Search Results (669)

The shift to circular agrosystems necessitates using new ideas like sustainable biochar, which provides many eco-beneficial attributes like enhancing soil fertility, storing atmospheric carbon dioxide, and retaining soil moisture. However, there is still a small number of farmers worldwide (particularly those located in low-income countries) adopting biochar. Accordingly, this research is focused primarily on determining how factors affecting behavior will influence the decision of wheat producers in Marvdasht County, in Iran’s Fars Province, to use biochar as a circular technology for farming. The study will focus on addressing issues related to environmental challenges (e.g., degradation of soil and drought) through the implementation of resource-efficient, sustainable agricultural technologies. The intent of this paper was to research the behavioral characteristics associated with wheat farmers who choose to use biochar in the city of Marvdasht, Fars Region, Iran, using a new Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). The model is theoretically enriched through the inclusion of personal norms and connectedness to the land, allowing for a more comprehensive understanding of pro-environmental decision-making. Data was collected from a total of 386 wheat farmers through the use of a structured survey. The data was analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) with the software Smart-PLS 3.0. The results reveal that attitude (β = 0.342, p < 0.001) and personal norms (β = 0.278, p < 0.001) are the strongest predictors of behavioral intention, while perceived behavioral control showed a weaker but significant effect (β = 0.178, p = 0.049). Subjective norms do not have a significant direct effect (β = 0.115, p = 0.199) but significantly influence intention indirectly through personal norms (β = 0.100, p < 0.001). Furthermore, connectedness to the land strongly affects personal norms (β = 0.420, p < 0.001) and exerts a significant indirect effect on intention (β = 0.117, p < 0.001), highlighting the importance of emotional attachment to land. The findings are significant because they demonstrated that farmers’ biochar adoption decisions are shaped not only by rational evaluations but also by moral obligations and emotional relationships with land. This study makes significant theoretical contributions by extending TPB with moral and relational constructs and empirically demonstrating their mediating roles in agricultural innovation adoption. The novelty of this study lies in integrating personal norms and connectedness to the land into the TPB framework to explain biochar adoption behavior within the context of circular agriculture in a developing country. Practically, the findings provide evidence-based insights for designing policies that integrate cognitive, ethical, and emotional drivers to promote biochar adoption and advance circular agriculture. Specifically, policymakers and extension agencies should prioritize behavioral-level strategies such as awareness campaigns, farmer training programs, and community-based initiatives that strengthen positive attitudes, environmental responsibility, and farmers’ emotional connection to land in order to enhance biochar adoption. Full article

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder traditionally defined by dopaminergic neuronal loss and Lewy body pathology; however, increasing evidence indicates that metabolic dysfunction contributes to both motor and non-motor manifestations of disease. While metabolomics studies in PD have largely focused on peripheral biofluids or subcortical brain regions, metabolic remodeling within cortical regions critical for cognition remains poorly characterized. Here, we applied LC-MS/MS-based untargeted metabolomics to post-mortem frontal cortex tissue from PD and neurologically normal control donors, with statistical models adjusted for age, sex, and post-mortem interval. A total of 893 metabolites were quantified, of which 234 exhibited significant differential abundance following false discovery rate correction. Pathway enrichment and network-based integration revealed coordinated metabolic remodeling characterized by predicted inhibition of β-alanine metabolism and pantothenate-dependent coenzyme A biosynthesis alongside activation of amino acid, vitamin B-dependent, cofactor-related, redox-associated, oxidative stress, and inflammatory pathways. Recurrent alterations in pantothenic acid, β-alanine-related intermediates, arginine- and histidine-derived metabolites, lumichrome, and vitamin B₆-associated species may reflect cortical metabolic perturbations associated with mitochondrial bioenergetic vulnerability and oxidative stress. Together, these findings indicate selective metabolic vulnerability in the PD frontal cortex rather than diffuse metabolic collapse. Full article

