Panic Response Research Articles

Universal Ideational Warfare: Preemptive Ideocide in the Global South

Abstract The world is entering a post-universal historical conjuncture marked by a “great divergence” triggered by a paroxysm of crises exacerbated by the Western world’s reluctance to accept its diminishing global role. In a panic response, the West is consolidating itself into a Euro-American Confederal Empire, engaging in a form of universal ideational warfare against emerging civilization-states in an effort to maintain its civilizational hegemony. This has resulted in an ideological engineering contest within the global public sphere pursued through the practice of “preemptive ideocide,” which seeks to perpetuate a missionary universalism that imposes Western political-cultural norms upon the world’s divergent cultural and self-governing modes of existence. This ideational warfare is situated within an emergent Cold War Two. The protagonists of this ideational warfare represent a service class of ideocrats devoted to the preservation of Western global primacy. The article highlights the key themes addressed by members of this service class who act as an elite posse of a global thought police. In conclusion, the article argues that humanity is irreversibly divided into non-convergent but non-conflictual cultural identities and proposes the adoption in the Global South of a cultural polygenesis covenant as an exit strategy from the prevailing dependency on missionary universalism’s ideational framework.

Uncovering the Effect of News Signals on Daily Stock Market Performance: An Econometric Analysis

The stock markets in developing countries are highly responsive to breaking news and events. Our research explores the impact of economic conditions, financial policies, and politics on the KSE-100 index through daily market news signals. Utilizing simple OLS regression and ARCH/GARCH regression methods, we determine the best model for analysis. The results reveal that political and global news has a significant impact on KSE-100 index. Blue chip stocks are considered safer investments, while short-term panic responses often overshadow rational decision-making in the stock market. Investors tend to quickly react to negative news, making them risk-averse. Our findings suggest that the ARCH/GARCH models are better at predicting stock market fluctuations compared to the simple OLS method.

Development of the Panic Response Scale and the Predicting Factors of Panic Response During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

During emergencies, individuals and communities often react in a variety of ways, including panic response. However, the study of panic response is limited due to narrow assessment tools that measure only one or two dimensions of human response (eg, physiology, cognition, emotion, and behavior). To address this limitation and to explore the risk and protective factors of panic response during the global spread of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), the current study developed and evaluated the Panic Response Scale (PRS). Four samples were recruited for the following purposes: interview analysis (n = 26); item analysis and exploratory factor analysis (n = 604); confirmatory factor analysis and reliability analysis (n = 603); and retest reliability, validity analysis, and regression analysis (n = 349). The PRS consists of 21 items with four subscales: Physical Discomfort, Anxious Fluster, Sensitive Depression, and Excessive Prevention. Each of these subscales demonstrated good internal consistency (rs > 0.73), test-retest reliability (rs > 0.77), criterion validity (r = 0.69, p < 0.01), and convergent validity (rs = 0.31-0.65, p < 0.01). Regression analysis revealed significant predicting effects of COVID-19 knowledge and neuroticism on panic response. Additionally, cognitive reappraisal moderated the association between neuroticism and panic response. Following a traumatic event, the PRS offers a potential tool for identifying individuals in need of mental health services. Moreover, during the COVID-19 pandemic, knowledge and neuroticism served as risk factors for heightened panic response, while cognitive reappraisal served as a protective factor for coping with panic response.

Don't Panic: Remaining El Capitan While Navigating Unpreparedness in Response to Extreme Events

Company leaders are frequently confronted with highly uncertain and risky situations for which they are often ill-prepared, and consequently, in which they often panic. Based on an exploratory case study of extreme rock climber Alexander Honnold, we have developed propositions that help decision-makers to learn to avoid panic in crises. Our findings suggest that gradual exposure to incrementally more challenging tasks by adjusting individual learning goals allows decision-makers to leverage existing skills, and to develop their physical, mental and emotional states simultaneously. Deliberate confrontation with the challenges that may trigger panic through real-life simulation and imagination helps decision-makers to retrain and transform triggers for panic responses, and to build systemic confidence. This organic and holistic growth provides decision-makers with the simultaneous preparation and mastery of their physical, mental, and emotional states to ensure the lightness and calmness necessary not to panic when facing a crisis.

