Ulcerative colitis (UC), a chronic recurrent inflammation of the colonic mucosa, has become a global emergency. With the restricted response and significant side effects of traditional drugs, a search for alternatives is mandatory. The current study aimed to evaluate the therapeutic effects of hydatid cyst fluid (HCF) and laminated layer (HLL) derived crude extract of E. granulosus, combined with the standard medication sulfasalazine (SLZ), for treating acetic acid-induced colitis. Mice were divided into 7 groups. A colitis model using acetic acid (150 μl of 5% con.) intrarectally was induced. On the 8th day following colitis induction, the mice were sacrificed. We assessed the severity of colitis using survival rate, disease activity index, colon weight/length ratio, colon weight/bodyweight ratio, and gross and histopathological score of colon damage. Immunohistochemistry for Foxp3 T-reg expression in colonic tissues was done. The levels of inflammatory cytokines tumor necrosis factor-α and IL-10, oxidative stress marker malondialdehyde, and total antioxidant capacity in serum samples were assessed. Groups treated with a combination of SLZ+HCF and SLZ+HLL revealed a statistically significant improvement compared to the colitis group by improving disease activity index, colon weight/length ratio and colon weight/bodyweight ratio, and gross and histopathological colon damage scores. Additionally, there was a significant rise in IL-4, TAC, and Foxp3+ Treg cell expression and decreased TNF-α and MDA expression. E. granulosus-derived HCF and HLL potentiate the protective effect of SLZ by increasing anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties against murine colitis, suggesting the potential for novel therapeutic approaches.

It was conjectured by McKernan and Shokurov that for any Fano contraction $f:X \to Z$ of relative dimension r with X being $\epsilon $-lc, there is a positive $\delta $ depending only on $r,\epsilon $ such that Z is $\delta $-lc and the multiplicity of the fiber of f over a codimension one point of Z is bounded from above by $1/\delta $. Recently, this conjecture was confirmed by Birkar [9]. In this article, we give an explicit value for $\delta $ in terms of $\epsilon ,r$ in the toric case, which belongs to $O(\epsilon ^{2^r})$ as $\epsilon \rightarrow 0$. The order $O(\epsilon ^{2^r})$ is optimal in some sense.

In numerous climate litigation cases before national courts, plaintiffs have referred to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Kyoto Protocol, and/or the Paris Agreement to support their claims. So far, no systematic appraisal has been conducted on how national courts have responded to such references to international climate law and the extent to which they have engaged with it. This article examines 148 cases in which plaintiffs refer to international climate law, mapping and analyzing judgments of national courts that either avoid, align with, or contest this legal framework. The findings indicate that invoking international climate law is not an easy path to success, as courts often have opted to avoid engagement with claims based on international climate law. Yet, in several landmark cases, courts have aligned with international climate law, contributing to the advancement of the objectives of the Paris Agreement.

Upper echelons theory suggests that CEO values and personalities impact their actions, driving organizational performance. However, accessing the black box of a CEO’s values and personality is difficult. Numerous studies of senior leaders have informed research on discrete psychological characteristics such as drivers, risk, temporal focus, and emotionality. This study builds on this work by holistically sourcing these psychological characteristics through a LIWC (Linguistic Inquiry & Word Count) text analysis of top-ranked CEO Twitter (X) postings. These data were transformed via a principal component analysis into four distinct psychological profiles, termed by the authors ‘grey flannel suits’, ‘self-actualizers’, ‘empaths’, and ‘greyhounds’. Binary logistic regressions suggested divergence in CEO psychological profile occurrences based on firm size. The profile analysis failed to detect significant top CEO gender differences; however, some gender distinctions were discerned from follow-on t-tests of the profile’s underlying psychological characteristics. The paper concludes with a call for further top management team psychological profile-informed research.

