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Frontiers in Psychology

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Preprints posted in the last 7 days, ranked by how well they match Frontiers in Psychology's content profile, based on 56 papers previously published here. The average preprint has a 0.06% match score for this journal, so anything above that is already an above-average fit.

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Understanding Psychological Health in Adults with Irritable Bowel Syndrome: A Cross-Sectional Study Using the All of Us Research Program

Wu, W.; Li, A.; Chen, J.; You, E.; Liu, P.; Rodriguez, L.; Chen, M.-H.; Cong, X.

2026-10-21 gastroenterology 10.64898/2026.10.20.26365988 medRxiv
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Background: Psychological health is an important aspect of health and well-being among adults with irritable bowel syndrome, yet the interrelationships among individual vulnerabilities, social experiences, perceived stress, and psychological health outcomes remain poorly understood. Objective: To characterize psychological health and examine direct and indirect associations of childhood adversity and adult attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder-related symptoms within an adapted Stress Process Model. Design: Cross-sectional secondary analysis. Setting: The United States All of Us Research Program. Participants: 2,417 adults with electronic health record-documented irritable bowel syndrome and complete data on the primary analysis variables and covariates. Methods: Separate structural equation models examined childhood adversity and adult attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder-related symptoms in relation to perceived stress, anxiety and depressive symptoms, and positive psychological well-being, with loneliness and perceived social support as psychosocial pathways. Models adjusted for sociodemographic and social-context factors. Results: The median age was 54.39 years; 80.7% were female and 84.4% were White. Moderate-to-high perceived stress was reported by 56.2%, at least moderate anxiety symptoms by 21.0%, and at least moderate depressive symptoms by 24.3%. Higher ACE-8 scores were associated with greater perceived stress, anxiety symptoms, and depressive symptoms and lower psychological well-being ({beta} = 0.063, 0.089, 0.116, and -0.100, respectively); corresponding associations for higher ASRS-6 scores were {beta} = 0.299, 0.355, 0.390, and -0.260. Loneliness-specific indirect associations were positive for perceived stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms (ACE-8: {beta} = 0.023-0.034; ASRS-6: {beta} = 0.043-0.075) and negative for psychological well-being (ACE-8: {beta} = -0.039; ASRS-6: {beta} = -0.089; all p < .001). Social support-specific indirect associations were not significant in the ACE-8 model and were small and significant only for anxiety and depression in the ASRS-6 model ({beta} = 0.003-0.004). Conclusions: Psychological health among adults with irritable bowel syndrome was associated with interconnected individual and social factors within an adapted Stress Process Model. Childhood adversity and adult attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder-related symptoms showed direct and indirect associations with psychological health, with loneliness emerging as the most consistent social factor. These findings support prospective investigation of individual vulnerabilities and social experiences in psychological health. The cross-sectional design does not establish temporal ordering or causal mediation.

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Psychometric Properties of the Short-Form Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ-15) in Medical Sciences Students: A Cross-Cultural Validation Study with Diagnostic Utility Analysis

Parvizifard, O.; Parvizifard, A.; Forughi, A.; Heidari, M. M.

2026-10-15 psychiatry and clinical psychology 10.64898/2026.10.14.26365572 medRxiv
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Objective: Mindfulness is a robust predictor of mental health, yet the psychometric properties of the short-form Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ-15) have not been examined in Iranian populations. This study evaluated the psychometric properties, factor structure, and diagnostic utility of the FFMQ-15 among medical sciences students. Participants: A total of 348 students (178 females, 170 males) from Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences participated. Methods: Participants completed the FFMQ-15, Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ), Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS), and Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ). Data were analyzed using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, composite reliability, and ROC curve analysis. Results: Both EFA and CFA supported the five-factor model, revealing a culturally unique item loading pattern. The FFMQ-15 demonstrated strong convergent and discriminant validity. ROC analysis indicated acceptable diagnostic accuracy for distinguishing high- and low-worry groups (AUC = 0.72, 95% CI: 0.66-0.78). Conclusions: The FFMQ-15 demonstrated acceptable psychometric properties in Iranian medical students. The non-reactivity facet exhibited cultural variability, suggesting that cross-cultural adaptation is essential. The instrument shows promise for screening in high-stress educational settings.

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Development and Validation of a Parsimonious Financial Well-Being Index in the Health and Retirement Study

Habib, M. H.; Mayeda, E. R.; Barry, L.; Arah, O. A.; Nau, C. L.; Zhou, H.; Kezios, K. L.; Nianogo, R. A.

2026-10-20 epidemiology 10.64898/2026.10.18.26365842 medRxiv
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Financial well-being (FWB) encompasses objective and subjective financial status and may influence health. We developed and validated a parsimonious FWB index using data from 23,006 Health and Retirement Study (HRS) participants aged 50 years and older from 2006 to 2022. The FWB-5 Index was derived using correlated two-factor confirmatory factor analysis accounting for household clustering. Indicators included household wealth, household income-to-poverty ratio, monthly financial strain, satisfaction with one's financial situation, and perceived financial mastery. We assessed convergent and discriminant validity using the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Financial Well-Being (CFPB-FWB) Scale and Satisfaction with Life Scale, respectively. Associations with pre-baseline socioeconomic factors and subsequent depressive symptoms and health conditions were examined to assess construct and predictive validity. Model fit indices supported the two-factor structure (robust comparative fit index = 0.99; robust root mean square error of approximation = 0.05). Correlations were stronger with the CFPB-FWB Scale (Spearman P = 0.80) than with life satisfaction (Spearman P = 0.43). Associations with socioeconomic factors and subsequent health outcomes were in the hypothesized directions. These findings support the FWB-5 Index as a parsimonious measure for examining financial well-being and its associations with health across HRS waves, including those predating the CFPB-FWB Scale.

