Specific Action Research Articles

Telehealth to Address Preventable Maternal Deaths: A Call to Action.

Over 80% of maternal deaths are preventable. Telehealth approaches can help address disparities by increasing access to quality maternal health care. In this position statement, we advocate for the utility of telehealth to address maternal mortality disparities, focusing specifically on the postpartum period, where most maternal deaths occur. Specifically, we describe how telehealth visits, mobile health applications, and wearable devices for remote patient monitoring can be used to promote the uptake of postpartum care and adherence to evidence-based treatment for the most common causes of maternal death (i.e., cardiovascular conditions and mental health-related conditions). We discuss challenges that must be overcome to ensure the broad and equitable reach of telehealth and identify specific action steps to address this pressing public health issue.

[Translated article] Approach and management of patients injured by bullfighting trauma

Introduction: Bullfighting festivals are attributed to the cultural idiosyncrasies of the Ibero-American people, posing an extreme risk to the physical integrity of the participants. Spain is considered the country with the highest number of bull-related celebrations worldwide and, therefore, with the highest number of patients injured by bullfighting trauma treated, thus justifying a public health problem. The generalities associated with this type of trauma define the people injured as polytraumatised patients. In addition, it is important to know the kinematics of the injuries and their specific characteristics, in order to implement quality medical-surgical care.Methods: scientific review of the literature to promote a comprehensive guide for the medical-surgical management of patients injured by bullfighting trauma.Results: We described the guidelines to standardise protocols for in-hospital approach of patients injured by bullfighting trauma.Conclusions: Bullfighting trauma is considered a real health problem in the emergency departments of the ibero-Americans countries, especially in Spain, where bullfighting is part of the national culture. The inherent characteristics of these animals cause injuries with special aspects, so it is important to know the generalities of bullfighting trauma. Because of the multidisciplinary approach, these guidelines are adressed to all healthcare providers involved in the management of these patients. It is essential to establish particular initial care for this type of injury, specific therapeutic action and follow-up based on the medical-surgical management of the trauma patient in order to reduce the associated morbidity and mortality.

Comparative efficacy, toxicity, and insulin-suppressive effects of simvastatin and pravastatin in fatty acid-challenged mouse insulinoma MIN6 β-cell model.

Familial hypercholesterolemia, the highly prevalent form of dyslipidemia, is a well-known risk factor for premature heart disease and stroke worldwide. Statins, which inhibit 3-hydroxy 3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase, are the first-choice treatment for dyslipidemias, and have been effective in reducing the risk of stroke and myocardial infarction. However, emerging evidence indicates that statins may increase the incidence of new-onset type 2 diabetes by reducing β-cell mass and function. Notably, past in vitro reports studying the effects of statins on β-cells were performed without including free fatty acids in the model. This factor should have been addressed since these agents are used to treat individuals with hyperlipidemia. Here, we used a mouse insulinoma MIN6 β-cell culture model to assess the efficacy, cytotoxicity, and insulin-suppressive effects of simvastatin and pravastatin in the presence of palmitic, linoleic, and oleic acids cocktail to mimic mixed lipids challenge in a biologically relevant setting. Our findings indicate that simvastatin was more effective in lowering intracellular cholesterol but was more cytotoxic as compared to pravastatin. Similarly, simvastatin exhibited a higher suppression of total insulin content and insulin secretion. Both drugs suppressed insulin secretion in phases 1 and 2, dose-dependently. No significant effect was observed on mitochondrial respiration. More importantly, elution experiments showed that insulin content diminution by simvastatin treatment was reversible, while exogenous mevalonate did not improve total insulin content. This suggests that simvastatin's influence on insulin content is independent of its specific inhibitory action on HMG-CoA reductase. In conclusion, our study identified that simvastatin was more effective in lowering intracellular cholesterol, albeit it was more toxic and suppressive of β-cells function. Notably, this suppression was found to be reversible.

Pattern-based Remote Switch for Domestic and Technological Operations

Abstract: This research explores the development of a remote-control system for domestic appliances using user-drawn patterns on a grid, aiming to provide an intuitive and accessible control method. The system is designed around a 3x3 grid of infrared (IR) LEDs and receivers that detect patterns drawn by the user with a finger or stylus. Each grid coordinate is mapped to a specific action, such as turning lights on or off or adjusting the speed of a fan. The detected patterns are transmitted to a NodeMCU ESP8266 microcontroller, which decodes the patterns and activates the corresponding appliance through Wi-Fi commands and relays. The innovative aspects of this system include its simple and intuitive interaction method, allowing users to define custom patterns for various actions, which enhances personalized control. The pattern-based interaction is particularly beneficial for individuals with limited dexterity or mobility, offering an accessible alternative to traditional remote controls. This project demonstrates the potential of combining hardware components, such as IR LEDs and receivers, with embedded C programming to create a user-friendly and efficient home automation solution. The proposed system not only simplifies the user experience but also provides a flexible and customizable interface for controlling domestic appliances.

