Journals
2026 EN
Schmitter-Edgecombe Maureen · Luna Catherine · Dai Shenghai
+1 more
Extraction of digital markers from passive sensors placed in homes is a promising method for understanding real-world behaviors. In this study, machine learning (ML) and multilevel modeling (MLM) are used to examine types of digital markers and whether smart home sensors can predict cognitive functioning, lifestyle behaviors, and contextual factors measured through ecological momentary assessment (EMA). Smart home sensors were installed in the homes of 44 community-dwelling midlife and older adults for 3–4 months. Sensor data were categorized into eight digital markers. Participants responded to iPad-delivered EMA prompts 4×/day for 2 wk. Prompts included an n -back task and survey on recent (past 2 h) lifestyle and contextual factors. ML marker rankings revealed that sensor counts (indicating increased activity) and time outside the home were among the most influential markers for all survey questions. Additionally, MLM revealed for every 1000 sensor counts, mental sharpness, social, physical, and cognitive EMA responses increased by 0.134–0.155 points on a 5-point scale. For every additional 30-minutes spent outside home, social, physical, and cognitive EMA responses increased by 0.596, 0.472, and 0.157 points. Advanced ML joint classification/regression significantly predicted EMA responses from smart home digital markers with error of 0.370 on a 5-point scale, and n -back performance with a normalized error of 0.040. Results from ML and MLM were complimentary and comparable, suggesting that machine learning may be used to develop generalized models to predict everyday cognition and track lifestyle behaviors and contextual factors that impact health outcomes using smart home sensor data.
Journals
2026 EN
Divers Ross · Cohen Alex S. · Elvevåg Brita
+4 more
Objective: Process scores in neuropsychological tests add incremental validity for detecting non-normative cognitive aging trajectories. However, process scores are laborious and time-consuming to derive. Using AI-driven natural language processing, we investigated objective speech markers related to speech production as a potential process score for measuring cognition, identifying mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and major neurocognitive disorder due to Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Method: Older adults ( n = 71; cognitively healthy; n = 29; MCI, n = 26; mild AD, n = 16) completed a brief battery of cognitive testing over the telephone, including a cognitive screener and four verbal memory tests. Six speech production features were extracted from the audio recordings of the verbal memory tests. Results: Pause times showed the highest convergence with cognitive screening performance and were best for distinguishing between people with or without MCI and with or without AD. This effect varied as a function of cognitive task. Verbal and semantic recall tasks showed the strongest effects. An “unstructured” autobiographical recall task showed negligible effects. Conclusions: AI-derived pause features in speech during verbal memory tests can serve as a process score of cognitive functioning that captures neurodegeneration, though cognitive tasks must be considered. The present findings reflect an important step forward for developing speech analysis for objectively quantifying cognitive dysfunctions in people with neurodegenerative disorders.
Journals
2026 EN
Gurley Bill J. · Gurley Catherine M. · Katrugunta Kumar
+5 more
Curcumin-containing dietary supplements are widely marketed with claims of enhanced bioavailability, despite well-recognized limitations related to poor aqueous solubility, chemical instability, and extensive first-pass metabolism. Comparisons among commercially available products using physiologically relevant performance metrics remain limited. To systematically evaluate disintegration, dissolution, and bioaccessibility of curcuminoids and (S)-ar-turmerone from a cross section of commercially available turmeric dietary supplements under fasted- and fed-state biorelevant conditions. Eight marketed turmeric supplements representing diverse formulation strategies were assessed for disintegration and dissolution using USP-aligned methods in fasted- and fed-state simulated gastric and intestinal media (FaSSGF, FaSSIF, FeSSGF, FeSSIF). Bioaccessible concentrations, quantities, and dose fractions of curcuminoids and (S)-ar-turmerone were quantified after 3 h. All products exhibited poor dissolution overall, with no formulation achieving greater than 40% total release. Dissolution was lowest under fasted-state conditions and improved modestly in fed-state gastric media, reflecting the influence of lipid content. Products with higher curcuminoid loads per capsule generated greater absolute bioaccessible concentrations despite poor release efficiency, whereas a phytosome formulation achieved superior release despite a lower dose. Several products marketed as “enhanced” formulations demonstrated poor disintegration and low bioaccessibility. These findings indicate that bioaccessible concentration is governed jointly by dosage-form performance and curcuminoid dose loading, and that plasma exposure metrics dominated by conjugated metabolites may not reliably reflect formulation performance. Commercial turmeric supplements exhibit substantial limitations in biorelevant disintegration and dissolution. Superior in vitro release is a prerequisite – but not a guarantee – for enhanced systemic exposure, underscoring the need for cautious interpretation of bioavailability claims.
Journals
2026 EN
Cantor-Cutiva Lady Catherine · Robison Lindon J. · Hunter Eric J.
This study investigated why teachers with voice disorders continue teaching by surveying their motives described in social capital theory. Teachers were asked to rate their motives for continued teaching even with voice disorders using online surveys. The five key motives (social capital framework) were: Motive #1 (selfishness), Motive #2 (internal validation), Motive #3 (external validation), Motive #4 (transcendence or altruism), and Motive #5 (belonging). As teachers’ income increased, so did the relative importance of the transcendence motive. Income maintenance (selfishness) accounted for 47% of the total motivation, with teachers with a master’s degree and higher incomes being less likely to prioritize this motive. Teachers reporting bad voice quality were more likely to prioritize income (selfishness) and less likely to be motivated by helping others (altruism) or feel connected to other people (belonging). Voice problems can negatively impact a teacher’s sense of fulfilment and motivation beyond financial constraints. These findings highlight the need for implementing preventive measures for voice disorders in schools that can address voice problems before they significantly affect teachers’ performance and students’ learning. Moreover, competitive teacher salaries and benefits may create a supportive environment where educators feel empowered to focus on their students’ needs.