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Validation and culture adaptation of the Arabic version of the Rapid Eating Assessment for Participants - Shortened Version (REAP-S): A Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Rasch Analysis Study

Albarrak, T. M.; Al-Qerem, W. N.; AL-Quraan, S. N.; Alharbi, A.; Alkouri, O.

2026-10-16 nursing 10.64898/2026.10.15.26365598 medRxiv
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Abstract Aim: To translate, culturally adapt, and psychometrically validate the Arabic version of the REAP-S among Arabic speaking young adults using Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and Rasch Measurement Theory (RMT). Design: A cross-sectional methodological psychometric validation study. Methods: The study included 500 undergraduate and postgraduate nursing students recruited from Saudi universities during the 2025-2026 academic year. The REAP-S was translated into Arabic using standardized forward backward translation procedures and cross-cultural adaptation guidelines. Participants completed the Arabic REAP-S through an online self-administered questionnaire. Construct validity was evaluated using CFA with robust estimators, assessing the Comparative Fit Index (CFI), Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI), Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA), and Standardized Root Mean Square Residual (SRMR). Rasch Measurement Theory was applied to examine item fit, response category functioning, person item targeting, and person reliability. We assessed internal consistency using Cronbach's alpha and the Rasch Person Separation Index (PSI). Results: Psychometric analyses included 490 participants with a median age of 20 years (IQR = 19-22), of whom 54.1% were female. CFA supported the hypothesized one-factor structure and showed good model fit (CFI = 0.984, TLI = 0.978, RMSEA = 0.076, SRMR = 0.061). Standardized factor loadings ranged from 0.429 to 0.768, and internal consistency was good (Cronbach's = 0.863). Rasch analysis confirmed the scale's unidimensionality, with satisfactory person reliability (Expected A Posteriori [EAP] = 0.872; Weighted Likelihood Estimate [WLE] = 0.848). All items demonstrated acceptable infit and outfit mean square statistics (0.826-1.311 and 0.866-1.283, respectively), with ordered response thresholds and adequate person-item targeting. Overall, the Arabic REAP-S effectively discriminated between different levels of dietary behavior among Arabic-speaking young adults. Conclusion: The Arabic REAP-S demonstrated strong validity and reliability, supporting its unidimensional structure and appropriate psychometric performance. Evidence from both CFA and Rasch analysis confirmed acceptable model fit, good internal consistency, and adequate item functioning. The instrument provides a brief and practical tool for assessing dietary behaviors among Arabic-speaking young adults in clinical and research settings. Implications for the Profession and/or Patient Care: The Arabic REAP-S provides nurses and other healthcare professionals with a brief, standardized tool for rapidly assessing dietary behaviors and identifying individuals at nutritional risk. Its integration into routine clinical and community practice may support early dietary screening, guide nutrition education, and strengthen evidence based preventive care for diet related chronic diseases. Keywords: Arabic REAP-S; Dietary Screening; Confirmatory Factor Analysis; Rasch Measurement Theory; Construct Validity; Young Adults.

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When Words Sound Alike: Decoding Homophone Processing in Chinese Primary Progressive Aphasia

Tee, B. L.; Chen, T.-F.; Li-Ying, L. K.-C.; Chuang, Y.; Lo, R. Y.; Tsoh, J.; Chan, A. L.-T.; Wong, A.; Mok, V.; Yan, T. Y. C.; Lu, C. J.; Yu, Y.; Lee, Y.; Allen, I. E.; Leng, F.; Cheng, Y.-W.; Lin, C.-H.; Li, C.-H.; Chen, Y.; Zhou, G.; Ng, A.; Vonk, J.; Gorno-Tempini, M. L.

2026-10-19 neurology 10.64898/2026.10.16.26364895 medRxiv
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Chinese is one of the living languages with the highest homophone densities, making homophone processing a critical component of language comprehension and orthographic decoding, as well as an ideal model for examining its cognitive mechanisms. This study assessed mono- and bi-character homophone selection function in 129 Mandarin- and Cantonese-speaking participants, including 66 cognitively healthy individuals, 17 with semantic variant (sv) primary progressive aphasia (PPA), 23 with the nonfluent/agrammatic variant (nfv) PPA, and 23 with the logopenic variant (lv) PPA. All PPA variants showed impairment in homophone selection, with most significant deficits in svPPA and lvPPA. ROC analyses demonstrated its strong diagnostic utility for distinguishing PPA from controls. Voxel-based morphometry revealed that homophone performance correlated with gray-matter volume in left anterior and inferior temporal regions, with variant-specific patterns observed. These findings described the potential role of homophone selection in diagnosing PPA syndrome in Chinese speakers, illuminate crosslinguistic influences on language impairment in PPA, and provide novel insights into the cognitive processing of homophones.

