Author: healthadmin

A new mental health benchmark reveals that while today’s state-of-the-art AI models may sound convincing, they remain inadequate when emotional insight, careful diagnosis, and real-world clinical judgment are most important. Research: PsyEval: A comprehensive large-scale language model evaluation benchmark for mental health. Image credit: ahmetmapush / Shutterstock In a recent study published in the journal npj mental health researchIn , researchers describe the development of ‘PsyEval’, a novel and comprehensive benchmark designed to assess the performance of large-scale language models (LLMs) in the context-sensitive and subjective domain of human mental health. This benchmark was then used to evaluate 11 advanced…

As scientists prepare for a new era of lunar exploration, new research suggests they may leave more than just footprints with each landing. Researchers have found that methane emitted by spacecraft exhaust gases can spread across the moon surprisingly quickly, contaminating areas that may hold ancient chemical clues about how life began on Earth. The results of the study suggest that even if a astronaut lands near the moon’s south pole, methane molecules could be sent “hopping” across the moon’s surface to the north pole in less than two lunar days. As more governments, private companies and NGOs plan missions…

Cold exposure during early pregnancy alters bile acid and microbial metabolism in breast milk, conferring durable protection in male rat offspring against impaired glycemic control and hepatic fat accumulation. Maternal cold exposure reprograms offspring metabolism through the microbiota-bile acid-Th17 axis. Study: Maternal cold exposure improves offspring metabolic health via the milk lithocholic acid–microbiota–Th17 axis In a recent study published in the journal npj biofilm and microbiomeresearchers evaluated whether maternal cold exposure during early pregnancy affects long-term metabolic outcomes in offspring. This study combined immunophenotyping, transcriptomic analysis, metabolomic analysis, and a cross-breeding approach and revealed that male offspring of cold-exposed dams…

On the outskirts of Jakarta, a gigantic, billowing pile of garbage stretches over 100 hectares (247 acres) and looms over nearby villages. Every day, convoys of trucks roll into one of Asia’s largest landfills, dumping more trash.Here, thousands of people live on the fringes of the site and earn income by picking up waste and salvaging scrap for resale. The work is dangerous, and earlier this year seven people were killed when one of the huge piles of rubbish caved in, burying them alive.Second-generation waste pickers Rasta and his wife Suakeshi have been collecting recyclable materials at the Bantar Gebang…

A small study of Australian teenagers showed that while those with and without attention deficit hyperactivity disorder had similar poor-quality diets, those who ate healthier foods had fewer problems with attention. The study, published in Nutritional Psychiatry, describes the link between certain dietary patterns and improved cognitive performance. Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder is a developmental disorder characterized by challenges in concentration, organization, and impulse control. Treatment often includes medications to help manage these behaviors. Doctors and family members will also explore lifestyle changes that may help support daily activities. Nutrition is a field that has received a lot of attention in recent…

Citizen scientists have been helping researchers understand how parental care evolved in harvestmen, a group of spider-like arachnids, by contributing observations through the popular nature platform iNaturalist. The survey results are Zoological journal of the Linnean Societyreveals that parental defensive behavior has appeared, disappeared, and evolved again many times over the evolutionary history of the group. By combining nearly 30 years of field research and observations submitted to iNaturalist, an international team led by scientists from the University of São Paulo has more than doubled the number of documented cases of parental care in harvesters. The expanded dataset also allowed…

Restricting smartphone use in secondary schools may save time and money for staff, but does not appear to significantly improve students’ quality of life or mental health, according to a study published in . BMJ Mental Health. Phone use is increasingly restricted in schools around the world. Restricting smartphone access during class hours is expected to reduce distractions, improve behavior, protect students from online harm, and support learning. Some schools don’t allow phones on campus, while others require students to turn off their phones in their bags, lockers, or pouches. However, the evidence behind these policies remains mixed. Previous research…

Andrew covers the biopharmaceutical industry, scientific research and public health across the continent. You can contact Andrew confidentially on Signal (drawqjoseph.71).This is the web version of STAT’s AAIC in 30 newsletter. Sign up to get it delivered to your inbox. Welcome to the first edition of AAIC’s pop-up newsletter. I’m a STAT reporter based in London. We will be staying here for the next few days. We hope everyone in town can escape the abyss of the conference center and find time to enjoy London. Because this city is special in the summer. Maybe you were ahead of the curve…

A new statistical study reveals that people diagnosed with a mental illness tend to have physically smaller pineal glands than people without a mental illness. This comprehensive study, published in Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, also shows that this structural difference does not seem to directly impact a person’s sleep quality. The pineal gland is a small pea-shaped structure located deep in the brain. Its main function is the synthesis and release of melatonin. This hormone helps control your body’s internal clock, called the circadian rhythm. Circadian rhythms determine many physiological changes over the daily cycle and influence body temperature, metabolism, and…

Political ideology now permeates almost every aspect of human life. Recent psychological and demographic research suggests that a person’s partisan identity influences behavior far beyond the voting booth. Our political affiliation correlates with everything from how we interpret a simple smile to how many children we choose to have. At the same time, the institutions and platforms that shape public debate are rapidly evolving. Elected officials are increasingly using digital networks to express their anger, while ordinary citizens are finding it difficult to distinguish between real political speech and text generated by artificial intelligence. As large new datasets emerge, old…