Search Results (249)

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a prevalent and disabling condition. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) may improve symptoms by modulating neuroplastic and inflammatory mechanisms. This randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial will recruit adult outpatients with MDD showing residual symptoms despite at least four weeks of stable SSRI treatment. Participants will be randomized to active or sham add-on tDCS while continuing their antidepressant regimen. The intervention will consist of 15 sessions over 3 weeks, targeting the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (anode F3, cathode F4) at 2 mA for 30 min per session. The primary outcome is the reduction of depressive symptoms measured by the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale-17 (HDRS), with remission defined as HDRS-17 ≤ 7. Secondary outcomes include cognitive performance (attention, executive functioning, memory), serum biomarkers (BDNF, VEGF, NGF, NRG1, angiogenin, IGF1, IL-6, TNF-α), cortical excitability assessed by transcranial magnetic stimulation (motor threshold, silent period, intracortical inhibition/facilitation), and cerebral hemodynamics by transcranial Doppler sonography (blood flow velocity, pulsatility, resistivity). Assessments will occur at baseline, post-treatment, and 3- and 6-month follow-ups. This trial aims to evaluate the efficacy of adjunctive tDCS in MDD with residual symptoms and its biological correlates, bridging clinical improvement with electrophysiological and neurovascular mechanisms. Full article

A new cascaded model is proposed to improve the accuracy and early warning capability of predicting mine water inrush accidents. The model sequentially applies a Bidirectional Long Short-Term Memory Network (BiLSTM) and a Variational Autoencoder (VAE) to capture the spatio-temporal dependencies between borehole water level data and water inrush events. First, the BiLSTM predicts borehole water levels, and the prediction errors are analyzed to summarize temporal patterns in water level fluctuations. Then, the VAE identifies anomalies in the predicted results. The spatial correlation between borehole water levels, induced by the cone of depression during water inrush, is quantified to assign weights to each borehole. A weighted comprehensive anomaly score is calculated for final prediction. In actual water inrush cases from Xin’an Coal Mine, the BiLSTM-VAE model triggered high-risk alerts 9 h and 30 min in advance, outperforming the conventional threshold-based method by approximately 6 h. Compared with other models, the BiLSTM-VAE demonstrates better timeliness and higher accuracy with lower false alarm rates in mine water inrush prediction. This framework extends the lead time for implementing safety measures and provides a data-driven approach to early warning systems for mine water inrush. Full article

Background: Animal-assisted activities (AAA) are participative interventions, designed to lower hospitalization-related stress and anxiety, enhance communicative readiness, improve quality of life and encourage human–animal interaction. The aim of the present study was to evaluate AAA effects in the context of intensive rehabilitation of patients with spinal cord injury (SCI), traumatic brain injury (TBI), stroke. Methods: AAA in this study were structured by a local specialized association, for small groups of patients (5/7 a time), biweekly; each session lasted 60 min. Each patient participated in 10 sessions of AAA. Evaluation rating scales were administered at T0 (before the first session) and T1 (after the last session, five weeks later) as follows: Neurobehavioral Rating Scale (NRS) in case of patient with stroke/TBI without disorder of consciousness; Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) for SCI patients. Results: A total of 50 patients concluded the study. NRS score for joined TBI and stroke populations varied from a T0 mean value of 32.34 [C.I. 26.83–37.35] to 17.21 [C.I. 12.66–21.76] (46.7%); this difference proved to be statistically significant (p = 0.000). Stroke patients had a 57.6% NRS lowering by mean 28.10 [C.I. 20.55–35.65] points to 12 [C.I. 6.6–17.36], which was significant (p = 0.000); similarly, TBI patients showed a mean decrease of 35.8% points from the initial 41.6 points [C.I. 37.29–45.93] to 26.76 [C.I. 21.94–31.59] (p = 0.002). As for HADS scores a smaller improvement was found in the cohort of SCI patients: anxiety registered a 1 mean point decrease at T1 (21.5%), from the initial 6.5 points [C.I. 3.80–9.34] to 5.1 ones [C.I. 3.17–7.11]. This variation was near the threshold of significance (p = 0.05). Depression domain, instead, improved by 2.35 mean points (37%), from the 6.35 initial points [C.I. 3.45–9.26] to the final 4 [C.I. 2.15–5.98] with reaching of a significant p value (p = 0.03). ANCOVA did not confirm this last value and showed no influence of age and gender on outcome variations. Discussion: AAA showed preliminary evidence to decrease neurobehavioral disorders in patients with high-complexity neurological diseases, particularly stroke and TBI. The role of AAA in SCI patients remains unclear. Future studies should address confounders’ role for these populations, particularly severity of disease. Furthermore, AAA interventions will have to be studied on larger samples, deepening the exact phase to introduce AAA for neurological patients. Lastly, qualitative studies are needed to explore patients’ lived experiences. Full article

