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Bibliography on: Corvids (crows, jays, etc)

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Robert J. Robbins is a biologist, an educator, a science administrator, a publisher, an information technologist, and an IT leader and manager who specializes in advancing biomedical knowledge and supporting education through the application of information technology. More About:  RJR | OUR TEAM | OUR SERVICES | THIS WEBSITE

RJR: Recommended Bibliography 17 Aug 2025 at 01:41 Created: 

Corvids (crows, jays, etc)

Wikipedia: Corvidae (crows, jays, etc) is a cosmopolitan family of oscine passerine birds that contains the crows, ravens, rooks, jackdaws, jays, magpies, treepies, choughs, and nutcrackers. In common English, they are known as the crow family, or, more technically, corvids. Over 120 species are described. The genus Corvus, including the jackdaws, crows, rooks, and ravens, makes up over a third of the entire family. Corvids display remarkable intelligence for animals of their size and are among the most intelligent birds thus far studied. Specifically, members of the family have demonstrated self-awareness in mirror tests (European magpies) and tool-making ability (crows, rooks), skills which until recently were thought to be possessed only by humans and a few other higher mammals. Their total brain-to-body mass ratio is equal to that of great apes and cetaceans, and only slightly lower than in humans. They are medium to large in size, with strong feet and bills, rictal bristles, and a single moult each year (most passerines moult twice). Corvids are found worldwide except for the tip of South America and the polar ice caps. The majority of the species are found in tropical South and Central America, southern Asia and Eurasia, with fewer than 10 species each in Africa and Australasia. The genus Corvus has re-entered Australia in relatively recent geological prehistory, with five species and one subspecies there. Several species of raven have reached oceanic islands, and some of these species are now highly threatened with extinction or have already gone extinct.

Created with PubMed® Query: (corvus[TIAB] OR corvid[TIAB] OR OR corvids[TIAB] OR corvidae[TIAB] OR crow[TIAB] OR crows[TIAB] OR raven[TIAB] OR ravens[TIAB] OR jay[TIAB] OR jays[TIAB] OR magpie[TIAB] OR magpies[TIAB] OR jackdaw[TIAB] OR jackdaws[TIAB]) NOT pmcbook NOT ispreviousversion

Citations The Papers (from PubMed®)

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RevDate: 2025-08-15

Khadidos AO, A Yafoz (2025)

An intelligent object detection and classification framework for assisting visually challenged persons using deep learning and improved crow search optimization.

Scientific reports, 15(1):29822.

According to an estimation, one billion persons are experiencing disabilities, so assistive technologies are developed, enhancing independence and accessibility. Significant developments have been made in assisting disabled people. Object detection (OD) and classification systems are effective computer technologies for image processing and computer vision (CV). It is mainly used to identify and describe objects such as vehicles, individuals, and animals from digital videos and images, which will be useful for older or disabled persons. Deep learning (DL) models demonstrate to be more expert in resolving OD defects. However, DL techniques are extensively utilized to perceive, track, and identify in real-time objects met during navigation in an indoor environment. This study proposes a Hybrid DL Model for Object Detection and Classification Using an Improved Crow Search Algorithm (HDLMODC-ICSA) method. The HDLMODC-ICSA method primarily focuses on an accurate and real-time object recognition method to assist visually challenged persons. In the initial stage, the image pre-processing stage utilizes median filtering (MF) to remove noise or distortions and make the image more transparent. Furthermore, the OD process employs the Faster R-CNN model to generate precise region proposals and detect objects within images efficiently. Moreover, the HDLMODC-ICSA technique employs the Improved LeNet-5 model to extract meaningful and discriminative features from the identified regions. The hybrid of the attention-based stacked bi-directional long short-term memory (ABS-Bi-LSTM) technique is used for OD and classification. Finally, the hyperparameter selection of the ABS-BiLSTM model is performed by implementing the improved crow search algorithm (ICSA) model. The efficiency of the HDLMODC-ICSA approach is validated by comprehensive studies using the Indoor objects detection dataset. The comparison study of the HDLMODC-ICSA approach demonstrated a superior accuracy value of 99.59% over existing techniques.

RevDate: 2025-08-14

Proctor TL, Fatungase F, Barquero Leiva JA, et al (2025)

Tiny Patch, Big Value: A Small Dry Forest Patch Supports Wildlife Conservation in Guanacaste, Costa Rica.

Ecology and evolution, 15(8):e71972.

Tropical dry forests are among the most threatened tropical ecosystems due to ongoing agricultural expansion and development. Despite this, small forest patches persist within fragmented landscapes, though their conservation value remains poorly understood. To evaluate the role of one such patch in supporting wildlife, we deployed camera traps across three zones (Dense Forest, Grassland, and Sparse Forest) within the Murren Reserve, a small dry forest patch on the southern coastline of Guanacaste, Costa Rica. Camera traps detected 16 vertebrate species, with opportunistic encounters adding 16 more. The most detected species included the white-nosed coati (Nasua narica), raccoon (Procyon lotor), and white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus). Additionally, we recorded nationally endangered species, including the ocelot (Leopardus pardalis), puma (Puma concolor), and mantled howler monkey (Alouatta palliata), as well as nationally threatened species such as the spotted skunk (Spilogale angustifrons) and white-throated magpie-jay (Calocitta formosa). Extrapolated rarefaction curves suggest that further sampling could improve species richness estimates for the Dense Forest and Grassland. Although we did not detect a difference in species composition among zones (ANOSIM, R = 0.14, p = 0.26), a generalized linear mixed model indicated that zone explained 17% of the variation in species richness. These findings highlight the role that small dry forest patches play in conserving both threatened species and broader vertebrate communities. We also provide recommendations for future research to address current data gaps and improve long-term monitoring in fragmented landscapes.

RevDate: 2025-08-14

Badawy TR, NI Ziedan (2025)

Optimized Intelligent Localization Through Mathematical Modeling and Crow Search Algorithms.

Sensors (Basel, Switzerland), 25(15):.

Localization has emerged as a critical problem over the past decades, with diverse techniques developed to address robot and mobile localization challenges across varied domains. However, existing localization methods still fall short of achieving the precision needed for certain high-demand applications. The proposed algorithm is designed to enhance localization accuracy by integrating mathematical modeling with the Crow Search Algorithm (CSA). The objective is to identify the most probable position within a designated search space. Anchored by a network of fixed points, the search area is initially defined. A mathematical approach is then applied to reduce this area by calculating the intersections between circles centered at each anchor point. Within this reduced area, an array of candidate points are selected, and their centroid is computed to serve as an initial estimate. The modified CSA iteratively improves upon this estimate by emulating the natural behavior of crows, updating its variables to converge on the optimal position. Experimental evaluations, conducted on both real and simulated datasets, demonstrate that the proposed algorithm leads to a better localization accuracy than existing methods. The proposed methodology achieves a significant accuracy improvement with an accuracy of 98%. These results confirm the effectiveness of our approach for applications that require high precision with minimal infrastructure and low computational complexity.

RevDate: 2025-08-13

Bennett AJ, Watson DM, MJ Watson (2025)

Positive and negative impacts of electrical infrastructure on animal biodiversity: A systematic review.

Oecologia, 207(9):142.

Electrical infrastructure networks are predicted to greatly expand in response to the expected 48% increase in global energy demand by 2040. While assessments of electrical infrastructure are abundant, mixed effects on animal diversity have been reported, warranting further evaluation to determine true effects. We conducted a systematic literature review covering individual, population, and community-level assessments to determine the impacts posed to animal biodiversity by electrical infrastructure and the measures to reduce impacts. Our results show that the literature around electrical infrastructure and animal biodiversity has grown exponentially since the start of the millennium and is biased towards birds and mammals in economically developed countries. We found the majority of reported impacts were negative, occurring primarily through barrier effects (collision) and use of linear features as a resource (electrocution), causing significant population impacts in select species. However, we also found that electrical infrastructure provided positive effects (increased habitat provisioning) to certain taxonomic groups (e.g. corvids, storks), which suggests the potential to encourage conservation efforts using appropriate mitigation on electrical infrastructure. We found the majority of current literature detailed mitigation measures focused on reducing collisions through line (51%) and tower alterations (30%), but often omitted the impacts of EMF, noise, and UV, indicating significant knowledge gaps. On a wider scale, we found that mortality from electrical infrastructure ranked lower than building collisions and predation from feral cats, but remained higher than other anthropogenic energy sources, indicating the potential to cause significant impacts to large-bodied bird species if not addressed.

RevDate: 2025-08-12

Chae S, Hwang J, Choe JC, et al (2025)

Empirical evidence for the functional benefit of intra-specific wing shape variation in a sedentary bird, the Oriental Magpie (Pica serica).

Scientific reports, 15(1):29495.

This study investigates the intraspecific variation in wingtip shape and its effects on aerodynamic forces and flight capabilities with the Oriental Magpies as a model species. Characterized by short and rounded wings, Oriental Magpies are highly sedentary and exhibit wingtip shape variations between juveniles and adults, as well as between males and females due to physiological changes during breeding. Analysis of 115 individuals revealed a significant interaction between sex and age in the location of the wingtip, with adult females exhibiting wings with backward-shifted wingtips than other sex and age categories. In order to examine the functional aspect of this pattern of variation, we conducted wind tunnel experiments and measured the aerodynamic performances of three wings by varying the position of wingtip from forward to backward. The results show that wings with backward-shifted wingtips have higher lift coefficient compared to wings with forward-shifted wingtips, especially at low free-stream velocities. Our findings suggest that wings with backward-shifted wingtips enhance maneuverability during both turning- and straight-flight conditions, particularly during slow gliding flight. We hypothesize that aerodynamic benefits of the backward-shifted wingtips are more important for adult females, who has increased body weight with center of mass shifted to rear part of the body due to fully developed reproductive organs including eggs and follicles. Our results suggest that age- and sex-dependent wingtip shape change can be fine-tuned according to intraspecific variation in the ecological requirements of the individuals.

RevDate: 2025-08-10

Jones J, Lee J, Douglas A, et al (2025)

Representation matters: advocating for increased diversity in the pediatric surgical workforce to address health inequity.

Seminars in pediatric surgery, 35:151521 pii:S1055-8586(25)00052-6 [Epub ahead of print].

Equitable health is the state in which all have the opportunity to attain full health potential and no disadvantage from achieving this because of social position or another socially defined circumstance [1]. One measure of society is marked by how vulnerable populations, like children, are treated, including the right to achieve and access good health. Focusing on health equity helps to address the social determinants of health which can adversely affect pediatric care and threatens surgical outcomes for the most vulnerable children in society [1-5]. Inextricable from attaining health equity is a surgical workforce that adequately represents the populations they serve. Pediatric surgery, like many surgical subspecialties, has fallen short in its goal of achieving equitable gender and ethnic representation at the fellowship, faculty, and leadership level [6-8]. Racial physician-patient discordance has been suggested as a mechanism that perpetuates health inequities within the minority pediatric populations [9-15]. Underrepresentation in pediatric surgery, and more broadly medicine can be attributed to both historical and present-day racism conjoined with high barriers to entry in our field [16-28]. The impact of chattel slavery, Jim Crow laws, federally sponsored residential segregation, mass incarceration, and ongoing systematic disinvestment, reverberates and perpetuates the paucity of representation. To address this issue requires a multi-faceted approach [29-33]. Pathway programs have been deployed in many contexts to provide mentorship and exposure to medical careers [2, 35-40]. But these avenues alone are insufficient. Advocacy is necessary to address systemic inequities in early childhood education where pathways to careers in medicine, including pediatric surgery, are significantly threatened.

RevDate: 2025-08-08

Omelyusik V, Davis TS, Nair SS, et al (2025)

Frontotemporal bursting supports human working memory.

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology pii:2025.07.26.666946.

UNLABELLED: Cortical neural activity varies dynamically during memory periods, when relevant information is not present in the environment. But how those dynamics are related to a code defining working memory (WM) performance is not known. Recent data shows brief bursts of activity in the high gamma (70-140 Hz) and beta (12-30 Hz) band within non-human primate lateral prefrontal cortex (PFC) is associated with WM processing. However, WM may be related to activity within a network of frontal executive and posterior sensory areas involved in stimulus perception. Here we tested whether gamma and beta bursting exist in lateral PFC and multisensory lateral temporal areas in humans during visual WM, and whether these areas are coupled via a phase-burst code. We used intracranial macroelectrode recordings from the middle frontal gyrus (MFG), which includes dorsolateral PFC, and from the middle temporal gyrus (MTG), an area important for visual processing. High gamma bursting increased in human left PFC during encoding and delay periods while beta bursting decreased. Interestingly, beta bursting increased in multisensory areas during encoding and remained high during the delay period, more so on the right. These effects varied with WM performance. Finally, we quantify the degree to which delay-period gamma bursting is locked to beta phase within and between regions of this network using a proposed metric termed 'phase-burst coupling' (PBC). We find evidence that delay-period gamma bursting in temporal areas is locked to beta phase in PFC. Our findings suggest that WM may use bursting to support memory maintenance until readout.

SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT: Working memory is critical for everyday functioning and its disruption results in significant disability in patients with dementia, traumatic brain injury, and stroke. We recorded human intracranial data during a visual working memory task. We found that prefrontal cortex and multisensory temporal brain areas show neural bursting activity during the memory period and that such bursting is related to trial performance. Furthermore, these two areas may be coupled by a phase-burst code. Bursting has been found in non-human primates, rodents, and even crows, suggesting it is a general feature of memory, and perhaps of other aspects of cognition.

RevDate: 2025-08-08

Summers J, Jones BSCL, Cosgrove EJ, et al (2025)

Context-Dependent Fitness Outcomes of Helping in the Cooperatively-Breeding Florida Scrub-Jay (Aphelocoma coerulescens).

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology pii:2025.07.21.666021.

Cooperatively breeding species frequently live in family groups of related individuals, with helpers delaying their own reproduction and participating in alloparental care, predator vigilance, and territory defense. It remains challenging to disentangle the roles of the indirect fitness benefits of helping kin and the potential direct fitness benefits helpers receive in the evolution of cooperative breeding. While many studies test for associations between helper relatedness and helping effort, few estimate the realized fitness consequences of helping in relation to these factors. Understanding these fitness outcomes elucidates the selective forces that maintain helping behavior, whether through inclusive fitness gains by helping related individuals or as a means of gaining access to later direct fitness benefits. Using 29 years of extensive demographic data from a closely monitored population of Florida scrub-jays (Aphelocoma coerulescens), we quantified the effect of helpers on breeder survival, offspring survival, and nestling production and how these effects depend on relatedness and sex of helpers. We found that female breeder survival was significantly greater when more helpers were present and that offspring survival was greater when more male helpers were present on small territories. Neither effect of helpers depended on the relatedness between helpers and the individuals they helped. Our results suggest that helping behavior is highly context-dependent and varies based on the potential impact of helping and the direct fitness benefits helpers receive.

RevDate: 2025-08-08

Rahman A, Rao M, Aldughpassi A, et al (2025)

Blood levels of copper, manganese, selenium, and zinc are positively associated with cognitive function and academic performance in adolescents.

Frontiers in nutrition, 12:1638283.

BACKGROUND: Microminerals copper (Cu), manganese (Mn), selenium (Se), and zinc (Zn) regulate neuronal signaling and brain function. Deficiencies of these minerals are common in adolescents due to unhealthy eating habits. We investigated the association between micromineral levels and cognitive function and academic performance in a nationally representative sample of adolescents.

METHODS: Adolescents (N = 1,370; 11-14 years) were selected from public middle schools in Kuwait, using cluster random sampling. Data on various covariates were collected through a questionnaire from the subjects and their parents. Blood micromineral levels were determined using Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS). Cognitive function was evaluated through the Raven's Standard Progressive Matrices test and academic performance data were taken from the school records.

RESULTS: Median (IQR) blood levels of microminerals (μg/dL) were as follows: Cu, 22.5 (15.2, 33.0); Mn, 6.0 (3.5, 10.6); Se, 34.2 (22.1, 52.5); Zn, 163.5 (118.5, 233.5). On average, SPM score was higher by 5 points in adolescents with mineral levels above the median, compared to those with levels below median (p < 0.05). Academic performance in adolescents with micromineral levels in Q1 was lower by an average of seven-percentage points compared to those in Q4 (p < 0.01). Multivariable regression analysis showed positive association (p < 0.01) with both cognitive function and academic performance, whether the micromineral levels were used as continuous variable or as quartiles.

CONCLUSION: In this cohort, blood micromineral levels are positively associated with cognitive function and academic performance. Improving micromineral status by public health intervention is strongly warranted, as academic performance during early-life education has implications on the later-life socio-economic status.

RevDate: 2025-08-08
CmpDate: 2025-08-06

Yang F, Guo M, Zhu J, et al (2025)

Clinical Evaluation of a Multi-Component Facial Mask for Moisturizing, Repairing, and Anti-Aging Effects.

Journal of cosmetic dermatology, 24(8):e70355.

BACKGROUND: Facial masks are commonly used in skincare for targeted and intensive treatment. However, masks that provide only moisturizing benefits have limited functionality and may not adequately meet comprehensive anti-aging needs.

OBJECTIVES: To design and evaluate the efficacy of a multi-component facial mask for moisturizing, repairing, and anti-aging effects.

METHODS: The clinical efficacy of the facial mask was evaluated in a 28-day study, with skin parameters measured immediately after application, and at 14 and 28 days. Skin hydration and transepidermal water loss (TEWL) were measured using a Corneometer and a Vapometer, respectively. Skin elasticity and firmness were assessed using a Cutometer. Facial photographs were captured using the VISIA CR system, and wrinkles and roughness were analyzed with Antera 3D.

RESULTS: Immediate and 28-day assessments revealed significant improvements in skin hydration and reduced TEWL (p < 0.001). After 28-day use, skin elasticity and firmness increased by 17.31% and 16.18%, respectively. VISIA CR analysis demonstrated enhanced skin gloss and decreased redness. Antera 3D measurements indicated significant reductions in the length and width of under-eye wrinkles and crow's feet, along with improved skin texture (p < 0.001). Participant self-assessments reported high satisfaction with the mask's safety and efficacy, both in the short term and long term.

CONCLUSION: The multi-component facial mask demonstrated significant efficacy in enhancing skin hydration, improving barrier repair, and providing anti-aging benefits.

RevDate: 2025-08-06

Bohnert M, Heinsen H, Mittal P, et al (2025)

Macroscopic findings of the skull and brain in fire fatalities - an update.

Forensic science, medicine, and pathology [Epub ahead of print].

