Physiological Cues Research Articles

Energy Transfer Between i-Motif DNA Encapsulated Silver Nanoclusters and Fluorescein Amidite Efficiently Visualizes the Redox State of Live Cells.

The redox regulation, maintaining a balance between oxidation and reduction in living cells, is vital for cellular homeostasis, intricate signaling networks, and appropriate responses to physiological and environmental cues. Here, a novel redox sensor, based on DNA-encapsulated silver nanoclusters (DNA/AgNCs) and well-defined chemical fluorophores, effectively illustrating cellular redox states in live cells is introduced. Among various i-motif DNAs, the photophysical property of poly-cytosines (C20)-encapsulated AgNCs that sense reactive oxygen species (ROS) is adopted. However, the sensitivity of C20/AgNCs is insufficient for evaluating ROS levels in live cells. To overcome this drawback, the ROS sensing mechanism of C20/AgNCs through gel electrophoresis, mass spectrometry, and small-angle X-ray scattering is primarily defined. Then, by tethering fluorescein amidite (FAM)and Cyanine 5 (Cy5)dyes to each end of the C20/AgNCs sensor, an Energy Transfer (ET) between AgNCs and FAM is achieved, resulting in intensified green fluorescence upon ROS detection. Taken together, the FAM-C20/AgNCs-Cy5 redox sensor enables dynamic visualization of intracellular redox states, yielding insights into oxidative stress-related processes in live cells.

Revolutionizing Identity Verification and Recognition

The innovative integration of real-time human detection improves both security and user experience in identity authentication. This approach improves authentication processes by analysing physiological and behavioural indicators such as face movements and eye movements, hence reducing fraud risks. Its deployment across sectors promises to enhance security in finance, healthcare, e-commerce, and law enforcement. Despite the hurdles, the benefits of this human-centered approach are enormous, indicating a more secure digital future. Keywords— Identity verification, live human detection, digital security, biometric authentication, user experience, fraud prevention, computer vision, physiological and behavioural cues, facial and vocal patterns, finance, healthcare, e-commerce, law enforcement.

Drowsiness Detection and Alert System

Drowsiness detection is a solution for identifying signs of fatigue or sleepiness in individuals. One of the key features of our model is that it can detect drowsiness at night as well using Mobile cameras (infrared sensors). The system captures infrared images of the person's face and analyzes the physiological and behavioral cues related to drowsiness. Infrared sensors allow for drowsiness detection in low-light conditions, making it particularly useful for night-time scenarios such as night driving. The system can trigger alerts or interventions if drowsiness is detected, helping to prevent accidents or mistakes. We will be using libraries like OpenCV, TensorFlow, CNN, and VGG19 features in our model. By combining the accessibility of Android devices with the advanced capabilities of the Deep Learning algorithm, drowsiness detection using infrared sensors has the potential to greatly improve the safety and productivity of individuals in their daily lives.

“We Are Detective”: Transvestigations, conspiracy and inauthenticity in ‘gender critical’ social media discourses

This article explores the socio-behavioral phenomenon of “transvestigations” in social media discourses. This phenomenon is most often characterized by users referring – erroneously – to apparent physiological cues of one's assigned sex at birth, which motivate their interpretation of one's transgender status, particularly among those who do not identify as transgender and focus primarily on cisgender celebrities. It is difficult to know whether these behaviors and interactions are symptomatic of an authentic “gender critical” ideology or inauthentic practices that only fan the flames of antagonism in an ongoing social struggle. In this paper, I explain how transvestigations are primarily based on transphobic “gender critical” discourses and are fundamentally underpinned by a conspiracy of transgender ubiquity. I also explain how transgender users and their allies troll transvestigators by mocking the same discourses and assumptions. To do so, I analyze social media data using methods from cultural political economy and social-cognitive discourse studies. I argue that the possibilities and uses of social media for misinformation, conspiracy, and mimetic antagonism facilitate a discursive landscape in which authentic "gender-critical" discourses are indistinguishable from potentially inauthentic conspiratorial discourses. By highlighting how social media and its users (re)construct a world without distinction between authenticity and inauthenticity, this article raises questions about the im/possibilities of change in contexts of ongoing and ever-increasing antagonisms.

