Title:Epidermoid Cyst in the Frontal Sinus: A Rare Case of Diagnosis and Surgical Management

The psychosocial aspects of pediatric hereditary cancer range beyond initial coping with the genetic diagnosis and are situated across the lifespan and continuum of care. Over the past 20 years, a growing body of evidence has demonstrated the need for tailored support to identify and manage psychosocial concerns of pediatric patients with, or at risk of, a cancer predisposition syndrome (CPS). As the unmet needs of young people with CPS continue to grow, the importance of psychology in the genomic era has expanded. This paper discusses how psychologists can be integrated with inter-or multi-disciplinary teams to address complex psychosocial needs.

Irregular Shelterwood System (ISS), one of the types of silviculture system in forest management has been implemented in different CF of Nepal. But, It still lacks the research on different parameters promoting regeneration of Shorea robusta as a future crop yield in forest. We studied the origin of regeneration, crown cover, and soil as a promoting parameter for sustained yield management. Two-phase study was carried out using stratified systematic random sampling technique within the treated and untreated areas of the forest. The result indicated the significance difference in the regeneration status between treated and untreated areas. In this forest part, most of the regeneration originated from seedlings while some were from root coppice. Specifically, the treated area exhibited a density of 16,800 seedlings and 4,693 saplings per hectare, compared to 11,960 seedlings and 2,688 saplings per hectare in the untreated area. This demonstrates that the ISS effectively promotes the regeneration of Sal trees, enhancing forest health and biodiversity. The analysis revealed that the origin of regeneration was predominantly from seedlings, with a notable absence of significant differences in seedling regeneration across different treated years. However, sapling regeneration showed significant variation, indicating that management practices under the ISS positively influence sapling establishment. Soil quality assessments indicated that treated areas had higher organic matter and better nutrient profiles, which are critical for supporting healthy plant growth. Furthermore, the study highlighted that environmental factors such as crown cover and organic carbon levels significantly affect regeneration outcomes. While organic matter positively influenced regeneration, crown cover and organic carbon were found to have negative effects. These findings underscore the importance of managing environmental conditions to ensure successful regeneration of Shorea robusta. Overall, the research supports the ISS as a viable strategy for sustainable forest management and the resilience of critical forest resources in community forestry settings.

Predictive processing theories describe perception as a dynamic interplay between top-down predictions and bottom-up prediction errors across hierarchical stages of sensory processing. However, it remains unclear how neural connectivity flexibly adapts to changing sensory environments over time, and how these dynamics are influenced by ageing. This study investigated how temporal factors on three distinct timescales, as well as age, shape neural responses and connectivity to dynamically changing auditory stimuli. EEG data were recorded from 63 participants aged 18 to 75 as they listened to sequences of tones, where rare and unexpected “original deviants” became standards over time, and previously standard tones became “reverse deviants.” Event-related potentials (ERPs) were more pronounced for original deviants than reverse deviants. Amplitudes increased on short timescales (seconds) but declined over longer timescales (minutes) and with advancing age. To infer the neural mechanisms underlying these effects, dynamic causal modeling (DCM) was used to analyze effective connectivity. DCM revealed increased descending (top-down) connectivity for original deviants, consistent with a stronger reliance on predictions. Additionally, intrinsic (within-region) connectivity increased over seconds but decreased over minutes, reflecting timescale-dependent neural adaptation. Ageing was associated with stronger modulation of descending connectivity by deviant type but weaker modulation by slow dynamics. These results underscore the brain’s ability to dynamically adapt to changing sensory environments at multiple timescales and for the first time reveal age-related changes in the dynamics of this adaptation.

