Research on strokes using genetics and neurobiobanking has highlighted some ethical, legal and social implications. Blood donation, brain donation, blood storage, re-use and sample sharing, data sharing, return of individual results, disclosure of incidental findings, pattern and causes of preference for informed consent, governance and regulation, and biorights are some of the legal problems presented. This study, therefore, explores this aspect in Sub-Saharan Africa using Nigeria and Ghana as case studies. In exploring this aspect, a qualitative method was adopted. In addition, the general jurisprudence of law and society was adopted as the theoretical framework and applied to the findings made. It was found that the law to a high level mirrors people’s expectations and that there was an existing social order to which the law was a contributor. It is therefore argued that any need for the intervention of the law must take cognizance of these findings.

2,3-Diphosphoglycerate (2,3-DPG), found primarily in red blood cells, plays a key role in regulating hemoglobin’s (Hb) affinity for oxygen. Increased 2,3-DPG levels shift the oxygen dissociation curve to the right, reducing Hb’s oxygen affinity and enhancing oxygen delivery to tissues—particularly important in conditions like anemia and high-altitude adaptation. Despite its physiological significance, research on 2,3-DPG is outdated and limited. This review aims to summarize current knowledge and identify research gaps. Measuring 2,3-DPG is challenging due to its instability and the need for careful sample handling. Chromatography and enzymatic methods are commonly used. Several factors influence 2,3-DPG levels, including diet, physiological state, and disease. Dietary phosphorus, for example, can acutely affect 2,3-DPG levels, though the impact of different meal compositions remains unexplored. Age, pregnancy, and physical activity also modulate 2,3-DPG, yet little is known about its role in infants and children. While changes in 2,3-DPG levels under various pathological conditions have been described, the molecular mechanisms behind these alterations remain poorly understood and warrant further investigation.

This article examines some recent trends within the scholarship on ancient Greek women. The field of gender and women’s studies is vast, and so this review is necessarily selective; it is also historical in focus, though I have deliberately tried to include works that cover a broad chronological and geographical range, and those that draw on different kinds of source material. It is divided into three parts: part 1 examines questions concerning ‘real’ women, part 2 is on agency and part 3 draws some observations on the difficulties of, and opportunities for, writing histories of women.

Rapid deforestation in the tropics reduces the global carbon sequestration and storage capacity of forests. However, abandoned lands can recover naturally through secondary succession. While soil organic carbon (SOC) represents the largest carbon pool in young secondary forests, its drivers remain poorly understood. Here, we assessed the roles of environmental conditions (macro- and microclimate) and forest attributes (biomass and litter nutrients) in determining three key ecosystem processes (litter production, decomposition, and soil respiration) that influence SOC dynamics in secondary forests. We collected data from young secondary tropical dry and wet forests (2.3–3.6 years old) in Ghana. Wet forests had higher aboveground biomass, soil temperature and moisture, and litter production, whereas dry forests had higher litter nutrient concentrations and faster decomposition rates. SOC and soil respiration rates were similar between forest types. Structural equation modelling showed that (1) litter decomposition increased with litter production, litter nitrogen concentration, and soil temperature (rather than soil moisture), and (2) decomposition was the only significant driver of SOC. These findings highlight the central role of litter decomposition in building SOC during early forest succession and the indirect influence of climate on belowground carbon dynamics through its effects on litter quantity and quality and microclimate.

Deliberation is routinely considered an essential component of a jury trial, contributing to the quality of fact-finding and confidence in jury verdicts. Unlike all other countries that use juries, Brazilian jurors do not deliberate. Instead, under the Brazilian jury system’s “incommunicability rule,” they submit their votes individually, without discussing the case with one another. How jurors approach the task of individual decision making and how they view and experience this notable absence of deliberation are unknown. The aim of this article, which is part of a broader research project on jurors’ decision making in femicide trials in Brazil, is to understand these experiences and views of Brazilian jurors, especially regarding the incommunicability rule. The research used qualitative methods, including ethnographic observations of trials and semi-structured interviews of jurors. The majority of jurors voiced support for the current practice, explaining that refraining from deliberation would ensure their impartiality. However, 41 percent of the jurors said that they would have liked to deliberate with others to exchange and debate views. Interviews also shed light on how the absence of deliberation affected the decision process and jurors’ satisfaction with the overall jury experience. This research contributes to an ongoing debate in Brazil over the incommunicability rule.