In Search of Public Perceptions of Disorder and Crime: Examining the Core Tenets of Broken Windows Theory.

A cornerstone of broken windows theory concerns public perceptions of disorder and crime, and the citizens' "panic response" with the onset of disorder in their neighborhoods. Naturally, assuming this dynamic to exist lends support for a significant expansion of police operations from traditional crime control to order maintenance. More specifically, the advocates of the theory presume that citizens view disorder and crime as two distinctive constructs, and further that the former triggers the latter. Broken windows theory was quite popular during the 1990s and early 2000s, a period in which order maintenance or quality of life policing reached its apex of popularity. Findings from recent studies on public perceptions of disorder and crime, however, have called into serious question: the cognitive distinction between crime and disorder. Using data collected from a random telephone survey of residents residing in the Houston metropolitan area, we follow this line of research and test the hypothesized dynamics underlying broken windows theory. Our principal findings suggest that neither a one-factor model (convergent) nor a two-factor model (discriminant) fit the empirical data when an appropriate concept validation process is carried out. Implications are drawn for broken windows theory and some specific recommendations are made for future research at the end of the study.

A Bowl of Cream of Wheat

A Bowl of Cream of Wheat

Omicron variant (B.1.1.529) of SARS-CoV-2: Mutation, infectivity, transmission, and vaccine resistance.

The appearance of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variant Omicron (B.1.1.529) has caused panic responses around the world because of its high transmission rate and number of mutations. This review summarizes the highly mutated regions, the essential infectivity, transmission, vaccine breakthrough and antibody resistance of the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2. The Omicron is highly transmissible and is spreading faster than any previous variant, but may cause less severe symptoms than previous variants. The Omicron is able to escape the immune system’s defenses and coronavirus disease 2019 vaccines are less effective against the Omicron variant. Early careful preventive steps including vaccination will always be key for the suppression of the Omicron variant.

Omicron Variant (B.1.1.529): Infectivity, Vaccine Breakthrough, and Antibody Resistance.

The latest severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variant Omicron (B.1.1.529) has ushered panic responses around the world due to its contagious and vaccine escape mutations. The essential infectivity and antibody resistance of the SARS-CoV-2 variant are determined by its mutations on the spike (S) protein receptor-binding domain (RBD). However, a complete experimental evaluation of Omicron might take weeks or even months. Here, we present a comprehensive quantitative analysis of Omicron’s infectivity, vaccine breakthrough, and antibody resistance. An artificial intelligence (AI) model, which has been trained with tens of thousands of experimental data and extensively validated by experimental results on SARS-CoV-2, reveals that Omicron may be over 10 times more contagious than the original virus or about 2.8 times as infectious as the Delta variant. On the basis of 185 three-dimensional (3D) structures of antibody–RBD complexes, we unveil that Omicron may have an 88% likelihood to escape current vaccines. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) from Eli Lilly may be seriously compromised. Omicron may also diminish the efficacy of mAbs from AstraZeneca, Regeneron mAb cocktail, Celltrion, and Rockefeller University. However, its impacts on GlaxoSmithKline’s sotrovimab appear to be mild. Our work calls for new strategies to develop the next generation mutation-proof SARS-CoV-2 vaccines and antibodies.

Role of Social Media in Psychiatry During Pandemic: A Potential Risk for Suicidal Ideation.

