Based on the case report of Nathan Goldstein et al., “But I have a pacer…there is no point in engaging in hypothetical scenarios”: A Non-imminently Dying Patient’s Request for Pacemaker Deactivation, it is reasonable to conclude that it was, all-things-considered, ethically appropriate to grant the patient’s request to deactivate her pacemaker. Philosophically, and as a clinical ethicist, I support the team’s decision to honor the patient’s request for pacemaker deactivation. However, it is worth exploring a bit further whether the distress on the part of the outside hospital’s ethics committee and providers—who declined to honor the patient’s request for pacemaker deactivation—may actually track something of moral significance. In this commentary, I argue that there are reasonable grounds for holding that deactivation of a ‘biofixture’ such as a pacemaker may be more analogous in moral terms to medical aid in dying than it is to standard cases of withdrawal of life support at the end of a patient’s life.

MagNetUS is a network of scientists and research groups that coordinates and advocates for fundamental magnetized plasma research in the USA. Its primary goal is to bring together a broad community of researchers and the experimental and numerical tools they use in order to facilitate the sharing of ideas, resources and common tasks. Discussed here are the motivation and goals for this network and details of its formation, history and structure. An overview of associated experimental facilities and numerical projects is provided, along with examples of scientific topics investigated therein. Finally, a vision for the future of the organization is given.

Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), the world’s largest Islamic organisation, is renowned for fostering tolerance in Indonesia. However, recent studies have revealed that the degrees of tolerance NU displays are inconsistent, throwing the organisation’s reputation for acceptance into question. By adopting critical juncture and case study analyses, this article finds that tolerance within NU is dynamic for three reasons. First, it evolves depending on the social-political context of the time. Second, NU upholds tolerance within specific limits, extending it to those who do not contradict the Islamic values it upholds and who do not pose a threat to the unitary state of the Republic of Indonesia (NKRI). Third, the commitment to tolerance by NU’s membership, the nahdliyin, varies and does not always align with NU’s principles.

Migrant residential concentration areas have been a significant focus for research, but academic attention has primarily centered on their effects rather than how they form. There is some research considering the discrete factors of such areas’ emergence, but these factors are rarely fused into a comprehensive explanation with a description of specific mechanisms in operation. Even less is known about the formation of migrant residential concentration areas in postsocialist cities. The few studies in existence leave the impression that such areas emerge around bazaars by default. In this article, based on a multicase study (N = 37) conducted in the 15 largest Russian cities, we argue that although there is a pattern of migrant residential concentration areas’ emergence in postsocialist cities, this process takes place only in the presence of a combination of seven factors. The article presents these factors and describes an ideal type of a migrant residential concentration area in a Russian city and mechanisms of its emergence. The article concludes with the comparison of the postsocialist pattern with other types of migrant residential concentration and hypothesizing on how the Russian case differs from the other postsocialist cases in Central and Eastern Europe.

Consider a simple argument that worshipping God is wrong. This world is not a nice place. Not only do humans persecute and inflict other evils on each other, but millions of people suffer and die every year from preventable poverty-related causes, and it seems that few, if any, deserve their plights. It is unclear that we should want to be associated with, never mind worship, a being with the capacity to make the world a much better place but whose beneficence (or knowledge) permits things to go on in the ways that they do. At first blush, contempt is a more fitting response to God than worship. But, assuming God exists, perhaps we have reason to accept, if not worship, him in any case. Humans are comparably limited. We do evil unto each other, and, insofar as millions of deaths are preventable, our failure to prevent them is a failure of humans as well as of God. If we could (and should) have saved many lives and have not, our moral failings present us with our own, human, problem of evil and suffering. So, if we should reject God because so many people suffer, then we should reject ourselves when we could avoid evil and help others too. However, this article argues that we have practical, moral, and epistemic reasons to accept rather than reject ourselves, and similarly we have reasons to accept God. And if we have reason to accept God, then we have some reason to worship God. Worship is a way of acknowledging our own limitations and can help us survive, flourish, and help others in the face of the problems of human evil and suffering.

