Baleen whales foraging in the fjords of northern Chilean Patagonia are exposed to contaminant hotspots and high primary productivity. To evaluate ecotoxicological risk, we quantified methylmercury (MeHg) and eight trace elements (Al, As, Cd, Fe, Li, Mn, Se and Zn) across a whale-prey food web comprising blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus), humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae), krill (Euphausia sp.), zooplankton (e.g. amphipods) and squat lobster (Grimothea gregaria). Stable isotope (δ[13]C, δ[15]N, δ[34]S) mixing models were used to reconstruct diet and contextualize contaminant pathways. MeHg concentrations increased significantly with δ[15]N and yielded the highest estimated TMF among the analyzed elements (TMF ≈ 3.303), followed by Se (TMF ≈ 2.372); Al and Zn showed weaker but statistically significant positive relationships with δ[15]N, while Cd, Li, Mn showed no trophic transfer. These contaminant dynamics translated into species-specific burdens: humpbacks accumulated higher MeHg, reflecting their broader, higher-trophic diet, whereas blue whales exhibited greater absolute daily intake of several trace elements due to higher daily prey consumption. Our results provide a comprehensive ecotoxicological assessment that integrates isotope-based diet reconstruction, contaminant burdens, and trophodynamic patterns in sympatric mysticetes of the southeastern Pacific. More broadly, they show how species-specific foraging strategies mediate differential contaminant exposure risk in productive coastal ecosystems.

This article analyses the nosological and aetiological conceptualisation of mental disorders in the late Middle Ages. Medieval physicians viewed humans as composed of a body and soul that were united and closely interrelated. They located mental processes in the brain, distributed among different areas according to the faculties of the soul, in particular imagination, reason/judgement, and memory. Mental diseases, were distinguished and diagnosed on the basis of a complex and subtle symptomatology, and their causes were the subject of thorough reflection in order to situate them within the physiological theories of the time. Medieval nosology mainly distinguished three categories of mental disease: frenzy, mania, and melancholy, taking into account observed behaviors and relying on a multifactorial aetiology. Examining these medieval conceptualizations allows us to place the search for a precise classification of mental disorders and diseases, and for an etiology consistent with the physiological conceptual framework, within a long-term historical trajectory. This article thus provides insights from a historical and epistemological perspective highlighting the resonance between the concerns of medieval physicians and those of contemporary psychiatrists.

Gammaretroviruses are ubiquitous pathogens, often associated with the induction of neoplasia, especially leukemia, lymphoma, and sarcoma, and with a propensity to target the germline. The latter trait has left extensive evidence of their infectious competence in vertebrate genomes, the human genome being no exception. Despite the continuing activity of gammaretroviruses in mammals, including Old World monkeys, apes, and gibbons, humans have apparently evaded novel infections by the virus class for the past 30 million years or so. Nevertheless, from the 1970s onward, cell culture studies repeatedly discovered gammaretroviral components and/or virus replication in human samples. The last novel 'human' gammaretrovirus, identified in prostate cancer tissue, culminated in the XMRV frenzy of the 2000s. In the end, that discovery was shown to be due to lab contamination with a murine gammaretrovirus. Contamination is also the likely source of the earlier findings. Complementation between genes of partially defective endogenous proviruses could have been another source of the virions observed. However, the capacity of many gammaretroviruses to replicate in human cell lines, as well as the presence of diverse infectious gammaretroviral species in our animal companions, for instance in mice, cats, pigs, monkeys, chickens, and bats, does not make a transmission to humans an improbable scenario. This review will summarize evidence for, or the lack of, gammaretrovirus infections in humans in the past, present, and near future. Aspects linked to the probabilities of novel gammaretrovirus infections in humans, regarding exposure risk in connection to modern lifestyle, geography, diet, and habitat, together with genetic and immune factors, will also be part of the review, as will be the estimated consequences of such novel infections.

