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The studies of thymic structure were performed predominantly in cohorts of younger individuals. Here, we established a cohort of body donors whose age at the time of death ranged from 57 to 103 to study the relationship between thymic structure and factors that, in the younger subjects, have shown to affect the organ's anatomy, including the presence of the organ's capsule, its weight, size of the left and right lobes, and a transverse diameter. We explored the relationships between these thymic parameters and the subjects' age, sex, and cause of death (COD), asking how the thymus in the elderly differed from the organ's macro-anatomy in a broader and younger human population, and whether age, sex, COD, and BMI could influence the thymic parameters in the elderly. Our analyses revealed that the thymic size but not thymic weight in the KYCOM cohort differed significantly from the younger individuals. The size of the thymus in males progressively decreased, but in females, the size of the right lobe increased. The encapsulated thymus was detected with a higher frequency in females than males. We found no associations between thymic parameters and the person's COD, age, or sex. However, the person's BMI was associated with thymic weight, suggesting that obesity may influence the aging of the immune system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately affected those who face historical and ongoing marginalization. In centering pandemic experience of recent immigrant women in the accommodation and food services sector in Canada, we examine how their precarious work translated to experiences of work precarity and wellbeing. This paper illuminates how pre-existing and ongoing marginalization are reproduced during a health crisis for those at the intersection of gender, race, migration, and labour inequities. Using semi-structured interviews and systematic analysis using the Work Precarity Framework, we found that the pandemic exacerbated pre-existing socio-economic marginalization and resulted in unique experiences of work precarity. The latter was experienced as precarity of work (unpredictable work hours and job or employment insecurity), precarity from work (inadequate incomes), and precarity at work (physical, psychological, and relational unsafety). Work precarity stood out as a social determinant of health in relation to its outcome of degraded mental health and wellbeing. Recognizing the role of policies in producing, reproducing, and distributing precarity, we recommend policy directions to reduce social inequities in pandemic recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mexican gray wolf (Canis lupus baileyi) reintroduction began in 1998 in Arizona, USA, with 11 individuals initially; wolves from this population dispersed into New Mexico, USA, the following year. Numbers of wolves have steadily increased (≥241 individuals in Dec 2022) and the size of the recovery area has expanded in both states. Understanding kill rates is fundamental to the recovery and management of Mexican wolves to properly maintain a healthy and sustainable population of wolves and their prey species. We used global positioning system (GPS) cluster analysis to locate kill sites and estimate kill rates on native ungulate prey taken in the recovery area by 10 Mexican wolf groups during winter (15 Feb–15 Mar) and 8 wolf groups during summer (15 Jun–15 Jul) in 2015–2017. Elk (Cervus canadensis) composed 94% of the native ungulates documented at Mexican wolf kill sites (n = 139); the remaining 6% were mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus; n = 9). Two‐thirds of all wolf‐killed native ungulates were elk calves. We estimated kill rates as ungulate biomass killed/wolf/day. From combined results for all years, we estimated that each Mexican wolf killed on average 9.0 ± 5.4 kg (±95% CI) of ungulate biomass per day during winter and 7.8 ± 6.2 kg during the summer. Our estimates of kill rates could be overestimated if Mexican wolves obtained a substantial amount of their biomass from scavenging, particularly during 4 months of hunting seasons (Sep–Dec) not captured in winter and summer. Using data from the first 2 years of the study (2015, 2016), we developed a logistic regression model to predict probability of an elk kill occurring at a GPS cluster as a function of hours spent by a collared wolf at that GPS cluster and size of the wolf group. Applying this model to the final year of the study (2017) resulted in similar numbers of predicted (n = 16.1 and 27.2 in winter and summer, respectively) and observed numbers (n = 15 and 26) of elk kills. Additionally, the demographic composition of the 2017 elk kills closely matched that of the previous 2 years. The results of this study indicate similar predation patterns of Mexican wolves to those of wolves in northern locations and can help wildlife managers plan for potential effects from a larger population of wolves across a broad area in Arizona and New Mexico. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Nurses experienced intense ethical and moral challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our 2020 qualitative parent study of frontline nurses' experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic identified ethics as a cross-cutting theme with six subthemes: moral dilemmas, moral uncertainty, moral distress, moral injury, moral outrage, and moral courage. We re-analyzed ethics-related findings in light of refined definitions of ethics concepts. Research aim: To analyze frontline U.S. nurses' experiences of ethics during the COVID-19 pandemic. Research design: Qualitative analysis using a directed content methodology. Participants and research context: The study included 43 nurses from three major metropolitan academic medical centers and one community hospital in the northeastern, mid-Atlantic, midwestern, and western United States. Ethical considerations: Participant privacy and data confidentiality were addressed. Findings: Moral dilemmas arose from many situations, most frequently related to balancing safety and patient care. Moral uncertainty commonly arose from lacking health information or evidence about options. Moral distress occurred when nurses knew the right thing to