An Exploratory Study of Multisystemic Therapy for Western Australian Adolescents with Antisocial Behaviours: Lessons Learned and Challenges Faced

Multisystemic Therapy (MST) is an intensive community-based, family intervention for older children and adolescents exhibiting juvenile antisocial behaviours. The MST intervention was implemented within the Western Australia Department of Health in 2005 and has since operated two clinical teams within the Perth metropolitan area. Adolescents exhibiting antisocial behaviours often meet diagnostic criteria of conduct disorder, a common mental and behavioural problem in children and adolescents, and ranked in the top five of leading causes of disease burden within Australian children. Conduct disorder negatively affects well-being of both the adolescent and family members, who experience repercussions of the adolescent’s behaviours e.g., verbal and physical assault in their home, police involvement, legal sanctions, and social exclusion. In the absence of effective intervention, conduct disorder predicts various adult mental illnesses, substance abuse, chronic unemployment, family and domestic violence, and incarceration. This exploratory study provides an overview of treatment outcomes extracted from longitudinal data collected from 749 research participants engaged in the WA CAMHS MST program between January 2005 and December 2024, including baseline, post-treatment, and limited 6-month follow-up data. The treatment outcomes were categorised in 4 different cohorts by year of engagement in the program as follows: 2005–2009, 2010–2014, 2015–2019, and 2020–2024. In addition to examining treatment outcomes, we explored demographic and clinical variations across cohorts to account for societal changes over the last 20 years. Influences such as rapid technological advancements and the COVID-19 pandemic have reshaped family mental health and well-being as well as service delivery models. Our findings highlight the importance of adaptable and sustainable therapeutic interventions to ensure their relevance, effectiveness, and long-term impact, particularly in ever-changing environments.

Ecological Risk and Public Perception of Pinctada radiata Invasion in the Mediterranean: An Integrated SDM, SEM and Sentiment Analysis Framework

The rayed pearl oyster Pinctada radiata (Leach, 1814) was the first Indo-Pacific bivalve documented in the Mediterranean Sea and is now among the basin’s most widespread non-indigenous bivalves. Despite its long invasion history, basin-scale assessments integrating habitat suitability, anthropogenic exposure, and public perception remain limited. Here, we developed an integrated Mediterranean risk-screening framework that combines ensemble Species Distribution Modelling (SDM), Structural Equation Modelling (SEM), an Invasion Risk Index (IRI), and multilingual sentiment analysis for P. radiata. Occurrence data comprised 866 georeferenced records from five Mediterranean countries, of which 133 spatially thinned records were retained for SDM calibration. The ensemble SDM demonstrated high predictive performance (AUC = 0.934 ± 0.021, TSS = 0.812 ± 0.033, CBI = 0.883 ± 0.041) and identified mean annual sea-surface temperature, substrate type, and chlorophyll-a as the principal predictors of baseline habitat suitability. More than 81% of dated occurrence records originated from 2020–2026, and the spatially thinned dataset showed a significant westward redistribution through time (Spearman’s ρ = −0.241, p = 0.0059), although this pattern was interpreted cautiously because the dataset was dominated by opportunistic human observations and uneven reporting effort. Structural equation modelling supported consistent spatial associations among environmental suitability, anthropogenic exposure, and the observed distribution of P. radiata, while recognising that these relationships represent statistical associations rather than causal ecological mechanisms. The Invasion Risk Index identified High and Very High priority coastal sectors for surveillance, particularly where elevated environmental suitability coincided with intense maritime activity and relatively low current record density. Multilingual sentiment analysis of 1247 text units revealed predominantly neutral-to-positive public and stakeholder discourse, reflecting the species’ dual perception as both a non-indigenous organism and a commercially recognised resource. Collectively, these findings provide a spatially explicit framework for supporting surveillance, biosecurity planning, and risk communication for P. radiata and other marine non-indigenous species across the Mediterranean.

