Emotional State Research Articles

Emotion Recognition From Multimodal Physiological Signals via Discriminative Correlation Fusion With a Temporal Alignment Mechanism.

Modeling correlations between multimodal physiological signals [e.g., canonical correlation analysis (CCA)] for emotion recognition has attracted much attention. However, existing studies rarely consider the neural nature of emotional responses within physiological signals. Furthermore, during fusion space construction, the CCA method maximizes only the correlations between different modalities and neglects the discriminative information of different emotional states. Most importantly, temporal mismatches between different neural activities are often ignored; therefore, the theoretical assumptions that multimodal data should be aligned in time and space before fusion are not fulfilled. To address these issues, we propose a discriminative correlation fusion method coupled with a temporal alignment mechanism for multimodal physiological signals. We first use neural signal analysis techniques to construct neural representations of the central nervous system (CNS) and autonomic nervous system (ANS). respectively. Then, emotion class labels are introduced in CCA to obtain more discriminative fusion representations from multimodal neural responses, and the temporal alignment between the CNS and ANS is jointly optimized with a fusion procedure that applies the Bayesian algorithm. The experimental results demonstrate that our method significantly improves the emotion recognition performance. Additionally, we show that this fusion method can model the underlying mechanisms in human nervous systems during emotional responses, and our results are consistent with prior findings. This study may guide a new approach for exploring human cognitive function based on physiological signals at different time scales and promote the development of computational intelligence and harmonious human-computer interactions.

Gammatone-Frequency Cepstral Coefficients Based Fear Emotion Level Recognition System

Emotions represent affective states that induce alterations in behavior and interactions within one's environment. An avenue for discerning human emotions lies in the realm of speech analysis. Empirical evidence indicates that 1.6 million Indonesian teenagers grapple with mental anxiety disorders, characterized by sensations of fear or ambiguous vigilance. This work endeavors to devise a tool for discerning an individual's emotional state through voice processing, focusing particularly on fear emotions stratified into three levels of intensity: low, medium, and high. The proposed system employs Gammatone-Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (GFCC) for feature extraction, leveraging the efficacy of its gamma filter in reducing noise. Furthermore, a Random Forest (RF) Classifier is integrated to facilitate the recognition of fear's emotional intensity in speech signals. The system is deployed on a Raspberry Pi 4B and establishes a Bluetooth connection using the RFCOMM communication protocol to an Android application, presenting the classification results. The outcomes reveal that the Signal-to-Noise Reduction achieved through GFCC extraction surpasses that of Mel-Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCC). In terms of accuracy, the implemented recognition system for fear emotion levels, employing GFCC extraction and Random Forest Classifier, attains a commendable accuracy of 73.33 %.

Stressful life events and the occurrence of skin cancer.

It is widely acknowledged that emotional states can influence skin conditions, yet limited research has delved into the impact of stress on skin cancer development. This retrospective study sought to expand the perspective on skin cancer risk factors by investigating the complex relationship between stressful life events and the incidence of skin cancer. The sample included 268 individuals followed-up in a dermatological clinic, in three groups: Patients who had previously been diagnosed with cutaneous melanoma and are currently in remission (32%), those who had been diagnosed with non-melanoma skin cancer (30%), and a control group who are at risk for skin cancer (38%). Participants filled in questionnaires regarding childhood and adulthood life events, and loss and gain of resources following their subjectively most stressful event in adulthood. Multinomial logistic regression was used to examine the associations of life events with skin cancer occurrence, and mediating and moderating effects of resource loss/gain. Adverse childhood experiences were associated with melanoma occurrence, with the melanoma group reporting significantly more such experiences compared to the control group (p<0.001). Resource loss from subjectively significant stressful life events in adulthood partially mediated the association between adverse childhood experiences and melanoma incidence. The findings suggest that there may be intricate connections between stress, life events, adaptation to change, and skin cancer, which future research may further unravel. This study underscores the need for a more comprehensive approach to stress management, coping strategies development, and skin cancer prevention in healthcare settings.