Microbial chassis as the platform for production of dihydroxy xanthophyll-based carotenoids: an overview of recent advances in biomanufacturing.

Physiological and environmental cues prompt microbes to synthesize diverse carotenoids, including dihydroxy xanthophylls, facilitating their adaptation and survival. Lutein and its isomeric counterpart, zeaxanthin, are notable dihydroxy xanthophylls with bioactive properties such as antioxidative, anti-inflammatory, anticancer, and neuroprotective effects, particularly beneficial for human ocular health. However, global natural resources for co-producing lutein and zeaxanthin are scarce, with zeaxanthin lacking commercial sources, unlike lutein sourced from marigold plants and microalgae. Traditionally, dihydroxy xanthophyll production primarily relies on petrochemical synthetic routes, with limited biological sourcing reported. Nonetheless, microbiological synthesis presents promising avenues as a commercial source, albeit challenged by low dihydroxy xanthophyll yield at high cell density. Strategies involving optimization of physical and chemical parameters are essential to achieve high-quality dihydroxy xanthophyll products. This overview briefly discusses dihydroxy xanthophyll biosynthesis and highlights recent advancements, discoveries, and industrial benefits of lutein and zeaxanthin production from microorganisms as alternative biofactories.

Motivation to regulate eating behaviors, intuitive eating, and well-being: A dyadic study with mothers and adult daughters

Intuitive eating, defined as relying on physiological cues to determine when, what, and how much to eat while maintaining a positive relationship with food (Tribole & Resch, 1995), has gained a lot of research attention in the last two decades. The present study sought to determine how motivation for regulating eating behaviors is related to intuitive eating and well-being outcomes in dyads of mothers and their adult daughters (n = 214). Structural equation modelling revealed that controlling for dieting and desire to lose weight, both mothers' and daughters' autonomous motivation was positively associated with their own intuitive eating while their controlled motivation was negatively associated with intuitive eating. In turn, intuitive eating was positively associated with well-being in both mothers and daughters. Interestingly, mothers' intuitive eating was also positively related to their daughters' well-being. The analysis of indirect effects suggests that mothers' motivation to regulate eating behaviors has an indirect (mediating) relationship with daughters' well-being through mothers' intuitive eating. The implications for women's health and well-being are discussed.

Comparative Study of Basement-membrane Matrices for Human Stem Cell Maintenance and Intestinal Organoid Generation.

Extracellular matrix (ECM) plays a critical role in cell behavior and development. Organoids generated from human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) are in the spotlight of many research areas. However, the lack of physiological cues in classical cell culture materials hinders efficient iPSC differentiation. Incorporating commercially available ECM into stem cell culture provides physical and chemical cues beneficial for cell maintenance. Animal-derived commercially available basement membrane products are composed of ECM proteins and growth factors that support cell maintenance. Since the ECM holds tissue-specific properties that can modulate cell fate, xeno-free matrices are used to stream up translation to clinical studies. While commercially available matrices are widely used in hiPSC and organoid work, the equivalency of these matrices has not been evaluated yet. Here, a comparative study of hiPSC maintenance and human intestinal organoids (hIO) generation in four different matrices: Matrigel (Matrix 1-AB), Geltrex (Matrix 2-AB), Cultrex (Matrix 3-AB), and VitroGel (Matrix 4-XF) was conducted. Although the colonies lacked a perfectly round shape, there was minimal spontaneous differentiation, with over 85% of the cells expressing the stem cell marker SSEA-4. Matrix 4-XF led to the formation of 3D round clumps. Also, increasing the concentration of supplement and growth factors in the media used to make the Matrix 4-XF hydrogel solution improved hiPSC expression of SSEA-4 by 1.3-fold. Differentiation of Matrix 2-AB -maintained hiPSC led to fewer spheroid releases during the mid-/hindgut stage compared to the other animal-derived basement membranes. Compared to others, the xeno-free organoid matrix (Matrix 4-O3) leads to larger and more mature hIO, suggesting that the physical properties of xeno-free hydrogels can be harnessed to optimize organoid generation. Altogether, the results suggest that variations in the composition of different matrices affect stages of IO differentiation. This study raises awareness about the differences in commercially available matrices and provides a guide for matrix optimization during iPSC and IO work.

