Critical Issues: Defining and Debunking Misconceptions in Health, Education, Criminal Justice, and Social Work/Social Services

The University of Houston Downtown Committee for the Journal of Family Strengths introduces Volume 18, Issue 1: Critical Issues: Defining and Debunking Misconceptions in Health, Education, Criminal Justice, and Social Work/Social Services

Accessing medical biobanks to solve crimes:ethical considerations

Millions of human biological samples are stored worldwide for medical research or treatment purposes. These biospecimens are of enormous potential value to law enforcement as DNA profiles can be obtained from these samples. However, forensic use of such biospecimens raises a number of ethical questions. This article aims to explore ethical issues of using human bodily material in medical biobanks for crime investigation and prosecution purposes. Concerns about confidentiality, trust, autonomy and justice will be discussed. We explore how to balance these concerns against the importance of crime solving. Relevant case examples of forensic use of medical biobanks show that requests by law enforcement to access biobanks are handled in disparate ways. We identify some core ethical issues and conclude that further research on these issues is needed to provide ethical guidance

Bacteriological examination in place in five European countries to assess carcass fitness for consumption during meat inspection

In the European Union, bacteriological examination (BE) can be used as a decision support tool for an individual slaughter animal, if a clear decision regarding fitness for human consumption cannot be reached after performing the post-mortem meat inspection at the abattoir. The mandatory use of BE started already in the beginning of 20th century and the methods have since evolved in the different countries using it. Although still in use, discussions have taken place on whether BE is still a useful part of meat inspection. Currently, there is no European consensus regarding how to set up the methods or how to interpret the results. Still, there is a need to avoid unnecessary food waste, while at the same time guaranteeing food safety. In this descriptive study, we mapped the BE methods currently used in five European countries, namely Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands. The results show there is considerable variation between the countries regarding the specific analyses, sample matrices and media used. There is also variation in the indications when BE should be performed as well as when the results lead to condemnation. Although the results will be interpreted together with the pathological findings in the carcass, clearly written instructions should be available on how to interpret the results and when to perform condemnation. BE is used more often for cattle than for pigs, and e.g., in Denmark, BE is not used for pigs due to costs. Although BE can still be used to detect animals with a generalised infection at the time of slaughter, other methods that would be easier to standardise and accredit should be developed

"Precious time together was taken away":Impact of COVID-19 restrictive measures on social needs and loneliness from the perspective of residents of nursing homes, close relatives, and volunteers

During the COVID-19 outbreak in March 2020, restrictive measures (e.g., prohibiting physical visits and group activities) were introduced in nursing homes to protect older residents. Although the importance of social contacts and social activities to fulfill social needs and avoid loneliness is known, these were challenged during the pandemic. This qualitative study specifically focused on how residents, close relatives, and volunteers in nursing homes experienced the restrictive measures in retrospect and gained insights into the impact of the restrictive measures on social needs and loneliness, and the lessons that could be learned. Thirty semi-structured, face-to-face interviews with residents and close relatives, and one online focus group with ten volunteers, were conducted. Recruitment took place at psychogeriatric and somatic units in the Northern, Eastern and Southern regions of the Netherlands and Flanders, Belgium. The interviews and focus group were transcribed verbatim, and an open, inductive approach was used for analysis. Alternative ways of social contact could not fully compensate for physical visits. Generally, participants reported that it was a difficult time, indicated by feelings of loneliness, fear, sadness, and powerlessness. A great diversity in loneliness was reported. The most important reasons for feeling lonely were missing close social contacts and social activities. The diversity in the impact of restrictive measures depended on, e.g., social needs, coping strategies, and character. Restrictive COVID-19 measures in nursing homes resulted in negative emotions and unmet social needs of residents, close relatives, and volunteers. During future outbreaks of the COVID-19 virus or another virus or bacterium, for which restrictive measures may be needed, nursing homes should actively involve residents, close relatives, and volunteers to balance safety, self-determination, and well-being

Water uptake patterns of pea and barley responded to drought but not to cropping systems

Agricultural production is under threat of water scarcity due to increasingly frequent and severe drought events under climate change. Whether a change in cropping systems can be used as an effective adaptation strategy against drought is still unclear. We investigated how plant water uptake patterns of a field-grown pea–barley (Pisum sativum L. and Hordeum vulgare L.) mixture, an important fodder intercrop, responded to experimental drought under four cropping systems, i.e. organic intensive tillage, conventional intensive tillage, conventional no tillage, and organic reduced tillage. Drought was simulated after crop establishment using rain shelters. Proportional contributions to plant water uptake from different soil layers were estimated based on stable water isotopes using Bayesian mixing models. Pea plants always took up proportionally more water from shallower depths than barley plants.Water uptake patterns of neither species were affected by cropping systems. Both species showed similar responses to the drought simulation and increased their proportional water uptake from the shallow soil layer (0–20 cm) in all cropping systems. Our results highlight the impact of drought on plant water uptake patterns for two important crop species and suggest that cropping systems might not be as successful as adaptation strategies against drought as previously thought

Quantum back-reaction of the superpartners in a large-N supersymmetric hybrid model

We study the supersymmetric hybrid model near and after the end of inflation. As usual, we reduce the model to a purely scalar hybrid model on the level of the classical fields. But on the level of quantum fluctuations and their backreaction we take into account all superpartners of the waterfall field in a large-N approximation. The evolution after slow roll displays two phases with a different characteristic behaviour of the classical and fluctuation fields. We find that the fluctuations of the pseudoscalar superpartner are of particular importance in the late time phase. The motion of the waterfall field towards its classical expectation value is found to be very slow and suggests a rather flat potential and a stochastic force.Comment: 37 pages 19 figure

Do Surgical Interventions Influence Psychosexual and Cosmetic Outcomes in Women with Disorders of Sex Development?