The COVID-19 pandemic brought with itself significant mental health challenges owing not only to the morbidity and mortality from the infection but also to mitigation strategies of social distancing and self-isolation. Indeed, in the absence of adequate pharmaceutical aids, quarantine and social distancing measures are taken to limit the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Thus, living in the world of social media, the average usage of social media could be expected to show a sharp rise as measures of social distancing and quarantine are adopted to contain the pandemic. In this context, social media could be thought of as an additional preventative resource aiding the containment of the pandemic by being a key network for communication during a crisis.Because social media usage cannot be brought down to null considering the fact that it does have some positive aspects to it in terms of disposition of useful information, we could alternatively modify the reporting to be more responsible.In conclusion, we could hypothesize that social media might surge responses for some adverse mental health conditions, increasing fear, anxiety, and panic responses, even spreading suicidal ideation and therefore impacting incidence of suicide in some way. Moreover, social media should be carefully handled, particularly during the pandemic, as social media engagement spiked. Indeed, suicide news, when not reported adequately, and most dangerous social media challenges could have devastating effects among youngest users.

Understanding Panic Buying Through an Integrated Psychodynamic Lens.

Previous literature has identified panic buying as often being a response to environmental stressors. In early 2020, we saw an increase in panic buying as a response to a real and/or perceived lack of resources due to COVID-19. Although panic buying has a long history, there is a lack of literature to provide a psychological understanding of the phenomenon. During the early days of COVID-19 clients presented with fear and uncertainty. These negative emotions were, in part, a response to a real shortage of basic supplies. However, the panic response led to behaviors that, for some individuals, resulted in atypical buying patterns. From a therapeutic perspective, one can consider behavioral and psychodynamic explanations and interventions, and how this impacts the associated behaviors. This article will focus on psychodynamic understandings of panic buying as a response to events that result in negative emotions. By providing a psychodynamic understanding of panic buying, authors hope to contribute to the therapy of clients presenting with related behaviors and their associated negative affect.

An analysis on the panic during COVID-19 pandemic through an online form

With the rapid spread of global pandemic coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), people around the world express panic in various behaviors. This affects the economy of the county, social values, and psychological stress of the people involved regardless of the directness of contact with the infected. This study aims to analyze the panic responses of the people as well as the perception on the global issue through an online survey. The researchers used Health Anxiety Inventory and open ended questions regarding the feelings, thoughts and actions of people during the enhanced community quarantine. Quantitative and qualitative data were both analyzed and interpreted interactively. Results also show that there is a significant difference (p = 0.028) in the Avoidance behavior between locations. Furthermore, a significant difference (p = 0.000) also shows on the Symptoms of Hypochondriasis between exposure to COVID-19. COVID-19 Panic Framework were also conceptualized with the following themes arranged from negative to positive behaviors: Indifference, Annihilation, Nihilism, Paranoia, Sadness, Fear, Transmission of Virus, Shock, Government Blaming, Anxiety, Relating to Past Pandemics, Worry on Self/Family/Others, Information Dissemination, Composure, Compliance, Protection, Cautiousness, Optimism, and Health Consciousness. In conclusion, levels of health anxiety were consistent regardless of location and exposure to COVID-19 patients. Lastly, spectrum of panic consequences due to COVID-19 pandemic were constructed.

Copeptin in CCK-4-induced panic in healthy man: Sexual dimorphisms in secretion pattern and panic response, but no correlation of copeptin with panic symptoms

Copeptin, the C-terminal part of the hypothalamic arginine vaspopressin (AVP) precursor, closely mirrors the production of AVP and was proposed as an easily measured novel marker of the individual stress level in man. First data in male volunteers proposed copeptin as a potential endocrine surrogate marker of cholecystokinin-tetrapeptide (CCK-4)-induced panic. We tried to replicate these pilot data and to extend them to the other sex.46 healthy human subjects (29 men, 17 women) were given an intravenous bolus of 50 μg CCK-4. Basal and stimulated plasma copeptin was measured and panic symptoms were assessed using the Acute Panic Inventory (API).Basal copeptin was significantly lower in women vs. men, while men showed a significantly higher CCK-4-induced increase of copeptin. In contrast, female subjects displayed a signifcantly higher increase of API ratings by CCK-4. No significant correlations of panic symptoms and copeptin release induced by CCK-4 could be found, neither in man, nor in women, nor in the total sample.A sexual dimorphism in copeptin secretion and in panic response was demonstrated. Prior unexpected findings of copeptin release as an objective read-out of panic could not be replicated. The role of the vasopressinergic system in panic anxiety needs further study in panic patients and in healthy man, using also other panic provocation paradigms.

