Browse Articles

MESS to live with schizophrenic parental history: A systematic review of developmental checkpoints

Parental history of schizophrenia, a complex and multifaceted psychological disorder, is recognized as a well-established risk factor in the development of the disorder among offspring. However, the developmental patterns of such children and adolescents before the onset of the problem have not yet been systematically documented. We present a comprehensive account of developmental checkpoints essential for preventing it from occurring. This review embarks on a detailed explanation of the domains requiring serious attention during the development of an individual with such a familial history. We examined a diversified set of studies comparing the developmental patterns of children with or without (a comparative) a parental history of schizophrenia and highlighted the areas of concern for the later development of the problem among the first group. We included the peer-reviewed articles, published in English based on children and adolescents, found in Web of Science, PubMed, and PsychInfo databases and separate citation searches. We summarized our findings under MESS typology covering motor development, emotional and behavioral issues, speech and hearing impairments, and socio-cognitive aspects as essential features of a child’s development serving as a guide to prevent the onset of psychological complications.

Erythrocyte modified controlling nutritional status as a biomarker for predicting poor prognosis in post-surgery breast cancer patients

Precise Preparation of Size-Uniform Two-Dimensional Platelet Micelles Through Crystallization-Assisted Rapid Microphase Separation Using All-Bottlebrush-Type Block Copolymers with Crystalline Side Chains

Identification of novel cyclin-dependent kinase 4/6 inhibitors from marine natural products

Cyclin-dependent kinases 4 and 6 (CDK4/6) are crucial regulators of cell cycle progression and represent important therapeutic targets in breast cancer. This study employs a comprehensive computational approach to identify novel CDK4/6 inhibitors from marine natural products. We utilized structure-based virtual screening of the CMNPD database and MNP library, followed by rigorous filtering based on drug-likeness criteria, PAINS filter, ADME properties, and toxicity profiles. From an initial hit of 9,497 compounds, 2,344 passed drug-likeness and PAINS filters. Further ADME filtering yielded 50 compounds, of which 25 exhibited non-toxic profiles. These 25 candidates underwent consensus molecular docking using seven distinct algorithms: AutoDockTools 4.2, idock, LeDock, Qvina 2, Smina, AutoDock Vina 1.2.0, PLANTS, and rDock. Based on these results, six top-scoring compounds were selected for comprehensive 500 nanosecond all-atom molecular dynamics simulations to evaluate their structural stability and interactions with CDK4/6. Our analysis revealed that compounds CMNPD11585 and CMNPD2744 demonstrated superior stability in their interactions with CDK4/6, exhibiting lower RMSD and RMSF values, more favorable binding free energies, and persistent hydrogen bonding patterns. These compounds also showed lower Solvent Accessible Surface Area values, indicating better compatibility with the CDK4/6 active site. Subsequent in-vitro studies using MTT assays on MCF-7 breast cancer cells confirmed the cytotoxic effects of these compounds, with CMNPD11585 showing the highest potency, followed by CMNPD2744.

Bioinformatic analysis of ferroptosis related biomarkers and potential therapeutic targets in vitiligo

An Automated Workflow to Discover the Structure–Stability Relations for Radiation Hard Molecular Semiconductors

State of the art modelling for the Black Sea ecosystem to support European policies

The Black Sea is affected by numerous anthropogenic pressures, such as eutrophication and pollution through coastal and river discharges, fisheries overexploitation, species invasions, and the impacts of climate change. Growing concerns regarding the cumulative effects of these pressures have necessitated the need for an ecosystem approach to assessing the state of this basin. In recent years, the European Commission-JRC has developed a scientific and modelling tool, the Blue2 Modelling Framework with the aim of exploring the consequences of EU management and policy options on marine ecosystems. This framework has been designed to provide information on specific ecological indicators set out in EU legislation. Here, we present the Blue2 framework for the Black Sea ecosystem. The model represented the mid-1990s’ conditions in the Black Sea ecosystem including trophic levels from primary producers to marine mammals and sea birds. The model simulations covered a period from 1995–2021. The results showed that gulls & cormorant seabirds, sprat, horse mackerel and mugilidae had structuring role in the food web. Fishing fleets had indirect negative impacts on marine mammals in addition to commercially exploited species. Analysis of the ecosystem indicators confirmed the overall temporal degradation of the Black Sea when comparing results with other Black Sea models, whilst the comparison with the Mediterranean Sea allowed us to identify comparable indicators between similar model structures. The spatial/temporal model successfully simulated the overall ongoing declining dynamics of the Black Sea ecosystem as the biomasses of the majority of the functional groups had significant observed decreasing trends during the simulation period. This model is the first attempt to represent the historical and current state of the Black Sea ecosystem spatially and temporally, serving as a reference baseline for evaluating policy scenarios and assisting policy makers in the evaluation of potential environmental impacts of management options.