Depression risk prediction benefits from approaches that go beyond binary labels by offering interpretable, quantitative views of affective states. This study presents a web-based platform that estimates depression risk by combining Korean Valence–Arousal–Dominance (VAD) regression with a structured, multi-anchor distance scoring method. We construct a Korean VAD–labeled resource by integrating the NRC-VAD Lexicon, the AI Hub emotional dialogue corpus, and translated EmoBank entries, and fine-tune a KLUE-RoBERTa regression model to predict sentence-level VAD vectors. Depression risk is then derived as the mean Euclidean distance from the predicted VAD vector to depressive anchor vectors and normalized into an interpretable risk index. In evaluation, the approach shows strong agreement with ground truth (Pearson’s $r=0.87$) and supports accurate risk screening when thresholded. The platform provides intuitive visual feedback for end users and monitoring tools for professionals, highlighting the practicality of integrating interpretable VAD modeling with lightweight scoring in real-world, web-based mental health support. Full article

Objectives: Recently, we modified the method of dosing charge in daily practice for patients undergoing bilateral electroconvulsive treatment (BL ECT). The aim of this study is to compare the effectiveness of two charges’ dosing protocols—High-Charge Protocol (HCP; based on the modified age-based method) and Dose Titration Protocol (DTP) in BL ECT for the treatment of patients with a depressive episode. Methods: The retrospective analysis compared the outcomes of BL ECT between patients receiving either HCP or DTP treatments. Patients’ mental status was assessed retrospectively using the Clinical Global Impression-Severity (CGI-S) and Clinical Global Impression-Improvement (CGI-I) scales. EEG parameters, including seizure duration and EEG ictal activity were analyzed. Results: When compared to DTP, the HCP group was older (55 years ± SD 15 vs. 41 years ± SD 17), had lower initial CGI-S (5 [IQR 5–6] vs. 6 [IQR 5–6]) and longer disease duration (15 years [IQR 7–20] vs. 9 years [IQR 3–18]). The DTP group had a higher percentage of remission (n = 17 [77.3%]) compared to the HCP group (n = 23 [43.4%]), with the same average number of sessions performed. In addition, the DTP group had significantly longer average seizure duration (68.6 s [IQR 52.7–84.7] vs. 38.4 s [IQR 33.8–47.1], adj. p < 0.001). Conclusions: Our results suggest that in BL ECT, administering high-charge protocols may have a detrimental impact on ECT effectiveness. Based on our findings, we propose adjusting the dosing in BL ECT according to the individual seizure threshold and avoiding frequent charge increases during the course of treatment. Full article

