Four new species of Poecilosclerida (Porifera, Demospongiae) assigned to the genera Latrunculia and Iophon are described from South Africa and Namibia, located in the Namaqua ecoregion. The Porifera occurring along the continental shelf within this ecoregion are relatively well-known, with 76 species formally described in previous literature. Of these, 35 species belong to the Order Poecilosclerida. Additionally, Latrunculia (Aciculatrunculia) biformis is reported from the continental shelf on the west coast of South Africa, extending its range further northwards into the South Atlantic. DNA barcoding and molecular phylogenetic analyses were employed to ensure accurate taxonomic assignment and designation of new species.

Avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) is a condition characterised by an avoidance or restriction of food intake that has a detrimental impact on physical health, psychosocial functioning or both. ARFID has now been classified in ICD-11, alongside DSM-5; however, challenges remain for healthcare professionals in recognising ARFID in young people and identifying best practice for managing their care. This educational article aims to provide an update on the epidemiology and clinical presentation of ARFID in children and young people, with a particular focus on co-occurring neurodevelopmental conditions and psychiatric disorders. A multidisciplinary approach to assessment and management is key, working closely with the young person and the system around them. Physical and psychosocial risk assessment has been aided by the publication of the medical emergencies in eating disorders (MEED) guidelines. Crucially, there is a need for further research into ARFID in order to develop evidence-based standardised guidelines for assessment, management and transition to adult services if required.

Crystal cells in echinoderms have been described in the literature as a type of coelomocyte (immune cell) containing a crystalline structure. Their putative function has been widely ascribed to osmoregulation but this assertion was never robustly tested. In the present paper, a review of crystal cells and crystalline structures provides evidence supporting a different identity and function. First, the same microcrystals can be found either free or encapsulated by a cell membrane (with or without a structure resembling a nucleus). Specifically, they are typically non-encapsulated when found inside tissues of internal organs and encapsulated when free floating in the hydrovascular or perivisceral fluids. Although usually individually packaged, microcrystals were also observed encapsulated in groups of up to four, with or without other particles. Their morphological features, coupled with their chemical and optical properties, match that of microcrystals of uric acid, described in other phyla, including chordates. Two pathways of excretion of these crystallised by-products were evidenced: rejected with sea water out of the respiratory tree and expelled via transrectal coelomoducts among coelomocyte aggregates. Overall, the present synthesis strongly supports that ‘crystal cells’ historically described as a distinct type of coelomocyte in holothuroids are phagocytes that have engulfed uric acid microcrystals generated as waste by metabolic activities.

Lewin and colleagues’ article in this journal gives a good overview of how artificial intelligence (AI) is contributing to the reshaping of mental healthcare. However, a deeper focus on the synergies between different approaches to AI and its goals is needed. This commentary aims to further consider the unique implications of digital mental health approaches, including predictive, explainable and generative AI, for both research and clinical objectives.

After presenting Boyle’s appeal to the Sartrean notion of nonpositional self-awareness in explaining Evans’ “transparency fact” concerning self-knowledge, I argue that his explanation suffers a certain instability. To the extent that nonpositional self-awareness is taken to be a matter of first-order ‘transparent’ orientation to the world, Boyle’s suggestion concerning the character of explicit positional self-knowledge is compromised. On the other hand, to the extent that nonpositional awareness is regarded as a form of genuine self-awareness, his explanation overintellectualizes first-order mental states. I conclude by raising questions regarding Boyle’s success in providing a viable alternative to epistemic accounts of basic self-knowledge.

This essay examines the Army’s efforts to cultivate and gain congressional support for the GI Bill in the 1980s. Focusing on the relationship between Representative Sonny Montgomery, senior Army leaders like Maxwell R. Thurman and Robert Elton, and the staffers who worked for each of them, it illustrates the intentionality with which Army leaders worked to cultivate congressional support for and to head off congressional and presidential opposition to a bill that they saw as essential. Analyzing their public and private efforts at critical moments when the legislation was imperiled reveals that relations between the Army and Congress are more intricate than testimony at hearings and budget requests might reveal, that throughout the 1980s, Army leaders remained deeply concerned about sustaining the All-Volunteer Force, and that the ultimate success of that force and the legislation that helped ensure it rested with individuals who built and then leveraged personal relationships.

