Problematic Smartphone Use Leads to Behavioral and Cognitive Self-Control Deficits.

Excessive use of smartphones has been associated with a number of negative consequences for individuals. Some of these consequences relate to many symptoms of behavioral addiction. The present study aims to investigate whether participants with high levels of smartphone usage may have difficulty with their ability to wield the self-control that is needed to restrict smartphone usage compared to participants with lower levels of smartphone addiction. Specifically, we expect that people with high levels of smartphone usage may have problems in refraining from using a smartphone. In addition, we expect people with a high level of smartphone use may show deficiencies in cognitive tasks such as memory, executive control, and visual and auditory attention. An ABA design was applied to analyze the effects of smartphone withdrawal. The first A refers to baseline measurements: Visual RT, Auditory RT, Go/No-Go RT and N-Back RT and Eriksen flanker RT. The B refers to 3 days of smartphone withdrawal, whereas the second A refers to the same measurements used in the baseline. In addition, several standardized scales were administered, among them: Smartphone addiction scale-short version (SAS-SV), Fear of missing out scale (FoMOs), Procrastination scale, and Psychological General Well-Being Index. One hundred and eleven participants took part in the study. Based on median split they were divided into two groups: high level and low level smartphone users. Moreover, thanks to an app installed on the participants' smartphones, it was possible to measure levels of compliance with the task. Results indicate that participants with low levels of smartphone usage show less difficulty in their ability to wield the self-control needed to withdraw smartphone use and faster reaction times on cognitive tests than participants with high levels of smartphone usage. Moreover, the profile of participants with high levels of smartphone usage shows higher scores on the FoMOs and Procrastination scale, and lower scores in the Psychological General Well-Being Index. The results are discussed in light of self-regulation theory.

Low Represented Mutation Clustering in SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.7 Sublineage Group with Synonymous Mutations in the E Gene.

Starting in 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic is a global threat that is difficult to monitor. SARS-CoV-2 is known to undergo frequent mutations, including SNPs and deletions, which seem to be transmitted together, forming clusters that define specific lineages. Reverse-Transcription quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) has been used for SARS-CoV-2 diagnosis and is still considered the gold standard method. Our Eukaryotic Host Pathogens Interaction (EHPI) laboratory received six SARS-CoV-2-positive samples from a Sicilian private analysis laboratory, four of which showed a dropout of the E gene. Our sequencing data revealed the presence of a synonymous mutation (c.26415 C > T, TAC > TAT) in the E gene of all four samples showing the dropout in RT-qPCR. Interestingly, these samples also harbored three other mutations (S137L-Orf1ab; N439K-S gene; A156S-N gene), which had a very low diffusion rate worldwide. This combination suggested that these mutations may be linked to each other and more common in a specific area than in the rest of the world. Thus, we decided to analyze the 103 sequences in our internal database in order to confirm or disprove our "mutation cluster hypothesis". Within our database, one sample showed the synonymous mutation (c.26415 C > T, TAC > TAT) in the E gene. This work underlines the importance of territorial epidemiological surveillance by means of NGS and the sequencing of samples with clinical and or technical particularities, e.g., post-vaccine infections or RT-qPCR amplification failures, to allow for the early identification of these SNPs. This approach may be an effective method to detect new mutational clusters and thus to predict new emerging SARS-CoV-2 lineages before they spread globally.