Behavioral Profile Research Articles

Behavioural profiling following acute stress uncovers associations with future stress sensitivity and past childhood abuse.

Background: Individuals greatly differ in their responses to acute stress, ranging from resilience to vulnerability that may yield stress-related psychopathology. Stress-related psychopathologies involve, by definition, substantial modifications across multiple behavioural domains, including impaired cognitive, affective and social functioning. Nevertheless, and despite extensive investigation of individual variability in stress responsivity, no study to date simultaneously assessed the impact of acute stress across multiple behavioural domains within a given individual.Objective: To address this critical gap, 84 healthy female participants (mean age 24.45 ± 3.02, range 19-35) underwent an established acute stress induction procedure and completed three behavioural tasks, probing the functional domains of positive, cognitive and social processing, both before and after the acute stress procedure.Method: A novel behavioural profiling algorithm was implemented to identify individuals whose performance was substantially impacted by stress across all three functional domains.Results: Approximately 30% of participants exhibited substantial deviation in their performance from before to after stress in all three tasks, hereon defined as stress-affected. Stress-affected participants did not differ in their psychological and physiological responses to the acute stress procedure from the other stress-unaffected 70% of the sample. However, follow-up assessments in 66 of these participants revealed higher levels of stress six months following the procedure among the stress-affected compared to the stress-unaffected group. Stress-affected individuals also reported more aversive childhood experiences, such that the odds of participants who were sexually abused at an early age to be affected behaviourally by acute stress later in life increased by more than five-fold.Conclusions: Taken together, these findings suggest that being affected by acute stress across multiple functional domains is associated with future stress sensitivity and past childhood sexual abuse. Probing individual differences in the impact of acute stress across domains of functionality may better align with the multi-dimensional nature of stress responsivity, uncovering latent vulnerability.

CAPP: Context‐Aware Privacy‐Preserving Continuous Authentication in Smartphones

ABSTRACTThe pervasive use of smart devices in everyday life has increased the risk of theft and cyberattacks, necessitating robust and continuous behavioral authentication techniques during every interactive session. Traditional authentication methods are insufficient to address these evolving threats, as they often fail to maintain security throughout the session. To address this challenge, we propose a continuous authentication scheme that leverages touch and motion sensors, incorporating user context to enhance security. However, building an effective authentication model requires creating a behavioral template by aggregating data from multiple users. Moreover, outsourcing sensitive sensor data to third‐party servers for processing introduces the risk of privacy breaches, such as behavioral profiling or the theft of personal information. To mitigate these risks, we designed CAPP—a context‐aware privacy‐preserving data outsourcing scheme for continuous authentication during live sessions. CAPP employs Format Preserving Encryption (FPE) to encrypt the sensor data, ensuring that the data's format remains intact, which allows the machine learning model to function with minimal loss of accuracy. Our solution enables secure and efficient authentication by creating a model on the server side using data from motion sensors like the accelerometer, gyroscope, and magnetometer. Our experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme, achieving an accuracy of 87.57% and an Equal Error Rate (EER) of 12.15%, while requiring only 1.69 ms to authenticate a user. These results show that CAPP preserves user privacy and provides a rapid and reliable authentication process, outperforming existing state‐of‐the‐art methods.

Cafeteria diet and caloric restriction affect metabolic but not behavioral characteristics in male Wistar rats

