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Researcher Amy Pinkham: Paranoia is more common than you thought

nasa.univerzita@uniba.sk — Wed, 17 Aug 2022 09:14:00 +0200

Don’t be paranoid! We say that sometimes without thinking much about it if a friend expresses fears or worries. In your lecture you mentioned that “paranoia is evolution gone extra.” What actually is paranoia? Paranoia refers to beliefs that someone, some organization, force, or power, is trying to harm you. It can take many forms that vary according to how much threat is involved. For example, someone could think that most people are not trustworthy and are only looking out for themselves, or someone could think that his or her friend is talking about them behind their back. These are fairly low threat levels. Alternately, someone could think that the government is spying on him or her 24 hours per day or that someone is trying to kill them. These are much more serious threats and often cause much more distress for the person who has them. What is essential for these types of thoughts to qualify as paranoia however is that they need to be unfounded. So, if someone is talking about you behind your back or is trying to kill you, those thoughts would not be considered paranoia. Instead, it would be advantageous to have these thoughts so that you can respond appropriately. How many people in the population are affected by paranoid thoughts? Are they present only in people with mental illness? Paranoid thoughts are very, very common, and they are definitely not limited to people with mental illnesses. Broad surveys of people in the general population indicate that between 15 and 20 % of people regularly experience paranoid thoughts. While we do see higher incidences of paranoia in various mental illnesses like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder, paranoia is now widely acknowledged as existing on a continuum that spans healthy populations all the way to severe mental illness. To what extent paranoid thoughts affect day-to-day life? A large body of research demonstrates quite convincingly that paranoia has a negative effect on daily life. Within clinical populations, greater paranoia is linked to poorer social relationships, less acceptable social behavior, and greater likelihoods of being alone. It is also associated with greater sadness and nervousness and less happiness. In healthy individuals, the effects are largely the same. Greater paranoia is linked to reduced social engagement and poorer social communication as well as less relationship satisfaction. Perhaps most importantly, we also see a link between paranoia and increased suicidality, which really underscores the broad and strong impact of paranoia on day-to-day life. In your recent research, you have tested a new method to treat paranoid thoughts. Could you describe it? One option for reducing paranoia may be to target the brain mechanisms that we believe are responsible for paranoid thinking. Our work has demonstrated that over activation of a brain region called the amygdala seems to be critically important for paranoia. The amygdala is responsible for detecting threats in the environment, and for most people, threat signals from the amygdala are evaluated and regulated by the frontal cortex. So, even if the amygdala tells us there is a threat, the rest of our brain can tell us to ignore that signal if we know that the threat does not actually exist. But, for individuals who are paranoid, these regions of the frontal cortex may not work well enough to effectively control the amygdala and to dismiss these threat signals. So, one option is to try to improve the effectiveness of these frontal regions via neurostimulation.

Dr. Amy Pinkham
works at School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences of University of Texas in Dallas, USA. In her research she uses functional neuroimaging (fMRI) and behavioral techniques to examine how the human brain processes social information, how these neural systems may be disturbed in schizophrenia and related disorders, and the behavioral consequences of these impairments. Dr. Pinkham’s most recent work focused on paranoia – an unfounded belief that someone wants to harm us. Her findings have supported the hypothesis that increased activation of the brain part called amygdala may serve as a mechanism for paranoid ideation. She was a postdoctoral mentor of Dr. Michal Hajdúk, psychologist from Faculty of Arts and Faculty of Medicine. Five years after his fellowship in her lab, she was invited to give a lecture "Paranoia in Psychosis and Beyond" at the Comenius University as a part of their ongoing collaboration.

Dr. Amy Pinkham

works at School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences of University of Texas in Dallas, USA. In her research she uses functional neuroimaging (fMRI) and behavioral techniques to examine how the human brain processes social information, how these neural systems may be disturbed in schizophrenia and related disorders, and the behavioral consequences of these impairments.

Dr. Pinkham’s most recent work focused on paranoia – an unfounded belief that someone wants to harm us. Her findings have supported the hypothesis that increased activation of the brain part called amygdala may serve as a mechanism for paranoid ideation. She was a postdoctoral mentor of Dr. Michal Hajdúk, psychologist from Faculty of Arts and Faculty of Medicine. Five years after his fellowship in her lab, she was invited to give a lecture "Paranoia in Psychosis and Beyond" at the Comenius University as a part of their ongoing collaboration.

