"Is this 'minor time' now? My time?" - Voice versus knowledge in child neglect proceedings, lessons from the guardian ad litem role in Israeli juvenile courtrooms.

Background: Child Protection Legal Systems around the world work to toe the line between protecting children from possible harms and avoiding inflicting further harm by mistreating or misrecognizing the problems the children in question are facing. Despite growing efforts to enhance children's participation in child protection proceedings, there is still a lot of criticism from families and children directed at the state and the legal system.

Objective: This inquiry attempts to locate at least one of the reasons for such criticism - the feeling of being excluded from the decision-making process.

An integrated participatory framework for WEFE nexus strategic planning: The Jordan Valley case study.

The Jordan Valley (JV) is a critical region where the interplay of water, energy, food, and ecosystem (WEFE) dynamics presents both challenges and opportunities for sustainable development and climate change mitigation and adaptation. In such a transboundary river basin with acute nexus problems and a long history of conflicts, it is essential that conscious efforts are made to pluralize the debate and actively encourage stakeholders' empowerment, participation and fair collaboration in strategic planning. An integrated framework for participatory strategic planning in the WEFE nexus is proposed, which has been developed in the context of the JV case study.

Network Types for End-Of-Life Care and Home Deaths Among Older Adults in Europe During COVID-19 Pandemic.

The study identified care network types comprising informal and formal care providers during the end-of-life period, and examined their relationship with home deaths. End-of-life interviews were conducted with proxies during the two waves of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). The sample included 486 participants who passed away during the pandemic and received care during their final year.

Association between body mass index, obesity, and vulvar cancer recurrence.

Objective: The objective of this paper is to study the association between obesity and tumor recurrence in patients with vulvar cancer.

Methods: This is a retrospective study including vulvar cancer patients from 2003 to 2022. Our primary outcome was progression-free survival (PFS) stratified by status of obesity, defined as body mass index (BMI) >30.

Dialysis Patients' Evaluation of Lung Edema at Home Using a Mobile Phone Tele-Ultrasound Application: A Pilot Study.

: Home rehabilitation improves patient satisfaction and reduces the need for specialist consultations. Hemodialysis is a costly post-ICU service that requires frequent monitoring. Previous studies have demonstrated the feasibility and accuracy of patients self-scanning their lungs with an ultrasound device within the hospital.

Role of miR-181 Family Members in Stroke: Insights into Mechanisms and Therapeutic Potential.

Stroke is a major cause of mortality and long-term disability worldwide, making early diagnosis and effective treatment crucial for reducing its impact. In response to the limited efficacy of current treatments, alternative therapeutic strategies, such as novel biomarkers and therapies, are emerging to address this critical unmet medical need. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small, non-coding RNAs that regulate gene expression at the post-transcriptional level.

The Impact of Radiotherapy on the Primary Tumor in Patients with Metastatic High-Volume Castration-Sensitive Prostate Cancer: A Propensity Score Matching Analysis.

Retrospective studies suggest that local radiotherapy on the prostate improves overall survival in the metastatic setting, but its benefit in patients with high-burden metastatic disease is still uncertain. We conducted a retrospective study of 100 high-metastatic-burden prostate cancer patients at Hadassah Ein Karem Medical Center from 2004 to 2021. Patients receiving local RT alongside standard treatment were compared to those receiving standard treatment alone.

Child Maltreatment and Medical Traumatic Stress-A Double-Edged Sword.

Background/objectives: Medical procedures can be a traumatic event for both children and their parents. Children who have experienced maltreatment or early traumatic experiences are at a higher risk for various emotional, behavioral, and health issues, including declining mental health. This may include experiencing heightened distress following medical procedures.

Individual well-being and national determinants of screening mammography among women over fifty.

Background: Breast cancer is the most prevalent cancer among women worldwide, causing over 400,000 cases of premature death annually. Timely screening mammography (SM) could have prevented most death. Although SM utilization varies across countries, few studies have examined country-level factors, and fewer explored their interaction with individual-level factors.

Human subcutaneous and visceral adipocyte atlases uncover classical and nonclassical adipocytes and depot-specific patterns.

Human adipose depots are functionally distinct. Yet, recent single-nucleus RNA sequencing (snRNA-seq) analyses largely uncovered overlapping or similar cell-type landscapes. We hypothesized that adipocyte subtypes, differentiation trajectories and/or intercellular communication patterns could illuminate this depot similarity-difference gap.

Feasibility, Acceptability and Preliminary Effectiveness of a Manualized Lay-Led Food Literacy Intervention for Women in a Community Setting.

Food literacy (FL) is the capability to make healthy food choices in different settings, contexts, and situations. Addressing factors such as competencies, self-efficacy and social norms enables sustainable positive change in nutrition behaviour. This study assesses the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effectiveness of a lay-led FL intervention for Arabic and Hebrew-speaking women in community settings, utilizing a train-the-trainer model.

One hundred thirty-four germ line PU.1 variants and the agammaglobulinemic patients carrying them.

Leukopoiesis is lethally arrested in mice lacking the master transcriptional regulator PU.1. Depending on the animal model, subtotal PU.

Estimating effective population size trajectories from time-series identity-by-descent segments.

