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To observe the efficacy and safety of retrograde intrarenal surgery (RIRS) combined with flexible vacuum-assisted ureteral access sheath (FV-UAS) and minimally invasive percutaneous nephrolithotomy (MPCNL) in patients with 2–3 cm upper urinary tract stones. A total of 160 patients with 2–3 cm upper urinary tract stones were prospectively randomized into 2 groups—80 in the FV-UAS group and 80 cases as control in the MPCNL group. The stone-free rates (SFRs) at different times (postoperative 1st day and 4th week) were considered as the primary outcome of the study. The secondary end points were operative time, hemoglobin decrease, postoperative hospital stay, and operation-related complications. There was no obvious difference between the two groups in patient's demographics and preoperative clinical characteristics (all P > 0.05). Postoperative data showed that mean decrease in hemoglobin level was less in FV-UAS group than that in MPCNL group (5.3 vs. 10.8 g/L, P < 0.001). Postoperative hospital stay in FV-UAS group was more shorten than that in MPCNL group (2.7 vs. 4.9 days, P < 0.001). There was no statistical significance between the two groups in SFRs during postoperative 1st day and 4th week (both P > 0.05). However, in terms of the rates of bleeding and pain, MPCNL group were both significantly higher than FV-UAS group (6.2 vs. 0.0%, P = 0.023; 16.2 vs. 2.5%, P = 0.003; respectively). Our study showed that RIRS with FV-UAS, a new partnership to treat 2–3 cm upper urinary tract stones, was satisfying as it achieved a high SFR rate and a low rate of complications. This method was safe and reproducible in clinical practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To identify specific Chinese medicines (CMs) that may benefit patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), and explore the action mechanism. Methods: Domestic and foreign literature on the treatment of GERD with CMs was searched and selected from China National Knowledge Infrastructure, China Science and Technology Journal Database, Wanfang Database, and PubMed from October 1, 2011 to October 1, 2021. Data from all eligible articles were extracted to establish the database of CMs for GERD. Apriori algorithm of data mining techniques was used to analyze the rules of herbs selection and core Chinese medicine formulas were identified. A system pharmacology approach was used to explore the action mechanism of these medicines. Results: A total of 278 prescriptions for GERD were analyzed, including 192 CMs. Results of Apriori algorithm indicated that Evodiae Fructus and Coptidis Rhizoma were the highest confidence combination. A total of 32 active ingredients and 66 targets were screened for the treatment of GERD. Enrichment analysis showed that the mechanisms of action mainly involved pathways in cancer, fluid shear stress and atherosclerosis, advanced glycation end product (AGE), the receptor for AGE signaling pathway in diabetic complications, bladder cancer, and rheumatoid arthritis. Conclusion: Evodiae Fructus and Coptidis Rhizoma are the core drugs in the treatment of GERD and the potential mechanism of action of these medicines includes potential target and pathways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interoception is believed to underlie socio-cognitive functions which are often impaired in individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). In this study, Experiment 1 examined in a sample of 114 neurotypical college students the associations among autistic traits, alexithymia, and interoceptive accuracy (IA), which was assessed by a novel paradigm "Eye-tracking Interoceptive Accuracy Task (EIAT). In Experiment 2, EIAT and the Autism Spectrum Quotient were administered to 52 preschool children, 50 adolescents, and 50 adults. Experiment 1 supported the association between autistic traits and alexithymia, but failed to support their association with multidimensional interoception. Experiment 2 strongly supported the association between age and IA. We conclude that cardiac IA differs between neurotypical age groups, but shows limited relationship with autistic traits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prospective memory (PM) refers to the ability to remember to carry out a delayed intention in the future. Evidence suggests that emotionally salient cues can enhance PM functions in healthy population, but whether the benefit exists in schizophrenia and bipolar patients remains unclear. This study aimed to examine and compare the potential enhancement effect of emotional PM cues in schizophrenia patients and bipolar patients. Twenty-eight clinically stable schizophrenia participants, 26 euthymic bipolar participants and 29 controls completed a computerized PM task involving PM cues with different types of valences (i.e., positive, neutral and negative). All the three groups showed better PM performance when