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The ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine has led many Ukrainians to fight for their country, either in the regular army or as civilian members of voluntary territorial defense forces. There is, however, a dearth of knowledge on the mental health of combatants in this conflict. Prior research on the mental health of combatants is unlikely to translate to the situation at hand because such research is focused on combatants fighting abroad and neglects civilian combatants. This study provides the first attempt to investigate the mental health of Ukrainian combatants in the regular army and voluntary territorial defense forces by analyzing the prevalence rates of common mental health issues, as well as their demographic and socioeconomic predictors. Between March 19 and 31, 2022, the initial period of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, a sample of 178 Ukrainian combatants (104 in the regular army and 74 civilian combatants) participated in a survey on symptoms of anxiety (GAD-2), depression (PHQ-2), and insomnia (ISI). A sizable portion of Ukrainian combatants reached cut-off levels for clinical symptoms of anxiety (44·4%), depression (43·3%), and insomnia (12·4%). Importantly, the mental health of Ukrainian combatants varied between professional soldiers and civilian combatants, as well as by gender, marital status, by whether or not they were located in Russian-occupied/active-combat areas, and dependent on whether they were personally involved in combat. This study provides early evidence on the mental health of Ukrainian combatants, pointing to their urgent need for mental health assistance in the ongoing war.

Policymakers and researchers describe the COVID-19 epidemics by waves without a common vocabulary on what constitutes an epidemic wave, either in terms of a working definition or operationalization, causing inconsistencies and confusions. A working definition and operationalization can be helpful to characterize and communicate about epidemics. We propose a working definition of epidemic waves in the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and an operationalization based on the public data of the effective reproduction number R. Our operationalization characterizes the numbers and durations of waves (upward and downward) in 179 countries. The proposed working definition of epidemic waves provides a common and consistent vocabulary that can enable healthcare organizations and policymakers to make better description and assessment of the COVID crisis to make more informed resource planning, mobilization, and allocation temporally in the continued COVID-19 pandemic.

This systematic review aims to summarize the prevalence of anxiety, depression, and insomnia in the general adult population and healthcare workers (HCWs) in several key regions worldwide during the first year of the COVID pandemic. Several literature databases were systemically searched for meta-analyses published by 22 September 2021 on the prevalence rates of mental health symptoms worldwide. The prevalence rates of mental health symptoms were summarized based on 388 empirical studies with a total of 1,067,021 participants from six regions and four countries. Comparatively, Africa and South Asia had the worse overall mental health symptoms, followed by Latin America. The research effort on mental health during COVID-19 has been highly skewed in terms of the scope of countries and mental health outcomes. The mental health symptoms are highly prevalent yet differ across regions, and such evidence helps to enable prioritization of mental health assistance efforts to allocate attention and resources based on the regional differences in mental health. The prevalence rates of mental health symptoms were summarized from 388 studies of 1,067,021 individuals in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, and Latin America. Mental health symptoms under COVID-19 pandemic were worst in Africa and South Asia followed by Latin America.

Melanocortin-4 receptor-expressing neurons in the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus (PVH MC4R ) integrate hunger-promoting and hunger-suppressing signals to regulate satiety. Food consumption-evoked responses in PVH MC4R neurons increase gradually during meal consumption to promote satiety, and disrupting this process drives massive obesity. These critical satiety neurons are strongly affected by a high-fat diet, yet the impact on their functional properties remains unknown. We used fiber photometry to track PVH MC4R neurons’ responses to the consumption of drops of milkshake in animals fed a chow diet or a high-fat diet (HFD), both after obesity was established and after its reversal. PVH MC4R neurons in HFD-fed animals showed greater consumption-evoked responses than chow-fed animals at the early stages of meal consumption, and these responses did not increase further during the meal. HFD-fed animals also showed reduced licking vigor and motivation to consume milkshake. Switching HFD-fed obese animals to a normal chow diet (NCD) re-engaged the motivation to consume milkshake, partially restored early-meal neural responses to a lower level, but did not restore the increase in consumption-evoked response magnitude across the meal. These findings highlight functional alterations in hypothalamic satiety-promoting neurons in obesity and provide insight into the pathological neural consequences of an obesogenic environment.

