Conscious Control Research Articles

THE PREVALENCE OF URINARY INCONTINENCE AMONG PREGNANT WOMEN OF SECOND TRIMESTER IN TERTIARY CARE HOSPITALS PESHAWAR

Background: A urinary incontinence (UI) is when urine is removed or leaked without conscious control. This common and embarrassing issue costs people significantly in terms of socioeconomic costs, loss of quality of life, and morbidity. During this time before giving birth, women frequently experience their first UI. Objectives: To check urinary incontinence among different aged groups of female with multiple pregnancy. Methods: After the approval of research proposal from graduate committee, permission was obtained from head of departments of all the specific departments in hospitals. In order to achieve a higher number of women in a shorter period of time, we collected the data from those patients who were admitted in wards. Patients meeting inclusion criteria were recruited in the study. The data was collected using the International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire (ICIQ). Results: Mean age of subjects is 29.36 with a standard deviation of 7.96. Urinary incontinence is more prevalent in age group of 30-39 years with the percentage of 70 %. In second trimester the prevalence of urinary incontinence is 60.1%. It is also common once or twice during a day with the percentage of 26.7%. Estimates of the prevalence of incontinence in women are highly variable. These inconsistent results can be largely attributed to the adoption of various incontinence definitions. Conclusions: As the number of gestational week’s increases, UI symptoms in pregnancy become more common. In the majority of cases, the most common type of SUI causes only a small amount of urine loss. Several studies have found that UI causes pregnant women to experience mild to moderate amounts of discomfort. UI has a major negative impact on pregnant women's quality of life.

How cognitive processes shape implicit stereotypes: a literature review

Stereotypes are fundamental to social cognition, representing the automatic associations and evaluations individuals hold about social groups. Their automatic activation, characterized by rapid and often unconscious processes, makes them resistant to change and persistent across contexts. However, evidence shows that motivated individuals can modulate these processes under certain conditions. This essay explores the mechanisms underlying stereotype formation and maintenance, integrating Clark’s predictive brain model and Hinton’s culture in mind framework to examine how cognitive and cultural factors interact. The predictive brain framework suggests that human cognition operates on Bayesian principles, using prior experiences to predict and interpret stimuli. This aligns with the culture in mind perspective, which emphasizes how cultural norms shape cognitive processes, including stereotypes. These models illustrate how stereotypes arise from the dynamic interplay between individual cognition and broader cultural influences. Key modulators of stereotypes include decision-making, emotion regulation, and motivation. Decision-making often relies on implicit processes, where automatic associations influence behaviour outside conscious control, but neural systems can regulate these effects. Emotional regulation, through the management of arousal levels, can influence the cognitive application of stereotypes, potentially reducing their impact. Motivation drives selective stereotype use, shaped by personal goals and cultural expectations. Understanding the cognitive and cultural roots of implicit stereotypes is crucial for designing effective interventions to reduce inequalities and promote equity in educational, occupational and social contexts, and the cross-sectional approach allows us to understand how different forms of discrimination intersect with each other to reinforce inequalities and strengthen deep-rooted prejudices. This essay aims to be part of the increasingly relevant debate on intergroup dynamics and the creation of a more inclusive and equitable society, emphasising the need for new perspectives and deconstruction of biases in research.

Movement Disorders that Occurred as Late Manifestations of Alzheimer's Disease Controlled by a Low dose of Carbamazepine.

According to the World Health Organization, 44 million people worldwide suffer from Alzheimer's disease. Abnormal movements are atypical symptoms of Alzheimer's disease. An 87-year-old woman, followed for Alzheimer's disease, experienced abnormal movements. The episodes lasted 30 minutes, were involuntary, uncontrollable, anarchic, predominantly in the upper limbs, and without loss of consciousness or bladder control. An electroencephalogram ruled out atypical epilepsy. Pharmacovigilance investigation ruled out a drug-related cause. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed abnormalities suggestive of Alzheimer's disease, with no other evidence to explain the abnormal movements. Apart from the presence of Alzheimer's disease biomarkers, cerebrospinal fluid analysis found no abnormality. Dopamine transporter scan rule out an atypical parkinsonian syndrome. Finally, abnormal movements associated with Alzheimer's disease were suspected. Abnormal movements disappeared within 72 hours on low-dose carbamazepine. This case is educational both because of the clinical presentation and the management of symptoms. The number of people suffering from Alzheimer's disease, the leading cause of major neurocognitive disorders, is expected to reach around 78 million in 2030 and 139 million in 2050.The course of Alzheimer's disease may be punctuated by atypical symptoms, such as abnormal movements.In patients on carbamazepine, we observed a dramatic improvement in abnormal movements associated with Alzheimer's disease.

