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Prediction of vulnerability to mental health symptoms in children with congenital ectopia lentis: development and validation of a prediction model – Nature

Prediction of vulnerability to mental health symptoms in children with congenital ectopia lentis: development and validation of a prediction model – Nature

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Eye (2025)
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To evaluate mental health among children with congenital ectopia lentis (CEL) and to develop an effective nomogram for predicting risk of mental health symptoms in CEL.
In total, 48 children with CEL and 50 control subjects aged 7–18 years old were enrolled in this study. Participants were required to complete the Children’s Depression Inventory (CDI) and the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED) questionnaire to screen depressive and anxiety symptoms. Three potential predictors were tested and chosen to build a prediction model using logistic regression.
Compared with normal controls, CDI and SCARED scores were higher among children with CEL (P < 0.05). 35.4% of CEL children had varying degrees of depressive or anxiety symptoms. Child’s age (odds ratio [OR] = 1.815, 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.084-3.039), duration of disease (OR = 1.557, 95% CI, 1.009–2.403), and systemic abnormalities (OR = 19.894, 95% CI, 1.660–238.463) were identified as predictors of anxiety symptoms. The combination of the above predictors shows good predictive ability, as indicated by area under the curve of 0.924 (95% CI, 0.845–1.000). The calibration curves showed good agreement between the prediction of the nomogram and the actual observations. Additionally, decision curve analysis showed that the nomogram was clinically useful and had better discriminatory power in identifying patients with significant anxiety symptoms.
Children with CEL experience higher level of depressive and anxiety symptoms. Child’s age, duration of disease and systemic abnormalities are associated factors and can serve as useful indexes in predicting mental illness among CEL children.
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We thank the participation of all children in the cohorts and their families.
This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81873673, 81900841), and Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation (2021A1515011673; 2022A1515011181).
These authors contributed equally: Xiaolin Liang, Xinyu Zhang.
State Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology, Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, Guangdong Provincial Clinical Research Center for Ocular Diseases, Guangzhou, China
Xiaolin Liang, Xinyu Zhang, Siyuan Liu, Ling Jin, Yiyuan Ma, Ming Zhou, Danying Zheng & Guangming Jin
Jiangmen Central Hospital, Jiangmen, Guangdong, China
Xiaolin Liang
Albany Medical College, 49 New Scotland Ave Albany, New York, NY, USA
Charlotte Aimee Young
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XL, XZ, DZ and GJ contributed to the study conception and study design. Data collection, analysis and interpretation were undertaken by XL, SY, LJ, YM and MZ. The first draft of the manuscript was written by XL and CAY. All authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. DZ and GJ act as guarantors for this manuscript.
Correspondence to Danying Zheng or Guangming Jin.
The authors declare no competing interests.
This study was conducted in accordance with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki and approved by the Institutional Review Board of Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center (2022KYPJ207). Informed consent was obtained from one of parents or legal guardians of the children before enrolling.
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Liang, X., Zhang, X., Liu, S. et al. Prediction of vulnerability to mental health symptoms in children with congenital ectopia lentis: development and validation of a prediction model. Eye (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41433-025-03877-0
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Japan to require health insurance for foreign tourists as unpaid medical bills pile up – VnExpress International

Japan to require health insurance for foreign tourists as unpaid medical bills pile up – VnExpress International

There is rising concern that some foreign visitors receive medical treatment during their stay in Japan and leave without settling their hospital bills, forcing Japanese taxpayers to shoulder the costs, Kyodo News agency reported.
The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare plans to share information about foreign visitors with unpaid bills with the immigration agency to enable stricter screening.
Visitors with unpaid medical bills may be stopped from leaving or face detention when entering the country the next time.
A nationwide survey done by the ministry in September 2024 found that 11,372 foreign tourists received medical care at hospitals and 0.8% of them failed to pay, leaving behind debts of around 61.35 million yen (US$425,000), the South China Morning Post reported
Other countries such as Cuba, Nepal, Qatar, and Jordan have similar regulations requiring proof of insurance for incoming travelers.
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California Legislature OKs proposal to freeze health care access for some immigrants – KCRA

California Legislature OKs proposal to freeze health care access for some immigrants – KCRA