Stroke remains a significant global health challenge, particularly in low- and middle-income Countries (LMICs), where two-thirds of stroke-related deaths occur, and disability-adjusted life years are seven times higher compared to high-income Countries (HICs). The majority of stroke survivors suffer from upper limb impairment, severely limiting their daily activities and significantly diminishing their overall quality of life. Rehabilitation plays a critical role in restoring function and independence, but it faces challenges such as low engagement, limited customization, difficulty tracking progress, and accessibility barriers, particularly in LMICs. Immersive virtual reality (imVR) has shown promise in addressing these challenges, but most commercial imVR systems lack therapeutic design and cultural adaptation. This study aimed to develop culturally adaptable imVR games for upper limb stroke rehabilitation (ULSR) in the context of LMICs, with a particular focus on Ethiopia. The AdaptRehab VR system was developed including six imVR games (Basket Bloom, Strike Zone, TapQuest, FruitFall Frenzy, Precision Pitch, and Bean Picker Pro) through co-creation approaches involving Ethiopian and Belgian physiotherapists, stakeholders, and patients, incorporating game development mechanics in rehabilitation, such as therapeutic aims, cultural factors, feedback, automatic progression recording, task variety, and personalized rehabilitation. It was designed with the Unity 3D engine and Oculus Quest headsets, supporting controllers and hand tracking. This culturally tailored imVR platform has demonstrated significant potential to enhance ULSR accessibility, patient motivation, and outcomes in resource-constrained settings, addressing critical gaps in stroke rehabilitation solutions. In conclusion, the AdaptRehab VR system was successfully developed as a culturally contextualized imVR platform tailored to tackle ULSR challenges in LMICs, with a specific focus on Ethiopia.

Recent advances in large language models (LLMs) have prompted a frenzy in utilizing them as universal translators for biomedical terms. However, the black box nature of LLMs has forced researchers to rely on artificially designed benchmarks without understanding what exactly LLMs encode. We demonstrate that pretrained LLMs can already explain up to 51% of the genetic correlation between items from a psychometrically-validated neuroticism questionnaire, without any fine-tuning. For psychiatric diagnoses, we found disorder names aligned better with genetic relationships than diagnostic descriptions. Our results indicate the pretrained LLMs have encodings mirroring genetic architectures. These findings highlight LLMs' potential for validating phenotypes, refining taxonomies, and integrating textual and genetic data in mental health research.

Earlier this month, the Trump administration set off a frenzy in the US scientific community when the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced that indirect cost reimbursement for federally funded research would be capped at 15%, a drastic cut from a usual range of 50 to 70%. In the American system, a federal research grant comes with one component that pays the direct costs of research-covering salaries of the researchers and supplies and equipment they use-and a so-called indirect component that represents the government's contribution to facilities and administration-the overhead necessary to do the work. The indirect contribution does not cover everything needed to support the research; the remainder is provided by the university. This agreement between higher education and the government has been a hallmark of the funding system for 70 years. The scientific community must unite in speaking out against this betrayal of a partnership that has enabled American innovation and progress.

The postgraduate entrance examination frenzy is a widespread and intense phenomenon in China. As the number of students who failed the examination surged, the ensuing mental health problems became prominent. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of an online ACT-based group resilience course, which incorporated the six core components of ACT and integrated elements of Chinese culture, in alleviating psychological distress among students who failed the examination. It also explored the mechanism by which the intervention affected changes in psychological distress. A total of 61 participants were randomly assigned to the intervention group (n = 31) and the control group (n = 30). They attended an 8-day group course, with 2-h sessions each day. The study outcomes were psychological distress, resilience, psychological flexibility (PF), and psychological inflexibility (PI). These outcomes were measured at baseline, post-intervention, and 1-month follow-up. Linear mixed models (LMMs) showed significant group × time interactions for all outcome variables, except for stress, which showed a marginally significant interaction. Post hoc analyses revealed significant improvements in depression, resilience, and PF at both post-intervention and at the 1-month follow-up. Additionally, significant reductions in anxiety and a marginally significant reduction in stress were observed at the 1-month follow-up. However, no significant reduction was found in PI. The multiple mediation model showed that the intervention improved psychological distress by increasing resilience and PF. These findings suggest that online resilience group intervention is generally effective in enhancing resilience and alleviating psychological distress and is acceptable to students who have failed the postgraduate entrance examination, as evidenced by high participant engagement and satisfaction.

The remarkable potential of two-dimensional (2D) materials in sustaining Moore's law has sparked a research frenzy. Extensive efforts have been made in the research of utilizing 2D semiconductors as channel materials in field-effect transistors. However, the next generation of integrated devices requires the integration of gate dielectrics with wider bandgaps and higher dielectric constants. Here, insulating α-Sb2O3 single-crystal nanosheets are synthesized by one-step chemical vapor deposition method. Importantly, the α-Sb2O3 single-crystal dielectric exhibits a high dielectric constant of 11.8 and a wide bandgap of 3.78 eV. Besides, the atomically smooth interface between α-Sb2O3 and MoS2 enables the fabrication of dual-gated field-effect transistors with the top gate dielectric of α-Sb2O3 nanosheets. The field-effect transistors exhibit a switching ratio of exceeding 10[8], which achieves the manipulation of field-effect transistors by using 2D dielectric materials. These results hold significant implications for optimizing the performances of 2D devices and innovating microelectronics.