Direct Pathway Neurons in the Mouse Ventral Striatum Are Active During Goal-Directed Action but Not Reward Consumption During Operant Conditioning.

Learning is classically modeled to consist of an acquisition period followed by a mastery period when the skill no longer requires conscious control and becomes automatic. Dopamine neurons projecting to the ventral striatum (VS) produce a teaching signal that shifts from responding to rewarding or aversive events to anticipating cues, thus facilitating learning. However, the role of the dopamine-receptive neurons in the ventral striatum, particularly in encoding decision-making processes, remains less understood. Here, we introduce an operant conditioning paradigm using open-source microcontrollers to train mice in three sequential learning phases. Phase I employs classical conditioning, associating a 5 s sound cue (CS) with a sucrose-water reward. In Phase II, the CS is replaced by a lever press as the requirement for reward delivery, marking an operant conditioning stage. Phase III combines these elements, requiring mice to press the lever during the CS to obtain the reward. We recorded calcium signals from direct pathway spiny projection neurons (dSPNs) in the VS throughout the three phases of training. We find that dSPNs are specifically engaged when the mouse makes a decision to perform a reward-seeking action in response to a CS but are largely inactive during actions taken outside the CS. These findings suggest that direct pathway neurons in the VS contribute to decision-making in learned action-outcome associations, indicating a specialized role in initiating operant behaviors.

Believing in Mr. W.H.: Spontaneous and Intermental thought in "The Portrait of Mr. W.H."

abstract: Oscar Wilde's "The Portrait of Mr. W.H." is concerned with the question of what it means to believe. Certain aspects and characteristics of belief as depicted in this story rely on a cognitive approach to identify its phenomenological qualities and how it operates. Wilde depicts belief as belonging to a unique kind of creative thought that is non-conscious, irrational, and collective. While cognition is typically understood as controlled, purposeful, goal-directed, independent and private, this discussion introduces two cognitive categories, spontaneous thought and intermental thought, to conceptualize aspects of cognition that are outside conscious control, opaque or inaccessible, aimless, communal, and reliant upon others. These categories reveal the ways that Wilde puts pressure on conventional definitions of, and assumptions about, belief and art in "The Portrait of Mr. W.H."

Moderators of test-retest reliability in implicit and explicit attitudes.

A great deal of research in dual-process models has been devoted to highlighting differences in the structure and function of the implicit and explicit attitude constructs. However, the two forms of attitudes can also demonstrate important shared properties, and prior work suggests that one similarity may be in factors that determine measurement reliability. To better explore this issue, Study 1 analyzed the test-retest reliability in measures of both implicit and explicit attitudes within a single study session across 75 topics (N > 35,000). Explicit attitudes had greater test-retest reliability than implicit attitudes, but each showed considerable heterogeneity across topics even when measured within a single study session. Analyses also included several candidate moderator variables, such as attitude certainty or familiarity. While results were not identical, the moderators associated with greater test-retest reliability for implicit and explicit attitudes exhibited more similarities than differences. Specifically, attitudes experienced as more distinctive, more relevant to one's self-concept, more certain, and more accessible had higher test-retest reliability for both forms of evaluation. Variation in short-term reliability for implicit and explicit attitudes was replicated in Study 2, and Study 3 revealed that topics low in short-term reliability were also lower in a longitudinal sample that completed attitude measures separated by several weeks. These results advance our understanding of each attitude construct and are consistent with a more dynamic relationship between an attitude and its measure, as even attitudes measured with high levels of conscious control could show remarkable short-term instability when assessed only minutes apart. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Features of developing toilet skills in young children: Information for clinicians and parents. A review

The upbringing and teaching of toilet skills to young children is an important stage in the physiological development of the child. Control over urination and defecation in infants develops gradually, starting with a completely reflexive process and moving on to conscious control. This process is of great importance in the formation of a healthy and independent personality, preparing the child for the next stages of growing up and acquiring new skills. The article presents historical aspects of the formation of toilet skills among different peoples and at different stages of society development. Interesting facts about potty training in different countries of the world, anatomical features of urination and defecation, signs of readiness for potty training and toilet training, the age recommended for potty training, and what a potty should be like are shown. Approaches to teaching this level of independence are important not only for the child’s physical health, but also for understanding his psychological readiness, social development, and adaptation in children’s groups.