The Wolf Spider Tigrosa helluo Uses Visual Associative and Beacon Landmarks During Water Maze Navigation Tasks

ABSTRACTWolf spiders can learn simple spatial navigation tasks. Previous studies have shown that the wolf spider Tigrosa helluo can use environmental edge features (reference frame landmarks) to learn the location of a dry target in flooded T‐mazes; however, the relative importance of different types or numbers of landmark cues to spatial learning remains unknown. We used a modified open arena water maze and recorded the ability of adult female T. helluo to find a target reward (a dark and dry cup) among cups that were identical to the target but flooded. We measured variation in spatial learning by measuring time to target with no landmark (control), with a beacon (a landmark that is part of the target), with an associative cue (a landmark associated with a specific navigational action), and with both a beacon and an associative cue (N = 92 subjects, n = 23 per landmark cue treatment). For each treatment, we tested females for five trials each on four consecutive days, with the last trial on the fourth day having an altered target location, totaling 19 training trials and one reversal trial (1840 trials). We found that spiders took significantly less time to find the target over subsequent trials within a day and learned more quickly when landmark cues were present, but we found no difference in the type or number of landmark features in the meantime to target entrance. After learning a target location, moving the landmark significantly increased the mean time to target entrance in the combined beacon and associative cue treatment relative to other treatments. Our results indicate that wolf spiders use visual beacons and associative cue landmarks alone or in combination and that performance improves across trials when landmarks are present and deteriorates more when multiple landmarks are moved.

Anti‐Inflammatory Effects of Fermented and Aged Mountain‐Cultivated Ginseng Sprouts via Suppression of MAPK‐NF‐κB Pathway in Lipopolysaccharide‐Stimulated RAW264.7 Macrophages

ABSTRACTFermented and aged mountain‐cultivated ginseng sprouts (FAMCGS) exhibit superior antioxidant and anti‐inflammatory properties compared to mountain‐cultivated ginseng sprouts (MCGS). However, the mechanisms behind these properties of FAMCGSE remain unclear. This study explores the anti‐inflammatory effects of FAMCGS extract (FAMCGSE) on LPS‐stimulated RAW 264.7 macrophages and the underlying mechanisms. The MTT assay confirmed that FAMCGSE (0 to 0.1%) maintained cell viability without inducing morphological changes. Pretreatment with FAMCGSE significantly mitigated LPS‐induced morphological alterations dose‐dependently. RT‐PCR and Western blot analyses showed that FAMCGSE significantly reduced the mRNA and protein levels of proinflammatory mediators such as TNF‐α, IL‐1β, IL‐6, iNOS, and COX‐2. Additionally, FAMCGSE decreased the production of TNF‐α, IL‐1β, IL‐6, nitric oxide, and PGE2 in LPS‐activated RAW264.7 cells. Mechanistically, FAMCGSE inhibited the phosphorylation of mitogen‐activated protein kinases (MAPKs; ERK, p38, and JNK) and prevented the LPS‐induced nuclear translocation of NF‐κB, with effects comparable to compound K (CK) or dexamethasone. Notably, FAMCGSE was particularly effective in inhibiting ERK and JNK activation, with less impact on p38, suggesting a specific inhibitory action on certain MAPK pathways. These findings highlight FAMCGSE's potential as an inhibitor of MAPK and NF‐κB pathways, indicating that FAMCGSE, including its main component CK, may be a promising therapeutic agent for inflammation‐related conditions.

Enhanced Anti-Melanoma Activity of Nutlin-3a Delivered via Ethosomes: Targeting p53-Mediated Apoptosis in HT144 Cells.