Objective: We aimed to explore associations between plasma neurofilament light chain (pNfL) and cognition through patient-reported outcomes (PROs) in multiple sclerosis (MS). Methods: In this cross-sectional study, we included 211 people with MS (PwMS) and collected data from pNfL (fully automated chemiluminescent enzyme immunoassay), EDSS, education, cognition (the Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT), California Verbal Learning Test-II (CVLT II), and Brief Visuospatial Memory Test–Revised (BVMT-R)), the Modified Fatigue Impact Scale (MFIS), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Results: On multivariate linear regression models, higher educational attainment was significantly associated with lower pNfL (high school: Coeff = −0.22, 95% CI = −0.41 to −0.04, p = 0.019; university: Coeff = −0.22, 95% CI = −0.42 to −0.02, p = 0.030). In logistic regression models, the likelihood of having pNfL levels above normal thresholds increased by 56% for each one-point increment in the EDSS score (OR = 1.56, 95% CI = 1.23 to 1.98, p < 0.001) and was 2.5 times greater in individuals with impaired SDMT (OR = 2.50, 95% CI = 2.20 to 5.21, p = 0.014). No statistically significant associations were observed between pNfL and CVLT-II, BVMT-R, BDI-II, MFIS, BAI, or PSQI. Conclusions: Neuro-axonal damage in people with MS manifests clinically as increased disability and reduced attention and processing speed. However, these effects may be mitigated by greater brain resilience, as suggested by the protective role of higher educational attainment. The PROs assessed in this study showed no significant associations with pNfL levels, possibly due to measurement errors and heterogeneity, with limited sensitivity to neuro-axonal damage. Full article

Background: Transcutaneous spinal stimulation (TSS) is a noninvasive stimulation approach to modulate spinal reflex circuit excitability after spinal cord injury (SCI) Posterior root muscle (PRM) reflexes can be used to characterize the change in excitability of spinal reflex circuits after TSS; these responses are likely influenced by stimulus parameters. Methods: We compared PRM reflex responses to 3 TSS conditions: single-site continuous (SS-CONT), single-site burst (SS-BURST), and dual-site continuous (DS-CONT). Stimulation (frequency: 50 Hz, intensity: 80% soleus reflex threshold[RT]) was delivered for 30 min. The cathode was placed over the thoracic spine (T11–T12) and anodes placed paraumbilically; a second cathode over the lumbar spine (L1/2 or L2/3) was used for DS-CONT. PRM reflex responses in the soleus were elicited by paired 1 ms monophasic conditioning–test stimuli at a 50 ms interstimulus interval via the T11–12 cathode and paraumbilical anodes. Soleus PRM reflex indices included RT, response amplitude at 1.2xRT (RA_1.2xRT), slope, area under the input–output curve (AUC). Paired-pulse indices were collected, including paired-pulse depression (PPD) and depression of the area under the curve (AUC_dep). To assess the correlation between biomechanical and electrophysiologic measures of soleus spasticity, the ankle clonus drop test first drop excursion (FDE) was measured. All indices were measured at baseline and immediately post-intervention. Results: In whole-group analyses, PPD and AUC_dep were significantly decreased. Significant decreases in PPD and AUC_dep were identified only after the SS-CONT condition. No significant changes were identified in other PRM reflex indices after any of the 3 TSS conditions. No relationships between baseline FDE and any PRM reflex parameter were identified at baseline. Conclusions: With stimulation intensity of 80% soleus RT, modulation of targeted spinal reflex circuits was observed only in the SS-CONT condition when the response of the conditioning and test stimuli were considered. In addition, stretch-induced spasticity of the soleus may not be consistent with electrophysiologic testing. Full article

Background: Alterations in peripheral red blood cell (RBC) indices have been proposed as potential biomarkers for Parkinson’s disease (PD), but their diagnostic utility and relation to clinical features remain uncertain. Methods: We conducted a pilot case–control study involving 70 PD patients and 122 controls from two neurology centers in Mexico. Standardized hematology analyses provided RBC indices, and neuropsychiatric assessments included the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D) and Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). Associations between RBC indices and PD were tested using multivariable logistic regression adjusted for age, sex, and smoking. Diagnostic performance was evaluated by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. Subgroup analyses stratified PD patients by age at onset, disease duration, and Hoehn and Yahr (HY) stage. Results: PD patients exhibited significantly higher mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH) and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC) than controls. Elevated MCHC was independently associated with PD (OR = 1.68, 95% CI 1.35–2.09; p < 0.001). Sex-stratified models confirmed consistent associations in women (OR = 1.57) and men (OR = 1.79). ROC analysis demonstrated fair diagnostic accuracy for MCHC (AUC 0.72, 95% CI 0.65–0.80; cutoff 33.9 g/dL, sensitivity 62.9%, specificity 72.1%). Sex-specific thresholds improved sensitivity in women (90.6%) and specificity in men (74.6%). Within the PD group, MCHC did not differ by HY stage or disease duration, and showed no correlation with UPDRS, HAM-D, or MMSE scores. Early-onset cases (<50 years) showed numerically higher MCHC, though numbers were limited. Conclusions: This pilot study confirms that an elevated MCHC is independently associated with PD, a finding consistent across both sexes and independent of disease severity. MCHC demonstrates fair diagnostic performance, supporting its potential as a low-cost, accessible biomarker. Larger longitudinal studies integrating RBC indices with inflammatory and iron-regulatory markers are warranted to establish their role in the diagnosis and differential diagnosis of PD. Elevated MCHC was associated with PD, and an MCHC-based index (cutoff 33.9 g/dL; AUC 0.72, sensitivity 62.9%, specificity 72.1%) showed potential as a simple diagnostic marker. Full article

