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461 papers

Fasciola Metacercaria Contamination in Wetland Pastures and Its Association With Forage Characteristics Across Agro-Ecological Zones: Case of Gamo Zone, Southern Ethiopia.

Milkyas M et al. · Jul 1, 2026

Fasciolosis remains a major constraint to ruminant production in Ethiopia, particularly in wetland-based grazing systems where infective Fasciola metacercariae encyst on pasture vegetation. This study investigated metacercarial contamination of wetland herbage and its association with forage characteristics across lowland, midland and highland agro-ecologies of the Gamo Zone, southern Ethiopia. A cross-sectional study was conducted from November 2021 to October 2022, during which 432 herbage samples were collected for parasitological and botanical analysis, and 171 livestock owners were interviewed regarding grazing practices. Metacercariae were recovered using a modified mechanical elution technique and expressed as cysts per kilogram of fresh herbage. Metacercarial burden varied significantly among herbaceous species and agro-ecological zones (p 750 cysts/kg) and highland (>600 cysts/kg) wetlands. Highly palatable and nutritionally superior species, including Trifolium burchellianum, Cynodon nlemfuensis and Scirpus maritimus, harboured the greatest metacercarial loads, demonstrating a positive association between forage quality and contamination risk. Most respondents (97.1%) relied on natural wetlands for grazing, and grazing management practices differed significantly among agro-ecologies (p < 0.05). The findings indicate that wetland pastures in the Gamo Zone are important transmission foci for fasciolosis and that the concurrence of high nutritional value and elevated parasite contamination presents a critical challenge for livestock production. Integrated control strategies combining targeted grazing management and strategic anthelmintic treatment are recommended to reduce infection risk while maintaining feed availability.

Veterinary

Sustaining Breastmilk Expression and Direct Feeding at Breast for Very Low Birth Infants: A Qualitative Exploration of Parental Perspectives.

Noonan M et al. · Jul 1, 2026

In Ireland, while most women express milk for their preterm very low birthweight (VLBW) infants, only a few are discharged home exclusively receiving mothers' own milk, and even fewer are engaged in direct feeding at breast (DFAB). This is in the context of Ireland having one of the lowest breastfeeding initiation and sustenance rates in the world. This qualitative descriptive study aimed to explore parents' experiences and perspectives on sustaining breastmilk expression and DFAB for VLBW infants. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine mothers and three partners, and the data were analysed using Braun and Clarkes' (2022) framework for reflexive thematic analysis. The themes developed were: (1) Sustaining breastmilk expression for preterm infants; (2) Navigating the transition to DFAB; and (3) The emotional Journey of feeding a VLBW infant. Supportive conditions for sustained milk expression included access to equipment, skin-to-skin contact, and both practical and emotional support from partners and healthcare professionals. Key influences on the transition to DFAB encompassed infant-related challenges, health system factors and the role of partner involvement. Scheduled support from lactation consultants, midwives and nurses in both hospital and community settings, who have undertaken specialised training on supporting women to breastfeed a VLBW infant is recommended to facilitate the transition to DFAB. Participants identified strategies that could be integrated into a 'DFAB care pathway' to provide a structured and consistent evidence-based approach to support women, their premature infants and families.

Medicine

Integrating Individual Placement Support in Early Psychosis Programs: A Necessary Step to Foster Return to Employment in First Episode Psychosis Patients.

Renda M et al. · Jul 1, 2026

Introduction Return to studies or employment, a major element of recovery after a first episode of psychosis (FEP), is out of reach of a significant proportion of patients. Specific programs such as Individual Placement Support (IPS) have been proposed to overcome this hurdle. While some early intervention programs include IPS, others must rely on IPS programs that are open to a wider range of patients. The aim of this paper was to explore the accessibility of IPS for FEP patients treated in such a context. Methods One hundred and eighty nine patients of an ongoing FEP cohort study who were treated at our program in the period where the IPS program was available and for whom sufficient data was available were included in the study. We assessed reasons for non-referral to RESSORT and compared baseline and outcome characteristics of patients who did or did not enter the program. Results A small minority of patients had access to RESSORT. Patients who entered RESSORT had better premorbid functioning and a higher degree of insight at baseline than the ones who did not enter the program. Patients who entered RESSORT had a significantly higher rate of return to premorbid PAS score, without significant difference on other dimensions of functioning. Conclusions When IPS programs are not embedded in early intervention programs, FEP patients have limited chances to access them. Integrating supported employment skills within the role of case managers may be a solution in programs where resources are lacking to develop an IPS program specifically dedicated to FEP patients.

Medicine

Exploring the Social and Cultural Influences on Advance Care Planning Engagement for Patients Living With Cancer: A Hermeneutic Phenomenology Study.