Visualization of educational data in a German-language corpus of student texts

Introduction. Digital transformation of education involves the use of digital tools in managing the educational process as a whole and in the learning process in individual disciplines. The specifics of teaching a foreign language require special functionality from digital tools. The purpose of the article is to explore the possibilities of a corpus of student texts in a foreign language for analyzing the results of students’ educational work and forming an adapted learning path within the discipline related to the study of a foreign language. Materials and methods. The material for the study was the Petrozavodsk Annotated Corpus of Texts (PACT), containing written works in German and French written by students from 2019 to 2023. Texts are accompanied by attributive information about the author, writing conditions, evaluation and error corrections. A web application has been developed to work with the corpus. The application includes personal accounts for teachers and students. To analyze the state of the learning process and make subsequent decisions on managing the learning process, the web application contains several tools for visualizing error statistics at different levels of detail with the ability to select texts according to different conditions. Results of the study. As part of the study, patterns were identified that connect the types of errors with the genres of texts, with the severity of the errors, and with the emotional and physiological state of the student. Russian-speaking students studying German as a foreign language make the most mistakes in the choice of lexemes, spelling, punctuation and the place of the verb in a sentence. At the same time, genre differences can be observed to distribute the number of errors by their type. There is an increase in the relative number of gross errors by 1.5 times for senior students compared to the first year. Errors in the choice of lexeme are critical for understanding the content of the text. The severity of the error does not depend on the genre of the text. Conclusion. The results of the study can be used to build corpora of student texts with educational analytics functions in dashboard format. The results obtained can be useful in developing teaching materials for the “Foreign Language” discipline.

What a Shame! Limited Understanding of the Effects of Shame on Voice

Abstract: While research is emerging on how the emotional state of voice users can impact voice quality and production, the emotion of shame has been underrepresented in that research. This paper examines what research currently exists regarding shame and offers future directions for future research in this area.

Psychological Group Interventions for Reducing Distress Symptoms in Healthcare Workers: A Systematic Review.

Healthcare workers exposed to emergencies and chronic stressors are at high risk of developing mental health problems. This review synthesized existing studies of group psychological therapy to reduce distress symptoms in healthcare workers (i.e., as complex and heterogeneous emotional states, characterized by the presence of symptoms associated with post-traumatic stress disorder, burnout, anxiety, depression and moral injury). Searches were conducted using PRISMA guidelines and databases such as PubMed, PsycINFO, Medline and Web of Science, along with manual searches of reference lists of relevant articles. The search returned a total of 1071 randomized trials, of which 23 met the inclusion criteria. Of the total studies, nine were mindfulness interventions, seven were cognitive behavioural programmes, one was a programme based on acceptance and commitment therapy, one was an EMDR protocol and two focused on systemic and art therapy. Most studies aimed to reduce burnout, anxiety and depression; only three focused on post-traumatic stress disorder, and no studies were found that addressed moral injury. The results suggested that group interventions could be an effective tool to improve the mental health of healthcare workers and reduce their symptoms of distress, although many of the studies have methodological deficiencies. Limitations and future directions are discussed.

Proteomic analysis of central amygdala systems regulated by the glucocorticoid receptor antagonist mifepristone in the context of alcohol dependence

Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a chronic psychiatric disorder characterized by escalated alcohol use and emergence of negative emotional states during withdrawal. Studies show a dysregulation of glucocorticoid signaling in AUD, affecting the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and the central amygdala (CeA). Excessive activation of glucocorticoid receptors (GRs) is hypothesized to promote cognitive dysfunction, negative emotional states, and escalated drinking. Previous work demonstrates a functional increase in GR activity in the CeA during alcohol withdrawal in alcohol-dependent animal models. Importantly, the GR antagonist mifepristone reduces alcohol-seeking and drinking behaviors in rodents and humans. The aims of this study were to determine differential CeA protein expression in alcohol-dependent rats and examine the effects of mifepristone treatment. We hypothesized that male and female rats will show sex differences in their CeA protein expression and that alcohol-induced reductions in brain anti-stress signaling (e.g., endocannabinoid system) will be normalized by mifepristone treatment. Male and female Wistar rats were exposed to chronic intermittent ethanol vapor (CIEV) or air (control) for 10 weeks. In week 7, half of each group received subcutaneous placebo pellets while the other half received mifepristone pellets (150mg, 21-day slow release). At the end of Week 10, the rats were sacrificed during acute (6-hour) CIEV withdrawal (and identical time in control groups). The CeA was analyzed using proteomics and ingenuity pathway analysis (IPA). In males, a total of 3050 proteins were detected in the CeA. Of these, 142 proteins were altered by alcohol (but not mifepristone), whereas an additional 253 proteins were altered by alcohol and “normalized” by mifepristone. In females, among the 2632 detected proteins, 46 were affected by alcohol (but not mifepristone), and 25 were altered by alcohol and restored by mifepristone. IPA revealed significant changes in canonical pathways, including the endocannabinoid neuronal synapse pathway and oxidative phosphorylation, affected by alcohol but normalized by mifepristone. Future studies will incorporate alcohol self-administration procedures in male and female rats to functionally examine proteins within these pathways as promising “druggable” targets that offer novel therapeutic avenues for AUD. Supported by NIH-NIAAA R01AA025996, P60AA009803, T32AA007577. This is the full abstract presented at the American Physiology Summit 2024 meeting and is only available in HTML format. There are no additional versions or additional content available for this abstract. Physiology was not involved in the peer review process.

Retrograde optimized AAV tracer fails to transduce dorsal raphe nucleus projections to the basolateral amygdala

Key in aversive emotional states are serotonergic (5-HT) projections to the basolateral amygdala (BLA) originating from the dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN). Despite being critical in aversive states, the precise anatomical location of 5-HT DRN neurons that project to the BLA is not well delineated. Vital in recent advancements in neuroscience are neurotropic adeno-associated viral (AAV) vectors, which allow for long-term expression of transgenes. However, a recent study using retrograde transport optimized AAV (rAAV2-retro) tracers has shown that transfection of axon terminals and subsequent retrograde transport may not be as ubiquitous as traditional non-transgenic tracer techniques. In this study, we wanted to not only map the precise location of neurons within the DRN that project to the BLA but also test the extent to which rAAV2-retro vectors were useful tools to study these projection neurons. In C57 mice, we iontophoretically deposited (+3-μA positive current at 7s intervals for 10 min, n=3 mice) or pressure nanoinjected (100 nl, n=3 mice) rAAV2-retro expressing the fluorescent reporter GFP (rAAV2-retro-CAG-GFP) into the BLA. After allowing two weeks for GFP expression, coronal sections were prepared from perfusion-fixated tissue and GFP expression was assessed in the DRN as well as the medial entorhinal cortex (mEC), a well validated input to the BLA. We found that iontophoretic deposition failed to robustly label the DRN and mEC. In contrast, while pressure nanoinjection failed to label many DRN neurons, the mEC was robustly labeled. These results may suggest a lack of DRN axon terminals within the viral injection sites or a failure of AAV retrograde tracer transduction in DRN projections to the BLA. Future studies comparing traditional retrograde tracer techniques to our results are warranted. In sum, these results caution the use of rAAV2-retro vectors to study DRN inputs to the BLA. MH093320 (LCD &amp; GMT). This is the full abstract presented at the American Physiology Summit 2024 meeting and is only available in HTML format. There are no additional versions or additional content available for this abstract. Physiology was not involved in the peer review process.