This study evaluated ethosomes as a novel nanodelivery system for nutlin-3a, a known MDM2 inhibitor and activator of the p53 pathway, to improve nutlin-3a's poor solubility, limiting its bio-distribution and therapeutic efficacy. The potential of nutlin-3a-loaded ethosomes was investigated on two in vitro models of melanoma: the HT144 cell line p53wild-type and the SK-MEL-28 cell line p53mutated. Nutlin-3a-loaded ethosomes were characterized for their physicochemical properties and used to treat melanoma cells at different concentrations, considering nutlin-3a solution and empty ethosomes as controls. The biological effects on cells were evaluated 24 and 48 h after treatment by analyzing the cell morphology and viability, cell cycle, and apoptosis rate using flow cytometry and the p53 pathway's activation via Western blotting. The results indicate that ethosomes are delivery systems able to maintain nutlin-3a's functionality and specific biological action, as evidenced by the molecular activation of the p53 pathway and the biological events leading to cell cycle block and apoptosis in p53wild-type cells. Nutlin-3a-loaded ethosomes induced morphological changes in the HT144 cell line, with evident apoptotic cells and a reduction in the number of viable cells of over 80%. Furthermore, nutlin-3a-loaded ethosomes successfully modulated two p53-regulated proteins involved in survival/apoptosis, with up to a 2.5-fold increase in membrane TRAIL-R2 and up to an 8.2-fold decrease in Notch-1 (Notch intracellular domain, NICD) protein expression. The expression of these molecules is known to be altered or dysfunctional in a large percentage of melanoma tumors. Notably, ethosomes, regardless of their nutlin-3a loading, exhibited the ability to reduce HT144 melanoma cellular migration, as assessed in real time using xCELLigence, likely due to the modification of lipid rafts, suggesting their potential antimetastatic properties. Overall, nutlin-3a delivery using ethosomes appears to be a significantly effective means for upregulating the p53 pathway and downregulating active Notch-1, while also taking advantage of their unexpected ability to reduce cellular migration. The findings of this study could pave the way for the development of specific nutlin-3a-loaded ethosome-based medicinal products for cutaneous use.

Dietary Dihydroquercetin Alleviated Colitis via the Short-Chain Fatty Acids/miR-10a-5p/PI3K-Akt Signaling Pathway.

Gut microbiota provides an important insight into clarifying the mechanism of active substances with low bioavailability, but its specific action mechanism varied case by case and remained unclear. Dihydroquercetin (DHQ) is a bioactive flavonoid with low bioavailability, which showed beneficial effects on colitis alleviation and gut microbiota modulation. Herein, we aimed to explore the microbiota-dependent anticolitis mechanism of DHQ in sight of gut microbiota metabolites and their interactions with microRNAs (miRNAs). Dietary supplementation of DHQ alleviated dextran sulfate sodium-induced colitis phenotypes and improved gut microbiota dysbiosis. Fecal microbiota transplantation further revealed that the anticolitis activity of DHQ was mediated by gut microbiota. To clarify how the modulated gut microbiota alleviated colitis in mice, the tandem analyses of the microbiome and targeted metabolome were performed, and altered profiles of metabolite short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) and bile acids and their producers were observed in DHQ-treated mice. In addition, SCFA treatment showed anticolitis activity compared to that of bile acids, along with the specific inhibition on the phosphoinositide-3-kinase (PI3K)-protein kinase B (Akt) pathway. Subsequently, the colonic miRNA profile of mice receiving SCFA treatment was sequenced, and a differentially expressed miR-10a-5p was identified. Both prediction analysis and dual-luciferase reporter assay indicated that miR-10a-5p directly bind to the 3'-untranslated regions of gene pik3ca, inhibit the PI3K-Akt pathway activation, and lead to colitis alleviation. Together, we proposed that gut microbiota mediated the anticolitis activity of DHQ through the SCFAs/miR-10a-5p/PI3K-Akt axis, and it provided a novel insight into clarifying the microbiota-dependent mechanism via the interaction between metabolites and miRNAs.

Hibiscus sabdariffa as a Novel Alternative Strategy Against Helicobacter pylori Infection Development to Gastric Cancer.

Most gastric cancers (95%) are related to an initial Helicobacter pylori infection worldwide. Treatments against this pathogen include a mix of antibiotics, antimicrobials, and proton-pump inhibitors. Over time, H. pylori mutated, generating resistance to treatments and making it hard to combat its infection. The purpose of this review is Hibiscus sabdariffa, commonly known as hibiscus, as a potential agent for anti-H. pylori activity. Scientific interest has increased toward plant-derived bioactive compounds, which have the ability to enhance the antibiotic effect and can lead to the development of new drugs, such is the case for H. sabdariffa. In general, studies show that natural products, such as plant-derived bioactive compounds, can be used as alternative treatments from natural origin against the pathogen. The specific action mechanism of these bioactive compounds is still controversial, but it is suggested that they have an anti-inflammatory effect, and they also act as antibiotic coadjutants. Research has been conducted regarding different bioactive compounds such as polyphenols, epicatechins, alkaloids, and caryophyllenes. H. sabdariffa contains several of these compounds; therefore, more studies are needed to establish its effect against H. pylori.