Theories of perceptual learning, such as predictive processing, describe learning as a dynamic and continuous process of updating hierarchical internal models in response to environmental regularities. However, most studies reduce this process to static condition-based averages, making them insensitive to how prediction error signals unfold over time. The current study addressed this gap by investigating the temporal trajectories of precision-weighted prediction errors – indexed by mismatch negativity (MMN) – across stable and volatile auditory oddball sequences. EEG was recorded for 45 young adults as they passively listened to Traditional (stable) and Alternating (volatile) sequences, presented in counterbalanced order. Consistent with theoretical predictions, MMN amplitude declined over time in the stable environments and increased across volatile contexts following changes in environmental regularity, reflecting higher-order model refinement and ongoing lower-order model building, respectively. Crucially, MMN trajectories were modulated by prior experience. MMN was attenuated in the stable sequence when preceded by volatility, suggesting that elevated beliefs about environmental uncertainty may constrain the precision of subsequent perceptual inferences. In contrast, prior exposure to stability had no impact on learning in volatile environments, indicating an asymmetry in how prior context shapes perceptual learning. These findings demonstrate the theoretical and methodological value of assessing MMN trajectories, revealing dynamic learning processes often masked by conventional averaging. This approach offers a promising framework for investigating altered learning mechanisms in clinical populations. Together, our results underscore the importance of temporal resolution, prior experience, and environmental structure in understanding the dynamic nature of perceptual inference.

Mismatch negativity (MMN) is an event-related potential component automatically elicited by violations of sensory predictions and is widely interpreted, within the Predictive Processing framework, as a neural correlate of prediction error. Disruptions in prediction error signaling have been proposed as a potential mechanism underlying the diverse cognitive and perceptual profiles observed in autism and schizophrenia spectrum conditions. In this study, 122 community participants completed auditory and visual oddball tasks with two levels of target detection difficulty while undergoing EEG recording, alongside self-report measures of autistic and schizotypal traits. We found that increased task difficulty significantly reduced MMN amplitude in both modalities, with large effect sizes for auditory (d = 1.826) and visual (d = 1.005) MMN, indicating robust modulation by perceptual load. Although associations between MMN amplitude and trait dimensions were limited, emerging patterns suggest a potential dissociation between social and non-social autistic traits. These findings address key gaps in the literature, particularly the underrepresentation of visual MMN, and highlight the importance of multidimensional, cross-modal approaches to investigating prediction error mechanisms in neurodiverse populations.

Does dispersal differ between the sexes? This question, anchored in a body of rich theoretical literature, has received little empirical attention in marine invertebrates. Yet, dispersal is a key ecological process with profound implications for species management and conservation. In this study, we investigated sex-biased dispersal in the European spiny lobster (Palinurus elephas) by sampling females and males from six marine reserves and their surroundings in the northwestern Mediterranean. By genotyping 180 individuals at 8,390 markers, we found that both sexes exhibited panmixia. However, females displayed slightly higher and more geographically structured estimates of genetic differentiation than males, although this difference was not statistically significant. Additionally, we identified sex-linked markers with significant differences in heterozygosity between females and males. These markers not only allowed the sex assignment of 61 individuals of unknown sex but also provided the first evidence for a ZZ/ZW sex determination system in P. elephas. Beyond their fundamental insights, these sex-linked markers hold strong applied potential for species management, particularly in fisheries where sex-specific regulations exist. Our findings underscore the power of genomic markers to study sex-biased dispersal, elucidate sex determination systems, and facilitate sex assignment, with important implications for species conservation and management.

Agricultural land plays a pivotal role in safeguarding food security and improving farmers’ living standards. However, its utilization faces sustainability challenges due to greenhouse gas emissions and associated environmental impacts. Improving agricultural land use benefits (ALUB) has become imperative for achieving sustainable agricultural development. This study combines the SDGs with agricultural land systems to construct a theoretical framework and evaluation index system for ALUB based on the ”element-structure-function-benefit-interaction” model. Using county-level data (2000-2020) from Hubei Province, we quantified ALUB indices for 75 counties, analyzed spatiotemporal patterns via a Mechanical Equilibrium Model, and identified key influencing factors using Optimal Parameters Geographical Detector. Results show: (1) Economic, social, and comprehensive benefits grew fluctuantly, while ecological benefits remained stable; (2) The 2020 average coordination level (0.378) indicated ”basic coordination,” with stable non-high-coordination spatial patterns; (3) Socioeconomic factors (e.g., GDP density, rural labor force) predominantly influenced trade-off/synergy relationships. Through deviation distribution analysis, the counties were categorized into three distinct typologies: (Quadrant I) excellent ecological benefits but weak economic and poor social benefits, (Quadrant II) excellent economic benefits but weak ecological and poor social benefits, and (Quadrant VI) excellent ecological benefits but weak social and poor economic benefits. Based on these classifications, tailored optimization strategies were proposed to enhance coordination among ALUB dimensions. This study not only enriches the conceptual framework of ALUB formation and its interrelationships but also provides practical guidance for sustainable agricultural land management.