Obesity is a major risk factor for colorectal cancer (CRC) and is increasingly recognized as a contributor to cancer-related cognitive impairment; however, the mechanistic pathways linking metabolic dysfunction, tumor progression, and brain dysfunction remain incompletely defined. Emerging evidence indicates that obesity-induced gut microbial dysbiosis and intestinal barrier disruption may serve as a biologically plausible mechanism connecting these processes via the gut–brain axis although direct clinical causality remains to be firmly established. In obesity, alterations in gut microbiota composition characterized by depletion of barrier-protective taxa and enrichment of pro-inflammatory and genotoxic pathobionts compromise epithelial tight-junction integrity and promote metabolic endotoxemia. The translocation of microbial products, including lipopolysaccharide, sustains chronic systemic inflammation, accelerates CRC progression, and remodels the tumor microenvironment. Notably, these peripheral inflammatory signals extend beyond the intestine and tumor, disrupting blood–brain barrier integrity, activating microglia and astrocytes, and impairing synaptic plasticity within hippocampal and frontal networks. Clinically, these processes manifest as cancer-related cognitive impairment (CRCI), with predominant deficits in attention, processing speed, and working memory, which are often detectable around the time of diagnosis and independent of chemotherapy exposure. This review synthesizes in vivo, in vitro, and human evidence into a proposed theoretical “two-barrier failure” model of obesity-associated CRC and cognitive dysfunction. In addition to mechanistic synthesis, we discuss barrier-centered therapeutic strategies, including targeted probiotics, postbiotics, SCFA supplementation, obesity management through dietary and weight-loss interventions, and potential pharmacological approaches to epithelial and neurovascular barrier protection. We also outline testable clinical trial designs for evaluating these interventions in obesity-associated CRC. Full article

Background/Objectives: Vitamin D is a nutrient-related secosteroid system with endocrine, paracrine, immunological, and neurodevelopmental actions relevant to nutritional psychiatry. Psychiatric research has often treated vitamin D either as a cross-sectional correlate of depression or as a non-specific supplement expected to act across heterogeneous diagnostic categories. This narrative review aimed to develop a more discriminating framework in which vitamin D is considered a lifespan neuroimmune and immunometabolic signal whose psychiatric relevance depends on developmental timing, biological context, and phenotype. Methods: Evidence was integrated from developmental epidemiology, neonatal dried-blood-spot studies, randomized trials, meta-analyses, Mendelian randomization studies, clinical guidelines, and mechanistic neuroscience. The review focuses on prenatal and neonatal 25-hydroxyvitamin D, vitamin D-binding protein, free and bioavailable vitamin D, vitamin D receptor signaling, immune and microglial pathways, neurotransmitter systems, neurotrophic signaling, mitochondrial function, oxidative stress, hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal-axis regulation, and the gut–microbiota–immune–brain axis. Results: The available evidence does not support vitamin D as a universal treatment for psychiatric disorders. Instead, vitamin D deficiency and altered vitamin D biology appear most relevant in biologically and clinically defined risk states, including neurodevelopmental vulnerability, inflammatory depression, psychosis liability, severe mental illness with nutritional deprivation, metabolic comorbidity, and cognitive frailty. Mechanistic data support plausible links with cytokine biology, the tryptophan–kynurenine pathway, dopaminergic and serotonergic systems, stress regulation, and neuroimmune homeostasis. Conclusions: Vitamin D should be conceptualized in psychiatry as a context-dependent neuroimmune and immunometabolic signal rather than a generic psychotropic intervention. Future studies should prioritize biomarker-enriched, developmentally timed, nutrition-centered models of precision prevention and adjunctive care. Full article

This experimental study investigated the impact of embedding social and emotional learning (SEL) in science instruction on the academic and social–emotional outcomes of Arabic-speaking sixth graders, including those with reading difficulties (RD). Children from two schools in northern Israel (n = 101) were randomly assigned to either an intervention group, which received SEL-enriched science lessons featuring collaborative, reflective activities over 30 sessions, or a control group receiving traditional instruction. Pre- and post-tests assessed SEL competencies, motivation towards science, and academic achievements in science and mathematics. Results showed significantly greater gains in SEL skills, and in science motivation and science achievement in the intervention group compared to controls, whereas mathematics outcomes remained unchanged. Typically developing students and those with RD benefited similarly. Integration of SEL into science curricula thus enhances cognitive and social–emotional learning dimensions, particularly in linguistically and socio-economically marginalised populations. Implications for inclusive pedagogy and future research directions are discussed. Full article