Incorporating sex and gender into health research funded by the Brazilian Ministry of Health: lessons learned in 15 years and prospects for change

Incorporating sex and gender differences into health research demonstrates the inequalities in the health of women, men and intersex people. This study analyzed funding provided by the Brazilian Ministry of Health’s Department of Science and Technology (Decit/MS) for research incorporating sex and gender in Brazil between 2004 and 2018, stratified by year, region, funding format, and type of research. This is a descriptive retrospective study based on public secondary data provided by Decit/MS. A total of 171 studies were funded, with a value of 30.5 million PPP$, most conducted in educational and research institutions in Southeast Brazil (78.4%). Stratified analysis revealed no significant difference in the amount of funding provided under different government administrations. The largest investment was for national research funding (57.9%). Ten institutions received most of the financial resources provided (82.8%). The most funded research was on population and public health (62%). The most studied topic was chronic noncommunicable diseases (CNCD) (29%). Investments in research were insufficient and unequally distributed among regions, receiving institutions, and types of research. Government and funding agencies need to implement specific action plans to encourage understanding of sex and gender disparities in the Brazilian health sector.

Response-independent outcome presentations dissociate stimulus and value based choice

A stimulus that predicts the delivery of a specific food outcome can bias performance towards instrumental actions that earn that same outcome in a phenomenon known as specific Pavlovian-instrumental transfer (PIT). The precise mechanism by which the specific instrumental action is selected under these circumstances has remained elusive. The present set of experiments explored whether treatments that undermine the response-outcome (R-O) association also affect the expression of specific PIT. Consistent with previous work, in Experiment 1 we showed that specific PIT remains intact after an instrumental degradation treatment that attempted to undermine R-O associations. However, we additionally demonstrated that outcome-devaluation sensitivity also persisted after degradation, suggesting that R-O associations were impervious to the degradation treatment, and precluding any conclusions about the necessity of R-O associations for specific PIT expression. Nevertheless, given the two-lever two-outcome design of this experiment it is possible that R-O associations were indeed undermined by degradation and that the devaluation effect was driven by distinct, incidental Pavlovian lever-outcome associations. To nullify the obscuring effects of these incidental Pavlovian associations, we used a bidirectional lever for instrumental conditioning that could be pushed to the left or the right for distinct outcomes. In Experiment 2 we demonstrated that specific PIT could be observed on this bidirectional manipulandum whether the subjects were hungry or sated, consistent with the literature. The critical third Experiment used an identical design to Experiment 1 except that the two instrumental responses were made on the single bidirectional manipulanda. Here, specific PIT was intact after instrumental degradation and, crucially, we saw no evidence of outcome devaluation sensitivity in these same subjects, suggesting that the R-O associations were weakened or undermined by this treatment. We conclude that the expression of specific PIT is resistant to treatments that undermine R-O associations and disrupt value based choice, and discuss how these findings contribute to our understanding of the associative framework supporting behavioral control.

Studies of the specific current action integral in underwater electrical explosion of butterfly shaped foils

Studies of the specific current action integral in underwater electrical explosion of butterfly shaped foils

Dual-referenced assistive network for action quality assessment

Action quality assessment (AQA) aims to evaluate the performing quality of a specific action. It is a challenging task as it requires to identify the subtle differences between the videos containing the same action. Most of existing AQA methods directly adopt a pretrained network designed for other tasks to extract video features, which are too coarse to describe fine-grained details of action quality. In this paper, we propose a novel Dual-Referenced Assistive (DuRA) network to polish original coarse-grained features into fine-grained quality-oriented representations. Specifically, we introduce two levels of referenced assistants to highlight the discriminative quality-related contents by comparing a target video and the referenced objects, instead of obtrusively estimating the quality score from an individual video. Firstly, we design a Rating-guided Attention module, which takes advantage of a series of semantic-level referenced assistants to acquire implicit hierarchical semantic knowledge and progressively emphasize quality-focused features embedded in original inherent information. Subsequently, we further design a couple of Consistency Preserving constraints, which introduce a set of individual-level referenced assistants to further eliminate score-unrelated information through more detailed comparisons of differences between actions. The experiments show that our proposed method achieves promising performance on the AQA-7 and MTL-AQA datasets.

