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This longitudinal study retrospectively explored the stigmatization experienced by 47 young adults in South Korea in early mid-20s who dropped out of middle or high school. Data were collected at two time points. Using thematic analysis, we categorized their experience of stigma into public and self-stigma, based on Corrigan and Kosyluk's (2014) social cognitive model of stigma. Each form of stigma is further subdivided into stereotypes, prejudices, and discrimination. We identified additional factors related to coping with the stigma. Based on the findings, the potential implications of characterizing the stigma experienced by middle and high school dropouts are discussed from a longitudinal perspective.

This article draws on the contributions to this special issue to highlight the urgent need to restore checks and balances in our evaluation of 'usable pasts' in comparative education. Considering that our reading of the field's history not only moulds our understanding of comparative education now but also shapes our imagination of its potential futures, reflecting our implicit biases and the way we construct and narrate its history becomes imperative. This article unveils the persistence of silences and exclusions concerning specific histories, countries, and topics, and highlights the possible influence of evolving geopolitical power dynamics on the future of comparative education. Consequently, it urges critical examination of the field's positionality amid shifting geopolitical tensions and calls for a thorough scrutiny of entrenched silences and the reductionist use of sweeping policy signifiers such as globalisation, decolonisation, excellence, and the notion of 'future' as explanatory concepts.

There has been a growing tendency to use humanistic and utopian goals in the naming and framing of education policies. The case of the Happiness Education Policy (HEP) in South Korea is illustrative and demonstrates the potential of such framing, combined with references to external authorities, to neutralise domestic opposition and generate support from diverse national stakeholders. The HEP focuses on nurturing 'happy human capital' for the future through education initiatives such as the Free Semester/Year Initiative, character education, STEAM-based curriculum, and software education. Through an analysis of a corpus of policy documents and press releases, this article demonstrates how happiness, as a floating signifier, has been redefined in ways that align and support the different sociotechnical imaginaries envisioned by political regimes over the past decade which depart from its humanistic focus.

An extensive literature has explored the influence of the OECD on school education policies globally, while their influence on higher education policies has been underexamined. This article addresses that void by analysing the internationalisation of higher education in Israel and South Korea. We suggest that joining the OECD provided political legitimacy for both countries and that the OECD comparative metrics and guidelines were crucial in generating anxieties about their underperformance in the global market for international students. These metrics served as benchmarks for internationalisation policies and shaped the foci, aims and definitions of success (i.e. parity with OECD averages). The desire to compete spurred cross-national policy referencing and borrowing, initially with little adaptation resulting in a form of 'prefabricated internationalisation'. Over time, the (im)balance between global aspiration and local realities resulted in localisation. We argue that policy isomorphism is overstated, and call for the recognition of complexity in the convergence debate.

There is increasing evidence of a role for environmental contaminants in disrupting metabolic health in both humans and animals. Despite a growing need for well-understood models for evaluating adipogenic and potential obesogenic contaminants, there has been a reliance on decades-old in vitro models that have not been appropriately managed by cell line providers. There has been a quick rise in available in vitro models in the last ten years, including commercial availability of human mesenchymal stem cell and preadipocyte models; these models require more comprehensive validation but demonstrate real promise in improved translation to human metabolic health. There is also progress in developing three-dimensional and co-culture techniques that allow for the interrogation of a more physiologically relevant state. While diverse rodent models exist for evaluating putative obesogenic and/or adipogenic chemicals in a physiologically relevant context, increasing capabilities have been identified for alternative model organisms such as Drosophila, C. elegans, zebrafish, and medaka in metabolic health testing. These models have several appreciable advantages, including most notably their size, rapid development, large brood sizes, and ease of high-resolution lipid accumulation imaging throughout the organisms. They are anticipated to expand the capabilities of metabolic health research, particularly when coupled with emerging obesogen evaluation techniques as described herein.

Obesity is a multifactorial disease with both genetic and environmental components. The prevailing view is that obesity results from an imbalance between energy intake and expenditure caused by overeating and insufficient exercise. We describe another environmental element that can alter the balance between energy intake and energy expenditure: obesogens. Obesogens are a subset of environmental chemicals that act as endocrine disruptors affecting metabolic endpoints. The obesogen hypothesis posits that exposure to endocrine disruptors and other chemicals can alter the development and function of the adipose tissue, liver, pancreas, gastrointestinal tract, and brain, thus changing the set point for control of metabolism. Obesogens can determine how much food is needed to maintain homeostasis and thereby increase the susceptibility to obesity. The most sensitive time for obesogen action is in utero and early childhood, in part via epigenetic programming that can be transmitted to future generations. This review explores the evidence supporting the obesogen hypothesis and highlights knowledge gaps that have prevented widespread acceptance as a contributor to the obesity pandemic. Critically, the obesogen hypothesis changes the narrative from curing obesity to preventing obesity.

Cancer cells utilize multiple nutrient scavenging mechanisms to support growth and survival in nutrient-poor, hypoxic tumor microenvironments. Among these mechanisms, macropinocytosis has emerged as an important pathway of extracellular nutrient acquisition in cancer cells, particularly in tumors with activated RAS signaling, such as pancreatic cancer. However, the absence of a clinically available inhibitor, as well as the gap of knowledge in macropinocytosis regulation, remain a hurdle for its use for cancer therapy. Here, we use the Informer set library to identify novel regulators of macropinocytosis-dependent growth in pancreatic cancer cells. Understanding how these regulators function will allow us to provide novel opportunities for therapeutic intervention.