Lightning strike is rare, with a reported incidence of around 1:100,000. There are few reports of survival after cardiac arrest due to lightning strike. We report the case of a 12-year-old male survivor. Though he had a prolonged out of hospital cardiac arrest and initial poor systolic function, widespread ST segment elevation on electrocardiography, and elevated cardiac troponin I, he survived with a good cardiac and neurological outcome.

Cattle (Bos spp.) grazing on weed–mixed forage biomass may potentially spread weed seeds, leading to plant invasions across pasturelands. Understanding the possibility and intensity of this spread is crucial for developing effective weed control methods in grazed areas. This research undertook an in vitro experiment to evaluate the germination and survival of five dominant weed species in the southern United States [Palmer amaranth (Amaranthus palmeri S. Watson), yellow foxtail [Setaria pumila (Poir.) Roem. & Schult.], johnsongrass [Sorghum halepense (L.) Pers.], field bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis L.) and pitted morningglory (Ipomoea lacunosa L.)] upon incubation in rumen fluid for eight time periods (0, 4, 8, 12, 24, 24, 48, 72, and 96 h). For the 96-h treatment, a full Tilley and Terry procedure was applied after 48 h for stopping fermentation, followed by incubation for another 48 h simulating abomasum digestion. Seed germination, upon incubation, varied significantly among weed species, with I. lacunosa reaching zero germination after only 24 h of incubation, whereas A. palmeri and S. halepense retained up to 3% germination even after 96 h of incubation. The hard seed coats of A. palmeri and S. halepense likely made them highly resistant, whereas the I. lacunosa seed coat became easily permeable and ruptured under rumen fluid incubation. This suggests that cattle grazing can selectively affect seed distribution and invasiveness of weeds in grazed grasslands and rangelands, including the designated invasive and noxious weed species. As grazing is a significant component in animal husbandry, a major economic sector in the U.S. South, our research provides important insights into the potential role of grazing as a dispersal mechanism for some of the troublesome arable weeds in the United States. The results offer opportunities for devising customized feeding and grazing practices combined with timely removal of weeds in grazeable lands at the pre-flowering stage for effective containment of weeds.

This article explores 2 key earthquake survival strategies: the widely endorsed “Drop, Cover, and Hold On” (DCH) method and the alternative fetal position within a survival triangle. While DCH provides mechanical protection from falling debris, its effectiveness in scenarios involving structural collapse and prolonged entrapment remains uncertain. Drawing on recent field data and thermodynamic considerations, this paper argues that the fetal position may offer survival advantages by minimizing heat loss and conserving metabolic energy—especially under cold conditions and delayed rescue. We emphasize the need for context-sensitive public safety guidance and further comparative research to inform adaptive earthquake preparedness protocols.

This article investigates the assumption that survival should form the goal of the politics both of nuclear weapons and of International Relations (IR). Rather than being a self-evident grounding upon which political contest then plays out, survival has its own implications and limitations in the thermonuclear age, in which survival has become premised on the threat of total annihilation. As such, nuclear weapons allow us to unpack ‘survival’ in a unique way because they have the power to destroy everything: to end all survival. Yet at the same time, nuclear weapons have become deeply embedded into our world. In an age of thermonuclear weaponry, survival through annihilation has thus become a paradox that structures the ambivalence of nuclear technology and the tensions of nuclear politics. The article first establishes the nature of assumptions of survival as a taken-for-granted goal of IR and nuclear weapons politics. It then argues that the paradoxical logic of survival as annihilation that accompanied the nuclear era has resulted in a politics of repetition in which both deterrence and disarmament actors have become trapped. The article ends by outlining the limits of understanding whose survival is at stake in nuclear weapons discourse and why this matters.

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.

Folate metabolism is involved in the development and progression of various cancers. We investigated the association of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) in folate-metabolising genes and their interactions with serum folate concentrations with overall survival (OS) and liver cancer-specific survival (LCSS) of newly diagnosed hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients. We detected the genotypes of six SNP in three genes related to folate metabolism: methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR), 5-methyltetrahydrofolate-homocysteine methyltransferase reductase (MTRR) and 5-methyltetrahydrofolate-homocysteine methyltransferase (MTR). Cox proportional hazard models were used to calculate multivariable-adjusted hazard ratios (HR) and 95 % CI. This analysis included 970 HCC patients with genotypes of six SNP, and 864 of them had serum folate measurements. During a median follow-up of 722 d, 393 deaths occurred, with 360 attributed to HCC. In the fully-adjusted models, the MTRR rs1801394 polymorphism was significantly associated with OS in additive (per G allele: HR = 0·84, 95 % CI: 0·71, 0·99), co-dominant (AG v. AA: HR = 0·77; 95 % CI: 0·62, 0·96) and dominant (AG + GG v. AA: HR = 0·78; 95 % CI: 0·63, 0·96) models. Carrying increasing numbers of protective alleles was linked to better LCSS (HR10–12 v. 2–6 = 0·70; 95 % CI: 0·49, 1·00) and OS (HR10–12 v. 2–6 = 0·67; 95 % CI: 0·47, 0·95). Furthermore, we observed significant interactions on both multiplicative and additive scales between serum folate levels and MTRR rs1801394 polymorphism. Carrying the variant G allele of the MTRR rs1801394 is associated with better HCC prognosis and may enhance the favourable association between higher serum folate levels and improved survival among HCC patients.

