Danielle P. Escueta, Soe Han Tha, Katrina A. Hough, Preston Burnes, Carla M. Perissinotto, Ashwin A. Kotwal
{"title":"The Role of Daily Calls to Telephone Companionship Lines for Older Adults Experiencing Chronic Loneliness","authors":"Danielle P. Escueta, Soe Han Tha, Katrina A. Hough, Preston Burnes, Carla M. Perissinotto, Ashwin A. Kotwal","doi":"10.1111/nyas.70058","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/nyas.70058","url":null,"abstract":"This study uses mixed methods to understand the experiences of daily versus nondaily callers to a telephone-based companionship line, the Institute on Aging Friendship Line, for loneliness. Baseline interviews of Friendship Line participants (<i>n</i> = 63) were conducted between October 1st, 2020, and April 30th, 2021, with follow-up interviews at 3 and 6 months. We tested the association of call volume (daily vs. nondaily) with chronic loneliness, defined as scoring 6+ points on the 3-item UCLA Scale (Range: 3–9 points) at two or more time points. In addition, we analyzed qualitative interviews of a purposive sample (<i>n</i> = 23) thematically. Daily callers were more likely to be chronically lonely than nondaily callers (61% vs. 18%, χ<sup>2</sup> (1) = 11.5, <i>p</i><0.001). Although daily callers reported high levels of chronic loneliness, they reported high satisfaction with and meaningful relationships through the Friendship Line (daily: 83% vs. nondaily: 61%, χ<sup>2</sup> (1) = 2.9, <i>p</i> = 0.09). Daily callers described the importance of a long-term, evolving relationship with Friendship Line, whereas nondaily callers described the Friendship Line as an outlet for acute social needs, similar to an urgent care clinic. Taken together, results suggest the Friendship Line is an important source of support for older adults managing both chronic loneliness and occasional loneliness.","PeriodicalId":8250,"journal":{"name":"Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences","volume":"4 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.2,"publicationDate":"2025-09-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145089938","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"综合性期刊","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Kevin Tang, Hiwot Tadesse, Tsedey Moges, Tadesse Kebebe, Gabriel Battcock, Emily Becher, Dawd Gashu, Abel Ahmed, Wendafrash Abera, Saskia de Pee, Masresha Tessema, Frances Knight
{"title":"Potential Contributions of Edible Oil and Wheat Flour Fortification on Reducing Inadequate Micronutrient Intake in Ethiopia","authors":"Kevin Tang, Hiwot Tadesse, Tsedey Moges, Tadesse Kebebe, Gabriel Battcock, Emily Becher, Dawd Gashu, Abel Ahmed, Wendafrash Abera, Saskia de Pee, Masresha Tessema, Frances Knight","doi":"10.1111/nyas.70088","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/nyas.70088","url":null,"abstract":"In 2022, Ethiopia enacted the mandatory fortification of wheat flour and edible oil to counter inadequate micronutrient intake as a risk factor for micronutrient deficiencies. This study aimed to model the potential contributions of fortifying wheat flour and edible oil to reducing the risk of micronutrient inadequacy. The 2015/16 Ethiopian Household Consumption‐Expenditure Survey was used to estimate apparent micronutrient intakes of nine micronutrients and triangulated to existing food consumption and micronutrient surveys. Population risk for inadequate micronutrient intake was assessed overall using a mean adequacy ratio and for individual micronutrients included in the fortification standards. Potential contributions of fortification were assessed by comparing two scenarios across subpopulations: assuming no fortification and full compliance with the fortification policy. The reach of fortifiable wheat flour (39%) and edible oil (70%) suggests that fortifying these vehicles could reduce the risk of inadequate micronutrient intake by 44%, with variation between micronutrients, geographies, urban/rural residence, and socioeconomic status. Even under optimistic fortification scenarios, however, micronutrient gaps would remain for the rural poor. Sustained efforts are needed to drive the implementation of Ethiopia's fortification policy and to coordinate fortification with other interventions targeting populations beyond the reach of fortified foods.","PeriodicalId":8250,"journal":{"name":"Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences","volume":"156 3 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.2,"publicationDate":"2025-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145077593","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"综合性期刊","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Early humans and the balance of power: Homo habilis as prey.","authors":"Marina Vegara-Riquelme,Enrique Baquedano,Manuel Domínguez-Rodrigo","doi":"10.1111/nyas.15321","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/nyas.15321","url":null,"abstract":"It has been argued that Homo habilis was responsible for the earliest episodes of stone-tool making, animal butchery, meat eating, and the reversal of the predator-prey relationship with carnivores. Assessing the empirical foundation of these premises is of utmost relevance to understanding the role that H. habilis played in our evolution. A powerful position for H. habilis, regarding