 491).

Racial, Ethnic, and Socioeconomic Disparities in COVID-19 Pandemic Worries.

Background: Racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic health disparities became evident during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study explores whether these disparities extend to the content of worries.

Methods: We surveyed 1,222 participants from three metropolitan New York City (NYC) based cohorts through telephone interviews conducted from March to September 2020.

Characteristics of Adolescents with and without a Family History of Substance Use Disorder from a Minority Cohort.

Family history (FH+) of substance use disorder (SUD) is an established risk factor for offspring SUD. The extent to which offspring psychological traits or the family environment, each of which may be relevant to familial transmission of SUD risk, vary by FH+ in socioeconomically disadvantaged populations is less clear. We compared the family/social environmental and psychological characteristics of 73 FH+ and 69 FH- youth ages 12-16, from a study of parental criminal justice system involvement in a primarily low-income, minority urban population.

Identification and comparison of pandemic-to-symptom networks of South Korea and the United States.

Background: The Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic resulted in a dramatic increase in the prevalence of anxiety and depression globally. Although the impact on the mental health of young adults was especially strong, its underlying mechanisms remain elusive.

Materials And Methods: Using a network approach, the present study investigated the putative pathways between pandemic-related factors and anxiety and depressive symptoms among young adults in South Korea and the U.

Connectivity based Real-Time fMRI Neurofeedback Training in Youth with a History of Major Depressive Disorder.

Background: Real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging neurofeedback (rtfMRI-nf) has proven to be a powerful technique to help subjects to gauge and enhance emotional control. Traditionally, rtfMRI-nf has focused on emotional regulation through self-regulation of amygdala. Recently, rtfMRI studies have observed that regulation of a target brain region is accompanied by connectivity changes beyond the target region.

Occupational Conditions Associated With Negative Mental Health Outcomes in New York State Health Professionals During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Objective: The aim of this study was to assess occupational circumstances associated with adverse mental health among health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: A cross-sectional study examined responses to an on-line survey conducted among 2076 licensed health care workers during the first pandemic peak. Mental health (depression, anxiety, stress, and anger) was examined as a multivariate outcome for association with COVID-related occupational experiences.

Shapes of subcortical structures in adolescents with and without familial history of substance use disorder.

It has been suggested that intergenerational transmission of risk for substance use disorder (SUD) manifests in the brain anatomy of substance naïve adolescents. While volume and shapes of subcortical structures (SSS) have been shown to be heritable, these structures, especially the pallidum, putamen, nucleus accumbens, and hippocampus, have also been associated with substance use disorders. However, it is not clear if those anatomical differences precede substance use or are the result of that use.

Adverse Childhood Experiences and Insufficient Sleep Among U.S. Children and Adolescents.

Objective: To examine associations between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and age-specific insufficient sleep duration (ISD) in American youth.

Methods: Data from the 2016-2017 National Survey of Children's Health, a sample of 46,209 youth ages 6 to 17 were analyzed. The main outcome was sleep duration that did not meet the recent recommendations of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

White matter integrity and functional connectivity in adolescents with a parental history of substance use disorder.

A family history (FH+) of substance use disorder (SUD) increases an adolescent's risk for substance use initiation and progression. Greater impulsivity and reward seeking behavior is known to be associated with such risk. At the neurological level, dysfunction of cortico-striatal and cortico-limbic pathways have been proposed as contributors to the increased SUD risk in adolescents with FH+.

Mental Health of High-Risk Urban Youth: The Housing Subsidies Paradox.

Housing subsidies, including public housing and Section 8 vouchers, are key components of the social safety net, intended to promote family and child welfare. Studies evaluating the impact of housing subsidies on child and adolescent mental health, however, are generally inconclusive. This may reflect variation in the influence by type of subsidies to income, improved physical environment, increased access to resources, and improved perception of neighborhood safety.

Neighborhood characteristics and psychiatric disorders in the aftermath of mass trauma: A representative study of New York City public school 4th-12th graders after 9/11.

Studies of the relationship between neighborhood characteristics and childhood/adolescent psychopathology in large samples examined one outcome only, and/or general (e.g., 'psychological distress') or aggregate (e.

Delay discounting and neurocognitive correlates among inner city adolescents with and without family history of substance use disorder.

Adolescents with a family history (FH+) of substance use disorder (SUD) are at a greater risk for SUD, suggested to be partly due to the transmission of behavioral impulsivity. We used a delay discounting task to compare impulsivity in decision-making and its associated brain functioning among FH+ and FH - minority adolescents. Participants chose between Smaller Sooner (SS) and Larger Later (LL) rewards.

Gut Microbiota Changes and Their Relationship with Inflammation in Patients with Acute and Chronic Insomnia.