Lin CP et al. · Jul 1, 2026

Guided by Leininger's Theory of Culture Care, this hermeneutic phenomenological study explored how social and cultural contexts shape engagement in advance care planning (ACP) among people living with cancer in Taiwan. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 26 stakeholders, including 8 patients, 7 family caregivers, and 11 healthcare providers, recruited from oncology and ACP outpatient clinics, inpatient wards, and home care services at a tertiary medical center. Data were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using Naeem's six-step approach. Six interrelated influences on ACP engagement were identified: socioeconomic circumstances, prior experiences and personal background, religious beliefs and life values, relational dynamics with family and significant others, wider social norms, and political and legal requirements. These factors shaped whether ACP was seen as acceptable, when it was introduced, who was involved in decision-making, and how discussions were negotiated within families and with healthcare professionals. The findings show that ACP engagement in Taiwan is a relational, culturally embedded process. Culturally congruent, nurse-led ACP approaches that address relational, socioeconomic, and legal structural influences are needed to support family-centered cancer care.

Medicine

Detection of a Target Nucleic Acid by Ligation-Assisted Fluorescence Enhancement of a Peptide Nucleic Acid (PNA) Twin Probe via Disulfide Binding.

Ouchi Y et al. · Jul 1, 2026

The development of methods for detecting specific nucleic acids is important for early diagnosis and treatment of diseases at the genetic level. We have developed a pair of pyrene (Pyr)-modified peptide nucleic acids (PNAs), PNA twin probe, as a tool for such detection. In this study, we prepared Pyr-PNAs containing chloroacetyl (-COCH 2 Cl) or thiol (-SH) groups at the termini by solid-phase peptide synthesis. By analyzing various candidates, we clarified that a pair of Pyr-PNAs, each containing an SH group, formed a disulfide bond through the hybrid formation of two PNAs with complementary DNA, resulting in excimer emission at 455 nm. Furthermore, we demonstrated that these Pyr-PNAs provide fluorescent detection of intracellular target RNAs through enhanced excimer emission via the ligation. This work should aid future studies aimed at the specific fluorescent detection of RNA in living cells.

Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

Infants and Mobiles: Developing an Understanding of Cause and Effect.

Xu X et al. · Jul 1, 2026

In the mobile conjugate reinforcement paradigm, an infant's leg is connected to a mobile via a string, allowing the infant to move the mobile via moving their leg. Over a few minutes, infants exhibit an increase in the frequency of movement of the connected leg. This behavior is sometimes interpreted as an indication that infants experience the efficacy of causal control. However, some researchers have argued that an underlying causal model is not necessary and that a simple reinforcement model that favors mobile movements can explain this behavioral pattern. Interestingly, after the mobile is disconnected from the leg, some infants transiently show an even higher frequency of movement, a phenomenon known as the extinction burst, that is hard to reconcile with a simple reinforcement learning model alone. In this study, we propose different computational models and study to what extent they are capable of capturing infants' behavior. In particular, we construct an active-learning causal model that is capable of discovering the underlying cause-effect relationship on the fly without the need to specify either the cause or the effect in advance. We also propose an active-learning mechanism based on expectation violation, that can be combined with the proposed causal model and a number of alternative models, including a naïve reinforcement model, to give rise to an extinction burst. Overall, our work sheds light on possible learning mechanisms giving rise to infant's developing understanding of cause and effect relationships. SUMMARY: A causality-driven model is proposed that successfully simulates infant behavior in the mobile paradigm. The causal model actively discovers the underlying causal mechanism, while alternative models fail under specific simulated conditions. An active-learning mechanism based on expectation violation is introduced that unifies causal learning and hypothesis-testing within a single, coherent framework. We show that this mechanism successfully models the extinction burst and demonstrates robustness across different experimental settings.

Psychology

Building Trust and Connection: A Family Systems Perspective on Black Veteran Reintegration.

Francis L. · Jul 1, 2026

Reintegration after military deployment is often viewed as an individual process, though it occurs in family systems. Black veterans remain underrepresented in reintegration research, particularly in studies focusing on relational trust and racialized stress. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 23 veterans of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) revealed four interrelated themes: presence, communication, racial identity, and family role negotiation. Findings indicate that trust was built through everyday relational processes rather than immediate emotional disclosure, and racial identity served as both a resource and a strain. These findings highlight trust as a relational process shaped by family dynamics and sociocultural contexts, extending reintegration literature.

Psychology

Perinatal interventions for parents with exposure to adverse childhood experiences: A narrative review of suitability for implementation in primary care.

