Bipolar States Research Articles

Flat-Band Electronic Bipolarity in a Janus and Kagome van der Waals Semiconductor Nb3TeI7.

Janus materials, a novel class of materials with two faces of different chemical compositions and electronic polarities, offer significant potential for various applications with catalytic reactions, chemical sensing, and optical or electronic responses. A key aspect for such functionalities is face-dependent electronic bipolarity, which is usually limited by the chemical distinction of terminated surfaces and has not been exploited in the semiconducting regime. Here, it is showed that a Janus and Kagome van der Waals (vdW) material Nb3TeI7 has ferroelectric-like coherent stacking of the Janus layers and hosts strong electronic bipolar states in the semiconducting regime. A large potential difference of ∼ 0.7eV between the I4 and TeI3 terminated surfaces is observed, despite only one fourth of the I atoms being replaced by Te atoms on one side of the layers. Additionally, robust semiconducting properties with the face-dependent n-type and p-type field-effect transistor behaviors are demonstrated. These unique properties are attributed to Nb 4d orbital flat bands of the breathing-Kagome lattice, of which significantly large electron mass makes the semiconducting properties immune to impurity doping, and inherent strong electron correlation enhances asymmetric electron distribution, thereby amplifying a built-in electric field. These findings highlight that naturally-grown Janus and Kagome vdW semiconductors provide a promising material platform for utilizing strong electronic bipolarity in 2D-material-basedapplications.

Dreaming in Bipolar Disorders - Feasibility of the Central Image Method: A Prospective Controlled Trial.

Emotions play an important role in the emergence, formation, and experience of dreams. The Central Image (CI) in a dream refers to the dream's dominant or underlying emotion, and it is the best-remembered part of a dream. Bipolar disorders are characterized by strong emotions, particularly during manic and depressive episodes. In these patients, dreams and CIs may serve as a helpful diagnostic and therapeutic tool. This study aims to evaluate the feasibility of the CI Method and to check for differences concerning dreams and CI emotions between healthy controls and patients with bipolar disorder. Over a period of 3 weeks, 61 participants were asked to maintain a daily record of all dreams remembered. Dream reports were rated using the Central Image Method (CIM) by two independent, blinded raters. We assessed for interrater agreement on the CIM and for within and between group differences related to negative and positive CI emotions. Mean agreement rates (weighted Cohen's kappa) for the CI emotion ratings could be classified as very good: For primary CI emotion ratings, the mean weighted Cohen's kappa was 0.99 (± 0.02), and for secondary CI emotions, it was 0.90 (± 0.17). Regarding the CI intensities, the mean agreement rate (Spearman's correlation) was also strong. Evaluation of differences within the groups showed that there were more negative CI emotions than positive CI emotions in healthy controls and currently depressive patients; however, in the latter, the difference was statistically not significant. Analyses of differences between groups indicated that patients who were currently depressed recorded more negative CI emotions in dreams than those who were euthymic or healthy controls. The findings support the feasibility of the CIM. Our results might indicate different emotion regulation and defense mechanisms across bipolar disorder states, as reflected by the occurrence of negative and positive CI emotions.

Ultrathin Carbon Shell Protecting Copper Sites to Boost Anodic Hydrogen Production via Low-Potential Formaldehyde Oxidation.

The oxidation of aldehydes on a copper-based electrocatalyst within a small potential window can produce hydrogen at the anode, thus offering a bipolar hydrogen production system. However, the inherent activity and stability of Cu-based electrocatalysts for aldehyde oxidation are still not satisfactory in practical application. Herein, by coating an ultrathin carbon shell on the copper sphere, an effective and stable formaldehyde oxidation reaction (FOR) can be realized to produce H2 at a very low potential. FOR needs only a potential of 0.13 V (vs RHE) to reach a current density of 100 mA cm-2. By coupling FOR with hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), hydrogen is generated simultaneously at both the cathode and the anode. The Faraday efficiency of H2 at the bipolar state is close to 100%. In a flow cell, it needs a low cell voltage of 0.1 V to reach a current density of 100 mA cm-2. Moreover, it can be operated steadily for more than 30 h at high current density. The carbon shell acts as an armor to protect the Cu(0) sites, avoid the oxidation of copper, and keep the catalyst activity for a long time in the electrolytic process. Experimental and theoretical calculation results indicate that electron transfer occurs at the interface between the copper core and ultrathin carbon shell. The ultrathin carbon-coated Cu reduces the reaction energy barrier, making the C-H bond more easily fractured and facilitating H coupling to generate H2. This study provides a basic principle for the design of copper-based electrocatalysts with long durability and activity.