This study aimed to evaluate the effects of a cafeteria diet and caloric restriction on behavioral and metabolic profiles of adult male Wistar rats. The rats were randomly divided into three groups (n = 12/group) and from 10 weeks of age fed either ad libitum standard rat chow (control group), ad libitum cafeteria diet in addition to standard chow (diet-induced obesity (DIO) group) or kept on caloric restriction (at 85% weight of controls; restricted group) for a period of 12 weeks. Body weight was assessed twice per week and glucose levels were measured at three times during the 12-week period. At week 11 the animals were behaviorally profiled using the multivariate concentric square field™ (MCSF) test. After 12 weeks of diet the animals were euthanized, blood collected, relative organ weights were assessed and plasma or serum levels of insulin, glucose, and lipid profile were measured. The DIO group gained 23% more weight than the control group (p < 0.001) and increased adipose tissue weight in comparison to the control (p < 0.001) and restricted groups (p < 0.001). Glucose was significantly increased (p < 0.001) only during the second measurement at week 7 and insulin levels were elevated in the DIO group compared to controls and restricted groups (p < 0.01; p < 0.001, respectively). Plasma cholesterol levels were reduced for both DIO (p < 0.01) and restricted (p < 0.001) groups relative to controls. Adiponectin and leptin levels were higher for the DIO group in comparison to both the control (p < 0.001; p < 0.05) and restricted (p < 0.001; p < 0.001) groups. Thus, the two diets led to significant changes in body weight gain, adiposity, and metabolism. However, they did not alter the behavioral profiles in the MCSF test, suggesting that activity, exploration, risk assessment, risk taking or shelter seeking remained unaffected by the dietary interventions. The current findings suggest that an increase or reduction in energy intake resulted in no behavioral effects, despite the accompanying glycemic alterations potentially related to diabetes development.

Hybrid synthetic/natural fiber-reinforced strain-hardening magnesia-based composites

Synthetic fiber-reinforced strain-hardening magnesia (MgO)-based composites (SHMC) are an emerging group of fiber-reinforced cementitious composites (FRCC) with ultra-high ductility and CO2 sequestration potential. However, the size of SHMC members is limited by the inadequate carbonation depth of the MgO matrix. In this work, hybrid synthetic/natural fiber-reinforced SHMC are developed containing different contents of PVA fibers (0-2 vol.%) and sisal fibers (0-4 vol.%). The new Hybrid-SHMC were experimentally studied on micro-scale and composite scale. On the micro-scale, the effect of cement matrix carbonation on the PVA/sisal fiber-to-matrix interfacial bonds and the matrix moduli were studied by single-fiber pullout test and local nano-indentation. On the composite scale, the effect of fiber dosage on the compressive/tensile behavior and carbonation profile of SHMC were studied. The effects of the carbonation-induced micromechanical enhancements on the composite behaviors were validated by a micromechanics-based fiber-bridging model. The results demonstrated that the new hybrid SHMC could achieve ultra-high tensile ductility (>2.5%) and uniform carbonation simultaneously (≥ 0.25g CO2/g MgO at different depths). In Hybrid-SHMC, the PVA fibers mainly contributed to the mechanical crack-bridging and thus strain-hardening, while sisal fibers with porous microstructure improved the carbonation depth and thus the fiber-matrix interfacial bonds, composite compressive, and tensile performances.

Variability in individual native fibrin fiber mechanics

Fibrin fibers are important structural elements in blood coagulation. They form a mesh network that acts as a scaffold and imparts mechanical strength to the clot. A review of published work measuring the mechanics of fibrin fibers reveals a range of values for fiber extensibility. This study investigates fibrinogen concentration as a variable responsible for variability in fibrin mechanics. It expands previous work to describe the modulus, strain hardening, extensibility, and the force required for fiber failure when fibers are formed with different fibrinogen concentrations using lateral force atomic force microscopy. Analysis of the mechanical properties showed fibers formed from 1 mg ml-1and 2 mg ml-1fibrinogen had significantly different mechanical properties. To help clarify our findings we developed two behavior profiles to describe individual fiber mechanics. The first describes a fiber with low initial modulus and high extensible, that undergoes significant strain hardening, and has moderate strength. Most fibers formed with 1 mg ml-1fibrinogen had this behavior profile. The second profile describes a fiber with a high initial modulus, minimal strain hardening, high strength, and low extensibility. Most fibrin fibers formed with 2 mg ml-1fibrinogen were described by this second profile. In conclusion, we see a range of behaviors from fibers formed from native fibrinogen molecules but various fibrinogen concentrations. Potential differences in fiber formation are investigated with SEM. It is likely this range of behaviors also occursin vivo. Understanding the variability in mechanical properties could contribute to a deeper understanding of pathophysiology of coagulative disorders.