California lawmakers on Friday approved a budget proposal to freeze enrollment in a state-funded health care program for immigrants without legal status to help close a $12 billion deficit.
Their plan is a scaled-back version of a proposal Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom introduced in May. California, with the largest state budget in the country, is facing a deficit for the third year in a row. This year’s budget shortfall has forced Democratic leaders to start cutting back on several liberal policy priorities, including to the landmark health care expansion for low-income adult immigrants without legal status.
The vote comes as tensions escalate in Los Angeles over President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown across Southern California. As protesters took to the streets and, at times, clashed with law enforcement in dayslong demonstrations, Trump said protests had turned violent and activated more than 4,000 National Guard members and 700 Marines over the objections of city and state leaders. The demonstrations have largely been peaceful. California has sued the federal government to stop the deployment.
The decision to freeze Medicaid enrollment highlights Democratic state leaders’ struggle to protect progressive priorities against budget challenges. Illinois and Minnesota, also led by Democratic governors, are on track to end health care access to low-income adults without legal status after facing budget shortfalls this year.
It is not the state’s final spending plan. Newsom and legislative leaders are still negotiating solutions before the start of the new fiscal year on July 1. Lawmakers must pass a balanced budget by Sunday or else they would forfeit their salaries. Democratic state leaders are also bracing for potential federal cuts to health care programs and other broad economic uncertainty such as federal tariff policies that could force them to make even deeper cuts.
Republican lawmakers say the Legislature’s budget doesn’t do enough to rein in costs ahead of future deficits. The caucus unsuccessfully pushed for a proposal Friday that would have eliminated funding for the health care programs for low-income people without legal status, among other things.
“It’s a difficult budget because of the unsustainable spending that the governor and the legislative Democrats have been doing over many years now,” Republican Assemblymember James Gallagher said Friday after the vote.
The state has more than 1.6 million people without legal status enrolled in its health care program this fiscal year, according to the budget.
Under Newsom’s plan, low-income adults without legal status would no longer be eligible to apply for Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid program, starting in 2026. Those who are already enrolled wouldn’t be kicked off their plans but would have to start paying a $100 monthly premium in 2027. The state would save $5.4 billion by fiscal year 2028-2029, state officials estimated.
Lawmakers mostly agreed on the plan to halt enrollment for adults without legal status, but their proposal also includes a provision to allow people to reenroll within six months if they lose coverage for missing payment. The monthly premium would also lower by roughly a third to $30 and would only apply to adults between 19 and 59 under the Legislature’s plan starting in July 2027. The proposal would save roughly $3.8 billion by fiscal year 2027-2028.
The proposals would likely result in people losing coverage because they can’t afford the premiums and send more people into emergency rooms, advocates said.
“This is no way to respond to concerns about the health and safety of communities that power our economy and contribute billions in state taxes,” said Masih Fouladi, Executive Director of the California Immigrant Policy Center.
California was among one of the first states to extend free health care benefits to all low-income adults regardless of their immigration status, an ambitious plan touted by Newsom to help the nation’s most populous state inch closer to a goal of universal health care. But the cost ran billions more than the administration had anticipated and is projected to keep growing.
California provides free health care to more than a third of its 39 million people.
Several Democrats said the Medicaid enrollment freeze does not align with California values. The plan would create a two-tier health care system, they said.
“If we move forward with freezing Medi-Cal enrollment and charging premiums to our immigrant population, we are no better than the Trump administration,” Assemblymember Sade Elhawary said prior to the vote. “The federal administration targeted immigrant communities with force, and we are targeting them through this budget by basically cutting off their access to health care.”
Democratic state Sen. Akilah Weber Pierson defended the budget proposal, saying that the plan is not cutting benefits to people who are already enrolled as Legislature also avoided more devastating cuts in social services. Lawmakers rejected the governor’s plan to cut funding for a program providing in-home domestic and personal care services for some low-income residents and Californians with disabilities. They also rejected a proposal that would have cut Planned Parenthood’s budget by a third.
“No one who is currently covered will lose their health care coverage,” she said.
See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel
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Coffee News Recap, 16 May: La Marzocco acquisition continues to boost De'Longhi's revenues, new ICO report shows impact of tariffs on coffee prices & other stories – Perfect Daily Grind

Coffee News Recap, 16 May: La Marzocco acquisition continues to boost De'Longhi's revenues, new ICO report shows impact of tariffs on coffee prices & other stories – Perfect Daily Grind

