Web Platform for Gathering and Analyzing Data from the Neurogame Mobile Application.

Today's cell phones are now smartphones, providing a wide range of possibilities for their use, much more than just simple phones. The custom application for the Android operating system, based on an open-source platform for mobile devices is intended for the examination of cognitive functions: attention, concentration and fine motor skills in children of different age groups. The Neurogame application for mobile devices and web platform development is used for retrieving and analyzing mobile application data, providing relevant indicators for the executive functions of the respondents. Material and methods: The research included 50 children with the developmental disorders ADHD and dyslexia (study group) and 50 healthy children (control group), randomly selected, evenly represented by gender and age. Using the application, we determine attention, concentration and motor skills (reaction speed) as part of the executive functions of the respondents. The web platform has the purpose of gathering and processing the data from the mobile application, as well as their automatic visual representation. Results: The ANOVA test showed that there are no gender differences in all the studied groups. A statistical correlation analysis showed that age does not affect the results in healthy school children. In children with dyslexia, age affects positively for total hits and negatively for total misses. In children with ADHD, there is a positive correlation with age for all variables except total hits (t H). Student's T-test showed that there were significant differences for the variables' total hits (t H) and total reaction time (t h) in milliseconds between healthy school children and children with dyslexia. Additionally, Student's t-test indicated that there were significant differences for the variables' total tries (t T) and total hits (t H) between healthy school children and children with ADHD. Finally, Student's t-test indicated that there were significant differences for the variable total tries (t T) between children with dyslexia and children with ADHD. Multiple Regression Results showed a significant difference between healthy school children, children with ADHD and children with dyslexia for all variables (total tries (t T), total hits (t H), total misses (t M) and total reaction time in milliseconds (t h)). Conclusion: The Neurogame application provides a opportunity to assess the motor skills and concentration level, as well as the focus of the target population by measuring the total number of tries, the total number of hits, the total number of misses and the reaction time expressed in milliseconds which are defined as monitoring variables. The development of the web platform and the connection to the application enabled easier access and distribution of the analyzed results to the stakeholders (parents, teachers, therapists or health professionals) in order to further treat the ascertained condition.

Is Smartphone Addiction in the Younger Population a Public Health Problem?

Problematic smartphone use and or addiction is defined as a form of behaviour characterized by the compulsive use of a smartphone that results in various forms of physical, psychological, or social harm. Global popularity in the area of the use of smartphones has raised concerns about the negative effects associated with problematic smartphone use, especially in the younger population. Having no consensual definition of smartphone addiction (SA), this behavioural addiction is based on the classic addiction symptomology that was included in DSM-5 criteria for compulsive gambling and substance abuse (APA 2013) This article provides a review of current research related to SA. Articles were found in the PUBMED database using related key words. Statistics confirm the exponential rise of this problem globally, especially in children and adolescents. Therefore, one must make this a high priority among public health issues.

Neuropsychological Correlates of Internet Addiction.

The Internet, mobile phones, and other similar tools are often necessary for the current functioning of both private life and business. During these two years of pandemic (2019-2021), Internet use, especially different games and mobile phones, were indispensable for the global population. Internet addiction is defined as a psychological dependence on the internet, regardless of the type of activity once logged on. Many studies have confirmed the correlation of stress, depression, and anxiety with internet addiction. It has also been proven that internet addiction, per se, increases the risk of depression, anxiety, and stress. Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic has generated and promoted social isolation along with unmonitored and increased screen time, all of which are the main causes of internet addiction. The aim of this article is to give a short review of internet addiction research, terminology, and symptoms related to brain functioning. The source material was articles cited in the database, PubMed. Our interest was especially oriented towards the personality characteristics of users and addicted persons as well as neuroimage findings among affected people. We selected the newest articles, published in the period of 2012-2021, of which there are more than 2000. The selected obtained results will be presented and discussed.

On Psychosomatic Problems in Dentistry.

In their daily practice dentists frequently have patients showing signs of stress-related oral manifestations in different forms. Stress-related aetiology of oral changes are still not investigated enough, and present a subgroup of psychosomatic diseases which had been recognized in medicine a long time ago. Recognition of such psychological or emotional disturbance needs deep evaluation "per exclusionem", and is beneficial for both the patient and clinician. Psychological management should be taken into consideration when treating patients with these psychosomatic disorders. Therapeutic approach comprises different forms of psychotherapy and medication as well.

The Eysenck Personality Profile in Selected Groups of Ophthalmological Patients.