No effect of infant nursery rearing on laboratory rhesus monkey dams’ social behavior or long-term cortisol profiles

While the behavioral and physiological impacts of nursery rearing in laboratory-housed infant monkeys have been well characterized, to date no studies have examined the impact on nonhuman primate dams of their infants being removed for rearing in the nursery. Despite the lack of evidence on the topic, anti-animal research groups often cite mother-infant separation and infant nursery rearing (NR) as a welfare concern for laboratory monkey mothers. As such, important policy decisions regarding research activities may result without adequate evidence. Therefore, we designed this study to examine behavioral and hormonal responses in laboratory monkey dams, who were part of independent long-term longitudinal studies, in response to their infants being NR or mother-peer-reared (MPR). We assessed social, self-care, environmental exploration, and abnormal behaviors for 30 days before and 30 days after parturition in rhesus monkey dams (Macaca mulatta, N=49). Infants were randomly assigned to be either NR (N = 27) or MPR (N = 22). We also analyzed hair samples for cortisol concentrations three times across the study period (Pregnancy, Neonatal Period, Peak Lactation). Dams of NR infants showed no gross behavioral differences relative to dams of MPR infants (all p’s>0.05). Dams of MPR infants showed expected increases in social grooming and social contact, and concomitant decreases in foraging and locomotion, in the 30 days post-partum compared to the 30 days pre-partum (p<0.01). Dams whose infants were NR or MPR showed no differences in hair cortisol concentrations across the study period (p>0.05). We conclude that, with respect to the behavioral and endocrine measures we assessed, nursery rearing of their infants is not detrimental to the welfare of laboratory-housed macaque dams.

Individualistic reward-seeking strategies that predict response to nicotine emerge among isogenic male mice living in a micro-society.

Individual animals differ in their traits and preferences, which shape their social interactions, survival, and susceptibility to disease, including addiction. Nicotine use is highly heterogenous and has been linked to the expression of personality traits. Although these relationships are well documented, we have limited understanding of the neurophysiological mechanisms that give rise to distinct behavioral profiles and their connection to nicotine susceptibility. To address this question, we conducted a study using a semi-natural and social environment called "Souris-City" to observe the long-term behavior of individual male mice. Souris-City provided both a communal living area and a separate test area where mice engaged in a reward-seeking task isolated from their peers. Mice developed individualistic reward-seeking strategies when choosing between water and sucrose in the test compartment, which, in turn, predicted how they adapted to the introduction of nicotine as a reinforcer. Moreover, the profiles mice developed while isolated in the test area correlated with their behavior within the social environment, linking decision-making strategies to the expression of behavioral traits. Neurophysiological markers of adaptability within the dopamine system were apparent upon nicotine challenge and were associated with specific profiles. Our findings suggest that environmental adaptations influence behavioral traits and sensitivity to nicotine by acting on dopaminergic reactivity in the face of nicotine exposure, potentially contributing to addiction susceptibility. These results further emphasize the importance of understanding interindividual variability in behavior to gain insight into the mechanisms of decision-making and addiction.

Electrospun Cellulose Acetate/Poly(Vinyl Alcohol) Nanofibers Loaded with Methyl Gallate and Gallic Acid for Anti-Staphylococcus aureus Applications

Methyl gallate (MG) and gallic acid (GA) are natural compounds with potent activity against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), a significant global health concern. In this study, MG and GA were incorporated into cellulose acetate (CA) blended with poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) to create electrospun nanofibers aimed at combating both methicillin-susceptible S. aureus (MSSA) and MRSA. Key electrospinning parameters—DC voltage, injection flow rate, and syringe tip–collector distance—were optimized, with the best conditions being a 1.5 mL/h flow rate, 30 cm distance, and 20 kV voltage. The resulting nanofiber mats were characterized by SEM, FTIR, DSC, tensile strength testing, contact angle measurement, swelling behavior, and release profiling. Antibacterial properties were assessed using the agar diffusion test. The obtained nanofibers had diameters ranging from 879.33 to 906.13 nm. Among the samples, MG-GA-CA/PVA exhibited the highest tensile strength, good flexibility, and improved stiffness, which was related to enhanced thermal stability and chemical interactions as shown by DSC and FTIR analyses. This formulation also displayed excellent hydrophilicity, swelling properties, and a consistent release profile over 8 to 24 h. Furthermore, MG-GA-CA/PVA showed superior antibacterial activity against both MSSA and MRSA, suggesting its potential as a strong, flexible, and effective anti-S. aureus material.