On the skull, the best known and most frequently observed autopsy findings are the heat fractures of the skull and the burn hematoma. The macromorphological changes of the brain have been described comparatively less frequently in the primary and secondary literature. We have evaluated the fire deaths of our institute over a period of 10 years with regard to the macromorphological changes of the skull and brain and described four stages (0-III) after postmortem fireexposure. In stage 0, the scalp showed up to third-degree burns, but the skull and brain were not affected. In stage I, in which the scalp showed fourth degree burns but the skull was still completely intact and unbroken, a certain hardening of the brain and a paling of the lateral parts of the temporal lobes, in particular, could already be regularly observed. In stage II, the head skin was burned away, and the skull was charred but still closed. There was a noticeable shrinkage of the dura mater, which was often torn. The brain itself appeared shrunken, pale and showed a flattening of the convolutions and a spreading of the furrows. In stage III, the skull was opened, charred to calcified and broken in clods. Tears in the dura mater led to herniation of brain tissue to the outside. The aim of this study was to classify the macromorphological changes of the skull and brain after fire exposure, both chronologically and according to their severity. The proposed staged classification (0-III) is intended to summarize the findings and to update and complement the descriptions in the older literature. It can be seen as an extension and further development of the Crow-Glassman scale, which classifies the extent of fire destruction of human bodies.

RevDate: 2025-08-05
CmpDate: 2025-08-05

Reynolds A (2025)

Topological interactions account for border dynamics of murmurations and transit flocks.

Journal of the Royal Society, Interface, 22(229):20250020.

Murmurations are one of nature's most striking examples of collective behaviour. Despite extensive research the dynamics of individuals at the borders of these flocks remain poorly understood. These dynamics result in two unexplained phenomena: the tendency of birds to remain longer at the border than the way internal birds keep their position inside the flock; and the hardness (sharpness) of the borders. It has been suggested that the border dynamics can be attributed to selection pressures for advantageous behaviours such as prey evasion. Here with the aid of stochastic models we show that the observed border dynamics are an accidental but potentially advantageous by-product of topological interactions (when birds interact with a fixed number of neighbours) and that they do not arise with metric interactions (when birds coordinate with neighbours based on spatial distance). I find support for these predictions in an analysis of pre-existing telemetry data for flocks of jackdaws (Corvus monedula).

RevDate: 2025-08-05
CmpDate: 2025-08-05

Han L, Yang K, Ming Y, et al (2025)

PDCSA: A parallel discrete crow search algorithm for influence maximization in social networks.

PloS one, 20(8):e0329350.

The essence of the influence maximization (IM) problem is how to identify the set of seed nodes so that the node numbers ultimately affected in the network reach the maximum under a certain spreading model. In the field of influence maximization research, the investigation of seed nodes identifying algorithms is a hot yet challenging work. Although conventional greedy algorithms and heuristic algorithms have high performance, their efficiency remains a challenge when applied to large-scale social networks. In recent years, swarm intelligence-based optimization algorithms have seen increasing application in addressing this problem, with notable improvements in performance. However, the efficiency of these swarm intelligence-based algorithms still needs to be improved in large-scale social networks. Based on this issue, a parallel discrete crow search algorithm (PDCSA) designed for parallel computing is proposed. Based on the evolution characteristics, PDCSA makes full use of the efficiency advantage of parallel computing to improve the time efficiency of solving IM problems.The results of experiments conducted on six datasets show that PDCSA achieves performance comparable to state-of-the-art algorithms, with the added advantages of high efficiency and robustness.

RevDate: 2025-08-05

Gutierrez JC, Nlebedum U, Wanakumjorn P, et al (2025)

Spatial and non-verbal reasoning abilities in first-year female DVM students before and after 4 h of canine osteology training or 19 h of canine dissection: preliminary study.

Frontiers in veterinary science, 12:1593360.

Spatial ability refers to human cognitive ability to form, retrieve, and mentally manipulate models of spatial nature. This critical component of human intellect is relevant on a wide spectrum of professional disciplines including engineering, architecture, mathematics, computer sciences, natural sciences and a variety of medical disciplines, including anatomy and diagnostic imaging. In the present study, validated testing tools were used to compare spatial and general non-verbal reasoning abilities in first-year female veterinary medical students. These tests were: Guay's Visualization of Views Test (GVVT) and, Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices Test, short form (APMT). Osteology Group (OG): students took the tests before and after exposure to general canine osteology (4 h). Dissection Group (DG): students took the tests before and after exposure to dissections/pro-sections/palpation labs (19 h). Results for the OG showed a numeric but non-significant increase in GVVT (p = 0.092), with mean scores of 8.01 and 11.34 pre-training and post-training, respectively. Similar results were found for the APMT, with pre-training and post-training mean scores of 7.44 and 8.44 (p = 0.16), respectively. Results for the DG showed a numeric but non-significant increase in GVVT (p = 0.67), with mean scores of 11.77 and 13.28 pre-labs and post-labs, respectively. For the APMT, the increase in scores was significant (p = 0.028), with mean scores of 6.8 and 10.2, pre-labs and post-labs, respectively. Future studies are planned with greater numbers of students and groups with different hours of anatomy exposure. Future studies might also consider subgroups such as pre-veterinary students.

RevDate: 2025-08-04
CmpDate: 2025-08-04

Leibovici A, Itzhaki N, Shapsa H, et al (2025)

Compensatory cerebellar activation during fluid intelligence processing following mild traumatic brain injury.

Scientific reports, 15(1):28377 pii:10.1038/s41598-025-13116-x.

Cognitive outcome following mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) vary widely, with many individuals experiencing long-term impairments associated with frontoparietal network dysfunction. Mild TBI patients have demonstrated functional reorganization, suggesting an expansion of activation to cerebellar regions during specific executive functions. In this study, we investigated cerebellar involvement in fluid intelligence processing using a novel fMRI paradigm based on Raven's Progressive Matrices in 51 acute mTBI patients and 61 healthy controls. Despite comparable task accuracy, mTBI patients exhibited significantly increased activation in anterior cerebellar regions, including Vermis III and Cerebellum IV-V. Seed-based functional connectivity analysis further revealed altered cerebellar-frontoparietal interactions in mTBI patients compared to healthy controls. In mTBI patients, connectivity was enhanced with the left lateral prefrontal cortex and lower with the right posterior parietal cortex, which also showed a change from positive to negative connectivity. These findings suggest that the cerebellum is adaptively recruited to maintain cognitive performance, in line with the cerebellar reserve theory. This study provides initial evidence of cerebellar activation during fluid intelligence processing in mTBI, highlighting a potential role for the cerebellum in adaptively interacting with cortical networks to support cognitive function following brain injury.

RevDate: 2025-08-04

Zahid N, Mughal MN, Brown N, et al (2025)

MicroRNA Expression and Neurocognitive Outcomes in Children and Young People With Primary Brain Tumor in Karachi, Pakistan: A Pilot Exploratory Study.

Brain tumor research and treatment, 13(3):87-94.

BACKGROUND: microRNAs regulate various cellular pathways and may serve as medium-term prognostic markers in neurocognitive function, as suggested by adult studies. However, no comparable data exist for children with central nervous system tumors. This pilot study explored miRNA expression and its correlation with 12-month posttreatment neurocognitive function in children and young adults (5-21 years) with primary brain tumors.

METHODS: The study was conducted at Aga Khan University Hospital and Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center (November 2020 to July 2023). This study analyzed serum levels of miR-21, miR-146a, miR-296-5p, miR-210, and miR-10b using reverse transcriptase quantitative PCR. Neurocognitive assessments using Slosson Intelligence Test, Raven's Progressive Matrices, and Wechsler Intelligence Scale were performed at pretreatment and 12 months posttreatment. The paired t-test was used to assess miRNA expressions, and correlation analysis assessed relationships between pretreatment miRNA expression and neurocognitive outcomes.

RESULTS: Of the 48 patients, serum samples were available for analysis from 34 (71%) patients each at pretreatment and 48 hours post-surgery, and 13 (27%) patients at 12 months posttreatment. A statistically significant negative correlation was found between pretreatment miR-210 levels and perceptual reasoning scores at 12 months posttreatment (ρ=-0.59), and a positive correlation between pretreatment miR-10b levels and processing speed scores (ρ=0.49). However, there were no differences in microRNA expressions between pretreatment and 48 hours post-surgery (n=34), pretreatment and 12 months posttreatment (n=13), or 48 hours post-surgery and 12 months posttreatment.

CONCLUSION: This pilot exploratory study found two statistically significant correlations: a negative correlation between pretreatment miR-210 levels and 12 months posttreatment perceptual reasoning scores and a positive correlation between miR-10b expression and 12 months posttreatment speed scores. Further studies are needed to understand the protective or restorative function of miR-10b in cognitive processes and the detrimental role of miR-210 in cognitive processes to evaluate their potential future use as prognostic biomarkers for neurocognitive outcomes in children and young people with primary brain tumors.

RevDate: 2025-08-04
CmpDate: 2025-08-04

Fattahi M, Esmaeil-Zadeh M, Soltanian-Zadeh H, et al (2025)

Neuroimaging insights into recent suicide attempters utilizing the raven task.

PloS one, 20(8):e0327562 pii:PONE-D-24-15287.

BACKGROUND: Understanding brain function in individuals who have recently attempted suicide is critical for improving diagnosis and treatment strategies. This study aimed to examine neural activity patterns in such individuals (who had attempted suicide 1-4 weeks before the study) using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and the General Linear Model (GLM).

METHODS: Sixty participants were recruited and categorized into three groups: individuals with a recent suicide attempt and Major Depressive Disorder (SA + MDD), individuals with Major Depressive Disorder without a suicide attempt (MDD), and healthy controls (HC). Participants performed the Raven task, consisting of 24 trials with a 25-second time limit for each item. Brain activity was analyzed to identify regional differences among groups using ANOVA, followed by Tukey's post-hoc pairwise comparisons.

RESULTS: Compared to the MDD and HC groups, the SA + MDD group exhibited significantly reduced activation in the left medial superior frontal cortex (SFC), left anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and left precentral gyrus. Positive correlations were observed between the Scale for Suicidal Ideation scores and activity in the medial SFC and ACC, whereas a negative correlation was found with precentral gyrus activity. While task accuracy did not significantly differ among the groups, the SA + MDD group demonstrated significantly shorter response durations.

CONCLUSION: Individuals with recent suicide attempts show diminished activation in key left-hemispheric regions involved in cognitive control and problem-solving, including the medial SFC, ACC, and precentral gyrus. These neural deficits may impair decision-making and problem-solving abilities, particularly when compounded by hopelessness and a diminished sense of purpose, potentially contributing to increased suicide risk.

RevDate: 2025-08-03
CmpDate: 2025-07-31

Wascher CAF, M Youngblood (2025)

Vocal efficiency in crows.

Animal cognition, 28(1):75.

Many communicative systems have been selected for efficiency, shaped by the trade-off between information transmission and energetic or temporal constraints. Linguistic laws such as Menzerath's law-predicting shorter elements in longer sequences-have emerged as widespread principles across vocal communication in many species. While these laws have been predominantly studied at the species level, the influence of individual and social factors remain underexplored. In this study, we investigated adherence to Menzerath's law in the vocal communication of carrion crows, Corvus corone corone, hooded crows, Corvus corone cornix and hybrids. Our findings show that crow call sequences adhere to Menzerath's law, with shorter calls occurring in longer sequences, demonstrating structural efficiency in vocal communication. In carrion crows specifically, we analysed call sequences in relation to individual characteristics (sex, age) and social variables (group size, dominance status, strength of affiliative relationships). Interestingly, adherence to Menzerath's law was stronger in males and younger individuals, while no effects were found for group size, dominance, or affiliative relationships. This study provides the first evidence of Menzerath's law in corvid vocal communication and suggests that individual-level traits, rather than broader social dynamics, may shape vocal efficiency. These findings broaden our understanding of widespread principles in animal communication and raise new questions about the ontogeny and flexibility of vocal efficiency in complex social species.

RevDate: 2025-07-30

Cagidiaco EF, Verniani G, Pontoriero DIK, et al (2025)

Posterior Partial Crowns out of Lithium Disilicate With or Without Posts: A Randomized Controlled Study at 9 years follow up.

Journal of dentistry pii:S0300-5712(25)00449-X [Epub ahead of print].

OBJECTIVE: These randomized controlled clinical aims to evaluate the long-term clinical performance of posterior lithium disilicate partial crowns used to restore endodontically treated teeth (ETT), with or without fiber post placement, over a 9-year period in patients who did not report any bruxism activities at baseline.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Participants were recruited at the University of Siena, Siena, Italy. Patient were≥18 years, in need for one partial crown on posterior teeth (molars and premolars) following endodontic treatment and with at least 50% of the coronal structure remaining. Patients were randomly assigned to two groups: Group 1 received fiber posts for abutment build-up, and Group 2 did not. Lithium disilicate partial crowns were fabricated and adhesively cemented for both groups. Clinical and radiographic evaluations were conducted at baseline, 1, 2, 3, and 9 years. Failures were defined as post debonding/fracture, root fracture, crown dislodgement/fracture, or the presence of periapical lesion. Cox regression analysis was used to assess the influence of post placement and tooth type.

RESULTS: A total of 120 patients were enrolled. At the 9-year follow-up, survival of ETT ranged between 88.8 % in molars without post and to 85.7% in premolars with no post. No statistically significant difference was observed regarding post placement or tooth type on failure rates (p > 0.05).

CONCLUSION: The findings of the present clinical trial support the idea in patients with no report of bruxism, the insertion of a fiber post for the reconstruction of endodontically treated teeth with partial crown lithium disilicate in posterior teeth is not a necessary procedure.

RevDate: 2025-07-30

Kim YJ, K Hwang (2025)

Graceful Aging in the Bust of Hadrian: Reflections for Modern Anti-Aging Surgery Ethics.

The Journal of craniofacial surgery pii:00001665-990000000-02979 [Epub ahead of print].

Roman imperial portraiture served not only to project authority but also to communicate cultural and philosophical values. Emperor Hadrian's busts are notable for expressing visible signs of aging-deliberate departure from the ageless idealism of prior emperors such as Augustus. This paper examines how Hadrian's sculpted image embodies a vision of graceful aging and considers its relevance to modern anti-aging surgery ethics. The aim is to explore the artistic, historical, and philosophical dimensions of Hadrian's portraiture and draw ethical parallels for contemporary aesthetic surgeons who increasingly face requests to erase the physical evidence of age rather than preserve individuality and emotional narrative. Hadrian's likeness features subtle crow's feet, forehead lines, and softening around the jaw-elements typically associated with aging, yet portrayed with remarkable dignity and intellectual poise. This reflects Hellenistic ideals, particularly Stoic and Epicurean values, in which aging signifies wisdom, balance, and self-mastery. In contrast, today's aesthetic culture often pathologizes aging, favoring aggressive rejuvenation and digital smoothness. This commentary proposes the concept of selective aging preservation, encouraging surgeons to retain features that communicate personal identity while respectfully restoring or softening others. Hadrian's marble visage offers more than artistic value; it provides ethical and aesthetic mirror for anti-aging practitioners. Aging need not be erased to achieve beauty. In embracing balanced approach-one that values natural signs of time alongside thoughtful intervention-modern plastic surgery can restore not only surface form but deeper human meaning. The surgeon, like the ancient sculptor, holds the responsibility to craft not just appearance, but legacy.

RevDate: 2025-07-30

Kim J, Kim H, Goh J, et al (2025)

The Complete Genomes of Microcystis ichthyoblabe Kützing and Microcystis protocystis (Crow) Komárek & Anagnostidis Reveal the Complexity and Plasticity of Microcystis Genomes.

Microorganisms, 13(7): pii:microorganisms13071693.

Microcystis is a genus of cyanobacteria responsible for harmful algal blooms (HABs) in freshwater ecosystems, posing significant ecological and public health risks. Despite its importance, current genomic resources are heavily biased toward Microcystis aeruginosa, limiting comprehensive understanding of genomic diversity within the genus. In this study, we present the first complete genome sequences of two morphospecies, M. ichthyoblabe FBCC-A1114 and M. protocystis FBCC-A270. Using long-read sequencing, both genomes were assembled into single circular chromosomes of 5.84 Mb and 5.76 Mb, respectively. Phylogenetic analyses placed both strains within genospecies G, alongside M. aeruginosa and M. viridis. Comparative analysis of biosynthetic gene clusters revealed that, while most genospecies G members harbor aeruginosin, cyanobactin, and microviridin gene clusters, the two newly sequenced strains lack cyanobactin and microcystin clusters but retain the microginin cluster. Synteny analysis demonstrated high structural conservation between the two genomes, while notable structural variations were observed when compared with M. aeruginosa NIES-298. These findings reveal both functional and structural plasticity within the genospecies, suggesting ecotype diversification driven by environmental adaptation. The newly assembled genomes provide critical resources to refine classification frameworks and advance our understanding of Microcystis genomic diversity.

RevDate: 2025-07-29

Hayward L (2025)

Reader Responses to Online Reporting of Tagged Bird Behavior.

Animals : an open access journal from MDPI, 15(14):.

This paper explores responses to online coverage of an avian tracking project. Researchers attached novel trackers to a small group of wild magpies (Gymnorhina tibicen). These were subsequently removed by conspecifics, an example of 'rescue behavior' that was recounted in several media outlets. Online comments on three articles, from across the political spectrum (the Conversation, UK Guardian, and UK Daily Mail), were selected for thematic analysis. The resulting 680 comments were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively to uncover predominant themes and the overall balance of positive and negative sentiments expressed about this tagging project or wildlife tagging generally. Topics occurring most frequently were themed into three interrelated areas: (1) sharing personal feelings and experiences, (2) comparing the merits of different species, and (3) sharing knowledge and opinion. Twenty-one percent (21%) of respondents expressed an opinion on the ethics of wildlife tagging. In the Daily Mail and Guardian, this opinion was more likely to be negative towards the use of tags. Opinion was more balanced for readers of the Conversation's article. Willingness to comment on online news is low, and readers of this story were not asked directly for their opinion. Nevertheless, the data here illustrate some public perceptions of wildlife tagging, and there was a clear negative reaction from many responders. Widening the means through which people can engage with animal science has the potential to advance discussions around research ethics and animal welfare. Reactions to this story expose important questions for scientists seeking to engage with, and convince, the public of the merits of their work.

RevDate: 2025-07-30

Videman K, Ashorn U, Ashorn P, et al (2025)

Eye-tracking measures of oculomotor speed and control as markers of cognitive ability in Malawian adolescent population: Secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial.

PLOS global public health, 5(7):e0004811.

Processing speed and response control are fundamental properties of brain function and potential markers of cognitive ability. This study, a secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial, examined whether eye-tracking measures of saccadic reaction time and gaze control are associated with an established cognitive ability test, Raven's coloured progressive matrices (CPM), among 13-year-old rural Malawian adolescents (1003 participants, 50.3% boys). Mean prosaccadic reaction time (pSRTm), antisaccade error rate (PE) and CPM result were obtained for 760 (75.8%), 621 (61.6%) and 997 (99.4%) children. Pearson correlation and linear regression were used to evaluate the association of the tasks.Faster pSRTm and lower PE were very weakly associated with higher CPM score (rs -0.12, p = .001 and -0.11, p = .006). In the covariate adjusted regression models, faster prosaccadic reaction time (pSRTm) was very weakly associated with higher scores in CPM test (adjusted coef -0.02, 95%CI (-.03- -.002), p = .03), but antisaccadic errors were not associated with CPM score (adjusted coef -0.63, 95%CI (-1.60 -.33), p = .20). Post hoc-analyses suggested stronger associations between eye-tracking measures and CPM among participants with more schooling (years in school <4.5 or >4.5, rs between pSRTm and CPM -0.05 and -0.21; between PE and CPM -0.01 and -0.39). The results confirm the predicted association between saccadic speed and cognitive ability in an understudied population, but the connection is weaker than expected according to earlier studies. Schooling potentially moderates the association between eye-tracking tests and CPM.