Natural Compounds and Biomimetic Engineering to Influence Fibroblast Behavior in Wound Healing.

Throughout history, natural products have played a significant role in wound healing. Fibroblasts, acting as primary cellular mediators in skin wound healing, exhibit behavioral responses to natural compounds that can enhance the wound healing process. Identifying bioactive natural compounds and understanding their impact on fibroblast behavior offers crucial translational opportunities in the realm of wound healing. Modern scientific techniques have enabled a detailed understanding of how naturally derived compounds modulate wound healing by influencing fibroblast behavior. Specific compounds known for their wound healing properties have been identified. Engineered biomimetic compounds replicating the natural wound microenvironment are designed to facilitate normal healing. Advanced delivery methods operating at micro- and nano-scales have been developed to effectively deliver these novel compounds through the stratum corneum. This review provides a comprehensive summary of the efficacy of natural compounds in influencing fibroblast behavior for promoting wound regeneration and repair. Additionally, it explores biomimetic engineering, where researchers draw inspiration from nature to create materials and devices mimicking physiological cues crucial for effective wound healing. The review concludes by describing novel delivery mechanisms aimed at enhancing the bioavailability of natural compounds. Innovative future strategies involve exploring fibroblast-influencing pathways, responsive biomaterials, smart dressings with real-time monitoring, and applications of stem cells. However, translating these findings to clinical settings faces challenges such as the limited validation of biomaterials in large animal models and logistical obstacles in industrial production. The integration of ancient remedies with modern approaches holds promise for achieving effective and scar-free wound healing.

Engineered Microchannel Scaffolds with Instructive Niches Reinforce Endogenous Bone Regeneration by Regulating CSF-1/CSF-1R Pathway.

Structural and physiological cues provide guidance for the directional migration and spatial organization of endogenous cells. Here, a microchannel scaffold with instructive niches is developed using a circumferential freeze-casting technique with an alkaline salting-out strategy. Thereinto, polydopamine-coated nano-hydroxyapatite is employed as a functional inorganic linker to participate in the entanglement and crystallization of chitosan molecules. This scaffold orchestrates the advantage of an oriented porous structure for rapid cell infiltration and satisfactory immunomodulatory capacity to promote stem cell recruitment, retention, and subsequent osteogenic differentiation. Transcriptomic analysis as well as its in vitro and in vivo verification demonstrates that essential colony-stimulating factor-1 (CSF-1) factor is induced by this scaffold, and effectively bound to the target colony-stimulating factor-1 receptor (CSF-1R) on the macrophage surface to activate the M2 phenotype, achieving substantial endogenous bone regeneration. This strategy provides a simple and efficient approach for engineering inducible bone regenerative biomaterials.

Loss of Pip4k2c confers liver-metastatic organotropism through insulin-dependent PI3K-AKT pathway activation.

Liver metastasis (LM) confers poor survival and therapy resistance across cancer types, but the mechanisms of liver-metastatic organotropism remain unknown. Here, through in vivo CRISPR-Cas9 screens, we found that Pip4k2c loss conferred LM but had no impact on lung metastasis or primary tumor growth. Pip4k2c-deficient cells were hypersensitized to insulin-mediated PI3K/AKT signaling and exploited the insulin-rich liver milieu for organ-specific metastasis. We observed concordant changes in PIP4K2C expression and distinct metabolic changes in 3,511 patient melanomas, including primary tumors, LMs and lung metastases. We found that systemic PI3K inhibition exacerbated LM burden in mice injected with Pip4k2c-deficient cancer cells through host-mediated increase in hepatic insulin levels; however, this circuit could be broken by concurrent administration of an SGLT2 inhibitor or feeding of a ketogenic diet. Thus, this work demonstrates a rare example of metastatic organotropism through co-optation of physiological metabolic cues and proposes therapeutic avenues to counteract these mechanisms.

