Polygonatum polysaccharide improves cognitive function in senescence-accelerated mice by regulating ferroptosis through the cAMP/PKA/CREB pathway: transcriptomics-based and in vivo experimental validation.

Depression is a common mental disorder. Patients with treatment-resistant depression (TRD) often experience sleep disorders (SD), which interact with each other and aggravate the deterioration of the disease. In this study, we analyzed the effect of paroxetine combined with low-dose quetiapine on patients with treatment-resistant depression complicated by sleep disorders. We divided treatment-resistant depression + sleep disorders 120 patients into a control group treated with paroxetine and a research group treated with paroxetine + low-dose-quetiapine. Hamilton Depression Scale (HAMD-17), Self-rating Anxiety and Depression Scale (SAS/SDS), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and serum indexes (cortisol, epinephrine, thyroid hormone, etc.) were used to analyze the data. In terms of clinical efficacy, the research group demonstrated superior efficacy. Besides, the research group showed lower self-rating anxiety/depression scale scores than the control group after treatment (P<0.05). In terms of sleep quality, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index of the research group also decreased more significantly compared with the control group (P<0.05). Moreover, better stress injury alleviation and endocrine function improvement were determined in the research group (P<0.05). The two groups were not statistically different in treatment compliance and adverse reactions (P>0.05). Paroxetine combined with a low dose of quetiapine is a clinically effective approach for treatment-resistant depression with sleep disorders and is recommended for clinical use.

The long-term influence of early rehabilitation nursing on neurological improvement and life quality in patients with severe traumatic brain injury: A prospective cohort study.

Microplastics (MPs) are contaminants of high concern due to their ubiquitous presence in the environment and their ability to adsorb and release other pollutants. Sediments, as final sinks of contaminants in coastal environments, are good indicators of the presence of MPs in estuaries. This study aims to investigate the abundance, geographical/ temporal trends and characteristics of MPs present in the Urdaibai estuary, located in an area protected by UNESCO. To our knowledge, this is the first time that the presence of MPs is reported in this area. Sediment samples were collected at five points in the estuary every three months for a year. The fraction between 250μm and 2000μm of the dry sediments was analysed by imaging-Raman microscopy, with tuned parameters and using a 785nm laser, following an innovative methodology developed in our research group. The concentration of the MPs found ranges from 16 to 165 items per kilogram of dry sediment, being polyethylene (PE), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polypropylene (PP) and polystyrene (PS) the most abundant. Only fragments and fibres were encountered, and PET was only found in the form of fibres. Although no general temporal trend was observed, one sampling site presented a significantly higher amount of MPs than the rest of sites, probably due to geomorphic and hydrodynamic reasons. This work highlights the importance of monitoring MPs in coastal environments, which will provide us with information to improve plastic waste management, develop clear regulations on the manufacture and use of plastic materials, and implement public awareness programmes.

Rising Star: Combining Bioinformatics and Experimental Biology to Decoding Non-coding RNAs and RNA Modifications.

Rising Star: Rewriting the Code of Life for the Future of Food.

Deciphering Plant-Microbe Symbioses: A Molecular Blueprint for Precision Agriculture.

Patients lack knowledge and have unhelpful beliefs about low back pain, which are associated with worse outcomes. Education may improve knowledge and modify beliefs and is recommended as a first-line low back pain treatment. However, low back pain guidelines are vague in their education recommendations and patients report rarely receiving education in from their family doctor. Those receiving education often report unclear and inconsistent information across resources that do not address their needs. Patient education materials can be used to facilitate the provision of credible, clear and consistent information to address patients' needs, but no tool has been developed to assess if they contain information patients want to know, or information providers want patients to know. To (i) identify a list of items describing information that patients want to know about and that educators want patients to know about related to low back pain and (ii) organize them into a checklist with a coding scheme for future pilot testing. We reviewed the literature to inform working definitions of patients' information needs (what patients want to know more about) and education needs (what experts identified patients lack knowledge about). Using these definitions, we found two recent systematic reviews investigating patients' information needs, attitudes, and beliefs about low back pain. We used the constant comparative method to conduct a content analysis of the data from these reviews into codes and categories relating to patients' needs, from which we generated items. Patient partners and clinician researchers assessed face validity. A clinician researcher pre-tested the checklist to minimize measurement error. We developed a checklist comprising 21 items about prognosis, diagnosis, treatment, causes, aetiology, prevention, functional anatomy, activities of daily living, and pain neuroscience education. A small group of patients and clinician researchers judged the checklist to have acceptable face validity. We developed a novel checklist comprising 21 distinct patient information and education needs about low back pain. It is intended to assess whether patient education materials about low back pain contain information about these needs, but its development is preliminary in nature and further validation is required.