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Sex-, age-, and BMI-specific patterns of visual and numerical body-size ideals in Japan: a large cross-sectional web-based survey

Tabata, H.; Sakamoto, S.; Fukumura, K.; Kanda, M.; Adachi, Y.; Yoshizawa, Y.; Tamura, Y.

2026-10-19 epidemiology 10.64898/2026.10.19.26365487 medRxiv
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Background: Thinness-oriented body ideals are well described among young Japanese women, but variation in visual and numerical ideals by sex, age, and current BMI remains unclear. Methods: We analysed an unweighted web-panel sample of 27,359 Japanese adolescents and adults aged 15-69 years from the Survey of Body Shape and Health Awareness in Japanese People, a cross-sectional web-based survey. Current and ideal BMI were derived from self-reported height and weight, and visual orientation from ideal versus perceived current silhouette. Adult BMI-stratified analyses included participants aged 20-69 years. Findings: Among 27,359 participants (10,094 men and 17,265 women), relative thinness-oriented indicators increased with current BMI in both sexes. Among normal-weight women, 74.7-83.7% selected a smaller ideal silhouette and 79.2-91.2% reported an ideal BMI lower than current BMI. These indicators were also present among underweight women aged 20-29 years (44.9% and 43.4%, respectively), but declined with age. Most underweight men reported weight-gain-oriented ideals. Fine stratification showed that thinness-oriented ideals among women were common in low-normal and mid-normal BMI strata. Interpretation: Body-size ideals differed by sex, age, and current BMI. Thinness-oriented ideals among women extended beyond obesity and young adulthood, whereas underweight men generally preferred a larger body. Longitudinal and behavioural studies are needed. Funding: Cabinet Office of Japan Strategic Innovation Promotion Program (SIP), "Inclusive Community Platform" (grant no. SIPCP23C02).

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Beyond Agrammatism: Syntax Processing in Chinese Primary Progressive Aphasia

Cheng, Y.-W.; Chen, T.-F.; Li-Ying, L. K.-C.; Lo, R. Y.; Tsoh, J.; Chan, A. L.-T.; Wong, A.; Mok, V. C. T.; Yan, C. T.; Lu, C. J.; Sun, Y.; Wang, P.-N.; Lee, Y.; Ng, A.; Leng, F.; Chen, Y.; Li, C.-H.; Lin, C.-H.; Chuang, Y.-C.; Mandelli, M.-L.; Gorno-Tempini, M. L.; Tee, B. L.

2026-10-19 neurology 10.64898/2026.10.16.26365322 medRxiv
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Syntax processing impairment is a defining feature of primary progressive aphasia (PPA), particularly in the nonfluent/agrammatic variant. However, current models are derived largely from Indo-European languages, and it remains unclear whether the cognitive and neuroanatomical mechanisms of syntax processing generalize to Chinese, an analytic, pro-drop language that encodes grammatical relationships primarily through word order and function words rather than inflectional morphology. Participants were recruited from the international Chinese Language Assessment in PPA cohort and included 64 individuals with PPA (19 logopenic, 15 nonfluent/agrammatic, 15 semantic, and 15 unclassifiable/mixed) and 60 cognitively healthy controls. Participants completed sentence comprehension and production tasks with systematically manipulated syntactic features. Item-level linguistic determinants were examined using ridge regression, diagnostic performance using receiver operating characteristic analyses, and neuroanatomical correlates using voxel-based morphometry of structural MRI. Performance on sentence comprehension and production was influenced by grammatical and lexical features. Subject-relative clauses, passive constructions, a higher proportion of function words, longer character length, and greater lexical content were associated with poorer performance among participants with PPA. Sentence comprehension was impaired in the logopenic, nonfluent/agrammatic, and semantic variants, even when isolated to the syntactic component of the sentence comprehension task. Similarly, sentence production was impaired across all PPA variants (all P < 0.01 versus controls). No significant differences were observed among PPA variants. Adjusted receiver operating characteristic analyses demonstrated high discrimination between each PPA variant and controls, with areas under the curve ranging from 0.87 to 0.97 for sentence comprehension-syntax and from 0.91 to 0.97 for sentence production. However, pairwise comparisons showed no significant differences in discriminative performance among PPA variants after correction for multiple comparisons. Both sentence comprehension-syntax and sentence production showed associations with semantic and repetition measures in addition to motor speech measures. Voxel-based morphometry showed that higher sentence comprehension-syntax scores were associated with greater grey matter volume in left frontotemporal and cingulate regions, whereas higher sentence production scores were additionally associated with greater gray matter volume in frontostriatal structures, including the caudate, putamen, and thalamus. Syntactic processing impairment in Chinese-speaking individuals with PPA extends beyond the nonfluent/agrammatic variant and is associated with distributed frontotemporal and frontostriatal regions, as well as lexical-semantic and auditory verbal short term memory mechanisms. These findings suggest that the cognitive and neural manifestations of syntactic impairment may be shaped by language-specific typological properties, underscoring the need for linguistically informed approaches to the assessment and interpretation of PPA.

