Browse Articles

Lithium deficiency and the onset of Alzheimer’s disease

Correction: Language combinations of multilinguals are reflected in their first-language knowledge and processing

Comparisons between different methods of calculating dynamic strength index: Effect on training recommendations

An impulse-based dynamic strength index (iDSI) that constitutes time-dependent force expression in contrast to the common peak force-based DSI (fDSI) may be more insightful when considering training recommendations. However, a limitation of the iDSI is that any change in countermovement jump (CMJ) propulsion phase duration could affect longitudinal comparisons. A fixed duration (e.g., 250 ms) iDSI however could overcome this limitation. The purpose of the study was to determine the effect of different methods of calculating DSI (fDSI, iDSI matched, iDSI fixed) on the DSI value and resultant training prioritization. Thirty-seven team sport athletes (female = 13, male = 25, age = 22.2 ± 2.8 years, height = 174.4 ± 6.0 cm, mass = 74.9 ± 11.9 kg) performed three maximal effort CMJ and three isometric mid-thigh pull (IMTP) trials on force plates Fixed iDSI was identified from IMTP onset-250 ms, while matched iDSI was identified from IMTP onset-matched to CMJ propulsion phase duration. Participants were characterized using thresholds >0.80, 0.60–0.80 and <0.60 for maximal force, balanced, and dynamic force-based training, respectively. Mean ± SD of fDSI, fixed iDSI and matched iDSI were 0.82 ± 0.12, 0.88 ± 0.11 and 0.82 ± 0.11, respectively. Fixed iDSI was significantly and meaningfully greater than both fDSI and matched iDSI (p < 0.049, d > 0.408), with no differences between the latter (p = 1.000, d = 0.007). There were large intra-individual differences in the training recommendations, 44.7% of the recommendations were consistent between fDSI and matched iDSI and 55.3% were consistent for fDSI and fixed iDSI. In contrast, there was a greater consistency in training recommendations between fixed iDSI and matched iDSI (84.2%). Despite the consideration of time-dependent force expression in iDSI calculations there are meaningful differences in their observations. This difference should be considered when tracking physical performance over time, where a fixed iDSI could be preferential to ensure consistency.

MOF enhances the sensitivity and selectivity of sorafenib as an anticancer drug against hepatocellular carcinoma and colorectal cancer in vitro

Physical activity and its associated factors among adults with chronic kidney disease in a community setting: A secondary data analysis

Background Physical activity in patients with chronic kidney disease is important as it helps lowers blood pressure, reduces inflammatory markers, improves cognitive function, and improves health-related quality of life. However, there is a lack of studies accurately assess physical activity levels in this population. Objective This study aimed to examine the characteristics of chronic kidney disease patients across eGFR stages, assess the proportion of Korean adults with chronic kidney disease meeting recommended physical activity levels, and identify the factors associated with meeting the weekly physical activity recommendation. Methods We conducted a secondary analysis of data from the 2016–2020 Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression were used to examine physical activity patterns and associated factors. Results Among CKD patients, 79.5% engaged in insufficient physical activity. Factors significantly associated with sufficient activity included sex, smoking status, activity limitation, and eGFR. Conclusions Tailoring physical activity interventions is crucial, considering the patient’s clinical condition, physical performance, and demographic factors.

Whole-genome sequencing of 490,640 UK Biobank participants

Abstract Whole-genome sequencing provides an unbiased and complete view of the human genome and enables the discovery of genetic variation without the technical limitations of other genotyping technologies. Here we report on whole-genome sequencing of 490,640 UK Biobank participants, building on previous genotyping effort1. This advance deepens our understanding of how genetics associates with disease biology and further enhances the value of this open resource for the study of human biology and health. Coupling this dataset with rich phenotypic data, we surveyed within- and cross-ancestry genomic associations and identified novel genetic and clinical insights. Although most associations with disease traits were primarily observed in individuals of European ancestries, strong or novel signals were also identified in individuals of African and Asian ancestries. With the improved ability to accurately genotype structural variants and exonic variation in both coding and UTR sequences, we strengthened and revealed novel insights relative to whole-exome sequencing2,3 analyses. This dataset, representing a large collection of whole-genome sequencing data that is available to the UK Biobank research community, will enable advances of our understanding of the human genome, facilitate the discovery of diagnostics and therapeutics with higher efficacy and improved safety profile, and enable precision medicine strategies with the potential to improve global health.

