Personality and neuropsychiatric symptoms in individuals diagnosed with long COVID.

Objective: This study investigates persistent physical and neuropsychiatric symptoms in Long COVID, focusing on their severity and assessing risk/resilience factors, including conscientiousness and neuroticism. The study utilizes a mediation model to explore the potential role of psychological distress in mediating its impact on cognitive decline.

Methods: In an online survey, 114 participants diagnosed with Long COVID completed assessments, including the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) and Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7) for psychological distress, Subjective Cognitive Decline (SCD) questionnaire for cognitive decline, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) for sleep disorders, and Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) with "BIG-5 inventory" subscales for risk/resilience factors.

Collective ambiguous loss after mass hostage-taking in war: exploring public mental health outcomes and resilience.

Collective ambiguous loss can arise in communities facing the unresolved absence or presence of loved ones, marked by uncertainty and confusion. This study examines the impact of such loss on the general public in Israel after 251 individuals were taken hostage by Hamas on October 7 2023. A diverse sample of 740 participants (ages 18-85, 58.

Comparison between female kidney donors with prediabetes and without diabetes in blood pressure measurements, kidney and diabetes biomarkers: a prospective cohort study.

Background: A comprehensive evaluation of potential living kidney donors is crucial to ensure their short and long-term safety. We explored differences in kidney biochemical indicators, blood pressure measurements, and glucose control pre- and post-kidney donation between women with pre-diabetes and those with normal glucose levels.

Methods: We performed a prospective cohort study at West Bank and Gaza University hospitals between 2016 and 2022.

Infants' Social Evaluation of Helpers and Hinderers: A Large-Scale, Multi-Lab, Coordinated Replication Study.

Evaluating whether someone's behavior is praiseworthy or blameworthy is a fundamental human trait. A seminal study by Hamlin and colleagues in 2007 suggested that the ability to form social evaluations based on third-party interactions emerges within the first year of life: infants preferred a character who helped, over hindered, another who tried but failed to climb a hill. This sparked a new line of inquiry into the origins of social evaluations; however, replication attempts have yielded mixed results.

The Value of Work: The Gendered Outcomes of Organizational Wage Reforms.

This study explores the influence of organizational practices on gender in/equality in a unique setting: the reformed Israeli kibbutz. The transition of the kibbutz from all members receiving an allowance to waged labor provides an opportunity to explore the impact of wage determination systems on gender pay inequality. The study uses a mixed-method approach: descriptive statistics of administrative data, in-depth interviews, and a focus group with kibbutz management.

Predicting autism from young Infants' empathic responding: A prospective study.

Difficulties in empathy are frequent among children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and often considered a core feature of autism. Reduced empathy during the second year of life has been shown to predict subsequent ASD diagnosis. However, links between empathy in the first year and ASD have not yet been investigated.

Complication of Grief and PTSD among bereaved siblings in Israel.

This study explores the experiences of bereaved siblings in Israel, examining how different causes of death affect their psychological well-being. We recruited three groups of siblings who lost loved ones as a result of military service, terrorism, or civilian circumstances. A total of 159 bereaved siblings completed questionnaires measuring complications of grief (CG), posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and world assumptions.

The dual journey: The development of twins' relationships throughout childhood.

Twin bonds, likely the most enduring of human relationships, provide both solace and rivalry for twins. Using an evolutionary psychology perspective, this chapter scrutinizes twins' bonds from prenatal stages to childhood to better understand their unique relationships. Twins' interactions, which begin in the womb, establish patterns of cooperation and competition.

Experiences of pregnancy loss in fathers of existing children: A qualitative study.

This study explores the experiences of fathers of existing children following pregnancy loss. Participants were 12 Israeli men who experienced pregnancy loss and had other children at the time. Semi-structured interviews were conducted.

Psychological experiences of Druze women with breast cancer.

The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of Druze women who were diagnosed with breast cancer. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine Druze women. Inductive thematic analysis was used to analyze the data and three themes were generated.

Radiation Therapy Delivery During the 2023 Israel-Hamas War: Trust Prevails Over Fear.

Purpose: The attack by Hamas on Israeli civilians (October 7, 2023) triggered the ongoing war, which could be detrimental to cancer care in general and radiation therapy (RT) in particular. To assure continuity of care within the Radiation Oncology Department of Samson Assuta Ashdod University Hospital (SAAUH), which borders on Gaza, patient-centric measures were redoubled by our institution. This study describes the impact of these measures on patients' perception and their willingness to continue RT, despite fear of war.

Dyadic Prenatal Coparenting Interaction Behaviors Predicting Postpartum Depressive Symptoms during the Transition to Parenthood.