do, but were prevented from doing so, including with end-of-life issues. Moral injury (accompanied by suffering, shame, or guilt) occurred after doing, seeing, or experiencing wrongdoing, often involving authority figures. Nurses expressed moral outrage at events and people within and outside healthcare. Despite difficult ethical situations, some nurses exemplified moral courage, sometimes by resisting policies they perceived as preventing compassionate care, guided by thinking about what was best for patients. Discussion: This content analysis of ethics-related subthemes revealed conceptual characteristics and clarified distinctions with corresponding exemplars. Conceptual clarity may inform responses and interventions to address ethical quandaries in nursing practice. Conclusions: Ethics education in nursing must address the moral dilemmas of pandemics, disasters, and other crises. Nurses need time and resources to heal from trying to provide the best care when no ideal option was available. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The covid -19 pandemic severely disrupted the education system in Canada from March 2020 throughout the 2020–21 school year. It also had disproportionate secondary effects on women in terms of unpaid care, economic loss, and poor mental health. This article explores the lived experience of women educators in the province of Alberta, drawing on interviews and focus groups with 39 educators. Findings indicate that the pandemic not only exacerbated the triple burden that women educators, in particular, bear but added additional layers of responsibility related to public health management, educating children at home, elder care responsibilities, and emotional labour. The essential role women educators fulfilled within the covid -19 response, at work and at home, cost them time, professional development opportunities, mental wellness, and the positive rewards that had drawn them to the educational field. Current concerns around educator burnout and retention may be mitigated by acting on the recommendations of women educators regarding the development of more equitable education systems and social policy. La pandémie de covid -19 a gravement perturbé le système éducatif au Canada à partir de mars 2020 tout au long de l'année scolaire 2020-2021. Elle a également eu des effets secondaires disproportionnés sur les femmes au point de vue soins non rémunérés, perte économique et mauvaise santé mentale. Cet article explore l'expérience vécue des éducatrices dans la province de l'Alberta, en s'appuyant sur des entrevues et des groupes de discussion avec 39 éducatrices. Les résultats indiquent que la pandémie a non seulement exacerbé le triple fardeau que portent les éducatrices, en particulier, mais a ajouté des niveaux supplémentaires de responsabilité liés à la gestion de la santé publique, à l'éducation des enfants à la maison, aux responsabilités des soins aux personnes âgées et au travail émotionnel. Le rôle essentiel joué par les éducatrices dans le cadre de la réponse à la covid -19, au travail et à la maison, leur a coûté du temps, des possibilités d'avancement professionnel, le bien-être mental et les récompenses positives qui les avaient attirées vers le domaine de l'éducation. Les préoccupations actuelles concernant l'épuisement et la rétention des éducatrices peuvent être atténuées en agissant sur les recommandations des éducatrices concernant le développement de systèmes éducatifs et de politiques sociales plus équitables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: COVID-19 pandemic has led to heightened moral distress among healthcare providers. Despite evidence of gendered differences in experiences, there is limited feminist analysis of moral distress. Objectives: To identify types of moral distress among women healthcare providers during the COVID-19 pandemic; to explore how feminist political economy might be integrated into the study of moral distress. Research Design: This research draws on interviews and focus groups, the transcripts of which were analyzed using framework analysis. Research Participants and Context: 88 healthcare providers, based in British Columbia Canada, participated virtually. Ethical Considerations: The study received ethical approval from Simon Fraser University. Findings: Healthcare providers experienced moral dilemmas related to ability to provide quality and compassionate care while maintaining COVID-19 protocols. Moral constraints were exacerbated by staffing shortages and lack of access to PPE. Moral conflicts emerged when women tried to engage decision-makers to improve care, and moral uncertainty resulted from lack of clear and consistent information. At home, women experienced moral constraints related to inability to support children's education and wellbeing. Moral conflicts related to lack of flexible work environments and moral dilemmas developed between unpaid care responsibilities and COVID-19 risks. Women healthcare providers resisted moral residue and structural constraints by organizing for better working conditions, childcare, and access to PPE, engaging mental health support and drawing on professional pride. Discussion: COVID-19 has led to new and heightened experiences of moral distress among HCP in response to both paid and unpaid care work. While many of the experiences of moral distress at work were not explicitly gendered, implicit gender norms structured moral events. Women HCP had to take it upon themselves to organize, seek out resources, and resist moral residue. Conclusion: A feminist political economy lens illuminates how women healthcare providers faced and resisted a double layering of moral distress during the pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Fifty percent of people living with dementia are undiagnosed. The electronic health record (EHR) Risk of Alzheimer's and Dementia Assessment Rule (eRADAR) was developed to identify older adults at risk of having undiagnosed dementia using routinely collected clinical data. Objective: To externally validate eRADAR in two real-world healthcare systems, including examining performance over time and by race/ethnicity. Design: Retrospective cohort study Participants: 129,315 members of Kaiser Permanente Washington (KPWA), an integrated health system