Background/Objectives: This study evaluates the feasibility and preliminary effects of a short version of the Enriched Motor Program (EMP), an intervention combining aerobic and cognitive exercises, adapted to support the development of executive functioning in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Executive functions are high-order cognitive abilities necessary to manage everyday social and adaptive tasks. Methods: The sample included two children with ASD (boys) with an average chronological age of eight years. The intervention was delivered once per week, over 12 weeks, and children’s executive functions were assessed before and after the intervention. Working memory was assessed using the Backward Word Span and the Mr. Cucumber tests; inhibitory control was measured via the Circle Drawing Task and the Day/Night Stroop. Results: The data for both children were analyzed using the Reliable Change Index (RCI), which indicated a reliable change in visuo-spatial working memory for the child with level 2 ASD. Conclusions: These findings provide encouraging preliminary results concerning the feasibility of a short version of the EMP. Enriched motor programs could be considered as suitable activities complementary to the main clinical therapy. Full article

Cognitive Digital Twins (CDTs) are regarded as an evolved version of existing Digital Twin (DT) systems and are capable of certain cognitive abilities. However, the various introduced definitions and characteristics of CDTs, and different understandings of “cognition”, create conceptual ambiguity around CDTs. This paper critically reviews key definitions, application domains, capabilities, and proposed architectures of CDTs. Following PRISMA 2020 guidelines, a systematic review methodology is conducted across Scopus and Web of Science to map existing definitions, cognitive capabilities, and application domains of CDTs. Studies that explicitly implement or conceptualise a DT and explicitly mention cognitive, intelligent, autonomous, or AI-driven properties are included. Conversely, conference papers, book chapters, editorial pieces, review articles, and non-English publications are excluded from this review. The results of 59 reviewed studies present bibliometric metadata and a thematic analysis of early and recent definitions and applications of CDTs across various domains, such as manufacturing, which is the most studied discipline in terms of CDT implementation. Findings show that the understanding of cognitive enhancement has shifted toward the semantic enrichment of DT systems, with a significant emphasis on knowledge-driven approaches. The discussion focuses on identifying key differences between DTs and CDTs and synthesising existing definitions. The key contribution of this study is a unified definition of CDT, a mapping of cognitive capabilities and application domains, and a future research agenda. The review is not registered. The review is limited to journal articles, and the enabling CDT technologies, along with their implementations, are not addressed within this paper. Full article

This study conducted a comparative analysis of the King Abdulaziz and His Companions Foundation for Giftedness and Creativity (Mawhiba) as a national model for gifted education and talent development. Despite global recognition of nurturing giftedness, the literature lacks comprehensive, sustainable national talent development systems. Using a qualitative instrumental case study and documentary analysis, the research evaluated how Mawhiba differs from ten global gifted education institutions. Findings showed that Mawhiba design overcomes limitations of traditional models through endowment-based funding, national scale with decentralized delivery, and a multi-sector partnership aligned with Saudi Vision 2030. The study examined how Mawhiba integrated system translated identification and nurturing processes into measurable outcomes. Results demonstrated that Mawhiba operationalized contemporary giftedness frameworks via a multi-tiered ecosystem, from large-scale identification using the Mawhiba Multiple Cognitive Aptitude Test to diverse nurturing pathways including enrichment, research development, and university preparation. The model’s efficacy was evidenced by identifying over 244,000 gifted students and earning hundreds of international scientific awards, positioning Mawhiba as a paradigm shift in strategic human capital cultivation. Full article

(1) Background: The present scoping review sought to map the characteristics of theatre-based interventions and their reported effects on social interactions, social communication, anxiety, and broader psychosocial functioning of individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). (2) Methods: A search was conducted in the Scopus, ERIC, and PubMed databases, and manually with specific terms under PRISMA guidelines and the PCC framework. Eleven studies met the inclusion criteria. (3) Results: Most of the studies were conducted in the United States over the past 15 years. The interventions were categorized according to the method used in each study. All the studies included children and adolescents as samples, with only one study including adults. The SENSE Theatre Program was the most frequently applied method. There was some heterogeneity in the duration and number of sessions applied. Improvements were observed in social cognition, behavior, interaction, social and psychological functioning, language-related areas, and the maintenance and generalization of acquired skills, with a reduction in anxiety levels. (4) Conclusions: Although the studies were limited, theatre-based interventions and dramatherapy appear to be a promising therapeutic approach that remains largely unexplored. Further research is crucial to enriching the existing literature, filling current gaps, and establishing a protocol that integrates the aforementioned interventions into clinical practices for both children and adults with ASD. Full article