Journals
2026 EN
Manara Matilde
This essay explores co-writing, cross-genesis, and authorial self-fashioning practices in the diaries of Catherine Pozzi (1882–1934) and Paul Valéry (1871–1945). While extensively studied, these manuscripts have rarely been examined from a comparative perspective. By combining textual genetics and gender studies, the essay investigates the collaborative nature of these diaries, shedding new light on their interwoven creative processes and raising the issue of the relationship between so-called ‘exogenetic’ and ‘endogenetic’ documents.
Journals
2026 EN
Curci Sarah G. · Narayan Angela J. · Todd Erin L.
+4 more
Maternal depressive symptoms during pregnancy are common but often go undetected. Partner reports on maternal depressive symptoms offer meaningful insights beyond self-report, yet little is known about the psychological and relational factors that shape partner reports. In 85 mother-father dyads assessed during pregnancy, we examined associations between self-reported and father-reported maternal depressive symptoms and predictors of informant discrepancies. While father-reported maternal depressive symptoms were moderately correlated with maternal self-reports, 39% of dyads disagreed on whether mother met clinical thresholds. Fathers’ self-reported depressive symptoms predicted higher father-reported maternal depressive symptoms. Maternal-reported attachment avoidance was associated with fathers underreporting maternal depressive symptoms relative to maternal self-reports, while maternal-reported attachment anxiety was associated with fathers overreporting maternal depressive symptoms relative to maternal self-reports. Findings underscore the relational context of perinatal mental health. Including fathers as both informants and targets of care could improve identification and treatment of perinatal depression.
Journals
2026 EN
Barbour Catherine
Painted as a celebration of creativity, plurality and feminist subcultures, la Movida madrileña was central to the 1980s nostalgia which permeated the Spanish narrative fiction produced at the beginning of the new millennium. Luisa Castro’s 2001 novel El secreto de la lejía recounts the lesser-represented experiences of a young Galician woman who moves to the Spanish capital to pursue a writing career during the Movida through an experimental, multigenre exploration of suffering and personal growth. This article shows how El secreto de la lejía unmasks dark realities of the Movida for the female outsider, contradicting interpretations of its universal social inclusivity. Through an intersectional feminist framework, it is argued that indicators of progress such as women’s independence, literary production and cultural plurality remain acutely subjected to discourses of power as the protagonist navigates the threatening atmosphere of elite artistic spaces at the cost of her own wellbeing. Castro’s novel fundamentally disrupts the mythologization of the Movida’s spirit of progress from a minoritized perspective, revealing the instability of the period and the enduring influence of heteropatriarchal power structures in Spain’s nascent democracy.
Journals
2026 EN
Ross Willow · Phillips Catherine
Food waste is increasingly understood as a problem – headline-snatching estimates suggest that nearly a fifth of today’s food is discarded at the consumption end of the food system. Building on recent research that complicates the narrative of a ‘food waste problem’, this paper investigates the experiences of dumpster divers in Naarm/Melbourne (Australia). Like other shadow places, dumpster places are neglected, hidden away, and meant to be forgotten; however, divers demonstrate a ‘living with’ food waste as part of urban life. Drawing on interviews, participant observation, and collaborative zine-making, we detail how divers engage with ‘waste’ in, around, and beyond the bin. Dumpster diving involves developing situated, embodied knowledge of the messy, risky areas where urban food is discarded and recovered. Insights into the material and immaterial aspects of dumpster diving underlie a proposed typology of dumpster places. Moving beyond the dumpster, we highlight how dumpster divers share outrage at the conditions giving rise to their dumpster diving while also creating caring relations through food salvage. By attending to dumpster places and on-flows as worthy of care, divers defy the marginalization of shadow places and offer sensitizing and caring strategies for a world knee-deep in waste.
Journals
2026 EN
Ahearn Elizabeth-Rose · Mai Catherine · Marston Greg
The incorporation of digital technologies into public social services has become ubiquitous, particularly in facilitating accountability arrangements. This development follows decades of public management reforms that shifted towards private-sector practices, resulting in hybridized service delivery organizations. These new actors complicate understanding of what the sector should be accountable for and to whom. Through critical discourse analysis, this study demonstrates how the language used to legitimize new digital technologies developed for hybrid organizations constructs a specific understanding of the broader sector. This construction, in turn, shapes the design and intent of these technologies, providing a tangible example of institutionalization through discourse.
Resource
2026 EN
Tsang Yik Pui · Aryeh Kayenat S. · Wang Kai
+3 more
Kidney diseases, including chronic kidney disease and acute kidney injury, pose major global health challenges due to their high prevalence and impact on morbidity and mortality. Despite medical advances, there remains an urgent need for improved drug development and therapeutic strategies to treat these conditions. This review examines how renal transporters influence drug handling, highlighting the impact of altered transporter function on toxin accumulation, organ injury, and systemic toxicity. We also address pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic changes in kidney diseases, recent advances in preclinical models like microphysiological systems, emerging therapies, and biomarkers for early detection and monitoring. A robust understanding of transporter function and disease-specific pharmacokinetic shifts is crucial for optimizing drug development. While MPS show promise in predicting drug responses and nephrotoxicity by more accurately simulating human kidney physiology, current hurdles include complexity, cost, and scalability. Emerging biomarkers require stringent validation to ensure specificity and reliability in kidney disease. Targeting transporters offers novel therapeutic and drug repurposing opportunities. Moving forward, refining and validating these models and biomarkers, alongside patient-tailored therapies, will improve personalized medicine and management. Attentive integration of these innovations could significantly reduce morbidity and improve outcomes worldwide for patients with kidney disease.