Myogenic Classical Endocannabinoids, Their Targets and Activity.

This review focuses on the recently discovered specific action of two classical endocannabinoids(ECs), 2-arachidonoylglycerol(2-AG) and arachidonoyl ethanolamide(AEA), in the case of their synthesis and degradation in skeletal muscles; in other words, this review is dedicated to properties and action of the myoendocannabinoid (myoEC) pool. Influence of this pool is considered at three different levels: at the level of skeletal muscles, motor synapses, and also at the level of the whole organism, including central nervous system. Special attention is paid to the still significantly underestimated and intriguing ability of ECs to have positive effect on energy exchange and contractile activity of muscle fibers, as well as on transmitter secretion in motor synapses. Role of muscle contractions in regulation of activity balance between the enzymes catalyzing synthesis and degradation of myoECs and, therefore, in the release of myoECs and exertion of their specific effects is thoroughly considered. Increasingly popular hypotheses about the prominent role of myoECs (AEA and/or 2-AG) in the rise of the overall level of ECs in the blood during muscle exercise and the development of "runner's high" and about the role of myoECs in the correction of a number of psychophysiological conditions (pain syndrome, stress, etc.) are discussed here. Thus, this review presents information about the myoEC pool from a totally new viewpoint, underlining its possible independent and non-trivial regulatory role in the body, in contrast to the traditional and well-known activity of neurogenic ECs.

Revealing dynamic goals for university’s sustainable development with a coupling exploration of SDGs

The sustainability of universities is important to realize global SDGs. However, there is a lack of research on the internal dynamic relationship of the SDGs in universities. This study aims to deep tap the dynamic mechanism and scientific core connotation of the relationship among the environmental, economic, and social dimensions in the sustainable development of the top 100 universities ranked by the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings, in order to point out the specific action direction in line with their characteristics. This study adopts coupling model, Sustainable Development Triangle model, and Grey Relational Analysis to learn the development system and the main development dynamic goals of universities on five continents. The results show that the development of the top sustainable universities in the five continents is very uneven with three echelons of development in the world. Although the sustainability quality in the world has improved year by year, the sub-quality of sustainability of the top universities on each continent is obviously different. The sustainable coupling degrees of the top universities of the five continents are increasing, but the overall coupling strength is not high. The development of coupling is at the level of weak coordination. SDG12 is the main dynamic goal for the top universities in Asia and America, SDG6 is for Europe and Oceania, and SDG3 is for Africa.

FacePsy: An Open-Source Affective Mobile Sensing System - Analyzing Facial Behavior and Head Gesture for Depression Detection in Naturalistic Settings

Depression, a prevalent and complex mental health issue affecting millions worldwide, presents significant challenges for detection and monitoring. While facial expressions have shown promise in laboratory settings for identifying depression, their potential in real-world applications remains largely unexplored due to the difficulties in developing efficient mobile systems. In this study, we aim to introduce FacePsy, an open-source mobile sensing system designed to capture affective inferences by analyzing sophisticated features and generating real-time data on facial behavior landmarks, eye movements, and head gestures - all within the naturalistic context of smartphone usage with 25 participants. Through rigorous development, testing, and optimization, we identified eye-open states, head gestures, smile expressions, and specific Action Units (2, 6, 7, 12, 15, and 17) as significant indicators of depressive episodes (AUROC=81%). Our regression model predicting PHQ-9 scores achieved moderate accuracy, with a Mean Absolute Error of 3.08. Our findings offer valuable insights and implications for enhancing deployable and usable mobile affective sensing systems, ultimately improving mental health monitoring, prediction, and just-in-time adaptive interventions for researchers and developers in healthcare.

A Cartographic Landscape Analysis of the Geo-Ecological Condition of the Natural Reserve Object—Lake Doshne (Volyn Polissya, Ukraine)

The cartographic landscape analysis of Lake Doshne employs geographic landscape methods, GIS cartographic modeling, and geo-ecological analysis. This study includes hydrochemical analysis of the lake’s water mass, focusing on saline blocks, tropho-saprobiological indicators, and specific toxic action indicators. Three geological sections of anthropogenic and pre-Quaternary complexes, along with a geological–lithological transverse profile of the lake basin, were developed. Additionally, a geographical landscape model of the lake’s natural aquatic complex was presented, distinguishing littoral–sublittoral and profundal aquatic sub-tracts and five types of aquafacies with landscape metric assessments. This approach enables a comprehensive analysis and the creation of cartographic models that can serve as a basis for lake cadastre and optimization of the ecological and landscape conditions in local territories.