negative PM cues were presented compared with positive and neutral PM cues. The sizes of the enhancement effects of negative PM cues were large (all Cohen's d ≥ 1.00) and comparable across three groups. Our findings suggested that patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorders could benefit from negative PM cues to an extent similar to healthy individuals, thus extended the notion of psychosis continuum to the important area of emotion-cognition interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Schizotypy, a subclinical group at risk for schizophrenia, has been found to show impairments in response inhibition. However, it remains unclear whether this impairment is accompanied by outright stopping (reactive inhibition) or preparation for stopping (proactive inhibition). We recruited 20 schizotypy and 24 non-schizotypy individuals to perform a modified stop-signal task with electroencephalographic (EEG) data recorded. This task consists of three conditions based on the probability of stop signal: 0% (no stop trials, only go trials), 17% (17% stop trials), and 33% (33% stop trials), the conditions were indicated by the colour of go stimuli. For proactive inhibition (go trials), individuals with schizotypy exhibited significantly lesser increase in go response time (RT) as the stop signal probability increasing compared to non-schizotypy individuals. Individuals with schizotypy also exhibited significantly increased N1 amplitude on all levels of stop signal probability and increased P3 amplitude in the 17% stop condition compared with non-schizotypy individuals. For reactive inhibition (stop trials), individuals with schizotypy exhibited significantly longer stop signal reaction time (SSRT) in both 17% and 33% stop conditions and smaller N2 amplitude on stop trials in the 17% stop condition than non-schizotypy individuals. These findings suggest that individuals with schizotypy were impaired in both proactive and reactive response inhibition at behavioural and neural levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ability to flexibly retrieve and implement sequences of actions is essential to motor learning and planning. Recent research has indicated that serial memory for instructions is influenced by presentation modality (spoken vs. visual demonstration) and recall modality (verbal vs. enacted recall). The present study extended this work by investigating the impact of recall direction (forward vs. backward), in addition to that of presentation and recall modality, on working memory for instruction sequences in healthy young adults. Experiment 1 (N = 24) showed that adults were more accurate in backward than forward verbal recall following spoken instructions. In contrast, enacted recall was not influenced by recall direction. Experiment 2 (N = 24) used visual demonstration of instruction sequences and found similar performance levels in forward and backward recall. Experiment 3 (N = 24) replicated the findings from Experiment 1 and 2, along with the previous observation of an advantage for demonstrated over spoken presentation. In addition, the beneficial effects of enacted recall and visual demonstration also emerged in an analysis of response times, specifically in reduced preparation and recall duration. Demonstrated instructions improved maintenance of all items while backward recall enhanced memory of later items in the sequence. These findings provide new insights into the cognitive processes and temporal dynamics of working memory for serial actions and instructions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Episodic future thinking (EFT) has important functions in people’s daily life and was found to be impaired in patients with psychiatric diseases. Studies have been carried out to improve EFT, while results were mixed. The present study aimed to conduct a meta-analysis to examine the overall effect of intervention on EFT, and potential moderators.A literature search was performed in the PubMed, Embase, CINAHL, Web of Science, and EBSCO databases to identify relevant studies that were published up to June 18, 2024. Controlled intervention studies, pre-post studies, and case series studies were included. We focused on studies recruiting participants aged 16 or higher.A total of 30 studies involving 1881 participants were included. Results showed that most of the included studies used cognitive intervention. Intervention improved overall EFT, with a medium to large effect size [SMD = 0.61, 95% CI (0.49, 0.72), I2 = 57.16%]. The effect was still significant at follow-up, with a near medium effect size [SMD = 0.46, 95% CI (0.19, 0.72), I2 = 58.16%]. Moderator and meta-regression analyses showed that length of training (p = 0.775), type of participants (p = 0.798), and mean age of participants (p = 0.826) were not associated with the intervention effect.The present meta-analysis indicates that cognitive intervention had a positive effect