Clinical practice developed to promote psychosexual well-being in DSD is under scrutiny. Although techniques for genital surgery have much improved lately, long-term studies on psychosexual functioning and cosmetic outcome on which to base treatment and counseling are scarce. We studied 91 women with a DSD. Feminizing surgery was performed in 64% of the women; in 60% of them, resurgery in puberty was needed after a single-stage procedure. Both patients and gynecologists were satisfied with the cosmetic appearance of the genitalia. However, forty percent of these females experienced sexuality-related distress and 66% was at risk for developing a sexual dysfunction, whether they had surgery or not. Recognizing the difficulty of accurate assessment, our data indicate that feminizing surgery does not seem to improve nor hamper psychosexual outcome, especially in patients with severe virilization

Severe drought rather than cropping system determines litter decomposition in arable systems

"Litter decomposition is a fundamental process in soil carbon dynamics and nutrient turnover. However, litter decomposition in arable systems remains poorly explored, and it is unclear whether different management practices, such as organic farming, conservation agriculture can mitigate drought effects on litter decomposition. Thus, we examined the effects of a severe experimental drought on litter decomposition in four cropping systems, i.e., organic vs. conventional farming, each with two levels of tillage (intensive vs. conservation tillage) in Switzerland. We incubated two types of standard litter (tea bags), i.e., high-quality green tea with a low C:N ratio and low-quality rooibos tea with a high C:N ratio. We assessed litter decomposition during the simulated drought and in the post-drought period during three years in three different crops, i.e., pea-barley, maize, and winter wheat. Subsequently, we assessed whether decomposition in the four cropping systems differed in its resistance and resilience to drought. Drought had a major impact on litter decomposition and suppressed decomposition to a similar extent in all cropping systems. Both drought resistance and resilience of decomposition were largely independent of cropping systems. Drought more strongly reduced decomposition of the high-quality litter compared to the low-quality litter during drought conditions regarding the absolute change in mass remaining (12.3% vs. 6.5 %, respectively). However, the decomposition of high-quality litter showed a higher resilience, i.e., high-quality approached undisturbed decomposition levels faster than low-quality litter after drought. Soil nitrate availability was also strongly reduced by drought (by 32–86 %), indicating the strong reduction in nutrient availability and, most likely, microbial activity due to water shortage. In summary, our study suggests that severe drought has a much stronger impact on decomposition than cropping system indicating that it might not be possible to maintain decomposition under drought by the cropping system approaches we studied. Nevertheless, management options that improve litter quality, such as the use of legume crops with high N concentrations, may help to enhance the resilience of litter decomposition in drought-stressed crop fields.

Anti-aphrodisiac Compounds of Male Butterflies Increase the Risk of Egg Parasitoid Attack by Inducing Plant Synomone Production

During mating in many butterfly species, males transfer spermatophores that contain anti-aphrodisiacs to females that repel conspecific males. For example, males of the large cabbage white, Pieris brassicae (Lepidoptera: Pieridae), transfer the anti-aphrodisiac, benzyl cyanide (BC) to females. Accessory reproductive gland (ARG) secretion of a mated female P. brassicae that is deposited with an egg clutch contains traces of BC, inducing Brussels sprouts plants (Brassica oleracea var. gemmifera) to arrest certain Trichogramma egg parasitoids. Here, we assessed whether deposition of one egg at a time by the closely related small cabbage white, Pieris rapae, induced B. oleracea var. gemmifera to arrest Trichogramma wasps, and whether this plant synomone is triggered by substances originating from male P. rapae seminal fluid. We showed that plants induced by singly laid eggs of P. rapae arrest T. brassicae wasps three days after butterfly egg deposition. Elicitor activity was present in ARG secretion of mated female butterflies, whereas the secretion of virgin females was inactive. Pieris rapae used a mixture of methyl salicylate (MeSA) and indole as an anti-aphrodisiac. We detected traces of both anti-aphrodisiacal compounds in the ARG secretion of mated female P. rapae, whereas indole was lacking in the secretion of virgin female P. rapae. When applied onto the leaf, indole induced changes in the foliar chemistry that arrested T. brassicae wasps. This study shows that compounds of male seminal fluid incur possible fitness costs for Pieris butterflies by indirectly promoting egg parasitoid attack

Effects of climate extremes on the terrestrial carbon cycle : concepts, processes and potential future impacts

This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. Acknowledgements This work emerged from the CARBO-Extreme project, funded by the European Community’s 7th framework programme under grant agreement (FP7-ENV-2008-1-226701). We are grateful to the Reviewers and the Subject Editor for helpful guidance. We thank to Silvana Schott for graphic support. Mirco Miglivacca provided helpful comments on the manuscript. Michael Bahn acknowledges support from the Austrian Science Fund (FWF; P22214-B17). Sara Vicca is a postdoctoral research associate of the Fund for Scientific Research – Flanders. Wolfgang Cramer contributes to the Labex OT-Med (n° ANR-11- LABX-0061) funded by the French government through the A*MIDEX project (n° ANR-11-IDEX-0001-02). Flurin Babst acknowledges support from the Swiss National Science Foundation (P300P2_154543).Peer reviewedPublisher PD