Intelligent Drug Delivery: Pioneering Stimuli-Responsive Systems to Revolutionize Disease Management- An In-depth Exploration.

In recent years, there has been an escalating interest in stimuli-responsive drug delivery systems (SRDDS) due to their ability to revolutionize the delivery of therapeutics. SRDDSs offer a multitude of benefits in comparison to conventional drug delivery systems (DDS), including spatiotemporal control of drug release, targeted delivery, and improved therapeutic efficacy. The development of various classes of stimuli-responsive DDS, such as pH-responsive, temperature-responsive, photo-responsive, redox responsive systems, has been propelled by advances in materials science, nanotechnology, and biotechnology. These systems exploit specific environmental or physiological cues to trigger drug release in a precisely controlled manner, making them highly promising for the treatment of various diseases. In this review article, an in-depth exploration of the principles, mechanisms, and applications of SRDDS in the context of diverse pathologies such as cancer, arthritis, Alzheimer's disease, atherosclerosis and tissue engineering has been provided. Furthermore, this article delves into the discussion of recent patents, market overview and the progress of research in clinical trials. Overall, this article underscores the transformative potential of SRDDS in enabling personalized, precise, and effective drug delivery for the treatment of the above-mentioned diseases.

Adipose Tissue Dysfunction Determines Lipotoxicity and Triggers the Metabolic Syndrome: Current Challenges and Clinical Perspectives.

The adipose tissue organ is organised as distinct anatomical depots located all along the body axis, and it is constituted of three different types of adipocytes: white, beige and brown, which are integrated with vascular, immune, neural, and extracellular stroma cells. These distinct adipocytes serve different specialised functions. The main function of white adipocytes is to ensure healthy storage of excess nutrients/energy and its rapid mobilisation to supply the demand of energy imposed by physiological cues in other organs, whereas brown and beige adipocytes are designed for heat production through uncoupling lipid oxidation from energy production. The concerted action of the three types of adipocytes/tissues ensures an optimal metabolic status. However, when one or several of these adipose depots become dysfunctional because of sustained lipid/nutrient overload, then insulin resistance and associated metabolic complications ensue. These metabolic alterations close a vicious cycle that negatively affects the adipose tissue functionality and compromises global metabolic homeostasis. Optimising white adipose tissue expandability and ensuring its functional metabolic flexibility and/or promoting brown/beige mediated thermogenic activity are complementary strategies that counteract obesity and its associated lipotoxic metabolic effects. However, the development of these therapeutic approaches requires a deep understanding of adipose tissue in all broad aspects. In this chapter, we will discuss the characteristics of the different adipose tissue depots with respect to origins and precursors recruitment, plasticity, cellular composition, and expandability capacity potential as well as molecular and metabolic characteristic signatures in both physiological and pathophysiological conditions. Current antilipotoxic strategies for future clinical application are also discussed in this chapter.

Revisiting the potential of regulated cell death in glioma treatment: a focus on autophagy-dependent cell death, anoikis, ferroptosis, cuproptosis, pyroptosis, immunogenic cell death, and the crosstalk between them.

Gliomas are primary tumors that originate in the central nervous system. The conventional treatment options for gliomas typically encompass surgical resection and temozolomide (TMZ) chemotherapy. However, despite aggressive interventions, the median survival for glioma patients is merely about 14.6 months. Consequently, there is an urgent necessity to explore innovative therapeutic strategies for treating glioma. The foundational study of regulated cell death (RCD) can be traced back to Karl Vogt's seminal observations of cellular demise in toads, which were documented in 1842. In the past decade, the Nomenclature Committee on Cell Death (NCCD) has systematically classified and delineated various forms and mechanisms of cell death, synthesizing morphological, biochemical, and functional characteristics. Cell death primarily manifests in two forms: accidental cell death (ACD), which is caused by external factors such as physical, chemical, or mechanical disruptions; and RCD, a gene-directed intrinsic process that coordinates an orderly cellular demise in response to both physiological and pathological cues. Advancements in our understanding of RCD have shed light on the manipulation of cell death modulation - either through induction or suppression - as a potentially groundbreaking approach in oncology, holding significant promise. However, obstacles persist at the interface of research and clinical application, with significant impediments encountered in translating to therapeutic modalities. It is increasingly apparent that an integrative examination of the molecular underpinnings of cell death is imperative for advancing the field, particularly within the framework of inter-pathway functional synergy. In this review, we provide an overview of various forms of RCD, including autophagy-dependent cell death, anoikis, ferroptosis, cuproptosis, pyroptosis and immunogenic cell death. We summarize the latest advancements in understanding the molecular mechanisms that regulate RCD in glioma and explore the interconnections between different cell death processes. By comprehending these connections and developing targeted strategies, we have the potential to enhance glioma therapy through manipulation of RCD.