Trust in the Workplace: Understanding How our Brains Make Decisions to Build Effective Organizational Leadership

Abstract: This article examines the neurological bases of trust and how an awareness of unconscious trust processes can help leaders foster trusting relationships and high-performing teams. On a basic level, the brain's socioemotional circuitry generates rapid, automatic trust judgments when assessing new people or situations. Regions like the amygdala, insula, and orbitofrontal cortex evaluate factors like similarity, attractiveness, emotional expressions, body language, and facial features to determine trustworthiness outside of conscious control. While these reflexive processes conferred an evolutionary advantage, they can misfire or introduce biases in modern contexts if not guided by higher-level reasoning. The article discusses how implicit biases around these factors can impact trust dynamics. It also outlines techniques leaders can use to strategically manage first impressions and behaviors over time - through consistency, competency, care, and relationship building - to establish trust at both implicit and explicit levels. Understanding the interplay between conscious and unconscious trust judgments allows for optimizing organizational culture.

​​Solace of Substance​: Agency, Surrender, and Consolation in Addiction and Polydrug Use

Although preceding its association with substance use, early uses of the term ‘addiction’ signified intense attachment or ‘devotion’ to an activity or pursuit, indicating compromised autonomy, a necessary ‘culling’ of conflicting obligations, such as family and other concerns, and a potentially dangerous surrender (Lemon 2018). Recent advances in biomedical and neuroscientific understandings of addiction, as a relapsing neurological disorder, have sharpened notions of substance use as being outside of conscious control. Yet framing addiction in terms of individual, neurobiological predispositions towards addictive behaviour, continues to impact how we view agency, responsibility, and autonomy, even as substances are ascribed their own powerful agencies. Based on long-term ethnographic fieldwork with individuals and third sector services in south-east Scotland, this article attends to ambiguous notions of agency attributed to and by people who use substances, and to substances themselves. It asks how responsibility for recovery becomes divested onto individuals, and how a moral ‘devotion’ to one’s recovery is mandated by medical and judicial institutions. The article further highlights how dyadic and intimate relationships with heroin are emplaced within wider webs of relations, and how heroin itself is suffused with agency and intentionality: becoming at once a force for destruction and source of life-giving surrender.

Imágenes sobre la educación para la ciudadanía en la formación inicial del profesorado

Although in the past decades a lot has been written about citizenship education, at least in Spain little is known about how pre-service teachers are formed to educate for citizenship. In recent years we have tried to cover this gap with a line of research that to date has focused on the teacher educators of the Primary Education Degree at the University of Cantabria. After gathering their verbal rationalizations about political life and citizenship education through semi-structured interviews, we realized that we needed to go beyond this level of analysis and use new research techniques to delve into the tacit perceptions of the teachers, since they cannot be considered as the mere product of deliberate mental exercises. Hence, we chose to examine certain language tropes less subject to conscious control like metaphors, taking advantage of the recent contributions of cognitive science and neuroscience about the automatic thinking (Kahneman, 2012) and its influence on our political decisions (Haidt, 2012; Lakoff, 2008). This look at the data allowed us to detect allegories such as “citizens as plants”, “citizenship as motor” and “democracy as a goal” that outline an idealized narrative about citizenship education.

A continuum of balance performance between children with developmental coordination disorder, spastic cerebral palsy, and typical development.

