Between the 1890s and the 1940s, a diverse group of Chilean diplomats, businessmen, and intellectuals sought to convert Japan into a principal consumer of Chile’s struggling nitrate fertilizer industry (saltpetre). The commercial effort to revive Chile’s export development model through Japanese markets also evolved into an intention to emulate Japan’s formula for sturdy nation-building and for fortifying the economic sovereignty against North Atlantic capital. Ultimately, this article situates Chilean–Japanese relations within a global moment of decolonization and development that sought to reform North Atlantic dominion over international affairs. That Latin American nation- and order-building were shaped not only by the binary embrace or rejection of models from the United States and Europe, but also by ideas from Japan, the Pacific, and Latin America itself, illustrates the possibilities for and sophistication of Global South designs for international engagements and development, even if their counterfactual imaginaries did not always materialize as intended.

The fetus and neonate are especially vulnerable to toxic effects of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), that have been shown to perturb behavioral and neuropsychological development. This study aimed to examine the long-term effects of developmental exposure to PCBs. Doses selected were environmentally relevant to those found in epidemiological studies, on the central nervous system (CNS) of adult rat offspring. Pregnant Sprague Dawley rats were fed cookies that contained a mixture of fourteen PCBs or vehicle (corn oil) daily. PCB doses were 0.011 mg/kg maternal body weight/day (“low”) or 1.10 mg/kg maternal body weight/day (“high”), for 42 days throughout gestation and lactation. Adult offspring were euthanized on postnatal day 450. A battery of immunohistochemical markers of brain structure and function were selected to assess possible effects of developmental PCB exposure. Using a 3×2 factorial design (treatment and sex), two-way analysis of variance revealed significant effects of treatment through the CNS, with no main effect of sex or interaction effects. In comparison with controls, both low and high dose developmental PCB exposure significantly (p < 0.05) increased inhibitory enzyme glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD67) immunoreactivity in the cerebellar vermis, and decreased lipofuscin autofluorescence in the locus coeruleus (LC). Low dose developmental PCB exposure significantly decreased the perimeter of endothelial cells in the periaqueductal gray, ventral orbitofrontal cortex; and decreased lipofuscin in the dorsal striatum, compared to controls. Findings support the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease concept, which broadly posits that early-life perturbations may influence health trajectories over the lifespan.

The knowledge of the Social Determinants of Health (SDH) approach implies Health in All Policies and thorough cultural and social transformations, as well as whole-of-government, whole-of-society policies and governance to address health inequities. Nonetheless, this article argues that in the currently dominant rational decision-making model in health policymaking, these policy implications from the knowledge of the SDH approach would lead to an intrinsic contradiction with the logic of modern bureaucracy based on the legal authority as suggested by Max Weber. Using two examples of social determinants of health — universal health coverage and housing issues — this article demonstrates the potential of the polis model proposed by Deborah Stone to take advantage of the knowledge of the SDH approach to pursue structural policy interventions.

This methodological study investigated how the distribution of training sessions—massed, equal spacing, and expanding spacing—affects L2 phonetic learning, focusing on Mandarin-speaking learners’ perception of the English /ɛ/–/æ/ contrast. While most previous phonetic training studies have used massed schedules, the current quasi-experimental design revealed that both types of spaced practice significantly outperformed massed practice in terms of immediate gains and long-term retention. Effect sizes in the spaced groups were approximately double those of the massed group. No significant differences emerged between equal and expanding spacing. These findings suggest that distributed practice—regardless of spacing type—can enhance both the magnitude and durability of L2 phonetic learning. Crucially, this study makes it possible to revisit past findings based on massed training paradigms and to consider whether adopting alternative timing schedules could unlock greater learning potential—for instance, by doubling the size and durability of training effects through the use of spaced conditions.

Several studies have been published studying association between parental low birth weight (BW) and neonatal outcomes of their children. To date no systematic review and meta-analysis (SRM) has been published to quantify the impact of maternal and paternal BW on outcomes in the next generation. The aim of this SRM was to analyse the association between parental BW and anthropometric and metabolic outcomes in their children.

Electronic databases were searched for studies documenting BW of parents and children with neonatal outcomes. Primary outcome was to evaluate impact of parental BW on occurrence of LBW in children. Secondary outcomes were to assess impact of parental BW on occurrence of macrosomia, small for gestational age (SGA), preterm labour/delivery, and burden of non-communicable disease in later life.

