IntroductionThe use of pitch gestures in teaching Mandarin tone (i.e., gesture-augmented instruction) has been reported to facilitate lexical tone acquisition. However, the neural mechanisms underlying how gestures aid the learning of complex phonological rules, such as tone sandhi, remain unclear. This study investigated whether gesture-based learning enhances tone sandhi perception primarily through multimodal integration or by promoting cognitive control.MethodsForty-four Vietnamese-speaking learners were randomly assigned to either a gesture training group or a no-gesture control group. Post-training, participants performed a disyllabic tone discrimination task while functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) data and behavioral responses were recorded.ResultsResults revealed significantly greater neural responses in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (L-DLPFC) in the gesture group compared to the control group. Moreover, enhanced L-DLPFC activation was positively correlated with improved behavioral discrimination accuracy. The gesture group also exhibited strengthened functional connectivity between the L-DLPFC and bilateral prefrontal cortices, accompanied by accelerated hemodynamic responses.DiscussionCollectively, these findings suggest that gesture-assisted learning facilitates tone sandhi mastery primarily by augmenting prefrontal executive control and fostering multisensory integration. This pattern aligns with a weak embodied cognition framework, in which gestures serve as distributed scaffolds that support, rather than replace, abstract tonal representations.
Oral administration of kratom leaf extract alleviates anxiety-like behavior, urinary bladder pain, voiding dysfunction, and bladder hypercontractility via attenuating muscarinic receptor response in male mice exposed to chronic water avoidance stress
Psychological stress causes and deteriorates interstitial cystitis/painful bladder syndrome with urinary frequency, incontinence, bladder pain and urgency. The major alkaloid of kratom (Mitragyna speciosa), mitragynine, shows analgesic, anxiolytic, and smooth muscle relaxant effects. However, the effects of kratom leaf extract on stress-induced anxiety-like behavior, urinary bladder pain and urinary bladder dysfunction remain unknown. Therefore, this study aims to examine the effect of kratom leaf extract administration on anxiety-like behaviors, bladder pain, bladder contractile properties, and mast cell number in mice exposed to water avoidance stress. Male C57BL/6 mice were exposed to water avoidance stress (WAS) protocol for 10 consecutive days and compared with the stress-exposed mice receiving oral administration of kratom leaf extract (2.5 and 5 mg/kg of mitragynine) or solifenacin (10 mg/kg). Anxiety-like behaviors were assessed using open field test. Bladder pain sensitivity was evaluated with von Frey test, while voiding behavior was analyzed using voiding pattern analysis. Bladder contractility was examined using an in vitro organ bath technique, and urinary bladder mast cell infiltration was assessed by toluidine blue staining. Results show that mice receiving WAS had a reduction in the total duration and number of unsupported rearing behaviors, reduced voiding area, and increased bladder pain responses; however, these effects were reversed by treatment with kratom leaf extract (2.5 and 5 mg/kg of mitragynine). Interestingly, the WAS group also exhibited markedly increased tonic contractions in response to carbachol, a muscarinic agonist; these responses were attenuated in mice treated with kratom leaf extract (2.5 and 5 mg/kg) The enhanced tonic contractile response to carbachol was abolished by pre-incubation with ondansetron (a 5-HT₃ antagonist). The WAS group showed an increased total number of mast cells in the urinary bladder, which was reduced by treatment with kratom leaf extract at both 2.5 and 5 mg/kg. Our results indicate that treatment with kratom leaf extract attenuated chronic stress–induced bladder pain responses, voiding abnormalities, and mast cell numbers, and was associated with reduced contractile response to muscarinic stimulation, suggesting a potential modulatory effect on stress-induced bladder dysfunction.
Psychometric properties of Lithuanian translation of the self-report version of the Liebowitz social anxiety scale in young adult sample
BackgroundSocial anxiety disorder starts in adolescence or young adulthood and may have damaging effects on psychosocial development of the individual. Any intervention starts from assessment and the Liebowitz social anxiety scale with later developed self-report version is a valuable tool for practitioners for almost four decades. Even though the original version and adaptations have consistently demonstrated good reliability, there remains considerable debate regarding the factor structure. The aim is to test the factor structure and internal consistency of Lithuanian translation of the self-report version of the Liebowitz social anxiety scale (LSAS-SR) in a non-clinical young adult sample.MethodData of 452 young adults (mean age 21.3, 69.7% female) who volunteered participate in the study was used. Two factor solutions were tested: a single-factor model, with anxiety/fear and avoidance ratings loading on one factor, and a higher-order factor model, including two second-order scales (anxiety/fear scale and avoidance scale) and four first-order subscales (social interaction anxiety, performance anxiety, social interaction avoidance, performance avoidance). Internal consistency assessed using Cronbach’s alpha.ResultsLithuanian version has excellent internal consistency for the total score, scales and subscales, with Cronbach’s alfas ranging.85-.96. Confirmatory factor analysis shows that both tested models have acceptable data fit (RMSEA = .062-.067; CFI = .93-.94), however strong associations between (sub)scales, i.e. correlations exceeding.80, suggests that the use of scale and subscale scores may be less informative, especially in cross-sectional research, but could provide nuanced information in individual assessment.ConclusionFurther research on psychometric properties of Lithuanian versions of LSAS-SR should focus on verifying these results in a representative sample and in a clinical sample as well as testing the convergent and discriminant validity.
