On many topics of common interest, there are multiple scientific experts who are more-or-less equally reliable as far as most laypeople can tell. In such situations, it would generally be a bad idea for those laypeople to form or update their opinions by deferring to the opinions of individual experts; rather, when possible, they should consider the more general distribution of opinions among all the experts. Building on this thought, this paper argues that scientific experts themselves should ideally not simply report their own opinions on topics within their expertise; rather, if possible, they should provide information about expert opinion distributions more generally, for example, by communicating that a majority of their fellow experts take such-and-such position on a topic while the minority has a contrary view – even when they are themselves in the minority. I go on to trace some important implications of this argument, for example, that scientific communities have an epistemic obligation to periodically gather data on expert opinion distributions regarding topics that are of interest to the general public.

Antiparasitic agents are routinely used in companion animal medicine. However, longitudinal evidence describing real-world usage patterns in dogs remains limited. This study aimed to characterise patterns, routes of administration, temporal trends, and seasonal variation in antiparasitic drug use among Golden Retrievers enrolled in a large prospective cohort study in the United States. A descriptive analysis was conducted to summarise antiparasitic usage data from the Morris Animal Foundation’s Golden Retriever Lifetime Study over nine study years (corresponding to years 0 to 8). Percentages with respective 95% CI were used to summarise drug types, therapy combinations, routes of administration, and temporal and seasonal patterns of use. A total of 17,715 antiparasitic use records were analysed. Drug usage pattern was highly concentrated within a limited number of products, with the ivermectin–pyrantel pamoate combination accounting for 23.0% of all recorded use. Other commonly used agents included afoxolaner (9.73%), metronidazole (9.16%), and lufenuron–milbemycin oxime (8.95%). Oral formulations were predominant, representing 65.28% of all administrations. Single-agent therapy accounted for 47.27% of use, while two-drug combination therapy represented 46.65%. The antiparasitic medications spanned multiple pharmacological classes targeting both endo- and ectoparasites, including anthelmintics, ectoparasiticides, and antiprotozoals. Antiparasitic use declined by 1.8% over the study period. We observed a seasonal variation in antiparasitic drug usage, with higher usage during cooler months (winter) and lower use in summer. These findings provide baseline evidence of the burden of endoparasites and ectoparasites in Golden Retriever dogs and highlight the need for stewardship-oriented parasite control strategies in companion animal practice.

Social media offers research teams new opportunities for outreach and study recruitment; however, research teams often need guidance and tools on how to use social media to effectively recruit for their clinical trials. To address this gap, the Recruitment Innovation Center (RIC) developed a new, comprehensive toolkit informed by community feedback and extensive RIC experience. The toolkit contains guidance and considerations for using social media to recruit clinical trial participants, including best practices, platform-specific strategies, and customizable templates. This paper details the creation and contents of this new, free resource.

The recent study by Aron et al about lithium deficiency and the onset of Alzheimer’s disease provides a valuable explanatory framework for understanding how very small doses of lithium, delivered via environmental exposure, can exert neuroprotective effects. It also contains results which will need to be reconciled with foundational chemistry and existing evidence and which could be potentially misleading. The suggestion that lithium orotate (LiO) exhibits benefits relative to the more traditionally used lithium carbonate (LiC) requires further scrutiny in light of the following arguments: (a) no study has demonstrated the presence of stable LiO in physiological fluids; (b) acid–base chemistry predicts that LiO will be largely protonated in the stomach, causing it to dissociate and be absorbed as Li+; (c) experimental studies indicate that LiO and LiC have comparable pharmacokinetics after oral administration; and (d) previous research has shown that LiC also has neuroprotective effects, including at very low doses. Disproportionate focus on a specific lithium salt could have safety implications and may distract from answering fundamental questions about the effects of very low doses of lithium. More experiments are needed to provide evidence of a stable LiO complex in physiological fluids before this becomes the main form of lithium in future clinical trials.

