Exploring the Potential of Artificial Intelligence in Adolescent Suicide Prevention: Current Applications, Challenges, and Future Directions.

ObjectiveThe global surge in adolescent suicide necessitates the development of innovative and efficacious preventive measures. Traditionally, various approaches have been used, but with limited success. However, with the rapid advancements in artificial intelligence (AI), new possibilities have emerged. This paper reviews the potentials and challenges of integrating AI into suicide prevention strategies, focusing on adolescents. Method: This narrative review assesses the impact of AI on suicide prevention strategies, the strategies and cases of AI applications in adolescent suicide prevention, as well as the challenges faced. Through searches on the PubMed, web of science, PsycINFO, and EMBASE databases, 19 relevant articles were included in the review. Results: AI has significantly improved risk assessment and predictive modeling for identifying suicidal behavior. It has enabled the analysis of textual data through natural language processing and fostered novel intervention strategies. Although AI applications, such as chatbots and monitoring systems, show promise, they must navigate challenges like data privacy and ethical considerations. The research underscores the potential of AI to enhance future suicide prevention efforts through personalized interventions and integration with emerging technologies. Conclusion: AI possesses transformative potential for adolescent suicide prevention by offering targeted and adaptive solutions, while they also raise crucial ethical and practical considerations. Looking forward, AI can play a critical role in mitigating adolescent suicide rates, marking a new frontier in mental health care.

Effects of smartphone-based hypnotic intervention for undergraduate students' shyness during the COVID-19 pandemic: A randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, university students have been exposed to a heightened vulnerability towards developing psychological issues, such as psychological distress and shyness. Internet-based interventions offer a convenient avenue for scalability, thus prompting the development of a smartphone-based hypnotic intervention aimed at addressing shyness among university students. OBJECTIVE: We devised an innovative smartphone-based hypnotic intervention called mHypnosis to examine its impact on shyness among undergraduate students. Furthermore, we aimed to investigate whether the apprehension of negative evaluations before treatment could serve as a predictor for the effectiveness of the intervention on shyness. METHODS: Eighty students with high shyness scores were randomly assigned to the experimental group and the control group. Another 40 participants with low shyness score were selected as the baseline group. The Shyness Scale (SS), Fear of Negative evaluation scale (FNE), Self-Acceptance Questionnaire (SAQ), and Self-Esteem Scale (SES) were used to evaluate the effect of hypnotic intervention. RESULTS: Before the intervention, the scores of the experimental and control groups on the SS, FNE, SAQ, and SES were higher than those in the baseline group (p < 0.05). There was no significant difference in scores between the experimental and control group (p > 0.05). After the intervention, the scores of the SS, FNE, SAQ, and SES were significantly lower in the experimental group than those in the control group (p < 0.05). The pretest score of FNE could predict the shyness score after hypnotic intervention (B = 0.35, p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Smartphone-based hypnotic intervention had a significant effect on ameliorating shyness during the COVID-19 pandemic; fear of negative evaluation can be a target for treating shyness.

Analyzing 20 years of Resting-State fMRI Research: Trends and collaborative networks revealed.

Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI), initially proposed by Biswal et al. in 1995, has emerged as a pivotal facet of neuroimaging research. Its ability to examine brain activity during the resting state without the need for explicit tasks or stimuli has made it an integral component of brain imaging studies. In recent years, rs-fMRI has witnessed substantial growth and found widespread application in the investigation of functional connectivity within the brain. To delineate the developmental trajectory of rs-fMRI over the past two decades, we conducted a comprehensive analysis using bibliometric tool Citespace. Our analysis encompassed publication trends, authorship networks, institutional affiliations, international collaborations, as well as emergent themes in references and keywords. Our study reveals a remarkable increase in the volume of rs-fMRI publications over the past two decades, underscoring the burgeoning interest and potential within this field. Harvard University stands out as the institution with the highest number of research papers published in the realm of RS-fMRI, while the United States holds the highest overall influence in this domain. The recent emergence of keywords such as "machine learning" and "default mode," coupled with citation surges in reference to rs-fMRI, have paved new avenues for research within this field. Our study underscores the critical importance of integrating machine learning techniques into rs-fMRI investigations, offering valuable insights into brain function and disease diagnosis. These findings hold profound significance for the field of neuroscience and may furnish insights for future research employing rs-fMRI as a diagnostic tool for a wide array of neurological disorders, thus emphasizing its pivotal role and potential as a tool for investigating brain functionality.