carnivore-hominin interactions, requires that this hominin could cope with predation hazards. This should be reflected in bones of H. habilis impacted by scavengers instead of flesh-eating predators. Determining carnivore taxon-specific agency on the modification of hominin bones is crucial for solving this dichotomy. Artificial intelligence (AI) tools, through computer vision (CV) methods, have proven successful at differentiating carnivore taxa using images of bone surface modifications (BSMs). The application of CV methods to the remains of the holotype and other specimens of H. habilis documents with unprecedented reliability that Olduvai Hominin (OH) 7 and OH 65 were consumed by leopards. This has consequences for our understanding of the role played by H. habilis on the emergence of the Oldowan archeological record, and of the evolution of behaviors that led to a fully terrestrial adaptation and a shift in the balance of power between carnivorans and hominins.","PeriodicalId":8250,"journal":{"name":"Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences","volume":"35 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.2,"publicationDate":"2025-09-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145068403","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"综合性期刊","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Mechanical Properties and Damage Constitutive Model of Coal Under Supercritical CO2 Conditions.","authors":"Yang Chen,Jun Zhao,Zhenyu Yang","doi":"10.1111/nyas.70091","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/nyas.70091","url":null,"abstract":"Deep coal seams offer considerable potential for simultaneous carbon sequestration and methane extraction. When injected into reservoirs, such as coal seams, CO2 transitions into a supercritical state (supercritical CO2 or Sc-CO2), altering the internal structure and mechanical properties of coal. This study investigates the effects of the Sc-CO2 soaking duration on coal strength via triaxial compression tests. The strength and elastic modulus of coal both decreased with increasing Sc-CO2 soaking time, and the most prominent reduction occurs within the initial 1 day. A constitutive model is developed to characterize the mechanical properties of coal. This model simultaneously incorporates the degradation of the elastic modulus of coal owing to Sc-CO2 exposure and the failure evolution based on a Weibull statistical distribution of microelement strength. This model successfully reproduces the stress-strain responses for different treatment durations, exhibiting high consistency with the experimental data. Sc-CO2 damages the pore structure of coal through coupled physicochemical interactions, progressively deteriorating the macroscopic mechanical properties of coal. These findings provide valuable insights into the evolution of the mechanical properties of coal during carbon sequestration and aid the assessment of the long-term stability of CO2-sequestered coal seams.","PeriodicalId":8250,"journal":{"name":"Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences","volume":"314 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.2,"publicationDate":"2025-09-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145071897","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"综合性期刊","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Maria Loconsole, Beatrice Malaman, Gionata Stancher, Elisabetta Versace
{"title":"Crossmodal Pitch−Luminance Association in Tortoises","authors":"Maria Loconsole, Beatrice Malaman, Gionata Stancher, Elisabetta Versace","doi":"10.1111/nyas.70063","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/nyas.70063","url":null,"abstract":"Crossmodal associations—spontaneous links between sensory modalities—are widely observed in humans. Similar associations have also been found in chimpanzees, monkeys, dogs, chickens, and tortoises, suggesting a shared cognitive strategy based on environmental correlations or a similar nervous system architecture. Alternatively, or complementarily, these associations may arise from learned, species‐specific occurrences. Humans and chimpanzees, for instance, pair higher‐pitched sounds with white shapes and lower‐pitched sounds with black shapes, while baboons and chickens show no preference. Here, we provide novel evidence of pitch−luminance association in a nonvocal reptile, the Hermann's tortoise (<jats:italic>Testudo hermanni</jats:italic>). We studied tortoises in a spontaneous food‐searching task. After hearing a relative higher‐pitched (700 Hz) versus lower‐pitched (450 Hz) sound, animals could choose to search for food behind either a light‐ or dark‐colored wall. Tortoises consistently preferred the white wall with higher‐pitch sounds and the black wall with lower‐pitch sounds, resembling spontaneous associations seen in humans and chimpanzees. Evidence of pitch–luminance association in tortoises suggests that phylogenetically distant species may share similar perceptual organization or internalize similar statistical regularities, shifting the question toward whether such associations reflect homology or convergent evolution.","PeriodicalId":8250,"journal":{"name":"Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences","volume":"17 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.2,"publicationDate":"2025-09-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145072177","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"综合性期刊","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Charles A Ogunbode,Lois Player,Su Lu,Miriam Sang-Ah Park,Rouven Doran
