The correlation between phubbing and depression anxiety stress of first-year medical students: the mediating role of sedentary behavior
BackgroundFreshmen often experience challenges when adjusting from high school to college, which may elevate levels of depression, anxiety, and stress. This phenomenon is particularly pronounced in medical schools, where the overall academic atmosphere is widely regarded as exceptionally demanding and stressful.ObjectivesTo examine the indirect effect of sedentary behavior on the relationship between phubbing and depression anxiety stress of first-year medical students.MethodsThis study conducted a cross-sectional survey with 795 first-year medical students from Soochow University in China from October 2024 to November 2024 by using electronic questionnaire. The instruments were Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21), Generic Scale of Phubbing (GSP), and Adolescent Sedentary Activity Questionnaire (ASAQ).ResultsThe findings indicate that first-year medical students’ phubbing and sedentary behavior positively affects their depression anxiety stress (r = 0.120 ~ 0.815, both p < 0.01), and phubbing positively impacts medical students’ sedentary behavior (r = 0.128, p < 0.01). Additionally, sedentary behavior acts as a significant mediator between phubbing and depression, anxiety, and stress. The indirect effect contributes to 1.9%~2.5% of the total effect.ConclusionThese findings indicate that reducing depression anxiety stress in first-year medical students can be achieved not only through direct improvements in phubbing but also through the indirect effects of reducing sedentary behavior.
Autonomic nervous system reactions to secondary exposure to disaster-related imagery
AimThis study investigated how disaster-related imagery affects emotional and autonomic nervous system (ANS) responses, using heart rate (HR) and heart rate variability (HRV), in individuals with indirect exposure to the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake (GEJE).MethodsThirty-six healthy adults who had experienced strong ground shaking during the GEJE, but not the tsunami directly, viewed four types of videos: natural scenery (neutral), earthquake scenes, tsunami footage, and promotional videos repeatedly broadcast after the disaster. Subjective emotional responses (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, Positive and Negative Affect Schedule), HR, and HRV indices were measured before, during, and after each video.ResultsCompared to the neutral video, disaster-related videos significantly decreased HR and HRV during viewing, indicating an orienting or freeze-type ANS response. Earthquake footage, likely to evoke autobiographic fear, predominantly suppressed parasympathetic indices, while tsunami footage, associated with vicarious fear, predominantly suppressed sympathetic activity. Immediately after viewing, sympathetic activation increased significantly, consistent with a rebound active defense pattern. Notably, promotional videos did not induce subjective distress but still altered HR and HRV indices, suggesting unconscious physiological reactivity.ConclusionDisaster-related imagery evokes distinct ANS responses depending on the emotional content and the viewer’s trauma history. Autobiographic and vicarious fear may differentially affect sympathetic and parasympathetic suppression, respectively. Furthermore, this cross-sectional evaluation demonstrates that even seemingly non-invasive media exposure years after a disaster can trigger autonomic changes. These findings underscore the urgent need for appropriate media broadcasting guidelines to protect public health following both seismic and climatic catastrophes.
Joint latent profiles of death anxiety and treatment adherence in HCC patients
BackgroundHepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), one of the leading contributors to the global cancer burden, often places patients in a dual predicament of pronounced death anxiety and suboptimal treatment adherence. Prior research has largely treated death anxiety and adherence as independent, homogeneous constructs, thereby overlooking potential within-population heterogeneity and their co-occurring patterns. This study adopted a person-centered approach to identify joint latent profiles of death anxiety and treatment adherence among patients with HCC and to examine factors associated with profile membership.MethodsA cross-sectional design was employed. From October to November 2025, 586 patients with HCC were recruited via convenience sampling from five tertiary general hospitals in Shenzhen, Beijing and Lhasa, China. Data were collected using the Death Anxiety Scale (DAS), General Medication Adherence Scale (GMAS), Health Literacy Scale Short-Form (HLS-SF), and Fear of Progression Questionnaire–Short Form (FoP-Q-SF).ResultsLatent profile analysis identified three qualitatively distinct subgroups: low death anxiety–high treatment adherence, moderate death anxiety–moderate treatment adherence, and high death anxiety–low treatment adherence. Across profiles, death anxiety and treatment adherence exhibited a clear inverse co-variation pattern. Multinomial logistic regression indicated that health literacy and fear of disease progression were key psychosocial factors differentiating profile membership. In addition, demographic and disease-related variables showed varying predictive effects on profile assignment.ConclusionsPatients in the high death anxiety–low treatment adherence profile may represent a clinically important high-risk subgroup for targeted screening and supportive care. Clinical practice should emphasize assessment of health literacy and profile-specific psychosocial needs when planning stratified interventions. However, because of the cross-sectional design, the observed associations should not be interpreted causally, and longitudinal studies are needed to examine temporal transitions between profiles and their effects on subsequent treatment outcomes.
Circling back to RNA vaccines
Nature Biotechnology, Published online: 11 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41587-026-03155-8
While circRNA is often framed as a more stable, longer-lasting alternative to linear mRNA, its real-world advantages remain largely theoretical, and it is unclear whether greater molecular stability will translate into meaningful clinical gains.
A new treatment for preterm pre-eclampsia could benefit mother and child
Nature Medicine, Published online: 11 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41591-026-04400-y
A first-in-human trial involving selective removal of the placental protein sFlt-1 in preterm pre-eclampsia provides critical safety data, and could mark the beginning of a new era of targeted therapy for this potentially lethal pregnancy complication.
The connection between periods and mental health
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Good morning and happy Monday. Lots of infectious disease reading today, and some political movement, too. I hope your coffee is ready.
Opinion: AI doctors should be licensed. Here’s a framework to do that
Late last month, Utah’s Medical Licensing Board called for the immediate suspension of the state’s pilot program with the AI company Doctronic. The program lets a chatbot evaluate patients and recommend prescription renewals for nearly 200 chronic condition drugs, with the state planning to phase out physician review of each case.
The board said that it only learned about the pilot after it had launched. Its warning was blunt: proceeding without proper clinical oversight “potentially places Utah citizens at risk.”
STAT+: Medicare is spending far less than expected on new Alzheimer’s drugs
People on Medicare are not getting the recently approved Alzheimer’s medications nearly as much as federal officials anticipated.
Uptake for the drugs, Leqembi and Kisunla, has been so muted that Medicare is not forecasting significant spending on them in 2026 or 2027, a spokesperson for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services told STAT. It’s a dramatic shift from two years ago, when Medicare projected it would spend billions of dollars annually on Leqembi alone.
The lower-than-expected spending lines up with the challenges that the Alzheimer’s drugs have faced since their approvals, neurologists and Medicare experts told STAT: The intravenous medications are not easy to administer and require a lot of imaging; the population of eligible patients is limited; and the drugs continue to have little meaningful benefits while carrying a risk of severe side effects like brain bleeding.
Animal skin disease confirmed in clusters of European men who have sex with men
Researchers in France and Spain have diagnosed a number of men who have sex with other men with dermatophilosis, a skin disease that normally infects livestock, even though the cases had no known exposure to affected animals. Cases have also been detected in Germany, one of the researchers told STAT.
The clusters of infections are in some ways reminiscent of the emergence of mpox in 2022 in networks of gay men and other men who have sex with men. But people who have diagnosed some of these dermatophilosis cases describe a disease that is much milder in presentation.