on EFT, and the improvements could be maintained at follow-up. But no significant moderators were found. Further studies are needed to identify more effective and individualized interventions to improve EFT.Methods: Episodic future thinking (EFT) has important functions in people’s daily life and was found to be impaired in patients with psychiatric diseases. Studies have been carried out to improve EFT, while results were mixed. The present study aimed to conduct a meta-analysis to examine the overall effect of intervention on EFT, and potential moderators.A literature search was performed in the PubMed, Embase, CINAHL, Web of Science, and EBSCO databases to identify relevant studies that were published up to June 18, 2024. Controlled intervention studies, pre-post studies, and case series studies were included. We focused on studies recruiting participants aged 16 or higher.A total of 30 studies involving 1881 participants were included. Results showed that most of the included studies used cognitive intervention. Intervention improved overall EFT, with a medium to large effect size [SMD = 0.61, 95% CI (0.49, 0.72), I2 = 57.16%]. The effect was still significant at follow-up, with a near medium effect size [SMD = 0.46, 95% CI (0.19, 0.72), I2 = 58.16%]. Moderator and meta-regression analyses showed that length of training (p = 0.775), type of participants (p = 0.798), and mean age of participants (p = 0.826) were not associated with the intervention effect.The present meta-analysis indicates that cognitive intervention had a positive effect on EFT, and the improvements could be maintained at follow-up. But no significant moderators were found. Further studies are needed to identify more effective and individualized interventions to improve EFT.Results: Episodic future thinking (EFT) has important functions in people’s daily life and was found to be impaired in patients with psychiatric diseases. Studies have been carried out to improve EFT, while results were mixed. The present study aimed to conduct a meta-analysis to examine the overall effect of intervention on EFT, and potential moderators.A literature search was performed in the PubMed, Embase, CINAHL, Web of Science, and EBSCO databases to identify relevant studies that were published up to June 18, 2024. Controlled intervention studies, pre-post studies, and case series studies were included. We focused on studies recruiting participants aged 16 or higher.A total of 30 studies involving 1881 participants were included. Results showed that most of the included studies used cognitive intervention. Intervention improved overall EFT, with a medium to large effect size [SMD = 0.61, 95% CI (0.49, 0.72), I2 = 57.16%]. The effect was still significant at follow-up, with a near medium effect size [SMD = 0.46, 95% CI (0.19, 0.72), I2 = 58.16%]. Moderator and meta-regression analyses showed that length of training (p = 0.775), type of participants (p = 0.798), and mean age of participants (p = 0.826) were not associated with the intervention effect.The present meta-analysis indicates that cognitive intervention had a positive effect on EFT, and the improvements could be maintained at follow-up. But no significant moderators were found. Further studies are needed to identify more effective and individualized interventions to improve EFT.Conclusions: Episodic future thinking (EFT) has important functions in people’s daily life and was found to be impaired in patients with psychiatric diseases. Studies have been carried out to improve EFT, while results were mixed. The present study aimed to conduct a meta-analysis to examine the overall effect of intervention on EFT, and potential moderators.A literature search was performed in the PubMed, Embase, CINAHL, Web of Science, and EBSCO databases to identify relevant studies that were published up to June 18, 2024. Controlled intervention studies, pre-post studies, and case series studies were included. We focused on studies recruiting participants aged 16 or higher.A total of 30 studies involving 1881 participants were included. Results showed that most of the included studies used cognitive intervention. Intervention improved overall EFT, with a medium to large effect size [SMD = 0.61, 95% CI (0.49, 0.72), I2 = 57.16%]. The effect was still significant at follow-up, with a near medium effect size [SMD = 0.46, 95% CI (0.19, 0.72), I2 = 58.16%]. Moderator and meta-regression analyses showed that length of training (p = 0.775), type of participants (p = 0.798), and mean age of participants (p = 0.826) were not associated with the intervention effect.The present meta-analysis indicates that cognitive intervention had a positive effect on EFT, and the improvements could be maintained at follow-up. But no significant moderators were found. Further studies are needed to identify more effective and individualized interventions to improve EFT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]