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There is widespread agreement that offspring are shaped by the parenting they receive in early childhood. This development is intertwined with offspring’s biological functioning, evidenced by their telomeres length (TL)—a key biomarker of aging. Until recently, most studies have focused on the detrimental implications of negative parenting for offspring’s TL. Contemporary research is oriented toward exploring the possible resilience-promoting effect of positive parenting on the biological aging of the offspring. We conducted a meta-analysis synthesizing the findings regarding the association between parenting quality and offspring’s TL. It examines whether positive parenting delays aging processes and whether such processes are exacerbated by exposure to negative parenting. An analysis of 15 studies (k = 23; N = 3,599, Mmean cohort’s age = 15.5, SD = 17.5) revealed a significant association between positive parenting and offspring’s longer TL (r = .16, 95% CI [.11, .20]). Negative parenting was associated with an increased risk of TL erosion (r = −.17, 95% CI [−.28, −.06]). Moreover, this negative association became more robust as offspring grew older (β = −.01, p < .001). Future investigations would benefit from probing associations between parental quality and offspring’s development. Interventions fostering positive parenting might also scaffold these biological processes.
Colonialism has produced the global health system, and decoloniality must inform global health law. This article considers the foundational impact of colonialism on the global health system and advocates for adopting decoloniality as a crucial framework to reshape global health law. Through a historical lens, it examines how European colonialism established power dynamics and structures that continue to influence contemporary global health governance. This article calls for overcoming enduring challenges by emphasizing the urgency of dismantling outdated and unjust systems that perpetuate health inequities and hinder effective interventions. It argues for a paradigm shift toward epistemically inclusive, ethical, and equitable practices, emphasizing the active participation of marginalized communities in health policymaking. By addressing the root causes of health disparities and decoupling health systems from racial capitalism, a decolonial approach promises a more just and effective future for global health law.
In soft porous media, deformation drives solute transport via the intrinsic coupling between flow of the fluid and rearrangement of the pore structure. Solute transport driven by periodic loading, in particular, can be of great relevance in applications including the geomechanics of contaminants in the subsurface and the biomechanics of nutrient transport in living tissues and scaffolds for tissue engineering. However, the basic features of this process have not previously been systematically investigated. Here, we fill this hole in the context of a one-dimensional model problem. We do so by expanding the results from a companion study, in which we explored the poromechanics of periodic deformations, by introducing and analysing the impact of the resulting fluid and solid motion on solute transport. We first characterise the independent roles of the three main mechanisms of solute transport in porous media – advection, molecular diffusion and hydrodynamic dispersion – by examining their impacts on the solute concentration profile during one loading cycle. We next explore the impact of the transport parameters, showing how these alter the relative importance of diffusion and dispersion. We then explore the loading parameters by considering a range of loading periods – from slow to fast, relative to the poroelastic time scale – and amplitudes – from infinitesimal to large. We show that solute spreading over several loading cycles increases monotonically with amplitude, but is maximised for intermediate periods because of the increasing poromechanical localisation of the flow and deformation near the permeable boundary as the period decreases.
This article offers practical advice on how to encourage our own students to deliver dynamic presentations to local high school students as their final course projects. Based on years of experience teaching “The Holocaust in American Literature,” I offer specific suggestions on how “traveling teaching” can accomplish memorable moments for our students and high school students alike, thereby providing examples of how a new national initiative that cements a closer relationship between higher education and K-12 schools might proceed.
We prove a genus zero Givental-style mirror theorem for all complete intersections in toric Deligne-Mumford stacks, which provides an explicit slice called big I-function on Givental’s Lagrangian cone for such targets. In particular, we remove a technical assumption called convexity needed in the previous mirror theorem for such complete intersections. In the realm of quasimap theory, our mirror theorem can be viewed as solving the quasimap wall-crossing conjecture for big I-function [13] for these targets. In the proof, we discover a new recursive characterization of the slice on Givental’s Lagrangian cone, which may be of self-independent interests.
In this paper, we prove that if a three-dimensional quasi-projective variety X over an algebraically closed field of characteristic $p>3$ has only log canonical singularities, then so does a general hyperplane section H of X. We also show that the same is true for klt singularities, which is a slight extension of [15]. In the course of the proof, we provide a sufficient condition for log canonical (resp. klt) surface singularities to be geometrically log canonical (resp. geometrically klt) over a field.
We draw a distinction between the traditional reference class problem which describes an obstruction to estimating a single individual probability—which we re-term the individual reference class problem—and what we call the reference class problem at scale, which can result when using tools from statistics and machine learning to systematically make predictions about many individual probabilities simultaneously. We argue that scale actually helps to mitigate the reference class problem, and purely statistical tools can be used to efficiently minimize the reference class problem at scale, even though they cannot be used to solve the individual reference class problem.