This study investigates the gigacycle fatigue behavior of Ti6Al4V titanium alloy – a critical aerospace material – following laser shock peening (LSP). While prior work by the authors demonstrated LSP enhances fatigue life by up to 8 times in stress-concentrated samples, the present research reveals a paradoxical deterioration under gigacycle conditions ( N=10 10 using ultrasonic testing (Shimadzu USF-2000). Contrary to established LSP benefits, treated specimens exhibited a significant reduction in fatigue limit compared to as-received material. Infrared thermography confirmed substantially higher energy dissipation in LSP-processed specimens, while fractography showed a complete transition in failure origin: cracks invariably initiated centrally in LSP specimens versus near-surface initiation in untreated counterparts. These findings are attributed to tensile residual stresses in the specimen core and microstructural alterations induced by LSP.

Objectives: To evaluate disparities in 1-year mortality in infants with congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) by maternal race/ethnicity in a US population-based dataset, and to quantify mediation effects of socioeconomic status (SES) and maternal and neonatal medical factors. Study design: We identified infants with CDH from the US Natality Database (2014-2019) that links birth and death certificates to 1-year of age. Primary outcome was 1-year mortality. Primary predictor was maternal race/ethnicity. Candidate mediators [SES (defined by maternal education level and public insurance status) and neonatal and maternal factors] were assessed using structural equation modeling. Results: Among 2,589 infants with CDH, 1-year mortality was 28.4% (n=734). Infant mortality differed by maternal race/ethnicity: Non-Hispanic White 25.5%, Black 39.1%, Hispanic 31.2%. Mortality differences persisted in multivariate analysis. Mediation analyses showed that SES accounted for 54.1% (20.4–68.6%) of the disparity between infants of Non-Hispanic White and Hispanic mothers. In contrast, SES accounted for only 17.1% (3.6–37.4%) of the disparity between infants of Non-Hispanic White and Black mothers, while the unmeasured remaining effect of race/ethnicity contributed 75.9% (49.5–91.1%). Conclusions: In CDH, SES accounts for a large proportion of the mortality disparity for infants of Hispanic mothers while the remaining effect of race, aside from SES and neonatal factors, accounts for a large proportion of the mortality disparity for infants of Black mothers. The remaining effect of maternal race may be due to unmeasured aspects of SES, such as social determinants of health, and structural and systemic racism and bias.

Electrochemical carbon dioxide reduction reaction (CO2RR), powdered by advanced technologies such as solid oxide electrolysis cells (SOEC), is a promising method to convert CO2 into valuable carbon-based products using renewable electricity. The high chemical stability of CO2 requires catalysts to exhibit both high activity and stable electrocatalytic performance. However, catalysts that deliver high performance in CO2RR are rare and still require further improvement. Here, we report a strategy that can efficiently enhance catalyst activity through Zn doping, which introduces active frustrated Lewis pairs (FLP) to improve the catalyst’s ability to activate small molecules. A high current density of -1.85 A cm-2 at 800 °C under a bias voltage of 1.5 V was achieved using the Sr2Fe0.8Zn0.2MoO6-δ (SFZn0.2M) cathode with pure CO2 feeding gas, surpassing previously reported results for perovskite oxide cathodes. This SOEC device also demonstrates excellent stability, with negligible degradation over tests lasting up to 110 hours.