This study on distribution of Ophiothrix savignyi was carried out from 2017 to 2022 in the Iranian waters of the Persian Gulf. Nineteen locations were sampled from coastal waters, including 16 newly reported areas. O. savignyi was epizoic, associated mostly with sponges, sea urchins, and soft corals. This survey shows O. savignyi as the most common and widespread brittle star in the northern and eastern Persian Gulf. In this study, O. savignyi, has been described again from the Persian Gulf.

The terminology of “lives not worth living,” “worthwhile lives,” and “unworthwhile lives,” used by John Harris and many others, has become an accepted linguistic convention in bioethical discussions. These terms are used to distinguish lives of overwhelming negative experience from lives that are or are expected to be of overall positive value. As such, this terminology seems helpful in discussions around resource allocation, end-of-life decision making and questions of when it might be acceptable (and unacceptable) to reproduce. This paper argues that there is, however, a problematic ambiguity inherent in these general terms that is particularly evident when it comes to discussing reproductive choices. It is suggested that in this context, this ambiguity can conceal authoritarian eugenic motivations that are difficult to justify and that many using these terms would not adhere to. As a result, it is argued that we should replace these terms with the terms “intrinsically valuable” and “intrinsically harmful.” This would make it more explicit what exactly is meant and would allow these matters to be debated with greater clarity.

This study examines to what extent phonetic reduction in different accents affects intelligibility for non-native (L2) listeners, and whether similar reduction processes in listeners’ first language (L1) facilitate the recognition and processing of reduced word forms in the target language. In two experiments, 80 Dutch-speaking and 80 Spanish-speaking learners of English were presented with unreduced and reduced pronunciation variants in native and non-native English speech. Results showed that unreduced words are recognized more accurately and more quickly than reduced words, regardless of whether these variants occur in non-regionally, regionally or non-native accented speech. No differential effect of phonetic reduction on intelligibility and spoken word recognition was observed between Dutch-speaking and Spanish-speaking participants, despite the absence of strong vowel reduction in Spanish. These findings suggest that similar speech processes in listeners’ L1 and L2 do not invariably lead to an intelligibility benefit or a cross-linguistic facilitation effect in lexical access.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic autoimmune inflammatory disease that affects the joints. Treatments are symptomatic and can induce side effects in some patients. In this sense and based on previous studies, our aim was to investigate the ex vivo immunoregulatory effect of the laminated layer (LL) during rheumatoid arthritis. LL is the outside layer of parasitic cyst of the helminth Echinococcus granulosus.

Our main objective was to study the effect of LL on nitric oxide (NO) and cytokines production, matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) activities, inducible NO synthase (iNOS) and nuclear factor κappa B (NF-κB) expression. In this context, cultures of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from Algerian RA patients in active (ARA) and inactive (IRA) stage of the disease were stimulated with LL extract (50, 100, 150μg/mL). However, PBMC from ARA patients were stimulated with methotrexate (MTX; 0.5μg/mL) and biological disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (bDMARDs): anti-TNFα (10μg/mL), anti-IL6 (10μg/mL), anti-CD20 (10μg/mL), alone or combined with LL (50μg/mL).

Our results showed that LL reduced NO, TNF-α, and IL-17A production, MMP9/2 activities, and iNOS/NF-κB expression in PBMC from ARA patients. Concomitantly, LL increases IL-10 and TGF-β1 production in the same cultures. Interestingly, the decrease in NO production induced by bDMARDs was greater in association with LL.

Collectively, our findings indicate a strong immunoregulatory effect of LL on NO, MMPs, and cytokines. LL probably acts through the NF-κB pathway. The development of biodrugs derived from LL of E. granulosus could be a potential candidate to modulate inflammation during RA.