Personality correlates in patients with eye diseases have bidirectional influence. It is possible that personality variables lead to behaviours that may influence the cause of eye problems, but the opposite is also possible, that eye problems could have a direct effect on personality. The aim of this study was to evaluate personality traits in patients with glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy and cataract using the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire. Obtained results showed similar personality profiles in patients with glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy and cataract. However, extraversion and neuroticism were higher in patients with diabetes, while the psychopathic traits are the highest in the group of cataract. Age and gender of patients do not influence the scores obtained on the questionnaire confirmed with one way ANOVA. Not significant difference in parameters (tested with Student t-test) was obtained between groups. It is proposed psychological evaluation to be included in the assessment of more serious eye diseases for helping patients to adjust and adapt to the condition and treatment.

Mobile Application "Neurogame" for Assessment the Attention, Focus and Concentration.

Smartphones are ubiquitous, but it is still unknown what physiological functions can be monitored at clinical quality. In medicine their use is cited in many fields (cardiology, pulmology, endocrinology, rheumatology, pediatrics as well as in the field of mental health). The aim of this paper is to explain how the use of mobile application can help clients to improve the index of their focus, concentration and motor skills. Our original developed application on Android operating system, named "neurogame" is based on an open source platform to enable assessment and therapeutic stimulation, focus and concentration with the ability to monitor the progress of the results obtained in a larger number of participants (normal subjects as well as patients with different disorders) over a period of time. Whilst nowadays the predominant focus is on the pharmacological treatments, there is a rapidly growing interest in research on alternative options that will offer help in many cases of disorder management in terms of mobile application games. In order to have some kind of "norms", we evaluated a group of healthy population. Obtained results will serve as a database for comparison the future results. This article displays the results obtained as database.

The Use of Smartphone in Medical Practice.

In this review we present some data about the use of mobile phones in medical practice. The results of over hundred studies cited in PubMed during the last few years have been discussed. The article gives background connected with a project in the Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts referring to a personal mobile phone application named "Neurogame" which is currently constructed to evaluate motor skills related to attention and concentration in different samples of people.

Depression in ophthalmological patients.

INTRODUCTION: Vision is the most important sensorial part of the human information system. Visual loss leads to reduced ability to perform routine activities of daily living and can be a risk for stable mental health. AIM: The aim of this cross-sectional study is to assess the incidence of depression in patients treated in an ophthalmological outpatient clinic. To our knowledge this is the first study of its kind in our country. SUBJECTS AND METHOD: The number of evaluated patients was a hundred; mean age 41.6 ± 15.9 years, with different educational levels and common ophthalmological disorders. For the assessment of the level of depression the Beck Depression Inventory was used. Patients were divided into two groups: serious ophthalmological diagnoses where we expected psychological problems (N = 65) and the simplest ones (N = 35) as a control. RESULTS: Obtained results show that the levels of depression correlate with the diagnoses. Patients in the first group (serious ophthalmological diagnoses) showed moderate depression in 12% and severe in 13% of patients. It was shown that the most depressed were the patients suffering from age-related macular degeneration and proliferative diabetic retinopathy, as well as glaucoma and cataract. The second group showed BDI scores of normal values. The level of depression is positively correlated with age and the level of education (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Depression is an important mental problem in ophthalmological practice. It is usually unrecognized and untreated. Depression could be the risk factor for treatment and prognosis of eyes diseases. Some measures for mitigation of psychological problems are proposed.

Anxiety and personality characteristics in children undergoing dental interventions.

Anxiety about and fear of dental treatment have been recognized as sources of problems in the management of child dental patients. It has been suggested that some individuals who are fearful of or anxious about dental treatment have a constitutional vulnerability to anxiety disorders as is evidenced by the presence of multiple fears, generalized anxiety or panic disorders. Concerning the child population, maternal anxiety is considered to be a major factor affecting the behaviour of young children expecting dental intervention. The aim of the study was to the measure general anxiety of children undergoing dental intervention and to compare it with some personality characteristics, such as psychopathology, extroversion and neuroticism. The evaluated sample comprises 50 children (31 girls and 19 boys), randomly selected at the University Dental Hospital, Skopje. The mean age for girls was 11.4 (± 2.4) years, and for boys 10.7 (± 2.6) years. Two psychometric instruments were used: the General Anxiety Scale for Children (GASC) and the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ). The study confirms the presence of a high anxiety level (evaluated with GASC) among all children undergoing dental intervention. It also confirmed differences in anxiety scores between girls and boys, girls having higher scores for anxiety. Personality characteristics (evaluated with EPQ) showed low psychopathological traits, moderate extroversion and neuroticism, but accentuated insincerity (evaluated with L scale). L scales are lower with increasing age, but P scores rise with age, which could be related to puberty. No correlation was found between personality traits (obtained scores for EPQ) and anxiety except for neuroticism, which is positively correlated with the level of anxiety. In the management of dental anxiety some response measures (psychological support, biofeedback, and relaxation techniques) are recommended.