providing insurance coverage and medical care, and 13,444 primary care patients at University of California San Francisco Health (UCSF), an academic medical system, aged 65 years or older without prior EHR documentation of dementia diagnosis or medication. Main Measures: Performance of eRADAR scores, calculated annually from EHR data (including vital signs, diagnoses, medications, and utilization in the prior 2 years), for predicting EHR documentation of incident dementia diagnosis within 12 months. Key Results: A total of 7631 dementia diagnoses were observed at KPWA (11.1 per 1000 person-years) and 216 at UCSF (4.6 per 1000 person-years). The area under the curve was 0.84 (95% confidence interval: 0.84–0.85) at KPWA and 0.79 (0.76–0.82) at UCSF. Using the 90th percentile as the cut point for identifying high-risk patients, sensitivity was 54% (53–56%) at KPWA and 44% (38–51%) at UCSF. Performance was similar over time, including across the transition from International Classification of Diseases, version 9 (ICD-9) to ICD-10 codes, and across racial/ethnic groups (though small samples limited precision in some groups). Conclusions: eRADAR showed strong external validity for detecting undiagnosed dementia in two health systems with different patient populations and differential availability of external healthcare data for risk calculations. In this study, eRADAR demonstrated generalizability from a research sample to real-world clinical populations, transportability across health systems, robustness to temporal changes in healthcare, and similar performance across larger racial/ethnic groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anandamide (AEA) is a fatty acid neurotransmitter that binds to the CB1 and CB2 cannabinoid receptors in the central and peripheral nervous systems. AEA functions with the dopaminergic system and its expression has been shown to increase during activity. Cannabinoids have been used as treatments to reduce pain and discomfort, so an increase in AEA during activity may have a similar function. To determine the effects of AEA on energy expenditure, behavioral changes after exposure to AEA were observed in adult zebrafish (Danio rerio). The fish were separated into 4 groups: low dose AEA (10 µM), high dose AEA (100 µM), a purported positive control (0.5% ethanol), and a negative control (untreated). Activity was measured by counting the number of times an individual fish crossed a horizontal or vertical line drawn on the aquarium using 5-min recorded intervals (line breaks). Vertical line breaks were significantly different between the untreated group and both of the AEA-treated groups (p < 0.0001), however horizontal line breaks were not significantly different (p = 0.14). An increase in the number of vertical line crossings indicate that the fish in both AEA groups were swimming along the horizontal plane more often than the other groups, indicating an increase in physical activity. There was no difference in the activity of the ethanol-treated group compared to the untreated group. These results demonstrate that the administration of a cannabinoid agonist such as AEA may increase overall activity levels in adult zebrafish. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Autonomous motivation based on self‐determination theory has been posited as an important common factor. This study tested whether its influence on outcome extended to mildly distressed clients treated by counselor trainees at a university counseling training center. The study was naturalistic and examined 138 clients, who were mildly distressed according to the Outcome Questionnaire‐45 (OQ‐45). Clients completed the OQ‐45 every session and their motivation after the third session. Hierarchical linear modeling revealed that after controlling for autonomous and controlled types of motivation, intrinsic motivation had the strongest impact on reducing client symptoms over time. Findings suggested that the positive influence of autonomous motivation extends to moderately distressed clients treated by novice counselors. However, the positive impact of autonomous motivation may depend on client severity. Implications for future research and counseling practice were discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In seven studies, six with American Christians and one with Israeli Jews (total N = 2,323), we examine how and when belief in moralizing gods influences dehumanization of ethno-religious outgroups. We focus on dehumanization because it is a key feature of intergroup conflict. In Studies 1-6, participants completed measures of dehumanization from their own perspectives and also from the perspective of God, rating the groups' humanity as they thought God would rate it, or wish for them to rate it. When participants completed measures from both their own and God's perspectives, they reported believing that, compared with their own views, God would see (or prefer for them to see) outgroup members as more human. In Study 7, we extend these findings by demonstrating that thinking about God's views reduces the extent to which religious believers personally dehumanize outgroup members. Collectively, results demonstrate that religious believers attribute universalizing moral attitudes to God, compared to themselves, and document how thinking about God's views can promote more positive intergroup attitudes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Migrant and Seasonal Head Start (MSHS) is a Head Start program which serves exclusively young children from the migrant farmworker community, the majority of whom are Mexican nationals and second-generation immigrants. From this early childhood context, little is known about parents' perspectives on education and the roles they take to engage in their children's education. For this inquiry, 14 in-depth interviews were conducted with migrant farmworker parents. Key findings highlight the importance of language identity and language loss in young children, cultural practices around child rearing and the roles of adults, and education for social mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microplastics and microfibres are found ubiquitously in global oceans as well as marine organisms from different trophic levels. However, little is known about the