Prologue: Language Challenges in the 21st Century

As immigration and mobility increases, so do interactions between people from different linguistic backgrounds. Yet while linguistic diversity offers many benefits, it also comes with a number of challenges. In seven empirical articles and one commentary, this Special Issue addresses some of the most significant language challenges facing researchers in the 21st century: the power language has to form and perpetuate stereotypes, the contribution language makes to intersectional identities, and the role of language in shaping intergroup relations. By presenting work that aims to shed light on some of these issues, the goal of this Special Issue is to (a) highlight language as integral to social processes and (b) inspire researchers to address the challenges we face. To keep pace with the world’s constantly evolving linguistic landscape, it is essential that we make progress toward harnessing language’s power in ways that benefit 21st century globalized societies

Natural radioactivity in imported ceramic tiles used in Serbia

Ceramic tiles are one of the commonly used decorative building materials. Body of ceramic tiles is a mixture of different raw materials including clays, quartz materials and feldspat, and may be glazed or left unglazed. Due to the presence of zircon in the glaze, ceramic tiles can show natural radioactivity concentration significantly higher than the average values for building materials. This study presents a summary of results obtained by a survey which was consisted of measurements of activity concentrations of natural radionuclides in imported ceramic tile samples used in Serbia using a gamma spectrometer with HPGe detector. Based on the obtained concentrations, gamma index, radium equivalent activity, the indoor absorbed dose rate and the corresponding annual effective dose were evaluated to assess the potential radiological hazard associated with these building materials

Case report: Spontaneous rupture of leiomyosarcoma uteri 8 months after primary laparoscopic surgery of STUMP

IntroductionLeiomyosarcoma (LMS), together with smooth muscle tumors of uncertain malignant potential (STUMP) and benign leiomyomas, belongs to a heterogeneous group of uterine neoplasms. According to the World Health Organization, tumors originating from uterine smooth muscle fibers are the second most frequent tumors. It is challenging to distinguish between STUMP and LMS because of an overlap of symptoms, lack of a precise definition, and unequivocal information obtained using imaging diagnostic methods. Following myomectomy or hysterectomy with laparoscopic or laparotomy surgery and a definitive histological diagnosis of STUMP, the course of treatment is determined by the need to preserve fertility. In 2014, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration published an alert that unprotected laparoscopic morcellation is correlated with a 3-fold higher likelihood of dissemination of malignant cells and disease progression. Unprotected morcellation was independently associated with a higher risk of disease recurrence after demolition or conservative surgery, with a relative risk of 2.94.ConclusionHematoperitoneum resulting from the spontaneous rupture of a uterine tumor is a rare gynecological emergency, with very few cases reported in the last decade

Understanding the Impacts of Online Mental Health Peer Support Forums: Realist Synthesis

Background:Online forums are widely used for mental health peer support. However, evidence of their safety and effectiveness is mixed. Further research focused on articulating the contexts in which positive and negative impacts emerge from forum use is required to inform innovations in implementation.Objective:This study aimed to develop a realist program theory to explain the impacts of online mental health peer support forums on users.Methods:We conducted a realist synthesis of literature published between 2019 and 2023 and 18 stakeholder interviews with forum staff.Results:Synthesis of 102 evidence sources and 18 interviews produced an overarching program theory comprising 22 context-mechanism-outcome configurations. Findings indicate that users’ perceptions of psychological safety and the personal relevance of forum content are foundational to ongoing engagement. Safe and active forums that provide convenient access to information and advice can lead to improvements in mental health self-efficacy. Within the context of welcoming and nonjudgmental communities, users may benefit from the opportunity to explore personal difficulties with peers, experience reduced isolation and normalization of mental health experiences, and engage in mutual encouragement. The program theory highlights the vital role of moderators in creating facilitative online spaces, stimulating community engagement, and limiting access to distressing content. A key challenge for organizations that host mental health forums lies in balancing forum openness and anonymity with the need to enforce rules, such as restrictions on what users can discuss, to promote community safety.Conclusions:This is the first realist synthesis of online mental health peer support forums. The novel program theory highlights how successful implementation depends on establishing protocols for enhancing safety and strategies for maintaining user engagement to promote forum sustainability

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) of attention processes in presumed obligate carriers of schizophrenia: preliminary findings

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Presumed obligate carriers (POCs) are the first-degree relatives of people with schizophrenia who, although do not exhibit the disorder, are in direct lineage of it. Thus, this subpopulation of first-degree relatives could provide very important information with regard to the investigation of endophenotypes for schizophrenia that could clarify the often contradictory findings in schizophrenia high-risk populations. To date, despite the extant literature on schizophrenia endophenotypes, we are only aware of one other study that examined the neural mechanisms that underlie cognitive abnormalities in this group. The aim of this study was to investigate whether a more homogeneous group of relatives, such as POCs, have neural abnormalities that may be related to schizophrenia.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to collect blood oxygenated level dependent (BOLD) response data in six POCs and eight unrelated healthy controls while performing under conditions of sustained, selective and divided attention.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The POCs indicated alterations in a widely distributed network of regions involved in attention processes, such as the prefrontal and temporal (including the parahippocampal gyrus) cortices, in addition to the anterior cingulate gyrus. More specifically, a general reduction in BOLD response was found in these areas compared to the healthy participants during attention processes.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These preliminary findings of decreased activity in POCs indicate that this more homogeneous population of unaffected relatives share similar neural abnormalities with people with schizophrenia, suggesting that reduced BOLD activity in the attention network may be an intermediate marker for schizophrenia.</p

Dopamine, affordance and active inference.

