We study area- and length-preserving curvature flows for embedded closed curves on pinched Hadamard surfaces. In the variable-curvature setting, the evolution equations contain additional lower-order terms, so the PDE analysis requires refined comparison arguments and delicate curvature estimates. For smooth convex initial curves, we prove preservation and instantaneous strictness of convexity, long-time existence, and uniform bounds for the curvature and its higher derivatives. Under additional geometric assumptions, we obtain convergence of the curvature to a constant. In the rotationally symmetric case, the area-preserving flow exhibits a dichotomy: either the evolving curves converge exponentially to a geodesic circle, or they drift off to infinity and approach a constant-curvature limit curve. We also identify a geometric condition on the initial curve that prevents escape to infinity and guarantees convergence to a geodesic circle.
Research on female offenders’ emotional sphere remains limited, with fewer studies being conducted compared to male offenders. However, investigations have identified psychobiological mechanisms in non-forensic women underlying emotional processing. One such mechanism is the activity of the autonomic nervous system. Increased parasympathetic activity has been associated with higher emotional self-regulation, social engagement, and compassion. Therefore, the present study examined heart rate (HR), vagally mediated heart rate variability (vmHRV), mood correlations, and prosocial behavior during a compassion-eliciting task using a virtual reality paradigm in female offenders (n = 31) compared to non-forensic individuals (n = 35). The primary findings showed that offenders exhibited reduced vmHRV when engaging with others’ suffering. Additionally, during the period of compassionate motivation (prosocial task), offenders revealed lower HR levels. In contrast, non-forensic individuals showed the opposite pattern. However, there were no significant mood differences observed. Finally, lower vmHRV was associated with higher donation rates only within the non-forensic group. The results suggest that offenders may encounter challenges experiencing compassion, particularly when connecting with others’ suffering and when facing compassionate motivation, as reflected by diminished parasympathetic flexibility. Furthermore, this study highlights the potential for using biomarkers when examining criminogenic needs, offering a multidisciplinary understanding of socio-affective functions, paving the way for more effective interventions.
Aging is a complex biological process characterized by progressive functional decline and increased risk of chronic diseases. In recent years, DNA methylation-based epigenetic clocks have emerged as some of the most robust biomarkers for estimating biological age. Initial research clocks, such as those developed by Horvath and Hannum, provided highly accurate chronological age predictions. Subsequent models, including PhenoAge, GrimAge, and DunedinPACE, improved upon this by incorporating health-related variables and functional measures, expanding their relevance to disease risk and pace of aging. Importantly, these multi-CpG clocks have demonstrated strong predictive accuracy, but their reliance on large numbers of CpG sites and high-throughput technologies limits their clinical scalability due to cost, complexity, and sample processing requirements. In this review, we critically evaluate the current landscape research-based epigenetic clocks, and their transition into direct-to-consumer testing. We discuss their key strengths, limitations, and translational potential, with particular emphasis on the growing demand for simplified, cost-effective, and analytically accessible epigenetic clocks, which should maintain predictive accuracy while enabling broader implementation in clinical and epidemiological settings. Special attention is given to ELOVL2-based clocks, which exemplify minimalistic yet robust models that can facilitate large-scale studies and democratize access to biological aging assessment. Ultimately, we argue that the next generation of epigenetic clocks should prioritize both analytical simplicity and validation across diverse populations to support personalized interventions for healthy aging.
This meta-analysis provided a comprehensive synthesis of research on the relationship between trait self-compassion (SC), operationalised by the Self-Compassion Scale (SCS), and symptoms of psychopathology, including depression, anxiety, PTSD, and eating disorders. Given that SC is a multifaceted construct, we examined it at the overall, dimensional (compassionate and uncompassionate self-responding; CS and UCS), and component levels (mindfulness, self-kindness, common humanity, self-judgement, over-identification and isolation) to identify distinct patterns of association. We analysed 256 studies (1106 effect sizes; N = 107,304) with a three-level approach to meta-analysis with restricted maximum likelihood estimation. Overall SC showed a strong negative association with psychopathology symptoms (r = −0.50). The UCS dimension (r = 0.49) was more strongly linked to psychopathology than the CS dimension (r = −0.31). The UCS dimension showed the strongest association with depression (r = 0.53) and anxiety (r = 0.49), followed by eating disorders (r = 0.44) and PTSD (r = 0.26), while the CS dimension showed its strongest association with depression (r = −0.35). At the component level, self-kindness was consistently linked to lower psychopathology across symptom domains, while mindfulness and common humanity had the strongest associations with lower PTSD symptoms. Over-identification and isolation showed stronger links to symptoms in non-clinical and medically vulnerable groups (all p < 0.05). Additionally, age, gender, ethnicity, and publication year did not significantly moderate these associations (all p > 0.05). Our findings demonstrated the transdiagnostic relevance of SC and emphasise the need to treat it as a multifaceted construct when examining its relationship with psychopathology. This study is not preregistered.
Increasing water scarcity and climate-related extremes are amplifying the need for safe water reuse, however, wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) may not fully remove viral pathogens, posing potential risks to freshwater environments. This study assessed human enteric and respiratory viruses using (RT)-qPCR, along with faecal indicators using culture-based methods, at WWTPs in two Mediterranean protected areas (Albufera Natural Park and the Ebro River region) across three campaigns. A total of influent (n = 33), reclaimed wastewater (n = 33), biosolids (n = 32), surface water (n = 33), and sediment (n = 29) samples were analysed. Influent wastewater contained a wide range of viral and faecal indicators, with biosolids showing similar levels. Although reclaimed water demonstrated reductions in Escherichia coli and somatic coliphages, these reductions remained below the ≥ 5 and ≥ 6 Log10 threshold required under EU water reuse regulations, respectively. In surface waters, human enteric viruses were detected at low concentrations, with human norovirus genogroup II (HuNoV GII) showing the highest incidence (36.36