Comparison of Remimazolam Tosilate and Propofol Sedation on the Early Postoperative Quality of Recovery in Patients Undergoing Day Surgery: A Prospective Randomized Controlled Trial.

Remimazolam tosilate is a novel ultrafast-acting benzodiazepine that has a rapid emergence even after continuous infusion when using flumazenil. So far, relatively few articles are still focusing on the quality of recovery after general anesthesia with remimazolam, especially in day surgery. This study aimed to compare the early postoperative quality of recovery of remimazolam tosilate with flumazenil and propofol in patients undergoing day surgery. 137 patients scheduled for day surgery were randomly divided into the remimazolam tosilate or propofol group. The primary endpoint was the incidence of overall recovery assessed with the early postoperative quality of recovery scale (PostopQRS) on postoperative day 1 (POD 1). The Richmond Agitation-Sedation Scale (RASS) scores in the post-anesthesia care unit (PACU), extubation time, postoperative recovery profiles, and perioperative data were documented. Any adverse events were recorded. The incidence of overall recovery on POD1 was 47.7% in the remimazolam tosilate group and 65.1% in the propofol group (odds ratio, 0.52; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.26 to 1.06; P = 0.072). In general, the overall recovery of the PostopQRS increased over time, and its interaction between time and group was significant (P = 0.003). Among the five dimensions of PostopQRS, there exist statistical differences between groups including emotional state and cognitive recovery. Upon arrival at the PACU, the remimazolam group was more sedated and took longer to recover to a RASS score similar to propofol. The frequency of application of vasoactive drugs during anesthesia was similar in both groups (P = 0.119). Despite rapid emergence with remimazolam after flumazenil reversal, re-sedation (10.8%) or somnolence (60%) in the PACU was observed, and the length of PACU stay in patients treated with remimazolam tosilate was longer than that of the propofol (35 min vs 30 min, P<0.001). General anesthesia with remimazolam tosilate in conjunction with flumazenil reversal permits rapid recovery of consciousness in day surgery, but there was a notable occurrence of re-sedation or somnolence observed in PACU.

Порівняльний аналіз субклінічного тривожно-депресивного синдрому в пацієнтів із гострим інфарктом міокарда з елевацією сегмента ST до та під час активних бойових дій у Харківській області

The aim – to assess subclinical emotional distress in patients with ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction (STEMI) before and during the ongoing conflict in the Kharkiv Region. Materials and methods. The study encompassed 242 patients exhibiting subclinical emotional distress and hospitalized with STEMI at «L.T. Malaya TNI of NAMSU» before active conflict, compared with 65 patients during the conflict. Adherence to ethical standards was ensured, in line with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration, and the protocol received approval from the local ethics committee (Protocol № 8, dated 29.08.2016, and Protocol № 4, dated 12.05.2022). Participants completed the DASS-21 questionnaire, reflecting their emotional state 10–14 days prior, and received STEMI treatment as per current guidelines.Results. We showed that anxiety more frequent appeared during the active hostilities (p=0.0218). Depression had the influence on excessive smoking (p=0.0199), LV EF decrease (p=0.0057), LDL-C increase (p=0.0393). Anxiety and stress intrude into hypertension frequency (p=0.0171, p=0.0489) consequently as well as anxiety – on LDL-C increase (p=0.0068). All data of subclinical emotional distress during active hostilities associate with the frequency of smoking increase: p=0.0422 for depression, p=0.0275 for anxiety and p=0.0199 for stress. Depression associates with LVEF decrease (p=0.0267), the leucocytes count increase (p=0.0467), high frequency of hypertension (p=0.0410). Anxiety associates with higher heart rate (p=0.0277), depression and stress – with younger age (p=0.0369).Conclusions. Our research demonstrates close associations between the data of subclinical emotional distress both in patients with STEMI before and during the active hostilities in Kharkiv Region. Data were assessed with DASS-21 questionnaire on 10 –14 day prior the event. These results should be undertaken during general practitioner’s appointment to prevent further cardiovascular event.