presence of microplastics and microfibres in marine megafauna, such as sharks. This study provided the first investigation of the presence of microplastics and other anthropogenic fibres (i.e., cellulose based fibres) in intestine and muscle samples of four large apex shark species in Australian coastal waters. Microplastics and other anthropogenic fibres were found in 82% of the analysed intestine samples. The mean abundance in intestine samples was 3.1 ± 2.6 particles/individual, which corresponded to 0.03 ± 0.02 particles/g of intestine, across all shark species. The size of particles ranged from 190 to 4860 μm in length with 92% being fibrous in shape and the rest fragments. FTIR spectroscopy identified that 70% of fibres were cellulose-based followed by polyethylene terephthalate (PET), while the fragments were polyethylene and polypropylene. In shark muscles, 60% of samples contained microplastics and other anthropogenic fibres, again with the majority being cellulose-based fibres followed by PET fibres. Methodological differences hinder a more comprehensive assessment of microplastic contamination across studies. Additionally, we identified some challenges which should be factored in for future studies looking at the presence of microplastics as well as other anthropogenic fibres in these large marine organisms. Overall, the findings provide first evidence of microplastics and other anthropogenic fibres not only in the intestines, but also in muscle tissues of large apex shark species. [Display omitted] • Microplastics and other anthropogenic fibres were found in four apex shark species. • Fibres were predominantly found in both intestine and muscle samples. • Cellulose-based fibres accounted for 61–82% of all fibres detected. • PET plastic fibres accounted for the majority of plastic fibres. • Challenges in methodologies and cross-study comparison were identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2015, a multidisciplinary group of academic researchers and extension personnel was awarded a US Department of Agriculture Coordinated Agricultural Project grant. The team's goal was to understand human decision-making in the context of potential livestock disease outbreaks, investigating the impediments to increased adoption of biosecurity practices by producers from multiple perspectives. Counting publications and presentations was not deemed adequate evidence of growth of interdisciplinary collaboration. Instead, we took a developmental evaluation approach, collecting data to illuminate patterns of interconnectedness across disciplinary boundaries. These data, mapped annually on a baseline framework, reveal the team moving from disciplinary groups with disparate epistemologies and interests to a cohesive interdisciplinary team involved in many unexpected and emergent projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on research examines women who combined labour and feminist activism to address issues of gender inequality at work and in society in Manitoba in the 1970s and 1980s. It mentions latter received government funding and took a liberal feminist approach, primarily focusing on advancing gender equality through political and legal changes. It also mentions capitalism and how the system benefits from women's unpaid and the institution of heterosexuality.

In the United States, migrant and seasonal farmworkers mostly of Latino origin work seasonal jobs on large scale farms. Because many of these jobs are temporary, farmworkers often move frequently across state lines and international borders to follow the work in agriculture. Many farmworkers travel with families including young children and one challenge of this population is stable child care and access to education services for their children. Migrant and Seasonal Head Start program (MSHS), a branch of Head Start, provides seasonal childcare and early childhood education services to young children of migrant and seasonal farmworkers ages birth through 5. This case study explored how MSHS operates seasonal programs for farmworkers children and examines the ways in which educators provide consistency in care for farmworker children. Specifically, the study focused on bilingual and bicultural programing, mobility of teachers, consistency in care, and teachers' knowledge of the program and farmworker community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fluctuations in the abundance of insect herbivores and the severity of damage they cause to their hosts are key factors affecting tree health and trophic interactions. Bell miner associated dieback (BMAD) is a trophic cascade involving eucalypt trees, psyllids and bell miners. Bell miners are a territorial species of bird that reduce insectivorous bird diversity, thereby increasing psyllid abundances. The role of psyllids in BMAD is debated, primarily because psyllid host specificity, genus, defoliation potential and/or lerp composition have been conflated or unexplored. This study documented psyllid communities and canopy structure of four eucalypt hosts (Eucalyptus bridgesiana, E. caliginosa, E. propinqua and E. siderophloia) in BMAD and non-BMAD-affected forests in northern New South Wales. Psyllid abundances were significantly higher in BMAD-affected forests. However, psyllid assemblages did not differ between forest types which contrasts with an influential hypothesis concerning bell miner farming of psyllids that produce sugary lerps (Glycaspis species). Importantly, psyllid communities differed among species of eucalypt host. Hosts supporting higher abundances of Cardiaspina tended to have a stronger negative relationship between canopy health and psyllid abundances than other host trees. Cardiaspina were also found on older leaves and associated with more leaf damage than other psyllids. Unlike most other psyllid genera, Cardiaspina initiate premature foliar senescence leading to defoliation which ultimately changes the age structure of leaves of the canopies of affected trees. Our study supports the functional linkage between psyllid assemblages, their relative abundances and defoliation potential to bottom–up mechanisms behind a bird-associated trophic cascade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gender norms, roles and relations differentially affect