We screened 54,961 articles, data from 14 studies (320,515 parent–child pairs), which fulfilled all criteria, were analysed. Maternal LBW was associated with higher chances of neonatal LBW [odds ratio (OR)1.95 (95% CI:1.56–2.46); P < 0.01; I2 = 91%], neonatal SGA [OR 2.29(95% CI:1.72–3.05); P < 0.01; I2 = 37%], lower chances of neonatal macrosomia [OR 0.50 (95% CI:0.39–0.65); P < 0.01; I2 = 35%] and had no impact on preterm labour/delivery [OR1.20(95% CI:0.67–2.16); P = 0.53; I2 = 88%]. Maternal macrosomia was associated with higher neonatal macrosomia [OR 2.66 (95% CI:2.44–3.16); P < 0.01; I2 = 48%], lower SGA [OR 0.40(95% CI:0.29–0.53); P < 0.01; I2 = 0%] and preterm labour/delivery [OR 0.77 (95% CI:0.63–0.94); P < 0.01; I2 = 4%]. Paternal but not maternal LBW was predictor of metabolic syndrome and diabetes in adulthood.

Maternal LBW is an important predictor of LBW and SGA in neonates. Maternal macrosomia is an important predictor of neonatal macrosomia; is protective against SGA and preterm labour/childbirth. Neonatal size of parents is reflected in neonatal size of their children.

The Royal College of Psychiatrists was established in 1971 with psychiatric training as its core business. Drawing on a feature written by a former president in 2000, this editorial is a reflection on how his predictions played out in the real-life practice of psychiatry and the suggested way forward.

Political parties in Europe are undergoing profound transformations, with many abandoning traditional brands. This study analyzes party names as indicators of ideological and organizational change, combining an original content analysis across 28 European countries (1945–2023) with two conjoint survey experiments. We find that “nonparty” names have become the majority, reflecting a shift away from ideology toward alternative forms of identification. While movement names appear in wavelike patterns linked to protest cycles, such as after the 2008 Great Recession, nonclassical names are especially prevalent among new, opposition, and right-wing parties. However, a paradox emerges: despite their growing adoption, nonclassical names do not easily yield the anticipated electoral benefits, as new parties seem to gain little from abandoning classical naming conventions. By tracing long-term naming trends and integrating survey-based experimental evidence, we advance debates on party transformation, political branding, and the evolving interplay between electoral and movement politics in contemporary democracies.

Medical prescriptions from ancient Mesopotamia occasionally provide instructions for patients to seek out the sanctuaries of deities in order to gain good fortune. Though these statements have been discussed since the 1960s, their exact function in the healing process remains unclear. The recent discovery of additional related symptom descriptions provides an opportunity to re-evaluate the function of seeking out places of worship in ancient medical therapy. This article collects and examines relevant prescriptions to contextualise and incorporate them properly into our reconstruction of medicine in the first millennium B.C.E. By analysing the terminology employed, particularly the word aširtu, referring to a place of worship, as well as the phrase dumqu/damiqtu amāru “to see good fortune”, indicating that seeking out places of worship could alter a patient’s fortune, the paper proposes that such instructions were intended to circumvent inauspicious days for healing. Alternatively, the visits may have granted the patient auspicious omens for diagnostic-prognostic purposes. Finally, the article discusses the context of the individual manuscripts to assign the practice of their contents to the two primary medical professions, namely the asû and āšipu.

In this article, we evaluate (a) which major life events (MLEs) in the personal domain (relocation, new friendship, romantic relationship, marriage, parenthood, and grandparenthood) impact on perceived linguistic change among 309 Austrians, and (b) which quantitatively and qualitatively captured individual differences affect this relationship. Bayesian regression modeling revealed that age at the time of the MLE and proficiency in (non)standard varieties were particularly predictive of individual-level perceived linguistic change, as were psychological factors such as event-related characteristics and psychological resilience. Qualitative analyses focusing on whether individuals reported an MLE-related strengthened orientation towards vernacularity or standard language illustrated that individual-level perceived linguistic change was mediated by a complex constellation of MLE-resultant changes in social networks and socioaffective factors.*

