KnE Top Picks for January 2026
On February 18, 2026
This collection of studies highlights how research is responding to complex challenges across health, education, food systems, and sustainability. Together, the featured articles examine the interplay between physical and mental well-being, from chronic illness and childhood development to the social dimensions of care and quality of life. They also explore how everyday practices, such as food production, waste management, and material design, can be reimagined to support healthier populations and more sustainable environments. Broader structural questions emerge around inequality, urban-rural divides, and the transition toward circular and resource-efficient economies. Taken as a whole, these studies reflect a shared commitment to innovation that is grounded in human needs, cultural contexts, and long-term environmental responsibility, offering insights that cut across disciplines while pointing toward more inclusive and resilient futures.
What Gets in the Way of Fathers Being More Involved?
Fatherhood today looks very different from a few decades ago. As family structures evolve and expectations around caregiving shift, fathers are increasingly recognised as key contributors to children’s emotional, cognitive, and social development. Yet being an involved parent isn’t just about willingness; it’s shaped by work demands, social norms, access to services, and how supportive systems are set up around families. These challenges can become even more complex when raising children with additional needs, where caregiving requires time, flexibility, and coordinated support across home, healthcare, and education.
This study from the Gulf Education and Social Policy Review looks closely at why father engagement can be difficult despite good intentions. Using a combined behavioural and ecological framework, it explores how personal skills and motivation interact with wider social and institutional barriers.
Can Slow and Steady Lifestyle Changes Transform Health?
Obesity has become one of the most pressing public health challenges worldwide, closely linked to heart disease, diabetes, and other long-term conditions that affect both quality of life and life expectancy. Globally, obesity is now a leading risk factor for premature death, with projections estimating that over 570 million people will be living with obesity by 2030. In the UAE, the issue is particularly urgent: around one in four adults currently lives with obesity, physical inactivity affects nearly 58% of the population, and the economic cost is expected to reach almost 5% of GDP by 2035. These trends reflect broader lifestyle shifts toward sedentary routines and diets high in ultra-processed foods.
This case report from the Arab Journal of Nutrition and Exercise highlights how gradual, sustainable lifestyle changes can significantly improve weight and cardiometabolic health.
Can Hands-on Therapies Offer Relief for Chronic Back Pain?
Chronic low back pain is one of the most common health conditions worldwide, affecting an estimated 70–85% of people at some point in their lives and placing a significant burden on healthcare systems due to its long-lasting nature and high treatment costs. Its persistence is closely linked to modern lifestyles, including sedentary behaviour, as well as psychosocial factors such as stress, sleep disturbances, and job dissatisfaction. While treatment options range from exercise and physical therapy to medications like non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and muscle relaxants, long-term management remains challenging.
This narrative review from the Dubai Medical Journal examines the effectiveness of osteopathic manipulative therapy (OMT), a hands-on approach that targets musculoskeletal dysfunction through techniques such as stretching and spinal manipulation.
Can Probiotics Improve Hormonal Balance and Quality of Life in Women with PCOS?
Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) affects around 10% of women of reproductive age and is a leading cause of infertility, with wide-ranging effects on hormonal health, metabolism, and overall well-being. Often linked to insulin resistance, obesity, and increased risks of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes, PCOS is also influenced by lifestyle and dietary factors. Growing evidence suggests that the gut microbiome plays a key role in hormonal regulation and inflammation, making it a promising target for treatment.
This study from the International Journal of Reproductive BioMedicine explores whether supplementation with two specific probiotic strains can improve metabolic and hormonal profiles, reduce oxidative stress, and enhance quality of life in women with PCOS.
Is Glaucoma Linked to a Higher Risk of Mental Health Disorders?
Glaucoma is the leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide, and despite available treatments, a significant number of patients still experience vision loss. Beyond its physical impact, growing attention has turned to its potential psychological burden, as individuals living with glaucoma may face heightened anxiety or depression due to the threat of permanent visual impairment. At the same time, mental health disorders are frequently accompanied by other chronic conditions, and shared risk factors, such as age, metabolic disease, and medication use, may further complicate outcomes.
