BackgroundVitamin A signals through retinoic acid receptors and may influence neurodevelopment and the expression of clock genes. However, the biological pathway linking vitamin A status to sleep disturbance in ASD remains insufficiently defined. This study aimed to examine associations between vitamin A status and sleep problems, core symptoms, and clock genes in children with ASD, and to explore the mechanistic role of RARβ in regulating core clock genes.MethodsThis observational study included 361 children with ASD. Clinical symptoms were assessed using the Children’s Sleep Habits Questionnaire (CSHQ); the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS) and the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS). Peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) mRNA levels of RARβ and clock genes (BMAL1 and CLOCK) were quantified by qPCR. RARβ expression was knocked down in mice by stereotaxic injection of adeno-associated virus.ResultsChildren with lower vitamin A levels exhibited more severe sleep problems and autistic symptoms. Vitamin A levels showed a weak positive correlation with the expression of RARβ and BMAL1. RARβ knockdown reduced the expression of RARβ and clock genes in mouse brain tissue. Chromatin immunoprecipitation quantitative PCR (ChIP-qPCR) confirmed RARβ occupancy at a predicted CLOCK regulatory region.ConclusionThis study provided evidence that vitamin A status was linked to sleep problems, symptom severity, and expression of clock genes in the morning in ASD. We also found that RARβ signaling may regulate the expression of clock genes. This finding provides new insights into the mechanisms underlying sleep disturbances in ASD, but further functional studies are needed to confirm these findings.
STAT+: Research revealing how the brain flushes waste named STAT Madness Editors’ Pick
For her new research on the brain’s plumbing system, neuroscientist Maiken Nedergaard had to hone many techniques. Among them — coaxing her lab mice into restful sleep, even as they lay on microscope beds with tiny fiberoptic wires threaded into their brains.
“It was really hard to get the mice to sleep naturally,” said Nedergaard, who spent weeks cuddling the animals in her hands, so they’d learn to feel safe. “But then we said, ‘we really want to not have them disturbed.’”
The reason for this care? Nedergaard studies the glymphatic system, which removes waste from the brain during sleep, so ensuring her test subjects achieve a restorative snooze is central to her work.
Microplastics in Human Bile Drive Mitochondrial Dysfunction and Senescence
Microplastics have become a defining environmental signature of modern life, turning up in oceans, soil, food, drinking water, and even the air. But their biological fate inside the human body remains far less understood. A new study suggests that these particles may be doing more than simply passing through. Instead, they may be accumulating in one of the body’s most overlooked fluids—bile—and leaving behind measurable cellular damage that could shape future thinking about environmentally driven biliary injury and long‑term health effects. As the authors noted in their abstract, “the long-term accumulation patterns and chronic toxic effects of microplastics within the human biliary system are largely unknown,” underscoring the need for deeper investigation into how these particles behave in the enterohepatic circulation.
Researchers from the Tenth Affiliated Hospital of Southern Medical University (Dongguan People’s Hospital), Sun Yat-sen University, Guilin Medical University, and collaborating institutions reported the findings in Environmental Science and Ecotechnology. Their study, “Microplastics accumulate in human bile and drive cholangiocyte senescence,” provides the first direct evidence that microplastics are not only present in bile but may also contribute to mitochondrial dysfunction and premature aging in cholangiocytes, the epithelial cells that line the bile ducts.
The team collected bile from 14 surgical patients (five without gallstones and nine with gallstones) and used a multimodal analytical approach—pyrolysis–gas chromatography–mass spectrometry, laser direct infrared spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy—to characterize the particles. According to the paper, “we show the universal presence of microplastics in human bile,” identifying six polymer types dominated by polyethylene terephthalate and polyethylene, with most particles measuring 20–50 μm. Patients with gallstones carried substantially higher microplastic burdens, raising questions about whether biliary stasis or altered bile composition may influence microplastic retention.
To probe biological effects, the researchers exposed cultured human cholangiocytes to low-dose polystyrene nanoplastics for seven days, simulating chronic exposure. The cells exhibited mitochondrial dysfunction, elevated reactive oxygen species, reduced ATP, Drp1‑mediated mitochondrial fission, and G1 cell‑cycle arrest—hallmarks of senescence. As the authors wrote, chronic exposure “induces mitochondrial dysfunction-associated senescence in cholangiocytes,” suggesting a mechanistic link between environmental microplastics and biliary aging.
One of the most intriguing findings is that melatonin, a widely used antioxidant, partially reversed the mitochondrial and inflammatory damage. While far from a therapeutic recommendation, the result hints at a potential intervention point and gives the study translational relevance.
