Meeting report: Hidden links in autoimmunity.

A NIAID-sponsored workshop was held in September 2024, where challenges to understanding common mechanisms in autoimmune disease were discussed as opportunities to advance research.

Towards large-scale analyses of settlement patterns in urbanizing landscapes-findings of first studies for India, Egypt, and China.

Improved ability to assess and categorize the spatial characteristics of settlement patterns is required for a deeper understanding of how urbanization is driving land use and land cover transformation and its effects. Two approaches to the globally available settlement maps of the World Settlement Footprint 3D support a detailed assessment of spatial characteristics of settlement patterns in rural to urban landscapes and across scales: graph-based spatial network analysis and elements of fractal theory. Based on first comprehensive tests for the Punjab (India), the Nile Delta (Egypt) and the North China Plain, the results of our study suggest that the presented methods allow a quantitative and qualitative characterization and comparison of settlement patterns between different regions of the world.

Combining app-based behavioral therapy with electronic cigarettes for smoking cessation: a study protocol for a single-arm mixed-methods pilot trial.

Background: Cigarette smoking remains a leading cause of preventable illness and death, underscoring the need for effective evidence-based smoking cessation interventions. Nuumi, a novel smoking cessation program integrating a digital behavioral therapy and an electronic cigarette, may provide a solution.

Objective: To investigate the initial efficacy, acceptability and psychological outcomes of an evidence-based smoking cessation intervention comprised of a mobile phone app and an electronic cigarette among adults who smoke and who are motivated to quit.

Psychiatrists' perceptions of conditions and consequences associated with the implementation of open notes: qualitative investigation.

Objective: In a growing list of countries, patients are granted access to their clinical notes ("open notes") as part of their online record access. Especially in the field of mental health, open notes remain controversial with some clinicians perceiving open notes as a tool for improving therapeutic outcomes by increasing patient involvement, while others fear that patients might experience psychological distress and perceived stigmatization, particularly when reading clinicians' notes. More research is needed to optimize the benefits and mitigate the risks.

The foundations of mind-body medicine: Love, good relationships, and happiness modulate stress and promote health.

Although stress is an everyday fact of life, it can lead to poor health outcomes, particularly when intense or prolonged. However, humans have unique cognitive abilities and thus may be able to combat stress by engaging critical psychological defence mechanisms. In this review, we discuss the field of mind-body medicine, which focuses on improving our understanding of the mechanisms underlying this response and developing interventions that might be used to limit the effects of chronic stress.