Antidepressant prescriptions for young girls skyrocketed during the COVID-19 pandemic‚ according to research published by the American Academy of Pediatrics Monday. Among young women aged 12 to 17‚ the rate of prescriptions jumped 129.6% per month after March 2020 and for women aged 18 to 25‚ it rose to 56.5% per month‚ the research shows. In March 2020‚ then-President Donald Trump declared a state of emergency‚ resulting in many governors initiating lockdowns to slow the spread of COVID-19‚ including businesses‚ restaurants‚ gyms‚ stores‚ and many schools‚ and many Americans suffered a serious mental health crisis as a result. “Our study provides important information on changes in mental health utilization patterns among young adults after the COVID-19 outbreak‚” the researchers wrote. “As with adolescents‚ changes varied markedly by sex‚ with little change in antidepressant dispensing to males and an increase among females. Although this increase was smaller compared with the increase among female adolescents‚ findings suggest mental health may have similarly worsened among female young adults after the outbreak.” The study pulled the numbers from the “IQVIA Longitudinal Prescription Database‚ an all-payer national database” and focused on Americans between the ages of 12 and 25.  Antidepressant prescriptions for Americans aged 12 to 25 increased overall by 66.3% between January 2016 and December 2022‚ according to the research‚ and the dispensation rate increased by 63.5% following the pandemic. Adolescent males did not see a rise in antidepressant prescriptions and instead actually dropped off in March 2020‚ while prescription levels for young men between the ages of 18 to 25 remained relatively the same‚ according to the research. The dispensing rate was -7.1% lower than predicted in December 2022‚ while female adolescents’ dispensing rate was 12.7% higher than predicted. The researchers claimed that the disparity between the sexes was likely due to young men having access to less care and not that they had improved mental health during the pandemic compared to young women. For females‚ the increase was most notable in the Southern U.S.‚ while adolescent males saw more antidepressant prescriptions in the Midwest. Many Americans have been unable to make appointments with mental health professionals since the COVID-19 pandemic‚ with nearly 56% of psychologists unable to take on new patients due to the demand and the rise in the mental health crisis. Several studies published in January found that religious communities’ mental health fared better in the U.S. and the United Kingdom during the pandemic due to the practice of their faith during lockdowns. Originally published by the Daily Caller News Foundation Have an opinion about this article? To sound off‚ please email letters@DailySignal.com‚ and we’ll consider publishing your edited remarks in our regular “We Hear You” feature. Remember to include the URL or headline of the article plus your name and town and/or state.  The post Antidepressant Prescriptions for Adolescent Girls Spiked During COVID-19‚ Research Shows appeared first on The Daily Signal.

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My colleagues and I have built a robot composed of many building blocks like the cells of a multicellular organism. Without a “brain” or a central controller in the system‚ our robot‚ dubbed Loopy‚ relies on the collective behavior of all of its cells to interact with the world.In this sense‚ we call Loopy a robotic swarm. But Loopy can also be seen as a single robot since all the cells are connected; therefore‚ Loopy is also “a swarm of one.” This research could lead to adaptive robots that tailor their shapes and movements to their environments – for example‚ in environmental cleanup applications.Loopy is a primitive form of multicellular robot that is made of a ring of 36 cells. Each cell has a rotary servo – an electric motor that rotates a shaft with precise controlled angle of rotation – and sensors. Each cell reacts on its own without input from any of the others except for its two immediate neighbors. As the servos move‚ the angles between the cells determine Loopy’s overall shape.Loopy is free to morph into various shapes and exhibit a range of motions. But random shapes and motions are not useful. We were hoping something interesting would emerge from self-organization; that is‚ the spontaneous creation of order from disorder‚ without us telling Loopy what to do directly. It turned out that Loopy forms stable shapes that recover after Loopy bumps into obstacles.Loopy exhibiting spontaneous shapes and motions.Famed mathematician Alan Turing was interested in the idea of self-organization back in 1952. He even envisioned a ring of cells. Turing hypothesized the existence of chemicals that diffuse and react with each other‚ leading to the creation of patterns in nature like those on bird’s feathers and seashells. This self-organization approach using simulated chemicals enabled Loopy to form and transition between various lobed shapes spontaneously.Why it mattersEngineered systems‚ and robots in particular‚ are predominantly designed with a top-down approach‚ where human designers anticipate the conditions the system may encounter and plan ahead through hardware designs‚ software programs‚ or both. The problem is‚ the designers are not likely to be there when the robot encounters an unanticipated situation.This micromanagement approach in robot design is like giving kids a detailed manual when sending them to school the first day. A better way of parenting would be to provide general guidelines and feedback‚ and expect the kids to solve problems on their own. Similarly‚ a key motivation of developing Loopy is to unleash the power of bottom-up collective “intelligence” so Loopy can find new solutions on its own when a new situation arises; for example‚ finding the right shape for self to adapt to the environment.What other research is being done?The vision of programmable matter has been around for decades‚ yet tangible examples have been scarce. While researchers have explored complex shape formation through self-assembly or reconfigurable robotic systems‚ these often depend on predetermined shapes.Similar to Loopy‚ researchers have applied Turing’s self-organization concept to swarms of robots‚ such as the small‚ simple‚ autonomous Kilobots‚ leading to the emergence of complex shapes. However‚ unlike Loopy‚ the physical forces between “cells” are not used to influence the final shape and behavior of the collective.What’s next?We would like Loopy to develop more lifelike traits‚ such as navigating unforeseen situations‚ seeking out better conditions‚ acquiring resources‚ and mitigating threats. This vision extends to eventually enabling Loopy to perform tasks assigned by people‚ thereby bridging the gap between the open-ended creativity of self-organization and human guidance.The Research Brief is a short take on interesting academic work.Yu Gu‚ Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering‚ West Virginia University and Trevor Smith‚ PhD Candidate in Mechanical Engineering‚ West Virginia UniversityThis article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

King Arthur‚ the ruler of Camelot‚ champion of Britain‚ wielder of Excalibur‚ and seeker of the Holy Grail‚ is surely the stuff of legend. There are probably few in Western societies who have not encountered some aspect of his story through various media‚ from books to television shows‚ to video games and so on. But despite the power of this apparently timeless mythological figure‚ there is one question that has caused consternation for scholars and the public alike – was the legend of Author based on a real person?Unfortunately‚ despite there being many who believe there was a living‚ breathing king called Arthur‚ there is no historical evidence to support it.The legend of a storyTo be sure‚ the story of Arthur has not been static. It has gone through various transformations and revisions over the centuries‚ whereby more of the mythical features we recognize today were added. So to understand the individual from an historical perspective‚ we have to go right back in time.Save for a few scattered references‚ we do not really hear any mention of Arthur until the 12th century CE. In his The History of the Kings of Britain‚ the Welsh monk Geoffrey of Monmouth provides the first extensive account of this character’s life. According to Monmouth‚ Arthur’s story starts with a rather dark event when Merlin (another complex character with his own twisting legend) transformed King Uther Pendragon (certainly not a real person) into the likeness of the Duke of Cornwall. This was so Uther could spend the night with the Duke’s wife‚ Ygerna. During this night‚ Arthur was conceived in the stronghold of Tintagel.From here‚ Arthur grows into a powerful leader who inherits the British throne and leads his people in various epic and bloody battles against Saxon invaders. He later spreads his kingdom to encompass Ireland‚ Iceland‚ Norway‚ and Gaul‚ but is eventually murdered by his nephew‚ Mordred.There is nothing in this account about Camelot‚ Lancelot‚ the Holy Grail‚ his sword‚ or the heroic and chivalric knights who attended the Round Table. These features were all added later by authors looking to make Arthur fit with romantic ideas of their time. This was probably a good move too‚ as a sixth century leader would have likely been less “knightly” and far more brutal.Monmouth’s story cannot be construed as historical fact in any way. Even in his day he was criticized for fabricating elements while mixing together pieces from various Welsh poems and sources. As such‚ the Arthur we get is less a coherent individual and more like a soup of stories blended together.But what about the poems that inspired Monmouth; could they hint at a real person?Despite the dodgy grounds for the story of Arthur‚ there are some who argue that his narrative was inspired‚ to a lesser or greater extent‚ by some sort of fifth or sixth century leader who was captured in Welsh poetry.According to these claims‚ at the end of the Roman occupation‚ a leader emerged who led the Britons – who had mostly become Christian by this point – against pagan Saxon invaders‚ and this hero’s name was Arthur…maybe. For instance‚ in a poem called Y Gododdin‚ written sometime between 540 and 640 CE‚ a fallen soldier is likened to another heroic figure called Arthur. Presumably then‚ there was some contemporary figure who would have been sufficiently recognizable as to make this likening significant.  In another poem from the same period‚ the monk Gildas recalled how a hero called Ambrosius Aurelianus had led the Britons to victory at a sixth century battle known as the Battle of Badon Hill. However‚ a few centuries later‚ another monk called Nennius described a different warrior‚ called Arthur‚ as having led the Britons in this battle (and 11 others too). It is possible that Nennius’s account was one that inspired Monmouth’s later histories‚ though we cannot be sure.Does this mean there really was an historical character called Arthur? Well‚ some like to think so‚ but it honestly does not look like it. As mentioned above‚ medieval chroniclers loved to blend fact with fiction‚ and many of these accounts were created hundreds of years after the events they claim to describe. Still‚ there are many out there who hold a candle for the reality behind the Once and Future King. Unfortunately‚ history is yet to provide us with anything solid to base that hope on.