The work reframes the biliary system as something far more active than a simple transit channel. The data indicate that bile can serve as a reservoir for microplastics and that prolonged exposure may age cholangiocytes by driving mitochondrial dysfunction. The partial rescue with melatonin adds a mechanistic foothold for future intervention, even as the authors caution that broader human studies are essential.
For biotech, the implications are broad. The work highlights bile as a clinically accessible matrix for exposure assessment, opening the door to new diagnostics for environmental toxicology. The mitochondrial stress signature aligns with pathways already being targeted by companies developing senolytics, mitoprotective agents, and anti‑inflammatory therapeutics. The authors wrote that the research provides “a mechanistic foundation for assessing the health risks of plastic pollution and developing therapeutic interventions for environmentally driven biliary disorders.”
The post Microplastics in Human Bile Drive Mitochondrial Dysfunction and Senescence appeared first on GEN – Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News.
It Is the Journey, Not the Destination: Moving From End Points to Trajectories When Assessing Chatbot Mental Health Safety
Large language models are rapidly becoming embedded in everyday life through artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots that people use for practical assistance and companionship, as well as for support with mental health and emotional wellbeing. Alongside clear benefits, clinicians and public reports increasingly describe a minority of users whose interactions seem to drift over days or weeks toward strongly questionable convictions, delusions or suicidal crises. Importantly, clinically meaningful deterioration can occur even without overtly unsafe text outputs, via more insidious processes such as compulsive use and sleep disruption, as well as withdrawal from human contact and progressive narrowing of attention around the chatbot relationship. In this Viewpoint, we argue that risk often arises not at a single tipping point but through trajectory effects that accumulate across extended dialogue, and that prevailing safety evaluation approaches are misaligned with this reality because they primarily score risk at discrete conversational endpoints often reached through scripted dialogues lasting just a single turn or several turns. Mental health benchmarks and safety suites (including clinician-informed efforts) have advanced the field by testing refusal behaviour, toxicity, and adversarial prompting, but they often treat the last message as the unit of analysis and therefore miss when risk-relevant relational cues, signs of validation, contradiction handling, and shifts in certainty first emerge and how they compound. We propose that mental health safety assessment should shift from endpoints to trajectories by 1) treating the whole dialogue, not just the end result, as the focus of evaluation; 2) reporting turn-by-turn dynamics such as delusion confirmation and harm enablement, as well as timing and persistence of safety interventions; and 3) calibrating short multi-turn tests against longer, clinically realistic interaction sequences that can reveal context-length effects and drift. We further argue that transcript-only evaluation is insufficient in mental health contexts. Similar language can reflect very different internal states, and the relationship between expressed psychopathology and real-world harm is non-linear. Safety research should therefore incorporate proximal human outcomes after interactions (e.g., shifts in certainty, openness to counterevidence, arousal, urge to continue, and subsequent sleep or behaviour) and build prospective clinical surveillance infrastructure that supports consented transcript donation and linkage to health outcomes. Together, these steps would enable benchmarks that are clinically relevant and better aligned with the kinds of harms now being observed in real-world chatbot use.
<img src="https://jmir-production.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thumbs/67a4a0892a39533b2f5d0b2acc0e2689" />
Nanotube Injector Boosts Mitochondrial Performance Through Cytoplasmic Transfer
Extracting cytoplasmic material such as proteins, RNA, and mitochondria often relies on cell lysis using detergents or enzymes, which destroy the cells. Ultrasound and other sophisticated physical disruption methods need to be carefully tuned to avoid damaging biomolecules, potentially rendering them too time-consuming.
Delivering material into cells presents further challenges. Lipid-based carriers are limited to small molecules, viral vectors are costly, and microinjection techniques are difficult to scale. To date, no approach allows for controlled and efficient cytoplasmic transfer without compromising cell viability, according to researchers from Waseda University in Japan.
The team published a study “A Nanotube Injector for Cytoplasmic Transfer and Enhanced Mitochondrial Function” in Small Science that reports the development of a nanotube membrane-based injector—a platform that combines nanomaterials and fluid physics to directly transfer cytoplasmic contents between cell populations. The system consists of a thin gold membrane with vertically aligned nanotubes mounted on a glass tube. When this membrane is carefully pressed against cultured cells, the nanotubes penetrate the phospholipid bilayer of the living cells without causing significant damage. By adjusting the internal air pressure of the glass tube, the researchers can “suck up” cytoplasmic material from the source cells, hold it as the tube is repositioned over the target cell culture, and gently flush it into this new population using microliters of a buffer solution.