women, men, and non-binary individuals' vulnerability to disease. Outbreak response measures also have immediate and long-term gendered effects. However, gender-based analysis of outbreaks and responses is limited by lack of data and little integration of feminist analysis within global health scholarship. Recognising these barriers, this paper applies a gender matrix methodology, grounded in feminist political economy approaches, to evaluate the gendered effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and response in four case studies: China, Hong Kong, Canada, and the UK. Through a rapid scoping of documentation of the gendered effects of the outbreak, it applies the matrix framework to analyse findings, identifying common themes across the case studies: financial discrimination, crisis in care, and unequal risks and secondary effects. Results point to transnational structural conditions which put women on the front lines of the pandemic at work and at home while denying them health, economic and personal security – effects that are exacerbated where racism and other forms of discrimination intersect with gender inequities. Given that women and people living at the intersections of multiple inequities are made additionally vulnerable by pandemic responses, intersectional feminist responses should be prioritised at the beginning of any crises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses about supporting Innovation in Medicaid policy and interventions to increase adoption of randomized, controlled trial (RCTs) in the U.S. It mentions that RCTs have also been used to evaluate health care delivery interventions, providing credible and findings with important implications for state and federal policymakers in the U.S.

Objectives: In this study, we aimed to explore the relationship between intersectional inequities and moral distress among those working in Long-Term Care (LTC) in British Columbia, Canada. Methods: This was a cross-sectional and retrospective study. We assessed moral distress, of 1678 respondents, using a modified Moral Distress Scale, and an equivalent distress mitigation score, at the intersections of gender and racial/ethnic identity. Then, we explored which worker attributes were more predictive of intention to leave work. Results: We found notable difference in experiences of moral distress across intersecting identities, including high moral distress scores among Indigenous men and women, and white women. Significant differences in mitigation scores were also found by intersectional identities. Discussion: Moral distress was the most important predictor of intention to leave work. The differences across racial and gender identity groups suggest the need for tailored interventions to address moral distress among LTC providers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Commercial tobacco products are a leading contributor to health disparities for many Indigenous peoples. Mainstream interventions developed for non-Indigenous peoples have been found less effective at addressing these disparities. Meaningful engagement is needed to develop effective measures but there are limited understandings of what engagement means in practice. We conduct a scoping review of studies self-reporting engagement with Indigenous peoples; assess their engagement against ethics guidelines concerning research involving Indigenous peoples and writings of Indigenous scholars; and draw lessons for advancing practice. We found engagement of Indigenous peoples in tobacco control research is practiced in varied ways—who conducts the research, who is engaged with, for what purpose, at what research steps, and what approaches are applied. Engagement ranges from limited to deeper commitment to research as decolonizing practice. Critical reflection along five questions can advance research practice for this purpose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: We aimed to investigate if the risk of fetal distress during term labor is related to the intrapartum maternal hemoglobin (Hb) level. Second, we investigated the relation between mode of delivery, reason for instrumental delivery and short-term neonatal outcome and maternal Hb. Third, we aimed to identify factors influencing intrapartum maternal Hb level.Methods: A retrospective cohort study was performed in a tertiary hospital in The Netherlands, including data from women who gave birth between 2009 and 2016. To determine whether the likelihood of fetal distress to occur was dependent on intrapartum Hb, multivariate regression models were run with intrapartum Hb as the main independent variable of interest. Hb was used as a continuous value. We repeated this procedure for the likelihood of instrumental vaginal delivery (IVD), cesarean section (CS), 5-min Apgar score < 7, and umbilical cord arterial pH ≤ 7.05 to occur. Also, we identified factors influencing intrapartum Hb level using linear regression analysis.Results: Data of 9144 patients were analyzed. Intrapartum Hb did not contribute to the prediction of the likelihood of fetal distress, IVD for nonprogressive labor, CS for fetal condition, 5-min Apgar score < 7, and pHa ≤ 7.05. However, there was a unique statistically significant contribution of Hb to the prediction of the likelihood of IVD for any reason and IVD for fetal distress and CS for any reason and CS for nonprogressive labor. IVD for fetal distress was related to a higher intrapartum Hb level, whereas CS for nonprogressive labor was related to a lower intrapartum Hb level. Intrapartum Hb level was influenced by maternal age, ethnicity, parity, fetal sex, and birth weight.Conclusions: The risk of fetal distress and adverse neonatal outcome is not related to intrapartum Hb levels. However, our data suggest that mode of delivery is dependent on intrapartum Hb, as shown in a large tertiary population. We recommend further investigating this relation in a large prospective study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most of the research on transnational advocacy networks documents progressive, voluntary movements, motivated by values associate with human rights and public goods. There is little critical reflection on the role of corporations within such networks or on the material motivations behind movements. Meanwhile