Every Friday, Perfect Daily Grind rounds up the top coffee industry news from the week. 
De’Longhi recently reported €755.2 million (US $847.5 million) in 2025 Q1 revenue, up by 14.6% on the same period last year. Its acquisition of iconic brand La Marzocco was one of the main drivers of strong financial performance, according to CEO Fabio de’Longhi.
The home appliance manufacturer purchased a majority stake in La Marzocco, a cult specialty coffee brand, for US $374 million in December 2023. Along with its 2021 acquisition of the automatic coffee machine brand Eversys, De’Longhi is positioning itself as a full solutions global coffee equipment powerhouse.
Fabio de’Longhi added that La Marzocco boosted the expansion of the group’s luxury home products through its strong brand awareness and prestigious partnerships, such as the Porsche collaboration. More recently, La Marzocco launched a custom version of its Linea Micra home espresso machine with fashion brand Aimé Leon Dore, once described by the New York Times as the “future of menswear”.
The collaboration also includes limited-edition co-branded merchandise, offering accessible luxury clothing and expanding both brands’ reaches, and a professional custom machine that will be used at Café Leon Dore coffee shop concepts in New York City and London.
As luxury brands look beyond their niche clientele to grow their business, specialty coffee has emerged as one of the most effective avenues to scale. Aimé Leon Dore’s café concepts and partnerships with coffee equipment brands are a way to drive sales of the company’s more accessible products without losing its sense of luxury that initially attracts customers.
La Marzocco, meanwhile, is leveraging its brand power to draw in other equally “cool” brands, solidifying its exclusive, high-end appeal among coffee drinkers, while also attracting a wider pool of consumers with similar quality-driven mindsets.
Undoubtedly, La Marzocco has more partnerships on the horizon, and De’Longhi will continue to reap the rewards.
Photo credits: La Marzocco, La Marzocco Home, Aimé Leon Dore
Want to keep up with current affairs in the coffee industry? Check out last week’s coffee news stories and make sure to read the latest Coffee Intelligence News & Opinion piece about why matcha is leading sales in coffee shops and supermarkets.
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ECOWAS defends Nigeria against Niger’s claims of ‘destabilization’ plot – Arab News

ECOWAS defends Nigeria against Niger’s claims of ‘destabilization’ plot – Arab News

https://arab.news/2acgb
LAGOS: West Africa’s regional bloc ECOWAS has come to Nigeria’s defense after claims by Niger that it was plotting to destabilize its neighbor.
Niger’s military leader General Abdourahamane Tchiani accused Nigeria of providing homes for two French nationals it expelled, allegedly for anti-government activities, during a televised Christmas Day broadcast on Wednesday.
Tchiani also lashed out against ECOWAS and claimed that France had established a base in Nigeria where it was arming terror groups in the Lake Chad region to foment unrest in his country.
“Nigerian authorities are not unaware of this underhanded move,” Tchiani said. “It is near a forest close to Sokoto where they wanted to establish a terrorist stronghold known as Lakurawa.”
“The French and ISWAP made this deal on March 4, 2024,” he added, referring to the Daesh West Africa Province militant group.
Earlier in December, Niger’s foreign minister summoned the charge d’affaires at the Nigerian Embassy, accusing its neighbors of “serving as a rear base” to “destabilize” the country.
ECOWAS and Nigeria rejected the accusations. “For years, Nigeria has supported peace and security of several countries not only in the West African subregion but also on the African continent,” the regional bloc said in a statement released.
“ECOWAS therefore refutes any suggestion that such a generous and magnanimous country would become a state-sponsor of terrorism.”
Nigeria’s Information Minister Mohammed Idris said in a separate statement Thursday that his country had no alliance with “France or any other country” to destabilize Niger, with whom it has had a choppy relationship since Tchiani seized power in a July 2023 coup.
Niger’s military leaders broke away from the ECOWAS amid rising anti-France sentiments.
Nigeria’s President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who is currently head of the ECOWAS bloc, had briefly considered a regional military intervention to reinstate Niger’s ousted president Mohamed Bazoum.
But Idris said that Nigeria was open to dialogue with Niger despite its political situation.
“Nigeria remains committed to fostering regional stability and will continue to lead efforts to address terrorism and other transnational challenges,” he said.
 