Behavior modeling for a new flexure-based mechanism by Hunger Game Search and physics-guided artificial neural network

Rapid Crystallization and Versatile Metalation of Acetylhydrazone-Linked Covalent Organic Frameworks for Heterogenous Catalysis

Maternal characteristics and their relation to early mother-child interaction and cognitive development in toddlers

Early mother-infant interaction is believed to have a significant impact on the social, cognitive, and emotional development of children. These interactions are not only influenced by child and contextual factors but also by the mother’s personality traits and strain. In this study, we investigated the relation between maternal factors such as personality, depressive symptoms, or experiencing of emotions, and (i) children’s early cognitive development and (ii) interaction patterns in a sample of 116 mother-child dyads (mean child age = 18.63 months ± 6.42). Maternal factors were assessed using standardized questionnaires and toddlers’ cognitive development was measured using the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development. Interaction patterns were evaluated using the CARE-Index. The study found that children of mothers who scored higher in agreeableness, a personality trait reflecting compassion and cooperation, performed better in cognitive assessments. Additionally, mothers who placed significant importance on their bodily signals to assess their overall well-being had higher scores in the quality of interaction with their child. Statistical trends suggested that mothers with higher levels of conscientiousness, indicative of being organized and responsible, tended to be more responsive in the interaction with their infants, while those with higher levels of neuroticism, characterized by a tendency towards negative emotions, were more likely to have toddlers who inhibit their true negative affect. Finally, there was a trend indicating that maternal depression was associated with increased maternal controlling behavior towards toddlers. Overall, these findings show the intricate relation between maternal behavior and state with dyadic interaction quality. This should underline that optimal infant development is only possible if mothers are well supported especially if in need due to various burdens such as depressive symptoms.

Self-isolation of adolescents after Covid-19 pandemic between social withdrawal and Hikikomori risk in Italy

Abstract Social withdrawal is a widespread phenomenon among adolescents, presenting significant challenges in understanding its aetiology and dynamics. This study, drawing on data from two cross-sectional surveys conducted in 2019 and 2022 on students in public upper secondary schools, investigates the trend of self-isolation among Italian adolescents before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The two nationally representative samples comprise 3273 and 4288 participants, respectively, with 46.3% and 41.2% identifying as female, ranging in age from 14 to 19 years. Using Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) and Hierarchical Cluster Analysis (HCA), three distinct profiles of social withdrawal were identified among adolescents: “Social Butterflies”, “Friendship-Centric”, and “Lone Wolves”. Notably, the discovery of a subgroup within the Lone Wolves, composed of adolescents who never meet their friends and whose number has doubled post-pandemic, highlights the chronic nature of the phenomenon that demands urgent intervention. These findings shed light on the increase of self-isolation in Italy, showing the interplay of socio-demographic, psychological, and sociological factors underlying this phenomenon.