Robotic rehabilitation requires personalized, versatile, and efficient devices to accommodate the diverse needs of patients recovering from motor impairments. In this paper, we focus on hand rehabilitation and analyse a tendon-driven, modular, and adaptable robotic glove actuated by twisted string actuators (TSAs). The proposed solution exploits flexibility in design, allowing customization based on individual patient needs while ensuring effective assistance in hand movements.

Specifically, in this paper we investigate the kinematic relationships between tendon-driven actuators and hand motion. We provide a detailed implementation of multiple functional modules within the glove, designed to accommodate various rehabilitation exercises and adapt to different degrees of motor impairment. In addition, we present experimental tests involving a user to evaluate the system’s performance, usability, and effectiveness in facilitating hand movement. The results provide insights into the potential of TSA-driven robotic gloves for enhancing rehabilitation outcomes through a combination of precise actuation and adaptability to user’s needs.

Logical inferentialists have expected identity to be susceptible of harmonious introduction and elimination rules in natural deduction. While Read and Klev have proposed rules they argue are harmonious, Griffiths and Ahmed have criticized these rules as insufficient for harmony. These critics, moreover, suggest that no harmonious rules are forthcoming. We argue that these critics are correct: the logical inferentialist should abandon hope for harmonious rules for identity. The paper analyzes the three major uses of identity in presumed-logical languages: variable coordination, definitional substitution, and co-reference. We show that identity qua variable coordination is not logical by providing a harmonious natural-deduction system that captures this use through the quantifiers. We then argue that identity qua definitional substitution or co-reference faces a dilemma: either its rules are harmonious but they obscure its actual use in inference, or its rules are not harmonious but they make its actual use in inference plain. We conclude that the inferentialist may have harmonious rules for identity only by disrespecting its inferential use.

Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a seasonal pattern modifier to recurrent major depressive disorder. Despite cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) having a strong evidence base of efficacy for depression, little research exists assessing CBT for SAD, especially in the acute phase of depression during winter months. The aim of this study was to determine the efficacy of CBT for acute SAD in adults. Eligible randomised controlled trials (RCTs) testing the efficacy of CBT on depression symptoms in adults with SAD were included. Depression outcomes were assessed using the Revised Cochrane Risk-of-Bias Tool for Randomized Trials. A meta-analysis using a fixed effects model was conducted to assess the effects of CBT on depression symptoms compared with light therapy (LT) at post-intervention and 1–2 years follow-up. Narrative synthesis was used for recurrence and remission rates. Three RCTs and two follow-up papers met the inclusion criteria. All RCTs measured efficacy of group-CBT for acute SAD and compared to LT. There was substantial variation in risk of bias for all outcomes across the trials. Three RCTs (n=220 participants) were included in the meta-analysis that found CBT was effective in reducing depressive symptoms compared with LT at 1–2-year follow-up post-intervention [MD=–4.5, 95% confidence interval (CI) (–6.88, –2.12), p<0.05]. There was no difference between CBT and LT at immediate post-intervention. Group-CBT appears equivalent to LT in treating acute SAD in adults at post-intervention, but appears more effective at long-term follow-up. The findings should be taken with caution due to few included studies and variation in risk of bias across studies.

Key learning aims

1. (1) Previous research into CBT and seasonal affective disorder has focused primarily on delivery of CBT during the non-acute phase of SAD, typically in non-winter months.

2. (2) There are limited high quality randomised controlled trials testing the efficacy of CBT for seasonal affective disorder in the acute phase during winter months.

3. (3) It appears that group-CBT for SAD is superior to LT at 1–2 years follow-up.

