The Zoī cohort is a prospective longitudinal cohort study, designed to advance personalised prevention by systematically screening for undiagnosed or asymptomatic conditions, identifying early risk markers and predicting future disease risks.
Recruitment takes place in a dedicated prevention-focused health centre. Adults aged 18 years and older are enrolled either as paying customers or through company-sponsored programmes. This manuscript presents the design of the cohort and the characteristics of the first 1000 participants (67.5% male, mean age 51.1 years, high education levels). The cohort exhibits a healthy volunteer bias, with lower smoking and obesity rates and higher educational attainment than the general French population, which limits generalisability.
Data collection is conducted in a standardised environment and combines over 500 self-reported items, clinical examinations, extensive biomarker profiling (196 biomarkers) and multimodal imaging (vascular, breast, abdominal and pelvic ultrasound, full-body composition, retinal scan). For several major diseases, risk is further estimated through established clinical prediction models. Despite lower obesity and smoking rates than the general population, almost half (45.6%) of those who reported no ongoing diseases had at least one undiagnosed chronic condition, most frequently hypertension and hypercholesterolaemia. Male sex and older age were significantly associated with disease unawareness (p
Longitudinal follow-up is collected via yearly re-evaluations and through a dedicated application. The cohort is designed as a deeply phenotyped, longitudinal resource to support interdisciplinary research collaborations, the development and validation of early risk stratification models and the evaluation of preventive interventions.
Spirituality has gained increasing attention in healthcare, particularly in palliative care, as it supports meaning, purpose and connection during illness. While literature extensively explores patients’ spiritual needs, growing evidence highlights the importance of addressing the spiritual needs of caregivers and healthcare professionals. Caregivers and relatives often face emotional, ethical and practical challenges during prolonged care pathways, impacting their well-being. Limited training and tools can hinder spiritual care, contributing to distress and burnout among professionals and unmet needs for families. Addressing spirituality in neurodegenerative disease palliative care is essential for holistic, person-centred approaches that foster coping, hope and ethical decision-making. This scoping review aims to map evidence on spiritual needs and challenges of caregivers, relatives and healthcare staff in end-stage neurodegenerative disease care.
This review will follow the Joanna Briggs Institute framework (JBI) for scoping reviews. The search and reporting process will be guided by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews checklist. Inclusion criteria followed JBI’s population, concept and context framework with no date or geographical limits; only English and Italian sources ensured accurate interpretation. Searches will use university-access databases and grey literature to capture policy and non-peer-reviewed sources. Databases selected: PubMed, CINAHL, APA PsycINFO and Scopus for comprehensive, multidisciplinary coverage. This inclusive approach is aligned with the purpose of scoping reviews, which aim to map the breadth and depth of available literature. Researchers independently screened titles/abstracts in Rayyan software with blinding, resolved discrepancies collaboratively, piloted and refined extraction tables, and jointly synthesised themes through iterative meetings to ensure rigour and consensus. Findings will highlight existing knowledge, identify gaps and inform future research and practice.
Since secondary data will be analysed, no ethical approval is required. The results will be disseminated through publications subject to peer review. The protocol has been registered with the Open Science Framework https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/X9275
This systematic review aims to examine the association between maternal psychological distress (specifically perceived stress, clinical anxiety and depressive symptoms), measured exclusively during pregnancy, and child neurodevelopmental outcomes assessed within the first 3 years of life (0–36 months), including cognitive, language, socioemotional and behavioural development.
The review was conducted in line with Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines and registered on PROSPERO (CRD42024599742). It focused exclusively on studies assessing maternal distress during the prenatal period and its impact on cognitive, language, socioemotional and behavioural outcomes in infancy and toddlerhood.
A comprehensive search of six databases, PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, Embase, EBSCOhost and PsycINFO, was conducted up to 10 April 2025, using structured combinations of keywords related to maternal stress and child development.
: Studies were included if they assessed psychological distress during pregnancy with validated tools and evaluated neurodevelopmental outcomes in children aged 0–36 months using standardised measures. Excluded were studies measuring distress only postnatally, animal models, non-original articles and studies without neurodevelopmental endpoints.
