Stable religious participation may have beneficial contributions to cognitive and mental health; however, less is known about how changes in religious participation, such as disengagement or increased engagement in church activities, affect these health outcomes and whether there are differences between racial groups. This study aimed to examine the association between changes in church activity and cognitive, functional, and mental health in older adults, and explore differences by race.

Using data from the University of Pennsylvania Alzheimer's Disease Research Center Aging Brain Cohort in 2021-2022, we examined associations between self-reported change in church activity with cognitive and functional health (Global Clinical Dementia Score [CDR] and Total CDR) and neuropsychiatric symptoms (Neuropsychiatric Inventory) in cognitively normal older adults (n = 158). We used multivariable regression analysis, controlling for self-reported age, sex, education, and social interaction, to examine differences between individuals who identified as either Black or White.

Controlling for covariates, Black participants who reported substantially more or less church activity in the last year had lower cognition and function (Global CDR, β = 0.19, 95% CI: [0.04, 0.34], p < 0.05) and Total CDR (β = 0.30, 95% CI: [0.01, 0.58], p = 0.042), and more neuropsychiatric symptoms (β = 0.63, 95% CI: [0.02, 1.24], p < 0.045). No significance was found in White older adults. Black older adults reporting major changes in church activity experienced lower cognitive, functional, and mental health.

To explore if church activity changes could be an early sign of cognitive, functional, and mental health decline, longitudinal studies are needed.

Heart failure (HF) is a growing problem in society with an ageing population and many patients with heart failure are affected by renal dysfunction. The RENAL-HF project aims to develop predictive risk models to support personalized renal function monitoring and treatment in patients with HF in primary care.

This study will use electronic health records from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) database for patients who were diagnosed with HF. We will develop three prediction models-Mixed-effects model, Growth mixture model, and recurrent neural network-long short-term memory model to predict future worsening renal function, including events that lead to hospitalization, and death. Using an internal-external validation approach based on geographic region, we will choose the top-performing model using various metrics to evaluate the predictive performance.

This protocol provides a detailed description of the methods used for developing and validating prognostic models for personalized renal function monitoring in people with HF in primary care.

The study and use of CPRD data were approved by the Independent Scientific Advisory Committee for Clinical Practice Research Datalink research (Protocol Number: 22_001794).

In the quest to investigate the internal cognitive mechanisms underlying consumer behavior, often metaphorically termed the "black box," studies indicate that purchasing decisions are significantly influenced by implicit cognitive processes. Conventional data collection methods that appeal to the conscious level may mislead marketing strategies. This motivates the rapid increase of research in two fields: psychology and neuroscience. This interdisciplinary research was focused on the cultural unconscious. Similar to the archetypes (the building blocks of the collective unconscious), cultural codes (the building blocks of the cultural unconscious) play a crucial role in shaping purchasing decisions. Based on this, the research question is "What is the cultural code of the selected product in the social unconscious of the target population?"

This research comprises two consecutive sub-studies: in-depth interviews (Study 1), and an fMRI task (Study 2). A heavy-duty vehicle (truck) was chosen as the product, and professional truck drivers (n = 22 for Study 1 and n = 34 for Study 2) from Nortwest Anatolia, in Türkiye, were selected to represent the target population.

In Study 1, the unconscious cultural code associated with the truck was discovered as "migration" through in-depth interviews utilizing psychoanalytic and transactional approaches. In Study 2, an fMRI experiment was developed to test whether the "truck + migration" image would elicit brain activation patterns similar to those associated with unconscious relational encoding and retrieval, reported in the literature (fusiform gyrus, middle temporal gyrus, parahippocampus / hippocampus, precuneus, angular gyrus, anterior cingulate), and significantly different from those elicited by control images. Detecting these specific activations would provide neuroscientific support for the hypothesis that the concepts of truck and migration are relationally encoded in participants' cultural unconscious, thereby validating the qualitative findings by in-depth interviews.