Select panicogenic drugs and stimuli induce consistent increases in tail skin flushes and decreases in core body temperature.

Panic attacks (PAs) are episodes of intense fear or discomfort that are accompanied by a variety of both psychological and somatic symptoms. Panic induction in preclinical models (e.g. rats) has largely been assayed through flight and avoidance behavioral tests and cardiorespiratory activity. Yet, the literature pertaining to PAs shows that thermal sensations (hot flushes/heat sensations and chills) are also a common symptom during PAs in humans. Considering that temperature alterations are objectively measurable in rodents, we hypothesized that select panicogenic drugs and stimuli induce consistent changes in thermoregulation related to hot flushes and chills. Specifically, we challenged male rats with intraperitoneal injections of the GABAergic inverse agonist FG-7142; the α2 adrenoceptor antagonist yohimbine; the serotonin agonist D-fenfluramine, and 20% CO2 (an interoceptive homeostatic challenge). We assayed core body temperature and tail skin temperature using implanted radiotelemetry probes and tail thermistors/thermal imaging camera, respectively, and found that all challenges elicited rapid, high-amplitude (~7-9°C) increase in tail skin temperature and delayed decreases (~1-3°C) in core body temperature. We propose that thermal sensations such as these may be an additional indicator of a panic response in rodents and humans, as these panicogenic compounds or stimuli are known to precipitate PAs in persons with panic disorder.

S38. Dissecting the Functional Heterogeneity of Serotonergic Systems That Regulate Fear and Panic

Central serotonin systems are major target for treating anxiety disorders with the use of selective serotonin (5-HT) reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). Yet SSRIs tend to increase anxiety initially having their anxiolytic properties 2-3 weeks after daily treatment. There is pharmacological/electrophysiological evidence that 5-HT is largely excitatory in pro-fear regions such as the basolateral amygdala (BLA), but inhibitory on pro-panic orexin neurons in the perifornical hypothalamus (PeF). Using retrograde tracing we determined that the BLA and PeF are innervated by distinct serotonergic networks in the dorsal (DR) and median (MR) raphe with BLA projections outnumbering PeF projections 2:1. Here we sought to elucidate the role of these serotonergic networks on learned fear and innate panic responses.

Assessment of fear and anxiety associated behaviors, physiology and neural circuits in rats with reduced serotonin transporter (SERT) levels

Genetic variation in serotonin transporter (SERT) that reduces transcriptional efficiency is associated with higher anxiety and fear traits and a greater incidence of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Although previous studies have shown that rats with no expression of SERT (SERT−/−) have increased baseline anxiety behaviors, SERT+/− rats with low SERT expression (and more relevant to the clinical condition with low SERT expression) do not. Yet, no systematic studies of fear acquisition/extinction or their underlying neural mechanisms have been conducted in this preclinical genetic SERT+/− model. Here we sought to determine if SERT+/− or SERT−/−, compared to wildtype, rats would show exacerbated panic responses and/or persistent conditioned fear responses that may be associated with PTSD or phobia vulnerability. Results: Only SERT−/− rats showed increased baseline anxiety-like behaviors with heightened panic respiratory responses. However SERT+/− (also SERT-/-) rats showed enhanced acquisition of fear and delayed extinction of fear that was associated with changes in serotonergic-related genes (e.g., reduced 5-HT1A receptor) and disrupted inhibition within the basolateral amygdala (BLA). Furthermore, the disrupted fear responses in SERT+/− rats were normalized with 5HT1A antagonist infusions into the BLA. Enhanced acquisition and failure to extinguish fear memories displayed by both SERT−/− and SERT+/− rats are cardinal symptoms of disabling anxiety disorders such as phobias and PTSD. The data here support the hypothesis that reduced SERT function is a genetic risk that disrupts select gene expression and network properties in the amygdala that could result in vulnerability to these syndromes.