Through several experiments using fluorescent dyes and protein assays, the researchers say they confirmed that cytoplasmic contents could be extracted in a pressure-dependent manner. They also found that careful selection of nanotube diameter, nanotube density, and applied pressure was key to minimizing cellular damage. Notably, under optimized conditions, cell viability hovered around 95%, with a cytoplasmic transfer efficiency of well over 90%, note the scientists.
To further test the capabilities of their platform, the team investigated whether it could transfer intact mitochondria. To this end, they labeled mitochondria in donor cells with a fluorescent tag and observed them in the recipient cells via confocal microscopy. They found that dozens of mitochondria could be reliably delivered per cell.
Most importantly, according to Takeo Miyake, PhD, team leader, these mitochondria remained functional, as evidenced by markedly higher levels of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) produced in recipient cells compared to controls.
“This technology establishes a new paradigm for cell manipulation—transforming cells not by genetic modification but by reconstructing intracellular composition itself,” explains Miyake, adding that such controlled cytoplasmic engineering, enabled by the proposed nanotube injector, could support the development of next-generation cell therapies, improved disease models, and more precise drug screening platforms.
“Directly transferring healthy mitochondria or cytoplasmic components into target cells is particularly relevant for regenerative medicine, where therapeutic cells often suffer from reduced metabolic activity or functional heterogeneity after isolation and expansion,” highlights Miyake, “By restoring or augmenting mitochondrial function without genetic modification, the technology offers a new strategy to improve cell quality prior to transplantation.”
Overall, this innovative system paves the way for a new level of control in cell biology research, as well as bioengineering and biomedical applications, points out the research team.
The post Nanotube Injector Boosts Mitochondrial Performance Through Cytoplasmic Transfer appeared first on GEN – Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News.
Opinion: When my child is in psychosis, the pediatric health care system can’t help us
I am sitting in a firm recliner with a wipeable surface during a two-day hospital admission for testing at our local children’s hospital. The chair is designed for durability, not sleep. The pillow beneath my head is flat and smells faintly of disinfectant. A thin hospital blanket scratches against my arms as I shift, unsuccessfully, trying to rest. The room is dim but never quiet. Monitors beep. Machines hum. Footsteps pass the door. Hospital noise does not fade. It embeds itself in the nervous system.
My 13-year-old is finally asleep. His thin body is curled beneath a blanket identical to mine. One shoulder peeks out, bruised from repeated injections of calming medication. A neon orange bandage marks the most recent one, given about an hour ago. I watch his chest rise and fall and allow myself a brief moment of relief.
Biotech investors’ plea to Trump, and a busy M&A week
How has the Food and Drug Administration’s recent decisions on rare disease drugs affected investment trends? Why is Eli Lilly getting into sleep medicine? And where did Allison go on her vacation?
We discuss all that and more on this week’s episode of “The Readout LOUD,” STAT’s weekly biotech podcast. Biotech investor Rod Wong joins us to talk about why an industry-patient coalition he’s part of sent a letter to President Trump asking for more regulatory flexibility at the FDA.
Facing the Monster: My Journey Living with OCD and Finding Hope
by David Kedeme
I remember the day my white high top Puma sneakers my parents gifted me for Christmas became the exact opposite of the color they came boxed in. It was a post rainy day in middle school, on a mulch covered, semi grassy area we considered our soccer field with two benches representing goals. After enjoying an intense match, what I did not enjoy but assumingly brushed off was the fact of how dirty my shoes were. Fast forward to later that day, I spent hours cleaning the shoes, trying to restore them to their original look.
Something felt different than other times I cleaned.
Every speck had to be clean. The more time I spent, the more visible other “not as clean” areas of the shoes became, requiring their own dedicated time of cleaning. Slowly, this cascaded into many other aspects of life such as my bedroom and closet needing to be organized a certain way, a tornado of relentless doubts concerning my relationships, with this dark monster in my head controlling what I can do, think, and feel. It felt like an eternity but at the same time as if no time passed from when I first touched to clean those shoes to when I could not sleep in my own bedroom and instead slept downstairs due to not wanting to mess the space up and not being able to enter and exit my closet as easily, so needing to rewear clothes days on end. I thought that doing what the monster or voice or whatever it was wanted would lead me to peace, as the relief from the sky high anxiety and gloom that came from performing what I know now as compulsions came only to have what I learned were obsessions come back, if not stronger, reinforcing this vicious cycle. My parents noticed my change in behavior, from avoiding my room at most costs to being late to dinner by up to an hour or two at times. I had only vaguely heard of obsessive compulsive disorder, OCD, and brought the idea up to my parents. The landscape we were dealing with was completely new and I felt even more alone due to this in addition to the isolation the condition induces you to be in. But we began to look for therapists, where I started talk therapy, with the therapist trying their best but the therapy modality was not the right one for me. Next up was a hypnotherapist, which also did not work for me. I needed some action to be okay with the high emotion filled state I was in when the bouts came on, in other words, exposure and response prevention therapy. After doing some research, I landed upon NOCD, an OCD teletherapy and advocacy organization.