Long, identical haplotypes shared between pairs of individuals, known as identity-by-descent (IBD) segments, result from recently shared co-ancestry. Various methods have been developed to utilize IBD sharing for demographic inference in contemporary DNA data. Recent methodological advances have extended the screening for IBD segments to ancient DNA (aDNA) data, making demographic inference based on IBD also possible for aDNA.

Resolving spatiotemporal dynamics in bacterial multicellular populations: approaches and challenges.

SUMMARYThe development of multicellularity represents a key evolutionary transition that is crucial for the emergence of complex life forms. Although multicellularity has traditionally been studied in eukaryotes, it originates in prokaryotes. Coordinated aggregation of individual cells within the confines of a colony results in emerging, higher-level functions that benefit the population as a whole.

The Constrained Disorder Principle Overcomes the Challenges of Methods for Assessing Uncertainty in Biological Systems.

Different disciplines are developing various methods for determining and dealing with uncertainties in complex systems. The constrained disorder principle (CDP) accounts for the randomness, variability, and uncertainty that characterize biological systems and are essential for their proper function. Per the CDP, intrinsic unpredictability is mandatory for the dynamicity of biological systems under continuously changing internal and external perturbations.

On the Differential and the Integral Value of Information.

A quantitative expression for the value of information within the framework of information theory and of the maximal entropy formulation is discussed. We examine both a local, differential measure and an integral, global measure for the value of the change in information when additional input is provided. The differential measure is a potential and as such carries a physical dimension.

Can Viewing Modality Affect Frontal Mandibular Bone Height Measurement? A Comparison Between 3D Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine Viewer and Printed Portable Document Format Cone Beam Computer Tomography Reports.

Buccal cortical bone dimensions are crucial in dental radiology, as they impact orthodontic treatment outcomes. Changes in alveolar bone dimensions can result in malocclusion and require interdisciplinary approaches for correction. The accurate quantification of buccal bone dimensions is crucial for appropriate treatment planning and avoiding medico-legal issues.

A Novel Homozygous Mutation Causes Ovarian Dysgenesis and Primary Amenorrhea.

Context: Despite a growing number of studies, the genetic etiology in many cases of ovarian dysgenesis is incompletely understood.

Objectives: This work aimed to study the genetic etiology causing absence of spontaneous pubertal development, hypergonadotropic hypogonadism, and primary amenorrhea in 2 sisters.

Methods: Whole-exome sequencing was performed on DNA extracted from peripheral lymphocytes of 2 Palestinian sisters born to consanguineous parents.

Sensitive ratiometric detection of Fumonisin B using a reusable Ag-pSi SERS platform.

Food and agricultural commodities endure consistent contamination by mycotoxins, low molecular weight fungal metabolites, which pose severe health implications to humans together with staggering economic losses. Herein, a ratiometric aptasensor was constructed using silver-coated porous silicon (Ag-pSi) used as an efficient surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrate. The bioassay included direct detection of fumonisin B (FB), an abundant and widespread contaminant, by a specific aptamer sequence immobilized on the porous transducer.

De-novo Genome Assembly of the Edwardsiid Anthozoan Edwardsia elegans.

Cnidarians (sea anemones, corals, hydroids, and jellyfish) are a key outgroup for comparisons with bilaterial animals to trace the evolution of genomic complexity and diversity within the animal kingdom, as they separated from most other animals 100s of millions of years ago. Cnidarians have extensive diversity, yet the paucity of genomic resources limits our ability to compare genomic variation between cnidarian clades and species. Here we report the genome for Edwardsia elegans, a sea anemone in the most specious genus of the family Edwardsiidae, a phylogenetically important family of sea anemones that contains the model anemone Nematostella vectensis.

Diagnostic clues in herpes encephalitis following radiation therapy.

Introduction: Herpes encephalitis is known to affect patients undergoing brain radiotherapy, but early diagnosis and treatment, the foremost determinants of disease outcome, remain challenging in this patient population. This can be due to attribution of symptoms to the brain tumor and radiation side effects, as well as patients' atypical clinical presentation. Here we sought to highlight pearls and pitfalls in the clinical course and diagnostic workup which may facilitate timely diagnosis and improve disease outcome.

Clinical and Imaging Characteristics of Posterior Scleritis in Children.

Background: Posterior scleritis (PS) is a rare phenotype of scleritis. Comprehensive epidemiological studies on PS in children are limited. We aimed to report on its clinical and imaging features in one of the largest pediatric series to date.

Probing spin effects in phycocyanin using Janus-like ferromagnetic microparticles.

In an era of interdisciplinary scientific research, new methodologies are necessary to simultaneously advance several fields of study. One such case involves the measurement of electron spin effects on biological systems. While magnetic effects are well known in biology, recent years have shown a surge in published evidence isolating the dependence on spin, rather than magnetic field, in biological contexts.

Violence against women and girls research: Leveraging gains across disciplines.

Violence against women and girls (VAWG) is a leading cause of mortality and morbidity worldwide, linked to numerous health, economic, and human rights outcomes. Target 5.2 of the Sustainable Development Goals calls for elimination of all forms of VAWG; however, progress toward achieving this goal has been inadequate.