Chen JJ et al. · Jul 1, 2026

Children of parents exposed to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) face elevated risk of experiencing biopsychosocial challenges. Primary care screening for parental ACEs is increasing, and routine primary care touchpoints may reach parents with exposure to ACEs during the critical perinatal period. This review seeks to 1) evaluate existing perinatal interventions-including those not designed for primary care-for suitability for primary care implementation and 2) identify implementation factors missing from existing interventions that may enhance their implementation in primary care. The PubMed database was searched for articles in English reporting on randomized controlled trials of perinatal interventions among parents with exposure to ACEs. Fourteen articles detailing 14 unique interventions were included in the qualitative synthesis. Data were extracted on intervention characteristics identified by implementation research as relevant to primary care: evidence of benefit, applicability and relevance, complexity, clarity, practicality and utility, costs, and adaptability. Ten interventions were found to be effective for parents with greater exposure to ACEs; however, the variability within the interventions and relevant settings suggests nuanced decision-making is required to match interventions to settings. The current review offers primary care providers a framework for matching and adapting such interventions.

Psychology

The Role of Early Visual Experience in Cross-Signal Dependency Detection.

Gupta P et al. · Jul 1, 2026

Temporal co-occurrence of two sensory signals is a powerful indicator of their potential association. Detection of such coincidences is believed to be a key contributor to perceptual organization and a primary objective of cortical computations. Here, we investigate whether the development of this ability requires early sensory experience. We examined the performance of early-blind children who surgically gained sight as adolescents. Our data revealed three key results. First, we found that while not fully reaching the level of normally sighted controls, late-sighted patients examined several years after surgery were able to robustly detect signal dependencies with markedly above-chance accuracy at all but the weakest strengths tested. Second, for both groups, performance levels were comparable for intra- and inter-modal stimuli, revealing significant plasticity for establishing cross-modal linkages late in childhood. Finally, comparison with a separate group of late-sighted patients tracked longitudinally from preoperative to one-month postoperative status suggests that this ability may follow a protracted developmental time course after sight surgery. These results help characterize the development of a foundational process for detecting relationships between environmental entities and point to the resilience of acquiring this important skill to early-onset, prolonged visual deprivation. SUMMARY: We tested the ability of congenitally blind children who gained sight late in childhood to detect repeated temporal co-occurrence of sensory signals. We found that while not reaching the full normally sighted level, late-sighted patients are able to detect signal dependencies with markedly above-chance accuracy. This ability may follow a protracted developmental time course after sight-restoring surgery. The availability of neural plasticity into late childhood has important implications for the rehabilitation prospects of children with congenital blindness.

Neuroscience

Dipolar Order Mapping Based on Spin-Lock Magnetic Resonance Imaging.

Gao Z et al. · Jul 1, 2026

Inhomogeneous magnetization transfer (ihMT) is sensitive to dipolar order associated with motion-restricted macromolecules and can be characterized by the dipolar relaxation time T1D$$ {T}_{1D} $$ . In this study, we propose a spin-lock MRI framework for T1D$$ {T}_{1D} $$ quantification. Specifically, we introduce a T1D$$ {T}_{1D} $$ -sensitive metric, RATIOdosl$$ RATI{O}_{dosl} $$ , derived from the distinct relaxation rate Rdosl$$ {R}_{dosl} $$ , defined as the difference between dual-frequency and single-frequency R1ρ$$ {R}_{1\rho } $$ measurements. To enable dual-frequency spin-lock acquisition, we developed a dedicated rotary-echo spin-lock sequence. Based on this framework, we further estimated T1D$$ {T}_{1D} $$ and the macromolecular proton fraction (MPF) within a unified acquisition. The proposed method was evaluated using numerical simulations, phantom experiments, and in vivo imaging in the healthy human brain. Simulations demonstrated high sensitivity of RATIOdosl$$ RATI{O}_{dosl} $$ to T1D$$ {T}_{1D} $$ and supported the robustness of the proposed approach under the investigated conditions. Phantom experiments showed measurable ihMT contrast and supported the feasibility of T1D$$ {T}_{1D} $$ estimation using RATIOdosl$$ RATI{O}_{dosl} $$ . In vivo experiments demonstrated simultaneous T1D$$ {T}_{1D} $$ and MPF mapping using only three spin-lock-prepared images. Across 10 healthy volunteers, mean white matter T1D$$ {T}_{1D} $$ values ranged from approximately 3.70 to 4.80 ms. By requiring only three contrast-prepared images, the proposed technique provides a rapid framework for simultaneous T1D$$ {T}_{1D} $$ and MPF mapping and may facilitate further investigation of dipolar-order-sensitive microstructural imaging in vivo.

Medicine