Wine, Polyphenols, and the Matrix Effect: Is Alcohol Always the Same?

While the number of publications on wine and health is steadily increasing, ranging from a molecular level to epidemiological studies, often with contradictory results, little attention has been given to a holistic approach to research, starting from the molecular level to arrive at pharmacological and medical conclusions. In this review, some unusual concepts are considered, such as the phytocomplex, the vehicle, and the Matrix effect. The concept of the phytocomplex is discussed, specifically the biological activities of Tyrosol, Hydroxytyrosol, and Resveratrol; indeed, the interactions among different molecules in herbal matrices provide a specific response. This is often markedly different from the response evoked by single constituents in the modulation of microbial populations in the gut, in intestinal stability and bioaccessibility, and, obviously, in inducing biological responses. Among the many alcoholic beverages which contain these molecules, wine has the most peculiar Matrix effect, which can heavily influence the bioavailability of the phytocomplex obtained by the fermentation processes that produce this beverage. Wine's Matrix effect plays an instrumental role in improving the beneficial compounds' bioavailability and/or in inhibiting alcohol metabolites' carcinogenicity. Underestimation of the wine Matrix effect could lead to deceiving results, as in the case of dealcoholized wine or wine-compound-based nutritional supplements; alternatively, this can occur in the emphasis of a single component's toxic activity, in this case, alcohol, ignoring the specific molecular-level protective action of other compounds (polyphenols) that are present in the same matrix. The dark side of the Matrix effect is also discussed. This review confirms the research recommendations made by the WHO Scientific Group, which suggests it is important "to investigate the possible protective effects of ingredients other than alcohol in alcoholic beverages", considering that most recent studies seem not only relevant but also capable of directing future research towards innovative points of view that have so far been too neglected.

The Role of the Advocate's Motions and Complaints in a Criminal Trial: A Scoping Review

Given the realities of criminal court development, motions and complaints for the protection of rights play an important role. However, the study of these advocacy tools is an under-researched issue. This requires further consideration, since these mechanisms can be really effective in different situations. The purpose of the study is to determine the importance of attorneys' motions and complaints for the purpose of implementing modern justice. For this Scoping Review, the PRISMA approach was used. Date range for inclusion of scientific literature: 2014-2024 (i.e., the last 10 years). To select the scientific literature, the following search databases were selected: Scopus and Google Scholar. The criteria for including literature were based on 5 items related to content, scientific novelty, methodology, and language. A total of 52 items of scientific literature, legislative acts and reports were included in the study. The results show that different countries use different models of advocacy, however, such tools as motions and complaints are common around the world. The purposes of attorneys' motions and complaints are not based on making a specific decision or performing a specific action, but on the realization of rights and legitimate interests existing in connection with the procedural or real status of a person. The conclusions determine that motions and complaints have an impact on further proceedings in a criminal court; in particular, they may affect the exclusion of inadmissible evidence, disclosure of additional evidence, protection of the rights of the accused, fulfillment of strategic tasks and recording of violations of procedural rights.

Comparative analysis of artificial intelligence and expert assessments in detecting neonatal procedural pain

Assessing pain in newborns in the NICU is crucial due to their frequent exposure to painful stimuli, yet it's challenging due to the subjective nature of current methods. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of an AI system designed for automatic facial recognition by comparing its performance with the expert opinion of health care provider. This is a secondary analysis from an eye-tracking study, assessing neonatal pain evaluations by healthcare professionals. The performance of AI software, FaceReader 9, was compared to experts' evaluations using a visual-analog scale, focusing on identifying specific facial action units associated with different pain levels. The study found significant differences in AI-generated metrics—arousal and valence—across three stimulus types: non-noxious thermal, short-noxious, and prolonged-noxious, with p-values below 0.001. A strong correlation (r = 0.84, p ≤ .001) was observed between AI metrics and expert ratings. Eleven facial action units were identified as relevant to describe neonatal pain. The findings highlight the AI system's potential in accurately detecting and analyzing newborn facial expressions in response to varying pain intensities, demonstrating a significant correlation with healthcare professionals' assessments. This suggests that AI technology could enhance objective pain assessment in neonates.