LONDON: King Charles III and other members of the royal family will wear black armbands and there will be a moment of silence during his annual birthday parade Saturday as the monarch commemorates those who died in this week’s Air India plane crash.
Charles requested the symbolic moves “as a mark of respect for the lives lost, the families in mourning and all the communities affected by this awful tragedy,” Buckingham Palace said.
An Air India flight from the northwestern city of Ahmedabad to London crashed shortly after takeoff on Thursday, killing 241 people on board and at least 29 on the ground. The plane was carrying 169 Indians, 53 Britons, seven Portuguese and one Canadian. One man survived.
In addition to being Britain’s head of state, Charles is the head of the Commonwealth, an organization of independent states that includes India and Canada.
The monarch’s annual birthday parade, known as Trooping the Color, is a historic ceremony filled with pageantry and military bands in which the king reviews his troops on Horse Guards Parade adjacent to St. James’ Park in central London.
All members of the royal family taking part in the parade will wear black armbands. The moment of silence will occur when the king is on the dais after reviewing the troops.
Charles’ mother, Queen Elizabeth II, held a similar moment of silence in 2017 when Trooping the Color took place three days after a fire ripped through the Grenfell Tower apartment bloc in west London, killing 72 people.
SYDNEY: A key US warship arrived in Australia on Saturday ahead of joint war games and the first summit between Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and President Donald Trump, which is expected to be dominated by military issues.
The America, the US Navy’s lead amphibious assault ship in the Indo-Pacific, entered Sydney Harbor as the first of three ships in a strike group carrying 2,500 sailors and marines, submarine-hunting helicopters and F-35B fighter jets.
More than 30,000 personnel from 19 militaries have begun to arrive in Australia for Talisman Sabre, the largest Australian-US war-fighting exercise. It will start next month and span 6,500 km (4,000 miles), from Australia’s Indian Ocean territory of Christmas Island to the Coral Sea on Australia’s east coast.
The commander of the America, Rear Admiral Tom Shultz, said exercising in Australia was critical for the US Navy’s readiness, while the Australian fleet commander, Rear Admiral Chris Smith, said the “trust and robust nature” of the bilateral relationship allowed the two allies to deal with change.
“The diversity of how we view the world is actually a real great strength in our alliance,” Smith told reporters, adding that Australia also had strong relationships with nations across the region.
Albanese and Trump are expected to meet on the sidelines of a summit in Canada of the Group of Seven economic powers, which starts on Sunday. Washington’s request for Canberra to raise defense spending to 3.5 percent of gross domestic product from 2 percent is expected to dominate the discussion.
The Pentagon said this week it was reviewing its AUKUS nuclear submarine partnership with Australia and Britain. Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles said on Saturday this was “not a surprise,” adding the two countries continued to work closely.
But Michael Green, a former national security adviser to President George W. Bush, said it was unusual for the review into AUKUS to be conducted solely by the Pentagon and that Trump might link it to the spending request or to tariffs.
“It is unusual to make the review unilateral and public right before a summit, even if the Australian side knew. That is not good alliance management – it jams the Australian side,” said Green, president of the United States Studies Center in Sydney.
Support for AUKUS in the Congress and US Navy is considerable, however, and the review is unlikely to result in the submarine program being canceled, he said.
India will participate for the first time in Talisman Sabre, along with a large contingent from Europe, said the exercise’s director, Brig. Damian Hill. Australia, Singapore, the US and Japan will hold large-scale live firings of rocket and missile systems, he said.
“It is the first time we are firing HIMARs in Australia, and our air defense capability will work alongside the United States Patriot systems for the first time, and that is really important,” Hill added.
LOS ANGELES, United States: Armed Marines arrived on the streets of Los Angeles Friday, part of a large deployment of troops ordered by Donald Trump that has raised the stakes between the US president and opponents criticizing him of growing authoritarianism.
Men in fatigues and carrying semiautomatic rifles were seen around a federal building, where passersby questioned why they were in an area 18 kilometers from the protests against immigration raids.
“Taxpayer dollars could be used for other things,” RonNell Weaver said. “Is this really necessary?”
AFP witnessed Marines temporarily detaining one man at the federal building before they handed him over to law enforcement.
The US military would not say why he was detained, despite multiple requests, but the incident appeared to be a minor – albeit extremely rare – example of federal troops detaining a US civilian.
Seven hundred Marines – normally used as crack troops in foreign conflicts – along with 4,000 National Guard soldiers are tasked with protecting federal buildings, while local police handle protests over Trump’s sweeps for undocumented migrants.
An intense legal battle is underway over Trump’s authority to deploy troops on US soil as the country braces for widespread protests Saturday, when the Republican will be overseeing a rare large-scale military parade in Washington.