Panic results in unique molecular and network changes in the amygdala that facilitate fear responses.

Recurrent panic attacks (PAs) are a common feature of panic disorder (PD) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Several distinct brain regions are involved in the regulation of panic responses, such as perifornical hypothalamus (PeF), periaqueductal grey, amygdala and frontal cortex. We have previously shown that inhibition of GABA synthesis in the PeF produces panic-vulnerable rats. Here, we investigate the mechanisms by which a panic-vulnerable state could lead to persistent fear. We first show that optogenetic activation of glutamatergic terminals from the PeF to the basolateral amygdala (BLA) enhanced the acquisition, delayed the extinction and induced the persistence of fear responses 3 weeks later, confirming a functional PeF-amygdala pathway involved in fear learning. Similar to optogenetic activation of PeF, panic-prone rats also exhibited delayed extinction. Next, we demonstrate that panic-prone rats had altered inhibitory and enhanced excitatory synaptic transmission of the principal neurons, and reduced protein levels of metabotropic glutamate type 2 receptor (mGluR2) in the BLA. Application of an mGluR2 positive allosteric modulator (PAM) reduced glutamate neurotransmission in the BLA slices from panic-prone rats. Treating panic-prone rats with mGluR2 PAM blocked sodium lactate (NaLac)-induced panic responses and normalized fear extinction deficits. Finally, in a subset of patients with comorbid PD, treatment with mGluR2 PAM resulted in complete remission of panic symptoms. These data demonstrate that a panic-prone state leads to specific reduction in mGluR2 function within the amygdala network and facilitates fear, and mGluR2 PAMs could be a targeted treatment for panic symptoms in PD and PTSD patients.

#Slane Girl, beauty pageants and padded bras: flashpoints in the sexualisation of children debate in Irish media and political discourse

Public and academic concern about the sexualisation of children first emerged in the early 1980s in the US, and has been traced back to the early 1990s in the UK. By contrast, public concern about child sexualisation is relatively new in Irish public discourse. In 2013 in particular, a number of “flashpoint” events occurred in Ireland, prompting both political and media reactions, which set the dominant tone of Irish discourse on this issue. This article examines how the sexualisation of children has come to be specifically framed in Irish media coverage and political debate. It derives from the first ever government funded study on the sexualisation and commercialisation of children in Ireland, which was also conducted by the authors of this article. The section of the study that is addressed here involved a broad qualitative analysis of print media coverage of child sexualisation in the period 2011–2013 and Parliamentary discussions from the first mention of child sexualisation (1998) to the time of analysis (2013). This article thus revisits data collected for the report, and subjects it to further analysis We conclude that the current status of Irish public debate on this issue lacks clarity and complexity, and indicates an urgent need to respond to Duschinsky and Barker’s call for a more sophisticated and nuanced discussion that eschews moral panic responses in favour of listening to the opinions and experiences of young people.

The Role of Ca2+ and BK Channels of Locus Coeruleus (LC) Neurons as a Brake to the CO2 Chemosensitivity Response of Rats

