Background/Aims: Vitamin D status is announced among factors that may influence physical performance and mental health. Our aim was to evaluate self-reported physical activity, quality of life, psychiatric functioning, and affects with respect to plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] concentrations in HD patients. Methods: The study was carried out in HD patients not receiving vitamin D supplements (n = 112). IPAQ-L, QLI-D, GHQ-28, and PANAS were used in psychological evaluations. Plasma 25(OH)D concentration was determined by a chemiluminescent microparticle immunoassay. Results: Plasma 25(OH)D level was suboptimal in all patients (14.6 ± 4.1 ng/ml). Adjusted correlates of 25(OH)D concentration included the GG genotype of GC rs7041 (β±SE: 1.77± 0.70, P=0.014), female sex (β±SE: -2.19±0.75, P=0.004), and treatment with high flux HD (β±SE: 2.59±0.69, P=0.0003). In adjusted analyses, circulating 25(OH)D showed the independent association with total activity related to domestic and gardening domain (β±SE: 53.2±23.8, P=0.028), and with moderate-intensity activities (β±SE: 54.9±27.4, P=0.048), but not with any of quality of life, psychiatric functioning, or affects measures. Conclusions: Vitamin D status is independently positively associated with physical activity in HD patients. Quality of life and mental health do not seem to be associated with circulating 25(OH)D under condition of its suboptimal levels.

Previous research has documented that women who were sexually abused in childhood are also often victims of sexual abuse in adulthood. In the current study, we investigated the relationship between the phenomenon of sexual revictimization and personality organization (PO) conceptualized in accordance with the Otto Kernberg's theory. The central hypothesis was that women with borderline personality organization (BPO) and neurotic personality organization (NPO) differ in terms of the occurrence of revictimization and its features. We predicted that women with BPO would experience revictimization more often, and that it would be characterized by features determining its higher severity than in women with NPO. In our study, 119 Polish adult women completed measures of PO and experiences of sexual violence in childhood and adulthood. The results supported the predicted relationships. After controlling for participants' age, we showed that women with a close to borderline level of personality organization (cBPO) are at the greater risk of experiencing revictimization than those with NPO, in particular the revictimization involving penetration and by the previously known offender. Moreover, specific structural features related to BPO were found to have particular associations: Fear of Fusion (FF) was associated with the experience of revictimization; Identity Diffusion (ID), Primitive Defense Mechanism (PDM), FF, and Impaired Reality Testing (IRT) with penetration during revictimization; and PDM and IRT with revictimization by the previously known offender. Our findings suggest the importance of taking into account PO in estimating the risk of revictimization, as well as in therapy programs aimed at reducing this risk.

The subject matter of this paper is the model of personality developed by Otto Kernberg and the research tools designed on the basis of that conception. The paper presents the spectrum of diagnostic methods differing in terms of the level of structuralizing and the form in which they are applied. The first one constructed, the Structural Interview, due to the high requirements within psychoanalytical knowledge and clinical abilities for the individuals who apply it, initiated the development of subsequent methods. They include: the Structured Interview of Personality Organization (STIPO), inventory methods, and a clinician-rated instrument referred to as the Personality Organization Diagnostic Form (PODF). Within the scope of inventory methods, two principal tools for which Polish adaptations have been developed are presented, namely: the Inventory of Personality Organization of Kernberg and collaborators, and the Borderline Personality Inventory of Leichsenring. The existence of a broad spectrum of assessment methods of the personality structure makes it possible to take advantage of the conception of Kernberg in the realms of clinical diagnosis, scientific research, and recently also forensic psychology.

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