Can we hope that this way of treating paranoia will bring positive results? In a small pilot study, we stimulated the frontal cortex of paranoid individuals using low level electrical current, and we found that after active stimulation (as compared to a sham, or placebo, condition), individuals reported less paranoia. We need to do much more work in this area, but these fi ndings suggest that stimulating frontal regions via transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) may be an effective treatment for paranoia. During your lectures you mentioned that belief in some conspiracy theories could be viewed as paranoia. Is there – in your view – any way we could “help” those people who believe in them? How to minimize their presence in society? This is a very diffi cult question to answer. Beliefs in conspiracy theories can indeed be conceptualized as paranoia, and often, these beliefs are very diffi cult to change. On the whole, exposure to alternative ideas and evidence that is not supportive of the conspiracy can be helpful as well as encouraging analytic thinking. Research also suggests that increasing feelings of control and empowerment can reduce beliefs in conspiracy theories. However, it is also important to note that conspiracy theories are somewhat distinct from paranoia in that paranoia tends to be self-relevant whereas conspiracy theories involve groups of individuals, and these conspiracies often involve an in-group who is in confl ict with an out-group. Exposure to members of the out-group may help believers realize that out-group members aren’t actually that different and may therefore also help to reduce belief in conspiracy theories. Barbora Tancerová

German language can be heard at the Faculty of Medicine in Bratislava

nasa.univerzita@uniba.sk — Mon, 03 Oct 2022 10:21:00 +0200

„In recent years, the proportion of students from Germany and Austria has been steadily increasing,“ confirms Boris Mravec, Vice-dean of the Faculty of Medicine, citing the recent statistics. While in the academic year 2020/2021, of the total of 254 first-year students enrolled in the English-language programme, 169 were from Germany and Austria (66.5%), in the following academic year 2021/2022, of the 233 first-year students in the English-language programme, 171 were from Germany and Austria (73.3%). What is causing this popularity of our capital among the prospective future doctors whose native language is German? We sought the answer the question by asking them directly. In a cafe near the Faculty's building on Sasinková street we met with Vanessa and Conrad from Germany, David from Austria and Steven from the U.S. While Steven speaks no German, he is well informed about the whole community of international students as their representative in the Academic Senate. Good reputation, good location „In Germany, one needs to have excellent grades in secondary school in order to be admitted to study medicine. Consequently, many secondary school students know they have to look for schools abroad if they want to study medicine,“ explains Vanessa Seibert from Frankfurt am Main. She is in her fifth year at the Faculty of Medicine, and she chose Bratislava from all the available foreign schools because of its location. „It is a European city close to Vienna and is closer to Germany than Romania, Croatia or Budapest. I had read a little about Bratislava, decided to visit for a few days, and made up my mind to study here.“ Conrad Baumeister is a first-year student, originally from Stuttgart. He was attracted to Bratislava by the renown of the Faculty. „I knew some people who studied here and reported good experience,“ he says. „It is very difficult to get admitted to study medicine in Austria,“ says David Velarde from Austria. „Not only is the entry exam hard, but the number of available places is also strictly limited. There are at least 10 applicants for each place,“ he says. Although David was also admitted to the school of medicine in Salzburg, he chose Bratislava, because he is from Vienna. He believes the decision has many advantages. „I live in my apartment and commute to school. I haven't lost contact with my friends or family, and I have a part-time job at a hospital in Vienna, but at the same time I can study in English, in an international setting.“ We dissect - and that's great They are all very satisfied with their studies. There is no language barrier between them and the teachers, whose English is very good. Vanessa notes that from time to time there are minor mistakes in written communication, like the information posted on the web or in test questions, but since the students aren’t native speakers of English either, they always find a way to understand each other. Young medical students agree on one thing: that in some respects, the study of medicine in Bratislava is different than at Western universities, though not necessarily in a bad way. „In some respects, it’s more traditional,’ thinks David. „For example, we have chemistry and physics as separate subjects. In Vienna, there would just be a single block called Science, and some things are taught differently there. But I like it this way - I get to learn more about the background of how things work.“ They also appreciate that each subject includes practice and everyone gets to test the theory in practical situations. „What I like about the study is that it is very practice-oriented. In the first year, for example, we already had nursing as a subject, where we learned to measure blood pressure, take blood, put on bandages, and similar skills. That is not very common at other medical schools,“ says Conrad. What international students really appreciate is that our Faculty of Medicine is still one of the few where students get to actually dissect human bodies. „I'm in my third year and we dissect every other week. It's an invaluable experience, not only in terms of new knowledge, but it also prepares us emotionally for what it means to be a doctor in real life,“ thinks Steven Calle-Schuler. What is their opinion of Bratislava’s hospitals, where they perform practice duty? They think that some hospitals are truly terrible in terms of both equipment and environment, but luckily, the students also work in more modern facilities which are often comparable to their western counterparts. According to Vanessa, the children's clinic in Kramáre is completely on par with similar clinics in Germany. „The important thing for us is to see that all professors really try to keep up with the latest knowledge in medicine,“ says Steven. Culture shocks? Drivers and language International students in Bratislava are not eligible for dormitories and need to rent apartments. They mostly share housing with classmates. According to them, Bratislava is already similar to other European cities, and no major cultural shocks are to be expected. Except for the language! Foreign students of medicine are required to take two years of Slovak at the faculty, and Vanessa, Conrad, David and Steven all agree that Slovak is very hard to learn. Even when studying Slovak, however, it helps that there are so many Austrians and Germans among the students. „In our Slovak classes we were an exclusively German-speaking group and our teacher also spoke German, so it was easy for her to explain Slovak grammar to us in our native language. That made it easier for us to learn, because German and Slovak grammar have a lot in common, for example the system of inflection,“says David. The teachers try to teach their students mostly practical language, like phrases needed for everyday communication and hospital-focused terminology. Some basic knowledge of Slovak becomes a necessity in higher years when the students need to deal with actual patients, few of whom understand English. „We would sooner encounter someone who speaks German. Children, though, are different - nearly all older children speak English quite well. Thanks to Instagram and Netflix,“ says Vanessa. For Conrad, a culture shock, apart from the language, were the drivers in Bratislava. „In Germany, every driver respects pedestrians. But here I need to make sure the car is actually going to stop, before I can cross the street.“David describes a similar experience: „In Vienna, people sometimes cross the road without even looking, expecting the drivers to see them and stop. In Bratislava, that is completely different.“ An international degree What would they like to improve about their faculty? Perhaps the way information is available in English. Sometimes international students need to wait longer before information appears on the English website. According to David, we sometimes stick to tradition too much - that's how we've always done it, and that's how we are going to do it. „It's important to stay open to new ideas and trends,“ he thinks. Steven, as a student senator, is currently trying to improve the connection between teachers and students. „Evaluation by students should become a part of the educational culture. In order for it to be representative, it should be easy for students to do at the end of the semester for each subject, and teachers should take the feedback into account. There should also be more awareness in the society that medical training is a part of health care. We the medical students should be taken as seriously as patients. The reason is that the way students are treated carries over into how doctors are treated, and that eventually affects patient care.“ The students still don’t have a clear idea where they will work after graduating. International recognition of their diploma from the English-language programme in Bratislava is guaranteed and since they can complete a part of the mandatory practice in hospitals in their home countries, they will have experience with the German and Austrian healthcare sector as well. What they, however, consider a bonus is that in addition to quality education, the school allowed them to experience an international environment. The fact, that they studied in English, opens the door to the whole world. Barbora Tancerová