During the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, social media platforms have become active sites for the dissemination of conspiracy theories that provide alternative explanations of the cause of the pandemic, such as secret plots by powerful and malicious groups. However, the association of individuals' beliefs in conspiracy theories about COVID-19 with mental health and well-being issues has not been investigated. This association creates an assessable channel to identify and provide assistance to people with mental health and well-being issues during the pandemic. Our aim was to provide the first evidence that belief in conspiracy theories regarding the COVID-19 pandemic is a predictor of the mental health and well-being of health care workers. We conducted a survey of 252 health care workers in Ecuador from April 10 to May 2, 2020. We analyzed the data regarding distress and anxiety caseness with logistic regression and the data regarding life and job satisfaction with linear regression. Among the 252 sampled health care workers in Ecuador, 61 (24.2%) believed that the virus was developed intentionally in a lab; 82 (32.5%) experienced psychological distress, and 71 (28.2%) had anxiety disorder. Compared to health care workers who were not sure where the virus originated, those who believed the virus was developed intentionally in a lab were more likely to report psychological distress and anxiety disorder and to have lower levels of job satisfaction and life satisfaction. This paper identifies belief in COVID-19 conspiracy theories as an important predictor of distress, anxiety, and job and life satisfaction among health care workers. This finding will enable mental health services to better target and provide help to mentally vulnerable health care workers during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

This study reports early evidence of managers' mental health and its predictors during the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in May 2020. In a sample of 646 managers from 49 countries, 5.3% (32) of managers reached the cut-off levels for disorders in distress (Kessler Psychological Distress Scale-6; K-6), 7.3% (38) experienced anxiety (General Anxiety Disorder-7; GAD-7), and 10.7% (56) had depression (Patient Health Questionnaire-9; PHQ-9). Age, relative income, and work status each predicted at least one of the conditions. Managers' 'illegitimate tasks' caused by COVID-19 predicted all three. Particularly noteworthy is the finding that the degree of downsizing an organization experienced during COVID-19 significantly predicted distress, anxiety, and depression for managers at the highest level (board members) only. This study helps identify managers in need of healthcare services as the COVID-19 pandemic affects organizations and their managers around the world. * First study on managers' mental health during a pandemic. * Identifies several risk factors, including 'illegitimate tasks'.

The pooled prevalence of anxiety and depression in Eastern Europe were 30% and 27%, respectively. Forty-one per cent of frontline healthcare workers suffered mental health symptoms. Southeastern Europe (Balkans) had lower prevalence of mental health symptoms than the rest of Eastern Europe. To perform a systematic and meta-analysis on the prevalence rates of mental health symptoms including anxiety and depression during the COVID-19 pandemic in the general population in Eastern Europe, as well as three select sub-populations: students, general healthcare workers, and frontline healthcare workers. Studies in PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, PsycINFO, and medRxiv up to 6 February 2021. Prevalence rates of mental health symptoms in the general population and key sub-populations during the COVID-19 pandemic in Eastern Europe. Data were pooled using a random-effects meta-analysis to estimate the prevalence rates of anxiety and depression. The meta-analysis identifies and includes 21 studies and 26 independent samples in Eastern Europe. Poland (n = 4), Serbia (n = 4), Russia (n = 3), and Croatia (n = 3) had the greatest number of studies. To our knowledge, no studies have been conducted in eleven Eastern European countries including Hungary, Slovakia, and Slovenia. The pooled prevalence of anxiety in 18 studies with 22 samples was 30% (95% CI: 24-37%) pooled prevalence of depression in 18 studies with 23 samples was 27% (95% CI: 21-34%). The cumulative evidence from the meta-analysis reveals high prevalence rates of clinically significant symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic in Eastern Europe. The findings suggest evidence of a potential mental health crisis in Eastern Europe during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Our synthesis also reveals a relative lack of studies in certain Eastern European countries as well as high heterogeneities among the existing studies, calling for more effort to achieve evidence-based mental healthcare in Eastern Europe.

