Prognostic value of GLIM criteria including systemic inflammation in patients with advanced cancer

An assessment of systemic inflammation and nutritional status may form the basis of a framework to examine the prognostic value of cachexia in patients with advanced cancer. The objective of the study was to examine the prognostic value of GLIM criteria, including body mass index (BMI), weight loss (WL) and systemic inflammation (mGPS), in advanced cancer patients. Three criteria were examined in a combined cohort of patients with advanced cancer and their relationship with survival was examined using Cox regression methods. Data were available on 1303 patients. Considering BMI and the mGPS, the 3-month survival rate varied from 74% (BMI>28 kg/m2) to 61% (BMI <20 kg/m2) and from 84% (mGPS 0) to 60% (mGPS 2). Considering WL and the mGPS, the 3-month survival rate varied from 81% (WL ±2.4%) to 47% (WL≥15%) and from 93% (mGPS 0) to 60% (mGPS 2). Considering BMI/WL grade and mGPS, the 3-month survival rate varied from 86% (BMI/WL grade 0) to 59% (BMI/WL grade 4) and from 93% (mGPS 0) to 63% (mGPS 2). When these criteria were combined, they better predicted survival. On multivariate survival analysis, the most highly predictive factors were BMI/WL grade 3 (HR 1.454, P=0.004), BMI/WL grade 4 (HR 2.285, P<0.001) and mGPS 1 and 2 (HR 1.889, HR 2.545, all P < 0.001). In summary, a high BMI/WL grade and a high mGPS as outlined in the BMI/WL grade/mGPS framework were consistently associated with poorer survival of patients with advanced cancer. It can be readily incorporated into the routine assessment of patients

Transformative embodied cognition

How should accounts that stress the embodied, embedded and engaged character of human minds accommodate the role of rationality in human subjectivity? Drawing on Matthew Boyle’s contrast between ‘additive’ and ‘transformative’ conceptions of rationality, I argue that contemporary work on embodied cognition tends towards a problematic ‘additivism’ about the relationship between mature human capacities to think and act for reasons, and sensorimotor capacities to skillfully engage with salient features of the environment. Additivists view rational capacities to reason and reflect as a distinct ‘layer’ or ‘storey’ of human cognition, with a normative structure that differs from that of the sensorimotor coping skills which support it. I argue that emphasizing the embodied and engaged character of human minds is better combined with a ‘transformative’ conception of rationality – one which holds that acquiring abilities to give and ask for reasons transforms the normative structure of our unreflective embodied dealings with the environment. And I argue that a transformative embodied cognitive science of human rationality is not only possible, but underway. Integrating existing work on embodied cognition with work on the cultural and developmental contexts that shape human minds suggests how human immersion in culture transforms the structure of sensorimotor engagements by bringing about the communicability and negotiability of the meanings to which those engagements attune us

Preventing suicide by restricting access to Highly Hazardous Pesticides (HHPs): A systematic review of international evidence since 2017

Suicide is a leading cause of death worldwide. A previous systematic review showed that regulations limiting access to highly hazardous pesticides (HHPs) were successful in preventing suicides. As the WHO strongly supports regulation of pesticides, we aimed to update and strengthen the evidence on the effectiveness of HHP bans. We conducted a systematic review by searching MEDLINE, Embase, and PsycINFO databases in March 2024 for manuscripts published since 2017 that investigated the effects of regulatory changes limiting access to HHPs on pesticide suicide, at the population level. Two reviewers independently screened titles and abstracts, and extracted data using a standardized form, defined a priori. The study protocol was registered in PROSPERO (CRD42023441247). All nine studies in six Asian countries showed reductions in pesticide suicide rates following HHP bans (range 28.0% to 91.9%), of which six applied time series analyses to account for trends prior to the intervention (reductions in pesticide suicide rates ranged 28.0% to 60.5%). Only five studies assessed overall suicides; of those, four reported decreases in overall suicide rates following the intervention, of which three used time series analysis (range 7.0% to 45.1%). Only one study had a low risk of bias in all domains, with five studies having high risk of bias in at least one of the domains. Restricting access to HHPs leads to declines in both pesticide and overall suicide rates. Findings from this and the previous systematic review provide strong evidence to governments and public health officials that are considering implementing bans on HHPs in order to reduce suicides. However, this review only covered studies published since 2017 and there is a need for data from other regions to investigate the generalisability of this approach

Supplemental material for 'Peace agreements in a changing climate: Three ways in which climate change and peace processes interact' journal article (Tim Epple)

