BackgroundChildren and adolescents undergoing treatment for malignant bone tumors frequently experience heightened psychological distress, including anxiety, depression, and reduced health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Group painting therapy has been proposed as a supportive non-pharmacological strategy, yet empirical evidence in pediatric oncology remains limited. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of an eight-week structured group painting therapy program on anxiety, depression, post-traumatic growth (PTG), and HRQoL in this population.MethodsA quasi-experimental pretest–posttest study was conducted among children and adolescents (aged 8–18 years) with primary malignant bone tumors at Henan Cancer Hospital from December 2023 to December 2024. A total of 76 participants were consecutively enrolled and allocated to an intervention group receiving group painting therapy (n=39) or a control group receiving standard nursing care (n=37) using a nonrandomized ward-based approach. Anxiety, depressive symptoms, PTG, and HRQoL were assessed at baseline and post-intervention using validated instruments, including SCARED, DSRSC, PTGI, and PedsQL™ 3.0 Cancer Module.ResultsCompared with the control group, the intervention group demonstrated greater reductions in anxiety and depressive symptoms, along with significant improvements in PTG and selected HRQoL domains. Notable improvements were observed in emotional functioning, social communication, generalized anxiety, somatic symptoms, personal strength, and appreciation of life. No significant between-group differences were observed in physical symptom domains such as pain and nausea.ConclusionsGroup painting therapy was associated with improvements in emotional well-being, PTG, and selected HRQoL domains in children and adolescents with primary bone tumors. These findings suggest that painting therapy may be a promising adjunct to routine pediatric oncology care for promoting resilience and psychological recovery.
Problematic social media use, everyday memory failures, and prospective and retrospective lapses: evidence from a large sample of young adults
IntroductionProblematic social media use (PSMU) has become a growing research topic due to its potential psychological and cognitive consequences. However, little research has examined its relationship with everyday memory functioning, particularly specific forms of memory.MethodsA sample of 943 Spanish young adults aged 18 -35 completed validated measures of PSMU, everyday memory failures, prospective memory lapses and retrospective memory lapses. Non-parametric analyses, group comparisons and mediation analyses with bootstrap resampling were conducted.ResultsHigher PSMU was associated with more frequent everyday memory failures and with greater prospective and retrospective lapses. Everyday memory failures mediated a substantial proportion of the association between PSMU and both prospective and retrospective lapses. Participants meeting the proposed clinical cutoff for PSMU reported poorer memory functioning than those below this threshold.DiscussionThese findings suggest that PSMU is associated with greater subjective memory difficulties in daily life, highlighting the relevance of everyday memory failures as a potential explanatory mechanism linking problematic social media use with prospective and retrospective memory problems.
Blood signatures of cell type-specific aging forecast disease risk and resilience
Nature Medicine, Published online: 15 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41591-026-04447-x
Blood signatures of cell type-specific aging forecast disease risk and resilience
Adaptive deep brain stimulation for dynamic gait control in Parkinson’s disease: a randomized feasibility trial
Nature Medicine, Published online: 15 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41591-026-04434-2
A randomized crossover study shows that gait-phase-synchronized adaptive deep brain stimulation is feasible and safe, and reduces falls compared to continuous stimulation in Parkinson’s disease.
Plasma proteomic signatures of cellular aging predict human disease
Nature Medicine, Published online: 15 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41591-026-04446-y
The biological age of individual cell types can be evaluated using plasma proteomics, revealing diverse aging profiles across more than 40 cell types and links between the accelerated aging of specific cell types and disease.
Activity-dependent adaptive deep brain stimulation improves gait in Parkinson’s disease
Nature Medicine, Published online: 15 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41591-026-04432-4
Neural decoding algorithms that leverage physiological principles of locomotor encoding support activity-dependent deep brain stimulation therapies that improve locomotor deficits in people with Parkinson’s disease.
Neuroimaging runs on helium, helium runs through Hormuz
Nature Neuroscience, Published online: 15 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41593-026-02355-4
The 2026 closure of the Strait of Hormuz exposed a structural dependency that the neuroimaging community has rarely discussed openly.
Author Correction: Shared receptors in axon guidance: SAX-3/Robo signals via UNC-34/Enabled and a Netrin-independent UNC-40/DCC function
Nature Neuroscience, Published online: 15 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41593-026-02351-8
Author Correction: Shared receptors in axon guidance: SAX-3/Robo signals via UNC-34/Enabled and a Netrin-independent UNC-40/DCC function
Integrating neuroscience across species and scales
Nature Neuroscience, Published online: 15 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41593-026-02346-5
Neuroscientists have an ever-expanding array of tools for measuring brain activity at multiple scales, motivating efforts to integrate diverse datasets and capitalize on their complementary strengths. The new Triple-N dataset introduced by Li et al. tackles this challenge by conducting large-scale macaque electrophysiology in an experimental paradigm matched to the human 7T fMRI Natural Scenes Dataset.
<![CDATA[Carlos H. Schenck, MD, delivered the keynote address at SLEEP 2026 on REM sleep behavior disorder. Here’s what psychiatrists and mental health clinicians need to know. ]]>