Postpartum depressive symptoms constitute a common yet serious complication of pregnancy and childbirth, but research on its association with coparenting is scarce. Furthermore, although coparenting dynamics start forming prior to the child's birth, no research has explored dyadic prenatal coparenting dynamics as a predictor of postpartum depressive symptoms. The current study assessed how dyadic prenatal coparenting behaviors predicted postpartum depressive symptoms in first-time parents.

Successful use of the forced choice test for detecting concealment of semantic memory in criminal and intelligence investigations.

The current study examined the validity of the forced choice test (FCT) in a forensic scenario when used to detect concealment of semantic memory (SM-FCT). We also compared the SM-FCT validity to the FCT validity in the more commonly investigated episodic memory scenario (EM-FCT). In simulating a scenario of investigating suspected members of a terror organization, 277 students were asked to deceptively deny being enrolled in a college in which they do actually study.

Psychological Distress in Women with Fibromyalgia: The Roles of Body Appreciation, Self-Compassion, and Self-Criticism.

Background: While past research detected a direct link between symptoms of fibromyalgia (FM) and psychological distress, body appreciation was suggested as a viable mediator of this link. The aim of the present study was to further develop an explanatory model for the effect of FM on women's psychological distress and identify possible protective and risk factors. Specifically, it was hypothesized that self-compassion would moderate the indirect effect of body appreciation and self-criticism on psychological distress in women with FM.

The intersection between alexithymia, testosterone reactivity, and coparenting in fathers predicts child's prosocial behavior.

The development of prosocial skills in children is a key predictor of long-term social, cognitive, and emotional functioning. However, the role of fathers' psychological characteristics in fostering prosocial development, including during the prenatal period, and the mechanisms underlying their influence, remain relatively unexplored. This study aimed to examine whether a higher tendency of alexithymia, a difficulty to identify and verbalize emotions, in expectant fathers predicts prosocial behavior of two-year-old toddlers through the quality of coparenting and whether greater testosterone increase during a stressful parenting task moderates this indirect effect.

Long COVID-19 Enigma: Unmasking the Role of Distinctive Personality Profiles as Risk Factors.

The COVID-19 (Coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic has prompted extensive research into lingering effects, especially in 'Long COVID' patients. Despite exploration, contributing factors remain elusive; This study explores the potential link between distinctive personality profiles, particularly type D personality, and an increased risk of Long COVID; A retrospective cross-sectional study at Tel-Aviv Sourasky Medical Center's Post-COVID clinic analyzed data from 373 Long COVID patients through comprehensive questionnaires covering Long COVID syndrome, Fibromyalgia criteria, personality assessments, social support, and subjective evaluations of cognitive decline, health and life quality. In total, 116 out of 373 patients completed the questionnaire, yielding a 31% participation rate; Cluster analysis revealed two groups, with Cluster 1 (N = 58) exhibiting Type D personality traits while Cluster 2 (N = 56) not meeting criteria for Type D personality.

The mental health impact of the October 7th terror attack on Jews and Arabs in Israel: A nationwide prospective study.

Introduction: On October 7, 2023, Israeli citizens came under an unprecedented terrorist attack that impacted the entire country. Recent research has begun to document the mental health impact of the attack but has yet to address the question of whether the attack had a differential impact across ethnic communities. In this nationwide prospective cohort study, we aimed to determine possible differences in psychopathology between Jews and Arabs in the post-October 7th attack.

Comparing outcomes of psychiatric rehabilitation between ethnic-religious groups in Israel.

Psychiatric rehabilitation for people with severe mental illness (SMI) has many documented benefits, but less is known about cultural related aspects. To date, no comparison of psychiatric rehabilitation outcomes between Israeli Jews and Israeli Arabs has been carried out. Thus, the purpose of the present study was to compare the outcome measures of Israeli Arabs and Israeli Jews consuming psychiatric rehabilitation services.

Commentary: Assortative parenting and assortative cross-parenting: New views of parental preference for selected children.

The commentary delves into the implications of "assortative parenting" and "assortative cross-parenting," as introduced by N. L. Segal, and situates these concepts within the framework of current research.

Perspectives and Experiences of Stakeholders on Self-Disclosure of Peers in Mental Health Services.

With the movement towards recovery-oriented mental health (MH) services, individuals with MH lived-experience are increasingly employed as peer providers (peers). Peers are unique in that they bring knowledge from experience and eye-level connection to service users that enhance the quality of services and humanize MH systems' culture. In Israel, hundreds of peers are employed in various roles and settings across the MH system.