Article category: case report

Article type: CommentaryTitle : Fusion imaging and 3D printing tools to improve mitral valve interventionsAuthors: Rafael Vidal-Perez, Alberto Bouzas-Mosquera, Jose Manuel Vazquez-Rodriguez

Acoustic communication is crucial in many animal taxa for mate selection, foraging coordination, and predator avoidance. While fishes represent a significant portion of vertebrate biodiversity, their acoustic communication remains understudied. Anemonefishes (Amphiprion spp.) exhibit complex social behaviours and vocalisations, yet their acoustic signals have primarily been studied in laboratory settings, limiting our understanding of their natural communication. In this study, we examined the vocal behaviour of wild Amphiprion percula in Papua New Guinea, collecting in situ audio and video recordings to assess the role of vocalisations in social interactions. Our findings suggest that A. percula produces distinct vocalisations across multiple social contexts, with variations in acoustic parameters influenced by behaviour and social rank. We highlight the importance of acoustic communication in interspecific and intraspecific interactions and its role in territorial defence, and the classification of vocalisations in behavioural categories. Additionally, we discuss the potential impact of anthropogenic noise, such as motorboat activity, on anemonefish communication through acoustic masking. These results emphasize the importance of in situ studies for understanding fish bioacoustics and suggest that acoustic signals play a key role in maintaining social hierarchy and cohesion in anemonefish groups. Future research should explore species-specific vocal diversity in situ and assess the ecological implications of noise pollution on coral reef fish communication.

Riverine dissolved organic carbon (DOC) is a critical biogeochemical component that transmits information from Arctic soils to the Arctic Ocean, significantly influencing carbon dynamics in this unique ecosystem. As DOC travels downstream, it undergoes transformations that alter its composition and fate. The Yukon River serves as an effective testbed for modeling these dynamics, offering sufficient scale to capture key biogeochemical processes, simpler hydrology than other major Arctic rivers, and access to long-term DOC data for model validation. To investigate DOC transformations during transit, we adapted our Arctic Riverine Organic Macromolecular Model by applying regional-specific parameterizations. Our model simulates the transport and transformation of 15 organic macromolecules, including CDOM (Coloured Dissolved Organic Matter), proteins, polysaccharides, lipids, lignin phenols, and humic substances. Initial DOC concentrations were derived from surrounding observed soil organic carbon stocks, while chemical transformations and hydrological dynamics were modeled along the river’s course. Sensitivity and uncertainty analyses were conducted using a Monte Carlo approach under two experimental setups. Results revealed that variability in DOC and CDOM concentrations at the river mouth were predominantly driven by initial DOC concentration (~70% of variability explained) and dilution at confluence points (~10%). The refractory fraction of DOC explained 21-88% of the variability in 14 macromolecular concentrations. River velocity, which determines residence time, explained 8-47% of the variability in protein, polysaccharide, lipid, pigments, and lignin phenols at the river mouth. In contrast, chemical turnover times contributed only 1–5% to output variability. Our findings underscore the need for improved land-specific headwater observations, including seasonal soil moisture and lateral transport dynamics that control the initial tributary-specific DOC inputs. With accelerated permafrost thaw and increasing river discharge, extending our model to other Arctic River systems and seasons will enhance understanding of Arctic riverine carbon fluxes and their contributions to the Arctic Ocean.