From stigma to support: the mediating role of sympathy between nurses’ perceived stigma and helping behavior tendency for alcohol use disorder
BackgroundThe detrimental effect of stigma on healthcare for individuals with alcohol use disorders (AUDs) is well-established, often resulting in social distance and diminished helping behavior tendencies. However, contemporary neuroscience reconceptualizes addiction as a brain disease, potentially altering emotional responses to stigma. This study examines a seemingly paradoxical possibility: that under specific conditions, perceived stigma is primarily associated with sympathy (rather than anger or fear), which in turn is linked to helping behavior tendencies among nurses.MethodsA cross-sectional survey was administered to 348 clinical nurses from tertiary hospitals in China. Participants completed standardized scales assessing perceived stigma of patients with AUDs, causal attributions, emotional responses (including sympathy, anger, and fear), and helping behavior tendencies. Data were analyzed using Pearson correlation and mediation analysis (PROCESS macro, Model 4) with 5,000 bootstrap samples to test the mediating role of sympathy.ResultsPerceived stigma showed a significant positive correlation with sympathy (r= .160, p<.05), which was in turn positively correlated with helping behavior tendencies (r= .269, p<.05). Critically, mediation analysis revealed that sympathy fully mediated the relationship between perceived stigma and helping behavior tendencies. The standardized indirect effect was significant (β= 0.15, 95% CI [0.08, 0.23]), accounting for the total observed relationship, as the direct effect was non-significant. Additionally, compared to non-psychiatric nurses, psychiatric nurses perceived patients as significantly less dangerous and reported lower levels of fear and anger, along with a stronger intention to help and a lower tendency to avoid patients.ConclusionChallenging conventional perspectives, this study supports a dual-pathway model in which perceived stigma can indirectly associated with professional helping behavior tendencies through the elicitation of sympathy. While other emotions like anger and fear were also measured, the findings highlight the pivotal role of cognitive-affective processes, shaped by neurobiological understandings of addiction, in determining nursing care. Specifically, sympathy, but not anger or fear, was found to mediate the stigma-helping relationship. Enhancing neuroscience-informed education and targeted empathy training, particularly for general nurses, could transform stigmatizing attitudes into supportive care, ultimately improving outcomes for patients with AUDs.
The temporal stability of core symptoms of social media addiction and their comorbidity with anxiety and depression in adolescents: a longitudinal network analysis
IntroductionSocial media addiction (SMA) is often comorbid with anxiety and depression. This study examined the temporal stability of core SMA symptoms and the bridging symptoms with anxiety and depression.MethodsA total of 1,240 adolescents (179 males, 1,061 females; mean age = 15.46 ± 0.63 years, age range: 14 – 18) completed the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (BSMAS), the Patient Health Questionnaire–9 (PHQ–9), and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder–7 (GAD–7) on two separate occasions in 2023 (T1) and 2024 (T2). The four symptom networks, including the BSMAS networks, two comorbidity networks (the BSMAS–GAD and the BSMAS–PHQ), and the integrated BSMAS–GAD–PHQ network, were estimated using Gaussian graphical models. Core symptom centrality was assessed using Expected Influence (EI), whereas bridge symptoms were identified using Bridge Expected Influence (BEI).Results1) Although SMA, anxiety, and depression levels of respondents rose significantly over the year, all four networks showed strong temporal stability, with the edge weights (r = .892 –.973, p < .001), the EI (r = .806 – .961, p ≤ .002), and the BEI (r = .699 – .804, p ≤ .008) highly correlated between T1 and T2; network comparison tests showed no significant changes in overall structures of all four networks, with most edges showing stable weights. 2) Within the BSMAS network, BSMAS2 (tolerance) and BSMAS6 (conflict) exhibited the highest EI at both time points. 3) In the comorbidity networks, BSMAS3 (mood modification), BSMAS5 (withdrawal), and BSMAS6 (conflict) consistently served as bridge symptoms on the SMA side at both T1 and T2. 4) Across both time points, PHQ1 (anhedonia) and PHQ7 (concentration problems) exhibited the highest BEI on the depression side, whereas GAD1 (nervousness) and GAD5 (restlessness) did so on the anxiety side. 5) These bridge symptoms were also confirmed in the integrated network.DiscussionThese findings illuminate the temporal persistence and development of symptom relationships, offering a more dynamic understanding of SMA–depression–anxiety comorbidity in adolescents.