Disinhibited or Disconnected? Dietary Restraint Attenuates the Relationship Between Heart Rate Variability and Stress-Induced Suppression of Food Intake

Abstract: Literature on restrained eaters posits that the capacity to successfully diet is cognitively demanding, requiring exertion of cognitive control over one’s eating behaviour. Demands that deplete this limited inner resource can thus lead restrained eaters to become disinhibited and consume large amounts of food. Although self-regulation is inferred to play a role, it has not yet been studied in combination with its physiological correlates. As low heart rate variability (HRV) is associated with lower self-regulatory capacity, and acute mental stressors decrease HRV, it was hypothesized that reduced HRV during stress may mediate the relationship between stress and food intake, and that the mediation may be moderated by dietary restraint. Specifically, the moderation hypothesis predicted more restrained eaters would exhibit a stronger relationship between low HRV and intake. Female undergraduates ( n = 92) were randomized to a stress or control condition while HRV was recorded. Participants subsequently engaged in a bogus taste test to quantify post-stress consumption. Restraint was conceptualized using Hagan and colleagues’ (2017) latent restraint factors. A significant moderated mediation emerged for Weight-Focused Restraint, ab3 = .196, SE = .077, 95% CI [.060, .361] and Calorie Counting, ab3 = .062, SE = .023, 95% CI [.024, .115]. However, contrary to expectation, stress-induced HRV reduction was associated with decreased intake for those low in restraint, whereas intake was unrelated to HRV for individuals with higher dietary restraint. Further, there was no evidence of traditionally-defined disinhibition in more restrained eaters. Results suggest those with higher restraint show a relative disconnection from internal physiological cues shown to affect intake under stress in less restrained individuals.

Provoking Reflection in Action in Experienced Practitioners: An Educational Intervention

ABSTRACT Stress experienced during high-risk decision-making may impair performance, but can also be a cue, provoking the move from intuitive and automatic application of expertise to reflective and deliberative approaches. This article reports an exploratory intervention designed to provoke reflection-in-action and, ultimately, to improve practice decision making in experienced clinicians. The intervention combined: classroom-based education on decision-making science, practice-based self-monitoring with the aid of wearable technology, decision-making logs intended to provoke reflection, and opportunities to engage in guided reflection-on-action. The intervention supported recognition and use of physiological cues to moderate action and decision making, and provoked experienced professionals to reconnect with the element of surprise they experienced early in their careers, and to use these moments to improve their practice.

Autophagy modulation changes mechano-chemical sensitivity of T24 bladder cancer cells