Psychopathology assessed across the lifespan often can be summarized with a few broad dimensions: internalizing, externalizing, and psychosis/thought disorder. Extensive overlap between internalizing and externalizing symptoms has garnered interest in bifactor models comprised of a general co-occurring factor and specific internalizing and externalizing factors. We focus on internalizing and externalizing symptoms and compare a bifactor model to a correlated two-factor model of psychopathology at three timepoints in a large adolescent community sample (N = 387; 55 % female; 83% Caucasian; M age = 12.1 at wave 1) using self- and parent-reports. Each model was tested within each time-point with 25–28 validators. The bifactor models demonstrated better fit to the data. Child report had stronger invariance across time. Parent report had stronger reliability over time. Cross-informant correlations between the factors at each wave indicated that the bifactor model had slightly poorer convergent validity but stronger discriminant validity than the two-factor model. With notable exceptions, this pattern of results replicated across informants and waves. The overlap between internalizing and externalizing pathology is systematically and, sometimes, non-linearly related to risk factors and maladaptive outcomes. Strengths and weaknesses to modeling psychopathology as two or three factors and clinical and developmental design implications are discussed.

This article seeks to understand the evolving democratic legitimacy demands of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) by reflecting on the challenges of catering to a globally affected public and enhanced participation opportunities given to some highly affected groups. It argues that the principle of democratic equality at a global scale fails to take account of inequities in affectedness and power within the demos and, instead, an approach that strives towards a principle of proportionality based on degrees of affectedness could enhance the UNFCCC’s democratic legitimacy. This builds on existing scholarship identifying a turn to an affectedness paradigm in international institutions more generally and the emerging influence of affected peoples organisations, characterised by the more direct forms of representation they facilitate and emphasis placed on the affectedness of their constituents to claim recognition and influence. The normative appeal of giving enhanced participatory opportunities to those most affected by climate governance is weighed against its challenges and risks. It is concluded that, despite conceptual and practical difficulties connected to the subjective nature of affectedness, a pragmatic approach that treats such a proportionality principle as a democratic ideal to be strived towards could have a legitimising effect on the UNFCCC.

Menarche and pubertal onset vary across populations but understanding age-at-menarche (AAM) and pubertal growth tempo is limited in low-income settings. Identifying factors influencing pubertal development is vital for creating targeted health and education programmes supporting adolescent girls’ well-being. Baseline data (n = 1045) from the Ten2Twenty-Ghana study were analysed to examine menarche attainment, pubertal development, AAM, and the associated factors among girls aged 10-17 years in the Mion district, Ghana. The data collection methods included anthropometry, body composition, haemoglobin status, a qualitative 24-hour dietary recall, a food frequency questionnaire, and a pubertal development score (PDS). Binary logistic and linear regression analyses were used to model odds ratios for menarche attainment and regression coefficients for AAM and PDS. About 19.9% of the girls had experienced menarche, with a mean AAM of 13.4 ± 1.5 years. Among post-menarche girls (n = 205/1045), 12.2% and 15.1% experienced early (AAM < 12 years) and late menarche (AAM < 15 years), respectively. The mean PDS was 1.8 ± 0.7 out of 4. Among the adolescent girls, 36.2% were prepubertal, 17.0% early –pubertal, 18.6% mid-pubertal, 27.9% late pubertal, and less than 1% were in the post-pubertal stage. An increase in fat mass (FM), fat-free mass (FFM), height-for-age-z-score (HAZ), and body mass index-for-age-z-score (BAZ) was observed with puberty progression, but a steep decline in HAZ was noticed for girls in late puberty, increasing again post-puberty. Being older (adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 2.06, 95% C.I.: 1.83, 2.31), stunted (AOR= 0.20, 95% C.I.: 0.10, 0.40), thin (AOR = 0.30, 95% C.I.: 0.11, 0.80), and overweight/obese (AOR = 7.29, 95% C.I.: 2.60, 20.43) were the significant predictors of menarche attainment. Being older (β = 0.39, P < 0.0001), stunted (β= -0.92, P = 0.01), thin (β = 1.25, P = 0.01), and having a literate mother (β = -0.72, P = 0.03) were significantly associated with AMM. A higher HAZ, FM, FFM, age, and Konkomba ethnicity were positively associated with higher PDS. This study highlights the complexity of factors influencing menarche and pubertal development. These insights are essential for developing targeted health and educational programmes that address nutritional and socio-demographic disparities to promote adolescent girls’ well-being and healthy pubertal development.