The four pioneering African war correspondents who travelled to Asia in 1945 develop our understanding of Africa and the Second World War. This article argues that their tour challenges the existing scholarship on the conflict in two ways. Firstly, it bridges the common divide between “home” and fighting fronts in our understanding of wartime Africa. Secondly, due to the correspondents’ own positionality as colonial African newspapermen, it offers insights into African military service in ways not permitted by colonial and military archives. Within an overarching frame examining the tour’s origin and conclusion in Africa, the article assesses the correspondents’ activities in Asia in terms of their interactions with and analysis of African troops. Cumulatively, it contends that the correspondents’ tour both considerably expands our understanding of African soldiers’ lives in the Second World War, and also directly connects the “home front” with the Asian theatre of combat.

This study proposes a geometric solution to the norm differential game design problem in target-attacker-defender (TAD) engagements, addressing key limitations of conventional zero-effort-miss approaches. By leveraging the geometric analogy between guidance-law-generated trajectories and Dubins paths, we reformulate the derivation of zero-effort-miss-based guidance laws as a Nash equilibrium optimisation problem, with optimal strategies determined through reachable set analysis of Dubins path frontier. The resulting model is a non-convex optimisation problem, which prevents the derivation of traditional state-feedback control laws. To overcome this limitation and enable real-time implementation, we develop a custom back propagation neural network, enhanced with a relaxation factor method for output filtering, a Holt linear trend model for outlier compensation and a saturation function for oscillation suppression. Extensive simulations demonstrate that the proposed framework significantly outperforms baseline methods. These results validate the effectiveness and robustness of our approach for high-performance TAD applications.

As global crises like inequality, climate change and financial instability intensify, ‘resilience’ has emerged as a central concept in international governance and law. The appeal lies in what scholars call the ‘resilience dividend’ – the promise that systems can recover and adapt when facing external shocks. This article critically examines how resilience has been adopted in international and transnational law, with a particular focus on transnational financial regulation. The article analyses the Bank for International Settlements (BIS)’ work on the resilience of central counterparties, which represents the most extended elaboration on resilience in transnational financial regulation. Rather than accepting resilience as an unqualified good, a more cautious approach is suggested. Resilience risks perpetuating existing injustices and reinforcing neoliberal structures by emphasising survival and adaptation over addressing the root causes of crises. Accordingly, resilience needs to be seen as an ambivalent concept that only through its specification one can determine its possible impact.

While an experimental colony of rice root aphids, Rhopalosiphum rufiabdominale (Sasaki) (Hemiptera: Aphididae) was being reared, hymenopteran parasitoids found their way into the colony and caused substantial aphid mortality. We identified the parasitoids as Aphelinus varipes (Förster) (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae) and further investigated the ability of A. varipes to parasitise rice root aphids and cannabis aphids, Phorodon cannabis Passerini (Hemiptera: Aphididae), both pests of commercial cannabis plants, Cannabis sativa Linnaeus (Cannabaceae). In experiments with different densities of aphid hosts, female A. varipes parasitised both rice root aphids and cannabis aphids. The rate of parasitism did not exceed 21% for either aphid species but may exceed this in unconstrained operational settings. Aphelinus varipes should be investigated further as a potential biocontrol agent of rice root aphids and cannabis aphids.

Governments are increasingly targeting academic institutions such as the Central European University in Hungary, Boğaziçi University in Turkey, or CIDE in Mexico. These attacks represent the most visible symptoms of the deterioration of academic freedom. What is the cause of this trend? We argue that populism, being a thin ideology that polarizes the public sphere into virtuous citizens and a corrupt elite while emphasizing the will of the people, has made universities and academics natural targets for leaders who seek to impose a narrative in which only they possess the truth and represent the will of the people. Universities are characterized not only by a pluralism of ideas but also possess an elitist character: these attributes are in direct conflict with the values and vision of populist leaders. To support this argument, we present a global statistical analysis correlating the degree of populism exhibited by executive leaders with the extent of academic freedoms between 2000 and 2021, based on data from the Global Populism Database and V-Dem, and we illustrate our arguments with an in-depth analysis of the case of CIDE in Mexico.

Foodservice provision is a key contributor to both dietary intake and food waste production(1). The development of ‘root-to-tip’ recipes in foodservice that incorporate more of the plant (i.e. peels and stalks) is being explored to reduce the climate impact of food waste(1) and improve suboptimal population intakes of fruits and vegetables, which provide useful sources of dietary fibre associated with lower risk of all-cause mortality(2). However, given low peels and stalks consumption in the UK(3), the extent to which ‘root-to-tip’ dishes may just shift food waste along the supply chain by increasing plate waste is unknown. The aim of this study is to understand the acceptability of ‘root-to-tip’ dining by exploring consumer attitudes towards food waste and perceived barriers and enablers to eating peels and stalks.

