ObjectiveTo examine the relationships among perceived risk of recurrence, attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help, negative emotions, and family care in patients with ischemic stroke, and to test a moderated mediation model. The findings aim to provide a scientific basis for optimizing clinical psychological interventions and family support strategies.MethodsA cross-sectional survey was conducted among 311 patients with ischemic stroke recruited from three tertiary hospitals in Sichuan Province, China. Data were collected using validated scales measuring perceived recurrence risk, help-seeking attitudes, negative emotions, and family care. Mediation and moderated mediation analyses were performed using SPSS 27.0 and PROCESS macro (Models 4 and 58), with 5, 000 bootstrap resamples to estimate 95% confidence intervals (CIs).ResultsPerceived recurrence risk was positively associated with negative emotions (β = 0.350, p < 0.001). Attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help partially mediated this association, with a significant indirect effect (effect = 0.131, 95% CI: 0.082–0.192), accounting for 40.68% of the total effect. Family care moderated both paths of the mediation model. In the first stage, family care moderated the association between perceived recurrence risk and help-seeking attitudes (β = 0.043, p = 0.001), such that higher family care weakened the negative association. In the second stage, family care moderated the association between help-seeking attitudes and negative emotions (β = −0.075, p = 0.008), indicating that higher family care strengthened the protective association between help-seeking attitudes and lower negative emotions.ConclusionPerceived recurrence risk, help-seeking attitudes, and negative emotions are significantly associated in patients with ischemic stroke. Help-seeking attitudes partially explain this association, while family care plays a significant moderating role in both stages. These findings highlight the importance of psychological and family-centered support in stroke rehabilitation. However, causal interpretations should be made cautiously due to the cross-sectional design.
Effects of visual art therapy on depressive symptoms in adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis
ObjectiveTo systematically evaluate the intervention effects of visual art therapy on depressive symptoms in adults, and to examine its impact on anxiety symptoms.MethodsA systematic search was conducted in databases including CNKI, WanFang Data, VIP, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (CBM), PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, and Embase from inception to March 2026. Randomized controlled trials were included in which visual art therapy was used to intervene in depressive symptoms among adults (≥18 years).Meta-analysis was performed using Stata 18.0 software.The primary outcome was depressive symptoms, measured by scales such as the BDI, GDS, HADS-D, and SDS, and the secondary outcome was anxiety symptoms, measured by scales such as the BAI, HADS-A, and SAS. Fixed-effect or random-effect models were selected according to the level of heterogeneity, and subgroup analyses were conducted.ResultsA total of 12 randomized controlled trials involving 741 adults were included, with 377 participants in the intervention group and 364 in the control group.The meta-analysis showed that visual art therapy effectively alleviated depressive symptoms (SMD = -0.81, 95% CI: -1.16 to -0.46, P < 0.00001) and anxiety symptoms (SMD = -0.69, 95% CI: -0.90 to -0.48, P < 0.00001) in adults.Subgroup analyses indicated that interventions with a duration of <12 weeks, <12 sessions in total, and a single-session length of ≤60 minutes were associated with larger effect sizes for the improvement of depressive symptoms; improvements in anxiety symptoms were more pronounced in intervention protocols characterized by higher frequency (>12 sessions), shorter overall duration (≤6 weeks), and shorter single-session length (≤60 minutes).ConclusionAs a non-pharmacological intervention, VAT has potential as an adjunctive approach for alleviating depressive and anxiety symptoms in adults.Systematic review registrationhttps://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/view/CRD420261371354, identifier CRD420261371354.
A conceptual multi-agent architecture for mental health triage in post-conflict Arabic-speaking populations: a theoretical proposition and staged validation argument
Syria’s protracted conflict has produced a mental health crisis of extraordinary scale, with post-traumatic stress, depression, and anxiety estimated at several times global baselines, set against fewer than 0.37 psychiatrists per 100,000 people. Existing AI mental health tools have been developed and evaluated primarily for English-speaking, non-humanitarian populations, and their transfer to this setting is constrained by three simultaneous structural deficiencies—extreme clinical scarcity, Arabic natural-language-processing underperformance for dialect, and cultural misalignment with Syrian idioms of distress—which we term the Triple Gap. This article is a conceptual contribution in the Hypothesis and Theory genre, and its central claim is theoretical rather than technical: that AI-assisted mental-health triage at a safety floor adequate for crisis relevant care in this setting is conditional on the joint satisfaction of three constraints—linguistic adequacy for the local dialect, cultural validity for local idioms of distress and help-seeking, and bounded clinical responsibility through human oversight. These constraints interact, so that a system satisfying fewer than all three is expected to fail in clinically consequential rather than random ways. As one possible design response to this proposition—neither the only one nor a validated one—we describe a conceptual multi-agent architecture aligned with the WHO mhGAP task-shifting model: a four-stage pipeline (screening, risk stratification, routing, follow-up) constrained by a cross-cutting cultural-adaptation layer, augmented by candidate verification mechanisms with explicit abstention, and governed by human oversight in which clinical responsibility rests with a licensed clinician. The proposal is a hybrid clinical decision support hypothesis, not an autonomous system. Because no Syrian Arabic clinical corpus yet exists, the conversational components of the design cannot presently be evaluated; we therefore set out a staged sequencing argument for future work in which the construction of a Syrian Arabic Mental Health Evaluation Corpus (SAMHEC) is the first and rate-limiting condition. We present no prototype, no corpus, and no clinical, cultural, or safety evaluation, and we make no claim of clinical validity, safety, or readiness for deployment. The contribution is the integration of multi-agent triage with task-shifting and cultural adaptation into a single conditional argument whose adequacy can be established only through the staged empirical work we describe.