Unveiling the impact of Belt and Road Initiative on green innovation: empirical evidence from Chinese manufacturing enterprises.

Building a green silk road is an important practice in implementing the UN 2030 sustainable development goals. However, several countries taking part in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) feature challenging geographic circumstances and delicate ecological environments, which give rise to significant ecological and environmental protection challenges. Considering that green innovation is closely related to sustainable development, this study uses the BRI as a quasi-natural experiment and incorporates data from Chinese A-share listed manufacturing firms from 2008 to 2019 to assess the effect of investments in BRI countries on green innovation. The empirical findings show that the BRI significantly increases the green innovation of enterprises that are involved in foreign investments by alleviating financing constraints. This is accomplished through measures such as government subsidy incentives and overseas income spillover, as well as by enhancing productivity through optimized resource allocation and reverse technology spillover. Notably, the green innovation effect of the BRI is particularly significant in driving green innovation among enterprises with low pollution levels and those in technology-intensive industries. Furthermore, investment in BRI countries in closer proximity to China's institutional framework and with lower levels of economic development can take advantage of a similar innovation environment and gradient industrial transfer advantages, respectively, thus contributing to the improvement of advanced green innovation. Overall, this analysis sheds light on the beneficial effects of BRI investments on green innovation and offers strong empirical support and insightful policy recommendations for China's pursuit of a green Belt and Road.

Epidemiology of gaming disorder and its effect on anxiety and insomnia in Chinese ethnic minority adolescents.

BACKGROUND: The growing popularity and frequency of online game use have resulted in a large number of studies reporting various mental problems associated with game abuse in adolescents. In this article, we examined the prevalence of gaming disorder (GD) and explored the associations of GD with anxiety and insomnia symptoms in minority youth in China. METHODS: A total of 1494 students completed the Problematic Online Gaming Questionnaire Short-Form (POGQ-SF), the Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item questionnaire (GAD-7), and Athens Insomnia Scale (AIS). Chi-square and binary logistic regression analyses were used to explore the associations between gaming disorder and anxiety/insomnia. RESULTS: A total of 356 (23.83%) respondents reported that they had gaming disorder. Chi-square analysis showed that gender, grade, marital status of parents and exercise situation were significantly associated with GD. Binary logistic regression analysis showed that those who had GD were at significantly higher risk for anxiety and insomnia than those without GD. CONCLUSION: We found a high incidence of GD and a positive association among anxiety, insomnia and GD. Thus, special attention should be paid to those who have suffered from GD. It is worth addressing the adverse effects of GD on anxiety and insomnia.

Insomnia partially mediates the relationship between pathological personality traits and depression: a case-control study.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Personality disorders are frequently associated with insomnia and depression, but little is known about the inter-relationships among these variables. Therefore, this study examined these inter-relationships and the possible mediating effect of insomnia on the association between specific personality pathologies and depression severity. METHODS: There were 138 study participants, including 69 individuals with depression and 69 healthy controls. The main variables were measured by the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale-24 (HAMD-24), Athens Sleep Insomnia Scale (AIS), and the Personality Diagnostic Questionnaire (PDQ-4+). Multivariate linear regression and mediation analysis were conducted. RESULTS: With the exception of the antisocial personality score, all the PDQ-4+ scores and AIS scores were significantly higher in the depression group than in the healthy control group (p < 0.001). In the total sample, all personality pathology scores (p < 0.001), except the antisocial personality score, had significant positive correlations with the AIS scores and HAMD-24 scores, and the AIS scores and HAMD-24 scores were positively correlated (r = 0.620, p < 0.001). Regression analysis revealed that borderline personality, passive-aggressive personality, and insomnia positively predicted the severity of depression, after adjusting for sociodemographic covariates, and that insomnia partially mediated the associations of borderline personality and passive-aggressive personality with depression severity. CONCLUSIONS: Borderline personality, passive-aggressive personality, and insomnia tend to increase the severity of depression, and the effect of borderline and passive-aggressive personality on depression severity may be partially mediated by insomnia. This is the first study to report these findings in a Chinese sample, and they may help researchers to understand the pathways from specific personality pathologies to the psychopathology of depression better, which should be useful for designing interventions to relieve depression severity, as the impact of specific personality pathology and insomnia should be considered.