Group CBT targeting hostile attribution bias in adolescents and young adults with ASD traits
BackgroundAdolescence is characterized by heightened self-consciousness and sensitivity to social evaluations. During this period, hostile attribution bias—interpreting ambiguous social cues as hostile—can lower quality of life (QOL) and contribute to future mental health problems. Adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) show similar difficulties, often more pronounced due to their cognitive style and interpersonal vulnerabilities. Group cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) aims to correct such biases through structured cognitive and social experiences. This study evaluated the psychological effects of group CBT on hostile attribution bias, social functioning, and QOL in adolescents and young adults with ASD traits.MethodsWe conducted an 8-session group CBT program focusing on hostile attribution bias and suspiciousness in 21 adolescents and young adults with ASD traits attending a hospital psychiatric outpatient department. The 15 participants who completed the program were included in analyzes. Psychological indices included hostile attribution bias (Ambiguous Intentions Hostility Questionnaire), social functioning (Social Responsiveness Scale, Second Edition [SRS-2]), and subjective QOL. Pre–post changes were quantified as change rates ((post − pre)/pre × 100). Group-level changes were tested with paired analyzes; exploratory associations among change rates were examined using Spearman correlations.ResultsGroup CBT significantly improved hostile attribution bias (effect size [ES] = 0.698, p = 0.017), social communication and interaction (SRS-2; ES = 0.780, p = 0.012), and subjective QOL (ES = 0.752, p = 0.011). Exploratory individual-level analyzes showed a discordant pattern: smaller reductions in hostile attribution bias (less negative change rates) were associated with greater increases in subjective QOL (ρ = 0.597, p = 0.019).ConclusionsThis pilot study suggests that group CBT may reduce hostile attribution bias and improve QOL and social functioning in adolescents and young adults with ASD traits. Notably, the positive correlation between hostile attribution bias change rates and QOL change rates suggests that greater QOL gains were not necessarily accompanied by larger reductions in hostile attribution bias, indicating that improvements in cognitive bias and perceived well-being may arise through partly distinct or non-linear pathways rather than a simple one-to-one relationship.Clinical trial registryUniversity Hospital Medical Information Network (UMIN000030140).
Moderna continues bird flu vax study, but limits work in the U.S.
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Good morning. Big news: I’ve convinced at least one other STAT staffer to re-read “The Odyssey” with me ahead of the movie this summer. Starting today, that means we’ll read three books (chapters), or about 1,500 lines, per week for the next eight weeks. Care to join us?
One town’s scheme to get rid of its geese
“Pull over!” I order my brother one sunny February afternoon. Our target is in sight: a gaggle of Canada geese, pecking at grass near the dog park. As I approach, tiptoeing over their grayish-white poop, I notice that one bird wears a white cuff around its slender black neck. It’s a GPS tracker—part of a new tech-centered campaign to drive the geese out of my hometown of Foster City, California.
THE PLACE
Foster City, CA
USA
About 300 geese live in this sleepy Bay Area suburb, equal to nearly 1% of our human population—and some say this town isn’t big enough for the both of us. Goose poop notoriously blanketed our middle school’s lawn, and the birds have hassled residents for generations. My own grandmother remembers when geese took over her garage for five whole minutes before waddling out. She says, “I wanted to kill them, but I thought I’d get in trouble.”
Indeed, that idea doesn’t fly here. City officials backed out of a previous plan to kill 100 geese following uproar from local environmentalists. Still, the poop creates a public health hazard; the birds need to go.
So the city paid nearly $400,000—roughly $1,300 per goose—to Wildlife Innovations, a company that resolves conflicts between humans and wildlife, to haze the geese with gadgets. The company’s approach is “basically, making the geese less comfortable,” Dan Biteman, head of the goose management plan and senior wildlife biologist at Wildlife Innovations, tells me.
The need for such conflict resolution is on the rise as land development collides with changes in animal behavior. Though overpopulation of Canada geese is a national nuisance in the US, such tensions also surface with other species in this country and elsewhere, including grizzlies on the Montana prairies, coyotes on San Francisco streets, and savanna elephants in Tanzania parks.
So the people whose job it is to deal with recalcitrant critters are bringing on the gadgets.
Back in Foster City, I spot a black camera mounted to a tree trunk at Gull Park by the lagoon. They’re in seven parks around town, programmed to snap photos every 15 minutes and transmit them back to Wildlife Innovations HQ. If they detect geese, a biologist immediately drives over to disperse the birds. One team member uses devices like lasers or drones; another brings along a goose-hating border collie named Rocky.