New measurment method can help discover hidden chambers in pyramids

pr@uniba.sk — Fri, 29 Jul 2022 10:19:00 +0200

In archaeology and other fields various geophysical methods are successfully used to search for subsurface cavities. Now, researchers have tested state-of-the-art gravimetry to discover such hidden spaces. Slovak researchers cooperated with colleagues from the Czech Republic and Germany on a study which was published in a renowned archaeological journal. Gravimetry measures the Earth's gravity field and is a sub-branch of geophysics and geodesy. This method can be used to discover subsurface cavities and is ideal for non-destructive archaeological surveys. "A hollow space in a mass such as a pyramid causes a subtle drop in the measured gravitational acceleration. This allows us to use state-of-the-art gravimeters to detect cavities of a certain size and at a certain depth," explains Roman Pašteka who is a Professor at Comenius University. New computer simulations confirm that very precise and repeated measurements made from the surface of the pyramid might allow us to estimate the size of an unknown cavity. This finding is significant for researchers who are trying to discover such hidden burial chambers. "Our simulations open up great possibilities for the future. I would be very pleased if we could participate in a project where our estimates could be verified using actual measurements directly on the surface of the Great Pyramid of Giza," adds Roman Pašteka from CU. The new results also open opportunities for further research in this area.

Summer school has started at the FM CU

Mon, 25 Jul 2022 23:32:00 +0200

In the period 25. 7. - 29. 7. 2022 with the personal participation of students from all over the EU in Bratislava, and from 1. 8. - 5. 8. 2022 in an online environment, organized as part of the new Erasmus module BIP - the so-called Blended Mobility Program, where the combination of at least 3 partner universities creates a short-term project that has an online part and also a physical stay of the participants at the organizing university. The topic of our summer school is GAME THEORY AS A MARKETING TOOL, the lecturers are Dr. Zvika Winer from Western Galilee College in Israel, and Dr. Lucia Vilčeková from FMCU in Bratislava. We host 32 students from France, Belgium, Germany, Czech Republic, Lithuania, Ukraine, Israel and Slovakia. In addition to interesting lectures, our gastronomy, a guided tour of Bratislava, joint sittings and discussions will be an additional program for them. Already now, new friendships and unforgettable experiences are being formed. The students already evaluated the first day of the summer school positively, we hope that we will be able to maintain this standard throughout the week and lay the quality foundations of this new Erasmus module. Summer school day 1: Summer school day 2: In addition to the morning classes, the participants of the summer school took a city tour, on which we all learned a lot of interesting things about Bratislava. The top event of the day was a joint dinner in the "Bratislava Flagship" – restaurant with typical slovak food, Summer school day 3: The third day was focused mainly on teamwork at school and free afternoon activities, many of participants discovered Zlaté piesky as the best place to enjoy the summer atmosphere. Summer school day 4:

