Medical science monitor : international medical journal of experimental and clinical research
November 24, 2024
Xuelian Wang, Yinzhong Lu, Chunhong Gu et al.
3 citations
Short-term mindfulness meditation training during the perioperative period reduces physiological and psychological stress in patients with gastrointestinal tumors. Patients who practiced daily meditation from admission through five days after surgery, compared to those receiving standard nursing care, had lower serum cortisol levels, reduced pain scores, shorter hospital stays, and less need for postoperative pain medication. Anxiety scores also trended lower in the meditation group, while mindfulness scores gradually increased. The findings suggest that brief mindfulness practice can help manage stress responses, improve recovery, and lower healthcare costs for this patient group.
Journal of affective disorders
June 8, 2025
Junjie Zhang, Rui Xiong, Yujuan Su et al.
1 citation
Repeated esketamine exposure during early postnatal development in mice led to significant hippocampal injury, including downregulation of glutamatergic neuronal markers and persistent cognitive dysfunction in adolescence. These adverse outcomes were strongly associated with elevated expression of Kcnq2 in the hippocampus. Both pharmacological blockade and genetic knockdown of Kcnq2 mitigated the cognitive deficits. Mechanistically, activation of Kcnq2 drove dephosphorylation of key signaling molecules within the Akt1/GSK-3β pathway. The findings identify Kcnq2 as a novel therapeutic target for preventing anesthesia-related cognitive deficits in pediatric populations.
ACS pharmacology & translational science
September 12, 2025
Junjie Zhang, Xiubo Du, Xinying Li et al.
Controlled reductions in oxygen availability—whether through psychedelics, near-death experiences, meditation, holotropic breathwork, or hypoxia therapies—may trigger calcium signaling pathways that promote synaptogenesis and the formation of new neural circuits. This process could enable functional rerouting rather than restoring damaged connections, supporting cognitive resilience and behavioral compensation in conditions such as stroke, Alzheimer's disease, and psychiatric disorders. Terminal lucidity in late-stage dementia may be driven by transient hypoxia, highlighting the brain's latent capacity for rapid reorganization. Integrating insights from psychedelic research, hypoxia-based therapies, and neuroplasticity studies suggests a unifying framework that leverages altered oxygen homeostasis as a novel therapeutic strategy for neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative diseases.