Balance deficits are one of the most common impairments in developmental coordination disorder (DCD) and cerebral palsy (CP), with shared characteristics between both groups. However, balance deficits in DCD are very heterogeneous, but unlike in CP, they are poorly understood. To unravel the heterogeneity of balance performance in children with DCD by comparing them with CP and typical development (TD). Cross-sectional case-control study. Different outpatient settings and the community. Children aged 5-10.9 years with TD (N.=64, boys: 34, mean [SD] age: 8.1 [1.6]), DCD (N.=39, boys: 32, mean [SD] age: 8.1 [1.5], formal diagnosis [N.=27]), and CP (N.=24, boys: 14, mean [SD] age: 7.5 [1.4], GMFCS level I [N.=14]/II [N.=10], unilateral [N.=13]/bilateral [N.=11]). We evaluated balance performance with the extended version of the Kids-Balance Evaluation Systems Test (Kids-BESTest). Between-group differences in domain and total scores (%) were assessed via ANCOVA (covariate: age), with Tukey post-hoc analyses (P≤0.01). Children with DCD and CP performed poorer than TD children on total and domain scores with large effects (domains: η2=0.25-0.66 [P<0.001], total: η2=0.71 [P<0.001]). Still, post hoc comparisons revealed that DCD children scored significantly better than CP on the total score and four domains (P≤0.009), while performing similarly on tasks related to stability limits (P=0.999) and gait stability (P=0.012). There is a continuum of balance performance between children with TD, DCD and CP, but with great inter- and intra-individual heterogeneity in DCD and CP. DCD and CP children have difficulties with tasks requiring anticipatory postural adjustments, fast reactive responses, and with tasks that require complex sensory integration, suggesting an internal modeling deficit in both groups. This implies that these children must rely on slow conscious feedback-based control rather than fast feedforward control and fast automatic feedback. The performance of both DCD and CP children on their stability limits/verticality is similarly poor which further emphasizes a potential deficit in their sensory input and/or integration. Future research must focus on unraveling the control mechanisms, to further understand the heterogeneity of these balance deficits. The heterogeneous balance performances in both children with DCD and CP underscore the importance of comprehensively evaluating balance deficits in both groups. This comprehensive assessment contributes to a better understanding of individual balance deficits, thereby facilitating more tailored treatment programs.

Flow and Athletic Experts

AbstractPhilosophers frequently refer to ‘flow’ when discussing skill and expertise. This is especially clear when considering the ‘flow argument’ advocated by the Automatic view. Although the Automatic view is a minority position today, many philosophers and scientists endorse the flow argument or central parts of it. The present paper argues that the argument is implausible in the light of current psychological research. It proceeds in two steps. First, the paper argues that the psychological research does not suggest that flow is the only type of psychological state characteristic of optimal expert performance. Experts undergo different states, notably the state of clutch. Second, the paper argues that the psychological research does not suggest that flow states are devoid of conscious supervision in the form of conscious control, self-awareness, or task-related thoughts. Experts execute multiple conscious operations involved in attention control, motivational self-talk, and certain psychological mindsets while being in flow. These considerations oppose the two premises of the flow argument. Moreover, they correct misunderstandings of flow in the broader philosophical and scientific literature.

A single session of sensorimotor rhythm neurofeedback enhances long-game performance in professional golfers

Enhanced Sensorimotor Rhythm activity has been linked to increased automation in motor execution. Although existing research demonstrates the positive effects of SMR neurofeedback training on improving golf putting performance, its influence on golf long-game performance remains unexplored. This study sought to address this gap by involving seventeen professional female golfers (Age =24.63 ± 3.24 years, Handicap＝2.06 ± 1.18) in a crossover-designed experiment incorporating both NFT and a no-training control condition. During the study, participants executed 40 150-yard swings while receiving continuous SMR neurofeedback. Pre- and post-testing included visual analog scales to assess psychological processes associated with SMR activities, including attention engagement, conscious motor control, and physical relaxation levels. The results revealed that a single session of NFT effectively heightened SMR power irrespective of T1 (p = .02) or T2 (p = .03), which was observed with improved swing accuracy compared to the control conditions, particularly in "To Pin" (p = .04, the absolute distance to the hole after the ball comes to a stop). Subjective assessments further indicated that SMR NFT contributed to a sense of ease and tranquility during motor preparation for the golf swing (attention engagement: p = .01, conscious motor control: p = .033, physical relaxation: p = .013), and which offered valuable insights into the potential mechanisms underlying the impact of SMR NFT on long-game performance. Additionally, in such practical applications professional athletes can utilize our single-session neurofeedback protocol to train efficiently and cost-effectively before competitions, thereby enhancing their opportunity to achieve a higher rank.

The Relationship between Inclination for Conscious Movement Monitoring and Control and Stopping a Golf Stroke

Increased conscious movement monitoring and control can impair sports performance. Recent evidence indicates it might facilitate stopping motor actions. To further investigate, we asked novices to putt balls, but they needed to stop promptly while an auditory cue appeared during the downswing. They also completed the Movement Specific Reinvestment Scale, which measures movement self-consciousness (MS-C) and conscious motor processing, indicating the degree of inclination for conscious movement monitoring and control, respectively. Individuals with high MS-C displayed higher stopping rates but longer stopping time. Further exploration suggests that they were more likely to make slow downswings, allowing successful but late stops. We conclude that increased conscious movement monitoring may affect movement execution in such a way that it affords better stopping of ongoing motor actions.