Occupational burnout is ubiquitous yet still debated as a disease entity. Previous reviews surveyed multiple biomarkers but left their neural substrate unclear. We therefore asked: What, if any, reproducible magnetic-resonance signature characterises burnout? Following PRISMA principles adapted for mechanistic synthesis, two reviewers searched PubMed, Scopus, Google Scholar, ResearchGate and Cochrane from January 2000 to May 2025 using “MRI/fMRI” AND “burnout”. After duplicate removal and multi-stage screening, 17 clinical studies met predefined inclusion criteria (English language, MRI outcomes, validated burnout diagnosis). In total, ≈1365 participants were scanned, 880 with clinically significant burnout and 470 controls. Uniform Maslach Burnout Inventory thresholds defined cases; most studies matched age and sex, and all excluded primary neurological disease. Structural morphometry (8/17 studies) revealed consistent amygdala enlargement—predominantly in women—and grey-matter loss in dorsolateral/ventromedial prefrontal cortex and striatal caudate–putamen, while hippocampal volume remained unaffected, distinguishing burnout from PTSD or depression. Resting-state and task fMRI (9/17 studies) showed fronto-cortical hyper-activation, weakened amygdala–ACC coupling, and progressive fragmentation of rich-club networks, collectively indicating compensatory executive overdrive and global inefficiency. Two longitudinal cohorts and several intervention sub-studies demonstrated partial reversal of cortical thinning and limbic hyper-reactivity after mindfulness, exercise, cognitive-behavioural therapy, neurofeedback, or rTMS, underscoring plasticity. Across heterogeneous paradigms and populations, MRI converges on a coherent, sex-modulated but reversible brain-networkopathy that satisfies objective disease criteria. These findings justify early neuro-imaging-based triage, circuit-targeted therapy, and formal nosological recognition of burnout as a mental disorder, with policy ramifications for occupational health and insurance parity. Full article

The bidirectional relationship between epilepsy and depression illustrates shared neurobiological mechanisms of neuroinflammation, hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis dysregulation, and glutamatergic dysfunction. Depression is present in 20–55% of people with epilepsy, far greater than in the general population, while depression doubles epilepsy risk 2.5-fold, indicating shared pathophysiology. Neuroinflammatory mediators (interleukin-6, tumor necrosis factor alpha, high-mobility group box 1) establish a vicious cycle: seizures exacerbate inflammation and mood disruption, and stress lowers seizure thresholds. Hippocampal damage and cortisol toxicity also link these disorders, with early life stress imprinting lifelong risk via epigenetic alteration. Genetic studies identify pleiotropic genes (brain-derived neurotrophic factor) that regulate synaptic plasticity, serotonin activity, and immune responses. New treatments target shared pathways: ketamine and AMPAkines normalize glutamate tone; mGluR5 antagonists attenuate hyperexcitability and inflammation; DNA methyltransferase inhibitors reverse aberrant DNA methylation; and probiotics manipulate the gut–brain axis by boosting neuroprotective metabolites like butyrate. Despite challenges—transient effects, precision dosing, and blood–brain barrier penetration—these advances constitute a paradigm shift toward mechanistic repair rather than symptom management. The way forward includes clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-based epigenome editing, biomarker-led therapies, and combination approaches (e.g., ketamine and probiotics). Such comorbidity needs to be managed holistically through integrated neuropsychiatry care, offering hope to patients with treatment-refractory symptoms. Full article