Abrupt appearance of the dikelocephalid trilobite genus Osceolia in later Cambrian strata of the upper Mississippi Valley immediately above a flooding surface is succeeded by widespread regional occurrence among approximately eight parasequences in the early part of a falling stage systems tract. All of Osceolia’s sclerite types are illustrated for the first time. The taxonomy is revised to recognize two species, of which O. tumerispina is new and known only from a dolomitic horizon at a single locality. All five of Ulrich and Resser’s (1930) Osceolia species are synonymized within O. osceola (Hall, 1863), a species widespread in regional dolomitic mudstones and feldspathic sandstones. Osceolia osceola shows notable polymorphism in the presence of an axial ledge in the anterior cranidial border. Holaspid ontogenetic variation evident within bedding-plane collections of O. osceola scales with that occurring among collections and across facies. Collection-related morphological differences among the samples beyond those related to size are subtle. The occurrence of larger individuals in more distal settings may reflect ontogenetically related habitat preference. Osceolinae Ulrich and Resser, 1930 is rejected. The closest relatives of the two Osceolia species may occur outside of the upper Mississippi Valley. Material of a local, stratigraphically older, and possibly related Ulrich and Resser 1930 nomen nudum is figured and described for the first time. Osceolia’s cranidial morphotype was converged upon several times during the evolution of Cambrian trilobites among relatives both phylogenetically close and distant.

UUID: http://zoobank.org/bdd2cf1b-331f-4204-8957-eadce195610d

Upper limb motor dysfunction significantly impacts daily activities and quality of life for individuals with stroke. Existing assistive robots often struggle to balance portability, ease of use, and motion assistance. This research presents WELiBot, a novel wearable end-effector-type upper limb assistive robot, designed with a 4R-5R parallel mechanism and an arc-shaped guide rail to provide controlled assistance in lifting, reaching, and circumferential motions. The study introduces the conception of the robot design, focusing on its functional requirements and mechanical structure. The kinematic and static characteristics of WELiBot were analyzed to evaluate its feasibility and effectiveness. Based on this design, a prototype with a 1/4 arc-shaped guide rail was fabricated to test motion feasibility and assistance effects. To assess its performance, electromyography experiments were conducted with four healthy participants. The results showed a significant reduction in biceps brachii muscle activity, confirming the robot’s ability to reduce user effort. Future work will focus on attaching the guide rail to the body for improved usability and refining the control strategy to enhance motion assistance and adaptability in daily life support applications.

The purpose of this study was to determine the procedural guarantees provided to experts and specialists in the process of collecting and further studying documents as evidence in criminal proceedings. The study revealed that a document in the field of evidence in criminal proceedings can be both material evidence and a direct source of evidence. Thus, the main difference between these concepts is that an expert has the right to conduct an independent investigation, while a specialist has a rather limited function – to apply special knowledge in the course of a criminal investigation. The paper analysed the laws and regulations of Ukraine and the European Union concerning the definition of the rights of an expert and specialist in criminal proceedings, including the collection and use of documents as sources of evidence. The study highlighted the important role that experts and specialists play in ensuring the integrity and reliability of evidence, emphasizing the need for reliable procedural protection of their rights. The practical significance of this study lies in its potential use by researchers for a deeper investigation of the problems of ensuring the procedural rights of experts and specialists in criminal proceedings.

Many networks in political and social research are bipartite, connecting two distinct node types. A common example is cosponsorship networks, where legislators are linked through the bills they support. However, most bipartite network analyses in political science rely on statistical models fitted to a “projected” unipartite network. This approach can lead to aggregation bias and an artificially high degree of clustering, invalidating the study of group roles in network formation. To address these issues, we develop a statistical model of bipartite networks theorized to arise from group interactions, extending the mixed-membership stochastic blockmodel. Our model identifies groups within each node type that exhibit common edge formation patterns and incorporates node and dyad-level covariates as predictors of group membership and observed dyadic relations. We derive an efficient computational algorithm to fit the model and apply it to cosponsorship data from the United States Senate. We show that senators who were perfectly split along party lines remained productive and pass major legislation by forming non-partisan, power-brokering coalitions that found common ground through low-stakes bills. We also find evidence of reciprocity norms and policy expertise impacting cosponsorships. An open-source software package is available for researchers to replicate these insights.