In-person focus groups were conducted at a UK university with current students and employees. Convenience sampling was used to recruit between five to eight participants across six focus groups. A semi-structured topic guide with open-ended questions was developed to facilitate discussion. Discussions were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim and an inductive thematic analysis undertaken. The research protocol was approved by the King’s College London Research Ethics Committee (Ref: MRA-24/25-46016; LRS/DP- 24/25-46017)

Six focus group discussions were conducted with forty participants (November 2024 to January 2025), primarily aged 18-25 years (53%) and female (75%). Six preliminary themes were identified: 1) food waste as a structural issue; 2) personal food waste awareness and the intention-behaviour gap; 3) the role of social modelling in ‘root-to-tip’ behaviours; 4) safety and edibility concerns around peels and stalks; 5) knowledge as a facilitator for ‘root-to-tip’ adoption; and 6) the importance of sensory appeal. These themes illustrate consumers’ perception of food waste as primarily occurring up the supply chain prior to the preparation stage, with structural barriers to its reduction. Participants perceive a growing societal and personal consciousness of food waste and desire to reduce its associated negative consequences. However, results highlight social and personal barriers, such as cost and convenience, which may contribute to an intention-behaviour gap. These barriers were referenced regarding the use of peels and stalks specifically, with upbringing, social modelling and food habits described as factors influencing consumption. Improving awareness of the safety and edibility of peels and stalks and practical knowledge related to their use may facilitate adoption of ‘root-to-tip’ behaviours. Anticipation of an unappealing sensory experience was described as a deterrent for consuming ‘root-to-tip’ dishes. Therefore, ensuring ‘root-to-tip’ dishes have sensory appeal is important to increase acceptability and prevent plate waste.

Our findings contribute to the understanding of attitudes towards food waste reduction practices at the preparation stage, in particular the use of peels and stalks, and highlight a need for increased knowledge to facilitate behaviour adoption.

Low fruit and vegetable (FV) intake is a public health concern in Malta, where more than one in four adults are living with obesity and only approximately 12% meet the recommended five-a-day intake (1). Socioeconomic disparities can contribute to a poor diet, with international evidence pointing to disadvantaged groups consuming fewer FV (2). The main aims of this local study were to assess FV intakes, perceptions and drivers including barriers, among adults residing in Malta.

This cross-sectional study used an anonymised, convenience sampling design with an online survey (via Google Forms) disseminated on social networks in April-June 2024. The questionnaire (33 items) covered demographics, FV consumption frequency, barriers and suggested improvements. Ethical approval was obtained from the University’s Faculty Research Ethics Committee (FREC ID: FHS-2023-00664). Chi-square tests (or Fisher- Freeman-Halton Exact tests) and Spearman’s correlations were utilised for analysis, and with cross-tabulations used for suggestions for increased consumption.

315 respondents returned the survey (mean age 44.5 years, range 18–65 years; 72% female) and with a mean body mass index (BMI) of 26.4 kg/m2 (SD= 5.66). Mean daily consumption was 1.7 and 1.8 FV portions respectively. Age was positively correlated with fruit intake (p=0.001), with older adults consuming fruit more frequently, but vegetable intake showed no significant correlation with age (p=0.39). Participants in lower income brackets were significantly more likely to report cost as a barrier to FV consumption (p=0.001) than those in higher-incomes. Comparing two districts with contrasting high and low-at-risk-of-poverty (ARP) rates classified according to 2022 statistics (National Statistics Office, NSO, 2023)(3), higher proportions of Northern Harbour respondents had higher incomes despite living in a higher ARP district, and reported earning over €50.1k annually (30.7%) compared to 21.9% in the South Eastern (low-ARP) district, whereas participants earning between €15.1–€20k were more represented in the South Eastern district (21.9%) than in Northern Harbour (1.8%). These income differences were significant (p=0.005). Suggested community improvements for FV access based on income levels revealed that a majority of lower-income participants looked for lower prices (55.6% in <€10k income bracket). In contrast, lower proportions of higher-income participants were concerned with cost (40.7% in >€50.1k bracket) and a quarter reported no community improvements needed. Cost was more frequently reported as a barrier to FV consumption (p<0.001) among non-EU participants (44.4%) and Maltese participants (41.3%) compared to other EU nationals (14.3%).

In conclusion, Maltese adults’ FV intakes fall short of dietary recommendations, and affordability barriers affect those in less affluent groups, reflecting socioeconomic barriers exist for FV consumption. There is a need to focus on targeted approaches such as providing subsidies for low-income pockets and different age groups within communities and different nationalities, regardless of district, in an effort to improve FV consumption in Malta.