Tuning Bro̷nsted Acidity by up to 12 p<i>K</i>_a Units in a Redox-Active Nanopore Lined with Multifunctional Metal Sites

Binaural speech intelligibility for combinations of noise, reverberation, and hearing-aid signal processing

Binaural speech intelligibility in rooms is a complex process that is affected by many factors including room acoustics, hearing loss, and hearing aid (HA) signal processing. Intelligibility is evaluated in this paper for a simulated room combined with a simulated hearing aid. The test conditions comprise three spatial configurations of the speech and noise sources, simulated anechoic and concert hall acoustics, three amounts of multitalker babble interference, the hearing status of the listeners, and three degrees of simulated HA processing provided to compensate for the noise and/or hearing loss. The impact of these factors and their interactions is considered for normal-hearing (NH) and hearing-impaired (HI) listeners for sentence stimuli. Both listener groups showed a significant reduction in intelligibility as the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) decreased, and showed a reduction in intelligibility in reverberation when compared to anechoic listening. There was no significant improvement in intelligibility for the NH group for the noise suppression algorithm used here, and no significant improvement in intelligibility for the HI group for more advanced HA processing algorithms as opposed to linear amplification in either of the two acoustic spaces or at any of the three SNRs.

Leveraging dynamics informed neural networks for predictive modeling of COVID-19 spread: a hybrid SEIRV-DNNs approach

Interrogation of Enantioselectivity in the Photomediated Ring Contractions of Saturated Heterocycles

A cross-sectional network analysis of successful aging in a resilience-based framework

Aging inevitably gives rise to many challenges and transitions that can greatly impact our (mental) well-being and quality of life if these are not controlled adequately. Hence, the key to successful aging may not be the absence of these stressors, but the ability to demonstrate resilience against them. The current study set out to explore how resilience and successful aging may intersect by investigating how various resilience capacity-promoting (protective) and resilience capacity-reducing (risk) factors relate to mental well-being and quality of life. Through a large-scale (N = 2000, age 55+, 30 factors) network analysis, we established the interplay between risk/protective factors from various domains, including demographics, (mental) health, (environmental) stress, lifestyle, coping/personality, and ageism. We revealed some unique pathways through which each of these factors contribute to individuals’ mental well-being and/or quality of life, and interpreted these findings in terms of a resilience-based framework of successful aging. Our findings emphasize the complexity of factors that can impact quality of life and mental well-being in later life and can steer researchers and practitioners in devising efficacious, multi-pronged interventions that target risk and protective factors simultaneously, thereby maximizing their potential in boosting beneficial outcomes among older individuals.

Construction and application of optimized model for mine water inflow prediction based on neural network and ARIMA model

The Importance and Discovery of Highly Connected Covalent Organic Framework Net Topologies

Ultrasound renal denervation in hypertensive patients: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Introduction Hypertension is the leading noncommunicable disease case affecting 1.28 billion individuals worldwide, with most cases located in low- and middle-income countries. While there are numerous techniques for treating mild to moderate hypertension, properly controlling severe or resistant hypertension poses substantial challenges. Ultrasound-based renal denervation (uRDN) has emerged as a promising non-pharmacological approach. This study aims to investigate the safety and efficacy of uRDN in hypertensive patients. Methods The literature search across PubMed, ScienceDirect, BMJ Journals, ProQuest, and Springer databases yielded 419 articles. A total of 395 articles were filtered, leading to 24 articles assessed for eligibility and overall analysis, which resulted in eight included studies for quantitative synthesis. Quality appraisal used RoB 2.0, while meta-analysis used RevMan 5.4. Results Our analysis results indicated significant improvements in 24-hour, daytime, and home ambulatory blood pressure measurements, favoring the uRDN over control. The mean difference (MD) for 24-hour measurements was -0.84 mmHg [95% CI -1.14, -0.55; p &lt; 0.00001], for daytime measurements -1.27 mmHg [95% CI -1.59, -0.95; p &lt; 0.00001], and for home measurements -1.98 mmHg [95% CI -2.32, -1.64; p &lt; 0.00001], with moderate heterogeneity observed. Office ambulatory measurements also favored the uRDN with a significant MD of -1.51 mmHg [95% CI -1.91; -1.10; p &lt; 0.00001]. Funnel plots revealed some outliers, indicating true heterogeneity among the studies. Conclusion uRDN was associated with a significant reduction (-2.32 to -0.10 mmHg) in blood pressure of hypertensive patients.

Biomechanical simulation of bed turning post-acetabular fracture fixation