RevDate: 2025-07-29

Devita M, Ravelli A, Panzeri A, et al (2025)

The Italian Standardization of the Cerebellar Cognitive Affective/Schmahmann Syndrome Scale: Cognitive Profiling in a Healthy, Heterogeneous Population.

Cerebellum (London, England), 24(5):138.

INTRODUCTION: The Cerebellar Cognitive Affective Syndrome (CCAS), also known as Schmahmann's syndrome, is increasingly recognized for its impact on cognitive and emotional functioning yet remains underdiagnosed. This study aimed to standardize the CCAS-Scale (CCAS-S) in the Italian population, enhancing its methodological and statistical validity.

METHODS: A total of 671 healthy Italian volunteers (mean age = 46.19 years with SD 18.47, 58.88% females), were recruited from various geographical, educational and social backgrounds. Participants were assessed using the CCAS-S, alongside the Cognitive Reserve Index questionnaire, Raven's Colored Progressive Matrices and the Mini-Mental State Examination to ensure a comprehensive assessment and establish convergent validity. Moreover, the parallel CCAS-S version B was administered to 51 individuals.

RESULTS: Statistical analyses on the Italian version of the CCAS-S revealed strong psychometric properties. Internal consistency was confirmed with Cronbach's alpha values of 0.70 and 0.74 for parallel forms A and B. Construct validity was supported by a moderate-to-high correlation (r = 0.453) with the Mini-Mental State Examination, suggesting both scales are related yet measure different cognitive functions, with the CCAS-S focusing on executive functions. Test-retest and inter-rater reliability were optimal (ICC = 0.902 and 0.989, respectively). Minimal practice effects were observed after 1 to 3 months, with further validation achieved using parallel version B.

CONCLUSIONS: The present work provides the first Italian standardization of CCAS-S. The results highlight the necessity for increased awareness and recognition of CCAS in clinical settings, advocating for the integration of the CCAS-S into routine assessments to improve diagnostic accuracy and patient care.

RevDate: 2025-07-28

Jiménez J, Finat R, Fernández-Tizón M, et al (2025)

Jackdaws Use Lynx Scat in Nests: Implications for Iberian Lynx Genetic Monitoring.

Ecology and evolution, 15(7):e71859 pii:ECE371859.

We present the first documented case of jackdaws (Coloeus monedula) collecting and placing Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus) scat in their nests in the Montes de Toledo, Spain. This behavior may significantly compromise conservation efforts for species whose monitoring relies on non-invasive genetic sampling-such as the lynx-especially in areas with dense populations of jackdaws or other species exhibiting similar behavior, where this removal may substantially reduce sample availability. Using artificial nest boxes equipped with camera traps, we confirmed that jackdaws actively transport lynx scat to their nests. In a controlled experiment simulating a lynx latrine, all scat was removed in just over an hour. Simulations using spatial capture-recapture (SCR) models showed that this behavior can introduce bias and reduce the accuracy of population estimates based on genetic sampling, a widely used method in wildlife monitoring. These findings highlight the importance of considering interspecific interactions when designing monitoring protocols for threatened species. More broadly, this case illustrates how overlooked ecological behaviors can compromise conservation tools and underscores the need for adaptive monitoring strategies in dynamic ecosystems.

RevDate: 2025-07-25

Vernouillet A, Huang N, DM Kelly (2025)

Correction: Pinyon Jays (Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus) and Clark's nutcrackers (Nucifraga columbiana) can discriminate between pilfering and non-pilfering conspecifics, but not between heterospecifics.

Animal cognition, 28(1):64 pii:10.1007/s10071-025-01995-6.

RevDate: 2025-07-25

Daw F, Beheim BA, CAF Wascher (2025)

Correction: Evolutionary drivers of caching behaviour in corvids.

Animal cognition, 28(1):65 pii:10.1007/s10071-025-01989-4.

RevDate: 2025-07-25

von Gugelberg HM, SJ Troche (2025)

Individual Differences in Strategy and the Item-Position Effect in Reasoning Ability Measures.

Journal of Intelligence, 13(7): pii:jintelligence13070077.

Despite the high similarity of reasoning ability items, research indicates that individuals apply different strategies when solving them. The two distinct strategies are response elimination and constructive matching. The latter, frequently showing a positive correlation with reasoning ability, entails the individual systematically investigating the presented problem matrix of an item before scanning the response alternatives. To further understand the sources of individual differences in strategy use during test taking, three different eye-tracking metrics were investigated in participants (N = 210) solving the Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices (APM). Relying on the fixed-links modeling approach, bifactor models were fit to the data. The latent model approach revealed, in line with other research, a positive correlation between reasoning ability and constructive matching. The results further indicated that a change in strategy use was correlated with the item-position effect and not reasoning ability. The former exhibited a different direction of effect, depending on the eye-tracking metric analyzed. When investigating the toggle rate, the participants used more constructive matching towards the end of the APM. The proportional time to first fixation on response alternatives indicated less constructive matching as the test progressed, and the proportional time on the problem matrix exhibited no distinct pattern regarding a change in strategy use. These diverging results point towards the possibility of a more nuanced problem-solving behavior than previously assumed. By including the item-position effect in the analyses, the increasing individuals differences in problem-solving behavior can be taken into account, which could be a necessary step in attaining a more comprehensive understanding of problem-solving behavior.

RevDate: 2025-07-25

Yoshida T, Kobayashi M, Hara D, et al (2025)

Cognitive function and speech outcomes after cochlear implantation in older adults.

Frontiers in neurology, 16:1630946.

BACKGROUND: The impact of cochlear implantation on cognitive function in older adults and the relationship between preoperative cognitive ability and postoperative speech perception remain poorly understood. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the effect of cochlear implant use on cognitive function in older adults and to explore the association between preoperative cognitive ability and postoperative speech discrimination.

METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study at a university hospital between June 2017 and March 2025. Thirty cochlear implant recipients aged ≥61 years were included, with 21 receiving unilateral implants and nine receiving bilateral implants. All participants underwent cognitive assessments both preoperatively and postoperatively. We analyzed the cognitive function test results before and after cochlear implantation. The primary outcomes measured were: (1) the correlation between preoperative cognitive test scores and postoperative speech discrimination scores; and (2) longitudinal changes in postoperative cognitive function.

RESULTS: A significant positive correlation was observed between preoperative Kohs Block Design Test scores and postoperative speech discrimination scores (p < 0.01). Preoperative Raven's Colored Progressive Matrices scores also correlated positively with postoperative speech discrimination scores (p < 0.05). Postoperatively, Kohs scores demonstrated significant positive correlations with both the Mini-Mental State Examination (p < 0.01) and Reading Cognitive Test Kyoto test (p < 0.0001) scores. Following a 3.7-year mean follow-up, Kohs scores remained stable, with some patients showing improvements.

CONCLUSION: Cognitive assessments performed during the preoperative CI evaluation may yield valuable insights into postoperative outcomes in older adults. Additionally, long-term postoperative cognitive function is generally preserved, with the potential for improvement following cochlear implantation.

RevDate: 2025-07-25

Jeffers NK, Arrington LA, Marcelle E, et al (2025)

"This year is not about carrying the heaviest burden"- a qualitative study on Black women's postpartum experiences.

SSM. Qualitative research in health, 7:.

There is a growing literature that seeks to understand Black women/birthing people's postpartum experiences, particularly in the context of structural, political and historical exclusion of Black people in the United States. The overarching goals of this manuscript were to explore Black women's postpartum experiences, how racism impacts the postpartum year, and for those insights to reimagine a model of postpartum care that enables Black birthing people to achieve that vision of wellness. We conducted four focus groups with 23 self-identified Black women in the Washington DC metropolitan area who had given birth in the prior two years. Participants attributed the intense overwhelm that characterizes the postpartum period to the historical legacy of slavery, the Jim Crow era, and the enduring "strong Black woman" racial trope. Most participants reported receiving only one postpartum care visit amidst unmet care needs. Structural barriers like transportation, minimal paid leave, and crowded and racially segregated healthcare systems contributed to feelings that postpartum care and wellness were inaccessible. Racist encounters with healthcare providers and fears of family policing sometimes led to care avoidance as a means of mitigating harm while simultaneously motivating attempts to seek racially and culturally concordant care. Participants also shared the ways in which they resisted racism while also rejoicing in mothering and child (ren). Our findings demonstrate an urgent need to reimagine postpartum care to address the enduring impact of the historical context, the manifestations of racism, and the structural ways that postpartum is neglected, while also promoting wellness and joy.

RevDate: 2025-07-23

Kryukov AP (2025)

Genetic variation and phylogeography of the magpie's genus Pica in the Holarctic.

Vavilovskii zhurnal genetiki i selektsii, 29(4):578-593.

The theory of Pleistocene refugia is often used to explain the population genetic structure of species. However, it does not fully account for the diversity of species-specific characteristics and natural conditions. The genus Pica, which is widespread in the Holarctic, provides an ideal model for studying phylogeographic patterns in order to better understand processes of diversification and speciation. Markers of mitochondrial DNA remain widely used in phylogeographic studies, despite advances of whole genome techniques. We have summarized published research on the mitochondrial DNA Control Region (CR) variation, based on data from 279 samples which represent the majority of extant taxa across the entire distribution range of the genus. In the phylogenetic trees and networks, we found several cases of reciprocal monophyly among most allopatric species and subspecies, and in addition some examples of paraphyly and polyphyly. Bayesian skyline plots were calculated to explore population dynamics over time. They showed varying longevity of the lineages since their origin or after experiencing a bottleneck, e. g., in the case of the Kamchatka population, as well as unequal rates of expansion. In most cases, speciation followed a geographic model involving expansion and vicariance, sometimes with divergence in refugia. Somewhere, peripatric speciation may have happened due to separation of a marginal populations. By comparing haplotype composition among populations, we traced the origin of the recently established populations on Hokkaido and Kyushu islands from a limited number of colonizers from the mainland. Isolated cases of species in statu nascendi were identified through evidence of incomplete lineage sorting, leading to paraphyly, or signs of limited unidirectional interspecies introgression of nuclear genes in secondary contact zones. Several hypotheses regarding the formation of the magpie´s range are proposed. Various evolutionary scenarios found in the genus Pica were compared to those reported for the other bird species in a number of literature sources.

RevDate: 2025-07-22

Westheimer G (2025)

Jay M. Enoch (1929-2025), Berkeley Optometry Dean and leading retina researcher: A biographical memoir of an important 20th-century vision researcher and optometric educator, by one of his contemporaries.

Optometry and vision science : official publication of the American Academy of Optometry pii:00006324-990000000-00293 [Epub ahead of print].

RevDate: 2025-07-23

Elman C, Feltey K, Wittman B, et al (2025)

'Little Baby's gone to Heaven': A Mixed-Methods Study of Black Children's Survival Disadvantage in Jim Crow-Era Arkansas.

Social science history [Epub ahead of print].

Nearly all US Black children born before 1910 were born in the American South. We use a mixed-methods design to examine Black children's survival disadvantage over the twentieth century's turn under the rising regime of Jim Crow. We focus on 1910 Arkansas, taking advantage of within-state heterogeneity in agriculture (plantation vs. subsistence farming), disease environments, and geographic racial concentration (macro-segregation). This one-state focus allows purposive sampling of Works Progress Administration and Behind the Veil oral interviews of Arkansan Black Americans who were born or lived under the state's Jim Crow regime. We also use the 1910 complete-count Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS) linked to US Decennial and 1916 Plantation Censuses to examine race-related differences in child mortality rates among ever-married, parous Arkansas women (n = 234,811). Count regression models find the Black-White child mortality gap widest among Arkansas mothers economically tied to plantation vs. subsistence agriculture; exposed to worse health environments; living in tenant farm vs. owned-farm households; and with limited individual resources such as literacy. Oral accounts illustrate how Black children's lives reflected contextual, living standard, psychosocial, and other health risks associated with the racialized policies and practices of the Jim Crow South; they capture otherwise hidden historical processes that linked the era's institutional racism and child mortality.

RevDate: 2025-07-22
CmpDate: 2025-07-19

Farassi R, d'Oliveira Coelho J, S Carvalho (2025)

Habitat Use and the Demographics of Object Manipulation by Wild Chacma Baboons.

American journal of biological anthropology, 187(3):e70094.

OBJECTIVES: Studying object manipulation may offer insights about the emergence of habitual tool use in the hominin clade. Previous research on object manipulation has focused on habitual tool-using animals such as apes, capuchins, dolphins, and corvids. Investigating object manipulation in wild baboons, a highly social, ecologically adaptable, and terrestrial primate that is not a habitual tool user, can shed further light on the pressures favoring or inhibiting the use of technology. In this study, we investigate factors that influence object manipulation in the chacma baboons of Gorongosa National Park, across demographic and environmental conditions.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: We collected data using focal and scan sampling, with the aid of the Animal Observer app, and recorded object use and other behaviors. We followed three focal troops: Chitengo, Montebelo, and Floodplain. A total of 2262 observations were recorded across 88 individuals (787 events involved object use).

RESULTS: Mixed-effects logistic regressions revealed that habitat, age, and substrate use significantly predicted object use among baboons. Object use was most likely in open forests. Adults are less likely to engage in object manipulation, and this behavior decreases with age, which is in line with previous results reported for bonobos. Interestingly, baboons spend more time manipulating objects arboreally than terrestrially.

DISCUSSION: Our findings contribute to the current discussions about the contexts that promote tool use across the primate order. Further studies expanding on these results and assessing differential availability of resources can provide a more comprehensive understanding of the evolution of tool use.

RevDate: 2025-07-18

Buniyaadi A, Bhardwaj SK, V Kumar (2025)

Conspecifics confer survival advantage in the face of night-light polluted environment: Evidence from melatonin secretion, sleep, mood and cognitive performance in Indian house crows.

Hormones and behavior, 174:105793 pii:S0018-506X(25)00119-9 [Epub ahead of print].

The survival advantage of group living remains poorly understood. Here, this was investigated by using several physiological and neurobehavioral traits in Indian house crows (Corvus splendens) in the face of a temporally disrupted day-night environment. Crows were housed singly or with two other conspecifics and subjected to daily 12-h light and 12-h periods of complete (0 lx) or dimly lighted (∼6 lx) dark nights. Nocturnal melatonin and sleep levels were measured as indices of the direct and circadian effects, while mood (feeding, preening, and self-mutilation) and cognition (innovative problem-solving task) performances were considered reflecting the higher-order brain function effects. Under 6-lx dim light at night (dLAN) condition, group housing alleviated the depressive-like responses and enhanced cognitive performance but had no effect on the midnight melatonin levels and nocturnal sleep consolidation. Concurrently, there were increased nr4a2 and decreased tnfr1 gene expressions in hippocampus, increased dcx and darpp-32 gene expressions in the nidopallium caudolaterale, and th expression in midbrain. We interpret that an increased conspecific interaction improved mood and cognitive performance without affecting the melatonin secretion and sleep in communally roosting house crows. Perhaps, living with conspecifics is part of an overall evolutionary strategy to enhance the survival in a highly social species like the Indian house crow.

RevDate: 2025-07-19

Kuspiel M, Lindeman A, Naguib M, et al (2025)

The duration of alarm- and territorial defence calls alters receiver response in Eurasian magpies.

Animal cognition, 28(1):59.

UNLABELLED: Animals use vocal signals to provide information across a wide range of contexts. However, it is more complex to identify the information content when the same vocalizations are produced in different contexts, such as against predators and conspecific competitors. This raises the question whether information about the caller or context can be coded in relatively subtle variation within the call type and whether receivers respond differentially to such variation. Using playbacks of the general ‘chatter’ alarm call of Eurasian magpies (Pica pica), we tested whether or not territorial magpies respond differently to variation in call duration and rate. We show that magpies responded acoustically faster to chatters of longer duration, which may signal a greater motivation or urgency of territorial intruders. Alternatively, a delay in chatter response to shorter calls may reflect a period of hesitation and risk avoidance. Interestingly, magpies did not approach the loudspeaker more closely in response to longer calls and the total chatter response did not differ either. This suggests that after the short initial response, the persistence of the signal over time as well as visual information on the level or type of danger become essential for more differentiated response behaviours. Taken together, our results show that magpies perceive and respond differentially to variation in alarm call duration, suggesting that such variation encodes meaningful information.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10071-025-01975-w.

RevDate: 2025-07-12

D C, M M (2025)

Fusion of bio-inspired optimization and machine learning for Alzheimer's biomarker analysis.

Computers in biology and medicine, 196(Pt A):110746 pii:S0010-4825(25)01097-2 [Epub ahead of print].

Identification of Alzheimer's Disease (AD), especially in its early phases, presents significant challenges due to the nonexistence of reliable biomarkers and effective treatments. Clinical trials for AD medications also suffer from high failure rates. Accurate diagnosis, prognosis determination, progression monitoring, and treatment effect assessment depend heavily on analysing various brain regions, including the Corpus Callosum (CC), Grey Matter (GM), Hippocampus (HC), Ventricle, and White Matter (WM). Among these, the Hippocampus plays a pivotal role in early detection. This study employs deep learning for classification and optimization techniques for segmenting the HC region to enable the AD diagnosis. The pre-processing of raw images involves histogram equalization and Otsu's thresholding methods. The research focuses on data collection and pre-processing as essential steps for advancing diagnostic methods. Segmentation and classification utilize Elephant Herding Optimization (EHO) and Crow Search Optimization (CSO) techniques in combination with the ResNet50 classifier. The results reveal that Crow Search Optimization achieves superior performance, with an accuracy of 92 %, surpassing Elephant Herding Optimization.

RevDate: 2025-07-11

Beier FD, Dietrich JP, Heinke J, et al (2025)

Planetary boundaries under a land-based climate change mitigation scenario with a food demand transformation: a modelling study.

The Lancet. Planetary health pii:S2542-5196(25)00087-7 [Epub ahead of print].

BACKGROUND: Ambitious climate change mitigation in all economic sectors is crucial for limiting global warming. Cost-effective mitigation pathways to keep global average temperature increases below 1·5°C by the end of the 21st century often rely on land-based greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions, increased land-based carbon uptake and biomass supply to other sectors (eg, energy and transport), and demand-side changes in the food system. To evaluate the broader sustainability of land-based climate change mitigation action, we evaluated synergies and trade-offs of individual and combined supply-side mitigation measures across five planetary boundaries. We also examined the role of a food demand transformation aligned with the dietary recommendations of the updated planetary health diet defined in the forthcoming EAT-Lancet Commission 2.0 report in shaping planetary boundary outcomes.