The association between worry, rumination, and metacognitive beliefs in female adolescents with Anorexia Nervosa
BackgroundA growing body of literature has emphasized the role of worry and rumination in eating disorders (EDs). According to the metacognitive model, worry and rumination are maintained by dysfunctional metacognitive beliefs. Although metacognitive beliefs have been investigated in adults with EDs, their role in adolescents with EDs remains underexplored. The present exploratory study aimed to examine the specific association among worry, rumination, and metacognitive beliefs and eating disorder symptomatology in adolescents with AN.MethodsThirty Italian female adolescents (mean age ± SD: 15.387 ± 1.35 years, mean Body Mass Index (BMI): 16.34 ± 2.5 kg/m2) completed a self-report survey composed of the Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ), the Ruminative Response Scale (RRS), the Metacognitions Questionnaire – 30 (MCQ-30), and the Eating Disorder Inventory – 3 (EDI-3).ResultsThus, Model 1, including RRS and PSWQ, was significant (F = 17.5, p<0.001) and explained 57% of the variance (R² = 0.574). Within this model, RRS was the only significant predictor (p = 0.019) of the Eating Disorder Risk Composite (EDRC) of EDI-3, indicating that higher rumination scores were associated with greater eating disorder symptomatology. Once MCQ was entered as a predictor of EDRC, there was no significant incremental variance compared with Model 2 (ΔR² = 0.0034, p = 0.658), even though the model remained significant overall (F = 11.4, p < 0.001). The final model explained 58% of variance (R² = 0.578; Cohen’s f2 = 1.37).ConclusionRumination was significantly associated with eating disorder symptomatology. Although worry showed strong positive associations with eating disorder symptomatology at the correlational level, it did not maintain an independent role once rumination was included in the regression model. The final model showed a very large effect size (Cohen’s f² = 1.37), suggesting strong associations between predictors and eating disorder symptoms in the present sample. However, this estimate should be interpreted cautiously, given the limited sample size and the exploratory nature of the analysis. Contrary to our expectations, metacognitive beliefs did not significantly explain the variance of eating disorder symptomatology. This finding may reflect the more proximal role of RNT in explaining the variance in eating disorder symptomatology, or alternatively, the possibility that only specific metacognitive domains—rather than overall metacognitive functioning—are relevant in this population.
Editorial: Treatment resistant depression: epidemiology, clinic, burden and treatment, volume II
Governing the social production of care: the hidden foundation of health systems
Nature Medicine, Published online: 22 July 2026; doi:10.1038/s41591-026-04535-y
Health systems rely on unpaid care that is poorly measured and governed. We argue that unpaid care, and the wider social production system behind it, is a productive input whose breakdown drives avoidable admissions, delayed discharge, and labor-force exit. We propose a national accounting framework, a diagnostic lens, and five policy priorities.
FcRH5×CD3 bispecific antibody cevostamab in relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma: a phase 1 trial
Nature Medicine, Published online: 22 July 2026; doi:10.1038/s41591-026-04522-3
In a phase 1 trial, the maximum tolerated dose for an FcRH5-containing bispecific T cell engager was not reached, and there was an encouraging response rate in patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma.
Cerebral venous blood flow regulates intracerebral pressure and brain clearance via meningeal lymphatic vessels
Nature Neuroscience, Published online: 22 July 2026; doi:10.1038/s41593-026-02358-1
The authors show that cerebral venous blood flow and meningeal lymphatics co-regulate intracranial pressure and brain clearance in mice and humans. This finding supports idiopathic intracranial hypertension as a cerebral venous disorder.
Job dissatisfaction and health care access uncertainty grows in the U.S., new study finds
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Good morning. I admit that I didn’t finish rereading “The Odyssey” before I saw the movie last weekend, but it’s never too late. For now, scroll down to read a related First Opinion essay and to sign up for office hours with Bob Herman, STAT’s own Homeric chronicler of the business of health care.
STAT+: ‘Cochlear implant for blindness’ debuts in Europe, could launch in U.S. in 2027
Europeans can now receive a device that can partially restore their vision loss. Americans may not have to wait long to get it, either.
Science Corporation announced Wednesday that European regulators had approved the commercial sale of the startup’s retinal implant that improves eyesight for patients with age-related macular degeneration in their central vision, enough to read books and road signs more clearly.
“We have a cochlear implant for vision now,” said Science founder and CEO Max Hodak.