Bibliometric Analysis of Humanoid Robot Joint Modules: Structural, Control, Interaction and Biomimetic

As an intelligence paradigm, embodied intelligence emphasizes that intelligent capabilities emerge from the dynamic interaction between an intelligent agent and its physical embodiment, and are realized through a continuous closed-loop process integrating perception, decision-making, action, and feedback. With the rapid development of embodied intelligence, humanoid robots have become increasingly important in intelligent manufacturing, service, and human-robot collaboration. Joint modules, as the core units responsible for perception, decision-making, and actuation, determine the motion performance, interaction capability, and intelligence level of humanoid robots. Research directions in this field remain fragmented, technological pathways are diverse, and systematic summaries of evolutionary patterns are lacking. First, publication trends, country and institutional collaboration networks, and major research contributors were analyzed. Research on humanoid robot joint modules has entered a phase of rapid growth since 2018, indicating a shift from early exploratory studies toward engineering and large-scale applications. Second keyword co-occurrence, clustering analysis, and burst detection were used to identify research hotspots and evolutionary features, research focus gradually shifted from traditional electromechanical actuation to compliant actuation, intelligent control, multimodal perception, and embodied intelligence. Furthermore, key technologies of joint modules were systematically summarized and reviewed from four aspects: structural design and performance optimization, motion control, human-robot interaction, and biomimetic actuation for human-like performance enhancement. Joint modules gradually evolved toward structural integration, intelligent control, natural interaction, and human-like system characteristics. Technical bottlenecks in current humanoid robot joint modules were analyzed, and future research directions were proposed to provide technical support and theoretical guidance for both industrial applications and academic research in humanoid robotics.

Advances in Bidirectional Neural Interaction for Intelligent Upper-Limb Prostheses

Bidirectional neural interaction pathways play a critical role in determining the performance of intelligent upper-limb prostheses. Specifically, the nervous system should be able to control prosthetic movements according to the user’s intention, while the operating state of the prosthesis should be conveyed back to the user through sensory feedback interfaces, thereby establishing a bidirectional interface between the prosthesis and the human nervous system. This paper introduces the major approaches for neural motor control, including brain–computer interfaces and myoelectric interfaces, discusses stimulation modalities and sensory mapping strategies for sensory feedback, and analyzes future directions for bidirectional sensorimotor interfaces in upper-limb prostheses.

Progress in Research on Abiotic Stress in Apple Trees in China

As the leading global producer of apples, China’s apple industry faces substantial challenges posed by abiotic stresses. Consequently, it is imperative to carry out an in-depth synthesis and refinement of the unique physiological and molecular mechanisms underlying apple stress resistance, as well as to comprehensively and precisely uncover their response patterns under diverse abiotic stress conditions. Such endeavors are crucial for fostering the sustainable development of the apple industry. Presently, research on abiotic stresses in Chinese apples is intricately linked to industrial issues prevalent in major apple-producing regions, with a primary emphasis on improving drought, cold, and salt-alkali tolerance. This review synthesizes studies on Chinese apples, spanning tree growth, physiological biochemistry, and molecular regulation. Key questions and future directions are outlined to inform research on stress resistance and precision breeding strategies.

Advanced Neuroscience: Connecting Mechanisms, Systems, and Translation

Etomidate Analogs: State of Development

As an anesthetic agent, etomidate provides profound hemodynamic stability, superior to propofol even when it is dose reduced. However, its use has been curtailed due to concerns regarding adrenal cortical suppression demonstrated clinically in the setting of prolonged infusion for sedation in the intensive care unit. In addition, etomidate reproducibly results in significant myoclonus when employed in the absence of other pharmacology. Recently, utilizing both pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic considerations, a number of etomidate analogs have been developed that retain the favorable properties of their parent agent, including rapid onset of hypnosis and rapid recovery, amnesia, and cardiovascular stability, but do not result in inhibition of steroidogenesis. A few of these analogs have now entered clinical trials and are poised to transform acute care and anesthesia for critically ill patients.