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Professional Identity and Its Influencing Factors Among Nursing Interns: The Mediating Role of Career Adaptability Between Social Support and Professional Identity

Zhao, Y.; Liu, F.; Chen, L.; Li, X.; Wu, B.

2026-10-16 occupational and environmental health 10.64898/2026.10.14.26365571 medRxiv
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Purpose: The internship period is a critical stage for nursing students to develop professional values. This study aimed to investigate the current status of professional identity among nursing interns, analyze the effects of social support, perceived stress, psychological resilience, and career adaptability on professional identity, and explore the mediating role of career adaptability between social support and professional identity, so as to provide empirical evidence for enhancing professional identity and optimizing nursing talent training systems. Methods: Using convenience sampling, 407 nursing interns from a tertiary hospital in Quanzhou were selected as participants from May to July 2025. Data were collected using a general information questionnaire, the Social Support Scale, the Perceived Stress Scale, the Psychological Resilience Scale, the Professional Identity Questionnaire for Nursing Students, the Career Adaptability Scale, and the Questionnaire for Nurse Intention to Retention Employed. SPSS 26.0 was used for reliability analysis, descriptive analysis, independent samples t-test, one-way ANOVA, Pearson correlation analysis, and multiple linear regression analysis. The PROCESS macro was employed to test the mediating effect. Results: The total score of professional identity among nursing interns was (61.74{+/-}11.08), with 73.5% showing moderate professional identity. Parents' attitude toward nursing, reasons for choosing the profession, personal attitude toward the major, and employment intention showed statistically significant differences in professional identity scores (p<0.05). Pearson correlation analysis revealed that professional identity was significantly positively correlated with social support (r=0.474), psychological resilience (r=0.389), and career adaptability (r=0.609) (p<0.01), and significantly negatively correlated with perceived stress (r=-0.378) (p<0.01). Multiple linear regression analysis indicated that career adaptability ({beta}=0.309, p<0.001) and social support ({beta}=0.383, p<0.001) were significant positive predictors of professional identity, whereas reasons for choosing the profession ({beta}=-3.603, p=0.001) and employment intention ({beta}=-7.116, p<0.001) were significant negative predictors. The model explained 49.2% of the variance in professional identity. Mediation effect analysis showed that career adaptability played a partial mediating role between social support and professional identity, with a mediation effect value of 0.288 (95% CI: 0.221-0.363), accounting for 40.2% of the total effect. Conclusions: Nursing interns' professional identity is at a moderately high level. Social support and career adaptability are positive influencing factors. Career adaptability plays a partial mediating role between social support and professional identity; social support indirectly enhances professional identity by strengthening career adaptability.

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Validation of the Qualisex Questionnaire for Psychometric Assessment of Sexual Health in Lichen Sclerosus

Samela, T.; Priori, R.; Colonna, L.; Zozi, L.; Gallo, V.; Assorgi, C.; Garcovich, S.; Paganelli, A.

2026-10-19 dermatology 10.64898/2026.10.16.26365725 medRxiv
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Introduction: Lichen sclerosus (LS) is a chronic inflammatory dermatosis predominantly affecting the anogenital region of both women and men. Sexual dysfunction remains among the most debilitating and overlooked consequences of the disease, as available patient-reported outcome measures are either restricted to one sex or capture sexual health only partially. The aim of the present work is to validate the Qualisex questionnaire (in its the Italian version) in patients with LS and to evaluate its psychometric properties, factor structure, convergent, discriminant validity, and sex symmetry. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 211 patients (167 women, 44 men; mean age 52.9 years) with a confirmed diagnosis of LS. Participants completed the Italian Qualisex, Skindex-29, DASS-21, and sexual-health-specific scales, the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) for women, and the International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF) for men. Construct validity was assessed via Principal Component Analysis (PCA), and reliability via Cronbach's alpha. Convergent and discriminant validities were evaluated against standard psychometric batteries. Results: Item 2 was removed due to low communality (0.167). PCA on the remaining 9 items revealed a two-factor structure accounting for 72.5% of total variance: Component 1 (Sexual Functioning and Satisfaction, 59.89%) and Component 2 (Partner Devaluation, 12.66%). Internal consistency was high (alpha= 0.911 overall; alpha= 0.841 in women; alpha= 0.899 in men). Qualisex scores correlated strongly with Skindex-29 Social Functioning (r = 0.582) and Emotions (r = 0.531) subscales, as well as FSFI (r = -0.391) and IIEF (alpha= -0.566). Discriminant validity was supported by low-to-moderate correlations with DASS-21 domains (r < 0.38). While FSFI and IIEF showed significant negative correlations with age (p = 0.002), Qualisex remained age-independent across sexes (p > 0.05). Conclusion. The 9-item Italian Qualisex is a reliable, sex-symmetrical, and age-independent patient-reported outcome measure for assessing sexual health impairment in LS, successfully isolating disease-specific distress from physiological aging and general distress.

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Swiss physicians' experiences of sexual harassment at work. A nationwide survey

Dzi, K. T.; Jox, R.; Bodenmann, P.