Deep phenotyping reveals CRH and FKBP51-dependent behavioral profiles following chronic social stress exposure in male mice.

The co-chaperone FKBP51, encoded by FKBP5 gene, is recognized as a psychiatric risk factor for anxiety and depressive disorders due to its crucial role in the stress response. Another key modulator in stress response regulation is the corticotropin releasing hormone (CRH), which is co-expressed with FKBP51 in many stress-relevant brain-regions and cell-types. Together, they intricately influence the balance of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, one of the primary stress response systems. Previous research underscores the potential moderating effects these genes have on the regulation of the stressful life events towards the vulnerability of major depressive disorder (MDD). However, the specific function of FKBP51 in CRH-expressing neurons remains largely unexplored. Here, through deep behavioral phenotyping, we reveal heightened stress effects in mice lacking FKBP51 in CRH co-expressing neurons (CRHFKBP5-/-), particularly evident in social contexts. Our findings highlight the importance of considering cell-type specificity and context in comprehending stress responses and advocate for the utilization of machine-learning-driven phenotyping of mouse models. By elucidating these intricacies, we lay down the groundwork for personalized interventions aimed at enhancing stress resilience and individual well-being.

NTLFlowLyzer: Towards generating an intrusion detection dataset and intruders behavior profiling through network and transport layers traffic analysis and pattern extraction

Network security remains a critical concern in modern computing systems due to the constant emergence of threats and attacks. This paper introduces a comprehensive behavioral profiling solution to address the limitations of current intrusion detection methods in identifying zero-day attacks and novel malicious behaviors. Beginning with raw network data, the proposed framework progresses through multiple stages, ultimately culminating in the creation of activity-specific profiles. Central to this approach is NTLFlowLyzer, a novel network traffic analyzer, which generates an updated dataset, BCCC-CIC-IDS2017, for enhanced profile generation. The core of the profiling system leverages the distinct behaviors exhibited by individual features and the diverse correlations observed across various activities. The profiling procedure attains accuracy and robustness by integrating a novel feature selection algorithm and a pattern extraction process. Furthermore, behavior similarity is introduced to quantify the resemblance between activities based on their features and behaviors. We rigorously evaluate the effectiveness of our model by subjecting it to comprehensive testing, followed by meticulous comparison with previous works. Our proposed framework proficiently characterizes eight malicious activities with an accuracy rate surpassing 99.8%, while displaying promising performance in profiling various other activities. These findings, derived from our comprehensive experiments, provide valuable guidance for accurately implementing behavioral profiling.

A Novel Data Analytics Methodology for Discovering Behavioral Risk Profiles: The Case of Diners During a Pandemic

Understanding tourist profiles and behaviors during health pandemics is key to better preparedness for unforeseen future outbreaks, particularly for tourism and hospitality businesses. This study develops and applies a novel data analytics methodology to gain insights into the health risk reduction behavior of restaurant diners/patrons during their dining out experiences in a pandemic. The methodology builds on data relating to four constructs (question categories) and measurements (questions and attributes), with the constructs being worry, health risk prevention behavior, health risk reduction behavior, and demographic characteristics. As a unique contribution, the methodology generates a behavioral typology by identifying risk profiles, which are expressed as one- and two-level decision rules. For example, the results highlighted the significance of restaurants’ adherence to cautionary measures and diners’ perception of seclusion. These and other factors enable a multifaceted analysis, typology, and understanding of diners’ risk profiles, offering valuable guidance for developing managerial strategies and skill development programs to promote safer dining experiences during pandemics. Besides yielding novel types of insights through rules, another practical contribution of the research is the development of a public web-based analytics dashboard for interactive insight discovery and decision support.