Mindfulness Enhancing Concentration in English Foreign Language Reading Comprehension

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Learning Compass 2030 for teachers emphasizes that cognitive, metacognitive skills, and emotional intelligence skills such as compassion, attentiveness, critical thinking, creativity, and communication are indirectly important to developing reading comprehension. Reading is a challenge for EFL students who have difficulties understanding written texts because of the lack of concentration, stress, and anxiety. Mindfulness appears as a practice that may offer some benefits. Recent studies show that mindfulness training can alleviate anxiety and stress, improve confidence, improve cognitive and social abilities, and elevate academic goals. In this regard, this review synthesizes existing literature to evaluate the effectiveness of mindfulness in enhancing concentration in EFL reading comprehension classrooms and provide insights for educators, practitioners, and researchers. Criteria for selected articles were kept as recent as possible. All peer-reviewed papers were cited or published in scientific journals. This review suggests that mindfulness training has the potential to make learners more aware of their learning system. In addition, students learn to regulate their emotions to be more flexible and creative. Mindfulness training changes their point of view of their thinking in a way that encourages conscious control of their feeling, actions, and thoughts, improving cognitive abilities.

Physiology of lower gastrointestinal tract.

The lower gastrointestinal (GI) tract, formed from the midgut and hindgut, encompasses the colon, rectum and anal canal. The aim of this review is to provide an overview of the anatomy and physiology of the lower GI tract. Literature review on anatomy and physiology of the lower GI tract, including normal motility and phases of defecation. It derives its blood supply from the superior and inferior mesenteric arteries while it is innervated by the extrinsic autonomic (the thoracolumbar and sacral nerves) and the intrinsic enteric nervous system. The colon has four layers: mucosa, submucosa, muscularis externa and serosa. The anal canal ends in the internal and external anal sphincters (EASs) involved in continence and defecation. The lower GI tract is predominantly involved in digestion, absorption, defecation and protection. Defecation is a complex process that requires inter-neural (enteric and autonomic nervous systems), neurohormonal and neuromuscular coordination. It has four phases which include basal, pre-expulsive, expulsive and end phase. High-propagating contractions in the colon propel stool to the rectum leading to rectal distention and the recruitment of the recto-anal inhibitory reflex. Once able, the EAS, under full conscious control, is then relaxed allowing stool to be evacuated. Other defecation reflexes include the gastrocolic, gastroileal and coloanal reflexes. Recent advances provide novel techniques to investigate motility patterns including high-resolution manometry protocols with automated assessments, magnetic resonance imaging techniques for defecography, wireless motility capsules and fecobionics.

Impact of Hearing Loss and Auditory Rehabilitation on Dyads: A Microsocial Perspective

AbstractHearing loss severely hampers verbal exchange and thus social interaction, which puts a high burden on hearing-impaired and their close partners. Until now, nonverbal interaction in hearing-impaired dyads has not been addressed as a relevant factor for well-being or quality of social relationships. Nonverbal synchrony of head- and body-movement was analysed in N = 30 dyads of persons with hearing impairment (PHI) and their significant others (SO). In a 10-minute conversation before (T1) and 6 months after cochlear implantation (T2), Motion Energy Analysis (MEA) automatically quantified head- and body-movement. Self-report measures of both dyad members were used to assess aspects of quality of life and closeness in the partnership. After cochlear implantation, nonverbal synchrony showed a downward trend and was less distinct from pseudosynchrony. Higher synchrony was associated with worse hearing-related quality of life, shorter duration of hearing impairment and less closeness in the relationship. This negative association was interpreted as an indication for the effort one has to make to cope with difficulties in a dyad`s relationship. Endorsing a holistic approach in auditory rehabilitation, we propose the assessment of nonverbal synchrony as a suitable tool to detect subtle imbalances in the interpersonal relation between PHI and SO outside conscious control and to provide cues for possible therapeutical strategies.

Individual differences in intracortical inhibition predict action control when facing emotional stimuli.

Efficient inhibitory control in the context of prepotent actions is vital. However, such action inhibition may be profoundly influenced by affective states. Interestingly, research indicates that action control can be either impaired or improved by emotional stimuli. Thus, a great deal of confusion surrounds our knowledge of the complex dynamics subtending emotions and action control. Here, we aimed to investigate whether negative stimuli, even when non-consciously presented and task-irrelevant, can affect action control relative to neutral stimuli. Additionally, we tested whether individual differences in intracortical excitability may predict action control capabilities. To address these issues, we asked participants to complete a modified version of the Stop Signal Task (SST) in which fearful or neutral stimuli were subliminally presented before the go signals as primes. Moreover, we assessed participants' resting-state corticospinal excitability, short intracortical inhibition (SICI), and intracortical facilitation (ICF). Results demonstrated better action control capabilities when fearful stimuli were subliminally presented and interindividual SICI predicted stronger action inhibition capabilities. Taken together, these results shed new light on the intricate dynamics between action, consciousness, and motor control, suggesting that intracortical measures can be used as potential biomarkers of reduced motor inhibition in research and clinical settings.