METHODS: In this modelling study, we used the dynamic land-system modelling framework MAgPIE to assess the consequences of land-based GHG reductions, increased land-based carbon uptake, increased biomass supply to other sectors, and a food-system transformation towards the planetary health diet including food waste reductions on five planetary boundary domains (climate change, nitrogen, land-system change, freshwater use, and biosphere integrity) relative to a reference scenario without land-system mitigation throughout the century. For each planetary boundary control variable, we calculated the level of planetary boundary transgression (ie, the extent to which scenario outcomes exceeded the defined safe operating space) and assessed the contributions of land-based mitigation strategies to reducing planetary boundary transgressions projected for the reference scenario.

FINDINGS: Our projections show that a food-system transformation together with ambitious land-system and energy-system climate change mitigation can limit global warming to below 1·5°C by 2100, while also reducing planetary boundary transgression (particularly for the climate change, land-system change, biosphere integrity, and nitrogen planetary boundaries). However, a safe operating space was not achieved through these mitigation measures, as most planetary boundaries were still projected to remain transgressed by the end of the 21st century. Increased bioenergy supply alone worsened planetary boundary transgression when only looking at land-system impacts, but combining increased bioenergy supply with GHG pricing in the land system alleviated these trade-offs. Food waste reductions and dietary shifts towards the planetary health diet were projected to ease pressures on the land system and reduce planetary boundary transgression of all assessed planetary boundaries.

INTERPRETATION: This research highlights the importance of considering multiple planetary boundaries and the interactions between various mitigation strategies when assessing climate mitigation action in the land system to avoid negative consequences for other aspects of the environment. Following an ambitious climate change mitigation pathway compatible with the Paris Agreement results in a transgression of all assessed five planetary boundaries by 2100. However, the combination of the land-system mitigation measures included in this study produced a substantial shift towards the safe operating space for humanity.

FUNDING: EAT-Lancet Commission 2.0.

RevDate: 2025-07-10

Merondun J, JBW Wolf (2025)

DNA Methylation Reflects Cis-Genetic Differentiation Across the European Crow Hybrid Zone.

Molecular ecology [Epub ahead of print].

Chromatin modifications provide a substrate for epigenetic variation with evolutionary potential. To quantify the contribution of this layer of variation during speciation in crows, we leveraged genome and methylome sequencing data from an incipient avian species: all-black carrion crows, grey-coated hooded crows, and their hybrids. Combining controlled experimentation under common garden conditions and sampling of natural genetic variation across the hybrid zone, we show that 5mC methylation variation was largely explained by genome properties and the ontogenetic programme of the organism. Taxonomically related methylation divergence clustered in intergenic space, with the only genomic region of strongly elevated genetic differentiation encoding the diagnostic colour contrast between taxa. We conclude that methylation variation with relevance to speciation largely follows cis-genetic polymorphism in this system and does not constitute an autonomous axis of evolution.

RevDate: 2025-07-10

Jay EK, Patterson C, L Moxham (2025)

The Jay-Canvas Artboard Approach: an innovative arts-based research method.

Nurse researcher pii:e1968 [Epub ahead of print].

BACKGROUND: There is an increasing need to develop innovative ways of collecting data that empower vulnerable people, such as those who use mental health services.

AIM: To describe a novel, arts-based research method called the Jay-Canvas Artboard Approach (Jay-CAA), which involves a group collectively writing short descriptions on a canvas artboard about their experiences.

DISCUSSION: The authors asked participants in two studies to use coloured pens to write decorative comments on shared canvas artboards. They then analysed this data using thematic analysis.

CONCLUSION: The Jay-CAA enabled the creation and collection of data in a time-effective way that was unproblematic for recruiting and retaining participants.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: The Jay-CAA method enables research participants to summarise and express their experiences.

RevDate: 2025-07-10

Zhang J, Dong M, Liu L, et al (2025)

The Role of Executive Function in the Co-occurrence of ADHD and Developmental Dyscalculia in Chinese Children.

Alpha psychiatry, 26(3):42712.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to elucidate the characteristics of executive function deficits in children with Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) comorbid with developmental dyscalculia (ADHD+DD).

METHODS: Three groups of Chinese children (n = 637) aged from 6 to 16 years were included in this study. Initially, a between-group comparison on both performance-based and scale-based executive function was conducted, controlling for age, Raven score, and gender. Partial correlation analysis and regression analysis were then used to investigate the association between executive function, ADHD symptoms, and arithmetic ability. Furthermore, logistic regression analysis and path analysis were used to differentiate the effect of executive functions on ADHD without developmental dyscalculia (ADHD-DD) and ADHD+DD.

RESULTS: Both ADHD groups had more severe executive function impairment than the control group. Compared with the ADHD-DD group, the ADHD+DD group performed worse in performance-based executive functions but similar in scale-based executive functions. ADHD-DD and ADHD were differentiated by inhibition (odds ratio (OR) = 2.00, 95% CI = 1.42; 2.81) and processing speed (OR = 0.90, 95% CI = 0.84; 0.97). In terms of symptom dimensions, verbal working memory had an effect on ADHD symptoms and complex subtraction (pIna = 0.006, pHI = 0.018, pCS = 0.002), processing speed (pIna = 0.002, pCS = 0.001) and working memory factors influenced inattention and complex subtraction (pIna < 0.001, pCS = 0.001), and inhibition (p = 0.004) and cognitive flexibility (p = 0.013) contributed uniquely to complex subtraction.

CONCLUSION: Individuals with ADHD+DD exhibit multiple executive function deficits, with inhibition and processing speed being potential etiological factors. Verbal working memory, processing speed, and working memory factors are shared executive function deficits for ADHD symptoms and arithmetic ability. Cognitive flexibility and inhibition are specific risk factors for arithmetic ability.

RevDate: 2025-07-09

Zhou F, Lu Y, Liu J, et al (2025)

Geographical Variation in Egg Rejection by Azure-Winged Magpies (Cyanopica cyanus) Across China.

Ecology and evolution, 15(7):e71726.

Brood parasitism negatively affects the reproductive success of hosts, leading many hosts to evolve defense strategies to recognize and reject parasitized eggs. While studies have shown that hosts may adjust their defensive behavior according to parasitism risk, whether different geographical populations of the azure-winged magpie (Cyanopica cyanus), which are parasitized by multiple cuckoo species and face varying parasitism risks, exhibit geographical variation in egg rejection behavior is unclear. As studies have shown that the color of model eggs can influence the egg rejection behavior of hosts, we also tested whether red or blue model eggs would affect the egg rejection behavior of the azure-winged magpies. From April to June in 2023, we investigated the egg recognition ability of azure-winged magpie populations in Fusong County, Jilin Province; Huangpi District, Hubei Province; and Luqu County, Gansu Province, China. The results showed that the azure-winged magpie populations in all three regions rejected approximately 100% of the model eggs, with no significant difference in rejection rates between red and blue model eggs. This study revealed that Chinese populations of azure-winged magpies exhibited high egg recognition ability. There was no geographical variation in their egg rejection behavior when presented with non-mimetic blue or red model eggs. This study provided basic data for further research on the anti-parasitic strategies of the azure-winged magpie.

RevDate: 2025-07-07

Gallimore M, E Krackow (2025)

An Examination of Developmental Factors in False Confessions.

The International journal of clinical and experimental hypnosis [Epub ahead of print].

We examined possible developmental factors associated with false confessions. Participants (N = 33) between 13-and-37-years-old (M = 21.79, SD = 6.20) completed a delay discounting task and a pencil-and-paper measure of impulsivity. A researcher accused the participant of having engaged in an accidental wrongdoing. Approximately half the participants confessed. When chronological age and impulsivity scores of confessors and nonconfessors were examined, neither differed significantly, although Bayesian analyses provided moderate evidence that participants who confessed were older. Additionally, some analyses were conducted by creating developmental groups in which participants were divided into ongoing and completed executive functioning (EF) groups, using age as a proxy for EF. False confessions did not differ by EF-proxy developmental group. However, an analysis of the instability of false confession across oral and written modes revealed significant developmental group effects based on specific mode of confession. The reasons people provided for their choice to confess or not confess were examined and are consistent with cases depicted in the literature of false confessions. Forensic implications, as well as the overlap between this work and that of Steven Jay Lynn are discussed.

RevDate: 2025-07-08
CmpDate: 2025-07-04

Bai XD, Liu YC, Ge SY, et al (2025)

Clinical Trial of Salmon Nasal Cartilage-Derived Proteoglycans on Human Facial Antiaging: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Study.

Journal of cosmetic dermatology, 24(7):e70218.

BACKGROUND: Proteoglycans (PGs) derived from salmon nasal cartilage are believed to have antiaging effects on the skin. However, comprehensive evaluations of their impact on various skin parameters in Chinese populations remain limited.

AIMS: This study aims to evaluate the efficacy of oral PG supplementation in enhancing skin elasticity, hydration, and reducing roughness, wrinkles, and pigmentation in healthy adult volunteers.

METHODS: A 56-day randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial was conducted involving 66 subjects aged 30-60. Subjects received a daily dose of 20 mg PG, and skin parameters were measured at baseline, 28 days, and 56 days. The study assessed skin elasticity, hydration, roughness, wrinkles, melanin content, and brown spots while monitoring for any adverse effects.

RESULTS: Subjects receiving PG supplementation showed significant improvements in skin elasticity and hydration at both 28 days and 56 days (p < 0.001), with reductions in skin roughness and wrinkles (p < 0.001), and a significant decrease in melanin content and brown spots (p < 0.001). Compared to the placebo group, the PG group exhibited significant improvements in most skin parameters by 56 days, except in the wrinkle area percentage at the crow's feet, where no significant difference was observed. PG was well tolerated, with no adverse effects reported.

CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that daily oral intake of 20 mg PG effectively improves skin health by enhancing elasticity, hydration, and reducing signs of aging such as wrinkles and pigmentation.

RevDate: 2025-07-06
CmpDate: 2025-07-03

Damini S, Blum CR, Sumasgutner P, et al (2025)

When to mob? plasticity of antipredator behavior in common ravens' families (Corvus corax) across offspring development.

Animal cognition, 28(1):55.

The ability to respond appropriately to predators is essential for survival. Because response options vary with predation context, anti-predator behavior is often flexible, context dependent and shaped by learning. Corvids engage in predator mobbing, which contains a vocal component (scolding) and predator-directed behaviors (approaches, attacks). Individuals typically gang up for mobbing and pass on information about predators; yet their expression of antipredator behavior is influenced by factors such as social status, age, and rearing conditions. Here we investigated the development of antipredator behavior in ravens, specifically the onset of mobbing and the extent to which these responses are affected by parental agitation. We exposed 12 captive families to a potentially dangerous human (DH) at two stages of offspring development: shortly after fledging and near independence. We tested the hypotheses that (i) parents are more protective when the offspring are young and that (ii) offspring show more predator-directed behaviors with increasing age. We found that (i) adults mobbed significantly more during the early test period and (ii) offspring were less likely to ignore the DH and showed increased engagement during the late test period. These findings suggest that parental anti-predator investment diminishes as offspring develop greater motoric and cognitive abilities. This reduced investment may encourage offspring to independently assess and respond to threats. Yet, they hardly engage in mobbing while they are with their parents. Future studies may clarify if the increase in offsprings' interindividual variance in both mobbing components are indicative for the emergence of individuality.

RevDate: 2025-07-02

Nadarajan V, Thota B, Dogaroiu A, et al (2025)

A Decade in Focus: Examining Lessons Learned From Office-Directed Injectables in an Academic Practice.

Aesthetic surgery journal. Open forum, 7:ojaf013.

BACKGROUND: Noninvasive facial rejuvenation procedures have continued to grow in popularity, with botulinum toxin and injectable soft-tissue fillers being the most common.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to evaluate trends in patient cost, provider product preferences, and complications of a single surgeon's 10-year experience with botulinum toxin and soft-tissue fillers. Additionally, this study aimed to quantify the crossover between patients receiving injectables and patients receiving aesthetic surgery.

METHODS: This was a retrospective analysis utilizing internal/departmental records and Epic charting from January 2013 to January 2023. Botulinum toxin and soft-tissue filler cases were captured using select CPT codes, and patient demographics, complications, and follow-up data were recorded.

RESULTS: One thousand three hundred and sixty-eight patients undergoing 5794 injectable cases were assessed. The study population was majority female (89.3%) and Caucasian (78.7%). Injectable cases increased over time, except for a decrease in 2020. Botulinum toxin was most common (59%), followed by fillers (18%), and combination therapy (19%). Common injection sites included the glabella, crow's feet, and forehead for neurotoxins and marionette lines and nasolabial folds for fillers. Complications were rare, with 35 from botulinum toxin and 33 from fillers. Of patients receiving injectables, 19.6% went on to receive an aesthetic surgery, and 0.6% of patients undergoing aesthetic surgery subsequently received injectables.

CONCLUSIONS: Botulinum toxin and soft-tissue fillers are safe with low complication rates when administered by an experienced provider. These procedures may serve as a starting point for patients pursuing antiaging treatments and an opportunity to establish continuity of care for providers.

RevDate: 2025-07-01
CmpDate: 2025-07-01

Giunti G, Mylonopoulou V, Rivera-Romero O, et al (2025)

Power Dynamics Analysis of Participatory Design in Digital Health Research: Case Study.

Studies in health technology and informatics, 328:454-458.

Digital health adoption remains a challenge requiring engagement from patients, healthcare professionals, and family members. Participatory design (PD) enables stakeholders to co-create tools but the relationship among stakeholders influences power dynamics. We explored power dynamics in a series of PD workshops with patients, healthcare professionals and family members taking place in 4 different countries. Data was collected through participant observation, recordings, and facilitator interviews, then analyzed using French and Raven's Bases of Power framework. Findings indicate that each stakeholder group holds distinct types of power that impact the design process. Patients brought referent and informational power derived from lived experiences. Healthcare professionals often wielded expert and legitimate power, while family members sometimes exerted coercive or reward power.

RevDate: 2025-06-30

Brown JL (2025)

What are 40 Acres and a Mule Worth in the Twenty-First Century? A Rapid Review of Modern Reparative Initiatives to Address Socioeconomic and Health Inequality Among Black Americans.

Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities [Epub ahead of print].

The historical call for reparations for Black Americans has recently regained relevance. Reparations aim to address not only generational inequality established during slavery but also the perpetuation of socioeconomic and health disparities over time via Jim Crow, redlining, police brutality, and other forms of structural and systemic racism. Using Public Health Critical Race Praxis (PHCRP), this rapid review assesses the landscape of reparative initiatives across the United States at the governmental and organizational levels, analyzing the eligibility criteria, political ideologies, and goals of various stakeholders. Additionally, it examines the potential ability of reparations initiatives to reduce socioeconomic and health inequality. Key themes identified include American Descendants of Slavery (ADOS) should be eligible for reparations; the overall goals of reparative initiatives differ between governments and organizations; reparations extend far beyond direct payments; and reparations initiatives are influenced by one another but largely uncoordinated. The ways in which these themes align with PHCRP and the extensive policy implications are discussed.

RevDate: 2025-06-30
CmpDate: 2025-06-30

Chang H, Tao K, Yang Y, et al (2025)

Novel Cyclized Hexapeptide-9 Outperforms Retinol Against Skin Aging: A Randomized, Double-Blinded, Active- and Vehicle-Controlled Clinical Trial.

Journal of cosmetic dermatology, 24(7):e70290.

BACKGROUND: The functionality and regenerative capacity of skin progressively deteriorate with aging. Topical use of peptides with a hyper-safety profile has been implicated in replacing retinol for skin anti-aging use, but is limited due to low stability and poor skin permeability.

AIMS: In this randomized, double-blinded, active- and vehicle-controlled clinical trial, we aim to evaluate the efficacy of an innovative cyclized hexapeptide-9 (CHP-9) with increased stability and skin permeability on skin aging compared to retinol.

METHODS: Healthy volunteers with aging skin were randomly assigned to twice-daily topical use of 0.002% CHP-9 serum, 0.002% retinol serum, or vehicle serum for 56 days.

RESULTS: CHP-9 treatment significantly decreased the number, area, and roughness of both crow's feet (-2.20, 95% CI: -4.38, -0.03; -3.95, 95% CI: -5.80, -2.11; -1.95, 95% CI: -3.30, -0.59, respectively) and forehead wrinkles (-2.88, 95% CI: -4.21, -1.56; -4.90, 95% CI: -5.97, -3.82; -3.96, 95% CI: -5.92, -2.01, respectively), while retinol only decreased the area of crow's feet (-2.23, 95% CI: -3.86, -0.60) and the number and area of forehead wrinkles (-1.05, 95% CI:-1.69, -0.41). Except for the roughness of crow's feet, CHP-9 demonstrated significantly larger extent of effects than retinol did on all other outcomes. Furthermore, long-term use of CHP-9 showed time-dependent augmentation in its potency to reduce the number of crow's feet, and the number, area, and roughness of forehead wrinkles.

CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, CHP-9 is more potent than retinol in improving skin aging-related symptoms, especially for long-term use. Cyclization of collagen peptides may present a preventive/therapeutic option for skin aging.

RevDate: 2025-06-27

Tavares S, J Crow (2025)

Advocacy Spotlight Series : Jennifer Crow.

European journal of cardiovascular nursing pii:8169465 [Epub ahead of print].

RevDate: 2025-06-27

Rademacher N, McLeod MC, Williams CP, et al (2025)

Association between travel burden and surgical timeliness for women with breast cancer in Georgia.

American journal of surgery, 247:116484 pii:S0002-9610(25)00307-1 [Epub ahead of print].

INTRODUCTION: This study evaluates associations between patient distance traveled to surgical care and receipt of timely breast cancer surgery in Georgia.

METHODS: This retrospective cohort study included electronic health record data from women diagnosed with stage I-III breast cancer from 2004 to 2020 who received upfront surgery. Race was self-reported. Distance from patient home address to surgical treatment facility was measured as crow-fly distance. Multivariable logistic regression models estimated associations between time to surgery, race, and distance.

RESULTS: Of 18,240 patients (White ​= ​61 ​% and Black ​= ​39 ​%) with a median distance to surgery of 11.4 miles (IQR: 5.9, 19.6), Black patients had approximately half the odds of receiving surgery within the recommended 60 days of diagnosis (OR: 0.52, 95 ​% CI: 0.47-0.56). Distance traveled was not associated with time to surgery.

CONCLUSION: Understanding mechanisms driving surgical care delays and their effects on breast cancer outcomes is critical to reducing inequities in breast cancer care.

RevDate: 2025-06-27

Krackow E, Rashed J, I Thompson (2025)

Does Hypnosis Aid Memory Retrieval?: A Review of Steven Jay Lynn's Research.

The International journal of clinical and experimental hypnosis [Epub ahead of print].

Steven Jay Lynn was one of the most prolific clinical psychologists who made major contributions to the scientific literature in numerous areas, including in the area of hypnosis and memory. We review this work, limited to studies appearing in empirical journals, with special emphasis on research methodology. Hypnosis did not enhance accurate recall in any study and in some cases impeded recall. In numerous studies, hypnosis increased recall of never-experienced events; this recall persisted over time, and participants were at least moderately confident in their recall of these never-experienced events. We discuss the branching off of this work into the courts and psychotherapy.

