Hello everyone!
I am set to start PhD but my PI wanted me to design a study based on their paper on predictable chronic mild stress.

Pain sensitivity increases with sleep disturbance under predictable chronic mild stress in mice
Dalanon, J., Chikahisa, S., Shiuchi, T. et al. Sci Rep 11, 14231 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-93560-7

It is difficult for me to understand. Can somebody please interpret the results in simple terms?
Thank you all so much.

Hi chrisplaza,

Congratulations on getting accepted to your PhD! Am I correct to say you haven't started yet and if so I wouldn't worry too much. Enjoy your freedom before your PhD starts and don't stress yourself. A PhD is a long slog and you will wish you enjoyed your summer soon enough. Once you start you will have access to more resources to help you develop these necessary skills.

The paper you are looking at is in a prestigious journal and looks to be very ambitious in nature( and it is nature ...). If this is the first paper you are trying to replicate, I would not worry about not understanding everything at once as they are not written for the lay audience. When trying to dissect something like this I would read through it and make a list of every; concept, method, abbreviation and terminology you don't understand. Then investigate everything you don't know so you have a good basis. Other papers will explain different concepts in more detail and will give you the extra knowledge you need. If you desperately need to write something, I would focus on learning each step of the methodology and try to understand both what they are doing and why.

I hope that helps,
rewt