In addition to the morning classes and a small test, snacks in the form of pizza, the program of the fourth day also included a trip to the Red Stone Castle associated with the performance of falconers. The trip was a pleasant diversification of summer school and an unexpected experience for many students. Summer school day 5:
Last morning of face-to-face classes, last exchanges of contacts and photos, last hugs, last photo session. The closing ceremony of handing over certificates, T-shirts with the faculty logo and other small gifts took place in the Jama park near FM. Beautiful green setting was perfect for the final event and joint frolicking. The final lunch was the highlight of first week of our summer school.
Students will take also online part during the first week of August and then receive transcripts for the Game Theory as a Marketing tool course. We can already conclude that the first year of Summer School was more than successful. First feedbacks:
“It was an incredible week: we met adorable people, the courses were interesting and we discovered a beautiful city. Thank you for all of the breakfasts, the dinners and the ice cream. You were so nice to us... I was so sad when we had to go back home.
You can really be proud of this Summer School!
I hope we will meet again in the future.
Best regards from France,
Zoé”

ELECTRONIC REGISTRATION FOR THE STUDY IN THE ACADEMIC YEAR 2022/2023

Mon, 25 Jul 2022 14:52:00 +0200

Electronic registration will take place from 31. July 2022 20:00 till 31. August 2022 23:59.

Humanitarian deployment of the Slovak emergency lung ventilator Q-vent mini in Kenya

pr@uniba.sk — Mon, 18 Jul 2022 13:18:00 +0200

The Q-vent mini was developed at the beginning of the Coronavirus crisis in 2020 by the twin brothers Daniel and Samuel Furka from the Department of Physical and Theoretical Chemistry of the Faculty of Natural Sciences of Comenius University, as well as doctor Patrik Palacka from the National Cancer Institute. They responded to the increased need for lung ventilators and printed the device completely on a 3D printer. The total cost of its production was around €250, which is about 100 times less than the conventional fan costs. The first version of Q-vent was financed from the own resources of the Furka brothers, Patrick Palacka, and the medical student Dalibor Gálik. The necessary parts for the scientific team were produced free of charge by the Slovak companies Koval Systems and EMBASYS. The project also uses artificial intelligence for safety management, which was developed by Julio Ariel Dueñas Santana from the University of Matanzas in Cuba. The project increases the visibility of Slovakia around the world at a time when there is an acute global shortage of ventilators, Reuters agency noted. The later support of the State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic, Ingrid Brocková and the SlovakAid agency made it possible to create the current version of the Q-vent mini ventilator with more extensive use. In its present form, Q-vent is a small portable device designed for breath support during the treatment of various acute and chronic diseases, or during basic surgical procedures. It also finds use in post-traumatic care. „It should be of benefit especially in countries where the health care is not the best developed. It is also usable in the field, where it is not possible to set the conditions of the classic hospital room,” Samuel remarked. This is why it has found use in Kenya. Moreover, countries such as the USA, Czech Republic, Portugal, Kenya, India, as well as Brazil and Australia have already shown interest in the Q-vent mini. As this continues to be a non-commercial project, each country that requests the implementation of the team and ensures production capacity is eligible to apply for a license. Thanks to Q-vent mini, more than ten jobs have been created in Slovakia and Kenya to date. On the international level, the device has brought together experts and students from medicine, natural sciences, technology, and various other disciplines. The project has also brought about the cooperation of Comenius University with the University of Nairobi. In June of this year, Daniel Furka, Samuel Furka, and Marián Janek presented the project in London, resulting in further cooperation with Queen Mary University of London.

Results of Entrance Examinations

Mon, 16 Aug 2021 14:05:00 +0200

for Academic year 2022/2023

EXAMINATION PERIOD PROLONGATION

Mon, 11 Jul 2022 14:14:00 +0200

We announce that in accordance with Dean's Measure no. 6/2022, an additional examination period of...

Results of the admission procedure for 3rd degree of studies (2022/2023)

Thu, 07 Jul 2022 18:19:00 +0200

MEDICAL CHARITY RUN

Tue, 06 Sep 2022 10:36:00 +0200

Take part in a charity run organised by JFMED medical students. Already in its sixth year, this...