RevDate: 2025-06-27

Yang Z, Yu J, Liu M, et al (2025)

A Method for Predicting Trajectories of Concealed Targets via a Hybrid Decomposition and State Prediction Framework.

Sensors (Basel, Switzerland), 25(12): pii:s25123639.

Accurate trajectory prediction of concealed targets in complex, interference-laden environments present a formidable challenge for millimeter-wave sensor tracking systems. To address this, we propose a state-of-the-art autonomous prediction framework that integrates an Improved Sequential Variational Mode Decomposition (ISVMD) algorithm with an Extreme Learning Machine (ELM), synergistically optimized by the novel Red-billed Blue Magpie Optimizer (RBMO). The ISVMD enhances signal reconstruction by transforming noisy target echo signals into robust feature sequences, effectively mitigating the impacts of environmental disturbances and intentional concealment. Subsequently, the RBMO-optimized ELM leverages these feature sequences to predict the future trajectories of concealed targets with high precision. The RBMO further refines critical parameters within the ISVMD-ELM pipeline, ensuring adaptability and computational efficiency across diverse scenarios. Experimental validation using real-world data demonstrates that the RBMO-ISVMD-ELM approach surpasses state-of-the-art algorithms in both accuracy and robustness when predicting the trajectories of concealed ground targets, achieving optimal performance metrics under demanding conditions.

RevDate: 2025-06-27
CmpDate: 2025-06-27

Vilibić-Čavlek T, Barbić L, Klobučar A, et al (2025)

Re-Emergence of Usutu Virus and Spreading of West Nile Virus Neuroinvasive Infections During the 2024 Transmission Season in Croatia.

Viruses, 17(6): pii:v17060846.

Neuroinvasive arboviruses such as tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV), West Nile virus (WNV), Usutu virus (USUV), and Toscana virus (TOSV) have (re-)emerged with increasing incidence and geographic range. We analyzed the epidemiology of arboviral infections in Croatia during the 2024 transmission season. A total of 154 patients with neuroinvasive diseases (NID), 1596 horses, 69 dead birds, and 7726 mosquitoes were tested. Viral RNA was detected using RT-qPCR. IgM/IgG-specific antibodies were detected using commercial ELISA or IFA, with confirmation of cross-reactive samples by virus neutralization test. RT-qPCR-positive samples were Sanger sequenced. Arboviral etiology was confirmed in 33/21.42% of patients with NID. WNV was most frequently detected (17/11.03%), followed by TBEV (10/6.49%), USUV (5/3.24%), and TOSV (1/0.64%). WNV infections were reported in regions previously known as endemic, while in one continental county, WNV was recorded for the first time. USUV infections re-emerged after a six-year absence. In addition to human cases, acute WNV infections were recorded in 11/395 (2.78%) of horses and two dead crows. WNV IgG seropositivity was detected in 276/1168 (23.63%) and TBEV IgG seropositivity in 68/428 (15.88%) horses. None of the tested mosquito pools were positive for WNV and USUV RNA. Phylogenetic analysis showed the circulation of WNV lineage 2 and Usutu Europe 2 lineage. Climate conditions in 2024 in Croatia were classified as extremely warm, which could, at least in part, impact the quite intense arboviral season. The spreading of flaviviruses in Croatia highlights the need for continuous surveillance in humans, animals, and vectors ("One Health").

RevDate: 2025-06-27

Bayir MC, E Mensur (2025)

XGBoost-Based Modeling of Electrocaloric Property: A Bayesian Optimization in BCZT Electroceramics.

Materials (Basel, Switzerland), 18(12):.

Electrocaloric materials, which exhibit adiabatic temperature change under an applied electric field, are promising for solid-state cooling technologies. In this study, the electrocaloric response of lead-free BaxCa1-xZryTi1-yO3 (BCZT) ceramics was modeled to investigate the effects of composition, processing, and measurement conditions on performance. A high-accuracy XGBoost regression model (R[2] = 0.99, MAE = 0.02 °C) was developed using a dataset of 2188 literature-derived data points to predict and design the electrocaloric response of BCZT ceramics. The feature space incorporated compositional ratios, processing parameters, measurement settings, and atomic-level Magpie descriptors, along with Curie temperature to account for phase-transition behavior. Feature importance analysis revealed that electric field, measurement temperature, and proximity to the Curie point are the most critical factors influencing ΔTEC. Bayesian optimization was applied to navigate the design space and identify performance maxima under unconstrained and realistic constraints, offering valuable insights into the nonlinear interactions governing electrocaloric performance. Under room temperature and moderate-field conditions (24 °C, 40 kV/cm), the optimized ΔTEC achieved a value of 1.03 °C for Ba0.85Ca0.15Zr0.40Ti0.60, to be processed at 1090 °C for 3 h during calcination, 1300 °C for 2 h during sintering. By integrating experimental insight with machine learning and optimization, this study offers a refined, interpretable framework for accelerating the design of high-performance electrocaloric ceramics while reducing the experimental workload.

RevDate: 2025-06-27
CmpDate: 2025-06-27

Jin Y, Li N, Chen Z, et al (2025)

Clinical Characteristics and Genetic Variants in Children with PAX2 Mutation-Associated Disorders.

Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania), 61(6):.

Background and Objectives: PAX2 serves as a critical transcription factor integral to the process of embryogenesis. Variations in the PAX2 gene could result in the aberrant development of numerous organs. Despite the identification of numerous mutations within the PAX2 gene, the correlation between specific genotypes has yet to be fully clarified. The objective of this study was to examine the clinical phenotypes and genotypes associated with PAX2 mutation-induced disorders in pediatric patients of Chinese descent. The aim of our study was to forecast the pathogenic potential of these genetic mutations and to ascertain possible correlations between genotypic variations and the clinical manifestations of disorders linked to PAX2 mutations. Materials and Methods: We recruited 14 pediatric subjects with PAX2 mutations, meticulously examining the clinical characteristics and genetic alterations present in these individuals. Computational techniques were utilized to evaluate the pathogenicity, stability, and biophysical characteristics. A range of computational tools were employed for this assessment, including PredictSNP, MAGPIE, iStable, Align GVGD, ConSurf, and SNP effect. Results: The age at onset ranged from prenatal to 12 years. Five patients progressed to end-stage renal disease. Proteinuria and bilateral renal hypoplasia were observed in 92% of cases. Ocular and auditory abnormalities were also noted. We identified eleven different PAX2 mutations, including five novel variants not previously reported in the literature. We predicted that all mutations, with the exception of p.F27-L33 del and N188S, exhibited high pathogenicity scores. In particular, R117P and R140W are strongly associated with disease pathogenicity and are likely to cause more significant damage than other gene mutants. Conclusions: This study expands the mutational and phenotypic spectrum of PAX2-related disorders in the pediatric population. The identification of five novel variants enhances our understanding of the genetic basis of these conditions. Despite recurrent mutations, marked phenotypic heterogeneity persists, underscoring the need for further research.

RevDate: 2025-06-27

Çelik S, Arslan L, Özarslan C, et al (2025)

Psychometric Properties of the Social Attribution Task and Its Relationship With Cognitive Functions.

Psychiatry investigation, 22(6):687-698.

OBJECTIVE: The Social Attribution Task-Multiple Choice (SAT-MC) battery is one of tests used to evaluate social cognitive capacity. This study aimed to examine the reliability and validity of the SAT-MC for the first time in healthy adults and in individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia, then to investigate the effect on SAT-MC performance of clinical variables in schizophrenia patients.

METHODS: The study included 207 volunteers; 157 healthy adults, and 50 individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia. All the study participants were applied with the Raven Standard Progressive Matrices Test (RSPM), the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET), and the SAT-MC.

RESULTS: The results of the analyses showed that the SAT-MC had content and criteria validity in both the individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia and in the healthy control group. Internal consistency of test was calculated as McDonald's omega coefficient 0.81, and the test-retest reliability was found to be 0.75. Hierarchical multivariate regression analysis showed a predictive effect of RSPM and RMET on the SAT points.

CONCLUSION: The results of this study demonstrated that SAT was valid and reliable in evaluating social attribution skills in both a healthy and a schizophrenia sample group. Social attribution skill was found to be related to the perceptual reasoning and abstract thinking skills of neurocognition. The social cognition dimension was determined to be related to the theory of mind skills. Insufficient social attribution skills, seen especially in schizophrenia patients, can lead to social withdrawal and isolation by disrupting interactions and relationships with others.

RevDate: 2025-06-26

Gryz J, Krauze-Gryz D, M Brach (2025)

Wildfire-Driven Shifts in Bird and Red Fox Activity: A Case Study from Biebrza National Park.

Biology, 14(6):.

Fires of natural or anthropogenic origin shape some ecosystems on Earth; this disturbance can maintain the landscape and influence many processes like vegetation structure, carbon, and hydrological cycle, climate, and others [...].

RevDate: 2025-06-25

Payne H (2025)

G.G. Simpson's changing attitude towards quantum evolution.

Studies in history and philosophy of science, 112:60-69 pii:S0039-3681(25)00072-X [Epub ahead of print].

This paper conducts a study of the published responses to a key process - quantum evolution - in G.G. Simpson's paleontological masterpiece Tempo and Mode in Evolution (1944), with the primary goal of revealing the reasons for Simpson's changed views, as indicated in his next book Major Features of Evolution (1953), on the importance of quantum evolution. I argue that the primary force that drove this change was not pressure from other leading synthesis thinkers like Mayr and Dobzhansky but rather empirical paleontological considerations. I consider the implications this has for the supposed hardening of the synthesis as defended by Stephen Jay Gould and for our understanding of the status of paleontology in the post-synthesis period. I claim that paleontology's secondary status in the immediate post-synthesis period resulted from the internal workings of paleontology and not merely pressures from allied biological disciplines.

RevDate: 2025-06-25
CmpDate: 2025-06-25

Gherman CM, Balea A, Györke A, et al (2025)

Prevalence and Toxoplasma gondii Genotypes Circulating in Five Wild Corvid Species from Romania.

Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland), 14(6):.

The apicomplexan parasite Toxoplasma gondii can potentially infect all warm-blooded animals, including birds, which, due to their high dispersal capabilities, are considered a significant candidate group of sentinel animals that reveal environmental contamination with this protozoan. In the present study, the serologic and molecular prevalences of T. gondii infection were determined in 333 corvids from Romania. Paired meat juice (n = 333) and heart samples (n = 244) were collected and analyzed using the modified agglutination test for antibodies, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for DNA, and SAG2 molecular marker sequencing for genotyping. The overall T. gondii antibodies prevalence was 19.5%, with 48.1% infected jackdaws, 72.8% rooks, 89.7% hooded crows, 77.5% magpies, and 42.9% jays. Of 244 heart samples analyzed with PCR amplification, only 3 (1.2%) resulted positive and were shown to belong to genotype III through the sequencing of the SAG2 amplicon. This is the first extensive study on T. gondii in crows from Romania.

RevDate: 2025-06-25
CmpDate: 2025-06-25

Garcia YLNL, Gomes AJC, Neto GG, et al (2025)

Potential New Avian Species as Carriers of Diverse Circoviruses.

Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland), 14(6): pii:pathogens14060540.

Avian species pose risks for transmitting viruses, including avian circoviruses, that could be a threat for conservation and introduction into commercial flocks. This study investigated the presence of circovirus in 81 avian species from different regions of Brazil, including the northwest region of São Paulo and the coast of Paraná. Blood samples and oropharyngeal, cloacal, and other organ swabs were collected. The samples were extracted and screened using nested PCR for the replicase gene. In positive cases, the samples were sequenced. Regarding the results, a total of 1528 swab samples were collected from 601 birds, of which 24 (4%, 95% CI: 2.4-5.6) tested positive for various circovirus subtypes. Most positive birds (92%, 22/24) were from the northwest region of São Paulo, mainly from the city of São José do Rio Preto (54%, 12/22). The study also identified the presence of circovirus subtypes in avian families that were not previously described. Furthermore, the presence of raven circovirus in the blood sample of a Nyctibius griseus (potoo), suggests the possibility of a new carrier of the virus. Ultimately, the findings underscore the complexity of the viral ecology of avian circoviruses, highlight the necessity of enhancing future studies, and emphasize the need to support health assessment of wildlife, including marine birds.

RevDate: 2025-06-23

Liao DA, Schwarzbach E, A Nieder (2025)

Exploring Neural Dynamics in the Auditory Telencephalon of Crows using Functional Ultrasound Imaging.

The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience pii:JNEUROSCI.0016-25.2025 [Epub ahead of print].

Crows, renowned for advanced cognitive abilities and vocal communication, rely on intricate auditory systems. While the neuroanatomy of corvid auditory pathways is partially explored, the underlying neurophysiological mechanisms are largely unknown. This study used functional ultrasound imaging (fUSi) to investigate sound-induced cerebral blood volume (CBV) changes in the field L complex of the auditory telencephalon in two female crows. FUSi revealed frequency-specific CBV responses, showing a tonotopic organization within the field L complex, with low frequencies in posterior dorsal region and high frequencies in the anterior ventral region. Machine learning analyses showed fUSi signals could be used to classify sound types accurately, in both awake and anesthetized states. Variable CBV responses to longer sound stimuli suggest a delineation of subregions within the field L complex. Together, these findings highlight the potential of fUSi for providing high-resolution insights into functional systems in corvids, enabling future exploration of experimental task-related cognitive dynamics.Significance Statement This study highlights the use of functional ultrasound imaging (fUSi) to explore auditory processing in crows, marking the first application of this technique in songbirds. By revealing the frequency map of the crow's auditory system and demonstrating the ability of fUSi to classify sound types, the research uncovers the neural dynamics supporting complex auditory functions. The findings suggest conserved auditory organization across avian species and provide insights into the evolution of audio-vocal behaviors in birds. This work paves the way for future studies on the neural underpinnings of cognition and communication in corvids, offering significant implications for comparative neuroscience and neuroethology.

RevDate: 2025-06-25

Kumar S, Singh R, Kampani S, et al (2025)

Policy mandates for Ayush in National Health Policy-2017: Achievements, impediments, and future prospects.

Journal of family medicine and primary care, 14(5):1597-1603.

The Ayush sector has seen multidimensional growth in the last 10 years, especially since its inception as the Ministry of Ayush in 2014 from the earlier Department of Ayush. This expansion is evident across various facets of the sector, notably reflected in the allocation within the union budget, the surge in exports of herbal medicines, the proliferation of educational institutions, the establishment of integrated Ayush hospitals, and the integration into the broader public healthcare system. The National Health Policy 2017 (NHP-2017) is the cornerstone guiding document for all health-related matters, including Ayush systems. It advocates for transitioning from a standalone to a comprehensive three-dimensional mainstreaming of Ayush services, emphasising the intricate integration of Ayush into the public healthcare system and adopting Ayush-based promotive and preventive strategies for fostering healthy lifestyles. Significant strides have been undertaken in recent years to realise the mandates outlined in NHP-2017. Noteworthy initiatives include the approval of 12,500 Ayushman Arogya Mandirs - Ayush (erstwhile Health and Wellness Centres), the establishment of co-located Ayush facilities across three tiers of public healthcare, the provision for Ayush academic departments in all new and forthcoming AIIMS establishments, and, more recently, the publication of guidelines related to Indian Public Health Standards for Ayush. However, several challenges persist, such as the skewed distribution of Ayush facilities, the non-inclusion of Ayush packages from the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY), and logistical issues about the supply chain of medicines in co-located facilities. Addressing these challenges is imperative for achieving a seamless integration of Ayush systems into the mainstream public healthcare framework and fulfilling the policy mandate designated to Ayush. Such integration holds promise for contributing to realising universal health coverage, national health objectives, and the overarching goal of health for all. This paper delves into the policy imperatives for Ayush within the public health domain as stipulated by NHP-2017, examining its progress, identifying challenges, and proposing potential solutions.

RevDate: 2025-06-23

Llinares-Segura J, Alarcón A, Mendoza ME, et al (2025)

The Development and Use of the Valencia Scales of Attitudes and Beliefs Toward Hypnosis.

The International journal of clinical and experimental hypnosis [Epub ahead of print].

The importance of attitudes and beliefs in relation to people's behavior, both in general and within the context of psychological treatment, is undeniable. This is especially true in the field of hypnosis, where misinformation and myths are widespread. In response to a request from, and as a tribute to, Professor Steven Jay Lynn, we summarize the status of the Valencia Scales of Attitudes and Beliefs toward Hypnosis, both the client (VSABH-C) and therapist (VSABH-T) versions. A literature review was conducted in May 2024 across nine databases. The only inclusion criterion was that the studies had to cite and/or use either or both versions of the VSABH scales as a measurement instrument. A total of 73 references were selected and classified into four categories: psychometric analyses, use of the scales, citations, and unpublished references. The findings indicate that the VSABHs are widely used, useful, robust, and versatile scales with international projection, and its 37-item version is recommended. Scholars and practitioners are encouraged to continue the psychometric and applied study of these scales and to undertake adaptation processes in different languages, cultures, and samples, adhering to the guidelines set forth by the International Test Commission (ITC) rather than relying solely on reverse translations.

RevDate: 2025-06-18

Montgomery GH, Green JP, Apelian C, et al (2025)

Hypnosis at the Crossroads: A Primer of the Past and Visions for the Future.

The International journal of clinical and experimental hypnosis [Epub ahead of print].

The field of hypnosis has intrigued clinicians and researchers alike for more than 200 years. Below, a review of hypnosis is presented from historical, theoretical, experimental, and clinical perspectives in order to provide those readers less aware of the field with a broad foundation. The literature reveals that while theoretically driven experimental research has led to groundbreaking clinical applications, there remains much to be done regarding dissemination of efficacious interventions and our understanding of underlying mechanisms responsible for observed effects. The goal is to inspire readers to pursue innovative work to improve our understanding of hypnosis and the quality of life of patients through clinical application. Along the way, we highlight empirical findings and selective writings of Dr. Steven Jay Lynn who was a tireless champion of hypnosis and psychotherapy.

RevDate: 2025-06-17

Yadav SK, Bakhsh A, D Sharma (2025)

Who pays for surgical care in the global south? A narrative review.

PLOS global public health, 5(6):e0004781 pii:PGPH-D-25-01005.

For decades, surgical care was sidelined in global health policy, perceived as costly, complex, and secondary to communicable disease control. However, the past two decades have witnessed a paradigm shift, with evidence highlighting surgery's critical role in addressing nearly 30% of the global disease burden. Landmark efforts like the 2015 Lancet Commission on Global Surgery and WHO Resolution WHA68.15 underscored that safe, timely, and affordable surgical care is indispensable to achieving Universal Health Coverage and the Sustainable Development Goals. Yet, despite increasing advocacy, a fundamental question remains inadequately addressed: who pays for surgical care in the Global South? This narrative review explores the current landscape of surgical financing in low- and middle-income countries, examining domestic public funding, insurance-based models, donor assistance, diaspora contributions, and the persistent burden of out-of-pocket payments. While some initiatives-such as India's AB PM-JAY and organizations like Smile Train and KidsOR-illustrate scalable financing models, most low- and middle-income countries still rely on fragmented, underfunded systems that lead to catastrophic health expenditures. Moreover, political neglect, lack of standardized surgical metrics, and low visibility within global health frameworks continue to hinder sustained investment. The review further highlights the cost-effectiveness and economic benefits of surgical interventions, positioning surgery not only as a clinical imperative but also as a strategic investment in national development. Emphasizing the emerging concept of value-based surgery, it argues for integrating frugal innovations and systems-based approaches into health financing frameworks. To achieve equitable and sustainable surgical systems in the Global South, the global health community must address the multifaceted barriers to financing-economic, structural, and political. The review calls for strategic investments, better data, and policy integration to ensure that surgical care is no longer a privilege but a universal right.