Domestic cats have lived alongside human communities for thousands of years, hunting rats, mice, and other pests and serving as pets and a source of pelts and meat. Cats have received limited archaeological attention because their independence limits direct insight into human societies. An adult and juvenile cat recovered from the Emanuel Point wreck 2 (EP2) reflect what are, most likely, the earliest cats in what is now the United States. Zooarchaeological analyses of these and other archaeological cats in the Americas demonstrate that cats ranged substantially in size: some were comparable to modern house cats, and others were much smaller. Isotopic analyses of the adult cat from EP2 provides insight into early shipboard cat behavior and their diet, which appears to have focused on consumption of fish and possibly domestic meat. Cats accompanied sailors on ships where they were relied on to hunt rats and mice that were infesting ships’ holds. Interestingly, based on these isotopic results, the adult cat from EP2 does not seem to have relied heavily on rats as a source of food. These pests were unintentionally introduced to the New World, and cats would have followed, hunting both native and invasive pests.
We performed a field experiment in Uruguay in which a 20-year-old chooses between a socially visible and a non-socially visible good after a friend randomly received one of these goods or an unknown one. We find no differences in choices when the friend received the nonvisible good instead of the unknown one. However, decision-makers significantly changed their allocation when their friend received the visible good. Consistent with status concerns driving the results, those in a disadvantaged position consumed more and those in an advantaged position consumed less of the visible good. These findings constitute the first experimental evidence of Duesenberry’s demonstration effects and show that status consumption is a relevant phenomenon among the youth in a developing country setting.
Kabuki syndrome is a rare multisystem congenital disorder characterized by specific facial malformations and several other symptoms, including motor impairments, increased susceptibility to infections, immune mediators’ deficits, anxiety, and stereotyped behaviors. Considering the reports of motor impairments in Kabuki syndrome patients, the first hypothesis of the present study was that this motor dysfunction was a consequence of striatal dopaminergic modulation. The second hypothesis was that the peripheral immune system dysfunctions were a consequence of neuroinflammatory processes. To study these hypotheses the mutant bapa mouse was used as it is a validated experimental model of Kabuki syndrome.
Methods:
Exploratory behavior, anxiety-like behavior (light-dark test), repetitive/stereotyped behavior (spontaneous and induced self-grooming), and tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), astrocyte glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), and ionized calcium-binding adaptor molecule 1 (Iba1) striatal expressions were evaluated in female adult bapa and control mice.
Results:
Female bapa mice did not present anxiety-like behavior, but exploratory hyperactivity and stereotyped behavior both on the spontaneous and induced self-grooming tests. Striatal TH, GFAP, and Iba1 expressions were also increased in bapa mice.
Conclusion:
The exploratory hyperactivity and the stereotyped behavior occurred in detriment of the striatal dopaminergic system hyperactivity and a permanent neuroinflammatory process.
The One Health approach is increasingly recognised as a holistic solution to complex global health and ecological challenges. Legislation is of utmost relevance for its effective implementation, providing a mechanism to institutionalise intersectoral and interdisciplinary collaboration, clarify responsibilities, and promote sustainability. However, the legal nature of One Health remains underexplored.
This paper examines how the key underlying principles of One Health align with legal principles and concepts broadly recognised by legal literature and jurisprudence, including those articulated in the Rio Declaration and the International Law Association’s New Delhi Declaration on principles of international law relating to sustainable development. Emphasis is placed on the principle of integration, a cornerstone of sustainable development that offers a pathway to operationalize One Health within legal frameworks.
By conceptualizing One Health as an extension and practical application of the principle of integration, this paper advances its characterisation as a legal concept, embedding it within broader principles of international law. One Health is positioned as a legal construct, providing a pathway for its implementation through law and affirming its role as an integral component of sustainable development.
Over the last three years, Larry Gostin, I, and many others have urged world leaders to open their minds toward specific subsets of reform in the interest of pandemic response, including mechanisms for transparency, accountability, and, crucially, financial buy-in. With negotiations for a new pandemic accord still incomplete, our focus must remain on reaching global agreement, and keeping at top of mind the immense stakes if that is not possible.