Flat-Lattice-CNN: A model for Chinese medical-named-entity recognition

Background In the field of internet-based healthcare, the complexity of pathology features across various disciplines, coupled with the lack of medical training among most patients, results in medical named entities in doctor patient dialogue texts exhibiting long and multiword syntactic patterns, posing new challenges to named-entity recognition algorithms. Methods To address the issue mentioned above, in this study we integrate Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) of different dilation rates on top of Flat-Lattice architecture to construct the Flat-Lattice-CNN model. This model not only considers the semantic information of characters and words, as well as their absolute and relative positional information, but also extracts multiple-token co-occurrence relationship features among characters/words spanning different distances to improve the recognition accuracy of long medical-named entities. Results Experimental results show an improved performance in the task of recognizing medical-named entities on all evaluation datasets, especially on CTDD with a 2.3% increase in F1 score. The proposed Flat-Lattice-CNN model effectively addresses the challenges posed by long and multiword syntactic patterns in medical-named entities, offering improved recognition accuracy and demonstrating the potential for enhancing medical-named-entity recognition in internet-based healthcare dialogues.

High-density soft bioelectronic fibres for multimodal sensing and stimulation

A remote care navigation solution associated with improved utilization and outcomes of mental healthcare: A nationwide cohort study in the USA

Objective To examine how clinical care navigation–assistance in accessing healthcare and social services–relates to mental healthcare utilization and clinical outcomes, and whether effects are consistent for people of color. Methods This retrospective cohort study included participants using a digital mental health benefit (Spring Health), sponsored by 2,045 US employers from 2018−2023. Participants had access to therapists and Care Navigators, clinicians who help select treatment options and schedule appointments. Primary measures were care utilization (conversion to care, multiple-session attendance) and clinical effectiveness (treatment duration, PHQ-9 depression scale, GAD-7 anxiety scale). Results 36,964 participants had at least 1 mental health assessment and complete demographic information. 13,122 participants who used care navigation were matched to 23,842 participants who did not with 1:2 propensity score matching using demographic and clinical characteristics. Care navigation was associated with increased therapy utilization (OR, 7.10; 95% CI, 3.36–15.00, P < 0.001), multiple-session attendance (OR, 1.57; 95% CI, 1.46–1.69, P < 0.001), number of treatment sessions (IRR, 1.36; 95% CI, 1.33–1.39, P < 0.001), additional clinical improvement (depression: 0.93 points, 95% CI, 0.11–1.75; anxiety: 0.87 points, 95% CI, 0.12–1.62) compared to therapy alone for participants with severe baseline symptoms. White participants and participants of color had similar outcomes. Conclusions Participants using care navigation had improved mental healthcare utilization, retention, and reduced depression and anxiety, which was consistent for people of color. Clinical implementation of care navigation may be associated with greater engagement in care, a key requisite for improving treatment outcomes.

Equity in science is a beautiful lie — and I’m done pretending

High levels of circular DNA made as immune cells develop increases the risk of leukaemia relapse

Contrasting and prioritizing dimensions in ethnic teacher education: A convergent analysis with LDA and fsQCA

Previous studies have rarely examined ethnic teacher education from a configurational perspective. This study addresses that gap.This study analyzes 250 peer-reviewed articles from CNKI’s PKU/CSSCI journals (2015–2025), identified using ‘ethnic teacher education/education/teachers’ keywords, refined from 2,672 initial records through manual screening.This study employs a mixed-methods approach to investigate ethnic teacher education in China, combining computational text analysis with configurational methods. This study employs ROST Content Mining 6.0 for semantic network analysis and CiteSpace 6.3 for knowledge mapping. The analysis reveals five core conceptual clusters (development, teachers, ethnicity, education, and region) and five research hotspots, with ‘ethnic regions’ emerging as the dominant focus. Through LDA topic modeling, five thematic dimensions were extracted, ranging from the status of ethnic education to cultural integration in teacher training. These qualitative insights were subsequently quantified and analyzed via fsQCA, yielding six distinct optimization pathways. The findings suggest a dual trajectory for future research: while emphasizing geo-cultural specificity in teacher training program design, the study also identifies universal principles applicable across ethnic education contexts. Accordingly, five policy recommendations are proposed, including diversifying development channels, enhancing cultural responsiveness in pedagogy, and facilitating inter-regional knowledge exchange among ethnic communities. This study introduces the novel integration of LDA topic modeling and fsQCA in educational research. While LDA uncovers latent themes and fsQCA examines causal complexity, their combined application enables simultaneous discovery and validation of configurations a previously unexplored approach in ethnic teacher education.These findings make dual contributions: theoretically, by advancing a novel conceptual framework; and practically, by yielding actionable policy implications for ethnic teacher education development.

