Microtubule-affinity regulating kinase 2 (MARK2) is a conserved serine/threonine kinase that plays a critical role in microtubule dynamics and neuronal polarity. Rare MARK2 variants have recently been reported in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and neurodevelopmental delay (NDD) [1-3], and here we expand the number of affected individuals, including a familial case. Despite these clinical findings, the functional significance and underlying mechanisms of patient-derived variants...

Prenatal stress affects offspring development. The placenta, an important maternal-fetal mediator, is susceptible to prenatal stress, and its biology affects fetal neurodevelopment, particularly ventral forebrain. Ventral forebrain developmental disruption is linked to neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Currently, multiple mouse models are used to study these links. However, each model may induce unique...

The Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP) provides a dimensional framework for connecting psychological disorders to neural systems/processes. We examined how neurophysiological measures of cognitive-attentional (oddball P300) and perceptual-emotional processing (fear-face N170/P200) relate to dimensions of the HiTOP externalizing spectrum. Employing 666 community participants, we fit a model in which antagonistic externalizing and substance problems subfactors, defined via symptom...

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CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that NBCP is an effective regulatory tool for improving nursing home deficiencies and reducing incidents of abuse-related violations. We need more research to assess if background check programs improve nursing home quality using resident-level outcomes.

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Latin America is undergoing rapid population aging alongside a rising burden of dementia. While the region holds substantial potential for dementia risk reduction, challenges remain, such as delayed diagnoses, limited access to specialized care and biomarker testing, persistent stigma, and deep-rooted structural inequities. To address these gaps and foster regionally informed solutions, the Alzheimer's Association convened the 2025 Alzheimer's Association International Conference (AAIC)...

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CONCLUSIONS: The results highlight the importance of partner substance use in etiological models of alcohol use, emotional health outcomes, and relationship quality.

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a cornerstone tool for causal inference in human brain function and an increasingly used neuromodulation therapy, yet it induces well-recognized discomfort that may systematically bias measured outcomes. Despite its ubiquity, the brain-wide neural signatures of this discomfort remain poorly characterized. Using concurrent TMS-fMRI across 11 cortical targets, we collected an unprecedented dataset (165 participants; 1,535 runs) including healthy...

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: In this multicenter randomized clinical trial among older adults with family history of dementia and/or self-reported subjective cognitive decline, exercise, IRVR, or both did not result in statistically significant differences in improvements in cognitive function over 24 months.

Neuromodulatory subcortical systems (NSSs) are uniquely susceptible to dementia-related pathology, leading to frequent molecular and behavioral impairments associated with altered function of these nuclei. Some of these systems display clear sex-specific cytoarchitecture and signaling leading to distinct physiology and behavioral outputs in males and females, while other regions display nominal sex differences. However, the relevance of sex differences in modulating dysfunction of NSSs in...

CONCLUSIONS: An online decision aid tailored to women Veterans may reduce firearm suicide risk by increasing risk recognition, guiding personalized safety choices, and facilitating completion and support from others. eSAFER is a scalable tool to reach high-risk populations tailored to their needs.

In high-stress humanitarian and mental health contexts, timely access to accurate, empathetic, and actionable information remains critically limited, especially for at-risk and underserved populations. This work introduces LLooMi, an open-source, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) conversational agent designed to deliver trustworthy, emotionally attuned, and context-aware support across domains such as mental health crises, housing insecurity, medical emergencies, immigration, and food access....

CONCLUSIONS: This multisite evaluation generated collaborative insights from key partners with diverse perspectives of the employee wellness program implementation process. Organizations can adopt this evaluation model to assess and refine their own employee wellness initiatives, identifying both challenges and successes to drive engagement. VA has invested significant resources to support employees via the Employee Whole Health Program. To improve employee engagement with the wellness...