Hydrothermal vents are known to host unique faunal assemblages supported by chemosynthetic production; however, the fauna associated with inactive sulphide ecosystems remain largely uncharacterised across the global seafloor. In November 2023, a six-rayed starfish was collected from the Semenov hydrothermal field on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. A combination of morphological and molecular methods has confirmed the identity of this species as Paulasterias mcclaini Mah et al. 2015 (Forcipulatida: Paulasteriidae), providing the first validated record of this family in the Atlantic Ocean. We present an updated morphological description of the species, alongside phylogenetic analysis of the COI, 16S, 12S, and H3 genetic markers. The biogeography of the family is discussed, and previously published records amended.

In experimental social science, precise treatment effect estimation is of utmost importance, and researchers can make design choices to increase precision. Specifically, block-randomized and pre-post designs are promoted as effective means to increase precision. However, implementing these designs requires pre-treatment covariates, and collecting this information may decrease sample sizes, which in and of itself harms precision. Therefore, despite the literature’s recommendation to use block-randomized and pre-post designs, it remains unclear when to expect these designs to increase precision in applied settings. We use real-world data to demonstrate a counterintuitive result: precision gains from block-randomized or pre-post designs can withstand significant sample loss that may arise during implementation. Our findings underscore the importance of incorporating researchers’ practical concerns into existing experimental design advice.

This study examined whether supplementation with collagen peptides (CP) affects appetite and post-exercise energy intake in healthy active females. In this randomised, double-blind cross-over study, fifteen healthy females (23 (sd 3) years) consumed 15 g/d of CP or a taste matched non-energy control (CON) for 7 d. On day 7, participants cycled for 45 min at ∼55 % Wmax, before consuming the final supplement. Sixty-min post supplementation an ad libitum meal was provided, and energy intake recorded. Subjective appetite sensations were measured daily for 6 d (pre- and 30 min post-supplement) and pre (0 min) to 280 min post-exercise on day 7. Blood glucose and hormone concentrations (total ghrelin, glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), and peptide YY (PYY), cholecystokinin (CCK), dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (sDPP-4), leptin, and insulin) were measured fasted at baseline (day 0), then pre-breakfast (0 min), post-exercise (100 min), post-supplement (115, 130, 145, 160 min) and post-meal (220, 280 min) on day 7. Ad libitum energy intake was ∼10 % (∼41 kcal) lower in the CP trial (P = 0·037). There was no difference in gastrointestinal symptoms or subjective appetite sensations throughout the trial (P ≥ 0·412). Total plasma GLP-1 (AUC, CON: 6369 (sd 2330); CP: 9064 (sd 3021) pmol/l; P < 0·001) and insulin (+80 % at peak) were higher after CP (P < 0·001). Plasma ghrelin and leptin were lower in CP (condition effect; P ≤ 0·032). PYY, CCK and glucose were not different between CP and placebo (P ≥ 0·100). CP supplementation following exercise increased GLP-1 and insulin concentrations and reduced ad libitum energy intake at a subsequent meal in physically active females.

We analyze the effects of limited investor attention on the stock market reaction to innovation announcements and develop a new measure of patents’ economic value. We hypothesize that, when some investors pay delayed attention to innovation announcements, there will be a post-announcement drift in addition to the announcement effect, with the former decreasing and the latter increasing in investor attention. Using media coverage and abnormal Google search volume as investor attention proxies, we find consistent evidence. Our new attention-weighted measure of patents’ economic value has greater predictive power for future firm performance than measures based on the announcement effect alone.

This study explores the relationships between board internationalization, board size, and strategic change of firms from emerging markets. Building upon resource dependency theory (RDT), this study proposes that board internationalization has a positive impact on strategic change. A higher level of nationality heterogeneity on the board of directors, an organization receives more diverse perspectives and experiences from foreign directors. This, in turn, influences firms to identify areas of improvement and engage in strategic change. In addition, conventional wisdom suggests that board size per se has a negative relationship with strategic change. However, this study proposes that large board sizes together with board internationalization can foster strategic change. In other words, board size and board internationalization can jointly counteract the inertial nature of a large board, resulting in strategic change. The analyses of 255 publicly listed firms from nine emerging countries for the 2013–2018 financial years confirm these predictions.

This paper tests for the cyclical implications of the external constraint in Argentina from 1930 to 2018, and investigates the responses of GDP, real wages, trade balance, and external debt to external trade shocks using a recursive vector-autoregressive model. Moreover, considering the shift in development strategy in 1976, marked by the transition from state-led industrialization to deregulation and trade openness, changes in external vulnerability are analyzed.

Results confirm a trade balance bottleneck hindering future growth, and that external debt fails to spur short-term growth or improve the purchasing power of the population, thereby confirming the vicious cyclical dynamics of stop-and-go and go-and-crash for the entire period. Also, real external vulnerability grew significantly after 1976, as evidenced by the fact that the cumulative impact of movements in the terms of trade and external demand rose from explaining 30% to 43% of GDP variation.