A population plunge could help to mitigate the global biodiversity crisis

Emergent patterns of interaction with dynamic objects

Perception by touch is fundamentally linked to the motor system. A hallmark of this linkage takes the form of stereotyped haptic “exploratory procedures” [1], movement patterns that emerge when people set a perceptual goal such as judging the roughness of a textured surface. This paper expands the study of touch-directed movements by asking what patterns emerge when people encounter and interact with novel objects without explicitly specified goals. Participants were invited to freely interact with an art installation containing novel objects with distinct design features, intended to vary familiarity, structural affordance, and aesthetic response. Objects’ affordances were additionally varied over time by utilizing jamming, a physical mechanism that induces changes in stiffness and plasticity. From video recordings, four categories of spontaneous “interactive procedures” differentiated by underlying goals were reliably identified: passive observational, active perceptual, constructive, and hedonic. Perceptual actions were most frequent, indicating an overriding goal of acquiring information about physical properties. The prevalence of other interactive procedures varied across objects, demonstrating the influence of perceptual affordances and prior knowledge. Changes in state further moderated interactions, such that interactions were longer in the stiff/jammed state, and the occurrence of a state change during an interactive procedure lengthened its duration. These findings extend our understanding of haptic exploration beyond explicitly goal-directed contexts, revealing how spontaneous responses in complex and dynamic environments  are linked to perceptual outcomes and prior knowledge.

Effect evaluation, prediction and response strategy analysis of China’s birth policy adjustment

In recent years, in order to cope with the increasing trend of population aging, the Chinese government has constantly adjusted the family planning policy, continuously tracked and evaluated the actual effect of the birth policy adjustment, and the prediction and analysis of future births have important theoretical value and practical significance.The adjustment of the birth policy is of great significance for achieving long-term balanced population development. This paper assesses the net effect of fertility policy adjustments on Chinas birth and fertility rates by constructing a DID model using panel data collected from 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities over the period 2005-2021. The study shows that the fertility policy adjustment does not significantly increase the birth and fertility rates in China, and the findings are confirmed by robustness tests using various methods. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the implementation of the comprehensive two-child policy is more pronounced in the central region. Further, a mechanistic and causal analysis reveals that fertility policy changes did not significantly increase peoples willingness to have children, nor did they affect many other factors that influence households fertility decisions. Finally, a GM (1, 1) grey forecast model is used to forecast the births in each province and municipality in the next five years, and it is concluded that the births in China will continue to show a declining trend. This paper argues that a supportive policy system for fertility should be established, public childcare and elderly care services should be optimised, and a favourable fertility climate and conditions should be created in order to improve fertility levels in China.

Clinical application of single nucleotide polymorphism array in prenatal diagnosis: Experience with 8753 samples

Background Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array has been applied to prenatal diagnosis. This study aimed to assess the clinical significance of SNP array in diagnosing fetal chromosomal anomalies based on our experience. Methods A total of 8753 pregnant women with high-risk prenatal indications were enrolled in this retrospective study. Demographic characteristics, chromosomal abnormalities and follow-up results were collected. Results Data showed that the overall abnormality detection rate of SNP array was 16.9%, including the detection rate of 7.7% in aneuploidy, the detection rate of 4.2% and 4.4% in pathogenic copy number variations (CNVs) and variants of uncertain significance. The total abnormality detection rate was 15.3%, 22.0% and 38.4% for pregnant women with single risk indication, two kinds of indications and more than two kinds of indications, respectively. The detection rates in the three groups were statistically significant. Additionally, fetus with the positive noninvasive prenatal testing (NIPT) results had the highest abnormality detection rate (38.8%), followed by participants with the abnormal ultrasound findings (13.1%). 98.8% of pregnant women simultaneously chose traditional karyotyping and got their karyotype results. The concordant rate between karyotyping and SNP array was 89.0%, with some structural abnormalities and low-level mosaicism being missed by SNP array, while SNP array additionally found the microduplication/microdeletion. Conclusions SNP array would be a valuable technology in prenatal diagnosis, with different abnormality detection rate in pregnant women with various risk indications. SNP array combined with the traditional karyotyping could provide more information for prenatal diagnosis.

An implementation science study of a campus-based drug checking service at a Canadian university

Objectives Research shows that in countries around the world, unregulated drug use and disorders are more prevalent amongst youth and young adults compared to general adult populations. Further, youth and young adults, including those in post-secondary settings, are increasingly experiencing harms from the global unregulated drug supply. Yet, population-specific harm reduction strategies are limited. This implementation science study explored the reach, effectiveness, adoption, implementation, and maintenance of a post-secondary campus-based drug checking service that was facilitated through intersectoral partnerships and run by students. Methods This study used critical social theory and integrated knowledge translation. Data were collected from June to December 2023 through interviews and surveys that utilized the RE-AIM implementation science framework. One-time, individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with students (n = 4) who used drugs and/or the campus drug checking service and with program decision makers (n = 7) while student drug checking technicians (n = 6) completed online surveys. Data were analyzed using constant comparison. Results Service reach was enhanced by a motivation to avoid consuming harmful substances but inhibited by stigma and fears of criminalization, particularly amidst uncertain academic repercussions. Participants reported that the presence and use of student-run drug checking services effectively reduced stigma on campus and the risk of harm for service users and their social networks. Adoption and implementation were facilitated by intersectoral partnerships and associated network expansion and resource sharing opportunities but challenged by inadequate infrastructure. The service was maintained through partnership agreements and individual commitments to engaging with drug checking services. Conclusion This study contributes valuable insights regarding drug checking in post-secondary settings. These contributions are discussed in the context of young adult health and post-secondary environments, demonstrating how post-secondary institutions might help to overcome challenges in the implementation and delivery of campus drug checking services. The sustainability of such services requires supportive policies, enhanced accessibility, and related evaluations.