Identifying a product's unconscious cultural code enables a more precise design of the marketing mix. By using these interdisciplinary qualitative and quantitative methods sequentially, an innovative and original method was developed, yielding both theoretical contributions in cultural code discovery and consumer neuroscience, as well as practical implications, particularly in marketing.

Acupuncture has been increasingly applied as an adjunctive treatment for major depressive disorder (MDD), yet its central neurobiological mechanisms remain insufficiently understood. Cerebral blood flow (CBF) and functional connectivity strength (FCS) provide complementary perspectives on regional metabolic activity and large-scale functional integration, and their coupling may reflect neurovascular coordination relevant to depression.

Twenty patients with MDD and twenty matched healthy controls (HC) underwent resting-state MRI. Patients received intradermal acupuncture (IA) and were scanned before and immediately after stimulation, while healthy controls were scanned once. Voxel-wise analyses of CBF, FCS, and their ratio (CBF/FCS) were performed to characterize acupuncture-related changes in neurovascular coupling. Group comparisons and pre-post acupuncture effects were assessed at the whole gray matter level.

Acupuncture induced significant alterations in CBF/FCS coupling across widespread brain regions, including the bilateral precuneus, postcentral gyrus, superior temporal pole, superior frontal gyrus, occipital cortex, and cerebellum. These regions are primarily involved in sensorimotor processing, cognitive control, and emotional regulation. Overall, IA was associated with an immediate increase in CBF/FCS coupling, suggesting enhanced coordination between cerebral perfusion and functional network integration.

This study provides evidence that intradermal acupuncture modulates neurovascular coupling in patients with MDD, offering neuroimaging-based insights into its antidepressant mechanisms. The findings support the notion that acupuncture may facilitate more efficient brain function by optimizing the balance between neural activity and metabolic supply.

Cancer survivors and intimate care partners coping with cancer may each experience loneliness that impacts their health, but research within couples and potential benefit of interventions is scarce. METHODS: We added the Cancer Loneliness (CL) scale to measures of anxiety, depressive symptoms, pain and social and physical function mid-way through the Exercising Together trial (NCT03630354) in couples coping with breast (BC; n = 44) or prostate cancer (PC; n = 75). The prevalence of CL scores >1 indicated at least some loneliness and we ran correlations between CL and measures of social, physical and mental health. Within PC couples we explored the potential benefits of different types of dyadic exercise programs (supervised, group partnered exercise, supervised separate groups of survivors or partners, or unsupervised independent exercise) on CL over 6 months.

96% of breast cancer survivors (BCS) and 77% of prostate cancer survivors (PCS) reported CL at baseline. CL was positively associated with anxiety (rho = 0.44, 0.77), depressive symptoms (rho = 0.60, 0.67) and pain (rho = 0.34, 0.23) and inversely associated with social functioning (rho = -0.54, -0.55) among BCS and PCS, respectively (all p < 0.01). CL was inversely associated with physical functioning in BCS (rho = -0.35), but not PCS. Among care partners, 74%-77% of care partners for each BCS and PCS reported CL related to their partner's cancer at baseline. CL was positively associated with anxiety (rho = 0.43, 0.30) and depressive symptoms (rho = 0.62, 0.45) among BC and PC care partners, respectively (all p < 0.01). CL was inversely associated with social functioning in BC partners only (rho = -0.45, p < 0.01), but not with physical functioning in either group. Within PC couples, there was a significant (inverse) interaction between change in CL over six-months of exercise and baseline loneliness. Declines in CL for both PCS and care partners were steepest in the exercise program where they trained with other PCS or care partners.

Relationships may not offer enough social support to avoid feelings of loneliness associated with cancer that in turn affects the physical, emotional and social health of each partner. However, exercise may help rebuild connection within the couple and be an avenue for informal social support that together could reduce loneliness.

[clinicaltrials.gov]: identifier, [NCT03630354].