Maternal Limosilactobacillus reuteri rescues social and emotional recognition behavior in an environmental mouse model of autism

Introduction: Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are thyroid disrupting chemicals with adverse neurodevelopmental effects in children. Our group has previously shown that PBDEs produce autism (ASD)-like traits (Kozlova et al. 2022 Arch Tox; PMID: 34687351) in combination with reduced hypothalamic oxytocin expression in developmentally exposed female mice offspring. Limosilactobacillus reuteri (LR) is a beneficial probiotic that can increase oxytocin and thyroid hormones (THs) in other ASD mouse models. Therefore, we hypothesized that LR would ameliorate PBDE-induced deficits in social behavior, oxytocin and thyroid status. Methods: C57BL/6N dams (n=8/group) were dosed with a commercial mixture of PBDE congeners, DE-71, at 0.1 mg/kg/d (DE-71), or corn oil vehicle control (VEH/CON) during preconception, gestation and lactation). Dams were gavaged with L. reuteri (LR) ATCC-PTA-6475 at 107-108 CFU/mL (gift of Biogaia, Sweden). Cohort 1 pups (C1) received LR via dam until weaning (PND 21). Cohort 2 pups (C2) continued to receive gavage of LR post-weaning, daily, through 6 mo of age. Results: Fecal microbiome analysis confirmed colonization of LR in dams after 25 doses and their offspring at postnatal day 22 and 40. Beta diversity PCoA using unweighted Unifrac revealed differences in microbial communities in 6 month old female (p&lt;.05-.01) and male offspring (apparent) between DE-71 and VEH/CON (C2). LR treatment normalized DE-71-induced abnormal social novelty preference (30 min retention) in adult male (p&lt;.01) and females (p&lt;.05) and long-term social recognition memory (24 h retention) in adult C2 females (p&lt;.001). Using an emotional recognition task DE-71-exposed C2 male and female offspring were unable to distinguish between emotional state of stimulus mice but LR supplementation normalized the DE-71-induced deficits in C2 males (p&lt;.01) and females (p&lt;.05). On a marble burying test DE-71 exposed offspring showed abnormally elevated scores compared to VEH/CON, which were normalized by LR treatment only in C1 females (p&lt;.05). In females, maternal LR treatment ameliorated DE-71-induced locomotor hyperactivity in C1. Since social behavior involves discrimination between social odors we also investigated the effects of DE-71 and LR treatment on olfactory discrimination ability. LR treatment ameliorated DE-71 effects compared to VEH/CON, i.e., reduced dishabituation from social odor 1 to 2 in males and female (p&lt;.0001). Single molecule in situ hybridization performed on paraventricular hypothalamic nucleus (PVN) sections revealed upregulation of thyroid hormone transporter monocarboxylate transporter 8 (Mct8) and downregulation of iodothyronine deiodinase 3 (Dio3) on oxytocin-positive neurons in DE-71 vs VEH/CON in C2 females. Dio3 expression was normalized in DE-71+LR. Conclusions: These results indicate that early life exposure to PBDEs alters thyroid hormone system genes in PVN neurons that express oxytocin, suggesting that PBDEs may alter ASD-relevant behavior via brain thyroid signaling. In addition, maternal LR supplementation provides normalization in a sex-dependent manner. This work is supported by a Danone North America Gut Microbiome, Yogurt and Probiotics Fellowship Grant and a University of California President's Pre-Professoriate Fellowship to E.V.K and an NIH/NIGMS R35GM124724 to A.H. This is the full abstract presented at the American Physiology Summit 2024 meeting and is only available in HTML format. There are no additional versions or additional content available for this abstract. Physiology was not involved in the peer review process.