The parade celebrates the 250th anniversary of the US Army but also coincides with Trump’s 79th birthday, and will be the first time tanks and other heavy weaponry have rolled through the capital city in three decades.
In response, a “No Kings” movement has sprung up promising to stage protests in more than 2,000 places across the country, including a large demonstration expected in Los Angeles, which organizers say will feature a “20-foot-tall balloon of Trump wearing a diaper.”
“Unprecedented” crowds could attend, Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell told reporters Friday.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna, whose deputies are part of a large law enforcement response in the enormous city, urged protesters to behave properly.
“It’s a good cause, but we do not want violent agitators out there destroying property or committing acts of violence,” he said.
Mayor Karen Bass said demonstrations are expected to be “even larger because of what has happened in our city.”
“We do call on people over the weekend to demonstrate peacefully, to exercise your first amendment right, to not play into the hands where it could be used as a pretext to roll out troops in our city,” she said in a news conference.
In a show of political force, Trump overrode the objections of Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom to deploy California’s National Guard.
The president has repeatedly exaggerated the scale of violence, claiming that without troops, Los Angeles would be “burning to the ground right now.”
On Thursday, District Judge Charles Breyer ruled Trump’s actions were “illegal” and ordered that he return control of the guard to Newsom. Breyer said the LA unrest fell “far short” of the “rebellion” Trump had described.
However, a higher court quickly paused the order pending an appeal hearing with the Trump administration next Tuesday.
The Department of Justice slammed Breyer’s ruling as “an extraordinary intrusion on the President’s constitutional authority as Commander in Chief.”
The dispute mirrors multiple other tussles over Trump’s attempts to expand the limits of presidential power – but is the first to involve troops.
Many in Los Angeles are angry about immigration raids carried out as part of Trump’s ambition to deport vast numbers of undocumented migrants from the country.
About 100 mostly good-natured protesters gathered Friday evening outside the federal detention center in Los Angeles that has been at the heart of the rallies, ahead of a nightly curfew placed on the downtown area by the mayor.
In a sign of how contained the demonstrations have been, however, those attending a performance of “Hamlet” – Shakespeare’s play about a mad prince – and other shows at nearby venues were exempt from the curfew.
Outrage at Trump’s raids and the use of masked, armed immigration agents backed by uniformed soldiers have also sparked protests in other cities, including San Francisco, New York, Chicago and San Antonio, Texas.
Tensions hiked further Thursday when California Senator Alex Padilla, a Democrat, was handcuffed and forcibly removed from a news conference by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
AHMEDABAD, India: Grieving families waited Saturday for news after one of the deadliest air disasters in decades, with the toll rising to 279 people killed in the Indian passenger jet crash.
The Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner issued a mayday call shortly before it crashed around lunchtime on Thursday, bursting into a fireball as it hit residential buildings.
On Saturday, a police source said that 279 bodies had been recovered from the crash site in the northern Indian city of Ahmedabad, one of the worst plane disasters of the 21st century.
There was one survivor out of 242 passengers and crew on board the jet when it crashed, leaving the tailpiece of the aircraft jutting out of a hostel for medical staff.
At least 38 people were killed on the ground.
“I saw my child for the first time in two years, it was a great time,” said Anil Patel, whose son and daughter-in-law had surprised him with a visit before boarding the Air India flight.
“And now, there is nothing,” he said, breaking down in tears. “Whatever the gods wanted has happened.”
Distraught relatives of passengers have been providing DNA samples in Ahmedabad, with some having to fly to India to help the process.
The official casualty number will not be finalized until the slow process of DNA identification is completed.
Air India said there were 169 Indian passengers, 53 British, seven Portuguese and a Canadian on board the flight, as well as 12 crew members.
Those killed ranged from a top politician to a teenage tea seller.
The lone survivor, Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, 40, said even he could not explain how he survived.
“Initially, I too thought that I was about to die, but then I opened my eyes and realized that I was still alive,” Ramesh, a British citizen, told national broadcaster DD News from his hospital bed.
Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu said Friday that a flight data recorder, or black box, had been recovered, saying it would “significantly aid” investigations.
Forensic teams are still looking for the second black box, as they probe why the plane crashed after lifting barely 100 meters (330 feet) from the ground.
US planemaker Boeing said it was in touch with Air India and stood “ready to support them” over the incident, which a source close to the case said was the first crash for a 787 Dreamliner.

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