Do parties respond to inequality? Despite the relevance of inequality and its consequences, existing studies fail to capture parties’ emphasis on economic equality and redistribution or to differentiate between existing levels of inequality and increases in inequality. Based on 850,000 party statements from 12 (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries (1970–2020), we introduce a crowd-coded dataset that allows us to distinguish positive references to economic equality and redistribution from upward-trending equal-rights/anti-discrimination rhetoric. We show that responses found in previous studies do not capture economic equality and redistribution. In reassessing the impact of inequality, we argue that low visibility, status quo bias, and turnout effects discourage party responses to high inequality levels, while rising inequality poses a visible status quo change and a threat that left parties respond to. We find that left parties respond to inequality increases (except less tangible gains among the most affluent) but not to (high) inequality levels. This helps to understand why inequality is not self-correcting.

Background: Recent research has demonstrated that DBS sites in Alzheimer’s (AD) and Parkinson’s (PD) influencing cognition are functionally connected to the subiculum. However, the results are mixed, and it is unclear how or if DBS site-subiculum connectivity can be optimized to improve patient cognition. Methods: We studied how subiculum connectivity influenced cognitive outcomes in both PD (subthalamic nucleus) and AD (fornix) DBS patients (total n = 110). We first confirmed DBS site-subiculum connectivity had opposite cognitive effects in each disease. We next investigated patient factors underlying these opposing effects. Lastly, we related our findings back to clinical practice to guide DBS programming in PD and AD. Results: DBS site-subiculum connectivity correlated with cognitive improvement in AD but decline in PD. This was dependent upon hippocampal atrophy; such that higher subiculum connectivity was beneficial when the hippocampus was atrophic but deleterious when it was intact. Finally, we related our findings back to anatomy with cadaveric dissections and present how DBS stimulation can be optimized to improve patient cognition. Conclusions: DBS site-subiculum connectivity influences cognition but depends on patient factors. Thus, to optimize cognition based on patient factors, DBS electrodes can be programmed to stimulate subregions with higher or lower subiculum connectivity.

Recent changes to US research funding are having far-reaching consequences that imperil the integrity of science and the provision of care to vulnerable populations. Resisting these changes, the BJPsych Portfolio reaffirms its commitment to publishing mental science and advancing psychiatric knowledge that improves the mental health of one and all.

While scholars document associations between competing parties’ policy disputes and citizens’ cross-party hostility, that is, affective polarization, we lack causal comparative evidence of how different types of ideological disagreements shape partisan affective evaluations. We investigate this issue with a priming experiment across ten Western publics, which prompts some respondents to answer questions inviting them to discuss debates over either cultural or economic issues versus a control group that receives a non-political prompt. Respondents in the economic and cultural priming conditions expressed greater distrust of out-partisans, and, among respondents who received cultural priming, those who discussed immigration in their open-ended responses expressed far more distrust towards opponents – an effect driven by right-wing respondents who discussed immigration. These findings provide comparative evidence that economic and cultural debates cause affective polarization, with immigration as a primary cultural driver.

In low- and middle-income countries like Sierra Leone, there is a significant gap in the treatment of perinatal mental health disorders such as anxiety, depression and somatization. This study explored the feasibility, acceptability and preliminary effectiveness of a culturally adapted Problem-Solving Therapy – Friendship Bench Intervention (PST-FBI) delivered by nonspecialists, mother-to-mother support groups (MMSGs), to perinatal women experiencing psychological distress. MMSGs provide 4 weeks of home-based, individual PST-FBI, followed by a peer-led group session called col at sacul (circle of serenity). The intervention targeted peri-urban pregnant women and new mothers screened for psychological distress. This was a two-armed, pre–post, waitlist-controlled study that employed the Sierra Leone Perinatal Psychological Distress Scale (SLPPDS) to screen and measure their outcomes. Feasibility and acceptability were examined through in-depth interviews using the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research, analyzed thematically, while preliminary effectiveness was evaluated with chi-squared analysis for categorical and t-test for continuous variables. Twenty of the 25 women completed all four PST-FBI sessions delivered by five MMSGs. The individual PST and the peer-led session were viewed as beneficial for problem-sharing and skill building. The SLPPDS scores significantly dropped by 58.9% (17.1–8.4) in the intervention group, while the control group showed a 31.6% (18.0–12.3) decrease. The intervention’s effect size was d = 0.40 (p < 0.05). The MMSG-led PST-FBI, including the col at sacul session, proved feasible, acceptable and with preliminary effectiveness in improving the mental health of peri-urban pregnant women and new mothers in Sierra Leone. Further randomized-controlled trials are recommended before nationwide implementation.