Predicting the prognosis of primary and substance-associated psychoses using urine drug screens: A 5-year retrospective longitudinal study using medical records.

Young people living with Long Covid face challenges accessing health care and social support. Previous qualitative research in the UK has described the 'invalidation' of Long Covid illness experience. It has been said that there is a 'double invisibility' produced by narratives that minimise the effects of Covid-19 among young people, which combine with a generalised lack of awareness of Long Covid itself. In this analysis, we look beyond the well-documented networks of online self-help and advocacy to trace how young people navigate, connect and maintain multi-sited alternative care networks to manage their everyday experiences of Long Covid. We draw on the analysis of qualitative interviews with 54 young people aged 15-25 with long-term health impacts from Covid-19, of whom 30 also participated in follow-up interviews. The sample includes young people with multiple genders, who identify with a range of ethnic identities, and who have experience of neurodiversity or additional disabilities. Interview transcripts were analysed to identify key themes, in collaboration with a group of peer researchers who are co-authors on this study. We find that the informal networks that are navigated and created by young people play a vital role, but that they are also fragile. We present our findings across four themes-how informal networks afford young people validation in different ways; the material differences informal networks bring to young people's lives; the work that young people do to build and maintain these networks; and the fragility of support networks. We show that informal networks are not simply identified and found, but that they are 'made to work' by young people who do the work that brings informal networks together and that holds them in place. We conclude that there is a need to strengthen the vital work of informal care that is done by young people, but that alternative care networks should not be seen simply as a means of 'filling the gaps' of inadequate care. There is a need to build infrastructures that properly integrate formal with informal care in direct response to young people's experiences of Long Covid. This qualitative study was undertaken in close collaboration with community partners and co-produced with young people affected by Long Covid, using participatory methods. Young people affected by Long Covid were involved in a series of consultations, workshops and meetings focused on the analysis of data and their development into project outputs, including as authors of this paper.

Canine enteric coronavirus (CECoV) causes diarrhea and vomiting, often leading to outbreaks in kennels and shelters. The World Small Animal Veterinary Association does not recommend vaccination due to limited evidence of efficacy. This meta-analysis assesses CECoV vaccine immunogenicity and protective efficacy against diarrhea and viral shedding. PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar were searched for experimental or observational studies of dogs vaccinated against CECoV, published from inception to September 29, 2025. Included studies confirmed dogs were free of CECoV infection and neutralizing antibodies before study. Exclusions applied to noncompliant studies. The Systematic Review Centre for Laboratory Animal Experimentation and funnel plots assessed bias risk. To assess vaccine immunogenicity, ELISA optical density (OD) values and log2 virus neutralization (VN) titers were regressed; pooled risk ratios evaluated protective efficacy. From 415 studies, 5 experimental studies with unclear bias risks were included. Most reported dog age but omitted sex or breed. Inactivated vaccines significantly increased both OD values and VN titers, whereas attenuated vaccines significantly increased OD values but not VN titers. Vaccination reduced diarrhea risk by 72% (risk ratio, -1.28; 95% CI, -2.05 to -0.51), but did not decrease viral shedding (risk ratio, -0.25; 95% CI, -0.70 to 0.21). CECoV vaccines are immunogenic and reduce diarrhea, but do not significantly reduce viral shedding, potentially masking infections in clinical settings and thus complicating disease control in communal environments. Limited literature and studies from similar research groups suggest removing CECoV vaccines from guidelines. Standardized reporting is recommended to improve future canine epidemiological research reliability.

Rising Star: G Protein-coupled Receptors (GPCRs) in Microenvironment Pharmacology and Sensory Perception Pharmacology.