Nanosecond pulsed gliding arc plasma for ammonia synthesis: better insight from discharge mode and vibrational temperature

Low-temperature plasma technology is a promising technological route to achieve green and efficient ammonia synthesis at ambient temperature and pressure. In this work, a Laval nozzle type gliding arc plasma reactor was designed for the direct synthesis of ammonia from N2 and H2 discharges ignited by a high voltage nanosecond pulsed power supply to investigate the effect of different electrode gaps, pulse voltages, and V N2:V H2 on ammonia synthesis. The nanosecond pulsed plasma discharges were characterized through oscilloscope and optical emission spectroscopy (OES). The maximum rate of NH3 synthesis was 538.12 μmol·h−1 at 1.5 mm electrode gap, 16 kV peak pulse voltage, 6 kHz pulse repetition frequency, 100 ns pulse width, 100 ns pulse rising edge, 100 ns pulse falling edge, and 200 mL·min−1 total gas flow rate with V N2:V H2 = 1:1. It was demonstrated that the discharge mode of the nanosecond pulsed gliding arc plasma can transit from a unipolar state to a bipolar state determined by the duty cycle accompanied with higher discharge power and vibrational temperature. Bipolar discharge mode is beneficial to improve the efficiency of plasma ammonia synthesis because of it can strengthen the plasma discharge and increase the vibrational temperature. The ammonia synthesis rate and N2 conversion rate increased with the increase of the discharge power and vibrational temperature.

Spatial sensitivity distribution assessment and Monte Carlo simulations for needle-based bioimpedance imaging during venipuncture using the finite element method.

Despite being among the most common medical procedures, needle insertions suffer from a high error rate. Impedance measurements using electrode-equipped needles offer promise for improved tissue targeting and reduced errors. Impedance visualization usually requires an extensive pre-measured impedance dataset for tissue differentiation and knowledge of the electric fields contributing to the resulting impedances. This work presents two finite element simulation approaches for both problems. The first approach describes the generation of a multitude of impedances with Monte Carlo simulations for both, homogeneous and inhomogeneous tissue to circumvent the need to rely on previously measured data. These datasets could be used for tissue discrimination. The second method describes the simulation of the spatial sensitivity distribution of an electrode layout. Two singularity analysis methods were employed to determine the bulk of the sensitivity within a finite volume, which in turn enables consistent 3D visualization. The modeled electrode layout consists of 12 electrodes radially placed around a hypodermic needle. Electrical excitation was simulated using two neighboring electrodes for current carriage and voltage pickup, which resulted in 12 distinct bipolar excitation states. Both, the impedance simulations and the respective singularity analysis methods were compared with each other. The results show that the statistical spread of impedances is highly dependent on the tissue type and its inhomogeneities. The bounded bulk of sensitivities of both methods are of similar extent and symmetry. Future models should incorporate more detailed tissue properties such as anisotropy or changing material properties due to tissue deformation to gain more accurate predictions.

Orbital- and millennial-scale Asian winter monsoon variability across the Pliocene–Pleistocene glacial intensification

Intensification of northern hemisphere glaciation (iNHG), ~2.7 million years ago (Ma), led to establishment of the Pleistocene to present-day bipolar icehouse state. Here we document evolution of orbital- and millennial-scale Asian winter monsoon (AWM) variability across the iNHG using a palaeomagnetically dated centennial-resolution grain size record between 3.6 and 1.9 Ma from a previously undescribed loess-palaeosol/red clay section on the central Chinese Loess Plateau. We find that the late Pliocene–early Pleistocene AWM was characterized by combined 41-kyr and ~100-kyr cycles, in response to ice volume and atmospheric CO2 forcing. Northern hemisphere ice sheet expansion, which was accompanied by an atmospheric CO2 concentration decline, substantially increased glacial AWM intensity and its orbitally oscillating amplitudes across the iNHG. Superposed on orbital variability, we find that millennial AWM intensity fluctuations persisted during both the warmer (higher-CO2) late Pliocene and colder (lower-CO2) early Pleistocene, in response to both external astronomical forcing and internal climate dynamics.

Early warning signals observed in motor activity preceding mood state change in bipolar disorder.

