Antenatal steroids (ANS) are one of the most widely prescribed medications in pregnancy, being administered to women at risk of preterm delivery. In the setting of preterm delivery at or below 35 weeks’ gestation, systematic review data show ANS reduce perinatal morbidity and mortality, primarily by promoting fetal lung maturation. However, with the expanding use of this intervention has come a growing appreciation for the potential off-target, adverse effects of ANS therapy on wider fetal development. We undertook a narrative literature review of the animal and clinical literature to assess current evidence for adverse effects of ANS exposure and fetal development. This review presents a summary of the evidence relating to the potential for wide-ranging, off-target, adverse effects of ANS therapy on fetal development and programming. We highlight an urgent need for further animal and clinical studies investigating the effects of ANS on the fetal immune, cardiovascular, renal and hepatic systems given a current sparsity of evidence. We also strongly suggest an emphasis on open disclosure, discussion and education of clinicians and patients with regard to the potential benefits and risks of ANS therapy, particularly in late preterm and term gestations where infants derive relatively few benefits from these drugs. We also propose further studies on the optimisation of ANS therapy through improved patient selection and improved dosing regimens based on a pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic informed understanding of ANS action on the fetal lung.

This article describes and examines six decades of the study of Asian laws around the world to construct a global map of the field. It demonstrates that Asian legal studies have been increasingly institutionalized, as evident in the global proliferation of centers, programs, associations, book series, journals, and courses. Substantively, Asian laws scholarship has grown into a sophisticated system of varied learning, including jurisprudence, legal history, comparative law, law and society, law and economics, and international law.

The institutional and substantive development of Asian legal studies follows a few common patterns corresponding to legal, social, and economic developments in the region. These include the formation of Asian legal studies during the post-World War II and post-colonial period between the 1950s and 1970s; its transition during the post-Cold War period between the 1980s and 1990s; and the transformation of the field in the context of globalization in the 21st century, projected as the “Asian century.”

Global studies in Asian laws are driven by both a deontological search for new knowledge and the instrumental necessity for a wide range of international, national, and individual actors. Instrumentalism, however, tends to play a stronger role in shaping Asian legal studies, and this pushes the focus toward large and developed jurisdictions and emphasis on contemporary legal issues.

As a consequence, Asian legal studies as a discipline displays two opposite trends: integration and differentiation. On the one hand, various specific areas of Asian laws deal with common cross-cutting themes, including religion, colonialism, pluralism, authoritarianism, and development, which renders them integral parts of the larger system. On the other hand, as the scholarship has grown to a greater level of complexity, disciplinary balkanization has become discernible. Different areas of Asian laws have different institutional, theoretical, and methodological underpinnings.

The future development of Asian legal studies requires the inclusive study of different areas of the laws of different Asian peoples. This inclusivity is premised on a balance of the considerations of necessity and the intrinsic pursuit of knowledge of Asian laws.

Since the 1980s, research has linked environmental factors to adult-onset diseases. The DOHaD theory suggests that exposures during development can permanently affect organ function, predisposing individuals to adult diseases. Studies indicate that protein restriction or a high-fat diet (HFD) during this phase impacts adult metabolism since programmed dysfunctions may depend on changes established during puberty, such as the reproductive system. However, there are no studies on the impact of low-protein (LP) or HFD on male testicles during this phase. For this, Male Wistar rats were categorized into three dietary groups: LP (isocaloric low-protein pelletized); HFD; and Control (balanced commercial) until PND 60. This study was approved by the CEUA-UEM. On postnatal day 61, the animals were euthanized for histopathological, sperm count, and oxidative stress assessments in the testis and epididymis. Statistical analyses were conducted following established ethical principles in animal research. The research revealed significant alterations in daily sperm production and transit through the epididymis. Sperm morphology was affected in the experimental groups. Mitochondrial activity increased in the HFD group. Testicular and epididymal histopathology, seminiferous tubule diameter, and germinal epithelium height, as well as the number of Sertoli and Leydig cells, remained unchanged. Stereological analysis revealed tissue remodeling in the epididymis, particularly in the LP group. LP group showed an increase in lipid peroxidation in the oxidative damage test. In conclusion, low-protein and HFD during peripubertal age did not affect postnatal testicular development in rats. However, they impacted sperm quality, potentially affecting fertility and male reproductive system development.