Bladder cancer cells possess unique adaptive capabilities: shaped by their environment, cells face a complex chemical mixture of metabolites and xenobiotics accompanied by physiological mechanical cues. These responses might translate into resistance to chemotherapeutical regimens and can largely rely on autophagy. Considering molecules capable of rewiring tumor plasticity, compounds of natural origin promise to offer valuable options. Fungal derived metabolites, such as bafilomycin and wortmannin are widely acknowledged as autophagy inhibitors. Here, their potential to tune bladder cancer cells´ adaptability to chemical and physical stimuli was assessed. Additionally, dietary occurring mycotoxins were also investigated, namely deoxynivalenol (DON, 0.1–10 µM) and fusaric acid (FA, 0.1–1 mM). Endowing a Janus’ face behavior, DON and FA are on the one side described as toxins with detrimental health effects. Concomitantly, they are also explored experimentally for selective pharmacological applications including anticancer activities. In non-cytotoxic concentrations, bafilomycin (BAFI, 1–10 nM) and wortmannin (WORT, 1 µM) modified cell morphology and reduced cancer cell migration. Application of shear stress and inhibition of mechano-gated PIEZO channels reduced cellular sensitivity to BAFI treatment (1 nM). Similarly, for FA (0.5 mM) PIEZO1 expression and inhibition largely aligned with the modulatory potential on cancer cells motility. Additionally, this study highlighted that the activity profile of compounds with similar cytotoxic potential (e.g. co-incubation DON with BAFI or FA with WORT) can diverge substantially in the regulation of cell mechanotransduction. Considering the interdependence between tumor progression and response to mechanical cues, these data promise to provide a novel viewpoint for the study of chemoresistance and associated pathways.

Platelet CD47 Maintains Circulating Monocyte Immune Homeostasis

In addition to their well-studied hemostatic functions, platelets are immune cells. Platelets circulate at the interface between the vascular wall and white blood cells, and transient platelet-leukocyte complexes are found in both healthy and disease states, positioning platelets to provide physiologic cues of both vascular health and injury. Roles for activated platelets in inducing and amplifying immune responses have received an increasing amount of research attention, but our past studies also showed that normal platelet counts are needed in healthy conditions to maintain immune homeostasis. Circulating monocytes are a part of the first line of host defenses that recognize and clear pathogens in part by releasing inflammatory cytokines, including IL-6, IL-8 and TNFα, that trigger a robust inflammatory reaction. However, this needs to be tightly regulated and in disease conditions like sepsis, dysregulated monocyte responses contribute to a “cytokine storm” that leads to exaggerated inflammation, tissue damage and potentially mortality. The cellular and molecular mechanisms that regulate monocyte immune phenotypes are complex and include roles for platelets. Considering the immune regulatory role of platelets and that thrombocytopenia is associated with worse sepsis outcomes, we hypothesize that resting platelets maintain monocyte immune homeostasis in healthy conditions and thrombocytopenia independently leads to monocyte dysregulation that exacerbates sepsis responses in a manner that is dependent on direct platelet-monocyte CD47 homotypic interactions that regulate monocyte immunometabolism and gene expression. Compared to monocytes from mice with normal platelet counts, circulating monocytes from thrombocytopenic mice had increased toll-like receptor (TLR) induced cytokine responses. Furthermore, ex vivo co-incubation of resting platelets with platelet naïve bone marrow monocytes, induced monocyte metabolic programming skewed toward glycolysis, consistent with our in vitro and in vivo RNA-Seq results. Enhanced glycolysis was mediated by AKT/mTOR pathway activation and resulted in durable changes in TLR agonist responses. Assay for transposase-accessible chromatin with high-throughput sequencing (ATAC-Seq) on monocytes from thrombocytopenic mice showed open chromatin at LPS response genes, and resting platelet interactions with monocytes induced histone H3K9 and H3K27 trimethylation in a CD47 dependent manner. Using mouse models of thrombocytopenia and sepsis, we found that normal platelet numbers limited monocyte immune dysregulation and systemic inflammation. This was dependent on platelet CD47 as only WT platelets, not CD47 -/- platelet transfusion rescued the exaggerated inflammatory responses in thrombocytopenic mice (Fig 1). Both plasma IL-6 and IL-8 and circulating monocyte IL6 and IL8 gene expression from human patients with sepsis and non-septic conditions inversely correlated with patient platelet counts, further suggesting a resting platelet role in maintaining monocyte immune quiescence. Overall, our studies demonstrate that resting platelets maintain monocyte immune homeostasis by limiting TLR responses through regulating monocyte immunometabolic processes that lead to epigenetic changes in monocyte immune response genes (Fig 2). Thrombocytopenia therefore independently leads to immune dysregulation in sepsis, exacerbating systemic inflammatory processes. This is the first demonstration of sterile endogenous cell interactions that regulate innate immune-metabolism and monocyte pathogen responses.