RevDate: 2025-06-17

Zuo Z, Dong J, Wu Y, et al (2025)

PADiff: Reconstruction From Patch to Pixel With Normality-Guided Diffusion Model for Unsupervised Anomaly Localization.

IEEE transactions on neural networks and learning systems, PP: [Epub ahead of print].

Anomaly localization (AL) is an indispensable and challenging task in manufacturing. Recently, diffusion models have been widely used to localize anomalies through discrepancies between original and reconstructed representations, which is based on the hypothesis that diffusion models regard anomalies as noise and reconstruct them to normal representations. However, anomalies usually deviate from prior standard Gaussian distribution and diffusion models cannot reconstruct anomaly parts as normal patterns well due to powerful generalization. These issues hinder the application of diffusion models in AL and lead to suboptimal performance. As a remedy, we present a novel framework for AL based on the diffusion model, dubbed PADiff. To enable the diffusion model to reconstruct abnormal regions to normal regions in an anomaly image, we propose to guide the diffusion model in the reconstruction process using its normal counterpart. High-quality guided normal counterpart plays a key role in our method. Therefore, we propose a patch-substitution strategy to obtain a high-quality-guided normal counterpart. Specifically, we first construct a normal patch memory bank using normal training samples. With a normal memory bank, we find potential anomaly patches in testing images and substitute them with most similar normal patches in the memory bank. After substitution, pseudo-normal images are generated to guide the diffusion model. To make our method more data-efficient, we divide an image into patches and propose patch-wise training and reconstruction. As one of our innovations, we propose to encode each patch into positional embedding and add it on time embedding, which introduces patch-level representation and position information in the diffusion model. Extensive experiments are conducted on three commonly used anomaly detection datasets (MVTec-AD, VisA, and BTAD) to showcase the state-of-the-art (SOTA) performance of the proposed PADiff. The source code is publicly available at https://github.com/Jay-zzcoder/padiff.

RevDate: 2025-06-16

Yadav K, Hazarika J, Rohullah M, et al (2025)

Thermo-Welded Periodic Arrays of Fluorescent Polymer Microspheres for Rollable Coupled-Resonator Optical Waveguides.

Small (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) [Epub ahead of print].

Polymer microspherical resonators that trap light are crucial structures for on-chip and on-board integration in nanophotonic applications. Using advanced micromanipulation and thermo-welding methods, welded polystyrene-based coupled-resonator optical waveguides (CROWs) are successfully created with customized lengths, shapes, and optical characteristics. Through the thermal fusion of blue, green, and red fluorophore-doped polystyrene microspheres, multi-fluorescent cohesive units are created from dimeric to henicosameric periodic arrangements. Detailed micro-spectroscopy studies reveal CROWs' capability to support optical whispering-gallery modes. The periodic arrangements of different fluorophore-doped resonators within the CROW facilitate efficient guided transmission of light via both active and passive mechanisms in opposite directions. The welded structures exhibit mechanically driven rolling motion, confirming their integration as cohesive units. These findings highlight the versatility and performance of thermo-welded polymer microsphere-based waveguides, paving the way for scalable, low-cost photonic devices in sensing, modulation, and light guiding, emphasizing their role in future integrated photonics.

RevDate: 2025-06-14

Gasparini M, Scandola M, Salati E, et al (2025)

The need to adapt neuropsychological tests to population changes. An update of the Italian normative data for three tests: Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure, Raven Coloured Progressive Matrices and COWAT -FAS.

Journal of clinical and experimental neuropsychology [Epub ahead of print].

OBJECTIVE: The study aims to update normative data for three of the tests which are most widely used in the Italian clinical services for dementia screening: the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure test, the Coloured Progressive Matrices test and the Controlled Oral Word Association test. In fact, the obsolescence of normative data is a crucial problem for cognitive tests, and their periodical updating is recommended because of the Flynn Effect: the longer the time which has passed since standardization, the greater the likelihood is that scores will overestimate real abilities.

METHODS: A total of 364 neurologically healthy individuals (130 males/234 females; age ≥ 40, mean = 65.67 ± 10.29 years, education = 12.98 ± 3.88 years; MMSE score = 29.32 ± 1.11) were recruited from Rome and the surrounding area and divided into 8 groups by five-year age intervals (range 40-85 years). Linear models with modulating effects for age, education, and gender were applied to obtain the correction scores. Percentiles and Equivalent Scores were calculated as well.

RESULTS: Normative data corrected for age, gender and education were obtained for the three tests. Decremental effects of age and incremental effects of education were confirmed, while mixed results were found for gender. When compared with previous Italian normative studies, a global increase in the mean scores was recorded.

CONCLUSIONS: The study provides updated scores for the Italian population for three tests widely used in clinical and experimental settings. The effects of aging, education, and gender on cognitive performance are confirmed, as well as the Flynn effect and the necessity for periodical updating of normative data for neuropsychological tests.

RevDate: 2025-06-14

Punde P, Mishra N, Joshi A, et al (2025)

A modified high infraorbital with lateral crow feet extension incision (Punincision) for body of zygoma fractures and zygoma implants: Original research.

National journal of maxillofacial surgery, 16(1):71-76.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effectiveness of the infraorbital incision with lateral crow feet extension to treat fractures present towards the body of zygoma.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Totally fifteen patients aged from 22 to 69 years diagnosed with fracture line running close to body of zygoma which had been reported to authors between February 2013 and June 2018 were included in this study. Seven patients had low-level frontozygomatic fractures. Eight had fracture lines too lateral to infraorbital foramina. These fractures require longer incisions if conventional approaches are used. New incision design comprising of laterally placed infraorbital incision joined with crow feet extension was used in all these cases. Fracture stabilization was done using 1.5 mm plates in all the cases.

RESULTS: The fractures were well reduced and stabilized. The scar was inconspicuous in nature hidden in skin crease in all the cases. Operation time was observed to be less when compared to using surgical records of conventional incision cases. Soft tissue swelling was also found out to be less as compared to conventional incision cases.

CONCLUSION: This modified incision was found to be effective for fractures near the center of body of zygoma in terms of easiness of fracture site exposure and fixation in less time.

RevDate: 2025-06-12
CmpDate: 2025-06-12

de Quadros RM, Júnior JAC, Raffi MF, et al (2025)

Collyriclum faba (Bremser, 1831) (Digenea: Collyriclidae) in the Azure jay, Cyanocorax caeruleus (Vieillot, 1818): the first report of the parasite in Brazil.

Veterinary research communications, 49(4):221.

This study aims to document the first record of the trematode Collyriclum faba in Brazil. This species parasitizes various bird groups, including Passeriformes, Galliformes, and domestic birds, across Europe, Northeast Asia, and the Americas. An Azure Jay (Cyanocorax caeruleus) found in Praia Grande, Santa Catarina State, southern Brazil, exhibited an unusual enlargement and obliteration of the pericloacal region by an approximately 4 cm diameter, multilobular mass was firm in consistency. A sample of the excised tissue was extracted and sent for histopathological analysis, revealing eight adult C. faba specimens within the cyst. Each cyst cavity contained two parasites, surrounded by fibrous connective tissue, forming multiple cavitations. Longitudinal and transverse sections of the trematodes showed a tegument-covered body with parenchymal lining inside the cavity. The uterus contained numerous thick-walled, yellowish-brown eggs. The parasites were encircled by a predominant infiltrate of macrophages, multinucleated giant cells, and diffuse heterophils, accompanied by bacterial colonies, resulting in the formation of a parasitic heterophilic granuloma.

RevDate: 2025-06-12

Wang X, Kostrzewa C, Reiner A, et al (2025)

A Bayesian Approach for Identifying Driver Mutations within Oncogenic Pathways through Mutual Exclusivity.

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology pii:2025.05.27.656485.

Distinguishing driver mutations from the large background of passenger mutations remains a major challenge in cancer genomics. Evidence-based approaches to nominate driver mutations are often limited by the availability of experimental or clinical validation for specific variants. As clinical sequencing becomes integrated into patient care, computational methods provide powerful opportunities to analyze expanding genomic datasets and identify functional candidates beyond the current knowledge base. Among various analytical frameworks, mutual exclusivity, the observation that mutations in two or more genes tend not to co-occur within the same tumor, has been particularly attractive. Building on this principle, we propose BayesMAGPIE, a refined version of a statistical method, MAGPIE, developed previously for identifying driver genes within oncogenic pathways. The new method introduces two key innovations. First, it incorporates information on mutation type using a Bayesian hierarchical modeling framework, enabling the distinction between potential differences in functional effects among variants within the same gene, thereby improving the accuracy of driver identification. Second, it models gene-specific driver frequencies with a Dirichlet prior which effectively controls the sparsity of the inferred driver set and aligns with the biological expectation that most tumor types are driven by a small number of genes. We evaluate BayesMAGPIE through extensive simulation studies to assess its estimation bias and accuracy in driver identification, and benchmark its performance against MAGPIE using TCGA data from eight cancer types.

RevDate: 2025-06-12

Gupta U, N Kumar (2025)

Feathers, folklore, and eco-literacy: Stories ascribe cultural keystone status to avian scavengers in South Asian cities.

Ornithological applications, 127(1):duae056.

We examined the cultural significance of commensal avian scavenger species-vultures, kites, and crows-and their exploitation of anthropogenic resources and sentiments within Delhi's urban landscapes. For this, we investigated the intrinsic values attributed to these birds by people, which are indicative of complex, rapidly urbanizing social-ecological systems. Semi-structured interviews revealed folk perceptions intertwined with socio-cultural narratives and traditions, shaped by observations of avian morphology, ecology, and behavior. Birds' nesting habits, habitats, home ranges, and foraging behaviors affected people's perceptions, while ecosystem services inspired zoomorphism and anthropomorphism via vernacular-nomenclature (e.g., chidiya collectively for songbirds, giddha for scavenging raptors). Culturally rooted perceptions, which informed ritual feeding practices and shaped prevalent attitudes toward commensal species, fostered mutual tolerance, and brought people into closer contact with urban biodiversity. Such physical and cultural proximity is a defining characteristic distinguishing tropical urban ecosystems from their Western counterparts. We also uncovered the web of social-technological influences on animal-related folk stories. The urbanization of perceptions in vulture extinction zones revealed shifts in social-ecological relationships with wildlife. It adds cultural dimensions to the currently appreciated keystone status of vultures, vital for their erstwhile coexistence at extremely high densities in South Asia. Urban transformations, technological advancements, and media exposure potentially reshaped human-animal interface, with media misinformation affecting personalized ecologies. Conflicts and health concerns arose from media narratives on garbage-consuming animals. Our findings offer insights to prevent severing of people and nature connections due to urbanization (e.g., technological applications can integrate scientific knowledge with biocultural narratives and folklore), promoting a new-age eco-literacy.

RevDate: 2025-06-07

Isoda N, Hiono T, Hew YL, et al (2025)

Dynamics of high pathogenicity avian influenza virus infection with multiple introductions in a crow flock in an urban park in Hokkaido, Japan.

Comparative immunology, microbiology and infectious diseases, 121:102367 pii:S0147-9571(25)00075-X [Epub ahead of print].

Since 2021, high pathogenicity avian influenza viruses (HPAIVs) of the H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b has been circulating globally, not only in domestic poultry but also in wild birds, both migratory and resident species. In March to May 2022, March to April 2023, and January to April 2024, crow die-offs were reported in an urban garden in Hokkaido, Japan, raising suspicions of HPAIV infection. Since August 2022, all dead carcasses were investigated for HPAIV detection and isolation. Phylogenetic analysis of the H5 hemagglutinin gene revealed that all detected HPAIVs belonged to clade 2.3.4.4b, a dominant lineage in Hokkaido since early 2022. Two distinct subgroups were identified: G2d (in 2022-2024) and G2a (in 2024). A maximum clade credibility tree, based on concatenated nucleotide sequences of the isolates, suggested that multiple distinct types of HPAIVs were introduced into the garden in rotation during the winters of 2022-2023 and 2023-2024. Infectious HPAIVs were isolated not only from the lungs and brains but also from the rectal contents of the dead crows, with no apparent difference in viral titers between the two subgroups. The case reproduction numbers of HPAIV infection in the crow flock ranged from 0.52 and 1.57 in the spring of 2022 and from 0.55 to 1.78 in the spring of 2023, suggesting that the contiguous HPAIV infections in the crows were due to multiple introductions into the flock. Crow can play a key role of potential spread to other animals, poultry and wildlife in urban areas or humans in rural areas.

RevDate: 2025-06-06

Zhang X, Huang C, W Gui (2025)

A multi-strategy improved crow search algorithm for multi-level thresholding image segmentation.

Scientific reports, 15(1):20033.

The standard crow search algorithm suffers from low convergence accuracy, insufficient stability, and susceptibility to getting stuck in local optima. To tackle these formidable challenges, this paper proposes a novel multi-strategy improved crow search algorithm (MSICSA) specifically designed for multi-level image segmentation. The proposed approach incorporates three key enhancements: firstly, opposition-based learning (OBL) is utilized to improve the quality of initial solutions within MSICSA; secondly, an adaptive awareness probability mechanism is introduced to better balance the trade-off between exploration and exploitation; lastly, two differential mutation operators are developed to enhance global search capabilities, increase population diversity, and reduce the risk of converging on local optima. To validate the performance of the proposed algorithm, two sets of experiments are conducted. In the first set of experiments, CEC 2020 benchmark test functions are selected to compare the performance of MSICSA with other group intelligent optimization algorithms. In the second set of experiments, Otsu's method and fuzzy entropy are employed as objective functions for performing multilevel threshold segmentation on twelve grayscale images. The experimental results demonstrate that MSICSA outperforms seven comparison algorithms in terms of both convergence speed and segmentation quality.

RevDate: 2025-06-06

Freeberg TM (2020)

On mark-test replication and mirror self-recognition in magpies.

Journal of comparative psychology (Washington, D.C. : 1983), 134(4):361-362.

We have known about the importance of replication and reproducibility since our earliest science classes. In animal behavioral studies, the major texts on methods in the field stress the importance of study replication. Nonetheless, there has been a growing call in animal behavior for greater efforts to replicate published studies. An interesting avian candidate for the mark-test is the magpie, Pica pica. Over 10 years ago, a study revealed evidence of two magpies (out of five tested) passing the mark-test (Prior, Schwarz, & Güntürkün, 2008). Given the importance of this finding to the field of comparative cognition, and the aforementioned arguments about the need for increased efforts to replicate such findings, Soler et al. (2020) set out to replicate the earlier magpie study with a slightly larger sample size. The magpies were caught in the wild as adults (whereas those in the earlier study were adults that had been hand-raised in the lab; Prior et al., 2008). During the experiment itself, Soler and colleagues (2020; this issue) tried to follow the experimental steps of the earlier study as closely as possible. Magpies were marked on their throats with different sizes and colors of stickers and were presented with either a mirror or a size-matched cardboard stimulus. Although the magpies showed different social and self-directed behavior in the context of the mirror as compared with the cardboard control stimulus, they did not pass the mark-test. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

RevDate: 2025-06-05
CmpDate: 2025-06-05

Avilés JM, de la Cruz C, González-Medina E, et al (2025)

Body size as a mediator of climatic effects: Insights from a long-term study of social Iberian magpies.

Ecology, 106(6):e70130.

The importance of considering body size in assessing evolutionary responses to climatic change is increasingly recognized, as body size correlates with morphological, physiological, and ecological traits that are climate-sensitive and influence fitness. However, the role of body size in mediating climatic effects in vertebrates remains poorly understood. Here, we examined structural body-size responses to natal and adult-experienced climate in a social bird and assessed whether body size mediates the direction of climatic effects. Using 26 years of data on cooperatively breeding Iberian magpies Cyanopica cooki, we found that adult males reared in late spring nests were smaller than those hatched earlier in the breeding season. This pattern was driven by smaller females, which reproduced later and produced smaller sons. Larger males born in hottest years had lower lifetime fledgling production, while larger males experiencing hotter springs as adults produced more fledglings over their lifetime. Additionally, larger males born in driest years or raised in nests with many brood mates had shorter lifespans. Despite a significant increase in temperature in the study area over 26 years, the average tarsus length of males has not changed, likely due to opposing effects of natal and adult climate on body size. Our findings illustrate how inherited body size mediates climatic effects at different life stages, with these effects acting in contrasting directions on fecundity, resulting in apparent trait stasis despite ongoing climate warming.

RevDate: 2025-06-05
CmpDate: 2025-06-04

Shawky EM, Hamdy R, Elgindi MR, et al (2025)

UPLC-HRMS-MS profiling of Ludwigia adscendens subsp. diffusa aerial parts and investigation of the anti-inflammatory effect.

Scientific reports, 15(1):19718.

Ludwigia adscendens subsp. diffusa (Forssk.) P.H. Raven, also known as L. stolonifera, is an aquatic herb belonging to family Onagraceae and widely distributed in canals and drains in the Nile Delta, Egypt. The main goal of the current study is to investigate the metabolic profile of L. adscendens aerial parts using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled with high resolution mass spectrometry (UPLC-HRMS/MS) and investigation of its anti-inflammatory activity. A total of 168 metabolites were identified by UPLC-MS/MS analysis in negative and positive modes belonging to several phytochemical classes including phenolics (57), flavonoids (26), terpenoids (25), sterols (23), fatty acids (11), coumarins (7) organic acids (5), sugar derivatives (5), lactones (4), acids (3), and glycoside (2). The UPLC-MS analysis of L. adscendens revealed identification of a diverse array of phytochemicals which contribute to its potential pharmacological properties. The identification of bioactive metabolites in L. adscendens aerial parts including gallic acid, quercetin, ellagic acid, and betulinic acid can impart biological activities including antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities. The anti-inflammatory activity was investigated for L. adscendens methanol and ethyl acetate extract using nitric acid inhibition assay revealing IC50 of 26.4 and 23.9 µg/ml, respectively, compared to resveratrol as a standard anti-inflammatory with IC50 value of 14.2 µg/ml. These findings can highlight the importance of L. adscendens aerial parts as a potential source of bioactive metabolites.

RevDate: 2025-06-04

Eibner-Gebhardt MW, Fleischer RC, MG Campana (2025)

A historical Hawaiian Avipoxvirus genome reconstructed from an 1898 museum specimen.

iScience, 28(4):112153.