ANNIKA HOM
As a special measure, staff deploy the “Goosinator,” a small, remote-controlled neon-orange pontoon boat with a fearsome dog-like mouth painted on its bow, meant to evoke geese’s fear of coyotes and bright colors. It comes with attachable wheels and can zoom around on land or water to chase birds away. Biteman tells me the company is thinking about mounting speakers on trees and flying drones that will screech the calls of goose predators like red-tailed hawks or golden eagles.
The company received federal permits required by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act to stick GPS trackers on 10 geese, too. This way, staff can surveil the geese and research their behavior and movements.
At local goose hangouts, signs that look like “Wanted” posters alert the public to the new plan. As I watch some culprits graze (and defecate) on a church lawn, I think to myself: Enjoy it while it lasts.
Annika Hom is an award-winning independent journalist. She’s written for National Geographic, Wired, and more.
Antigen‑Stabilized Nanobody Probes Enable On‑Demand, Multicolor Protein Imaging
Fluorescent probes have reshaped how biologists study living systems, making it possible to watch viruses invade cells, follow the cell’s internal waste‑disposal machinery, and track the signaling events that fuel tumor growth. Yet even with decades of innovation, a fundamental limitation has persisted: most fluorescent nanobody probes glow whether or not they are bound to their targets. That constant background haze can blur the very molecular details researchers are trying to resolve.
A new imaging platform developed by scientists at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and the Salk Institute for Biological Studies aims to eliminate that problem entirely. The technology, described in Nature Methods in a paper titled “Synthetic multicolor antigen-stabilizable nanobody platform for intersectional labelling and functional imaging,” uses engineered fluorescent nanobodies that become brightly fluorescent only when they bind their intended protein targets. These “on‑demand” probes, known as VIS‑Fbs (visible-spectrum target-stabilizable fluorescent nanobodies), illuminate proteins inside living cells and animals with far greater clarity than conventional tools.
“The key advantage of our approach is that the signal appears only where the target protein is present,” said Vladislav Verkhusha, PhD, co‑corresponding author and professor of genetics at Einstein. “That eliminates the background glow that has long limited the precision of intracellular imaging.” His collaborator, Axel Nimmerjahn, PhD, professor and the Françoise Gilot‑Salk Chair at Salk, added, “This work establishes a versatile platform for imaging proteins with high specificity and minimal background. It opens new opportunities to study how molecular and cellular processes unfold in real time across diverse biological systems.”
Nanobodies have become increasingly valuable for live‑cell imaging because they can be engineered to bind specific proteins with high affinity. But their ongoing fluorescence has remained a stubborn obstacle. The VIS‑Fb design solves this by making the probes unstable when unbound; they rapidly degrade unless they encounter their target. Binding stabilizes the nanobody and triggers bright fluorescence, reducing background noise by as much as 100‑fold. The team also created VIS‑Fbs that span nearly the entire visible spectrum, from blue to far red, enabling simultaneous tracking of multiple proteins or cellular processes within the same cell.
The researchers developed a modular engineering platform, instead of a single probe, capable of generating VIS‑Fbs for a wide range of targets and experimental needs. They integrated more than 20 fluorescent proteins and biosensors into multiple nanobody scaffolds, creating a flexible system that supports multicolor imaging, light‑switchable variants for precise temporal control, and functional readouts of ions and metabolites. This allows the probes not only to show where proteins are but also to show what those proteins are doing in real time. According to first author Natalia Barykina, PhD, “The VIS‑Fb approach allows us to identify and track specific cell populations in living organisms based on the proteins they express, rather than just their location.”
In mice, VIS‑Fbs allowed for high‑contrast imaging of neuronal and astrocyte activity during behavior. In zebrafish embryos, the probes captured rapid developmental changes and responses to drugs that modulate signaling pathways. “Our results show that this imaging platform offers a much clearer and more precise view of how proteins behave inside living systems,” Verkhusha said. “It opens the door to studying complex biological processes, such as cell signaling, development, and disease progression, in new ways.”
The post Antigen‑Stabilized Nanobody Probes Enable On‑Demand, Multicolor Protein Imaging appeared first on GEN – Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News.
Single Arm, Monocentric, Pilot Feasibility Study on an Interactive Virtual Reality Program in 20 Complex In-clinic Palliative Care Patients
Conditions: Palliative Care; Refractory Pain; Anxiety; Depression Disorders; Fatigue, Mental; Psychological Distress
Interventions: Device: ZenctuaryVR+ Interactive Virtual Reality
Sponsors: University Hospital, Strasbourg, France; MOME, University of Arts and Design
Not yet recruiting
Interventions: Device: ZenctuaryVR+ Interactive Virtual Reality
Sponsors: University Hospital, Strasbourg, France; MOME, University of Arts and Design
Not yet recruiting