Socioeconomic status, linguistic skills and language background differentially relate to preschoolers' emotional and behavioural profile.

Proximal and distal factors interact to shape children's development and well-being. The present study aimed to examine socioeconomic status (SES), linguistic skills, and language background as concurrent predictors of socio-emotional and behavioural outcomes in heritage bilingual and monolingual children attending preschool. Parents of 1810 children (mean age = 63.42 months ± 7.36), attending preschool in Italy, completed the Four Factor Index of SES and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Teachers (n = 99) completed a questionnaire on children's linguistic skills and emotional and behavioural profiles. A subsample of 995 children was administered an expressive vocabulary task in Italian. Regression analyses showed that linguistic skills were the only concurrent predictor of conduct problems, as well as the dominant predictor of hyperactivity/impulsivity, peer problems, and better prosocial behaviour. SES was negatively related to ADHD traits, peer problems, and prosocial behaviour. Finally, heritage bilingualism background was associated, although not as a primary predictor, with increased emotional problems, peer relationship problems, and lower teacher-rated emotional and behavioural skills. However, it was the main factor positively associated with prosocial behaviour. The implications of these findings for research in this area and for educational policy are discussed, highlighting the need for a multidimensional perspective that includes linguistic skills and SES in the assessment of children's emotional and behavioural outcomes.

Characterizing Older Adults' Travel Behaviour and Unmet Needs: Findings from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA).

This study provides researchers, practitioners, and policy makers with a profile of older adults' travel behaviour and the older adult population that reports unmet travel needs. In addition, we quantified associations between reporting an unmet travel need and measures of health and social connectedness. Data came from the second follow-up survey of the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging, collected from 2018 to 2021 (n=14,167). Nine in ten (90.2%) older adults aged 65years and older indicated that driving is the main way they get around. Older adults with an unmet travel need were more likely to be women, have lower household incomes and education levels, and have a mobility limitation. People with an unmet travel need had 2.7 times the odds of reporting fair or poor general health (OR=2.66, 95% CI: 2.19, 3.22) and 3.1 times the odds of feeling socially isolated (OR=3.10, 95% CI: 2.57, 3.72) compared to those without an unmet need.

Sexual and Affectionate Behaviors and Satisfaction for Adults in Romantic Relationships: A Latent Profile Analysis.

Engaging in both sexual and affectionate behaviors with a romantic partner is often beneficial for adults' sexual and relationship satisfaction and promotes relationship stability. However, prior research has primarily examined either adults' sexual or affectionate behaviors, and has yet to explore patterns of sexual and affectionate behaviors and their associations with sexual and relationship satisfaction. In the current paper, we used a person-centered approach and latent profile analysis to identify specific profiles of adults' physical behaviors in same-gender and mixed-gender relationships, and examined associations of these profiles with sexual and relationship satisfaction. Adults (N = 336, 85.4% LGBTQ+; 45% women, 30% men, 38.6% gender-diverse; Mage = 29.07 years) who were currently in a committed romantic partner relationship for at least six months completed online surveys. We found that a 3-profile solution best fit the data and identified the following profiles: Infrequent Physical Behaviors, Affection-focused Behaviors, and Comprehensive Physical Behaviors. Adults in the Infrequent Physical Behaviors profile were less sexually and relationally satisfied than adults in the other profiles. Adults in the Comprehensive Physical Behaviors profile were more sexually satisfied than the two other profiles. Further, profiles did not differ for mixed-gender compared to same-gender or gender-diverse couples. Our findings have implications for understanding the diversity in adults' physical behavior patterns, including how clinicians might better support adults' sexual and relationship satisfaction.

Level of support/commitment and behavior during mealtime and dental care negatively impact the dental caries prevalence in autistic individuals: cross-sectional study.