Glufosinate is a key postemergence herbicide in U.S. soybean production, particularly where resistance to glyphosate and inhibitors of acetolactate synthase is widespread. A 25-question survey of soybean growers, agronomists, and industry professionals in Arkansas and Wisconsin was conducted in Fall 2022 to characterize glufosinate use patterns, weed management challenges, and stakeholder perceptions. Palmer amaranth was reported as the most problematic weed in Arkansas (97% of respondents), and waterhemp was most frequently reported in Wisconsin (92%). Suspected glyphosate resistance was widely reported (97% in Arkansas, 88% in Wisconsin), and suspected glufosinate resistance was reported by 37% of Arkansas respondents and by 3% of Wisconsin respondents. Eighty-four percent of Arkansas respondents reported integrating glufosinate into their weed management programs, as did 53% of Wisconsin respondents, and most respondents said they used it to target broadleaf weeds ≤15 cm tall. Carrier volumes were 103 to 140 L ha−1 (chosen by 75% of Arkansas respondents), and 150 to 187 L ha−1 (chosen by 86% of respondents from Wisconsin). Arkansas respondents most frequently reported using glufosinate in sequential first and second postemergence applications (62%). In Wisconsin, glufosinate use was reported mostly only as a first postemergence application (37%), followed closely by sequential use in the first and second postemergence applications (34%). Weed size, followed by carrier volume and air temperature, were ranked as the most important factors affecting glufosinate performance. Ammonium sulfate was the most used adjuvant (45% in Arkansas; 67% in Wisconsin), and spray water quality was rarely tested. Frequently reported tank-mix partners included glyphosate and inhibitors of protoporphyrinogen oxidase in Arkansas and synthetic auxins and clethodim in Wisconsin. Extension efforts should emphasize applying glufosinate to small weeds (<10 cm in height), optimizing application technology and spray solution characteristics (nozzle, carrier volume, water quality/adjuvant selection), and spraying under favorable environmental conditions. Improving application consistency can reduce weed escapes and repeat postemergence applications, thereby lowering selection pressure and preserving glufosinate as an important postemergence option.

The paper is concerned with maximal subgroups of the ample (better known as topological full) groups of homeomorphisms of totally disconnected compact metrizable topological spaces. We describe all maximal subgroups that are stabilizers of finite sets. Under certain assumptions on the ample group (including minimality), we describe all maximal subgroups that are stabilizers of closed sets or stabilizers of partitions into clopen sets. In particular, our results apply to the ample groups associated with Cantor minimal systems and to some Higman–Thompson groups.

In the aftermath of the Second World War, Poland faced immense public health challenges amidst widespread destruction and political transformation. This article explores the largely overlooked medical mission of the Unitarian Service Committee (USC) in Poland, situating it within both humanitarian and geopolitical contexts. Drawing on archival research and press accounts, the study reconstructs the USC’s multifaceted aid efforts, including its Medical Teaching Mission, the establishment of the Piekary Śląskie hospital, and tuberculosis control initiatives. The analysis highlights how the USC combined direct medical assistance with educational outreach, aiming to support long-term recovery. However, operating behind the Iron Curtain, the Committee’s activities were subject to both surveillance and propaganda, revealing the entanglement of health and politics in Cold War Europe. This case offers new insights into the role of non-governmental actors in shaping postwar public health and diplomacy in Eastern Europe.

The European Union’s Artificial Intelligence Act introduces a novel regulatory category of “unacceptable risk,” prohibiting specific AI practices that are deemed fundamentally incompatible with human rights and ethical principles. While much attention has focused on the regulation of high-risk AI systems, particularly in medical contexts, the AI Act’s outright bans under Article 5 have received far less scrutiny. This paper addresses that gap by examining how these prohibitions apply to healthcare and public health, which are domains defined by rapid technological uptake, structural vulnerability, and ethically sensitive decision-making. Drawing on the European Commission’s 2025 interpretative Guidelines, the paper argues that several health-related AI applications, such as emotion recognition tools, biometric categorisation systems, and technologies that influence or target vulnerable populations, may fall within the scope of the bans. It also shows that the Act’s medical and safety exceptions risk weakening the vulnerability protections that the prohibitions aim to secure. By integrating legal analysis with real-world health examples, the paper offers a framework for interpreting these prohibitions and assesses how they should guide the ethical boundaries of AI in healthcare, within and beyond the European context.

Taking Singapore’s Nanyang University (Nantah) as a case study, this article examines Cold War American efforts to reshape higher education in Southeast Asia, and the efforts of local elites to leverage these resources for their own agendas. Best known as the only ‘Chinese’ university outside of mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, Nantah has been variously critiqued as an institutional home for leftist-student activism and Chinese communal interests in decolonizing Southeast Asia. This article argues that it was also a centrepiece in an American-led political agenda to contain communist China by supporting ‘Free Chinese’ educational facilities in the diaspora. It demonstrates how American policies aimed at supporting Chinese higher education outside of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) encountered the local politics of decolonization in Singapore, producing new educational infrastructures in the region oriented towards American universities. While Nanyang University was initially the locus of American attention in the early Cold War, its strategic significance as a ‘Chinese’ university in Southeast Asia was increasingly sidelined by an assertive Singapore government eager to leverage American resources for its own developmental needs. Arguably, the longer term legacies of this episode can be discerned through Singapore’s centrality in the globalization of American higher education in Asia, and the broader reorienting of intellectual networks and epistemologies in Singapore which endures to the present day.