The effect of reservoir construction on medically important parasites is well known worldwide but lacks information in Vietnam. With 385 active hydropower plants and numerous water reservoirs, Vietnam provides an ideal setting for studying this issue. This study investigated trematode infection in snail first intermediate hosts from three hydropower reservoirs: Hoa Binh, Son La, and Thac Ba. In total, 25,299 snails representing 16 species were examined, with 959 individuals (8 species) shedding identifiable cercariae. Infection prevalence was highest in thiarid snails (5.4%–15.4%), followed by bithynid snails (2.9%–5.8%). Other snail species showed infection prevalence ranging from 0.3% to 2.9%. Infection prevalence varied significantly across regions, with the highest prevalence in Son La, followed by Hoa Binh and Thac Ba reservoirs. However, no significant differences were observed between snails collected from reservoirs versus canals and paddy fields. Morphological identification resulted in nine cercarial morphotypes, with pleurolophocercaria, xiphidiocercariae, and echinostome being the most common types, accounting for 89.2% of all cercarial infections. Echinostome cercariae were found in seven snail species, while the other cercarial morphotypes were shed by two to five species. Gabbia fuchsiana, Parafossarulus manchouricus, and Melanoides tuberculata were the most common hosts, each harboring five cercarial morphotypes, while Radix auricularia only released echinostome type. In conclusion, our findings highlight the endemic presence of trematodes in hydropower reservoirs and emphasize the need to consider the human-environment interaction around these reservoirs for a better understanding of disease transmission risks.

Imagine being in a university that functions in a place-based culturally regenerative way. In this concept paper, the authors bring together theory, practice, and experience, in the service of transforming universities towards place-based cultural regeneration. At present, Australian universities operate using an economic philosophy of neoliberal corporatism characterised by hierarchical management strategies, competitive tendencies, patriarchal values, and discourse characterised by bifurcation or binary thinking. These features illustrate a worldview that is entangled with the meta crises of our times such as climate change, species loss, hatred/intolerance, and unfathomable violence. The authors consider ways of moving towards a place-based, Indigenous-informed, practical, relational way of learning, being and knowing differently. The paper tentatively assembles a local, place-based culturally regenerative worldview based on living, vibrant, responsive places that embrace people who collaborate with Country – in the Indigenous sense of deep relationality. Within this worldview, the authors propose collaborative ways of governing, teaching, learning, and leading that is necessary for place-based cultural regeneration. In conclusion, the authors outline a pathway towards universities as places of regenerative cultures, which prioritise the nurturing of learning to live and work beyond the current societal paralysis on the road to collapse.

This work focuses on the study of three pelagic fish species of the same genus, caught from the south-western coasts of the Mediterranean. It concerns lipid content, fatty acid profile and nutritional quality (atherogenic index, thrombogenicity index, ratio between hypocholesterolemic and hypercholesterolemic fatty acids and n6-to-n3 ratio) of Trachurus trachurus, Trachurus mediterraneus and Trachurus picturatus. Lipid extraction and esterification were carried out on the flesh of each species, and fatty acid methyl esters were analysed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The obtained results show that lipid content mean values vary between 2.87 and 5.06%, saturated fatty acids contents range from 37.51 to 53.23%, monounsaturated fatty acids content range from 29.24 to 37.65% and polyunsaturated fatty acids content range from 9.11 to 33.24% according to species. Also, the different mean values of indexes describing the nutritional quality vary significantly depending on species. That confirms the good quality of studied species and their importance for human nutrition and health, hence the urgent need to preserve their stocks.