{"title":"Climate Anxiety in Perspective: A Look at Dominant Stressors in Youth Mental Health and Sleep.","authors":"Charles A Ogunbode,Lois Player,Su Lu,Miriam Sang-Ah Park,Rouven Doran","doi":"10.1111/nyas.70057","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/nyas.70057","url":null,"abstract":"There is growing evidence that climate anxiety is associated with significant effects on the mental health and wellbeing of young people. However, the relative importance of climate anxiety for young people's mental health has hitherto been unclear, as climate anxiety has largely been studied in isolation from other common stressors. This study sought to contextualize the significance of climate anxiety for the mental health of UK young adults relative to other concurrent psychological stressors. We surveyed university students (N = 461) and a general population sample aged 18-25 (N = 400). The results showed that while climate anxiety was significantly associated with poorer mental health and worse insomnia when examined alone, this association became nonsignificant or greatly diminished when other stressors were considered. Loneliness was found to be the most important predictor of mental health, and financial anxiety the most important predictor of insomnia severity. The findings suggest that climate anxiety, while concerning, may not be an especially dominant factor in young people's mental health. Our research highlights the need to consider the broader context of young people's lives, and the complex interplay of various psychological stressors, in efforts to map pathways between climate change and mental health.","PeriodicalId":8250,"journal":{"name":"Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences","volume":"37 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.2,"publicationDate":"2025-09-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145068405","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"综合性期刊","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"LFSP-DSM: A Lightweight Framework for Seizure Prediction Based on Deep Statistical Model.","authors":"Huiru Yang,Yan Piao,Guihua Wang,Haitong Zhao,Xueting Shen","doi":"10.1111/nyas.70050","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/nyas.70050","url":null,"abstract":"Epilepsy is a chronic neurological disorder characterized by recurrent seizures. Due to the inconsistency of existing electroencephalogram (EEG) signal labels and the large volume of data, traditional machine learning algorithms for epileptic seizure prediction are overly complex and have long prediction cycles. To address this issue, we propose a lightweight seizure prediction framework named LFSP-DSM. This framework integrates a hybrid enhancement model (HEM) and deep statistical models. Through the multidimensional data enhancement module of HEM, the features of EEG signals are enhanced in both spatial and temporal dimensions, improving the model's predictive capability. The deep statistical model is decoupled into a statistical model StaM and a lightweight convolutional neural network LCNet. StaM generates a new multidimensional EEG signal dataset label online, while LCNet learns multilevel features of EEG signals through parallel pathways. Finally, we designed an end-to-end prediction framework, adapting a new loss function and response success rate evaluation metric. Extensive experiments demonstrate that LFSP-DSM achieves response success rates (for seizure frequency and timing) and accuracy of 91%, 86%, and 93.24%, respectively, validating the effectiveness of LFSP-DSM in handling epileptic sequence data. In particular, it provides an effective solution for improving prediction performance and capturing complex signal patterns.","PeriodicalId":8250,"journal":{"name":"Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences","volume":"30 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.2,"publicationDate":"2025-09-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145068407","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"综合性期刊","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Maude Denis,Chiara Mazzocconi,David Da Fonseca,Daniele Schön
{"title":"Temporal Predictions in Music and Language: The Case of Autism Spectrum Disorder.","authors":"Maude Denis,Chiara Mazzocconi,David Da Fonseca,Daniele Schön","doi":"10.1111/nyas.70084","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/nyas.70084","url":null,"abstract":"The predictive coding theory of autism suggests that individuals with autism may show atypicalities in how predictions are formed or updated. This may in turn affect how they process temporal information. While predictive coding has been widely applied to the study of language, including conversation, and music, including musical interactions, relatively few studies have explored the intersection of these domains in autism. Even fewer have focused on the role of temporal predictions in both language and music. This review examines studies that investigate temporal processing and predictive mechanisms in both music and language