2026-10-21 public and global health 10.64898/2026.10.19.26365908 medRxiv
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Background: Workplace discrimination and violence against health workers including sexual harassment is a societal problem worldwide. We aimed to assess the frequency, predictive factors, and effects of sexual harassment using a nationwide survey of physicians working in Switzerland. Materials and Methods: We conducted a self-administered questionnaire survey of physicians working in Swiss healthcare institutions. The questionnaire assessed experiences of sexual harassment at work, including frequency, types, and sources of harassment. It also asked about the impact of sexual harassment, whether incidents were reported, and what actions were taken following a report. Results: Among the 1837 physicians that participated in the survey, 575 (31.3%) had experienced sexual harassment at least once during their career. Among those reporting sexual harassment, 39.1% of women and 13.2% of men had experienced harassment at least once in their job. Women reported more verbal harassment, while men reported more physical harassment. Women were also more likely to face both forms combined. The main sources of harassment were colleagues of the same profession (46.7%), patients (42.3%), and superiors (41.0%). The most frequently reported impacts included stress (60.1%), emotional exhaustion (34.7%), reduced motivation at work (30%), and considering leaving the job (7.5%). Gender-men was associated with a lower likelihood of experiencing harassment 0.24 (0.18 to 0.31), whereas working in the German-speaking region was associated with a slightly higher likelihood of having experienced sexual harassment at least once (OR 1.35, 95% CI:1.02-1.81). Conclusions: Sexual harassment is common among physicians in Swiss healthcare institutions. It adversely affects the mental health and career trajectories of both men and women yet remains widely underreported due to fears of reprisals and inaction. Institutions should effectively intervene to ensure that reported incidents result in appropriate actions, and that those who report them receive adequate protection from reprisals.

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Research attitudes mediate the association between educational attainment and willingness to participate in Alzheimer's disease research beyond Alzheimer's disease knowledge

Bonta, K. M.; Corbett, E.; Alemu, M. K.; Darge, B. D.; HIlderbrand, L. K.; Richardson, K. A.; Ogonuwe, S. S.; Blum, I. M.; Shen, K.; McGuire, M. K.; Pandhi, D. H.; Gallagher, L. W.; Hunter, J. M.; Grant, F.; Simmons, W.; Davis, L.; Shields, P.; Cooper, S.; Rouse, M.; Wilson-Lawson, K. S.; Hughes-Culp, C.; Howard, M.; Monroe, M.; Coleman, M.; Leath, D.; Butsch, J.; Davis, N.; Henry, J.; Gregory, P.; Grant, J. G.

2026-10-15 neurology 10.64898/2026.10.13.26365095 medRxiv
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INTRODUCTION: This study examined the extent to which educational attainment, Alzheimer's disease (AD) knowledge, and research attitudes are associated with willingness to participate in AD research, and whether AD knowledge and research attitudes mediate associations between educational attainment and willingness to participate. METHODS: 201 older adults completed self-report measures of AD knowledge, research attitudes, prior research participation, and willingness to participate in diagnostic procedures (neuropsychological assessment, blood draw, brain MRI) and non-pharmacological intervention research (tracking physical activity, aerobic exercise). RESULTS: Favorable research attitudes were consistently associated with greater willingness to participate across all proposed research activities, and research attitudes mediated the relationship between educational attainment and willingness to participate in research. In contrast, AD knowledge did not mediate the association between educational attainment and willingness to participate. DISCUSSION: Research attitudes may be a key, modifiable determinant of willingness to participate in AD research and a promising focus for broadening AD research participation.

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Why are girls more distressed than boys? A multi-domain framework applied to longitudinal data across four countries

Allsopp, S.; Steare, T.; Rojas Arangoitia, V.; Milkias, B.; Ellanki, R.; Dang, H.-A.; Demkowicz, O.; Patalay, P.

2026-10-16 psychiatry and clinical psychology 10.64898/2026.10.15.26365610 medRxiv
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Background: Girls are more likely than boys to experience psychological distress during adolescence. Drivers of this gender gap remain under-studied, despite its large impact on later life and outcomes, especially for women. Explanatory factors can be gendered in their prevalence (differential exposure) and/or in their impact (differential susceptibility). We developed a multi-domain framework of explanatory factors for distress and applied it in four low- and middle-income countries. Methods: We first proposed a framework of explanatory factors for psychological distress grouped into seven domains (biological, cognitive, psychological, behavioural, social, environmental and broader societal). We applied this framework to identify explanatory variables assessed in childhood and adolescence in the Young Lives longitudinal cohort studies in Ethiopia (N=908), India (N=952), Peru (N=634) and Vietnam (N=887). Distress symptoms at 18-19 years were measured with the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire Emotional Symptoms scale. Gendered prevalence of each explanatory factor was tested with Mann-Whitney tests, and gendered impact with country-specific linear regressions including a gender-by-factor interaction term. Exploratory boosted-tree machine-learning models, interpreted with SHAP values and permutation feature importance, examined the contribution of these factors to the gender gap in each country. Results: Distress was higher in girls than boys in every country, the gap ranging from 0.62 points in Ethiopia and Vietnam to 1.76 in India and 2.45 in Peru. Some explanatory factors were consistently gendered in prevalence (e.g. girls experienced greater role overload in each country), while others were gendered only in some countries (e.g. study amount was higher for girls in Peru and Vietnam, but not Ethiopia or India). Gendered impacts on distress displayed more variability across countries. For example, higher self-esteem was more protective for boys than girls in India, Peru and Vietnam, but more protective for girls in Ethiopia. The machine-learning models identified important predictors across all framework domains, though their salience varied by country. Conclusions: Our findings underscore the importance of considering multi-domain explanations for mental-health outcomes and observed inequalities in mental health. Large cross-country differences in the gender gap and in the prevalence and influence of explanatory factors caution against generalising drivers of mental-health outcomes and inequalities across contexts.