The Relevance of Neurocircuitry-Based TMS EEG Biomarkers and EVs in Next Generation Versatile Therapeutic Approaches of the Human Glymphatic System: A Hypothesis-Driven Perspective

This Perspective paper is motivated by a novel understanding of the human glymphatic system (GS) functional anatomy, its critical role in Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Parkinson’s disease (PD), and other neurodegenerative and autoimmune disorders, as well as by novel therapeutic possibilities critically relevant in enhancing the GS function and its healing. Non-invasive transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) technology and administration of cell-free extracellular vesicles (EVs) in clinical conditions may well constitute potentially synergistic, versatile, and effective next generation neurotherapeutic approaches to treat human GS dysfunctions. Brain stimulation approaches, such as TMS, act upon brain circuits, which have been strongly considered candidate endophenotypes and factual targets in neuromodulation interventions using multimodal neuroimaging. The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) has been proposed as a potential target for neuromodulating the GS, a fluid-compartment mechanism involved in waste disposal that is not entirely elucidated in humans, yet considered of critical importance for the normal functioning of the brain and a key factor for its dysfunction in such neurodegenerative conditions as Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Parkinson’s disease (PD). Likewise, EVs have been proposed as potential GS therapeutic agents, given their capability to traverse the blood-brain barrier (BBB), reduce neuroinflammation, increase cellular communication and central nervous system (CNS) homeostasis, and promote healing. The combined effect of TMS-EEG (TMS-Electroencephalography), and EV approach is putatively complementary, and thus we envision their combined use as a promising, versatile, and potentially effective next generation neurotherapeutic strategy to treat human GS dysfunctions and to become a powerful asset in the treatment of neurodegenerative and autoimmune disorders. Furthermore, anatomically accurate neuroimaging-based navigation of TMS and the assessment of GS functionality via diffusion tensor imaging analysis along the perivascular space (DTI-ALPS) enable precision-medicine personalized interventions in these disorders. On these grounds, we formulate a hypothesis-driven conceptual framework connecting neurocircuitry-based neuromodulation, EV-mediated neuroimmune effects, and DTI-ALPS assessable glymphatic function to identify directions for future experimental and translational clinical research.

Research Progress on Motor Imagery Decoding in Brain-Computer Interface Based on EEG-fNIRS Multimodal Fusion

Motor imagery-based brain-computer interface (MI-BCI) decodes subjective motor intentions to achieve proactive output control of external devices, representing a core research direction in BCI with important applications in post-stroke motor rehabilitation. Neural signals for motor imagery can be recorded using electroencephalography (EEG) and functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Combining the high temporal resolution of EEG with the high spatial resolution of fNIRS through multimodal fusion enhances the decoding accuracy of motor imagery commands and provides comprehensive insights into brain dynamics. This paper systematically reviews EEG-fNIRS multimodal fusion strategies and representative algorithms from traditional machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) for decoding fused data. We also discuss current challenges and potential solutions to facilitate MI-BCI research and support future BCI-related industries.

Comprehensive Evaluation of an Intelligent Feeding Robot for the Elderly: Effectiveness, Safety, and Human-Robot Interaction

To address the growing demand for assisted feeding in aging societies, our team developed an intelligent feeding robot named “Xiao Xi”. This robot integrates multimodal interaction (voice control, handheld button, foot pedal, and mechanical button), deep learning-based food recognition and mouth positioning, and a novel spoon-chopstick integrated mechanism capable of handling both solid and semi-solid foods. To systematically evaluate its clinical value, we enrolled 40 healthy elderly participants in a randomized crossover trial, comparing a robot-assisted feeding session (RFS) with a human-assisted feeding session (HFS). Outcome measures included food intake percentage, successful feeding percentage, average feeding duration, QUEST 2.0 satisfaction score, and safety outcomes. RFS showed a lower food intake percentage than HFS (adjusted mean difference = −33.90%, 95% CI: −35.57 to −32.23, p < 0.001) and required a longer average feeding duration (adjusted mean difference = 2.78 s, 95% CI: 2.35 to 3.21, p < 0.001). No significant differences were observed in the successful feeding percentage or QUEST 2.0 satisfaction score. No adverse events occurred during either feeding condition. These findings suggest that “Xiao Xi” is safe and acceptable for healthy elderly users, but its feeding efficiency remains lower than HFS. Further optimization and validation in elderly individuals with real feeding assistance needs are required.