Alterations in motor activity are well-established symptoms of bipolar disorder, and time series of motor activity can be considered complex dynamical systems. In such systems, early warning signals (EWS) occur in a critical transition period preceding a sudden shift (tipping point) in the system. EWS are statistical observations occurring due to a system's declining ability to maintain homeostasis when approaching a tipping point. The aim was to identify critical transition periods preceding bipolar mood state changes. Participants with a validated bipolar diagnosis were included to a one-year follow-up study, with repeated assessments of the participants' mood. Motor activity was recorded continuously by a wrist-worn actigraph. Participants assessed to have relapsed during follow-up were analyzed. Recognized EWS features were extracted from the motor activity data and analyzed by an unsupervised change point detection algorithm, capable of processing multi-dimensional data and developed to identify when the statistical property of a time series changes. Of 49 participants, four depressive and four hypomanic/manic relapses among six individuals occurred, recording actigraphy for 23.8 ± 0.2 h/day, for 39.8 ± 4.6 days. The algorithm detected change points in the time series and identified critical transition periods spanning 13.5 ± 7.2 days. For depressions 11.4 ± 1.8, and hypomania/mania 15.6 ± 10.2 days. The change point detection algorithm seems capable of recognizing impending mood episodes in continuous flowing data streams. Hence, we present an innovative method for forecasting approaching relapses to improve the clinical management of bipolar disorder.

A Study on Quotient Structures of Bipolar Fuzzy Finite State Machines

This article introduces different congruence relations on the bipolar fuzzy set associated with the bipolar fuzzy finite state machine. Each congruence relation associates a semigroup with the bipolar fuzzy finite automata. We also discuss characterizing a bipolar fuzzy finite state machine by defining an admissible relation.

Vector Symbolic Finite State Machines in Attractor Neural Networks.

Hopfield attractor networks are robust distributed models of human memory, but they lack a general mechanism for effecting state-dependent attractor transitions in response to input. We propose construction rules such that an attractor network may implement an arbitrary finite state machine (FSM), where states and stimuli are represented by high-dimensional random vectors and all state transitions are enacted by the attractor network's dynamics. Numerical simulations show the capacity of the model, in terms of the maximum size of implementable FSM, to be linear in the size of the attractor network for dense bipolar state vectors and approximately quadratic for sparse binary state vectors. We show that the model is robust to imprecise and noisy weights, and so a prime candidate for implementation with high-density but unreliable devices. By endowing attractor networks with the ability to emulate arbitrary FSMs, we propose a plausible path by which FSMs could exist as a distributed computational primitive in biological neural networks.

Reduced heart rate variability during mania in a repeated naturalistic observational study.

Bipolar disorder (BD) is a chronic recurrent mood disorder associated with autonomic nervous system (ANS) dysfunction, indexed by heart rate variability (HRV). Changes in HRV between mood states are sparsely studied longitudinally. We aimed to compare HRV of hospitalized manic individuals with their own euthymic selves in a naturalistic observational study. 34 individuals were included, of which 16 were lost to follow-up. Ultimately 15 patients provided reliable heart rate data in both a manic and euthymic state, using photoplethysmography (PPG) sensor wristbands overnight. We calculated HRV measures Root Mean Square of Successive Differences (RMSSD), High-frequency (HF: 0.15-0.40 Hz), Low-frequency (LF: 0.40-0.15 Hz), Very low-frequency (VLF: 0.0033-0.04 Hz), Total power and Sample Entropy in 5-min night-time resting samples. We compared HRV measures by mood state within individuals using paired t-tests and linear regression to control for age and sex. HRV was lower in the manic state when compared to the euthymic state for all HRV metrics (p ≤ 0.02), with large to medium effect sizes (g = 1.24 to 0.65). HRV changes were not significantly affected by age or sex. This longitudinal study provides evidence of lower HRV in manic states compared to euthymia, indicating an association between ANS dysregulation and changes in bipolar mood state. This corroborates previous cross-sectional studies, although the association may be less clear or reversed in hypomanic states. Further investigation in larger longitudinal samples is warranted.

Can daily actigraphic profiles distinguish between different mood states in inpatients with bipolar disorder? An observational study.

Criterion A changes for bipolar disorder (BD) in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-Fifth Edition yield new difficulties in diagnosis. Actigraphy has been used to capture the activity features of patients with BD. However, it remains unclear whether long-term actigraphic data could distinguish between different mood states in hospitalized patients with BD. In this observational study, 30 hospitalized patients with BD were included. Wrist-worn actigraphs were used to monitor motor activity. The patients were divided into bipolar disorder-depression (BD-D), bipolar disorder-mania (BD-M), and bipolar disorder-mixed state (BD-MS) groups. Motor activity differences were estimated using non-parametric analyses between and within the three groups. The mean 24 h activity level differed between the groups. In the between-group analysis, the intra-individual fluctuation and minute-to-minute variability in the morning and the mean activity level and minute-to-minute variability in the evening significantly differed between the BD-M and BD-MS groups. In the within-group analysis, the BD-M group showed a disrupted rhythm and reduced activity complexity at night. Both the BD-D and BD-MS groups demonstrated significant differences between several parameters obtained in the morning and evening. The mean activity levels during the relatively long monitoring period and the intra-day variation within the groups could reflect the differences in motor activity. Sustained activity monitoring may clarify the emotional states and provide information for clinical diagnosis.