Background: Previous metabolomics studies on Alzheimer’s disease (AD) have predominantly focused on Western populations, leaving Chinese cohorts and disease stage-specific data largely unexplored. Objectives: To characterize metabolic alterations across different clinical stages of AD in a Chinese population and identify early diagnostic biomarkers. Methods: We enrolled 172 participants, including patients with AD, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), subjective cognitive decline (SCD), vascular cognitive impairment (VCI), and healthy controls (HC). Untargeted metabolomics (LC-MS and GC-MS) was performed on plasma samples, integrated with Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) assessments. Data were analyzed using multivariate statistics, pathway enrichment, and ROC modeling. Results: Distinct metabolic profiles emerged across disease stages, with phospholipids, ceramides, and glucose metabolites prominently enriched in glycerophospholipid, sphingolipid, and glucose pathways. A 16-metabolite panel achieved robust discrimination between AD+MCI and HC+VCI+SCD (AUC = 0.804). Specific metabolites, including ceramides, dihydroceramides, phosphatidylinositol, phosphatidylcholine, and glycodeoxycholic acid, correlated significantly with cognitive function and disease progression. Conclusions: This study reveals stage-specific metabolic dysregulation in Chinese AD patients and identifies potential plasma biomarkers for early detection, offering insights into AD pathogenesis. Trial registration number ChiCTR2400092653. Full article

Against the backdrop of intensifying global climate change and the digital transformation of agriculture, promoting the adoption of digital technologies among new agricultural operators is a crucial pathway to enhancing agricultural climate resilience and achieving sustainable agricultural development. Based on survey data from 516 new agricultural operators in typical agricultural regions such as Northeast China, Hunan, and Hebei, this study employs Logit models, moderation effects, and heterogeneity analysis to examine the impact of digital technology cognition and climate risk on operators’ technology adoption behavior, as well as the underlying mechanisms. The findings reveal the following: First, digital technology cognition has a significant positive impact on the adoption of digital technologies, whereas climate risk perception and experiences with extreme weather significantly inhibit adoption behavior. Second, the perception of multidimensional barriers—comprising technical, economic, social, and policy obstacles—significantly moderates the positive effect of digital technology cognition on adoption behavior. Third, these effects exhibit significant heterogeneity across business scale, years in operation, and entity type. These conclusions remain valid after robustness tests and endogeneity control. This study enriches theories of agricultural technology diffusion and sustainable development from a climate resilience perspective, providing empirical evidence to promote the use of digital technologies for agricultural climate adaptation, refine differentiated extension policies, and enhance the level of agricultural sustainability. Full article

Cognitive decline is a global public health challenge, yet the built environments where humans spend 90% of their time are only now being recognized as a means of preventive intervention. This paper presents a mechanistic framework describing how environmental and design features may influence hippocampal neuroplasticity, offering architects an evidence-based foundation for supporting brain health. We describe how eight environmental pathways, five activating features (design that promotes movement, enrichment, orientation features, daylight, views of nature) and three inhibiting features (air quality, noise, visual pattern stress) are hypothesized to converge on cAMP Response Element-Binding protein (CREB), a representative transcriptional integrator regulating Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) expression levels in the hippocampus. BDNF is a protein implicated in brain health outcomes including synaptic plasticity, neuronal survival, neurogenesis and cognitive function. Synthesizing evidence from neuroscience, exercise physiology, environmental psychology, toxicology, and visual neuroscience, we grade evidence strength for each pathway and identify the specific design variables involved. Evidence strength varies markedly across pathways: movement and enrichment rest on direct experimental and meta-analytic data, including human studies; air quality and noise rest on direct mechanistic evidence largely from animal and exposure studies; orientation features, daylight, and views of nature rest on indirect mechanistic inference; and visual pattern stress remains hypothesis-generating at the architectural scale. Enrichment and active design pathways show the strongest evidence for CREB activation, while noise, air quality, and non-natural visual patterns are associated with CREB inhibition. From this framework, we derive a consolidated set of design features organized by pathway, evidence strength, and temporal impact on brain health outcomes. These range from immediate synaptic plasticity to long-term neuroprotection. This mechanistic model offers a roadmap for a longer-term research program and outlines the formal structure required for future computational implementations. The framework can serve as a bridge connecting neuroscience to the emerging global movement on brain health that positions the built environment as an underutilized lever for supporting cognitive health across the lifespan. Full article