Mechanical loading and hyperosmolarity as a daily resetting cue for skeletal circadian clocks

Daily rhythms in mammalian behaviour and physiology are generated by a multi-oscillator circadian system entrained through environmental cues (e.g. light and feeding). The presence of tissue niche-dependent physiological time cues has been proposed, allowing tissues the ability of circadian phase adjustment based on local signals. However, to date, such stimuli have remained elusive. Here we show that daily patterns of mechanical loading and associated osmotic challenge within physiological ranges reset circadian clock phase and amplitude in cartilage and intervertebral disc tissues in vivo and in tissue explant cultures. Hyperosmolarity (but not hypo-osmolarity) resets clocks in young and ageing skeletal tissues and induce genome-wide expression of rhythmic genes in cells. Mechanistically, RNAseq and biochemical analysis revealed the PLD2-mTORC2-AKT-GSK3β axis as a convergent pathway for both in vivo loading and hyperosmolarity-induced clock changes. These results reveal diurnal patterns of mechanical loading and consequent daily oscillations in osmolarity as a bona fide tissue niche-specific time cue to maintain skeletal circadian rhythms in sync.

Reasons for meal termination, eating frequency, and typical meal context differ between persons with and without a spinal cord injury

Overeating associated with neurogenic obesity after spinal cord injury (SCI) may be related to how persons with SCI experience satiation (processes leading to meal termination), their eating frequency, and the context in which they eat their meals. In an online, cross-sectional study, adults with (n = 688) and without (Controls; n = 420) SCI completed the Reasons Individuals Stop Eating Questionnaire-15 (RISE-Q-15), which measures individual differences in the experience of factors contributing to meal termination on five scales: Physical Satisfaction, Planned Amount, Decreased Food Appeal, Self-Consciousness, and Decreased Priority of Eating. Participants also reported weekly meal and snack frequency and who prepares, serves, and eats dinner with them at a typical dinner meal. Analysis revealed that while Physical Satisfaction, Planned Amount, and Decreased Food Appeal were reported as the most frequent drivers of meal termination in both groups, scores for the RISE-Q-15 scales differed across the groups. Compared to Controls, persons with SCI reported Physical Satisfaction and Planned Amount as drivers of meal termination less frequently, and Decreased Food Appeal and Decreased Priority of Eating more frequently (all p < 0.001). This suggests that persons with SCI rely less on physiological satiation cues for meal termination than Controls and instead rely more on hedonic cues. Compared to Controls, persons with SCI less frequently reported preparing and serving dinner meals and less frequently reported eating alone (all p < 0.001), indicating differences in meal contexts between groups. Individuals with SCI reported consuming fewer meals than Controls but reported a higher overall eating frequency due to increased snacking (p ≤ 0.015). A decrease in the experience of physical fullness, along with a dependence on a communal meal context and frequent snacking, likely contribute to overeating associated with neurogenic obesity after SCI.

MS-FTSCNN: An EEG emotion recognition method from the combination of multi-domain features

Electroencephalography (EEG), as a physiological cue, is more objective and reliable in identifying emotions than non-physiological cues. Previous methods only consider one or two relationships among frequency, time and spatial domain features of EEG signals, and the designed models may still be relatively large in terms of parameters. Meanwhile, the training process of the previous networks is troublesome during algorithm optimization. To address these challenges, we design a simple and efficient feature preprocessing method to obtain a 3D feature structure that contains EEG signal information in the frequency, time and spatial domains simultaneously. Then, we propose a multiscale frequency–time–spatial convolutional model, MS-FTSCNN, which is able to capture frequency, time and spatial features from the input signals and fuse three features more efficiently. Moreover, the multi-scale one-dimensional convolutional kernel in our method can reduce network parameters, providing possibilities for real-time online applications. Finally, the recognition accuracies of arousal and valence of our proposed model are 93.82%, 94.48% on DEAP dataset and 92.64%, 92.15% on MOHNOB-HCI dataset, which is higher than most existing methods.