Background The recent outbreak of COVID-19 has impacted adversely upon the mental health of millions of people worldwide. Impacts on the mental health conditions and the associated predictors relating to adults in Pakistan, the fifth most populous country in the world, during the COVID-19 remain understudied. Our aim was to investigate distress, anxiety, and overall mental health and their associated predictors among Pakistani adults in this pandemic. We specifically examine mental health issues based on the distance from the epicenter, (a predictor that has revealed opposing evidence in other countries) based on the theories of typhoon eye effect and ripple effect. The sample consisted of 601 adults who were surveyed online about 2.5 months into the outbreak across Pakistan with varying distances from the epicenter of COVID-19 of Karachi. Results The results showed that 9.2 and 19.0% of the participants surpassed the cut-off criteria for distress and anxiety disorders, respectively. Overall, the distance from the epicenter positively predicted the mental health of adults in Pakistan, and family size negatively moderated this effect. The distance from the epicenter negatively predicted distress and anxiety disorders for adults in large families, which are quite common in Pakistan. Conclusion The evidence of the study interestingly finds that the prediction of the mental health of people by their distance from the epicenter depends on family size. The evidence of this study can help to provide initial indicators for mental health care providers to screen vulnerable groups in Pakistan, a populous country that continues struggling to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic.

This article sheds new light on the debate between the Discovery and Creation views of entrepreneurial opportunity by drawing on quantum theory. We develop the Quantum view of opportunity, which explains how opportunity is both discovered and created. The Quantum view holds that the ontology and epistemology of opportunity are fundamentally inseparable, which explains why opportunity can never be fully specified. We argue, similar to the Discovery view, that opportunity exists as latent states irrespective of entrepreneurs and that, similar to the Creation view, opportunity is instantiated through entrepreneurial action, which changes opportunity. We use the Quantum view as a thought-provoking metaphor that facilitates the breaking out of the mold of ingrained thinking and moves beyond the Discovery-Creation dichotomy to further our understanding of entrepreneurship. We discuss how the Quantum view relates to established theoretical and empirical research in the entrepreneurship field.Plain English SummaryRethinking Entrepreneurial Opportunity: A Quantum view! Discover how opportunities are both found and made. #QuantumOpportunity. Entrepreneurial opportunities have long been debated: are they discovered or created? Inspired by quantum mechanics, this article introduces a fresh perspective called the “Quantum view.” Instead of seeing opportunities as either discovered or created, the Quantum view suggests that they are both created and discovered. It urges us to rethink conventional wisdom. Instead of just “finding” or “making” opportunities, the Quantum view suggests that opportunities exist in potential states and are realized through entrepreneurial enactment. Entrepreneurs can gather information about opportunities, but they can never fully specify them because every time they interact with an opportunity, they change it. Thus, the Quantum view emphasizes that we can learn about, but never fully specify, opportunities. This helps researchers think differently about opportunities and avoid extreme positions such as that entrepreneurs create something from nothing or that some entrepreneurs can accurately predict the future.

Transient neuromodulation can have long-lasting effects on neural circuits and motivational states 1 – 4 . Here we examine the dopaminergic mechanisms that underlie mating drive and its persistence in male mice. Brief investigation of females primes a male’s interest to mate for tens of minutes, whereas a single successful mating triggers satiety that gradually recovers over days 5 . We found that both processes are controlled by specialized anteroventral and preoptic periventricular (AVPV/PVpo) dopamine neurons in the hypothalamus. During the investigation of females, dopamine is transiently released in the medial preoptic area (MPOA)—an area that is critical for mating behaviours. Optogenetic stimulation of AVPV/PVpo dopamine axons in the MPOA recapitulates the priming effect of exposure to a female. Using optical and molecular methods for tracking and manipulating intracellular signalling, we show that this priming effect emerges from the accumulation of mating-related dopamine signals in the MPOA through the accrual of cyclic adenosine monophosphate levels and protein kinase A activity. Dopamine transients in the MPOA are abolished after a successful mating, which is likely to ensure abstinence. Consistent with this idea, the inhibition of AVPV/PVpo dopamine neurons selectively demotivates mating, whereas stimulating these neurons restores the motivation to mate after sexual satiety. We therefore conclude that the accumulation or suppression of signals from specialized dopamine neurons regulates mating behaviours across minutes and days. A population of hypothalamic dopamine neurons sustains mating drive in male mice through a persistent mode of biochemical signalling in target neurons.