As artificial intelligence is increasingly embedded into education and career development contexts and its applications grow in higher education, how student acceptance of artificial intelligence affects student perception of employability is a major research topic. Based on SCCT, we see generative AI acceptance (GAIA) as a situational occupational resource and study how it affects students' perceived employability (SPE) through positive AI attitude (PAAI) and career adaptability (CA). We used PLS-SEM to model 689 Chinese students. We found that acceptance of artificial intelligence was positively associated with positive attitudes toward artificial intelligence, which in turn promote career adaptability, and subsequently with students' perceived employability. Acceptance of artificial intelligence also indirectly affects perceived employability through successive positive attitudes toward artificial intelligence and career adaptability. This paper further strengthens the theoretical impact of SCCT on digital technology. The findings indicate that acceptance of artificial intelligence was positively associated with perceived employability, both directly and indirectly through positive attitudes toward artificial intelligence and career adaptability. Practically, it emphasizes that universities must develop vocational adaptability resources of students, beyond just technological applications, to support students' readiness to work in AI-driven jobs.

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is increasingly recognised as a social identity as well as a medical diagnosis. Social identity theory suggests that group identification can benefit self-esteem, well-being and mental health, but little is known about ADHD social identification or preferred terminology in English.

We aimed to measure ADHD social identification and preferred terminology in a sample of adults with ADHD in the UK and to understand whether ADHD social identification is related to improved self-esteem, well-being and mental health.

Three hundred and nineteen adults with ADHD in the UK participated. They were aged between 18 and 73 years and 59% were female. Participants completed self-report measures of ADHD social identification, self-esteem, well-being, anxiety, depression, terminology preferences, medication use and sources of learning about ADHD. Descriptive statistics were used to identify the percentage of participants who preferred ADHD-first versus person-first terminology. Pre-registered serial mediation models tested hypothesised pathways from ADHD identification to mental health via self-esteem and well-being. Further analyses examined associations between terminology preferences, medication use and sources of learning about ADHD.

ADHD identification was not significantly correlated with self-esteem, anxiety or depression. Most participants (77%) preferred person-first terminology ('person with ADHD'). Higher ADHD identification was associated with identity-first language preference and medication use. Social media was the only source of learning about ADHD related to higher ADHD identification. In mediation models, ADHD identification was not associated with self-esteem or well-being; however, a subcomponent of ADHD social identification - satisfaction - was indirectly related to better mental health via self-esteem and well-being.

These cross-sectional findings indicated that ADHD identification did not show the hypothesised protective associations with mental health. Preferences for person-first terminology suggest ADHD is not always central to identity. Longitudinal and qualitative studies are needed to clarify causal relationships and clinical implications.