literature on corporate political strategies related to partnerships with civil society is limited to national level analysis. This article presents a case study of the International Coalition Against Plain Packaging, which is conceptualized as a transnational advocacy network, and documents its links to the tobacco industry. We find that, not only have tobacco companies provided network members – publicly presented and perceived as independent – with financial resources, but they have also been involved in producing the information used by the network to debate the benefits of plain packaging. In return, the tobacco industry is able to propagate ideas favorable to its interests through organizations perceived as legitimate experts, and to maintain a network of allies ready to counter tobacco control regulations when and where they arise. Considering the multiple benefits corporations might derive from engaging with transnational advocacy networks, there is need for greater research on private actors' influence within advocacy networks and on those networks that aim to counter or advance alternatives to progressive ideals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the materiality of early medieval devotion to the saints. It argues that, even though most of the material objects themselves no longer survive, there is nevertheless much to be gleaned from surviving caches of relic labels about what churches believed they possessed. It exploits the same evidence to explore how types of relic‐objects changed over time, track evidence for the importance of oral tradition in their formation, and identify pathways of circulation. In demonstrating how churches curated the relics in their care, it pinpoints the active participation of scribes and relic custodians in interpreting and re‐interpreting them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While debates continue about China's role in sub-Saharan Africa, there is growing consensus that China is a different kind of development partner. One distinct feature of Chinese partnerships is that they include support for the tobacco industry, a sector other donor states and institutions shun. Not only is tobacco a primary agricultural export in a number of Africa states, the state-owned Chinese National Tobacco Corporation is the largest tobacco company in the world. This paper analyses Chinese support for the tobacco industry in three states – Zimbabwe, Malawi and Zambia – documenting how co-operation is shaped by Chinese state capitalism and assessing the development and governance implications. Following an introduction situating the analysis within the context of China–Africa co-operation and tobacco's global value chain, Chinese engagement in each country is analysed. Findings indicate that, despite differences across case studies in terms of development outcomes, common governance implications are apparent. African elites initiated tobacco-related co-operation to meet their interests, but Chinese interests dominated implementation. Consequently, Chinese investments have maintained hierarchal governance of an exploitive and harmful industry. Analyses of Chinese African co-operation need to move beyond public–private paradigms and interrogate the nuances of Chinese state capitalism in Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A labor force of migrant farmworkers, mostly of Latino origin, largely support the agriculture industry in the US. While migrant labor is essential in the modern food system, food insecurity remains high among migrant farmworkers. Presented are the results from a survey on food insecurity, access, and farm to preschool involving 32 farmworker parents attending a national meeting as policy council representatives and affiliates for the Migrant and Seasonal Head Start program. This inquiry underscores problem of food insecurity and access in the farmworker population while suggesting parent activism, food justice, and farm to preschool could potentially address such issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organised crime is becoming increasingly sophisticated and pervasive. Responding effectively to the dynamic and multifaceted nature of organised criminal activity is challenging. Law enforcement agencies need to find new and innovative ways to meet the demands of an ever-increasing and complex workload. Targeting resources is essential if the associated cost of organised crime is to be contained. This paper outlines a novel approach for ranking offenders specifically within the field of organised crime, in terms of investigative priority. Thirteen key people involved in the investigation of organised crime in New Zealand were brought together for a one-day workshop. Prior to attending the workshop participants were asked to rank 12 hypothetical offender profiles in terms of investigative priority. The rankings were used to stimulate discussion on the major issues relating to organised crime. As a result, six criteria were identified, and a discrete choice experiment was completed by consensus to determine the relative importance of the criteria. Community harm was considered the most important criterion (0.26), followed by corruption or infiltration (0.17), geographical influence (0.16), convertible assets (0.15), capability (0.14) and criminal influence (0.12). Fifty front-line investigators subsequently completed the experiment online, and the relative weights were found to be similar to those from the workshop. To assess the practicability of the weights, 10 known high-risk offenders were categorised and ranked using the weighted criteria from the workshop. Senior staff involved in the investigation of these offenders agreed that the resulting ranking of offenders aligned with their personal judgement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: While there is widespread recognition of global health failures when it comes to infectious disease outbreaks, there is little discussion on how policy-makers and global health organizations can learn to better prepare and respond. Serious games provide an underutilized tool to promote learning and innovation around global health crises. In order to explore the potential of Serious Games as a policy learning tool, Global Affairs Canada, in collaboration with