Purpose: The major purpose of this study was to detect the changes in gut microbiota composition and inflammatory cytokines production associated with acute and chronic insomnia. This study also evaluated the relationship between gut microbiota changes and increased inflammatory cytokines in insomnia patients.

Patients And Methods: Outpatients with acute and chronic insomnia (aged 26-55 years; n=20 and 38, respectively) and age/gender-matched healthy controls (n=38) were recruited from a southern China region.

Parental Occupational Exposure is Associated With Their Children's Psychopathology: A Study of Families of Israeli First Responders.

Objective: To examine the association between parental occupational exposure to traumatic events and their children's mental health in families of First Responders (FRs), a neglected area of research.

Methods: In 208 families of Israeli FRs, children's symptoms and comorbidity patterns of seven psychiatric disorders were regressed on parental work-related variables, controlling for relevant covariates.

Results: Having a father working as a FR and higher paternal exposure were associated with a greater number of separation anxiety and posttraumatic stress symptoms, respectively.

Brain activity classifies adolescents with and without a familial history of substance use disorders.

We aimed to uncover differences in brain circuits of adolescents with parental positive or negative histories of substance use disorders (SUD), when performing a task that elicits emotional conflict, testing whether the brain circuits could serve as endophenotype markers to distinguish these adolescents. We acquired functional magnetic resonance imaging data from 11 adolescents with a positive familial history of SUD (FH+ group) and seven adolescents with a negative familial history of SUD (FH- group) when performing an emotional stroop task. We extracted brain features from the conflict-related contrast images in group level analyses and granger causality indices (GCIs) that measure the causal interactions among regions.

Does a study focused on trauma encourage patients with psychotic symptoms to seek treatment?

Objective: This study explored, in a randomized trial of psychotherapies for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), why a surprisingly high percentage of study applicants presented with psychotic symptoms and what clinical implications this finding might prompt.

Methods: Raters reviewed the records of applicants who completed an initial psychiatric interview and compared those who had psychotic symptoms with all other study-eligible participants and with those who ultimately were enrolled in the study.

Results: Of 223 consecutively evaluated individuals who applied for study entry, 38 (17%) were found ineligible because of psychotic symptoms.

Combined prolonged exposure therapy and paroxetine for PTSD related to the World Trade Center attack: a randomized controlled trial.

Objective: Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are often recommended in combination with established cognitive-behavioral therapies (CBTs) for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but combined initial treatment of PTSD has not been studied under controlled conditions. There are also few studies of either SSRIs or CBT in treating PTSD related to terrorism. The authors compared prolonged exposure therapy (a CBT) plus paroxetine (an SSRI) with prolonged exposure plus placebo in the treatment of terrorism-related PTSD.

Escitalopram for persistent symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder after CBT: a pilot study.

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and pharmacotherapy are each efficacious for generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). It is not known, however, whether GAD partial and nonresponders to one treatment modality benefit from the other. This study explored acceptability and efficacy of escitalopram for persons with persistent GAD symptoms after a course of CBT.

The psychology of ongoing threat: relative risk appraisal, the September 11 attacks, and terrorism-related fears.

There are now replicated findings that posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms related to the September 11, 2001, attacks occurred in large numbers of persons who did not fit the traditional definition of exposure to a traumatic event. These data are not explained by traditional epidemiologic "bull's eye" disaster models, which assume the psychological effects are narrowly, geographically circumscribed, or by existing models of PTSD onset. In this article, the authors develop a researchable model to explain these and other terrorism-related phenomena by synthesizing research and concepts from the cognitive science, risk appraisal, traumatic stress, and anxiety disorders literatures.

Influence of a standard meal on the absorption of a controlled release pseudoephedrine suspension.

The influence of a standard meal on the extent and rate of absorption of pseudoephedrine from a liquid controlled release (CR) formulation (Pennkinetic System) was studied in 16 normal male volunteers. Equivalent single doses of an immediate release reference syrup (IR-Sudafed) and the CR suspension were each studied under both fasted and postprandial conditions. AUC results showed no significant influence of food or formulation, indicating that the CR formulation was absorbed to the same extent as the IR product under all conditions.

Bioavailability evaluation of a controlled-release dextromethorphan liquid.

A randomized, two-way, steady-state crossover study was performed in 24 healthy male volunteers to evaluate the bioavailability of a controlled-release (CR) dextromethorphan (DM) suspension. Only slow and intermediate DM metabolizers were allowed to participate in the study; determination of metabolizer status was performed before study enrollment. Each volunteer was administered 30 mg of an immediate-release (IR) DM solution qid or 60 mg DM as a CR suspension bid for two weeks, for a total daily dose of 120 mg.