in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Understanding these shared temporal mechanisms is crucial for providing a more comprehensive view of the underlying cognitive processes and difficulties in ASD. Furthermore, exploring the relationship between music and language from a temporal prediction perspective offers valuable insights into more ecologically valid and interactive settings, such as conversation and music-making. Such research not only improves our understanding of autism but also has important implications for therapeutic interventions, particularly those leveraging rhythmic training to enhance social communication and coordination skills.","PeriodicalId":8250,"journal":{"name":"Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences","volume":"72 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.2,"publicationDate":"2025-09-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145068406","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"综合性期刊","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Lorenzo Però,Nicolò Arlati,Laura Lenzi,Thomas Quettier,Simone Battaglia,Sara Borgomaneri
{"title":"Enhancing Human Action Inhibition Through Cortico-Cortical Paired Associative Stimulation.","authors":"Lorenzo Però,Nicolò Arlati,Laura Lenzi,Thomas Quettier,Simone Battaglia,Sara Borgomaneri","doi":"10.1111/nyas.70077","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/nyas.70077","url":null,"abstract":"Reactive inhibition is crucial for preventing inappropriate actions, and impairments in this ability are common in various disorders, with the underlying neural mechanisms poorly understood. To explore the neural dynamics of such an ability, we used a novel transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) protocol, cortico-cortical paired associative stimulation (ccPAS), to induce Hebbian spike-timing-dependent plasticity (STDP). Our goal was to investigate the functional relevance of key brain regions in the action inhibition network (AIN). Healthy participants underwent ccPAS targeting functional connectivity between AIN regions: pre/supplementary motor area (preSMA/SMA) to the left motor cortex (lM1), right inferior frontal gyrus (rIFG) to lM1, or right M1 (rM1) to lM1. Participants completed a stop signal task (SST) before and after ccPAS stimulation. Motor evoked potentials (MEP) were recorded during ccPAS to assess network plasticity, and resting motor threshold (rMT) was measured for global motor excitability. Reactive inhibition improved selectively in the preSMA/SMA-lM1 group, with MEPs increasing after preSMA/SMA-lM1 and rM1-lM1 stimulation, suggesting facilitatory modulations. rMT correlated with behavioral improvement in the preSMA/SMA group. These findings demonstrate that ccPAS improved reactive inhibition, enhancing plasticity between preSMA/SMA and lM1, providing insights into the AIN's functional mechanism.","PeriodicalId":8250,"journal":{"name":"Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences","volume":"9 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.2,"publicationDate":"2025-09-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145056671","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"综合性期刊","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Music and Affective Prosody after Surgical Removal of the Right Arcuate Fasciculus: A Case Study.","authors":"Joanna Sierpowska,Jennifer Grau-Sánchez,Aleksi J Sihvonen,Neus Ramos-Escobar,Angels Camins,Andreu Gabarrós,Daniela Sammler,Teppo Särkämö,Antoni Rodríguez-Fornells","doi":"10.1111/nyas.70065","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/nyas.70065","url":null,"abstract":"The right hemisphere of the human brain plays an important role in music processing, with lateralized functions for pitch, meter, and melody recognition among other features. However, the relationship between white matter and music processing is relatively little explored. We report a case study of a 50-year-old musician with a right parieto-insular brain tumor who underwent resective surgery. Post-surgical diffusion tensor imaging revealed that the integrity of the right frontal aslant tract and the ventral pathway of the patient was preserved, whereas the right dorsal pathway (arcuate fasciculus and portions of parietal and insular cortex) was largely removed. A comprehensive neuropsychological evaluation revealed that the patient did not present language, receptive prosody, or cognitive deficits after the tumor removal, with the exception of a selective impairment in recognizing the emotion of fear in prosody. Moreover, the patient showed no signs of amusia, and did not report any problem with musical activities or music -related emotional processing. The only subjective report concerned rhythmic abilities. This case study suggests that the right dorsal stream does not subserve musical and receptive affective prosody processing, contributing to the ongoing debate of white matter correlates of these cognitive functions.","PeriodicalId":8250,"journal":{"name":"Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences","volume":"52 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.2,"publicationDate":"2025-09-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145058994","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"综合性期刊","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}