I could not believe what I was hearing through the basement, not my room, laptop screen about actually going into my room, and that was not even the worst part. I just had to open my closet, take clothes out, move items in my room, and not do anything. “Maybe it is, maybe it is not” was a phrase that my therapist told me throughout therapy. With the significant support of my family, therapist, and friends, I was able to be okay with not being okay. Exposure and response prevention therapy makes you face the monster, making you enter the state in which you experience high anxiety. The therapy makes you look the monster in the face and realize it was not that big, not talking or engaging with you, making you sit in the discomfort and not do anything you so desperately want to do. With this methodology and rigor, I was able to coexist with the beast, and slowly it shrank, still existing though. But that is okay. That happens.
OCD belongs to a category of disorders called Obsessive Compulsive and Related Disorders within the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, a manual that influences not only how patients receive care but also research funding and medical training. Although not officially recognized in the manual, there are many discussed subtypes of OCD depending on the obsessions and or compulsions one experiences. Some people, like me, had symptoms that ebbed and flowed in terms of severity and percolated from subtype to subtype. My symptoms throughout my experience with the condition range from having to keep most of the items in my room a certain way, doubting whether I want to be with my partner, questioning my morals, wondering whether something happened in the past pertaining to people in my life even though it did not, and more. Throughout typing this, thoughts flood my head, similar to ones I experienced, say, six years ago.
I hope to be able to perform research in the condition as well as treat people who were and are in my shoes. With up to 242 million people worldwide meeting clinical diagnostic criteria for OCD, about 40 to 60 percent experiencing treatment resistant OCD, more than two thirds of the general public not being able to accurately identify OCD, and mental health still being stigmatized today, there is more needed to be done from all fronts. When one type of online treatment is sought, about two thirds of patients achieve a clinically significant outcome, but on average, it takes greater than seven years for someone to receive a diagnosis of OCD and it can take up to seventeen years for an individual diagnosed with OCD to receive treatment. This is a multifaceted problem that requires a multifaceted approach which requires a banding of people worldwide to come together to promote awareness of the condition and a safe space for people throughout who have OCD.
Today, as I am typing this, I still am experiencing many of the symptoms I have before. The condition does not just go away, but it does become more manageable. If you are struggling, there is hope, there is a way, no matter how impossible it feels. I felt as if there was none, no light at the end of the tunnel, spending many hours crying out asking why to a source I was not even aware of, answered only by my own repetitive thoughts. But as someone who has been there, you will be okay. Even if multiple therapeutic modalities do not work, you feel like you want to give up because a current exposure seems impossible to do, you feel more anxiety at times, you feel like you are letting people down if you do not improve, you feel like the monster you were once fighting off keeps going, keep going. Seek help in many ways, rely on your community, and for those who have a hard time finding one, we are here for you, the International OCD Foundation community, and I most certainly am as well. Thank you for reading this and I am sending you hope and luck wherever you are. You are never alone.
The post Facing the Monster: My Journey Living with OCD and Finding Hope appeared first on International OCD Foundation.
The Role of Technology in Mental Health Advances
This paragraph serves as an introduction to your blog post. Begin by discussing the primary theme or topic that you plan to cover, ensuring it captures the reader’s interest from the very first sentence. Share a brief overview that highlights why this topic is important and how it can provide value. Use this space to set the tone for the rest of the article, preparing readers for the journey ahead. Keep your language approachable, yet informative, to create a strong connection.
Sometimes, the simplest moments hold the deepest wisdom. Let your thoughts settle, and clarity will find you. Use this quote space to share something inspirational or reflective, perfectly aligned with the theme of your article.
Wrapping Up with Key Insights
In this concluding paragraph, summarize the key takeaways from your article, reinforcing the most important ideas discussed. Encourage readers to reflect on the insights shared, or offer actionable advice they can apply in their own lives. This is your chance to leave a lasting impression, so make sure your closing thoughts are impactful and memorable. A strong conclusion not only ties the article together but also inspires readers to engage further.
Appetite and ingestive regulation. Body-focused and impulse habits. Cognitive focus and executive control. Dissociation and identity integration. Fear and threat response. Mood and emotional regulation. Motor and impulse regulation. Reality testing and perceptual stability. Sensory processing. Sexual drive and regulation. Sleep and arousal regulation. Sleep-related parasomnias. Social and attachment drive. Speech and expression. Bipolar, schizophrenia, insomnia. A medical device would be good.