Avipoxvirus is an avian pathogen that likely contributed to the declines and extinctions of endemic Hawaiian birds since its 19th century introduction. We surveyed 719 DNA libraries, including 639 representing 440 Hawaiian bird specimens, for evidence of Avipoxvirus infection. We reconstructed a 5.2× Avipoxvirus genome from an 1898 Hawaii 'amakihi (Chlorodrepanis virens) specimen. Its sequence matched an extant Hawaiian Avipoxvirus strain, supporting the strain's persistence in Hawaii over the last century. We identified the earliest molecularly verified case of Avipoxvirus in the Hawaiian Islands in an 1887 'alalā (Corvus hawaiiensis) specimen and reconstructed a partial Avipoxvirus genome from this specimen. Both specimens' Avipoxvirus strains were most closely related to canarypox virus, suggesting that introduced passerines may be the source of Avipoxvirus in Hawaiian endemic land birds. These findings clarify the origins and evolution of Avipoxvirus in Hawaii and provide evidence for the broader role of pathogens in driving biodiversity loss.

RevDate: 2025-06-02

Shen J, TJ Palmeri (2025)

Modeling the dynamics of real-world perceptual expertise.

Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition pii:2026-23699-001 [Epub ahead of print].

Novices are faster to verify categories at intermediate ("basic") levels of abstraction (bird) than superordinate (animal) or subordinate (blue jay) levels, whereas experts are equally fast at subordinate and intermediate levels. One explanation ("entry-level hypothesis") is that for novices, categorization at intermediate levels is faster because it is the "entry level" into conceptual knowledge; experts become as fast at the subordinate level because the subordinate level becomes an alternative entry level. An alternative explanation ("differentiation hypothesis") is that for novices, categorization at intermediate levels is faster because that level is more differentiated and informative, not that it happens first; experts become as fast at the subordinate level because representations of objects at that level become more differentiated. We evaluated these hypotheses by fitting the diffusion decision model to accuracy and response time data from online participants with various psychometrically measured levels of birding expertise. We identified the alternative hypotheses with diffusion decision model parameters: Differences in nondecision time across category levels are arguably associated with the entry-level hypothesis, whereas differences in drift rate are arguably associated with the differentiation hypothesis. We fitted the diffusion decision model using a Bayesian hierarchical framework to estimate individual differences in model parameters across conditions. Behaviorally, we replicated the entry-level shift online. Theoretically, we found that differences in categorization speed across levels of expertise were captured by differences in both drift rate and nondecision time across levels. These results provide insights into the changes in representations and processes with the development of perceptual expertise. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

RevDate: 2025-06-02

Xin-Li , Lingling-Hu , Weimin-Song , et al (2025)

Safety and efficacy of platelet-rich plasma in the treatment of periorbital skin photoaging.

Journal of cosmetic and laser therapy : official publication of the European Society for Laser Dermatology [Epub ahead of print].

Periorbital skin photoaging is a common cosmetic problem.Presently, conventional treatment methods cannot achieve satisfactory results. Periorbital skin aging may benefit from platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injection. However, there is little experimental evidence on the safety and efficacy of PRP in the treatment of periorbital skin photoaging. To examine the safety and efficacy of PRP injection in the treatment of periorbital skin photoaging, PRP was injected into the periorbital skin of 20 patients, and patient satisfaction was assessed at the first month (M1), the second month (M2), and the third month (M3) after treatment. Two experienced dermatologists independently evaluated the patient's skin before and after treatment according to internationally accepted guidelines. The objective indicators of skin hydration, melanin index, erythema index, skin brightness, transepidermal water loss (TEWL), skin elasticity, and skin thickness were measured. Some subjective indicators, including pigmentation around the eyes, suborbital wrinkles, and static crow's feet, were significantly improved. Some objective indicators, including skin brightness, skin thickness, and collagen strength, were also significantly improved. Eye bags and TEWL slightly improved, but the differences were not statistically significant. The overall patient satisfaction with the treatment was high, no serious complications were noted, and the recovery profile was favorable. PRP injection was safe and effective for the treatment of periorbital skin photoaging.

RevDate: 2025-05-31
CmpDate: 2025-05-31

Lamien-Meda A, Harl J, Lieber A, et al (2025)

Molecular analysis of blood-associated pathogens in common ravens (Corvus corax) from Germany.

Parasitology research, 124(6):56.

Common ravens (Corvus corax) are intelligent scavengers that adapt to diverse environments, playing a key ecological role, but their health and ecosystem contributions can be affected by parasites. This study investigates the prevalence and diversity of blood parasite infections in common ravens using molecular techniques. Blood samples (n = 42) were collected from dead common ravens in Germany and screened for filarioid nematodes, trypanosomatids, and haemosporidian parasites. The results showed that 26.2% of the common ravens were PCR-positive for at least one parasite, with some cases of mixed infections. Filarioid nematodes were found in 16.7%, trypanosomatids in 4.8%, and haemosporidian parasites in 16.7% of the common ravens. Sequencing revealed the presence of four Leucocytozoon CytB lineages and one Haemoproteus lineage. The findings suggest that common ravens in Germany are often infected with diverse avian blood parasites, with a higher prevalence of filarioid nematodes. Further research is needed to confirm the circulation of these parasites in the common raven population and to identify the specific filarioid nematode species present in Germany.

RevDate: 2025-05-29

Bhojani-Lynch T, Shah-Desai S, Bichet JC, et al (2025)

Real-World Evidence on the Routine Use, Efficacy, and Safety of a Hyaluronic Acid-Based Dermal Filler in the Periorbital Region.

Aesthetic plastic surgery [Epub ahead of print].

BACKGROUND: The appearance of the periorbital region is essential in facial aesthetic perception and is a frequent concern of patients seeking rejuvenation. TEOSYAL® PureSense Redensity 2 (R2) has a 10-year track record of effectively and safely treating the under-eye area, specifically the tear trough.

METHODS: A prospective, observational study aimed to investigate the efficacy and safety of R2 in a real-world setting for aesthetic indications. Participants received at least one treatment injection with R2, and investigators followed their routine injection techniques and indications. The primary endpoint was the Global Aesthetic Improvement Scale (GAIS) score recorded 3 months post-injection. Secondary efficacy outcomes included subject and investigator satisfaction, as well as GAIS scores at later timepoints. Safety was monitored by documenting common treatment responses (CTRs) and adverse events (AEs).

RESULTS: The 136 subjects enrolled in EYELIGHT received 958 initial injections, of which 451 (47.1%) were performed with R2: 89 (35.3%) tear trough, 61 (24.2%) palpebromalar groove, 45 (17.9%) outer canthus, 38 (15.1%) crow's feet, and 19 (7.5%) brow. A GAIS improvement of more than 70% was achieved for the tear trough and remaining periorbital indications, with most subjects reporting satisfaction with treatment (84.3%). Treatment effect was observed up to 12 months post-injection. All CTRs were mild or moderate and resolved within a month. No severe AEs were reported.

CONCLUSION: Real-world evidence confirmed the 10-year long success of R2 as an effective and safe treatment of the tear trough. Based on this evidence, its use extends beyond the tear trough, showing effectiveness and safety in the whole periorbital area.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE III: This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266 .

RevDate: 2025-05-27

Helal ZH, Soriano NF, Chung DH, et al (2025)

Molecular epidemiology of West Nile Virus in Raptors, Connecticut, USA, 2022: A case series with whole genome sequencing and phylogenetic analysis.

Infection, genetics and evolution : journal of molecular epidemiology and evolutionary genetics in infectious diseases pii:S1567-1348(25)00058-9 [Epub ahead of print].

West Nile virus (WNV), a mosquito-borne flavivirus, circulates in an enzootic cycle between birds and mosquitoes, with raptors serving as key amplifying hosts. Despite their importance in WNV surveillance, complete genome sequences from raptors remain limited. This study aimed to investigate the genetic diversity and evolutionary history of WNV in raptors from Connecticut, USA. Samples were collected in 2022 from the brain tissue of deceased red-tailed hawks, red-shouldered hawks, Cooper's hawks, a peregrine falcon, and American crows. Complete protein-coding sequences (CDSs) of 19 WNV isolates were obtained using multiplex tiling reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) developed in this study and Illumina iSeq100 sequencing. Phylogenetic analyses revealed our sequences were grouped into two monophyletic clusters and two singletons within lineage 1, showing genetic similarities to WNV strains detected in mosquitoes in New York (2012-2015) rather than earlier strains from Connecticut (1999-2008). Bayesian analysis indicated at least four independent introductions, with the estimated time to the most recent common ancestor (tMRCA) for Clusters 1 and 2 in April 2009 and February 2010, respectively. The mean substitution rate was 4.30 × 10[-4] substitutions/site/year. All sequences contained the T249P mutation in NS3, which has been linked to reduced virulence in avian models. These findings provide valuable reference data for future WNV genomic surveillance studies, emphasizing the role of raptors as sentinel species and the need for ongoing genomic surveillance to monitor WNV evolution, transmission, and potential public health risks.

RevDate: 2025-05-26
CmpDate: 2025-05-26

Hunter H, Blackburn G, Ashton BJ, et al (2025)

Group size affects spontaneous quantity discrimination performance in wild Western Australian magpies (Gymnorhina tibicen dorsalis).

Animal cognition, 28(1):41.

Animals may benefit from the ability to discriminate between quantities in their environment; for example, when choosing between foraging patches differing in food availability or assessing the size of rival groups. Numerous studies utilising spontaneous quantity discrimination tasks have found that a wide range of species possess the ability to discriminate between quantities, with large interspecific differences being found in these capabilities. However, the causes of variation in quantity discrimination have received less attention, particularly when considering intraspecific variation. Here, we use a spontaneous quantity discrimination task to (i) investigate if Western Australian magpies possess quantity discrimination abilities, and (ii) determine the factors that underlie individual variation in this ability. We found that magpies were able to discriminate between two discrete quantities of a food reward and chose the larger quantity of food more often than expected by chance, with their accuracy increasing as the difference between the two quantities of food items increased (i.e. as the ratio decreased). Individual performance on the assay was significantly affected by group size, with individuals from smaller groups choosing the larger quantity of food more often than individuals from larger groups when presented with the 2 vs. 5 combination. This group size difference may arise because individuals from smaller groups benefit more from enhanced quantity discrimination abilities compared to individuals from larger groups due to the greater risk of competition and loss of resources from intergroup conflict with larger groups. Our study is the first to investigate and identify group size as a source of intraspecific variation in spontaneous quantity discrimination abilities and highlights the importance of considering the causes of individual variation in cognitive performance.

RevDate: 2025-05-24

Zhang L, Han Y, Yan H, et al (2025)

Decreased left brain specialization in bipolar disorder patients and its association with neurotransmitter and genetic profiles: A longitudinal study.

Asian journal of psychiatry, 109:104539 pii:S1876-2018(25)00182-0 [Epub ahead of print].

Brain specialization plays a crucial role in human behavior and cognition. Previous studies have suggested abnormal specialization in psychiatric disorders; however, the specialization patterns of bipolar disorder (BD) and the effects of medication on these changes remain unclear. According to Crow's hypothesis regarding the key role of language in the origin of psychoses, BD patients (BDPs) may exhibit abnormal language-related specialization. Here, we aimed to explore brain specialization alterations of BDPs before and after pharmacological treatment. The autonomy index, based on resting-state images, was used to assess brain specialization in 82 BDPs and 88 healthy controls (HCs). Among patients, 43 BDPs who underwent 3 months of pharmacological treatment completed the follow-up. Using autonomy index as input, support vector regression (SVR) analysis was conducted to predict treatment response. Additionally, we conducted cross-sample correlation analyses between autonomy index and genetic profiles or the densities of neurotransmitter receptors/transporters. At baseline, BDPs exhibited reduced autonomy index in the left middle temporal gyrus (MTG) relative to HCs. However, no significant alterations were observed following pharmacological treatment. Using autonomy index, the SVR model could predict treatment response for BDPs with a correlation coefficient of 0.705. Brain specialization patterns were correlated with six genes and neurotransmitters including dopaminergic (D1R, D2R, and DAT) and serotonergic (5-HT2A) transmission. In line with Crow's hypothesis, we found reduced brain specialization in a key node of the language network (LN) in BDPs. We also provided potential genetic and biological mechanisms underlying BD.

RevDate: 2025-05-23

Ghochani G, Aghajani A, Rajabi MT, et al (2025)

Comparison of Two Botulinum Neurotoxin Type A Preparations (Masport and Dysport) for Upper Face Rhytides: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Aesthetic plastic surgery [Epub ahead of print].

BACKGROUND: Botulinum neurotoxin type A has played a key role in the treatment of facial rhytides. We aimed to compare the safety and effectiveness of Masport and Dysport as botulinum toxin type A preparations in the treatment of upper face rhytides.

METHODS: A double-blind randomized, clinical trial was conducted on adults with at least mild severity (scale 1) for lateral canthal (crow's feet), glabellar, and frontal lines at maximum contraction positions (dynamic status), regardless of their static scales (rest position). Participants were randomly assigned to receive either Masport or Dysport. Rhytides in each area were scaled at baseline and at post-injection weeks 2, 8, 12, and 16. Self-satisfaction were assessed at follow-ups.

RESULTS: For both groups, a decrease in dynamic rhytides was observed at week 2 compared to baseline (all Ps < 0.05). Although dynamic rhytides increased again in subsequent follow-ups, they remained significantly lower than baseline levels until week 12 (all Ps < 0.05). By week 16, no differences were observed compared to baseline (all Ps > 0.05). While at week 2, both dynamic and static scales were higher in the Masport group (all Ps < 0.05), this difference did not persist for most of them at weeks 12 and 16. Satisfaction scores were similar between the groups throughout all follow-ups (all Ps > 0.05).

CONCLUSION: The onset and duration of action for Masport and Dysport are similar in the treatment of upper face rhytides at equal doses. While Dysport may initially show a stronger effect than Masport in treating upper face rhytides, this advantage does not persist in the long term.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE I: This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these evidence-based medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266 .

RevDate: 2025-05-23

Kwiatkowski J, K Krawiec (2025)

Staged Self-Supervised Learning for Raven Progressive Matrices.

IEEE transactions on neural networks and learning systems, PP: [Epub ahead of print].

This study presents and investigates abstract compositional transformers (ACTs), a class of deep learning (DL) architectures based on the transformer blueprint, designed to handle abstract reasoning tasks that require completing spatial visual patterns. We combine ACTs with choice-making modules and apply them to Raven progressive matrices (RPMs), logical puzzles that require selecting the correct image from the available answers. We devise a number of ACT variants, train them in several modes and with additional augmentations, subject them to ablations, demonstrate their data scalability, and analyze their behavior and latent representations that emerged in the process. Using self-supervision allows us to successfully train ACTs on relatively small training sets, mitigate several biases identified in RPMs in past studies, and achieve SotA results on the two most popular RPM benchmarks.

RevDate: 2025-05-23

De León-Hernández A, Martínez-Hernández A, Bolivar-Tellería I, et al (2025)

A Method for Custom-Contoured Cushion Fabrication Based on Pressure Mapping for Wheelchair Users to Prevent Pressure Ulcers: Feasibility Quasi-Experimental Study.

JMIR rehabilitation and assistive technologies, 12:e68612 pii:v12i1e68612.

BACKGROUND: Pressure ulcers constitute a major health care burden, characterized by significant morbidity, diminished quality of life, and elevated treatment costs. Wheelchair users are predisposed to pressure ulcers due to sustained ischial and sacral interface pressures resulting from prolonged periods of sitting. Implementation of pressure-relieving interventions, including specialized seating systems engineered to redistribute load and augment the weight-bearing surface area, is critical for mitigating the risk of pressure ulcers.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to evaluate a methodology for the custom fabrication of pressure relief cushions, through the user-cushion interface pressure mapping to reduce high-pressure areas and increase contact area in wheelchair users.

METHODS: First, a validation study was carried out with 7 healthy volunteers. The pressure was determined with an FSA sensor (BodiTrak BT1510, Vista Medical Manufactures), and the cushion profile was obtained through a linear relation with pressure values. In the second phase, 10 cushions for wheelchair users were manufactured and tested. The resulting data from buttock pressure using a flat foam, Jay X2 (gel-foam), ROHO high profile (air), and customed-contoured cushions were analyzed and compared using the following 4 variables: peak pressure, peak pressure index, mean pressure, and contact area.

RESULTS: In the validation study, the statistically significant difference between the flat and the custom-contoured cushion showed a better performance in pressure relief for the custom cushion (mean pressure 27.3, SD 4.5 mm Hg and 34.6, SD 3.5 mm Hg; P<.001). Regarding the study with wheelchair users, custom-contoured cushions had lower peak pressure (mean 91.3, SD 36 mm Hg), peak pressure index (mean 69.5, SD 33.7 mm Hg), and mean pressure (34.2, SD 17.4 mm Hg) against flat, Jay X2, and ROHO high profile cushions (P<.005). The contact area (mean 1457.6, SD 254.1 cm2) was greater for the contoured cushion (P<.001) than for flat and ROHO high profile (Permobile) cushions; nevertheless, it was not significantly different from Jay X2 (P=.59).

CONCLUSIONS: The main finding is that the buttock pressure mapping method produces custom-contoured cushions that, compared with commercial cushions, have good pressure distribution and increased contact area. These results suggest that pressure mapping is a good alternative for manufacturing affordable custom-contoured cushions that can prevent the development of pressure ulcers.

RevDate: 2025-05-22
CmpDate: 2025-05-22

Zhu C, Wang Z, Peng Y, et al (2025)

An improved Red-billed blue magpie feature selection algorithm for medical data processing.

PloS one, 20(5):e0324866.

Feature selection is a crucial preprocessing step in the fields of machine learning, data mining and pattern recognition. In medical data analysis, the large number and complexity of features are often accompanied by redundant or irrelevant features, which not only increase the computational burden, but also may lead to model overfitting, which in turn affects its generalization ability. To address this problem, this paper proposes an improved red-billed blue magpie algorithm (IRBMO), which is specifically optimized for the feature selection task, and significantly improves the performance and efficiency of the algorithm on medical data by introducing multiple innovative behavioral strategies. The core mechanisms of IRBMO include: elite search behavior, which improves global optimization by guiding the search to expand in more promising directions; collaborative hunting behavior, which quickly identifies key features and promotes collaborative optimization among feature subsets; and memory storage behavior, which leverages historically valid information to improve search efficiency and accuracy. To adapt to the feature selection problem, we convert the continuous optimization algorithm to binary form via transfer function, which further enhances the applicability of the algorithm. In order to comprehensively verify the performance of IRBMO, this paper designs a series of experiments to compare it with nine mainstream binary optimization algorithms. The experiments are based on 12 medical datasets, and the results show that IRBMO achieves optimal overall performance in key metrics such as fitness value, classification accuracy and specificity. In addition, compared with nine existing feature selection methods, IRBMO demonstrates significant advantages in terms of fitness value. To further enhance the performance, this paper also constructs the V2IRBMO variant by combining the S-shaped and V-shaped transfer functions, which further enhances the robustness and generalization ability of the algorithm. Experiments demonstrate that IRBMO exhibits high efficiency, generality and excellent generalization ability in feature selection tasks. In addition, used in conjunction with the KNN classifier, IRBMO significantly improves the classification accuracy, with an average accuracy improvement of 43.89% on 12 medical datasets compared to the original Red-billed Blue Magpie algorithm. These results demonstrate the potential and wide applicability of IRBMO in feature selection for medical data.