The use of biofeedback training in complex therapy of neurotic disorders and correction of negative psychological consequences of combat stress in combatants

The parameters and effectiveness of biofeedback training in the complex treatment of neurotic disorders at the hospital stage and psychological correction at the sanatorium stages of rehabilitation of military personnel were assessed. We examined 40 mentally healthy military personnel who participated in combat operations and 36 military personnel who participated in combat operations and suffered from stress-associated neurotic disorders and who were undergoing inpatient treatment in the S.M. Kirov Military Medical Academy clinics. In identifying possible negative psychological consequences of combat stress in a group of mentally healthy military personnel, a medical and psychological examination was performed using the military version of the Mississippi scale for assessing post-traumatic reactions, Neurotic Disorders-Symptomatic Questionnaire, and Quality of Life Questionnaire-12. The military personnel underwent stress testing according to a specially developed scenario using a biofeedback hardware software complex to assess individual changes in physiological parameters in response to emotionally significant stimuli. In the military personnel who participated in combat operations and suffered from neurotic disorders, a medical and psychological examination was performed using the Neurotic Disorders-Symptomatic Questionnaire and Quality of Life Questionnaire-12 upon admission to the hospital and on the eve of discharge, and stress testing was conducted upon admission to the hospital. The therapeutic effectiveness of biofeedback training in the treatment of neurotic disorders was evaluated by comparing the results of treatment between two groups of 18 individuals each. One group received only drug therapy, whereas the other group, in addition to drug therapy, underwent biofeedback training on the amplitude of the systolic wave. The level of stress-associated psychogenic damage was found to be correlated with the amplitude of the systolic wave according to the digital photoplethysmogram. Moreover, the physiological indicators of the circulatory and respiratory systems, used in foreign studies for psychophysiological training in the treatment of post-stress disorders, were not associated with the level of psychogenic damage, indicating their lack of involvement in pathogenesis and the ineffectiveness of their use. The addition of biofeedback training on the amplitude of the systolic wave to the complex therapy of neurotic disorders leveled astheno-neurotic symptoms and improved quality of life. Therefore, when treating astheno-neurotic disorders in military personnel participating in combat operations, it is critical to include biofeedback training on the amplitude of the systolic wave; this reduces severity of neurotic symptoms, improves quality of life, and forms preventive skill of conscious control of excessive physiological reactions of combat stress. Furthermore, the correlation between the magnitude of the decrease in the amplitude of the systolic wave and level of mental damage in combatants, revealed during stress testing, indicates the importance of biofeedback training on the amplitude of the systolic wave in sanatorium-resort organizations and military clinical hospitals of the Russian Ministry of Defense for the medical and psychological rehabilitation of military personnel exhibiting negative symptoms and those suffering from psychological consequences of combat stress.

Exploring chitin: novel pathways and structures as promising targets for biopesticides.

Chitin, the most prevalent polymer in nature, a significant structural polysaccharide that comes in second only to cellulose. Chitin is a crucial component of fungal cell walls and also present in many other creatures, such as viruses, plants, animals, insect exoskeletons, and crustacean shells. Chitin presents itself as a promising target for the development of biopesticides. It focuses on unraveling the unique structures and biochemical pathways associated with chitin, aiming to identify vulnerabilities that can be strategically leveraged for effective and environmentally sustainable pest control. It involves a comprehensive analysis of chitinase enzymes, chitin biosynthesis, and chitin-related processes across diverse organisms. By elucidating the molecular intricacies involved in chitin metabolism, this review seeks to unveil potential points of intervention that can disrupt essential biological processes in target pests without harming non-target species. This holistic approach to understanding chitin-related pathways aims to inform the design and optimization of biopesticides with enhanced specificity and reduced ecological impact. The outcomes of this study hold great promise for advancing innovative and eco-friendly pest management strategies. By targeting chitin structures and pathways, biopesticides developed based on these findings may offer a sustainable and selective alternative to conventional chemical pesticides, contributing tothe ongoing efforts towards more environmentally conscious and effective pest control solutions.