The papers in this special issue have highlighted new perspectives on food charity activities, as well as notions of food and ethics in contemporary Vietnam. As Vietnam is rapidly changing, food-related activities are dynamic phenomena that reflect the social, moral, and economic changes unfolding in society. However, ethnographic research on food culture in Vietnam published in English has been scarce. This epilogue provides a few exploratory insights into interesting social phenomena in recent years that exemplify the shifting landscape of cuisine and food ethics in modern Vietnam.

Today, it is customary to describe the Japanese archipelago in terms of the neutral distinction between the Sea of Japan side (Nihonkai-gawa) and the Pacific Ocean side (Taiheiyō-gawa). For much of the 20th century, however, these regions were called respectively ura Nihon and omote Nihon, or roughly “the Backside of Japan” and “the Frontside of Japan.” This continued until the 1960s when the terms were criticized as discriminatory and their usage terminated. How, then, did the Sea of Japan coastal region come to be known by the discriminatory term “the Backside”? Intrigued by this question, this paper retraces the little-studied history of the place name ura Nihon. As I will show, behind the place name ura Nihon are forgotten histories not just of uneven domestic economic development but also colonial expansion and empire building in Northeast Asia. That is, ura Nihon is both a history of the Japanese nation and of the empire. By retelling this history, the paper seeks to contribute to understanding the ways in which empire building in Northeast Asia was connected to the domestic history of the Japanese nation-state in the 20th century.

The four major countries of East Asia—China, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan—form one of the most densely populated regions on earth, and through the course of the late 20th and early 21st centuries the region experienced some of its fastest economic growth, propelled by the policies of state-led developmentalism. As a result of this density and these policies, the four countries in turn became some of the most environmentally degraded. As each achieved middle-to-high income status, however, the populace and then the regime in each country realized that they could not sustain either rapid economic growth or popular legitimacy without addressing the environmental consequences of this fast growth. The four states thus changed their fundamental economic policies from pure developmentalism to what we call eco-developmentalism, an attempt to reconcile economic prosperity with environmental sustainability. Although success so far has been mixed, this turn to eco-developmentalism has allowed these states to claim world leadership in mitigating environmental degradation.

This paper considers Africa's place in China's 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. The Maritime Silk Road is a major component of the “Belt and Road” development framework announced by Chinese President Xi Jinping in late 2013. While the People's Republic of China has been actively engaged in Africa since 1960, the Maritime Silk Road promises an intensification of Chinese investment on the continent, especially in infrastructural projects including the construction of railways, airports and deepwater ports. The paper will contextualize these development projects in China's new normal of single-digit growth, and explain that the “Belt and Road” should be seen as one of China's new engines of growth. The paper will conclude with an examination of the question of whether China is engaged in neocolonialism in Africa.

Japan is shrinking. Current projections indicate a population decrease of around one quarter by mid-century. Depopulation is potentially good news, providing opportunities for reconfiguring living conditions and alleviating human-environmental pressures. Nevertheless, ageing and depopulation have outcomes that require adjustment. One of these is spatial inequalities, which have been accelerating since the 1990s. Japan is the Asia-Pacific’s pioneer ageing and shrinking society. In East Asia both China and South Korea are ageing and expected to begin shrinking soon. Even high immigration Anglophone countries such as New Zealand are experiencing post-growth demographic processes at subnational level. Japan’s significance is in how adaptive responses there inform prospects for others as they experience their own post-growth pathways. This article presents case studies of Sado Island in Japan and New Zealand’s South Island in a comparative qualitative analysis of rural agency under population decline. Overall, I contend there is potential for benefitting from demographic shrinkage - what I term a ‘depopulation dividend’ - and for rural regions in the Asia-Pacific to progress towards a sustainable post-growth economy and society.

We assess the proposition that intergroup conflict (IGC) in non-human primates offers a useful comparison for studies of human IGC and its links to parochial altruism and prosociality. That is, for non-linguistic animals, social network integration and maternal influence promote juvenile engagement in IGC and can serve as the initial grounding for sociocultural processes that drive human cooperation. Using longitudinal data from three cohorts of non-adult vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus pygerythrus), we show that non-adults are sensitive to personal (age) and situational risk (participant numbers). The frequency and intensity of participation, although modulated by rank and temperament, both mirrors maternal participation and reflects non-adult centrality in the grooming network. The possibility of social induction is corroborated by the distribution of grooming during IGC, with non-adults being more likely to be groomed if they were female, higher-ranking and participants themselves. Mothers were more likely to groom younger offspring participants of either sex, whereas other adults targeted higher-ranking female participants. Although we caution against a facile alignment of these outcomes to human culturally mediated induction, there is merit in considering how the embodied act of participation and the resultant social give-and-take might serve as the basis for a unified comparative investigation of prosociality.