People from different ethnic minorities in the UK are experiencing a steeper increase in dementia diagnosis compared to their white counterparts but are more likely to have a higher risk of dementia, to be diagnosed at a younger age and to die earlier from the condition. These disparities suggest the need for urgent interventions to prevent and reduce dementia risk. Despite the significant presence of Chinese people in the UK, there has been little dementia research involving them, so this study is the first in the UK to focus on Chinese communities living in five major cities. Using a cultural adaptation theoretical framework, we adapted Alzheimer’s Research UK’s virtual dementia prevention campaign Think Brain Health to meet the needs of Chinese people. We used a mixed methods approach to evaluate knowledge of dementia and brain health activities, and intention regarding help-seeking. We performed descriptive, chi-square and thematic analysis; 54 Chinese people completed the intervention, with 85 per cent aged over 60 years. Over half (56%) could not speak, read or write in English. Our results showed significant improvements in knowledge of dementia and brain health, and an improved intention to seek help and information. All participants reported a positive experience of the culturally tailored intervention and valued working with dementia researchers who were able to deliver the intervention in Chinese languages. Future work involving Chinese communities in the UK will need to identify an appropriate but non-stigmatizing Chinese term for dementia.

An intriguing question regarding the relationship between international financial institutions (IFIs) and their Latin American borrowers concerns how and why regime type influences the degree to which the parties are prepared to sign loan agreements. Some scholars highlight a ‘democratic advantage’, while others argue that, on the contrary, a ‘democratic disadvantage’ is evident. This article engages with this scholarly debate, offering a historical perspective on the World Bank’s (WB) lending patterns vis-à-vis Latin America during the Cold War, and more specifically between 1948 and 1988, a period that witnessed both democratic and authoritarian regimes in the region. Drawing on never-before-examined documents from the WB archives and additional primary sources, and analysing WB lending to its four largest Latin American borrowers – Mexico, Colombia, Argentina and particularly Brazil – the article posits a third option, arguing that neither a democratic advantage nor a democratic disadvantage was evident during the period under study. Adhering to its self-declared principle of ‘political neutrality’, as outlined in its Articles of Agreement, and emphasising economic factors, the WB exhibited a clear tendency toward pragmatism and ‘political indifference’. This approach enabled the Bank to maintain its involvement in politically unstable countries like Brazil with minimal interruptions.

Recently, former colonial powers in the Global North have begun addressing their colonial pasts through their foreign policies. Some of these states pursue a feminist foreign policy (FFP). However, to date, only one FFP makes explicit mention of colonial legacies: that of Germany, adopted in 2021. How does German FFP discourse address this and what political work does this do? Contributing to critiques of coloniality in FFP, we analyze the discursive representation of Germany’s colonial past in foreign policy texts since 2021. Drawing on the socio-critical concepts theater of reconciliation by Max Czollek and remembrance superiority by Mohamed Amjahid, we find that the discourse powerfully establishes gendered notions of caring, responsible, and reflexive German statehood. This organizes how Germany’s engagement with its colonial past is told and which forms of engagement with former colonies are rendered intelligible. We argue that German FFP erases colonial structures that permeate German foreign policy and reproduces coloniality through discursive representations.

This paper discusses the importance of incorporating personal assistance into interventions aimed at improving long-term education and labor market success. While existing research demonstrates the cost-effectiveness of low-touch behavioral nudges, this paper argues that the dynamic nature of human capital accumulation requires sustained habits over time. To foster better habits, social connections are critical for encouraging enduring effort and intrinsic motivation. The paper links the role of personal assistance to economic theories of human capital investment and decision-making, and showcases examples from various stages of skill accumulation, including early childhood, adolescence, and adulthood, in which interventions that incorporate personal assistance substantially out-perform less intensive nudges. We underscore the importance of interactive support, guidance, and motivation in facilitating significant progress and explore the challenges associated with implementing cost-effective policies to provide such assistance.

To provide a useful contextual backdrop to an exhibition at the Royal College of Psychiatrists this summer, we used a question and answer format to summarise the thoughts of its curator, Gavin Miller. Gavin has chosen 12 books published by Penguin between 1949 and 1975 to illuminate the relationship between psychiatrists, psychologists, psychotherapists and the British media. He reflects on the opportunities and pitfalls that come with the association, the motivations of previous writers and provides practical advice for any media psychiatrists considering such a role in the future. The exhibition is open to visitors to the College building in London.

The HTAi Health Technology Assessment (eHTA) Working Group’s (WG) development of a consensus definition of early eHTA, as reported in Grutters et al. (1), represents a major step towards the establishment of eHTA as a distinct subdiscipline of HTA. In a global landscape in which growth in pharmaceutical spending is driven by the increasing number of high-cost specialty drugs (2–6), and where the cost of new entrants is not systematically associated with their clinical benefit (7;8), broader uptake of eHTA by pharmaceutical innovators offers a route to improving the value delivered by our collective investments in drug research and development (R&D). As we argue in this commentary, the WG’s report provides a coherent framework within which to further define appropriate eHTA methods for specific use cases as well as eHTA’s relationship to other decision-making tools currently used by health technology innovators and funders.

Detecting structural changes in economic relationships has been a longstanding challenge in econometrics. Most of the literature on structural breaks has considered abrupt structural breaks. Existing tests for detecting smooth structural change typically rely on kernel estimation. In this article, we introduce a novel tuning-parameter-free test that minimizes a criterion function over all possible nondecreasing or nonincreasing structural change functions. This test is pivotal (after appropriate scaling) in the scalar case and remains computationally simple even in multivariate settings. Compared to existing nonparametric tests, our method offers superior power against local monotonic structural changes and does not involve the choice of a bandwidth parameter. A simulation study and two empirical examples highlight the merits of the proposed test relative to some popular tests for structural changes in the literature.