One of the areas of medicine where AI is currently being most actively implemented is radiology. However, until 2020, AI technologies were used only in scientific research. This was due to the existence of numerous insurmountable barriers. Previously, other research groups attempted to systematize the barriers to AI implementation, but these were largely theoretical and did not take into account the real-world experience of implementing AI in radiology. Purpose of the study is to systematize the barriers that hindered the implementation of AI in radiology, taking into account the experience of the Moscow experiment. Materials and methods. A retrospective analytical study was conducted to systematize the barriers that hindered the implementation of AI in radiology. Results. Twenty-one high-level barriers to the implementation of AI in radiology were identified, divided into six groups. The largest number of barriers were found in the regulatory sphere (6), while the fewest were related to data-related issues (2) and physicianpatient issues (2). Practical experience from the Moscow experiment on implementing computer vision in radiology revealed additional barriers not previously mentioned in theoretical studies. Conclusion. A systematization of barriers based on practical experience in AI implementation demonstrated their multifaceted and interconnected nature, which indicates the need to develop measures for their systematic, rather than sequential, elimination.

BACKGROUND Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) involves social and neurological impairment, and affected individuals have an elevated risk of bullying. AIM To clarify serum folate (SF) and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) expression in ASD-affected children and evaluate their prediction value for illness severity. METHODS From February 2023 to February 2025, 53 ASD-affected children and 50 healthy controls visiting Fuzhou University Affiliated Provincial Hospital were enrolled as the research and control groups, respectively. SF and BDNF levels were measured in all children. The Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS) was used to assess ASD symptom severity. In ASD cases, SF and BDNF expression differences were compared across illness-severity subgroups and before versus after treatment. Pearson r was used to assess correlations between SF/BDNF and CARS in the research group. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to assess their predictive value for ASD severity. Univariate and multivariate binary Logistic models were used to identify ASD progression determinants. RESULTS ASD children showed significantly lower SF and higher BDNF higher than controls. Severe cases had lower SF and higher BDNF than mild-to-moderate cases. SF correlated inversely with the CARS score, whereas BDNF correlated positively. For predicting ASD severity, the area under the ROC curve (AUC) of SF and BDNF was 0.700-0.750, and their combined use increased the AUC to 0.823. Both markers were confirmed to be independent determinants of ASD aggravation. CONCLUSION SF is down-regulated and BDNF is up-regulated in ASD-affected children, SF correlates negatively with ASD severity and BDNF correlates positively. Low SF and high BDNF are risk factors for ASD deterioration in children.

BACKGROUND Although the pathogenesis and management of gastric cancer (GC) have made significant progress, patient prognosis remains unsatisfactory. Patients’ psychological well-being should also be prioritized in addition to their physical health. AIM To investigate resilience among GC patients, identify determinants, and examine its association with serum neurotransmitters (NTs). METHODS We recruited 141 GC cases (research group) and 120 healthy individuals (control group). Surveys were conducted for all participants, encompassing the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (for resilience assessment), the Medical Coping Modes Questionnaire (for coping strategy evaluation), the General Self-Efficacy Scale (for self-efficacy quantification), and the Self-Rating Anxiety Scale/Self-Rating Depression Scale (for emotional distress measurement). Analyses were then conducted to identify inter-group differences in serum NTs, to pinpoint correlations between NTs and resilience (via Spearman’s test), and to determine resilience-associated predictors (using multivariate analysis). RESULTS The group scored 65.44 ± 6.97 (mean) on the global Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (tenacity: 34.70 ± 5.32, self-improvement: 21.13 ± 3.91, optimism: 99.61 ± 1.40). Regarding coping styles, the confrontation, avoidance, and resignation dimension scores were 17.45 ± 1.56, 17.22 ± 1.47, and 10.01 ± 1.08, respectively. The mean self-efficacy score (General Self-Efficacy Scale) was 27.00 ± 3.74. GC cases exhibited reduced serum dopamine, 5-hydroxytryptamine, and norepinephrine than controls (P &lt; 0.05). As to resilience-associated predictors, males, higher education, and greater per capita monthly income were all independently linked to higher resilience, while elevated anxiety/depressive symptoms and advanced-stage cancer showed an inverse correlation with resilience. CONCLUSION Reduced resilience and serum NTs, with the two being strongly correlated, are common in GC patients. Clinically, targeted psychological support is critical, particularly for those at-risk populations (e.g. , females, lower socioeconomic status, limited education).