How do bipolar disease states affect positive and negative emotion processing? Insights from a meta-analysis on the neural fingerprints of emotional processing.

Functional magnetic resonance imaging studies on emotion processing in patients with bipolar disorder (BD) show hyperactivity of limbic-striatal brain areas and hypoactivity in inferior frontal areas compared to healthy participants. However, heterogeneous results in patients with different disease states and different valences of emotional stimuli have been identified. To integrate previous results and elucidate the impact of disease state and stimulus valence, we conducted a systematic literature search for journal articles in the Web of Science Core Collection including MEDLINE databases and employed a coordinate-based-meta-analysis of functional-MRI studies comparing emotion processing in BD-patients with healthy participantsusing seed-based d mapping (SDM) to test for between-subjects-effects. We included 31 studies published before 11/2022 with a total of N = 766 BD-patients and N = 836 controls. Patients with BD showed hyperactivated regions involved in salience processing of emotional stimuli (e.g., the bilateral insula) and hypoactivation of regions associated with emotion regulation (e.g., inferior frontal gyrus) during emotion processing, compared to healthy participants. A more detailed descriptive analysis revealed a hypoactive (anterior) insula in manic BD-patients specifically for negative in comparison to positive emotion processing. This meta-analysis corroborates the overall tenor of existing literature that patients with BD show an increased emotional reactivity (hyperactivity of salience-processing regions) together with a lower (cognitive) control (hypoactivity of brain areas associated with emotion regulation) over emotional states. Our analysis suggests reduced interoceptive processing of negative stimuli in mania, pointing out the need for longitudinal within-subject analyses of emotion processing.

Special Report: Autism Spectrum Disorder and Inflexible Thinking—Affecting Patients Across the Lifespan

Special Report: Autism Spectrum Disorder and Inflexible Thinking—Affecting Patients Across the Lifespan

Point prevalence and sex-specific associated factors of depression in Latvian general population.

This cross-sectional study aimed to determine the current prevalence of depression, and analyze sex-specific associated socio-demographic and health-related factors for depression in a representative sample of the general adult population of Latvia. Specially trained professional interviewers conducted computer-assisted face-to-face interviews with a multistage stratified probability sample from the general Latvian adult population (n = 2,687). A 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ) was used for assessment of depression. Respondents were interviewed using the specially developed questionnaire about sociodemographic factors as well as the alcohol use disorder module of the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview. Binary logistic regression was used to calculate the odds ratios (OR) for the univariate and multivariate logistic analyses. The point prevalence of depression according to the PHQ-9 was 6.4% (95% CI 5.8-7.6). After adjustment for all independent variables analyzed, being divorced, widowed, or living separately increased the odds of depression [aOR 2.6 (95% CI, 1.2-5.8), p = 0.02] in males. For females, unfinished primary education [aOR 5.2 (95% CI 2.0-13.6), p = 0.001] and economically inactive status [aOR 2.0 (95% CI, 1.1-3.6), p = 0.03] were strongly associated with depression. The cross-sectional design of the study did not allow us to draw conclusions about causality. Patients with bipolar, organic, and symptomatic depression states were not excluded. The prevalence of depression in the general adult population is 6.4%, with the most significant sex-specific factors associated with depression for males - being divorced, widowed, or living separately, and for females it was poor education and economic inactivity.