Prevalence of Childhood Sexual Abuse Among Women Using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire: A Worldwide Meta-Analysis.

Childhood sexual abuse (CSA) is a common form of childhood maltreatment. Several studies have shown that CSA adversely affects the physical and mental health. Numerous studies have evaluated the prevalence of CSA among females using various instruments. In this meta-analysis, we estimated the rate of CSA among women using the short form of the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire for the first time. Four databases (PsycINFO, PubMed, Cochrane Library, and Embase) were systematically searched for studies published as of April 2, 2018. Forty-eight articles (53 groups of samples) covering 22,224 individuals, including women, from 16 countries were selected. Using the random-effects model, the pooled overall rate of CSA was 24% (95% confidence interval [21%, 27%]). On subgroup analyses, the rate of female CSA in people with mental illness was higher than that in the general group; this result showed variability among different geographical regions.

Prevalence of childhood trauma measured by the short form of the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire in people with substance use disorder: A meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Substance use disorder is known to be associated with childhood trauma, yet prevalence estimates have varied markedly due to methodological differences. The meta-analysis presented here aimed to estimate prevalence rates of childhood trauma for people with substance use disorder using the short form of the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ-SF). METHODS: Four major public databases (PubMed, Embase, The Cochrane Library and PsycINFO) were searched for eligible studies until April 2nd, 2018. RESULTS: Ten studies were included with a total sample size of 1,310 across six countries. The prevalence estimates of each subtype of childhood trauma across all substance use disorder samples were: emotional abuse (38%, 95% CI: 28%-48%); physical abuse (36%, 95% CI: 27%-45%); sexual abuse (31%, 95% CI: 23%-41%); emotional neglect (31%, 95% CI: 18%-45%) and physical neglect (32%, 95% CI: 25%-40%). Subgroup analysis by continent demonstrated that the highest prevalence rates of emotional abuse were found in North America and South America (45%). Compared with other continents, the prevalence rates of North America were the highest for physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional neglect and physical neglect (39%-44%). CONCLUSIONS: Childhood trauma is prevalent among substance use disorder samples compared to the general population. Different continents have different levels of prevalence of childhood trauma, which may be due in part to socioeconomic, cultural and definitional variations.

[Farm compost polluted water may induce pharyngo-esophageal, gastric and liver carcinoma in the chicken].

OBJECTIVE: To study farm compost polluted water that may induce pharyngo-esophageal, gastric and liver carcinoma in chickens. METHODS: 280 chickens were randomized into 4 groups: experiment group 100 chickens fed with compost water + NaNO(2) by stomach tube. The other 180 were evenly randomized into 3 control groups (60 each), fed with compost water, NaNO(2) and tap water in the same way. The farm compost was prepared with corn stalks, rice straws, excreta of men and livestock. The compost water, after being nitrosified and acidified, was fed through stomach tube 5 - 7.5 ml/session, twice a week. Besides, a solution consisting of the respective formula of each group added with 3 - 4 L water with pH adjusted to 3 - 4 by 1N HCL was given ad lib to all chickens in each group for 26.5 months. RESULTS: In the experiment group, there were pharyngo-esophageal carcinoma 16 (16.3%), gastric adenocarcinoma 5 (10.4%) and liver carcinoma 3 (6.3%), in contrast to none in the 3 control groups, showing significant differences (P < 0.01, P < 0.01, P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Successful simulation of the layout of esophageal carcinoma high morbidity area and the mimic of chicken gastric fluid strongly support our compost etiological hypothesis that the nitrosified and acidified compost water are carcinogenic, very well causing esophageal, gastric and liver carcinoma.