Individuals with depressive symptoms often exhibit deficits in executive function. This is especially true in advanced cognitive control tasks such as conflict inhibition. Specific manifestations include insufficient allocation of attentional resources and delayed responses. This study aimed to explore whether an 8 week cognitively engaging exercise has a continuous effect on improving the conflict inhibition of college students with depressive symptoms. It also aimed to reveal the underlying cognitive neural processing mechanisms. The study used the BDI-II depression symptom self-rating scale to recruit and screen 40 college students with scores greater than 13. These subjects were randomly assigned to an exercise group and a routine control group in a 1:1 ratio. The exercise group received moderate intensity Taekwondo target kicking exercise 3 times a week for 30 min each time over a total of 8 weeks. This included 5 min of warm up, 20 min of Taekwondo target kicking, and 5 min of cool down. The control group engaged in time matched 30-min quiet reading sessions focusing on mental health manuals. Both groups maintained their habitual daily routines and abstained from additional regular exercise. The BDI-II scale was used to examine changes in depressive symptoms among college students before and after the exercise intervention. Simultaneously, the Stroop task and event related potential techniques were used. These methods investigated the synchronized changes in the behavioral performance of conflict inhibition and the amplitude and latency of N2 and P3 in the brain among college students with depressive symptoms before and after the intervention. Independent sample t-tests and paired sample t-tests were used for data analysis of the scale scores. For the behavioral task and event related potential results, MATLAB 2022b was used for data preprocessing. Repeated measures analysis of variance was then used to explore the main effects and interaction effects of different groups, time points, task conditions, and electrodes. The results showed that after 8 weeks, the BDI II scores of college students with depressive symptoms in the exercise group significantly decreased (p < 0.05). The remission rate of depressive symptoms reached 70%. The BDI-II scores of the routine control group did not show significant changes (p > 0.05), and no remission occurred. There was a significant difference in the BDI II scores between the exercise group and the routine control group at the post test stage (p < 0.05). The Stroop behavioral results showed that the task reaction time had significant interaction effects for time by group and time by condition by group (p < 0.05). The event-related potential results showed that the N2 amplitude had significant two-way interaction effects for time by group (p < 0.05) and time by condition (p < 0.05). The P3 amplitude had a significant three-way interaction effect for time by condition by group (p < 0.05). The N2 latency had a significant interaction effect for time by group. It also showed a significant three-way interaction effect for time by electrode by group (p < 0.05). The P3 latency had a significant three-way interaction effect for time by condition by electrode (p < 0.05). Cognitively engaging exercise can effectively improve the mood of college students with depressive symptoms. It also has a specific regulatory effect on conflict inhibition capabilities. The underlying cognitive neural processing mechanisms are mainly reflected in enhancing conflict monitoring and optimizing the allocation of attentional resources. They also involve improving the temporal processing efficiency of the prefrontal and central areas. By regulating the temporal and spatial activation patterns of brain regions related to cognitive control, the conflict inhibition function of college students with depressive symptoms is strengthened. Trial Registration: Chinese Clinical Trial Registry Number: ChiCTR2400087261.

Facilitated poetry and creative writing groups are regularly commissioned in the UK and funded by a range of organisations, including national arts funders. Some groups are explicitly organised with the purpose of supporting well-being. This research explores the experiences of people who facilitate creative writing groups intended to support well-being.

A focus group was conducted with six expert facilitators who between them had experience in facilitating creative writing groups across a variety of settings, focusing on well-being. Thematic analysis of the transcripts was conducted.

Three themes were identified: personal connection to facilitation work, dynamic changes in emotional state and expression, and influence of funder demands on facilitation practices. Facilitators were often drawn to the work because of a personal connection to using the process of writing as a tool to support well-being. However, poetry and creative writing groups can foster dynamic changes in mental and emotional state in response to writing prompts and exercises, and facilitators report a lack of training and support to enable them to manage the demands of their work.

Facilitators of poetry and creative writing groups work within highly emotive environments. Organisations commissioning writing groups focusing on well-being, including national funders, should consider facilitator training needs and to ensure that projects have adequate time, resources, and training. Training offers should not compromise facilitation practice, including by imposing clinical understandings of mental health and risk management.

Cognitive impairment is a prevalent non-motor manifestation of Parkinson's disease (PD), yet early detection remains limited by the sensitivity of conventional cognitive assessments. Emerging evidence suggests that motor dysfunction, particularly gait and balance abnormalities, reflects underlying cognitive vulnerability. This study examined motor-cognitive associations and evaluated whether motor-derived features can be used to classify low-MoCA status in PD without direct cognitive testing. Data from 102 individuals with PD were analyzed, incorporating clinical assessments, physical function measures, lifestyle factors, and gait-derived biomarkers. Multiple regression identified Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale Part III, stride length of the more affected side during 360° turning at preferred speed, and maximum ankle jerk on the less affected side during forward walking as independent predictors of Montreal Cognitive Assessment scores, collectively explaining 34.7% of the variance. Network analysis revealed integrative relationships among global motor severity, gait smoothness, and cognitive performance. Using a compact motor-based feature set, logistic regression achieved a mean accuracy of 65.8% and an AUC of 0.737 in classifying low-MoCA status under cross-validation. These findings demonstrate that motor-derived digital biomarkers capture clinically meaningful information about cognitive status in PD and may serve as adjunctive tools for identifying cognitive vulnerability in clinical settings.