the Department of National Defense and academic partners, developed and implemented a matrix game aimed at prompting critical reflection and gender-based analysis on infectious disease outbreak preparedness and response. This commentary, written by the core development team, reflects on the process and outcomes of the gaming exercise, which we believe will be of interest to others hoping to promote innovative thinking and learning around global health policy and crisis response, as well as the application of serious games more broadly.Main Body: Participants reported, through discussions and a post-game survey, that they felt the game was reflective of real-world decision-making and priority-setting challenges during a crisis. They reflected on the challenges that emerge around global health co-operation and outbreak preparedness, particularly noting the importance of learning to work with private actors. While participants only sporadically applied gender-based analysis or considered the social determinants of health during the game, post-game discussions led to reflection on the ways in which equity concerns are put aside during a crisis scenario and on why this happens, offering critical learning opportunities.Conclusion: Matrix games provide opportunities for policy-makers and health professionals to experience the challenges of global health co-operation, test ideas and explore how biases, such as those around gender, influence policy-making and implementation. Due to their flexibility, adaptability and accessibility, serious games offer a potentially powerful learning tool for global health policy-makers and practitioners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Epistemic permissivism is the view that it is possible for two people to rationally hold incompatible attitudes towards some proposition on the basis of one body of evidence. In this paper, I defend a particular version of permissivism – unacknowledged permissivism (UP) – which says that permissivism is true but that no one can ever rationally believe that she is in a permissive case. I show that counter to what virtually all authors who have discussed UP claim, UP is an attractive view: It is compatible with the intuitive motivations for permissivism and avoids a significant challenge to permissivism: the arbitrariness objection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article contributes to discussions on the gender dimensions of disease outbreaks, and preparedness policies and responses, by providing a multi-level analysis of gender-related gaps, particularly illustrating how the failure to challenge gender assumptions and incorporate gender as a priority at the global level has national and local impacts. The implications of neglecting gender dynamics, as well as the potential of equity-based approaches to disease outbreak responses, is illustrated through a case study of the Social Enterprise Network for Development (SEND) Sierra Leone, a non-government organisation (NGO) based in Kailahun, during the Ebola outbreak. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study is an ethnographic case study that focuses on three family members from Mexican migrant farmworker households (a father, a grandmother, and mother), their discussions around the topic of educating their children, and their engagement in the seasonal early childcare programs that serve farmworker children. This study takes a sociocultural perspective to examine parental lessons in the home, views of institutionalized education, and the role of beliefs, identity, and life experience that contribute to the early years of a child's education. This study address gaps in the research related to migrant farmworker families with young children in early childhood education programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines three popular renditions of female flight attendants in Canada and the United States in teen fiction, film, and advertising, with attention to representational shifts from the 1940s to the 1970s. Our analysis demonstrates that the more sexualized image of the 1960s was a significant departure from the more complicated immediate postwar presentation of the flight attendant as a resourceful and capable career girl, albeit one still constrained by dominant notions of white, middle-class femininity. Created by management decisions in the face of increased capitalist competition, in concert with the influence of popular culture and gender ideology, the sexy stewardess altered the workplace environment for female flight attendants, but the legacy of earlier popular culture may well have aided their resistance to sexualization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When members of the Office and Professional Workers Organizing Committee (opwoc), employed by the Banque Canadienne Nationale (bcn), set up picket lines at branches in Montreal on 30 April 1942, they began the first strike in the Canadian banking industry. This article analyzes the four-week strike, and the organizing drive that preceded it, as a way of exploring how changes in the relationship between labour, capital, and the state during the Second World War helped or hindered unionization in unorganized industries – areas with limited or non-existent levels of union representation and often predominantly female and racialized workforces. By examining this failed white-collar strike in relation to the substantial increase in labour organizing that occurred in the 1940s and the concomitant changes to the labour relations system, we can consider the effect that these changes had for different types of workers. A closer look at the first Canadian bank strike shows that the changes made to the labour relations system in this period made little difference for the men and women who joined opwoc: the state continued to hamper their organizing efforts, and the banks continued to oppose and work to thwart unionization. Half-hearted support from labour leaders compounded the problem. Ultimately, the bank's anti-union behaviour, the regional war labour board's drawn-out and disappointing decision on bcn employees' application for increased compensation, and labour leaders' willingness to accept the board's decision undermined the strike and hindered bank workers' efforts to