The role of dopamine in behaviour and decision-making is often cast in terms of reinforcement learning and optimal decision theory. Here, we present an alternative view that frames the physiology of dopamine in terms of Bayes-optimal behaviour. In this account, dopamine controls the precision or salience of (external or internal) cues that engender action. In other words, dopamine balances bottom-up sensory information and top-down prior beliefs when making hierarchical inferences (predictions) about cues that have affordance. In this paper, we focus on the consequences of changing tonic levels of dopamine firing using simulations of cued sequential movements. Crucially, the predictions driving movements are based upon a hierarchical generative model that infers the context in which movements are made. This means that we can confuse agents by changing the context (order) in which cues are presented. These simulations provide a (Bayes-optimal) model of contextual uncertainty and set switching that can be quantified in terms of behavioural and electrophysiological responses. Furthermore, one can simulate dopaminergic lesions (by changing the precision of prediction errors) to produce pathological behaviours that are reminiscent of those seen in neurological disorders such as Parkinson's disease. We use these simulations to demonstrate how a single functional role for dopamine at the synaptic level can manifest in different ways at the behavioural level

Die Wirkung fremder Akzente

Due to globalization and migration, an increasing number of people speak with a foreign accent. An accent is difficult to correct and is often used by listeners as a social cue in determining the cultural background of speakers. Moreover, it can have negative consequences for speakers, e.g., false ascription of lower competencies in the foreign language. This article provides an overview of relevant empirical findings on the perception and evaluation of effects of foreign accents in intercultural communications as well as of approaches for intervention

Concept and Limitations of Existing Models of Funding Local Communities in Republika Srpska

Local communities represent the level of Government where citizens are given the most important rights and obligations that are in the Constitution and the laws available. The aim of this study is the assessment of the economic position of the local community in the financial system of the Republic of Srpska and, accordingly, opportunities for these communities to support and improve the standard of living of its inhabitants. The analysis conducted in this paper show show significant limitations in this respect. Modification of existing models of funding local communities is essential if we want to strengthen their economic function. That attitude is based the basic hypothesis of this work. The survey is based on a more elementary and secondary methods of social science

Same-gender distractors are not so easy to reject: ERP evidence of gender categorization

Social categorization appears to be an automatic process that occurs during person perception. Understanding social categorization better is important because mere categorization can lead to stereotype activation and, in turn, to discrimination. In the present study we used a novel approach to examine event-related potentials (ERPs) of gender categorization in the “Who said what?” memory paradigm, thus allowing for a more in-depth understanding of the specific mechanisms underlying identity versus categorization processing. After observing video clips showing a “discussion” among female and male targets, participants were shown individual statements, each accompanied by one of the discussants’ faces. While we measured ERPs, participants had to decide whether or not a given statement had previously been made by the person with the accompanying face. In same-person trials, statements were paired with the correct person, whereas in the distractor trials, either a same-gender or a different-gender distractor was shown. As expected, participants were able to reject different-gender distractors faster than same-gender distractors, and they were more likely to falsely choose yes for a same-gender than for a different-gender distractor. Both findings indicate gender-based categorization. ERPs, analyzed in a 300- to 400-ms time window at occipito-temporal channels, indicated more negative amplitudes for yes responses both for the same person and for same-gender distractors, relative to different-gender distractors. Overall, these results show gender-based categorization even when the task was to assess the identifying information in a gender-neutral context. These findings are interpreted as showing that gender categorization occurs automatically during person perception, but later than race- or age-based categorization

Effects of different light intensities, CO2 concentrations, temperatures and drought stress on photosynthetic activity in two paleoendemic resurrection plant species Ramonda serbica and R-nathaliae

Ramonda serbica and R. nathaliae are rare resurrection flowering plants of the northern hemisphere. Although their habitats on the north-exposed slopes of canyons and gorges are similar, those inhabited by R. nathaliae are more varied in terms of humidity, temperature and type of bedrock. These fine differences in ecological preference lead us to ask whether diploid R. nathaliae is ecologically more plastic than hexaploid R. serbica. Photosynthetic performance and fluorescence parameters are central in evaluating a plant's capacity to withstand extreme environmental conditions. We have compared the effects of various light intensities, CO2 concentrations and temperatures on the photosynthetic response of well hydrated plants of the two species. We also tracked changes in chlorophyll a fluorescence, photochemical efficiency and non-photochemical quenching during plant desiccation. The results have shown that both species have a low compensation point and low dark respiration that are indispensable for their survival at shaded and humid sites; only there are they able to maintain an appropriate equilibrium between positive net carbon gain and optimal water status. Under conditions of saturating light and CO2, net CO2 uptake was always higher in R. nathaliae that showed lower sensitivity to temperatures between 25 degrees C and 40 degrees C. Moreover, the leaves of R. nathaliae are amphistomatic, with smaller but more numerous stomata than those in the hypostomatic leaves of R. serbica. These xeromorphic characters of R. nathaliae suggest the better regulation of gas exchange and efficiency of water use, under the conditions of everyday short periods of direct sunlight and higher temperatures, making it possible for this species to inhabit more open, warm and dry habitats than R. serbica. Pronounced drought stress induced, in both species, strong decline in fluorescence parameters, photochemical quenching and chain electron transport rate. At the same time the exceptionally high non-photochemical quenching provided the main and highly effective mechanism of energy dissipation and protection against over-excitation. Although being homoiochlorophyllous, chloroplasts in desiccated plants are well protected from photodamage in two ways. First, the leaves are curled inward with the palisade tissue oriented to the inner side of the leaf. Second, the lower epidermis, that hence becomes exposed to sunlight, is densely covered with dark non-glandular hairs and is rich in carotenoids, anthocyanins and phenolics. All this protects desiccated plant tissues against excessive light induced damage. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of Serbia {[}173030, 173018