RevDate: 2025-05-19
CmpDate: 2025-05-19

Wang Z, P Zhan (2025)

Eye-tracking-based hidden Markov modeling for revealing within-item cognitive strategy switching.

Behavior research methods, 57(6):175.

Identifying cognitive strategies in problem-solving helps researchers understand advanced cognitive processes and their applicable contexts. Current methods typically identify strategies for each item of Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices, capturing only between-item cognitive strategy switching (CSS). Although within-item CSS is recognized, methods to dynamically identify and reveal it are lacking. This study introduces the concept of an eye movement snippet, a basic unit for studying within-item CSS, along with a new eye-tracking process measure that quantifies the sequence length of alternatives viewed in a snippet. Combined with hidden Markov modeling, we propose a new method for dynamically identifying within-item cognitive strategies and revealing their switching. Using eye-tracking data from a matrix reasoning test, we demonstrate the value of the proposed method through a series of analyses. The results indicate that during problem-solving: (1) participants predominantly used two strategies-constructive matching and response elimination; (2) there is a high probability of switching from constructive matching to response elimination, but not vice versa; (3) more difficult items lead to more frequent strategy switching; (4) frequent strategy switching decreases time spent in the matrix area and on problem-solving planning; (5) frequent strategy switching correlates with incorrect answers for some items; and (6) frequent strategy switching increases total response time. Additionally, within-item CSS showed three distinct patterns as the test progressed, with significant differences in participants' intelligence levels and total test time among the patterns. Overall, the proposed method effectively identifies within-item cognitive strategies and their switching in matrix reasoning tasks.

RevDate: 2025-05-19
CmpDate: 2025-05-17

Malin KJ, Vance AJ, Moser SE, et al (2025)

The impact of social determinants of health on infant and maternal health using a reproductive justice lens.

BMC pregnancy and childbirth, 25(1):577.

BACKGROUND: Rates of preterm birth, low birth weight, and Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) admissions continue to rise in the United States (US). Social determinants of health (SDOH) are recognized as significant contributors to infant and maternal health, underscoring the need for use of research frameworks that incorporate SDOH concepts. The Restoring Our Own Through Transformation (ROOTT) theoretical framework is rooted in reproductive justice (i.e. reproductive rights and social justice-based framework) and emphasizes both structural and social determinants as root causes of health inequities. The impact of SDOH on maternal and infant mortality and morbidity can often be traced to structural determinants unique to the US, including slavery, Jim Crow laws, redlining, and the GI Bill.

AIMS: Using data from the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) 8 database, we aimed to evaluate relationships between SDOH (as guided by the ROOTT Framework) and maternal and infant health outcomes.

METHODS: Data were analyzed from 11 states that included the SDOH supplement in their PRAMS 8 data collection. We used bivariate analyses to examine relationships between SDOH measures guided by the ROOTT framework (e.g. abuse during pregnancy, access to prenatal care, housing stability and education) and maternal morbidity (i.e., gestational hypertension and gestational diabetes) and infant outcomes (i.e., preterm birth, NICU admission, breastfeeding). Pre-identified covariates were controlled for in the logistic and linear regression models.

RESULTS: Preterm birth, NICU admission, breastfeeding, and maternal morbidities were significantly associated with SDOH measures linked to structural determinants in the US. Abuse during pregnancy, access to prenatal care, housing, and education were all significantly associated with poorer infant health outcomes in the final regression models. Women who received prenatal care beginning in the 3[rd] trimester were twice as likely to develop gestational hypertension.

CONCLUSIONS: SDOHs rooted in structural determinants are important predictors of poorer maternal and infant health outcomes. Evaluating health outcomes using a reproductive justice framework reveals modifiable risk factors, including access to stable healthcare, safety, and housing. Comprehensive healthcare provision must ensure early and consistent access to healthcare and resources for safety and housing stability to support maternal and infant health.

RevDate: 2025-05-16

Bhavnani S, Ranjan A, Mukherjee D, et al (2025)

A non-specialist worker delivered digital assessment of cognitive development (DEEP) in young children: A longitudinal validation study in rural India.

PLOS digital health, 4(5):e0000824.

Cognitive development in early childhood is critical for life-long well-being. Existing cognitive development surveillance tools require lengthy parental interviews and observations of children. Developmental Assessment on an E-Platform (DEEP) is a digital tool designed to address this gap by providing a gamified, direct assessment of cognition in young children which can be delivered by front-line providers in community settings. This longitudinal study recruited children from the SPRING trial in rural Haryana, India. DEEP was administered at 39 (SD 1; N = 1359), 60 (SD 5; N = 1234) and 95 (SD 4; N = 600) months and scores were derived using item response theory. Criterion validity was examined by correlating DEEP-score with age, Bayley's Scales of Infant Development (BSID-III) cognitive domain score at age 3 and Raven's Coloured Progressive Matrices (CPM) at age 8; predictive validity was examined by correlating DEEP-scores at preschool-age with academic performance at age 8 and convergent validity through correlations with height-for-age z-scores (HAZ), socioeconomic status (SES) and early life adversities. DEEP-score correlated strongly with age (r = 0.83, 95% CI 0.82 0.84) and moderately with BSID-III (r = 0.50, 0.39 - 0.60) and CPM (r = 0.37; 0.30 - 0.44). DEEP-score at preschool-age predicted academic outcomes at school-age (0.32; 0.25 - 0.41) and correlated positively with HAZ and SES and negatively with early life adversities. DEEP provides a valid, scalable method for cognitive assessment. It's integration into developmental surveillance programs could aid in monitoring and early detection of cognitive delays, enabling timely interventions.

RevDate: 2025-05-15
CmpDate: 2025-05-15

Loconsole M, Schnell AK, Garcia-Pelegrin E, et al (2025)

Uncertainty monitoring in Eurasian jays (Garrulus glandarius).

Animal cognition, 28(1):37.

Metacognition- namely the capacity to reflect on one's own cognitive processes - provides animals with numerous evolutionary advantages. Metacognition abilities encompass enhanced decision-making in uncertain situations, more efficient resource management, error detection and correction, and improved problem-solving skills. Here, we investigate how Eurasian jays, Garrulus glandarius, monitor uncertainty through a working memory food-retrieval task. In this task, a desirable food item is hidden under one of two cups, which are then shuffled either once (easy treatment) or several times (difficult treatment). The jays then choose to either engage in locating the food or opt out by selecting a third cup that offers a less preferred food reward. Our findings reveal that the difficulty of the task significantly influenced the jays' choice, with a higher tendency to opt out during difficult trials. Individual performance analysis revealed that when jays that typically opted out of difficult trials chose to engage instead, they exhibited significant accuracy. This suggests their decisions were guided by a confidence assessment of their knowledge. Overall, our study indicates that Eurasian jays possess metacognitive abilities that enable them to evaluate their own certainty and make strategic decisions based on perceived task difficulty and confidence in their knowledge. These capabilities likely confer advantages in natural settings, such as caching behaviours, allowing jays to make well-informed decisions about when to store or retrieve food based on environmental cues and internal assessments of uncertainty.

RevDate: 2025-05-14

Tokuda T, Yoshioka N, Tanaka A, et al (2025)

Comparison of Stent Strategy and Drug-Coated Balloon After JETSTREAM for Severely Calcified Femoropopliteal Artery Disease (CORVUS Study).

Circulation journal : official journal of the Japanese Circulation Society [Epub ahead of print].

BACKGROUND: This study compared procedural complications, patency, and adverse events between a stent strategy and drug-coated balloon (DCB) treatment after using the JETSTREAM atherectomy device for severely calcified femoropopliteal (FP) lesions.

METHODS AND RESULTS: We retrospectively analyzed multicenter data from 588 patients who underwent endovascular therapy for severely calcified de novo FP lesions between April 2018 and December 2023 at 8 centers in Japan. Patients were categorized into 2 groups based on the revascularization method: stent strategy and DCB after JETSTREAM atherectomy. Propensity score matching (PSM) was performed to compare primary patency, clinically driven target lesion revascularization (CD-TLR), and the occurrence of acute limb ischemia (ALI)/major amputation at 1 year. After PSM, 82 matched pairs of patients were identified, with no significant intergroup differences in baseline characteristics. The rates of primary patency, CD-TLR, ALI, and major amputation were similar between the 2 groups. However, the rate of distal embolization was significantly higher in the DCB after JETSTREAM group. (18.3% vs. 1.2%; P<0.001) Baseline characteristics had no interaction effects on the association between the 2 strategies and the 1-year restenosis risk.

CONCLUSIONS: DCB after JETSTREAM atherectomy demonstrated comparable safety, except for distal embolization, and high efficacy in patients with severely calcified FP lesions, suggesting that it may be an alternative revascularization method to the stent strategy.

RevDate: 2025-05-14

Giri T, E Garcia-Pelegrin (2025)

Opportunistic Tool Use by Two Unexpected Corvid Species.

Ecology and evolution, 15(5):e71314.

This Nature note reports the first documented instance of tool use in Sunda crows (Corvus enca) and provides additional evidence of this ability in house crows (Corvus splendens). At Singapore Zoo (December 2023), individuals from both species spontaneously manipulated a hooked stick to extract food rewards from enclosed containers. This observation extends the catalogue of tool-using corvids. We briefly review tool use across the corvid family and examine competing hypotheses regarding its evolution, including inherited predisposition from a tool-using ancestor and the development of general physical intelligence with food caching as a potential precursor. Our findings suggest that the cognitive foundation for tool use may be conserved across the corvid family, with expression contingent upon environmental demands rather than species-specific adaptations. This work contributes to ongoing discussions regarding the evolutionary origins of complex problem-solving in birds and the potential role of general physical intelligence in corvid cognition.

RevDate: 2025-05-09

Piao JZ, Lee JH, Hu KS, et al (2025)

Positional Relationship Between the Orbicularis Oculi and Zygomaticus Complex Muscles by Ultrasonography: New Anatomical Insights for Crow's Feet Injection.

Clinical anatomy (New York, N.Y.) [Epub ahead of print].

The orbicularis oculi muscle (OOc) is strongly associated with facial aging as its contraction causes the formation of crow's feet. Botulinum neurotoxin (BoNT) injection is a representative treatment targeting muscle. The aim of this study was to demonstrate the anatomical relationship between the OOc and the zygomaticus complex muscles, and to visualize the distribution of the facial nerve that innervates the OOc, thereby providing reference data for BoNT injections targeting that muscle. The positional relationships and overlapping ranges between the OOc, zygomaticus minor (Zmi), and zygomaticus major (ZMj), and their distances from the skin, were measured on four different perpendicular planes using ultrasonography. Specimens of the OOc were stained with modified Sihler's stain. The mean distances between the lateral canthus horizontal plane (LCHP) and the zygomaticus complex muscles superior margin were 20.0, 17.9, 22.8, and 20.8 mm in perpendicular planes LC (lateral canthus), OR (orbital rim), M (midpoint of the frontal process of zygomatic bone), and J (Jugale point), respectively. The mean distances between the OOc and the skin were 4.9, 4.8, 5.5, and 4.7 mm in those perpendicular planes. The mean distances between the zygomaticus complex muscles and the OOc were 3.0, 3.1, 4.5, and 4.1 mm. The authors propose new insights for crow's feet injection based on anatomical information obtained from ultrasonography and Sihler's staining, which should contribute to minimizing complications and improving the efficacy of BoNT administration.

RevDate: 2025-05-09
CmpDate: 2025-05-09

Zhao J, Tang J, Wang Z, et al (2025)

Extraction, analysis, and antifungal activity study of algae antibiotic active substances in plateau lakes.

PloS one, 20(5):e0319853 pii:PONE-D-24-12637.

This study was carried out to assess the inhibitory activity of algae in plateau lakes against plant pathogenic fungi, and further conduct preliminary research and analysis on their antifungal active ingredients, in order to provide a certain basis for the development and utilization of algal secondary metabolite as anti-plant pathogenic fungal agents. Different solvent extraction methods using water, ethyl acetate, ethanol, and methanol were conducted to extract polyphenol metabolites from Ulothrix, Chlorella vulgaris, and Microcystis pseudofilamentosa Crow. The composition of the extracts was analyzed based on the UPLC-MS/MS detection platform, and the antifungal activity was determined. The results showed that the content of polyphenol metabolites extracted from Ulothrix using methanol was the highest, followed by ethyl acetate and ethanol. The water extraction method resulted in the highest loss of polyphenolic metabolites. Three species of Fusarium oxysporum were used as indicator fungus to determine the antifungal activities of algae extracts. The three types of algae extracts showed good antimicrobial effects on F. oxysporum. The polyphenol metabolites extracted from Ulothrix using methanol demonstrated the strongest antifungal activity, with up to 20 mm in diameter of inhibition zone. The metabolite with the weakest antifungal activity was M. pseudofilamentosa Crow, with an 8-mm diameter of inhibition zone. Based on the UPLC-MS/MS detection, 242 polyphenol metabolites were initially identified in the methanol extracts of the three algae, including 160 phenolic acids, 32 flavonoids, 17 flavonols, 7 dihydroflavones, 2 dihydroflavonols, 2 chalcones, 2 flavanols, 5 flavonoids, 5 lignans, and 10 coumarins. Principal component analysis, fold change analysis, and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway enrichment analysis were used to conduct differential metabolite screening and related metabolic pathway enrichment. The methanol extract samples of the three algae were mainly classified into two categories. Ten important differential metabolites and 15 important metabolic pathways were obtained. In addition, the methanol extracts of Ulothrix contained the largest variety of phenolic acid compounds, with a total of 75 phenolic acid compounds detected, which was followed by C. vulgaris, with 44 phenolic acid compounds detected, and M. pseudofilamentosa Crow, with 37 phenolic acid compounds. Compared with phenolic acid compounds, the quantitative differences of other polyphenols were smaller. Based on these results and those from the antifungal experimental analysis, phenolic acids in algae polyphenol metabolites are the main antifungal active ingredients.

RevDate: 2025-05-09

Waddington JL (2025)

From genetics and cerebral asymmetry, through motor dysfunction intrinsic to psychosis, to early intervention: elaborating the seminal contributions of Timothy J. Crow.

Psychological medicine, 55:e143 pii:S0033291725001254.

RevDate: 2025-05-08

Labbe D, Alsajjan H, A Abdulshakoor (2025)

Comparison of classic vs double concentrated dose botulinum toxin injections in the treatment of crow's feet.

Annales de chirurgie plastique et esthetique pii:S0294-1260(25)00035-4 [Epub ahead of print].

BACKGROUND: When it comes to administering botulinum toxin for treating rhytids, a standard approach is usually used by most providers in terms of dose concentration. The aim of this study is to compare the outcomes of a classic, none double concentrated dose vs. a double concentrated dose for treating crow's feet.

METHOD: We have injected the orbicularis oculi in a series of 10 patients with the left side as a control side using the classically concentrated dose (2 units per 0.5cm[3]) compared to the double concentrated dose on the right (2 units per 0.25cm[3]). The injections were administered using an auto-injecting syringe.

RESULTS: On control day 14, we noticed that the majority of patients had a more apparent reduction in wrinkles on the left-classically concentrated-side (wrinkling appeared to be more prominent on the double concentration right side). A benefit noticed in some patients was a more symmetrical appearance of periorbital rhytids and sometimes the eyebrows with the uneven doses.

CONCLUSION: We found that injecting a double concentrated dose of botulinum toxin does not necessarily mean better reduction in the appearance of wrinkles even with the retrograde injection technique. However, certain implications may be found in tailoring the dosing of botulinum toxin depending on the needs of the patient on opposite sides of the face as opposed to unifying the dose for both sides.

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RJR Experience and Expertise

Researcher

Robbins holds BS, MS, and PhD degrees in the life sciences. He served as a tenured faculty member in the Zoology and Biological Science departments at Michigan State University. He is currently exploring the intersection between genomics, microbial ecology, and biodiversity — an area that promises to transform our understanding of the biosphere.

Educator

Robbins has extensive experience in college-level education: At MSU he taught introductory biology, genetics, and population genetics. At JHU, he was an instructor for a special course on biological database design. At FHCRC, he team-taught a graduate-level course on the history of genetics. At Bellevue College he taught medical informatics.

Administrator

Robbins has been involved in science administration at both the federal and the institutional levels. At NSF he was a program officer for database activities in the life sciences, at DOE he was a program officer for information infrastructure in the human genome project. At the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, he served as a vice president for fifteen years.

Technologist

Robbins has been involved with information technology since writing his first Fortran program as a college student. At NSF he was the first program officer for database activities in the life sciences. At JHU he held an appointment in the CS department and served as director of the informatics core for the Genome Data Base. At the FHCRC he was VP for Information Technology.

Publisher

While still at Michigan State, Robbins started his first publishing venture, founding a small company that addressed the short-run publishing needs of instructors in very large undergraduate classes. For more than 20 years, Robbins has been operating The Electronic Scholarly Publishing Project, a web site dedicated to the digital publishing of critical works in science, especially classical genetics.

Speaker

Robbins is well-known for his speaking abilities and is often called upon to provide keynote or plenary addresses at international meetings. For example, in July, 2012, he gave a well-received keynote address at the Global Biodiversity Informatics Congress, sponsored by GBIF and held in Copenhagen. The slides from that talk can be seen HERE.

Facilitator

Robbins is a skilled meeting facilitator. He prefers a participatory approach, with part of the meeting involving dynamic breakout groups, created by the participants in real time: (1) individuals propose breakout groups; (2) everyone signs up for one (or more) groups; (3) the groups with the most interested parties then meet, with reports from each group presented and discussed in a subsequent plenary session.

Designer

Robbins has been engaged with photography and design since the 1960s, when he worked for a professional photography laboratory. He now prefers digital photography and tools for their precision and reproducibility. He designed his first web site more than 20 years ago and he personally designed and implemented this web site. He engages in graphic design as a hobby.

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This is a must read book for anyone with an interest in invasion biology. The full title of the book lays out the author's premise — The New Wild: Why Invasive Species Will Be Nature's Salvation. Not only is species movement not bad for ecosystems, it is the way that ecosystems respond to perturbation — it is the way ecosystems heal. Even if you are one of those who is absolutely convinced that invasive species are actually "a blight, pollution, an epidemic, or a cancer on nature", you should read this book to clarify your own thinking. True scientific understanding never comes from just interacting with those with whom you already agree. R. Robbins

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Collection of publications by R J Robbins

Reprints and preprints of publications, slide presentations, instructional materials, and data compilations written or prepared by Robert Robbins. Most papers deal with computational biology, genome informatics, using information technology to support biomedical research, and related matters.

Research Gate page for R J Robbins

ResearchGate is a social networking site for scientists and researchers to share papers, ask and answer questions, and find collaborators. According to a study by Nature and an article in Times Higher Education , it is the largest academic social network in terms of active users.

Curriculum Vitae for R J Robbins

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Curriculum Vitae for R J Robbins

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RJR Picks from Around the Web (updated 11 MAY 2018 )