Understanding the neural principles of interacting multiple internal states

In dynamic ethological environments, animals are constantly confronted with conflicting choices driven by interacting internal motivations. This intricate dance between internal states prompts the question: How do these states interact to determine the optimal innate behavior at any given moment? Specifically, when hungry animals encounter food and potential intruders, how do they navigate between feeding, attack, and mating behaviors? Despite extensive neuroscience research on instinctive behaviors, our understanding of the mechanisms governing adaptive behavioral decisions in the face of competing internal signals remains limited. This research aims to shed light on the complex interplay of internal physiological homeostasis in modulating defensive, aggressive, and sexual behaviors. Our focus lies on exploring the intricate network between the body and the brain to unravel the most adaptive responses within a concise time window. Currently, our investigations center around the hypothalamus, a crucial region known for representing emotional states upon encountering conspecifics or predators. Intriguingly, this same hypothalamic nucleus plays a pivotal role in regulating homeostatic metabolic states, including glucose homeostasis. Here, I will share the observation from innate behaviors of animals and the associated neural activity patterns in the hypothalamus. We will explore the current understanding of how these behaviors are modulated by internal physiological states and discuss the future directions of our research. Additionally, we aim to highlight the significance of combining the measurement of physiological signals to comprehensively address how multiple internal states interact with each other. By unraveling the complexities of these interactions, our research contributes to a deeper comprehension of the adaptive decision-making processes that animals employ in the face of conflicting choices. Helen Hay Whitney Foundation, HHMI. This is the full abstract presented at the American Physiology Summit 2024 meeting and is only available in HTML format. There are no additional versions or additional content available for this abstract. Physiology was not involved in the peer review process.

The influence of classes using an interactive whiteboard on the functional state of the body of primary school students

Introduction. The development of the education system in recent decades has been accompanied by extensive informatization, activating the cognitive activity of students necessary for the formation of a successful educational process. To identify the impact of the use of an interactive whiteboard (ID) in adolescents of grades 5 and 7, a comparative study of the functional state of the body (FS) of schoolchildren with and without ID was conducted, which is an integral indicator of the ability of an individual's body to maintain a reserve of adaptive reserves under the influence of adverse factors. Mental performance indicators according to the letter table of Anfimov served as markers of FS, allowing to assess the FS of the central nervous system and its change under the influence of various factors. Therefore, the purpose of the study was to study mental performance and assess the body's FS and the emotional state of primary school students in lessons with and without the use of ID. Materials and methods. The study of the influence of the use of ID in educational activities on the mental performance and emotional state of 233 students of different sexes was conducted in a natural hygienic experiment at a secondary school in Moscow. The differences determined by the Student's t-test were considered significant at p&lt;0.05. Results. The initial indicators of mental performance in girls and boys of grades 5 and 7 correspond to the standards for children of this age. When comparing the levels of working capacity in grades 5 and 7, it was revealed that fifth graders are almost 2 times more likely to have a high level of working capacity (p&lt;0.01). And in grades 5 and 7, there is a tendency for girls to have a higher intensity of work than boys, and in grades 7 it is significantly higher (p &lt;0.05). In the process of working with the use of ID, the coefficient of decrease in working capacity in students of grades 5 and 7 was higher than 1, and this indicates the tension of regulatory processes in the body, the impossibility of rapid restoration of functions in students of these age groups, especially girls. Conclusion. The results of the study show that the use of an interactive whiteboard increases educational motivation and emotionally activates the educational activities of students in grades 5-7. However, a comparison of the fatigue of two variants of lesson organization (with and without ID) with the same lesson density according to the distribution of individual shifts in mental performance showed that after lessons with ID, there is a higher percentage of fatigue and pronounced fatigue among students of the basic level of education, and gender differences were also revealed: for girls, classes using ID were more exhausting than for boys. The data obtained indicate that when using electronic educational tools in the educational process, it is very important to take into account the age, gender and individual capabilities of the body of students.