Adverse outcomes post-COVID-19 hospitalization among ESRD patients: A retrospective cohort study in 5 California university medical centers

Background Individuals with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) hospitalized for COVID-19 may have a higher risk for adverse post discharge events. To investigate these risks, we examined a large database of individuals admitted for COVID-19 and discharged alive, to see if ESRD was independently associated with higher risk for death within 180 days or for 30-day hospital readmission. Methods We retrospectively compared risks for hospital, non-hospital, and overall death within 180 days and 30-day hospital readmission between individuals with and without ESRD. We studied individuals hospitalized with COVID-19 between January 6, 2020 and August 3, 2023, at any of the 5 University of California medical centers and discharged alive. Results Of 11,406 individuals hospitalized with COVID-19 who were discharged alive, 713 (6.3%) had ESRD. Compared to individuals without ESRD, those with ESRD had a significantly higher hazard of hospital and overall death within 180 days post-discharge in the unadjusted analyses, but not in the analyses adjusted for demographic variables, hospitalization period, and comorbid conditions (adjusted Wald chi-square hazard ratio (HR) 1.36, 95% Wald CI 0.78–2.37; adjusted HR 1.05, 95% CI 0.73–1.51, respectively). Those with ESRD did not have a significantly higher hazard of non-hospital death within 180 days post-discharge in either the unadjusted or the adjusted analyses (adjusted HR 0.89, 95% CI 0.55–1.44), but did have a significantly higher hazard of 30-day hospital readmission in both the unadjusted and the adjusted analyses (adjusted HR 1.36, 95% CI 1.14–1.63, p = 0.001). Conclusions ESRD patients hospitalized with COVID-19 had a higher unadjusted risk of hospital and overall death within 180 days and of 30-day hospital readmission than individuals without ESRD. After adjusting for demographic factors, hospitalization period, and comorbidities, presence of ESRD was not found to significantly increase the risk for hospital, non-hospital, or overall death within 180 days post-discharge, but was found to significantly increase the risk of 30-day hospital readmission.

Make trains great again — for the sake of people and the planet

Entomological survey to determine the role of cisterns in the production of Aedes aegypti in the U.S. Virgin Islands

Given the limited potable water supply in the U.S. Virgin Islands, most residents use cisterns to collect rainwater and store it for their daily needs. A survey conducted in 2019 found that 45.7% of the cisterns contained mosquitoes, and 83.3% of the mosquitoes collected were Aedes aegypti, suggesting an important role as mosquito larval development sites. A subsequent entomological survey was designed to determine the importance of cisterns in producing Ae. aegypti mosquitoes and to understand the cistern factors and characteristics that influence productivity. Three floating funnel traps were installed inside each sampled cistern to collect immature mosquitoes, and exit traps were installed on the intake spouts and overflow pipes, when possible, to collect adult mosquitoes. Physical and chemical characteristics were also recorded. Yard and outdoor patio inspections were conducted at participating households to identify other types of containers with immature mosquitoes. A total of 1,858 households were visited, of which 24% granted access to their cisterns for this study. Of these, 76% of cisterns met protocol criteria, which resulted in 342 cisterns being sampled. Approximately half of the cisterns surveyed were positive for immature mosquitoes. A higher percentage was observed on the St. Thomas and St. John islands (STT District, 57.3%) than St. Croix (STX District, 40.9%). Most immature mosquitoes collected were Ae. aegypti (89.2%), followed by Culex spp. (1.3%), and Ae. mediovittatus (0.38%). Pupal surveys revealed that cisterns were the second highest contributor to the production of Ae. aegypti pupae, with 16.9% of the pupae collected from cisterns. However, this number might be underestimated given sampling limitations. Buckets were the highest Ae. aegypti pupal producer with 47.3%. On average, 5.8% of the exit traps installed on cisterns captured adult mosquitoes, with higher rates of capture on the STT district than on the STX (6.4% versus 5.3%, respectively). Most adult mosquitoes collected (90.7%) were identified as Ae. aegypti, while the other 9.2% were Culex spp. We can conclude that cisterns are important larval development sites for Ae. aegypti and vector management strategies must be developed to reduce their impact.