Data were extracted and reviewed independently by two authors using predefined criteria, with a third reviewer resolving disagreements. Methodological quality was assessed using the Cochrane Risk of Bias in Non-randomised Studies of Exposures tool for non-randomised studies and Cohort Studies. Given study heterogeneity, a structured narrative synthesis with standardised effect summaries was used.
44 studies met the inclusion criteria. Across these, small, correlational associations linked higher maternal distress during pregnancy with modest differences in cognitive and language scores and with elevated risks of behavioural and socioemotional difficulties. Children exposed to higher distress more often showed attention problems, greater negative emotionality, lower verbal ability and weaker emotion regulation, with effects frequently attenuated after adjustment and selective attrition.
Maternal psychological distress during pregnancy is a context-sensitive correlate, not a proven cause, of early neurodevelopmental differences across cognitive, emotional and behavioural domains.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is characterised by progressive airflow limitation that is not fully reversible and is associated with an abnormal inflammatory response of lungs to noxious particles and gases. The inflammatory and reparative processes occurring in the lungs induce a ‘spill-over’ of inflammatory mediators into the circulation, resulting in an increase in systemic inflammation, which is further increased during acute exacerbations of COPD (AECOPD), leading to the development of extra-pulmonary comorbidities, such as cognitive impairment. Cognitive impairment affects up to 61% of people living with COPD. Heightened levels of inflammation have been linked to increased risk of cognitive impairments; however, the exact mechanisms remain unclear, thus hampering the development of therapeutics. This study aims to determine whether patients hospitalised with an acute COPD exacerbation show impaired cognitive function compared with recovery (~day 45), and whether such dysfunction is associated with systemic inflammation and oxidative stress.
A prospective, observational study will be conducted at Austin Health in Victoria, Australia. Eligible participants will be assessed during admission for AECOPD and following stabilisation (approximately day 45). The primary outcome is the difference in cognitive function between admission for AECOPD to recovery using non-verbal cognitive tests. Secondary outcomes are changes in systemic markers of inflammation, oxidative stress and ACE2 catalytic activity. Tertiary outcomes are anxiety and depression scores.
Ethical approval has been granted in Australia by Austin Health Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC 56099) with governance approval at Austin Hospital. The results will be published in peer-reviewed scientific journals and presented at national and international scientific conferences. Findings will be disseminated to consumers in publications for lay audiences.
This paper outlines key developments, innovations, and milestones in the field of spirituality and spiritual care in nursing.
A discursive paper.
Nursing scholars have significantly influenced the profession and contributed to the development of nursing knowledge, particularly in the field of spirituality and spiritual care. Key research has focused on nurses' perceptions and attitudes toward spirituality, clarifying foundational spiritual concepts, and establishing a framework of core spiritual care competencies for the profession.
Despite these advancements, significant gaps remain in nurses' knowledge, understanding, and experience in providing spiritual care. The development of agreed-upon spiritual care competencies at the European level offers important guidance for the profession, and educational initiatives are underway to support their integration. However, the field remains in an early stage of development, and further research is needed to embed spiritual care competencies into national and international nursing policy and practice. Moreover, continued research is also essential to inform and evaluate current educational programmes and nursing interventions, and to support the translation of evidence-based knowledge into effective spiritual care delivery.
Spiritual support is proven to be an important consideration for many patients and families globally. Imbedding spiritual care education into both undergraduate and postgraduate nursing curricula is essential to prepare nurses to address the spiritual needs of patients in healthcare settings. Structured curricula that provide clear instructions on how to recognise, assess, and respond to spiritual concerns in clinical practice can enhance nurses' competence and confidence. Embedding spiritual care into education and training helps normalise spiritual care as a component of holistic nursing, supporting its inclusion in everyday care rather than treating it as an optional or marginal practice. Such educational integration has the potential to improve the consistency and quality of spiritual care across healthcare settings.
Internationally there are evident gaps in the consistent provision of spiritual care to patients and their families. These are being addressed through conceptual clarity, the agreed-upon competencies, and enhanced educational initiatives. It is essential to continue to increase awareness among the nursing profession on the necessity of addressing spiritual care needs, within the context of cultural perspectives to ensure that value is placed on the significance of these issues on a global scale.
There was no patient or publication contribution in this specific commentary.