Mentha spicata L. (spearmint) is a high-value aromatic and medicinal species, whose productivity is strongly affected by water deficit. Nevertheless, the molecular mechanisms underlying drought acclimation in this mint remain largely unexplored. Thus, here, we investigated the microRNA-mediated regulatory processes triggered in M. spicata under drought stress (DS) and following treatment with gallic acid (GA), a natural phenolic compound that our research group has already documented to be a potential biostimulant for spearmint. A small-RNA sequencing approach revealed that both DS and GA induced substantial changes of the expressed miRNome, modulating 35 microRNAs (e.g., miR397a, miR159a, miR172b) whose predicted targets (e.g., Laccase-2, MYB transcription factors) are known to be involved also in lignin production. In detail, DS induced upregulation of lignin biosynthetic genes, enhancement of Laccase activity, and shifting in lignin monomer composition, promoting the putative reinforcement of the cell wall as expected during water deficiency. Conversely, GA treatment attenuated DS-induced stress, regulating microRNA-mRNA modules which balanced phytochemical and hormonal response while maintaining controlled lignification and optimising xylem function. These results highlight the pivotal role of microRNAs in orchestrating drought acclimation in M. spicata and identify GA as a compensatory agent under water-limiting conditions, capable of fine-tuning growth, cell wall remodelling, and redox homeostasis. Collectively, our findings provide molecular insights into biostimulant-mediated stress resilience and identify GA treatment as a promising biotechnological strategy to improve drought tolerance in Lamiaceae crops.

The focus of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of incorporating Perlin noise, a method that has previously been used to model the tissue distribution of software breast phantoms, when creating a 'compressible' software breast phantom used in finite element analysis. Several compressible phantoms were created to represent different stages of aging in a virtual patient when younger, fibroglandular tissue is more prevalent than adipose tissue. During the ageing process, this ratio changes so that the breast contains more adipose tissue and less fibroglandular tissue. When simulating the compression of these phantoms, the determined reaction forces on the simulated compression plate increase with higher breast density. The resulting reaction forces on the compression plates are well above the values from in vivo measurements performed by our research group. However, when considering the differences between the procedures in the two studies, the simulated results are arguably comparable to the in vivo measurements.

Accurate and reliable quantification of protein-ligand energetics at the screening stage is often complicated by ligand aggregation, hydrophobicity-driven artifacts, and the need for cosolvents. Here, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) as a quantitative, label-free screening method is evaluated using BCL-2 as a model oncogenic target. Nine inhibitors (i.e., venetoclax, navitoclax; and seven previously prioritized BCL-2 hit inhibitors by our research group) are profiled across solvent systems, including neat DMSO, 10% DMSO, and a ternary matrix (S3: 10% DMSO, 90% sulfobutylether-β-cyclodextrin (SBE-β-CD) in saline). DSC yielded thermal transition temperatures and thermodynamic parameters (ΔH, ΔG) that enabled ranking of binding strength. Solubility challenges are addressed by S3, which improved thermal signal quality. Comparisons with time-resolved fluorescence energy transfer (TR-FRET) analysis, in vitro assays, and MM/GBSA binding free energy results confirmed DSC's accuracy in detecting binding energetics. Collectively, these results position DSC as a robust, material-efficient tool for thermodynamic screening of BCL-2 ligands and other poorly soluble compounds, and as a practical complement to isothermal titration calorimetry when solubility or kinetic limitations prevail.

Emerging evidence shows that inflammaging varies across populations, challenging universal immune-aging models. Urbanization in sub-Saharan Africa-characterized by reduced exposure to infectious diseases and rising rates of noncommunicable diseases-offers a natural experiment for assessing environmental effects on inflammaging. Lower inflammaging in indigenous groups may reflect adaptation to chronic infection, whereas heightened inflammation in industrialized populations suggests ecological imbalance, underscoring the need to include diverse ecological groups in aging research.

The imaging capabilities of an in-house X-ray setup for micro computed tomography, consisting of a photon-counting detector and a liquid target source, are reported here. The effect of the finite X-ray source spot size on the image resolution is measured using the slanted edge method at different sample-to-detector distances, and the energy response of the detector is probed using clinically relevant contrast agents. The results show that the spatial resolution is limited to $12$ $\mu$m at large sample magnification. The energy resolution of the detector could not be estimated based on the present experiment and data analysis. The method used to measure the spatial resolution could be useful for research groups wanting to characterize similar X-ray setups.