To verify whether factors associated with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) would have impact on the dental-caries prevalence. All ASD-individuals receiving care in a specialized center with minimum of 4y old were recruited. Demographic, socioeconomic and behavioral characteristics, level of support/commitment (Childhood Autism Rating Scale), mealtime behavior (Brief Autism Mealtime Behavior Inventory) and medication use were answered by ASD-individual's parents. Behavior during dental care was evaluated from Frankl scale. Dental-caries prevalence was the primary outcome. Three examiners calibrated/trained collected the data. Chi-square test was used to compare the variables impact on the dental-caries prevalence. 61 ASD-individuals were potentially eligible, and the all parents/guardians consent to participate. Dental-caries prevalence was 42.9%, which was statistically associated with lower toothbrushing frequency, higher level of support/commitment, and worse behavior at meals and during in dental care. Dental-caries prevalence was approximately higher twice in ASD-individuals: (i) uncooperative with dental care when compared those cooperative (62% versus 32%, respectively); (ii) with severe level of support when compared to those with mild/moderate level (58% versus 28%, respectively); and (iii) with worse mealtime behavior when compared to those with better behavior (59% versus 28%, respectively). A medium statistical correlation was observed between support level and mealtime behavior (rS=0.39). The BAMBI component statistically associated with dental-caries prevalence was the food refusal (capture problem when a child rejects a presented food, crying, spitting out food). higher required level of support, worse mealtime behavior and uncooperative profile in dental care negatively affect the dental-caries prevalence. our findings provide evidence of the need of specialized, preventive and individualized dental care among ASD-individuals.

Natural Language Processing for Sentiment Analysis in Social Media Posts to Identify Suspicious Behaviour

This article reports a study on the use of the natural language processing approach in the sentiment analysis of social media posts for detecting suspicious activities involving deep learning methods. The primary objective is to design an automated system capable of identifying unfavourable sentiments and patterns that imply suspicious activity such as cyberbullying, hate speech and disinformation. The methodology involves collecting a diverse data set of 2,000 posts from platforms such as X and Facebook, pre-processed by tokenisation and normalisation. The sentiment analysis model uses a long short-term memory (LSTM) network because it finds that the LSTM network is good for recognising long-term dependencies between texts. Other heuristics are used to give prominence to posts with malicious behavioural profiles to flag them accordingly. The model is designed and tuned to pre-labelled data sets. This work shows considerable improvement over previous techniques at categorising the posts as suspicious by showing higher accuracy, precision, recall and F1 score ratios. In doing so, this research positively impacts the enhancement of paranoid security or the totality of social media safety by offering a strong early detection mechanism for reducing risky behaviours on social networks.

The impact of children’s dental anxiety on dentists

INTRODUCTION. According to statistics, medical workers and, in particular, dentists are exposed to stressful factors in the workplace on a daily basis. Due to the specifics of their daily activities, pediatric dentists experience a great emotional burden, especially when treating children who are not adapted to dental care, which leads to the development of an emotional burnout syndrome among specialists. AIM. To determine the effect of children’s dental anxiety on emotional stability during admission and psychoemotional status after admission by dentists with emotional burnout syndrome.MATERIALS AND METHODS. The study involved 76 pediatric dentists and 68 patients aged 6–7 years. The psychoemotional state of dentists was assessed using the Maslach Burnout Questionnaire and a Visual Analog Scale. The behavior of children at the dental appointment was recorded according to the evaluation scale of the behavioral profile of the Melamed.RESULTS. According to the results of the Maslach questionnaire, burnout syndrome of varying severity was detected in all specialists. Deterioration of the psychoemotional state after receiving a patient who was not adapted to dental treatment was observed in 16%.CONCLUSIONS. The study shows that in order to prevent burnout syndrome in pediatric dentists, it is necessary to reduce professional stress through methods of adapting children to treatment, correcting patient behavior and reducing dental anxiety.