Background There is evidence that persistent dysregulation of the immune system caused by SARS-CoV-2 infection may increase susceptibility to other infections. Here we assessed whether it is associated with subsequent diagnoses of infectious mononucleosis due to Epstein-Barr virus (EBV-IM). Methods Residents of Sweden aged 3 to 100 years without a prior diagnosis of EBV-IM were followed between 1 st January 2020 and 30 th November 2022, comprising a total of 9,978,860 participants. Individuals were categorised into those without a COVID-19 diagnosis, those with a positive SARS-CoV-2 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test only - a less severe exposure, and those admitted to hospital with COVID-19 - a more severe exposure. Cox regression was used to estimate hazard ratios (HR) with 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) for the association between the exposure, modelled as time-varying covariate, and EBV-IM occurrence. Results EBV-IM rates per 100,000 person-years and 95%CIs were 4.6 (4.4-4.9) for individuals not diagnosed with COVID-19, 7.8 (6.9-8.9) for those with a positive SARS-CoV-2 test only and 10.5 (6.2-17.6) for patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19. HR and 95%CI were 1.61 (1.39-1.88) for people with a positive PCR test only and 5.71 (3.33-9.79) for those admitted to hospital with COVID-19 compared with people without COVID-19 diagnosis, after adjustment for birth year, sex, Swedish healthcare region, region of birth, and Charlson comorbidity index. Conclusion SARS-CoV-2 infection was associated with a subsequent raised risk of EBV-IM, including among those with less severe acute infection, signalling immune perturbation and the possibility of further delayed sequelae linked with EBV-IM.

Background: Anticholinergic medication use is increasing, particularly among older adults due to polypharmacy and comorbidities. High anticholinergic burden is linked to adverse outcomes such as reduced mobility and increased dementia risk. Acute hospital stay may offer an opportunity to address this often-overlooked issue. Aims: To examine the effects of deprescribing anticholinergic medications on outcomes in older hospitalised patients. Methods: Medline, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, and Embase were searched from inception to September 2024. Studies included hospital-based deprescribing or medication review interventions targeting anticholinergic burden in patients aged ≥65 years. Narrative synthesis followed SWiM guidelines, with quality assessment using JBI Checklists. Results: From 2042 records, eight studies met inclusion criteria. Designs included cohort (n=4) and pre-post quasi-experimental (n=4), with follow-up durations of up to 3 months. All reported medication-related outcomes; four assessed acceptability, one included clinical outcomes, and none examined safety. Six studies reported reductions in anticholinergic burden scores; three showed significant decreases in the proportion of patients prescribed anticholinergics, and two noted fewer potentially inappropriate medications. Most recommended changes were implemented. Conclusion: Deprescribing interventions in hospital appear acceptable and effective in reducing anticholinergic burden. However, evidence on clinical outcomes, costs, and safety is limited. Further RCTs with longer follow-up are needed.

Background and Purpose: New alarming trends show that vaping synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonists, such as JWH-018, by e-cigarettes is increasing among youths. However, the sex-related consequences of these trends are unclear. We therefore characterized the neuropharmacological effects of adolescent JWH-018 inhalation in male and female rats. Experimental Approach: Adolescent rats inhaled passively JWH-018 vapor (0.3 or 0.6 mg/ml qd) for 21 days. During vapor exposure, JWH-018 and main metabolites plasma levels, body weight, and locomotion were measured at different time points. During drug-free period, behavioural (withdrawal signs, anxiety, repetitive-like behaviour) and microdialysis (NAc shell/mPFC dopamine responsiveness to intraoral chocolate, taste reactivity) studies were performed 24 hours and 7 days after last JWH-018 inhalation, respectively. Key Results: Repeated adolescent JWH-018 inhalation induced sex-dependent effects with (i) higher plasma levels in males; (ii) increased body weight gain and withdrawal signs in females; (iii) transient hypolocomotion in female and dose-dependent biphasic locomotion in males; (iv) higher taste aversion in male; (v) sex- and dose-related adaptive changes of NAc shell and mPFC dopamine to single/repeated chocolate exposure in early adulthood, as follows: in the NAc shell, either low or high dose decreased dopamine sensitivity to chocolate in males, low dose abolished habituation whereas high dose blunted dopamine responsiveness in females; in the mPFC, the low dose blunted responsiveness in male and induced habituation in females while the high dose induced habituation only in males. Conclusion and Implications: Using a highly translational model, we showed that the impact of adolescent JWH-018 inhalation differs between sexes.