In grammaticalization studies, reanalysis is understood as the assignment of new meaning to formally unchanged elements, supported by bridging contexts compatible with the old and the reanalyzed meaning. The source determination hypothesis (SDH) predicts that parallel grammaticalization trajectories occur crosslinguistically, as similar source meanings give rise to similar inferences. One such pattern is the development of recent past markers from FINISH constructions. While grammaticalization pathways are well-documented crosslinguistically, the SDH has never been tested experimentally. In this study, we examine whether modern English speakers are sensitive to inferences arising from a bridging context identified as relevant to the grammaticalization of Old Spanish FINISH into a recent past marker. In a temporal distance judgment task, we examined whether the bridging context identified for Old Spanish facilitates an inference of temporal immediacy in contemporary English, where the construction has not been grammaticalized. In line with the SDH, the bridging context enhanced an inference of immediacy in contemporary English (Exp. 1), with specific grammatical features of the source determining its strength (Exp. 2). These results not only demonstrate the viability of testing hypotheses about language change using experimental pragmatics but also call for empirically refining the concept of source determination.

Preserving viable infective stages of chicken ascarids under laboratory conditions facilitates the maintenance of characterized nematode strains for research purposes. We investigated the survivability of Ascaridia galli eggs exposed to low temperatures and the cryoprotectant dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). Two egg developmental stages (unembryonated or fully embryonated) were stored at 4°C, –20°, or –80°C in sterile water or with 5% and 10% DMSO for 1, 2, 4, or 8 weeks. Egg survival was assessed by morphology following post-storage incubation in 0.1 N H2SO4 at 26°C for unembryonated eggs or with a viability dye exclusion test of hatched larvae for the embryonated eggs. The results revealed that neither DMSO nor the hardy chitinous eggshell protected eggs from freezing damage, and not a single egg survived even for 1 week of storage at –20° or –80°C. DMSO at 10% significantly reduced (P < 0.0001) overall egg survival and embryonation capacity with increasing storage time at 4°C compared to water alone. For both egg developmental stages, egg survival was maintained in 5% DMSO at a rate similar to that in water alone. Unembryonated A. galli eggs survived refrigeration better than embryonated eggs with larval viability declining linearly at almost a double rate in the latter (9.75%/week) compared to the former (5.64 %/week). We conclude that DMSO is unlikely to provide cryoprotection for A. galli eggs and also causes concentration-dependent toxicity with increasing exposure time. Furthermore, survival during refrigeration is better for unembryonated than embryonated eggs.

The failure to make LAI the default route over the same oral when both are available is a lost opportunity to improve outcomes for people with schizophrenia. A striking example is the lost opportunity to improve life expectancy. A sophisticated pharmacoepidemiologic study from Sweden matched antipsychotic prescriptions with mortality rates and found that receiving an LAI version improved longevity by about 30% compared to its equivalent oral counterpart. Published a decade ago, it seems to have had little impact within US mental health services. This paper attempts to explain some of the reasons for complacency in adapting LAIs as a preferred approach for oral that have an LAI option available. Hypotheses include (1) not appreciating the importance of accurate information to guide present and future treatment recommendations, (2) considering LAIs primarily for adherence interventions rather than their more general benefit as a superior information platform, (3) how fear of disclosing nonadherence is a primary cause of misinformation, and (4) complacency with status quo acceptance of misinformation without fully appreciating how it harms future outcomes. The outcome benefits that come from changing from the oral to the LAI, if available, will continue. Advances in formulation technology have greatly improved the safety and flexibility of recent LAIs compared to earlier formulations, and formulation advances will allow for additional antipsychotics currently limited to oral formulation to expand to having an LAI version readily available.

This experimental study explored how adopting a deceptive stance affects linguistic processes during real-time production of multi-sentence texts in speaking and writing. Language production involves planning, monitoring and editing – processes that give rise to and are shaped by fluctuations in processing demands. Deception is assumed to influence these processes as speakers and writers manage competing communicative goals: to be coherent while concealing the truth. Narratives were elicited by asking participants to account for events from four short films: two truthful and two deceitful, in both speaking and writing. In speaking, deception decreased the total number of pauses, but in longer deceptive texts, pausing instead increased, suggesting adaptive adjustments to regulate overt cues to lying. In writing, deception decreased text revisions and altered pause behaviour, suggesting that writers modified their production patterns when altering information. Together, these findings suggest that deceptive language production involves shifts in planning, monitoring and editing processes that manifest differently across modalities: while speech shows suppression of pauses, writing reveals subtle changes in revision and pausing behaviour. These results highlight modality-specific signatures of deception and demonstrate how speakers and writers dynamically adapt their language production processes to align with communicative intent.