The olive black scale, Saissetia oleae (Olivier), is a significant pest of olive crops worldwide. The developmental, reproductive, and population growth parameters of S. oleae were evaluated under five constant temperature conditions (18°C to 33°C). Developmental durations significantly decreased with increasing temperatures. Female lifespan decreased from 161.6 days at 18°C to 104.3 days at 33°C, while male lifespan decreased from 96.8 days at 18°C to 49.4 days at 33°C. The highest sex ratio (proportion of females) of 0.35 was observed at 30°C, with pre-adult survival rates of 63%, while survival rates dropped to 28% at 18°C. Parthenogenesis was not observed in females. The total pre-oviposition and post-oviposition periods decreased with increasing temperature, with the longest oviposition period at 33°C (49.6 days). Maximum fecundity was recorded at 33°C (379.0 eggs/female), followed by 30°C (298.6 eggs/female), and decreased sharply at 18°C (90.1 eggs/female). The intrinsic rate of increase (r) was highest at 30 and 33°C (0.038 d⁻1), while the net reproductive rate (R0) peaked at 30°C (104.5 offspring/female). The predicted fecundity of the next generation showed significant potential growth at 27 and 30°C, with the population increasing 65.3 times at 30°C and 39.4 times at 27°C. The developmental threshold for S. oleae was highest for first-instar nymphs (7.58°C), while second-instar nymphs had lower thresholds (1.09–1.65°C), with total pre-adult development requiring 1250 degree-days for both males and females. These findings underscore the significant impact of temperature on the development and reproduction of S. oleae, with implications for pest management in olive orchards.

In the decades after the death of Iosif Stalin in 1953, Soviet foreign policy shifted away from isolationism to knowledge transfer and competition with the West, as well as robust engagement with the decolonising and non-aligned world. A core component of this reorientation was the reversal of the USSR’s temporary withdrawal from international organisations. This article explores the Soviet Red Cross’s involvement in the League of Red Cross Societies and argues that the two organisations engaged in a mutually beneficial partnership that was built upon shared visions of humanitarianism and development. In this period, the Soviet Red Cross co-hosted major international seminars and conferences with the League, helped to channel humanitarian relief to conflict zones, and supported the League’s development initiatives in the Global South. In return, the League offered the Soviets opportunities to forge links with newly independent countries of the decolonising world and advance narratives about Soviet superiority to international and domestic audiences.

In the first half of the twentieth century, Protestant internationalism and missions turned their attention to social and economic matters. The 1920/30s saw an agricultural turn that was paralleled by a global discourse on the “improvement” of the rural. While the transformations in Protestant internationalism have been addressed in view of theological, ecumenical, and geopolitical changes, historians have yet to acknowledge the complex interplay of their local and global effects. By focusing on the work of a particular agent in agricultural missions, the International Missionary Council and its rural expert Kenyon L. Butterfield, and their engagement with rural reconstruction in India, China, and Japan, this article argues that impactful schemes necessitated the cooperation of a wide array of actors, from private to state, from foreign missionaries to local Christian and non-Christian communities and activists. Missionary and Christian rural reconstruction in Asia in the interwar period was shaped by forces of nationalism, (anti-)colonialism, and secularization that could benefit, halt, and transform comprehensive schemes. While the impact of missionary rural reconstruction was eventually hampered by its inherently universalist and invasive nature, its drive for professionalization led to manifold cooperations and careers that transitioned well into and in many ways anticipated and prepared a post-World War II development discourse.

This article explores the global political economy of paper—particularly newsprint—during the era of decolonisation. It shows how Third World countries, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), and the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) understood newsprint as an infrastructural tool for accelerating development. However, a ‘paper famine’ in the mid-1970s exposed the major structural inequalities in the global newsprint trade, catalysing experiments to develop local paper manufacturing capacity in the Third World. The article demonstrates how debates about access to newsprint were tightly bound up with arguments about global information flows and the role of the press in the developing world. In so doing, the article argues that bringing global histories of commodities and communications into conversation enriches our understanding of the media by drawing attention to the material substance by which information circulates.