Introducing new herbicides requires a comprehensive understanding of how crops respond to various herbicide-related factors. Fluridone was registered for rice production in 2023, but research on rice tolerance to this herbicide is lacking. Hence, field research aimed to 1) evaluate the effect of fluridone application timing on rice tolerance and 2) assess rice response to fluridone in a mixture with standard rice herbicides applied to three-leaf rice. Both experiments were conducted in a delay-flooded dry-seeded system using a randomized complete block design, with four replications. Treatments in the first experiment included a nontreated control and ten application timings, ranging from 20 days preplant to postflood. The second experiment had a two-factor factorial structure, with factor A being the presence/absence of fluridone, and factor B being herbicide partners, including bispyribac-sodium, fenoxaprop, penoxsulam, propanil, quinclorac, quizalofop, and saflufenacil. In the first experiment, the maximum injury in 2022 was 28%, caused by the preemergence (PRE) treatment. In 2023, fluridone applied preemergence caused the greatest injury (42%) two weeks after flood establishment, declining to 37% late-season (thirteen days before rice reached 50% heading). Yield reductions of 21% occurred with the delayed-preemergence (DPRE) treatment in 2022 and 42% with the PRE treatment in 2023. Mixing fluridone with standard herbicides increased rice injury by no more than eight percentage points compared to the herbicides alone. Additionally, no adverse effects on rice groundcover or grain yield resulted from fluridone in the mixture. These results indicate a need to avoid fluridone applications near planting because of negative impacts on rice. Furthermore, fluridone can be mixed with commonly used rice herbicides, offering minimal risk to rice.
A fundamental extremality result due to Sidorenko [‘A partially ordered set of functionals corresponding to graphs’, Discrete Math.131(1–3) (1994), 263–277] states that among all connected graphs G on k vertices, the k-vertex star maximises the number of graph homomorphisms of G into any graph H. We provide a new short proof of this result using only a simple recursive counting argument for trees and Hölder’s inequality.
We evaluated the impact of an established nutrition education intervention, ‘PhunkyFoods’ on food literacy, cooking skills, and fruit and vegetable intake in primary school aged children.
Design:
A pre-registered cluster randomised controlled trial was used; the intervention group received the ‘PhunkyFoods’ programme and the wait-list control group received the usual school curriculum. Primary outcomes measured were differences in food literacy and cooking skills scores between the intervention and control arms after 12 months adjusted for baseline values.
Setting:
The trial was undertaken in 26 primary schools in North Yorkshire, UK.
Participants:
631 children aged 6 – 9 years participated (intervention n = 307, control n = 324) through assemblies, classroom activities and after-school clubs.
Results:
There were no significant effects of the intervention compared to control on food literacy, cooking skills, vegetable intake or fruit intake. Adjusting for baseline, the Food Literacy Total Score was 1.13 points lower in the intervention group than the control (95% CI -2.87 to 0.62, p = 0.2). The Cooking Skills Total Score was 0.86 lower in the intervention group compared to the control (95% CI = -5.17 to 3.45, p = 0.69). Girls scored 2.8 points higher than boys in cooking skills across the sample (95% CI = 0.88 to 4.82, p < 0.01).
Conclusion:
The intervention did not result in improved food literacy or cooking skills, though sex effects on these outcomes were observed. More practical food preparation hours are needed in primary schools to improve likelihood of an effect on outcomes.
Innominate vein redirection to the pulmonary venous atrium has been used in single ventricle patients in order to relieve lymphatic complications resulting from systemic venous hypertension. This has been achieved both surgically, known as the Hraska procedure and via transcatheter approach, known as the Rome procedure. Determining the pathway from the innominate vein to the pulmonary venous atrium is challenging with important intra- and extra-cardiac structures close-by. We present two cases; one surgical and one transcatheter approach, where 3D-printed cardiac models were used to assist in the pre-procedural planning of this relatively novel and challenging strategy.
Children with developmental language disorder (DLD) often struggle with theory of mind (ToM). This study explored the link between parental reflective functioning (PRF) and children’s ToM, focusing on the mediating role of parental stress (PS). A total of 80 children aged 4–7 years (40 with DLD and 40 with typical language development, TLD) and their parents were included for analysis. Assessments included the WPPSI-IV, NEPSY-II, TEC, and ELT for children and the PRFQ and PSI-SF4 for parents. Results showed that children with DLD performed similarly to their TLD peers in terms of nonverbal intelligence but faced difficulties with cognitive and affective ToM and understanding of emotional terms (UET). Parents of DLD children exhibited low interest and curiosity (PRF components) and high PS, particularly due to dysfunctional interactions and challenging behaviors. Mediation analysis revealed that low parental interest and curiosity negatively affected children’s cognitive ToM and UET through increased PS from dysfunctional interactions. These findings highlight the need for early interventions to enhance ToM in children with DLD and support parents in better understanding and interacting with their child. Such interventions can reduce parent–child stress and promote ToM development of children with DLD, aligning with bioecological models of development.