Phraseological Units Expressing "Happiness" in the Phrase Semantic Field of "Human's Emotional State" (Based on the Materials of the Azerbaijan Language)

Phraseological Units Expressing "Happiness" in the Phrase Semantic Field of "Human's Emotional State" (Based on the Materials of the Azerbaijan Language)

Evaluation of Anxiety Levels and Related Factors in Parents of Preterm Infants Hospitalized in NICU

Background: The hospitalization of preterm infants in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) is generally an unexpected event that can be stressful experience for families and especially for parents. Objective: To assess the anxiety levels in parents with preterm infants hospitalized in NICU and determine its association with clinical and sociodemographic variables. Method: This prospective, follow up–cohort study was conducted at the NICU of a tertiary maternity hospital in Athens, Greece during 18/12/2019 to 31/12/2022. A total of 120 parents, whose infants had birth weight (BW)&lt;1750 grams (g) and gestational age (GA)&lt;34 weeks (w) were involved. The data collected by a demographic form and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory Scale (STAI). Results: Our data showed that the STAI score for state anxiety to mothers was significantly higher in the 1st assessment (Mean±SD:52.2±11.9) than 2nd (Mean±SD:47.8±12) and 3rd (Mean±SD:49±10.3). The STAI score for trait anxiety was similar, in particular it was significantly higher in the 1st assessment (Mean±SD:46.6±14.6) compared to 2nd (Mean±SD:41.9±14) and 3rd (Mean±SD:42.8±13). Also, the STAI score for state anxiety to fathers was significantly higher during the 1st assessment (Mean±SD:47.1±12.2) compared to the other two assessments (Mean±SD:42.8±9.8 &amp; Mean±SD:41.7±9.1 respectively), while trait anxiety didn’t show significant variability. Conclusion: Our findings suggested that the premature birth and infant’s hospitalization might have a negative effect on parents’ emotional state. Identifying which mothers and fathers are at risk immediately after birth and during NICU stay could help to direct specific interventions that can prevent them of stressful feelings.

Exploring post-COVID-19 health effects and features with advanced machine learning techniques

COVID-19 is an infectious respiratory disease that has had a significant impact, resulting in a range of outcomes including recovery, continued health issues, and the loss of life. Among those who have recovered, many experience negative health effects, particularly influenced by demographic factors such as gender and age, as well as physiological and neurological factors like sleep patterns, emotional states, anxiety, and memory. This research aims to explore various health factors affecting different demographic profiles and establish significant correlations among physiological and neurological factors in the post-COVID-19 state. To achieve these objectives, we have identified the post-COVID-19 health factors and based on these factors survey data were collected from COVID-recovered patients in Bangladesh. Employing diverse machine learning algorithms, we utilised the best prediction model for post-COVID-19 factors. Initial findings from statistical analysis were further validated using Chi-square to demonstrate significant relationships among these elements. Additionally, Pearson’s coefficient was utilized to indicate positive or negative associations among various physiological and neurological factors in the post-COVID-19 state. Finally, we determined the most effective machine learning model and identified key features using analytical methods such as the Gini Index, Feature Coefficients, Information Gain, and SHAP Value Assessment. And found that the Decision Tree model excelled in identifying crucial features while predicting the extent of post-COVID-19 impact.

Face and Speech Emotion Recognition System

Abstract: Emotions serve as the cornerstone of human communication, facilitating the expression of one's inner thoughts and feelings to others. Speech Emotion Recognition (SER) represents a pivotal endeavour aimed at deciphering the emotional nuances embedded within a speaker's voice signal. Universal emotions such as neutrality, anger, happiness, and sadness form the basis of this recognition process, allowing for the identification of fundamental emotional states. To achieve this, spectral and prosodic features are leveraged, each offering unique insights into the emotional content of speech. Spectral features, exemplified by the Mel Frequency Cepstral Coefficient (MFCC), provide a detailed analysis of the frequency distribution within speech signals, while prosodic features encompass elements like fundamental frequency, volume, pitch, speech intensity, and glottal parameters, capturing the rhythmic and tonal variations indicative of different emotional states. Through the integration of these features, SER systems can effectively simulate and classify a diverse range of emotional expressions, paving the way for enhanced human-computer interaction and communication technologies

