Music-based interventions have become a promising avenue for neurorehabilitation in neurodegenerative disorders, particularly through rhythmic auditory stimulation to improve gait and movement timing. However, many current interventions still rely on pre-specified or externally imposed rhythmic structures, treating music primarily as a cue to be followed. In this Opinion article, I argue that the next generation of music-based neurorehabilitation should move beyond fixed beats or individualized cueing protocols toward real-time adaptive musical entrainment. Two biologically grounded principles are central to this shift. First, healthy movement is not metronomic: gait exhibits structured variability, including long-range correlations and 1/f-like temporal organization, which can be disrupted in neurodegenerative disease. Because music can contain 'pink,' multiscale temporal structure in specific acoustic or rhythmic time series, it offers a promising medium for adaptive cue design and for testing whether structured auditory variability can support more functional movement organization. Second, adaptive music should be understood not merely as tempo matching, but as adaptive auditory-motor timing control in which phase synchronization is one important dimension, among others. Closed-loop musical technologies can continuously sense movement, adapt musical parameters, and support stable yet flexible coupling between body and sound. Because the empirical foundation for music-based gait rehabilitation is currently strongest in Parkinson's disease, this article uses PD gait as the primary model while treating extension to atypical parkinsonian syndromes and other neurodegenerative disorders as a translational hypothesis requiring disease-specific validation. I propose that precision neurorehabilitation may integrate individual movement signatures, structured temporal variability, and phase-based adaptive cueing to guide the development of interventions that are more personalized, engaging, and ecologically grounded. Music, in this framework, does not simply tell the patient when to move; it listens back and adapts to support more functional movement dynamics.

N-back tasks are widely used to assess working memory functioning, yet different methodological approaches between tasks and across laboratories can yield distinct neural signatures. While working memory-related event-related potentials (ERPs) have been extensively studied, it remains unclear how task parameters influence the neural oscillatory activity underlying working memory functioning.

Retrodirective arrays can scatter an arbitrarily incident wave back along its incident direction, demonstrating significant potential for wireless communications. However, traditional retrodirective arrays can only reflect incident waves back along a fixed direction. This inherent constraint restricts their application primarily to point-to-point communications. To overcome this constraint, this paper focuses on the study of a beam-reconfigurable retrodirective array. The proposed array consists of dual-beam radiating elements. By incorporating a metallic plate with a tunable tilt angle, the array not only achieves retroreflection but also generates a reconfigurable steering beam. Furthermore, integrating active amplifiers into the array's transmission line network enhances the gain of both beam types. The proposed array system not only responds in real-time to incident waves from different directions but also enables dynamic switching among various steering beams. This dual capability opens up diverse application potentials, including multipoint wireless communication and multitarget wireless power transfer.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been associated with impairments in cognitive function, including working memory, and may involve altered glutamatergic regulation in the prefrontal cortex. In this study, we used 7T functional magnetic resonance spectroscopy (fMRS) to examine dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) glutamate during working memory in individuals with PTSD, trauma exposure without PTSD (TE), and no trauma exposure (NT). Eighty participants (27 PTSD, 27 TE, 26 NT) underwent baseline MRS followed by fMRS during a letter n-back task. A linear mixed-effects model was used to evaluate glutamate concentrations across baseline, 0-back, 1-back, 2-back, and post-task fixation conditions. Behavioral performance was assessed using repeated-measures ANOVA for percentage correct, reaction time, and the discrimination index ( d' ) across the 0-back, 1-back, and 2-back conditions. Glutamate differed significantly by group, condition, and the group × condition interaction. Individuals with PTSD exhibited lower glutamate than NT at baseline and during the 0-back, 1-back, and 2-back conditions. TE participants also showed lower glutamate than NT during the 1-back and 2-back conditions. Within-group analyses showed higher glutamate during the 0-back, 1-back, and 2-back conditions than at baseline in the NT group, whereas these baseline-to-task differences were limited in the PTSD and TE groups. Accuracy decreased and reaction time increased with increasing working memory load, and discrimination ( d' ) was lower in PTSD than NT. These findings demonstrate altered DLPFC glutamate dynamics during working memory in PTSD and trauma-exposed individuals. Functional MRS provides complementary information beyond resting-state MRS by characterizing glutamatergic responses during cognitive engagement and may improve our understanding of neurochemical alterations associated with trauma and PTSD.

Whole-brain tractography reconstructs the major white matter pathways as millions of individual streamlines, offering an exceptionally rich description of neural geometry. Yet the statistical methods used to compare these reconstructions across individuals inevitably discard key information. Voxel-based analyses sacrifice pathway continuity, trajectory-based methods rarely support population-level statistical decomposition, and connectome models largely abstract away the underlying geometry. No existing framework jointly characterizes the population-level statistical organization of white matter and the three-dimensional geometry of the pathways from which that organization is expressed. We introduce streamline independent component analysis (SILICA), a framework that links group-level voxel-space statistical decomposition to subject-specific trajectories through a sparse streamline-by-voxel fingerprint. Each streamline is represented by its physical path length within a common anatomical voxel grid while retaining an explicit index-level link to its original trajectory. A two-stage dimensionality reduction reconciles tractograms of differing size and enables continuous component loadings to be back-reconstructed for every original streamline. These subject-specific loadings support weighted trajectory visualization and can be projected into voxel space to generate track-weighted component maps for conventional image-based visualization and future voxel-wise analysis. Separately, the learned group spatial components can be expressed on an independently reconstructed representative whole-brain tractogram to generate a compact trajectory-resolved atlas for group-level visualization. SILICA is a single decomposition expressed simultaneously in statistical and geometric form. SILICA was evaluated in diffusion MRI tractograms from 30 healthy adults. The recovered spatial patterns correspond to recognizable commissural, projection, and association systems. Back-reconstructions preserved individual trajectory variation while isolating components shared across the group, and their projection into voxel and trajectory space yielded interpretable maps and atlases. As a proof of concept, SILICA has not yet been validated against anatomical reference standards or evaluated for reproducibility and performance relative to established methods. Nevertheless, these results establish a coherent foundation for analyzing white matter in a framework that jointly represents population-level statistical structure and streamline geometry.

Normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH) is a potentially treatable neurological condition that may be underdiagnosed. We conducted a qualitative study with aims to (1) explore the breadth and impact of symptoms from onset and (2) identify barriers and facilitators to obtaining care. We conducted semi-structured interviews with people who had been diagnosed and treated for NPH and their family members and analysed these using reflexive thematic analysis, with input from people with lived experience. From 14 interviews, we identified four symptomatic themes: (1) loss and return of self with treatment, (2) changes in mood, motivation, behaviour, and sleep, (3) functional impact, and (4) reduced awareness of symptoms. After shunting, several participants perceived marked and sustained improvement of daily functioning, social interaction, or personal interests, often expressed as being 'back.' Barriers and facilitators to care included waiting lists, misattribution of symptoms, self-advocacy, and comprehensive clinical assessment. Our findings highlight that people with NPH experience changes in identity, mood, motivation and social functioning as well as gait, cognition and continence. Care of NPH could be improved by incorporating outcomes that matter to people with NPH in clinical practice, such as restoration of self and former emotional engagement, alongside assessment of gait.

Ongoing global efforts toward sustainable energy storage and conversion have highlighted critical limitations of existing technologies, such as the infrastructure challenges of hydrogen fuel cells (HFCs) and the carbon emissions from diesel generators (DGs). Aluminum fuel cells (AFCs) have emerged as a promising alternative that integrates energy conversion with circular economy principles. This review provides a comprehensive assessment about AFCs, covering the development of key materials including Al anodes, electrolytes, and air cathodes, the electrolytes lifecycle management and the closed-loop regeneration of Al from discharge by-products, and the comparisons in system-level with HFCs and DGs. Particular emphasis is expressed on the back-end recycling of electrolytes and the conversion of Al(OH)3 back to metallic Al using renewable electricity, thereby closing the material cycle and integrating AFCs with the primary Al industry. From this comprehensive perspective, Al metal can be elevated from a structural material to a recyclable energy carrier. A quantitative benchmarking framework against practical performance targets of anode utilization ≥99%, cathode lifetime ≥2000 h, and system-level energy density ≥500 Wh kg-1 is proposed. Finally, key challenges and future research directions are outlined, positioning AFCs as a transformative technology for long-duration energy storage, off-grid power, and sustainable transportation.

Tumors grow because the total number of cancer cells increases without limit. The prevailing explanation is that each proliferating cancer cell has acquired unlimited replicative capacity, yet this does not explain why the overwhelming majority of cancer cells fail to initiate tumors on transplantation, why the cancer stem cell fraction of serially passaged cultures remains nearly constant, or why the measured cell loss factor of human tumors is so high. This review proposes an alternative reading of these observations. Non-stem cancer cells may possess a replicative lifespan that is set not by telomere attrition but by the progressive accumulation of damaged proteins, protein aggregates and dysfunctional mitochondria, so that each lineage eventually terminates in growth arrest or death. Persistent expansion would then depend on th e rate at which non-stem cancer cells are converted back into stem cells. Work on transforming growth factor-β associated molecules, including TMEPAI/PMEPA1, MAFK-GPNMB and THG-1, is reviewed in this light, together with evidence from budding yeast and mammalian stem cells that damage is partitioned asymmetrically at division. Established observations, reasonable inferences and untested assumptions are distinguished explicitly, and experimental tests are proposed.

Objectives. Driving-related musculoskeletal disorders (DMSDs) are common among occupational drivers due to prolonged sitting, awkward posture, repetitive movements and whole-body vibration. However, evidence regarding DMSDs from West Bengal is scanty. The present study aimed to evaluate DMSD prevalence and associated occupational factors in two and three-wheeler drivers of West Bengal, India. Methods. A cross-sectional study of 138 occupational two-wheeler drivers (TW), auto drivers (AD) and tuktuk drivers (TD) assessed demographic characteristics and musculoskeletal symptoms using a standard questionnaire. The physical parameters were measured and musculoskeletal discomfort was compared across driver groups. Results. DMSDs were prevalent among AD (86.96%), TD (69.57%) and TW (67.39%), with the lower back most affected. AD reported greater lower back, shoulder, neck and wrist symptoms, while TD showed higher wrist and ankle/foot symptoms. Driving experience was significantly associated with the musculoskeletal symptoms. Prolonged static posture, repetitive upper-limb activity, inadequate seat ergonomics, extended working hours and road-induced vibration were potential risk factors. Conclusion. Occupational drivers experienced substantial burden of DMSDs, especially AD. Targeted ergonomic interventions addressing seat design, vibration exposure, rest breaks and posture awareness are warranted to reduce musculoskeletal risks and improve occupational health outcomes.