Migraine is a prevalent neurological disorder that affects over 1 billion individuals worldwide. The pathogenesis of migraine remains incompletely understood, though evidence suggests a multifactorial etiology involving genetic factors. The CACNA1A gene has been implicated in rare forms of Familial Hemiplegic Migraine (FHM). This study aimed to investigate the role of CACNA1A variants in individuals with and without a family history of migraine. We genotyped 150 subjects (100 migraine patients: 50 with migraine without aura (MO), 50 with migraine with aura (MA) and 50 controls) for six CACNA1A variants using Sanger sequencing. Statistical analyses were performed in Statistica (p < 0.05). The CADD v1.7 model was used to assess the potential pathogenicity of novel variants. Three variants described in databases (rs10405121, rs894252513, and rs1012663275) and three novel variants (ch19:13228374 G > C, ch19:13228428 G > C, and ch19:13228348 A > T) were identified. The rs10405121 variant was associated with both migraine types, with the homozygous AA genotype exclusively found in familial cases. Abnormal genotype of rs894252513 and rs1012663275 were detected only in familial cases with MO. The novel variants were observed exclusively in patients with a family history of migraine, suggesting their potential relevance to inherited migraine pathogenesis. Novel variants may contribute to migraine pathogenesis by altering calcium channel function and lowering the threshold for cortical spreading depression (CSD). Full article

Objective: To analyze the association between physical activity, health-related quality of life (HRQoL), and perceived barriers to physical activity with the risk of symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress in Chilean adolescents. Method: A quantitative, cross-sectional, descriptive-correlational study was conducted with a sample of 351 secondary school students (mean age = 15.75 ± 1.47 years) from several educational institutions in the south-central region of Chile. Validated instruments were used to assess physical activity (PAQ-A), symptoms of mental health (DASS-21), HRQoL (Kidscreen-52), and the short scale of barriers to physical activity. For exploratory purposes, mental health outcomes were dichotomized based on standard cut-off scores, and binary logistic regression models were estimated to identify associated factors. Results: Based on the binary categorization, a substantial proportion of students exceeded the risk thresholds for depressive (54.4%), anxiety (63%), and stress symptoms (42.2%). Across models, lower physical activity levels, reduced autonomy and weaker relationships with parents, and barriers related to self-concept and motivation were consistently associated with higher mental health risk. Additionally, passive commuting and the perceived school environment emerged as specific predictors of stress and depression risk, respectively. Conclusions: These findings suggest that individual and contextual factors linked to lifestyle behaviors and perceived social support may play a critical role in adolescent mental health, and could represent key targets for school-based interventions. Full article

Depression remains a leading cause of global disability, yet scalable and objective diagnostic tools are still lacking. Speech has emerged as a promising non-invasive modality for automated depression detection, due to its strong correlation with emotional state and ease of acquisition. While convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have achieved state-of-the-art performance in this domain, their high computational demands limit deployment in low-resource or real-time settings. Spiking neural networks (SNNs), by contrast, offer energy-efficient, event-driven computation inspired by biological neurons, but they are difficult to train directly and often exhibit degraded performance on complex tasks. This study investigates whether CNNs trained on audio data from the clinically annotated DAIC-WOZ dataset can be effectively converted into SNNs while preserving diagnostic accuracy. We evaluate multiple conversion thresholds using the SpikingJelly framework and find that the 99.9% mode yields an SNN that matches the original CNN in both accuracy (82.5%) and macro F1 score (0.8254). Lower threshold settings offer increased sensitivity to depressive speech at the cost of overall accuracy, while naïve conversion strategies result in significant performance loss. These findings support the feasibility of CNN-to-SNN conversion for real-world mental health applications and underscore the importance of precise calibration in achieving clinically meaningful results. Full article