Spatial Data Infrastructure and Mobile Big Data for Urban Planning Based on the Example of Mikolajki Town in Poland

Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) is a decision-making tool that is often used in the area of urban planning. At the same time, many other data sources with great utility potential, such as Big Data, can be identified. The aim of the paper is to present the possibility of using mobile Big Data collections with data from Polish SDI, for the purposes of local spatial planning on the example of the tourist town, Mikolajki in Poland. The publication also focuses on assessing the quality of data, as well as the decision-making process supported by these sources. The draft of the local spatial development plan was verified based on integrated data sources. The results showed that the visualization of Big Data as a heat map may be used in urban tasks and as the thematic layer integrated with vector and raster data sets from the SDI in the geographic information system software. The contribution is the practical example how information about users of mobile devices and some information from behavioral profiles may be analyzed for the purposes of verifying planned land use.

Demographics, Clinical Characteristics, and Well-Being of Veterans with TBI and Dementia and Their Caregivers.

This study provides a detailed examination of older Veterans with traumatic brain injury (TBI) and dementia and their caregivers, focusing on Veterans' demographic, clinical, functional, safety risk, and behavioral characteristics and caregivers' demographic, clinical, and care-related characteristics and well-being. Veterans' caregivers (N = 110) completed a telephone-based survey. Veterans averaged eight comorbid health conditions, with over 60% having chronic pain, hypertension, post-traumatic stress disorder, or depression. Caregivers reported helping with an average of three activities of daily living, with the highest percentages of Veterans needing assistance with grooming, dressing, and bathing. Almost all Veterans needed assistance with shopping, cooking, medication management, housework, laundry, driving, and finances. Veterans averaged two safety risks, the most common being access to dangerous objects, access to a gun, and not being able to respond to emergency situations. Although Veterans averaged 14 behavioral concerns, caregivers reported that their family needs relating to TBI were generally met or partly met, and they voiced confidence in their ability to respond to behaviors and control their upsetting thoughts. Caregivers' mean burden score was severe, while mean depression and anxiety scores were mild. Caregivers reported an average of 10.5 h per day providing care and 20.1 h per day on duty. The findings demonstrate the increased presence of impairments, safety risks, and behavioral issues in Veterans with comorbid TBI and dementia, as well as increased impacts on families' burdens and care provision requirements. Clinicians should be alert for and educate TBI patients and caregivers on the warning signs of post-TBI dementia and its associated functional, behavioral, and safety risk profile, as well as challenges related to caregiver well-being. Healthcare policymakers must consider the increased caregiver demands associated with comorbid TBI and dementia, as well as the need for expanded long-term support and services.

Evaluation of the Effects of Diet-Induced Obesity in Zebrafish (Danio rerio): A Comparative Study

Objectives: This study aimed to compare diet-induced obesity (DIO) models in zebrafish and investigate the complications and differences between sexes in biochemical and inflammatory parameters. Methods: Adult animals of both sexes were divided into four groups (n = 50) and fed for eight weeks: control group 1: Artemia sp. (15–30 mg/day/fish); control group 2: commercial fish food (3.5% of average weight); obesity group 1: pasteurized egg yolk powder + soybean oil (5% of average weight); obesity group 2: Artemia sp. (60–120 mg/day/fish). Dietary intake, caloric intake and efficiency, body mass index, biochemical, inflammatory, behavioral, histopathological, and stereological parameters, and inflammation-related gene expression were investigated. Results: Obesity group 1 was the most indicated to investigate changes in the anxious behavioral profile (p &lt; 0.05), triglyceride elevation [52.67 (1.2) mg/dL], adipocyte hypertrophy [67.8 (18.1) µm2; p = 0.0004], and intestinal inflammation. Obesity group 2 was interesting to investigate in terms of weight gain [167 mg; p &lt; 0.0001), changes in fasting glucose [48.33 (4.14) mg/dL; p = 0.003), and inflammatory parameters [IL-6: 4.24 (0.18) pg/mL; p = 0.0015]. Conclusions: Furthermore, both DIO models evaluated in the present study were effective in investigating hepatic steatosis. The data also highlighted that sex influences inflammatory changes and fasting blood glucose levels, which were higher in males (p &gt; 0.05). The results show new metabolic routes to be explored in relation to DIO in zebrafish.