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Performance of Contemporary Large Language Models on the National Prosthodontic Resident Examination: A Multi-Year Comparative Study

Chen, Y.-w.; Bhunyanaphakul, V.; Kosago, P.; Finkelman, M.; Lee, D. J.

2026-10-21 dentistry and oral medicine 10.64898/2026.10.19.26365937 medRxiv
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Purpose: To compare the performance of three large language models (LLMs), ChatGPT-o1, Grok 3, and Gemini 2.0 Pro, on the American College of Prosthodontists' National Prosthodontic Resident Examination (NPRE). Materials and Methods: Official NPRE examinations from years 2015-2024 were retrieved from the American College of Prosthodontists website and used to prompt each LLM. Paid access tiers and advanced reasoning were enabled. Responses from LLMs were recorded and compared against the official answer keys for accuracy, variability across years, and consistency of responses. Duplicate questions were retained for the primary analysis and removed in a sensitivity analysis. Accuracy (percent correct) was compared using generalized estimating equations binary logistic regression (primary); Cochran's Q with Bonferroni-adjusted McNemar tests (sensitivity). Year-to-year variability (SD of annual accuracy) was compared using weighted Levene tests. Consistency across duplicate items was quantified as the percentage of perfect matches and compared using Cochran's Q with Bonferroni-adjusted McNemar tests. Results: Across 1,487 questions, overall accuracy differed among models (global P < 0.001). ChatGPT-o1 achieved 78.4% correct, Grok 3 76.4%, and Gemini 2.0 Pro 73.2%; ChatGPT-o1 and Grok 3's accuracy significantly exceeded Gemini 2.0 Pro (both P [&le;] 0.016), with no significant difference between ChatGPT-o1 and Grok 3 (P = 0.099). After removing duplicates (n = 1,200), results were similar: ChatGPT-o1, Grok 3, and Gemini 2.0 Pro were 77.1%, 76.6%, and 71.5% correct, respectively; ChatGPT-o1 and Grok 3's accuracy was significantly higher than Gemini 2.0 Pro (both P < 0.001). Variability across years did not differ significantly (P [&ge;] 0.097). Grok 3 showed significantly higher perfect-match consistency (79.2%) than ChatGPT-o1 (69.4%) and Gemini 2.0 Pro (64.5%) (P [&le;] 0.010). Conclusions: Contemporary LLMs showed 70-80% accuracy on postgraduate prosthodontic multiple-choice content. While promising for educational support, residual error and inconsistency warrant human oversight and transparent methods reporting before curricular adoption.

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Occupational burnout in the UK film and television industry: A cross-sectional survey of mental health, job quality, perceived stigma, and sexual harassment

Caldwell, M. S.; Chamberlain, R.; Rippon, D.

2026-10-20 occupational and environmental health 10.64898/2026.10.15.26365611 medRxiv
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Recent industry surveys have reported widespread concern about mental health, working conditions, and harassment in the UK film and television industry, but no peer-reviewed empirical study has examined the determinants of occupational burnout in this workforce. The present study tested whether physical health, mental wellbeing, perceived public stigma, intrinsic job quality, and sexual harassment exposure predict burnout in industry professionals. A cross-sectional online survey was completed by 415 individuals across more than 100 job titles, with 286 also completing an optional harassment module. Mental wellbeing sat well below population norms, with 68% scoring in the range indicative of probable depressive symptoms and 82% in the high-exhaustion range on the Maslach Burnout Inventory General Survey. Mental wellbeing and intrinsic job quality were the strongest predictors of burnout (R2 = .56), with meaningfulness accounting for most of the job-quality effect. Working hours independently predicted emotional exhaustion. Harassment exposure was associated with burnout in women but not men, approximately 30% mediated by mental wellbeing; sexist behaviour directly predicted exhaustion in women. Workers with a disability reported higher stigma. Burnout was strongly associated with intent to leave, and the findings collectively indicate an industry-wide occupational health concern requiring structural rather than individual-level intervention.

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Association between Resilience and Financial Toxicity: The Moderating Role of Age, Race and Socioeconomic Factors

Zhan, Y.; Wells, R.; Knobf, T.; Shan, L.; Lustberg, M. B.; Wang, H.-L.