A chemical explosion and fire erupted in Conakry, Guinea, West Africa on December 18, 2023, destroying Guinea’s main fuel depot and resulting in 25 dead and 459 injured. Fifteen of the deaths occurred directly at the explosion site. Firefighters initiated efforts to control the blaze and transported injured, non-ambulatory victims to local hospitals with assistance from the military, Red Cross, and mining companies. Thirteen clinical facilities within an eight-mile radius of the explosion received burn and non-burn victims, with only one of these, Donka National Hospital, capable of handling burn victims. Many less seriously injured victims self-selected where they sought care, although anecdotal information indicates that an unknown number of injured did not seek care or chose to leave the city. The disaster marked the first time stakeholders from various sectors in the Guinean society (from first responders to mining companies) came together in a concerted response. Ranked 179th of 193 countries on the Human Development Index (HDI), the disaster rapidly outstripped Guinea’s response and health care capabilities, leaving behind economic shocks affecting livelihoods and the local economy. These experiences underscore the need for improved capabilities and coordination in disaster planning, warning and communication systems, and prehospital and hospital response in developing countries.

La guerre d’Algérie est entrée dans l’ère des réparations. Face à la pression de groupes mémoriels (appelés, rapatriés, harkis), l’État a pris des mesures compensatrices ciblées avant de nommer cette guerre en 1999. Mais cette histoire partielle marginalise les familles des 4 000 tués et 10 000 blessés qui, sans s’être constituées en groupes, n’ont pas moins œuvré à bas bruit dès le début de la guerre pour une reconnaissance de leur expérience : une guerre en métropole faite d’affrontements fratricides entre Algériens, de répressions policières et de menées OAS. À partir de questions écrites à l’Assemblée nationale, de textes réglementaires, de milliers de dossiers de successions montés par des familles algériennes et de centaines de demandes d’indemnisations adressées aux autorités, cet article propose une ethnographie historique de l’État pris dans les transactions réparatrices d’une guerre non déclarée. Il redéfinit alors la chronologie, les modalités et les stratégies déployées par les victimes civiles de la guerre d’Algérie pour obtenir réparation. Il remarque d’abord que la fiction d’une guerre sans nom n’a pas été simplement imposée par l’État, mais a été renforcée par en bas, à travers les négociations engagées sous la forme d’accidents de travail ou de trajet. Il souligne ensuite que la lutte menée par les victimes collatérales françaises a suscité un élan de solidarité nationale à l’origine d’une des premières lois d’indemnisation pour les victimes du terrorisme en France, rejetant les « inexcusables » algériens. Il démontre enfin que les amnisties, les frontières nationales, la définition rétroactive du maintien de l’ordre et la reconnaissance progressive par l’État de la guerre en Algérie ont achevé de créer une nouvelle guerre sans nom, la guerre en métropole, avec son lot d’exclus des réparations.

A number of recent monographs testify to the dynamism of transimperial analyses of the Russian and Ottoman Empires in the late modern period. In particular, the study of prisoners of war, refugees, and pilgrims has enabled three young scholars, Will Smiley, Vladimir Hamed-Troyansky, and Lâle Can, to offer fresh perspectives on the history of institutions central to political modernity. By exploiting new sources, focusing on interactions between state and non-state actors, exploring ordinary practices of government, and decentering perspectives, these volumes contribute to shaping a powerful historiographical renewal. Reading them together, this article considers the dynamics of the co-construction of imperial orders based on shared conceptions of sovereignty, subjecthood, and protection. It underlines the systemic entanglement of the two empires’ colonization projects, the centrality of borderland actors, and the complex redefinition of affiliations and belonging that took place in the course of these often violent processes of modernization.