PA-X is the most expansive collection of peace agreements data in the world. PA-X Version 7 contains 2,003 peace agreements from the 1990 -2023 period. The dataset features an archive of agreement texts in PDF format, a corpus of agreement texts (all translated into English by translators with expertise in law, legal studies, or countries from which the agreements originated), a human-coded dataset that covers agreement metadata and 230 substantive categories of issues covered in agreement texts. PA-X also contains sub-datasets on local agreements, gender, and amnesties. The data can be searched using a variety of parameters, enabling users to download any subset of data (or the corpus) required for their project. Additionally, users are able to view any subset of agreements selected through the search via a timeline feature for search results. See: https://pax.peaceagreements.org/agreements/search

Targeting TRPM3 As a Potential Therapeutic Approach for Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease

Abstract Cystic diseases, especially autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD; incidence approx. 1/1000), are a leading cause of renal failure, caused by appearance and growth of renal cysts that can lead to renal failure in middle age. Most ADPKD cases are caused by mutations in PKD1 or PKD2, encoding polycystin-1 (PC1) and polycystin-2 (PC2). PC1 is a mechanosensor that controls PC2, a Ca2+-permeable cation channel that, by regulating cytoplasmic Ca2+, prevents adenylyl cyclase producing cyst-promoting concentrations of cAMP. In other systems, there is evidence for PC2 interacts with TRPM3. We therefore examined the effect of pharmacological activators and inhibitors of TRPM3 on cyst formation in cultured mouse kidney rudiments exposed to a range of concentrations of forskolin, a cAMP-elevating drug commonly used experimentally to induce cysts in cultured kidneys. We found that TRPM3 inhibitors (isosakuranetin, primidone, diclofenac) increased cyst formation, while TRPM3 activators (CIM0216 and nifedipine) greatly reduced cyst formation and reduced the sensitivity of kidneys to forskolin. These preclinical, in-vitro data suggest that TRPM3 may be a promising target in ADPKD management

“Intercultural encounters”:Mentorship relations as spaces for critical intercultural learning in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs)

There are growing numbers of African international students studying at Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in North America and the United Kingdom. Intercultural mentoring is one response to supporting students in navigating the complex cultural, social, and academic transitions from home to host countries. This article examines the experiences of 18 participants who had recently mentored African international students attending higher education institutions in Canada or in the UK. Semi-structured interviews with participating mentors were transcribed and analysed from a critical intercultural perspective. Results highlight four themes that provide insight into mentors’ approaches to intercultural mentoring: navigating fields of action and intervention, engaging in reflective practice, intercultural mentoring as a relational practice, and mentoring as a decolonising practice. Study findings provide insight into how intercultural mentoring relationships develop and evolve and how mentors approach mentoring relationships as sites that hold transformative learning potential for both mentors and students.</p

Inter-Annual Variability of Peatland Vegetation Captured Using Phenocam- and UAV Imagery

Plant phenology is an important driver of inter-annual variability in peatland carbon uptake. However, the use of traditional phenology datasets (e.g., manual surveys, satellite remote sensing) to quantify this link is hampered by their limited spatial and temporal coverage. This study examined the use of phenology cameras (phenocams) and uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) for monitoring phenology in a Scottish temperate peatland. Data were collected at the site over multiple growing seasons using a UAV platform fitted with a multispectral Parrot Sequoia camera. We found that greenness indices calculated using data from both platforms were in strong agreement with each other, and exhibited strong correlations with rates of gross primary production (GPP) at the site. Greenness maps generated with the UAV data were combined with fine-scale vegetation classifications, and highlighted the variable sensitivity of different plant species to dry spells over the study period. While a lack of suitable weather conditions for surveying limited the UAV data temporally, the phenocam provided a near-continuous record of phenology. The latter revealed substantial temporal variability in the relationship between canopy greenness and peatland GPP, which although strong over the growing season as a whole (rs = 0.88, p &lt; 0.01), was statistically insignificant during the peak growing season

Abolitionist ecological security

As ecological crises deepen, many scholars have challenged dominant practices of security by developing more progressive environmental or ecological security discourses. Others, on the other hand, critique these moves by emphasizing the inherently repressive features of security discourse. This article engages this debate by proposing a more radical form of ecological security informed by the ‘abolitionist’ tradition – which I call Abolitionist Ecological Security. From this view, the problem with existing ecological security approaches is not their efforts to rethink the term ‘security’, but rather (1) their failure to foreground the political economy of racial capitalism as the structure that hegemonic security practices function to secure, and (2) their neglect of how ‘racial capitalist security assemblages’ – encompassing structures of militarism, policing, incarceration and border controls – produce ecological insecurity through their ecological impacts and violence against workers, the poor, migrants and racialized communities. Thus I argue, following the abolitionist tradition, that any genuine ecological security must necessarily be abolitionist in orientation, entailing the struggle for new worlds beyond racial capitalism and the creation of alternative security practices beyond militarism, policing and imprisonment