Special Report: Bipolar Disorder II—Frequently Neglected, Misdiagnosed

Special Report: Bipolar Disorder II—Frequently Neglected, Misdiagnosed

Evolutionary aspects of thymology in pediatric practice

The thymus is now considered a derivative of the immune system being, to greater extent, its central organ. Immunodeficiency states and immune dysregulation also depend on the quality of the thymus, which may be determined both genetically and by fetopathic approach as well as due to the possibility and mode of its intravital injuries, age-related involution over different periods of life. Not accidentally, there are various morphometric bipolar states of the thymus gland in the pediatric population (3-7%), whereas its size may be sufficiently larger or smaller than the reference variable values. In certain cases, the phenomenon of thymomegaly (for example, in newborns) is considered a result of genetic errors (neuro-endocrine-immune syndrome with thymomegaly) induced by the mutated Hox genes. This syndrome may also be associated with congenital heart disorders. Moreover, the excessive morbidity in respiratory infections (commonly, viral by their etiology) among young children with bipolar thymus conditions remains the subject of sharp discussions. Some works assessing immune status in the children subjected to forced thymectomy, e.g., during heart surgery, yielded quite controversial results, even in cases of subtotal removal of thymus gland.Dialectically, the concepts of “morphology” and “organ function” could not be separated from one another. The morphometric transformations in organs (even transient ones) occuring within the range of > 95 and < 5 percentiles, should be almost always underlied by a certain pathomorphosis which require verification of their causes and origin. Even today, however, the assessment of thymus pathomorphology in the deceased children is not always critical, being often descriptive. This situation is, probably, associated with extreme complexity of thymic morphology assessment. The final point seems to be not set in the discussion about immunodeficiency states or immune dysregulation among children with bipolar thymus transformations. This is due to current absence of reliable immune-mediated biomarkers, the limited availability of genetic diagnostics in primary immunodeficiency conditions, and a decreased interest of clinical science in the issues of bipolar conditions of the thymus gland at the early age, in the absence of longitudinal observations in this category of patients, etc. In this article, the authors attempt to draw attention of researchers to this problem.

Bipolar Neutrosophic Finite Switchboard State Machines

The notion of bipolar neutrosophic finite switchboard state machines (BNFSSTMs), homomorphisms and strong homomorphisms of bipolar neutrosophic finite state machines (BNFSSTMs) are introduced and some related results are studied.

Particle Collection of Electret Media under Different Filtration Pressures

Electret media have the advantage of enhancing the particle collection efficiency while keeping/reducing the media pressure drop by the electrostatic mechanisms in addition to the mechanical ones. This study investigated the effect of operational pressure on the filtration performance of electret filter media. Experiments was conducted at the pressures in the range of 0.33–3 atm and using DMA-classified particles ranging in electrical mobility sizes of 10–600 nm. The penetration of particles in the neutral, singly charged and Fuchs’ bipolar charge states of two electret media (both charged and discharged) were measured. The single fiber efficiency due to the induced and Coulombic forces, i.e., ηIn and ηC, were obtained. It is found that both efficiencies are a function of the filtration pressure (i.e., fiber Kn#) in addition to those parameters already included in existing models. A simple modification was also proposed for the existing model (based on the single fiber theory), enabling it to predict the particle collection efficiency of electret media operated under various filtration pressures.

Mean-field approximation for structural balance dynamics in heat bath.

A critical temperature for a complete signed graph of N agents where the time-dependent polarization of links tends towards the Heider (structural) balance is found analytically using the heat-bath approach and the mean-field approximation as T^{c}=(N-2)/a^{c}, where a^{c}≈1.71649. The result is in perfect agreement with numerical simulations starting from the paradise state where all links are positively polarized as well as with the estimation of this temperature received earlier with much more sophisticated methods. When heating the system, one observes a discontinuous and irreversible phase transition at T^{c} from a nearly balanced state when the mean link polarization is about x_{c}=0.796388 to a disordered and unbalanced state where the polarization vanishes. When the initial conditions for the polarization of links are random, then at low temperatures a balanced bipolar state of two mutually hostile cliques exists that decays towards the disorder and there is a discontinuous phase transition at a temperature T^{d} that is lower than T^{c}. The system phase diagram corresponds to the so-called fold catastrophe when a stable solution of the mean-field equationcollides with a separatrix, and as a result a hysteresislike loop is observed.

Brain stimulation treatment for bipolar disorder.

Bipolar disorders are clinically complex, chronic and recurrent disorders. Few treatment options are effective across hypomanic, manic, depressive and mixed states and as continuation or maintenance treatment after initial symptom remission. The aim of this review was to provide an up-to-date overview of research on the efficacy, tolerability and cognitive effects of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), magnetic seizure therapy (MST), deep brain stimulation (DBS) and vagus nerve stimulation (VNS). References included in this review were identified through multiple searches of the Embase, PubMed/MEDLINE and APA PsycINFO electronic databases for articles published from inception until February 2022. Published reviews, meta-analyses, randomised controlled trials and recent studies were prioritised to provide a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of research on brain stimulation in patients with bipolar disorders. The evidence base for brain stimulation as an add-on or alternative to pharmacological and psychological treatments in patients with bipolar disorders is limited but rapidly expanding. Brain stimulation treatments represent an opportunity to treat all bipolar disorder states, including cognitive dysfunction during euthymic periods. Whilst findings to date have been encouraging, larger randomised controlled trials with long-term follow-up are needed to clarify important questions regarding treatment efficacy and tolerability, the frequency of treatment-emergent affective switches and effects on cognitive function.