Acute Pain and Analgesia in children

Acute pain is a complex process involving activation of nociceptors, chemical mediators and inflammation. All the major children’s hospitals now have dedicated pain services to provide evaluation and immediate treatment of pain in any child. Children experience pain in a similar way to adults. Pain intensity in children depends on the surgical procedure itself but also on numerous other factors such as age, emotional state or the level of anxiety associated with the hospital stay. The perception and communication of the child’s pain depends on his or her intellectual and social development. Expression of pain therefore relies on the child’s ability to understand, quantitate and communicate it. Previous pain experiences or chronic diseases that required many medical procedures may significantly change the pain threshold in paediatric patients. Moreover, genetic predispositions and environmental effects are significant. The American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Pain Society have reiterated the importance of a multidisciplinary approach in order to eliminate pain in children. In all pediatric settings, an adequate assessment is the initial stage in a proper clinical approach to pain, especially in the emergency departments; therefore, an increasing number of age-related tools have been validated. Systemic opioids, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agents and regional analgesics alone or combined with additives are currently used to provide effective postoperative analgesia. These modalities are best utilized when combined as a multimodal approach to treat acute pain in the perioperative setting. The total number of behaviors that are present in the child are used to estimate his/her pain at the time of assessment. Pain assessment is important to facilitate effective postoperative pain management in these vulnerable children. The purpose of this study is to investigate acute pain as well as analgesia and availability of the used analgesic drugs in children. A multimodal approach to preventing and treating pain is usually used.

What Is Considered Healthy Eating? An Exploratory Study among College Students of Nutrition and Food Science.

In modern industrialized societies, the focus on healthy eating has increased significantly across multiple sectors, including the media, public policy, expert opinion, and public awareness. The aim of this research was to explore the perceptions of healthy eating and the barriers to adopting a healthy diet among undergraduate students in Human Nutrition and Dietetics (HND) and Food Science and Technology (FST) degrees in Spain. An exploratory and descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted using a qualitative and quantitative methodology and convenience sampling. Two focus groups and a questionnaire were utilized (300 participants from all academic years completed the survey). Differences in definitions of healthy eating and perceived barriers were found between genders and students at different stages of training (p < 0.05). In their understanding of healthy eating, the students placed importance on balance, variety, moderation, and individual factors. Although students considered it easy to follow a healthy diet, family's eating habits, time availability, and emotional states were found to be the main barriers to the implementation of healthy practices. The obtained data supports the need to critically address perceptions of healthy eating throughout the training of nutrition and food science professionals. The insights obtained on the perceived barriers highlight the importance of considering both individual and environmental factors.

Emotion Symphony: Deep Learning Journey Through Human Facial Emotions

Abstract: In today's technologically advanced world, understanding human emotions holds paramount importance in various domains ranging from human-computer interaction to mental health diagnosis. Emotions are primarily conveyed through facial expressions, making facial emotion recognition a crucial area of research. This project, "Emotion Symphony," embarks on a deep learning journey aimed at developing an efficient system for recognizing and interpreting human facial emotions. The project employs state-of-the-art deep learning techniques to extract meaningful features from facial images and map them to corresponding emotional states. Leveraging convolutional neural networks (CNNs) and recurrent neural networks (RNNs), the system is designed to analyse subtle nuances in facial expressions, capturing both spatial and temporal dependencies for accurate emotion recognition. To train the model, extensive datasets comprising diverse facial expressions are utilized, ensuring robustness and generalization of the proposed system. Additionally, data augmentation techniques are employed to enhance the model's ability to handle variations in lighting conditions, poses, and facial expressions.