Proposing Standards for Child Custody: The Proceedings, the Role of the Agency, and the Best Interests of the Child

Article discusses the nature of child custody proceedings, the roles of the court and the parties, and the standards which the courts will apply in determining the custody of the child under the standard of “best interests” of the child. Article proposes that legislature should amend section 614 of the Family Court Act and section 384(b) of the Social Services Law to state clearly whether the “best interest of the child” test has any relevancy at the fact-finding stage, or whether there must be an independent finding at the fact-finding hearing of neglect or fault on the part of the parent before the best interest of the child test is applied at the dispositional hearing

ExoClock Project III: 450 new exoplanet ephemerides from ground and space observations

The ExoClock project has been created with the aim of increasing the efficiency of the Ariel mission. It will achieve this by continuously monitoring and updating the ephemerides of Ariel candidates over an extended period, in order to produce a consistent catalogue of reliable and precise ephemerides. This work presents a homogenous catalogue of updated ephemerides for 450 planets, generated by the integration of $\sim$18000 data points from multiple sources. These sources include observations from ground-based telescopes (ExoClock network and ETD), mid-time values from the literature and light-curves from space telescopes (Kepler/K2 and TESS). With all the above, we manage to collect observations for half of the post-discovery years (median), with data that have a median uncertainty less than one minute. In comparison with literature, the ephemerides generated by the project are more precise and less biased. More than 40\% of the initial literature ephemerides had to be updated to reach the goals of the project, as they were either of low precision or drifting. Moreover, the integrated approach of the project enables both the monitoring of the majority of the Ariel candidates (95\%), and also the identification of missing data. The dedicated ExoClock network effectively supports this task by contributing additional observations when a gap in the data is identified. These results highlight the need for continuous monitoring to increase the observing coverage of the candidate planets. Finally, the extended observing coverage of planets allows us to detect trends (TTVs - Transit Timing Variations) for a sample of 19 planets. All products, data, and codes used in this work are open and accessible to the wider scientific community.Comment: Recommended for publication to ApJS (reviewer's comments implemented). Main body: 13 pages, total: 77 pages, 7 figures, 7 tables. Data available at http://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/P298

Assessing the lung cancer comorbidome: An analysis of German claims data.

Objectives: In presence of lung cancer, the additional impact of comorbidity on survival is often neglected, although comorbidities are likely to be prevalent. Our study examines the comorbidity profile and the impact of distinct conditions on survival in German lung cancer patients.Material and methods: We investigated claims data from a large nationwide statutory health insurance fund of 16,202 patients initially diagnosed with lung cancer in 2009. We calculated the prevalence of comorbidities grouped according to an extension of the Elixhauser Comorbidity Index (EI). Effects of distinct comorbidities on 5-year survival were examined using multivariate Cox proportional hazards models, adjusted for sex, age and metastases at baseline. Ail analyses were stratified by initial lung cancer-related treatment regimen (Surgery, Chemotherapy/Radiotherapy, No treatment). Findings were visualized in the form of a comorbidome.Results: Our study population was predominantly male (70.6%) with a mean age of 68.6 years, and a mean EI score of 3.94. Patients without treatment were older (74.4 years), and their comorbidity burden was higher (mean EI = 4.59). Median survival varied by subgroup (Surgery: 24.4 months, Chemotherapy/Radiotherapy: 8.8 months, No treatment: 2.0 months), and so did the comorbidity profile and the impact of distinct conditions on survival. Generally, the effect of comorbidities on survival was detrimental and the negative association was most pronounced for 'Weight Loss' and' Paralysis'. In contrast, 'Lipid Metabolism Disorders' and 'Obesity' were positively associated with survival. Noteworthily, highly prevalent conditions tended not to show any significant association.Conclusion: We found specific comorbidity profiles within the distinct treatment regimens. Moreover, there were negative but also some positive associations with survival, and the strength of these effects varied by stratum. Particularly the positive effects of 'Obesity" and 'Lipid Metabolism Disorders' which were robust across strata need to be further investigated to elucidate potential biomedical explanations

Emerging contaminants bioremediation by enzyme and nanozyme-based processes – A review

Summary: Due to their widespread occurrence and the inadequate removal efficiencies by conventional wastewater treatment plants, emerging contaminants (ECs) have recently become an issue of great concern. Current ongoing studies have focused on different physical, chemical, and biological methods as strategies to avoid exposing ecosystems to significant long-term risks. Among the different proposed technologies, the enzyme-based processes rise as green biocatalysts with higher efficiency yields and lower generation of toxic by-products. Oxidoreductases and hydrolases are among the most prominent enzymes applied for bioremediation processes. The present work overviews the state of the art of recent advances in enzymatic processes during wastewater treatment of EC, focusing on recent innovations in terms of applied immobilization techniques, genetic engineering tools, and the advent of nanozymes. Future trends in the enzymes immobilization techniques for EC removal were highlighted. Research gaps and recommendations on methods and utility of enzymatic treatment incorporation in conventional wastewater treatment plants were also discussed