Several factor analytic investigations question whether the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) discriminates alexithymia from general psychological distress, with some researchers concluding that the difficulty identifying feelings (DIF) subscale measures distress rather than alexithymia. This debate has focused almost exclusively on structural discriminant validity (i.e., factor analytic analyses) while neglecting predictive discriminant validity, or whether alexithymia predicts clinically relevant outcomes relatively independent of distress. The present study addressed this issue using hierarchical multiple regression in a community sample enriched with participants having psychiatric histories (N = 661). Emotion regulation was assessed across three domains: global emotion dysregulation (DERS), maladaptive and adaptive cognitive strategies (CERQ), and behavioral strategies (BERQ). After controlling for depression, anxiety, and stress (DASS-21), the TAS-20—entered as its three subscales (DIF, DDF, EOT)—retained statistically significant incremental prediction across all five emotion regulation outcomes. Increments were largest for global emotion dysregulation (ΔR² = 0.11) and behavioral regulation (ΔR² = 0.10 adaptive, 0.09 maladaptive), and smallest for cognitive regulation outcomes (ΔR² = 0.02 adaptive, 0.03 maladaptive); none reached the 0.15 heuristic for a clinically meaningful incremental validity, but all were statistically reliable and obtained against a deliberately conservative test in which alexithymia–distress overlap was partialed prior to entry. Among the subscales, difficulty describing feelings (DDF) and externally oriented thinking (EOT) emerged as the most consistent unique predictors across outcomes after distress control, whereas DIF showed greater attenuation. Notably, a domain-level dissociation emerged whereby alexithymia was the stronger unique predictor of behavioral regulation outcomes while distress showed comparatively greater unique prediction of cognitive strategies, suggesting the two constructs contribute to emotion regulation impairment through partially distinct pathways. These findings support the predictive discriminant validity of the TAS-20: the instrument captures incremental variance in emotion regulation that is statistically reliable across domains and theoretically coherent in its facet-level patterning, even as the construct shows some understandable overlap with concurrent psychological distress. Full article

Adult hippocampal neurogenesis persists throughout the human lifespan, yet declines in Alzheimer’s disease and major depression, associated in part with reduced brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels. For rodents, environmental enrichment, dichotomised primarily as physical activity and spatial complexity, robustly promotes adult hippocampal neurogenesis, but no framework has translated these findings to human environments. This review is the first to synthesise evidence across the full translational pathway, arguing that spatial complexity and physically active navigation in neighbourhoods and buildings constitute a humanised form of environmental enrichment. It proposes that standard indoor environments may represent a functionally impoverished condition for the human hippocampus, paralleling standard laboratory caging. An applied model is presented, mapping built environment features onto the neurobiological mechanisms regulating adult hippocampal neurogenesis, with BDNF as the central translatable biomarker linking environmental exposures to neurogenic outcomes. A methodological roadmap for future empirical validation is also outlined. This framework repositions the built environment as a modifiable determinant of adult hippocampal neurogenesis in humans, with implications for mitigating the risk of depression, cognitive impairment, and Alzheimer’s disease. Full article

Promoting farmers’ adoption of sustainable agricultural practices is essential for advancing agricultural green transformation and ecological conservation in the Poyang Lake Basin. Current research frequently relies on a single theoretical perspective and insufficiently reveals the synergistic mechanism linking knowledge conversion, psychological cognition, and institutional support. This study integrates the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and Organizational Support Theory (OST) to construct a holistic “knowledge–psychology–behavior–institution” analytical framework. Based on a questionnaire survey of 485 farmers from 12 districts and counties surrounding Poyang Lake, we use structural equation modeling and the Process macro to examine direct effects, mediating effects, and the moderating role of government support. The results show that sustainable knowledge sharing and application significantly improve farmers’ behavioral intention through attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control, thereby positively promoting actual sustainable practices. Government support plays a significant positive moderating role in the translation of knowledge and psychological factors into behavioral intention. This study enriches the theoretical interpretation of farmers’ pro-environmental behavior from the synergistic perspective of individual cognition and external institutional constraints. The findings provide empirical support for local governments to optimize agricultural extension services, improve policy support systems, and promote coordinated development between ecological protection and high-quality agriculture. Full article