unionize in the early 1940s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Women do not have a uniform or standardized “suit” to wear in the workplace so they must make daily decisions about what to wear. Some propose that women should dress in a sexualized way to gain power and influence, but sexy attire is related to lower perceptions of competence for women in leadership positions. We explored the effect of revealing or conservative attire on perceptions of women’s leadership competence. We also used eye-tracker technology to determine whether looking at sexualized body parts (i.e., breasts, hemline) was related to lower perceptions of leadership competence and electability. A female candidate for a student senate presidency at a U.S. university wearing revealing clothing was perceived by 191 college students as less honest and trustworthy, electable, and competent than one wearing conservative clothing. Sexualized body parts were looked at longer when the candidate was wearing revealing clothing compared to conservative clothing. Furthermore, mediation analyses indicated that the revealing clothing led participants to gaze at sexualized body parts, which, in turn, led to perceiving the candidate as less honest/trustworthy, which lowered their evaluations of her competence and electability. These findings suggest that viewing a woman in a sexy outfit can lead others to stare more at her body and make negative evaluations of her personal attributes. This finding has implications for the choices women make in workplace and leadership contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evening dosing of antihypertensive medications lowers nighttime blood pressure, and in one large randomized trial, it reduced the risk for cardiovascular outcomes. However, the feasibility of nighttime dosing in routine clinical practice is unknown. The purpose of this pilot study was to evaluate the effect of a brief pharmacist intervention to assign patients to take antihypertensive medications at specific times of the day. In this pilot, randomized controlled trial, 79 patients with moderate to severe chronic kidney disease (CKD) taking one or more antihypertensive medications once daily were randomized to take one once-daily antihypertensive either in the morning or in the evening. A total of 79 patients were randomized (39 to morning dosing, 40 to evening dosing). Average (SD) age was 56.5 (14) years, 68% were male, and average (SD) estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) was 36.6 (8.9) mL/min/1.73m2. Adherence, defined as taking the once-daily medication at the time indicated six or seven times in the last 7 days and not taking it at any other time during the day, was 91% in the morning arm and 95% in the evening arm (p = 0.57). This pilot demonstrates the feasibility and efficacy of a pharmacist-physician collaborative to assign once-daily antihypertensive medications to either morning or evening dosing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Myocarditis is a well known adverse events of special interest following COVID-19 vaccines. • Limited information has been published regarding medium and longer term outcomes. • This clinical survey study found around half of patients still experience symptoms at 6 months. • There are distinct phenotypic differences between genders and age groups. Myocarditis and myopericarditis are well described adverse events of special interest (AESI) following COVID-19 vaccinations. Although reports are reassuring regarding initial clinical outcomes, information about longer term outcomes remains limited. We aimed to further this knowledge and report outcomes to 6 months post diagnosis from a single population cohort. Reports of myocarditis following COVID-19 vaccination were followed up by SAEFVIC (Surveillance of Adverse Events Following Vaccination in the Community), the state-wide vaccine safety service for Victoria, Australia. Confirmed myocarditis cases (Brighton Collaboration Criteria levels 1–3) were followed up via surveys at 1, 3 and 6 months post symptom onset. Responses received between 22 February 2021 and 30 September 2022 were analysed. 87.5 % (N = 182) of eligible participants completed at least 1 survey report. 377 reports were analysed. 76.9 % of completed reports were from male patients. The median age of patients was 21 years [IQR: 16 to 32]. 54.8 % (n = 74) of survey reports at 6 months, reported ongoing symptoms. At all follow-up time points, females were significantly more likely to have ongoing symptoms. At 6 months, 51.9 % of male respondents reported symptom resolution compared to 22.6 % of female patients (p = 0.002). Females were also more likely to continue medication and have ongoing exercise restrictions. However, males were significantly more likely to have higher initial peak troponin results and abnormal initial cardiac imaging investigations. There appears to be a significant proportion of patients who experience ongoing symptoms to 6 months post onset amongst patients that experience these AESI. Male patients were more likely to report earlier and more complete symptom recovery, despite significantly higher average initial peak troponin. This difference in phenotypic presentation in females compared to males warrants further investigation and there is a need for longer term follow up data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Policies and public health efforts have not addressed the gendered impacts of disease outbreaks.[1] The response to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) appears no different. Although sex-disaggregated data for COVID-19 show equal numbers of cases between men and women so far, there seem to be sex differences in mortality and vulnerability to the disease.[2] Emerging evidence suggests that more men than women are dying, potentially due to sex-based immunological[3] or gendered differences, such as patterns and prevalence of smoking.[4] However, current sex-disaggregated data are incomplete, cautioning against early assumptions. Experience from past outbreaks shows the importance of incorporating a gender analysis into preparedness and response efforts to improve the effectiveness of health interventions and promote gender and health equity goals. [Extracted from the article]