It is suggested that if Guttman’s latent-root-one lower bound estimate for the rank of a correlation matrix is accepted as a psychometric upper bound, following the proofs and arguments of Kaiser and Dickman, then the rank for a sample matrix should be estimated by subtracting out the component in the latent roots which can be attributed to sampling error, and least-squares “capitalization” on this error, in the calculation of the correlations and the roots. A procedure based on the generation of random variables is given for estimating the component which needs to be subtracted.

Despite 30 years of research on economic inequality, the question of whether government ideology affects inequality remains unresolved. As rising inequality poses a major challenge to contemporary democracies, we ask: (when) do parties matter regarding inequality? Our systematic analysis finds that research is divided, with a tendency toward a pessimistic “no.” We decipher the factors that account for this split in theoretically predictable ways. We assess the roles played by the type of inequality, the time horizon, and the impact of policy channels. Bivariate and multivariate analyses of 393 TSCS-regression findings show how the type of inequality and a neglect of top incomes, a focus on short- rather than long-term effects, and the inclusion of policy channels that absorb the effects of parties strongly codetermine the results. Effects septuple depending on how these factors are combined. We draw three lessons that, when combined, foster a shift toward a more optimistic perspective on the latitude of politics.

Next generation high-power laser facilities are expected to generate hundreds-of-MeV proton beams and operate at multi-Hz repetition rates, presenting opportunities for medical, industrial and scientific applications requiring bright pulses of energetic ions. Characterizing the spectro-spatial profile of these ions at high repetition rates in the harsh radiation environments created by laser–plasma interactions remains challenging but is paramount for further source development. To address this, we present a compact scintillating fiber imaging spectrometer based on the tomographic reconstruction of proton energy deposition in a layered fiber array. Modeling indicates that spatial resolution of approximately 1 mm and energy resolution of less than 10% at proton energies of more than 20 MeV are readily achievable with existing 100 μm diameter fibers. Measurements with a prototype beam-profile monitor using 500 μm fibers demonstrate active readouts with invulnerability to electromagnetic pulses, and less than 100 Gy sensitivity. The performance of the full instrument concept is explored with Monte Carlo simulations, accurately reconstructing a proton beam with a multiple-component spectro-spatial profile.

Archaeological sites in Northwest Africa are rich in human fossils and artefacts providing proxies for behavioural and evolutionary studies. However, these records are difficult to underpin on a precise chronology, which can prevent robust assessments of the drivers of cultural/behavioural transitions. Past investigations have revealed that numerous volcanic ash (tephra) layers are interbedded within the Palaeolithic sequences and likely originate from large volcanic eruptions in the North Atlantic (e.g. the Azores, Canary Islands, Cape Verde). Critically, these ash layers offer a unique opportunity to provide new relative and absolute dating constraints (via tephrochronology) to synchronise key archaeological and palaeoenvironmental records in this region. Here, we provide an overview of the known eruptive histories of the potential source volcanoes capable of widespread ashfall in the region during the last ~300,000 years, and discuss the diagnostic glass compositions essential for robust tephra correlations. To investigate the eruption source parameters and weather patterns required for ash dispersal towards NW Africa, we simulate plausible ashfall distributions using the Ash3D model. This work constitutes the first step in developing a more robust tephrostratigraphic framework for distal ash layers in NW Africa and highlights how tephrochronology may be used to reliably synchronise and date key climatic and cultural transitions during the Palaeolithic.