2026-10-21 nursing 10.64898/2026.10.19.26365649 medRxiv
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PURPOSE: Women with metastatic breast cancer (MBC) are at risk of developing financial toxicity due to prolonged treatment. Resilience has been identified as a key protective factor associated with better quality of life among cancer populations. However, it is unknown if resilience is associated with financial toxicity. We sought to examine the relationship between resilience and financial toxicity among women with MBC and explore whether socioeconomic factors moderate this association. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Our sample included 209 women with MBC who completed self-reported questionnaires of the Resilience Scale Specific to Cancer (RS-SC) and the Comprehensive Score for Financial Toxicity (COST). Participants (n=2) with missing data were excluded from analysis. We conducted multiple linear regression to examine the association of resilience with financial toxicity. Interaction terms were used to test moderating effects of age (18-39, 40-64 and > =65 years), race, education, health insurance, household income and employment status. RESULTS: Of the sample, 56.5% were aged 40-64 years, 76.6% were White, and 79.9% had a college or master degree or above. Women reported moderately high resilience with mean RS-SC score of 34.49 (SD = 6.67), and moderate financial toxicity (mean COST score =21.01 [SD = 10.51]). Adjusting for covariates, higher resilience was linked to better financial well-being (b = 0.37, SE= 0.11, 95% CI [0.14, 0.59], P < 0.01). Age, education and health insurance moderated this relationship, with resilience more strongly associated with better financial well-being among those aged 40-64 years, with college/master degree or above and private insurance. Race, household income, and employment status did not moderate the association between resilience and financial toxicity. CONCLUSION: Women with MBC who reported higher resilience are more likely to experience better financial well-being, but the strength of this association varied by socioeconomic factors. Further research is needed to confirm these findings. Our results have important implications for incorporating resilience into financial toxicity interventions and tailoring such interventions based on individual socioeconomic characteristics.

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Detection and Characterization of Human Bocavirus in Stool Samples from an Acute Gastroenteritis Outbreak in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, in 2024.

Vidal, B.; Neves, S. O.; Santos, I. P.; Sardi, S. I.; Campos, G. s.

2026-10-21 gastroenterology 10.64898/2026.10.19.26365916 medRxiv
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Introduction: Acute gastroenteritis (AGE) is a global public health problem and a major cause of mortality in low- and lower-middle-income countries. Human bocavirus (HBoV) is among the viral agents associated with this condition. Therefore, investigating the presence of HBoV in cases of AGE in Salvador, Bahia, as well as its prevalence and circulating strains, is important. Objective: To investigate the occurrence of HBoV infection during an AGE outbreak in Salvador. Methods: A total of 178 samples were analyzed for HBoV using nested polymerase chain reaction (nested PCR), and the amplification products were visualized by agarose gel electrophoresis. HBoV was detected in 5.7% of the samples analyzed. Conclusion: This study contributes to the understanding of HBoV epidemiology as a secondary agent associated with acute gastroenteritis during a norovirus outbreak in Salvador. Continued investigation and identification of the etiological agents involved in outbreaks are essential for evaluating the causes of AGE. These findings also highlight the need for broader diagnostic approaches and the importance of phylogenetic analysis for monitoring and controlling viral infections.

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Sedatives reduce human gastric slow-wave amplitude, assessed by a multicenter study of endoscopic gastric mapping

Tremain, P.; Dowrick, J.; Chan, C.-H. A.; Rowbotham, D.; Lim, G.; O'Grady, G.; Cheng, L. K.; Mckeage, J.; Angeli-Gordon, T. R.

2026-10-20 gastroenterology 10.64898/2026.10.15.26365429 medRxiv
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Background: Gastrointestinal (GI) motility disorders are prevalent, impose a significant burden, and are associated with disrupted spatial propagation of bioelectrical gastric slow waves. High-resolution endoscopic gastric mapping (EGM) is an emerging minimally invasive technique for imaging gastric electrical activity; however, EGM is performed alongside standard gastroscopy and requires procedural sedation, which may interact with gastric electrical activity, distorting clinical insights. This study explored the influence of procedural sedation on EGM-recorded slow-wave activity. Methods: EGM was performed for {approx}7 min in 32 patients undergoing upper GI endoscopy at two New Zealand hospitals. Endoscopists administered procedural sedation (fentanyl and midazolam) according to best clinical practice. The relationship between slow-wave amplitude and patient characteristics was then investigated using a variety of statistical techniques. Key Results: Gastric slow waves were detected in 30 of 32 patients who underwent EGM. Symptom scores and demographic measures were comparable between sites. Fentanyl (A, 93.4 {+/-} 13.7 g vs B, 137.5 {+/-} 33.7 g, p[&le;]0.001) and midazolam (A, 5.0 {+/-} 0.9 mg vs B, 7.4 {+/-} 1.6 mg, p[&le;]0.001) doses were higher at Hospital B than Hospital A. Correspondingly, slow-wave amplitudes were lower at Hospital B than Hospital A (A, 2.33 {+/-} 1.61 mV vs B, 0.86 {+/-} 1.01 mV, p=0.004). All other slow-wave metrics were consistent between hospitals. Combined sedative dose was negatively correlated with slow-wave amplitude (p=0.037). Conclusions & Inferences: Higher procedural sedative doses are associated with lower-amplitude gastric slow-waves. Procedural sedation dose and opiate administration should be carefully considered when interpreting GI electrophysiology measurements.