The cellular mechanisms by which LC neurons respond to hypercapnia are usually attributed to an “accelerator” whereby hypercapnic acidosis causes an inhibition of K+ channels or activation of Na+ and Ca+2 channels to depolarize CO2-sensitive neurons. Nevertheless, it is still unknown if this “accelerator” mechanism could be controlled by a brake phenomenon. Whole-cell patch clamping, fluorescence imaging microscopy and plethysmography were used to study the chemosensitive response of the LC neurons. Hypercapnic acidosis activates L-type Ca2+ channels and large conductance Ca-activated K+ (BK) channels, which function as a “brake” on the chemosensitive response of LC neurons. Our findings indicate that both Ca2+ and BK currents develop over the first 2 weeks of postnatal life in rat LC slices and that this brake pathway may cause the developmental decrease in the chemosensitive firing rate response of LC neurons to hypercapnic acidosis. Inhibition of this brake by paxilline (BK channel inhibitor) returns the magnitude of the chemosensitive firing rate response from LC neurons in rats older than P10 to high values similar to those in LC neurons from younger rats. Inhibition of BK channels in LC neurons by bilateral injections of paxilline into the LC results in a significant increase in the hypercapnic ventilatory response of adult rats. Our findings indicate that a BK channel-based braking system helps to determine the chemosensitive respiratory drive of LC neurons and contributes to the hypercapnic ventilatory response. Perhaps, abnormalities of this braking system could result in hypercapnia-induced respiratory disorders and panic responses.

Daily maternal separations during stress hyporesponsive period decrease the thresholds of panic-like behaviors to electrical stimulation of the dorsal periaqueductal gray of the adult rat

The present study examined whether early life maternal separation (MS), a model of childhood separation anxiety, predisposes to panic at adulthood. For this purpose, male pups were submitted to 3-h daily maternal separations along postnatal (PN) days of either the ‘stress hyporesponsive period’ (SHRP) from PN4 to PN14 (MS11) or throughout lactation from PN2 to PN21 (MS20). Pups were further reunited to conscious (CM) or anesthetized (AM) mothers to assess the effect of mother-pup interaction upon reunion. Controls were subjected to brief handling (15 s) once a day throughout lactation (BH20). As adults (PN60), rats were tested for the thresholds to evoke panic-like behaviors upon electrical stimulation of dorsal periaqueductal gray matter and exposed to an elevated plus-maze, an open-field, a forced swim and a sucrose preference test. A factor analysis was also performed to gain insight into the meaning of behavioral tests. MS11-CM rather than MS20-CM rats showed enhanced panic responses and reductions in both swimming and sucrose preference. Panic facilitations were less intense in mother-neglected rats. Although MS did not affect anxiety, MS11-AM showed robust reductions of defecation in an open-field. Factor analysis singled out anxiety, hedonia, exploration, coping and gut activity. Although sucrose preference and coping loaded on separate factors, appetite (adult weight) correlated with active coping in both forced swim and open-field (central area exploration). Concluding, whereas 3h-daily maternal separations during SHRP increased rat’s susceptibility to experimental panic attacks, separations throughout lactation had no effects on panic and enhanced active coping.

Disinhibition of the rat prelimbic cortex promotes serotonergic activation of the dorsal raphe nucleus and panicolytic-like behavioral effects.

Several studies have shown that serotonin plays a dual role in the modulation of defensive behaviors related to anxiety and panic. A major source of serotonergic projections to limbic structures responsible for this modulation is the dorsal raphe nucleus (DR). Anatomical studies indicate that the prelimbic (PL) cortex sends dense glutamatergic projections to the DR, leading to stimulation or inhibition of serotonin release in structures innervated by the DR. The objective of the present study was to investigate if GABAergic disinhibition of the PL by means of local administration of picrotoxin (PIC), a chloride channel blocker, can affect serotonergic tone and the expression of defensive behaviors related to anxiety and panic. We used the elevated T-maze model and Vogel conflict test to evaluate defensive responses associated with anxiety or panic. The results showed that intra-PL PIC caused an increase in c-Fos activation in serotonergic cells in DR subregions. Furthermore, the intra-PL injection of PIC induced a panicolytic-like effect without affecting behaviors associated with anxiety. Our findings suggest that the PL-DR pathway, through DR serotonergic stimulation, is involved in the control of panic-related behaviors by control of serotonin release in structures that modulate panic responses, such as the dorsal periaqueductal gray.