Using a large national database, this study from the Journal of Ophthalmic and Vision Research examines the association between glaucoma and selected mental health disorders, while also exploring how race and ethnicity may influence this relationship, offering a more nuanced understanding of glaucoma as a complex, multidimensional disease.
How Do Rural-Urban Education Gaps Shape Social Equity in a Rapidly Urbanising World?
As countries undergo rapid urbanisation, education systems are often stretched in uneven ways, revealing stark contrasts between rural and urban communities. Differences in access to quality schooling, educational resources, and broader social support can shape life outcomes, reinforcing cycles of inequality and limiting social mobility. These gaps matter not only for individual learners but also for national development, as equitable education is closely tied to economic resilience, workforce readiness, and social cohesion. Research increasingly emphasises the need to understand how geography, infrastructure, and community support intersect to influence educational opportunity.
Focusing on these dynamics, this study from KnE Social Sciences examines socio-educational support disparities between rural and urban communities in Malaysia, highlighting how uneven development continues to affect educational equity and long-term societal outcomes.
Could Early Childhood Care Practises Influence Bedwetting Later in Life?
Childhood development is shaped by complex interactions among biological maturation, family habits, and broader social environments. Conditions such as nocturnal enuresis highlight how developmental, psychological, and environmental factors can intersect, affecting not only physical health but also a child’s emotional well-being and social confidence. While bedwetting often resolves naturally for many children, its persistence can place stress on families and carry lasting psychosocial consequences. Growing attention is therefore being paid to everyday caregiving practises and how they may influence key developmental milestones like toilet training.
This hospital-based case study from the Sudan Journal of Medical Sciences examines whether prolonged use of disposable diapers is associated with nocturnal enuresis in school-aged children, addressing an underexplored issue in paediatric health research.
How Can Ingredient Choices Redefine the Foods We Consume Every Day?
As consumer awareness of nutrition, functionality, and food quality continues to grow, research is increasingly focused on how small ingredient changes can significantly influence both health and sensory experience. Everyday products like condiments are no longer viewed as static recipes, but as adaptable foods that can be improved through thoughtful formulation. Factors such as fat composition, digestibility, texture, and stability all play a role in shaping consumer preference and product performance. Within this broader conversation, food science is exploring how alternative oils and natural emulsifiers can balance nutritional value with taste and consistency.
This study in KnE Life Sciences contributes to that effort by examining how substituting soybean oil and using different types of egg yolks affect the chemical and sensory characteristics of mayonnaise, offering insights into more stable and nutritionally favourable formulations.
Can Everyday Waste Become the Foundation for More Sustainable Products?
As global consumption continues to rise, managing household waste has become one of the most pressing environmental challenges of our time. Food scraps and organic byproducts, often discarded without a second thought, represent an underused resource with significant potential for reuse and innovation. Across industries, researchers are exploring how simple technologies and smarter design can transform waste into a practical, eco-friendly alternative to single-use products. Approaches that combine sustainability with efficiency are especially important in regions facing rapid urban growth and limited landfill capacity.
This study in KnE Engineering proposes a semi-automative hydraulic hotpress tool designed to convert kitchen waste into biodegradable tableware, offering a practical response to food waste management challenges in Indonesia.
Can the Gulf Reimagine Growth Through a Circular Economy?
As sustainability moves from aspiration to necessity, circular economy models are gaining traction as a way to rethink how resources are used, reused, and regenerated. For regions balancing rapid development with environmental limits, this shift offers an opportunity to decouple economic growth from waste and resource depletion. The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) sits at a pivotal moment in this transition, shaped by high consumption patterns, environmental pressures, and ambitious national visions for the future. While individual countries have begun embedding circular principles into policy and strategy, a clear regional picture has been missing.
This study from the Journal of Excellence in Wellness and Environmental Studies responds to that gap by offering a comprehensive benchmarking analysis across all GCC states, mapping progress, highlighting disparities, and proposing a strategic framework to accelerate the region’s collective move toward a circular economy.