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Neighborhood socioeconomic status and environmental burden show diverging associations with cognitive impairment in community-dwelling older adults

Bonta, K. M.; Corbett, E.; Alemu, M. K.; Darge, B. D.; HIlderbrand, L. K.; Richardson, K. A.; Ogonuwe, S. S.; Blum, I. M.; Shen, K.; McGuire, M. K.; Pandhi, D. H.; Gallagher, L. W.; Hunter, J. M.; Grant, F.; Simmons, W.; Davis, L.; Shields, P.; Cooper, S.; Rouse, M.; Wilson-Lawson, K. S.; Hughes-Culp, C.; Howard, M.; Monroe, M.; Coleman, M.; Leath, D.; Butsch, J.; Davis, N.; Henry, J.; Gregory, P.; Scharre, D.; Grant, J. G.

2026-10-15 psychiatry and clinical psychology 10.64898/2026.10.13.26365488 medRxiv
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OBJECTIVE: Research on neighborhood context and cognitive health often relies on composite indices that collapse neighborhood socioeconomic status (SES) and aspects of the built environment into a single score. This study examined the extent to which neighborhood SES and built environment were associated with late-life cognitive impairment. METHOD: Participants were 281 predominantly Black older adults who completed the Self-Administered Gerocognitive Exam (SAGE), a brief cognitive screening measure. Participants also provided their home address to obtain four neighborhood metrics: Two composite measures of neighborhood disadvantage, the Environmental Justice Index (EJI) and the EJI Social-Environmental Rank, as well as the EJI Social Vulnerability Rank as a measure of neighborhood SES, and the EJI Environmental Burden Rank to measure exposure to hazardous aspects of the built environment. RESULTS: Lower neighborhood SES was associated with higher odds of cognitive impairment. In contrast, greater environmental burden was associated with lower odds of impairment, with years of education as a moderator; the association was strongest among individuals with high levels of education. The two composite scores were not associated with cognitive impairment. CONCLUSION: Composite measures of neighborhood features may obscure distinct pathways of their effects on cognition.

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Autistic Adults' Perceptions of the Adequacy of their Supports and Disability-Related Information: Instrument Validation & Preliminary Correlates

Schuck, R. K.; Moura, I.; Baker-Ericzen, M. J.; Yang, L.-Q.; McDonald, K.; Kapp, S.; Uljarevic, M.; Love, J.; Vera, J. W.; Horner-Johnson, W.; Kripke-Ludwig, R.; Siddeek, Z.; Nicolaidis, C.

2026-10-21 psychiatry and clinical psychology 10.64898/2026.10.19.26365938 medRxiv
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Autistic adults face considerable challenges in receiving adequate support, from both paid/formal (such as from disability services) and unpaid/informal (for example, from friends and family) sources. Having adequate support can lead to better health and well-being outcomes. However, most instruments designed to assess adequacy of support were not made specifically for/with autistic adults. This paper presents a psychometric validation of the AASPIRE Adequacy of Supports and Information Scale (AASIS), a community-informed adaptation of a previously developed instrument (the Quality of Care and Support scale; Lucas-Carrasco et al., 2011), designed to be relevant and accessible to autistic adults. We also used the AASIS to explore correlates of perceptions of support in a sample of 798 autistic adults. Our confirmatory factor analysis supported a two factor structure for the AASIS (factor one: Supports; factor two: Information). Further testing confirmed the instrument was invariant across several groups, including race/ethnicity, gender, intellectual disability, communication fluency, and self versus proxy-report. Regression analyses suggested that the way in which participants joined the study (i.e., through community advertisements or via established healthcare/disability services) impacted whether they viewed their support as adequate. Additionally, a higher number of adverse childhood events and greater experience of discrimination were related to worse perceptions of support adequacy across both factors. Our findings support the preliminary validity of the AASIS across a variety of autistic people, though further testing is warranted. Findings also point to the importance of addressing the needs of autistic people who are minoritized and/or who have complex trauma histories.

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Memory Intraindividual Variability and its Association with Hippocampal Integrity in Older Latino Adults Without Dementia

Gonzalez, A. I.; Tristao-Pereira, C.; Martinez, L.; Ramirez, N. J.; Aquilino Silva, G.; Alcina, J.; Martinez, J. E.; Giudicessi, A.; Ku, V.; Rowe, M. C.; Ramirez-Gomez, L. A.; Saldana, D. G.; Quiroz, Y. T.

2026-10-19 neurology 10.64898/2026.10.15.26365658 medRxiv
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Introduction: Cognitive intraindividual variability (IIV), a measure of fluctuation in performance across time or tasks, is an emerging marker of cognitive decline. However, little is known about within-domain IIV in Latino adults. To address this gap, we examined memory IIV and hippocampal integrity in older Latino individuals. Methods: Sixty-seven participants from the Boston Latino Aging Study underwent cognitive testing and MRI. Linear regressions assessed whether memory IIV was associated with hippocampal volume and hippocampus-cingulum tract fractional anisotropy. Additional analyses evaluated associations using mean memory performance as the outcome. Results: Higher mean performance was associated with greater hippocampal volume (=0.24, p=.03), while memory IIV was not (=0.028, p=.84). Higher memory IIV was associated with lower fractional anisotropy in the hippocampus-cingulum tract (=-0.34, p<.01), while mean performance was not (=-0.07, p=.52). Discussion: Memory IIV may be more closely linked to hippocampal white matter, while mean memory performance may better reflect hippocampal volume.