This study analyzes the lacustrine hydrocarbon source rocks of the Lower Cretaceous in the Erdengsumu sag of the Erlian Basin, evaluating their characteristics and identifying areas with oil resource potential, while also investigating the ancient lake environment, material source input, and controlling factors, ultimately developing a sedimentary model for lacustrine hydrocarbon source rocks. The findings suggest the following: (1) The lower Tengger Member (K₁bt₁) and the Aershan Formation (K₁ba) are the primary oil-producing strata, with an effective hydrocarbon source rock exhibiting a lower limit of total organic carbon (TOC) at 0.95%. The Ro value typically remains below 0.8%, indicating that high-maturity oil production has not yet been attained. (2) The oil generation threshold depths for the Dalestai and Sayinhutuge sub-sags are 1500 m and 1214 m, respectively. The thickness of the effective hydrocarbon source rock surpasses 200 m, covering areas of 42.48 km² and 88.71 km², respectively. The cumulative hydrocarbon generation intensity of wells Y1 and Y2 is 486 × 10⁴ t/km² and 26 × 10⁴ t/km², respectively, suggesting that the Dalestai sub-sag possesses considerable petroleum potential. The Aershan Formation in the Chagantala sub-sag has a maximum burial depth of merely 1800 m, insufficient to attain the oil generation threshold depth. (3) The research area’s productive hydrocarbon source rocks consist of organic matter types I and II₁. The Pr/Ph range is extensive (0.33–2.07), signifying a reducing to slightly oxidizing sedimentary environment. This aligns with the attributes of small fault lake basins, characterized by shallow water and robust hydrodynamics. (4) The low ratio of ∑nC₂₁₋/∑nC₂₂₊ (0.36–0.81), high CPI values (>1.49), and high C₂₉ sterane concentration suggest a substantial terrestrial contribution, with negligible input from aquatic algae–bacterial organic matter. Moreover, as sedimentation duration extends, the contribution from higher plants progressively increases. (5) The ratio of the width of the deep depression zone to the width of the depression in the Erdengsumu sag is less than 0.25. The boundary fault scale is small, its activity is low, and there is not much input from the ground. Most of the source rocks are in the reducing sedimentary environment of the near-lying gently sloping zone. Full article

Background/Objectives: Recent studies linked a diet rich in ultra-processed foods (UPFs) with depression and diabetes. Although common risk factors, such as aging, are defined for both diseases, how UPFs are associated with the bidirectional relationship between them is not known. This study aimed to investigate whether UPF intake modifies the association between depression and diabetes within the Brazilian adult population. Methods: This cross-sectional analysis utilized data from the 2019 Brazilian National Health Survey, involving over 87,000 adults (aged 18–92 years). Participants provided self-reported data on diabetes and depression diagnoses, dietary habits (assessed by qualitative FFQ), as well as demographic, and socioeconomic variables. Multivariate logistic regression models were used to evaluate the associations, employing two classification methods—UPF1 and UPF2—based on different thresholds of weekly consumption, for high/low UPF intake. Analyses were stratified by age groups to identify variations in associations. Results: There was a significant association between depression and diabetes, especially among participants with high UPF consumption. Models adjusted by demographic characteristics, as well as meat and vegetable consumptions, demonstrated elevated odds ratios (ORs) for diabetes among individuals with depression consuming high levels of UPF, compared to those with a low UPF intake (OR: 1.258; 95% CI: 1.064–1.489 for UPF1 and OR: 1.251; 95% CI: 1.059–1.478 for UPF2). Stratified analysis by age further amplified these findings, with younger individuals showing notably stronger associations (non-old adult group OR: 1.596; 95% CI: 1.127–2.260 for UPF1, and OR: 6.726; 95% CI: 2.625–17.233 for UPF2). Conclusions: These findings suggest that high UPF intake may influence the relationship between depression and diabetes, especially in younger adults. Future longitudinal studies are warranted to establish causality, investigate underlying biological mechanisms, and examine whether improving overall nutrient intake through dietary interventions can reduce the co-occurrence of depression and diabetes. Full article