This research paper compares fertility traits, health indicators and health management routines of Swiss dairy farms characterized by short vs. long productive lifespans (SPL vs. LPL). We evaluated whether a longer productive lifespan will result in poorer cow health based on herdbook data from breeders associations (n = 142), farm questionnaire data (n = 67), veterinary treatment data (n = 64) and data obtained during farm visits (n = 30). Dairy farms were selected in such a way that they contrasted in terms of length of productive lifespan, but were representative of the Swiss dairy sector. Fertility performance was better on farms with LPL indicated by a lower number of inseminations per heifer, shorter average number of days open and shorter calving intervals. Consistently, the proportion of antibiotic veterinary treatments due to fertility problems was by tendency higher on SPL farms, as was the number of antibiotic treatments due to other problems (i.e. other than fertility, udder or locomotion problems). Other types of veterinary medical treatments did not differ by productive lifespan profiles. Average somatic cell score and proportions of test day records with elevated somatic cell count (SCC) were significantly higher on farms with LPL. However, this increase was smaller than what could be expected due to the age difference between contrasting productive lifespan profiles and was not associated with higher treatment incidences for clinical mastitis. Locomotion scores and lameness incidence did not differ by productive lifespan profile. Apart from a slightly higher proportion of farms with LPL practicing abrupt drying off, cow health management routines did not differ significantly between farms of contrasting productive lifespans. We conclude that a longer productive lifespan is not at the expense of health, even if the SCC level increased with age. Fertility, limb and udder health should be the main focus when aiming for a long productive lifespan.

Cystic and alveolar echinococcosis are considered the second and third most significant foodborne parasitic diseases worldwide. The microscopic eggs excreted in the feces of the definitive host are the only source of contamination for intermediate and dead-end hosts, including humans. However, estimating the respective contribution of the environment, fomites, animals or food in the transmission of Echinococcus eggs is still challenging. Echinococcus granulosus and E. multilocularis seem to have a similar survival capacity regarding temperature under laboratory conditions. In addition, field experiments have reported that the eggs can survive several weeks to years outdoors, with confirmation of the relative susceptibility of Echinococcus eggs to desiccation. Bad weather (such as rain and wind), invertebrates and birds help scatter Echinococcus eggs in the environment and may thus impact human exposure. Contamination of food and the environment by taeniid eggs has been the subject of renewed interest in the past decade. Various matrices from endemic regions have been found to be contaminated by Echinococcus eggs. These include water, soil, vegetables and berries, with heterogeneous rates highlighting the need to acquire more robust data so as to obtain an accurate assessment of the risk of human infection. In this context, it is essential to use efficient methods of detection and to develop methods for evaluating the viability of eggs in the environment and food.

A young child, who had a previously unsuspected aberrant right subclavian retro-oesophageal artery, swallowed a button battery complicated with recurrent life-threatening bleeding, and survived after repeated percutaneous treatment as a bridge to surgery.

The social-sexual environment is well known for its influence on the survival of organisms by modulating their reproductive output. However, whether it affects survival indirectly through a variety of cues without physical contact and its influence relative to direct interaction remain largely unknown. In this study, we investigated both the indirect and direct influences of the social-sexual environment on the survival and reproduction of the mite Tyrophagus curvipenis (Acari: Acaridae). The results demonstrated no apparent influence of conspecific cues on the survival of mites, but the survival and reproduction of mated female mites significantly changed, with the females mated with males having a significantly shortened lifespan and increased lifetime fecundity. For males, no significant difference was observed across treatments in their survival and lifespan. These findings indicate that direct interaction with the opposite sex has a much more profound influence on mites than indirect interaction and highlight the urgent need to expand research on how conspecific cues modulate the performance of organisms with more species to clarify their impacts across taxa.

One of the key reasons for the poor performance of natural enemies of honeydew-producing insect pests is mutualism between ants and some aphid species. The findings demonstrated that red wood ant, Formica rufa Linnaeus (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) had a deleterious impact on different biological parameters of the lady beetle, Hippodamia variegata Goeze (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae). H. variegata laid far fewer eggs in ant-tended aphid colonies, laying nearly 2.5 times more eggs in ant absence. Ants antennated and bit the lady beetle eggs, resulting in significantly low egg hatching of 66 per cent over 85 per cent in ant absent treatments. The presence of ants significantly reduced the development of all larval instars. The highest reduction was found in the fourth larval instar (31.33% reduction), and the lowest in the first larval instar (20% reduction). Later larval instars were more aggressively attacked by ants than earlier instars. The first and second larval instars stopped their feeding and movement in response to ant aggression. The third and fourth larval instars modified their mobility, resulting in increased ant aggression towards them. Adult lady beetles were shown to be more vulnerable to ant attacks than larvae. However, H. variegata adults demonstrated counterattacks in the form of diverse defensive reaction behaviours in response to F. rufa aggression.