The proliferation of malaria vectors from irrigated rice crop systems has long been known, though the relationship between rice cultivation and malaria transmission is historically complex. Despite this, contemporary research reveals an association between enhanced malaria vector densities, originating from rice fields, and intensified malaria transmission in rice-associated communities is now occurring. In the wake of the ever-increasing pressures of anthropogenic climate change and a desire to increase rice production across the continent of Africa, alternative rice cultivation practices are being employed. One such alternative practice is the System of Rice Intensification (SRI), which although agronomically contentious is utilised in an attempt to enhance rice yields whilst reducing agricultural inputs, including water. SRI fundamentally alters the rice growing environment and may therefore have significant impacts on the ecology of malaria vector species. As a result, there may be important consequences for local malaria transmission dynamics. The adoption of SRI across Africa is increasing and is likely to do so further in the wake of the pressures of climate change. In this review, we critically discuss the possible impacts of SRI practice on the bionomics of the dominant malaria vector species of Africa.Graphical Created in BioRender. Hardy, H. (2025) https://BioRender.com/mo3g1wr

This study assesses the agrobiodiversity richness, traditional knowledge, and conservation status associated with four key crops-banana, taro, pumpkin, and mustard green-in Northwest Vietnam. Using the 5-cell method, 133 farmer varieties were identified in Mai Son and Sa Pa districts. Mai Son showed the highest level of varietal diversity in banana and pumpkin, while Sa Pa had the higher richness in mustard green and taro. Ethnic groups, particularly Thai and Dao households, played a key role in maintaining this diversity. The findings reveal significant vulnerability to varietal loss, particularly for banana and taro. In contrast, pumpkin varieties in Sa Pa and mustard greens in both districts appear less vulnerable. Declining cultivation of certain farmer varieties is driven by changing preferences, market limitations, and climate variability. Results underscore the need for on-farm conservation strategies such as custodian farmer networks, biodiversity seed fairs, seed banks, improved market access, and nutritional education, to safeguard local varietal diversity and promote sustainable farming systems in the region.

The UNC13A gene encodes a presynaptic protein that is crucial for setting the strength and dynamics of information transfer between neurons. Here we describe a neurodevelopmental syndrome caused by germline coding or splice-site variants in UNC13A. The syndrome presents with variable degrees of developmental delay and intellectual disability, seizures of different types, tremor and dyskinetic movements and, in some cases, death in early childhood. Using assays with expression of UNC13A variants in mouse hippocampal neurons and in Caenorhabditis elegans, we identify three mechanisms of pathogenicity, including reduction in synaptic strength caused by reduced UNC13A protein expression, increased neurotransmission caused by UNC13A gain-of-function and impaired regulation of neurotransmission by second messenger signalling. Based on a strong genotype-phenotype-functional correlation, we classify three UNC13A syndrome subtypes (types A-C). We conclude that the precise regulation of neurotransmitter release by UNC13A is critical for human nervous system function.

The ARREST trial demonstrated that in adult patients, transfer to a cardiac catheter laboratory in a cardiac arrest centre (CAC) following resuscitated out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) without ST-elevation did not reduce deaths at 30 days compared with delivery to the geographically closest emergency department (standard care). More than half of the CACs had a co-located emergency department to which patients were delivered as part of the standard care arm, which may have influenced outcomes. We performed a pre-specified as-treated analysis to determine if a CAC and the location patients were delivered to, either emergency department or cardiac catheter laboratory, reduced deaths. Patients (aged ≥18 years) with resuscitated OHCA without ST elevation who were enrolled in the ARREST trial were grouped according to the location they were to delivered to- either an emergency department with or without a co-located CAC or a cardiac catheter laboratory within a CAC - at one of 32 hospitals in London, UK - by London Ambulance Service irrespective of randomised allocation. The as-treated population were therefore analysed as one of three groups: 1) emergency department in a CAC 2) direct to a cardiac catheter laboratory in a CAC and 3) emergency department in a non-CAC. The primary outcome of the trial was all-cause mortality at 30 days. Secondary outcomes included all-cause mortality at 3 months and neurological outcome at discharge and 3 months. A pre-specified analysis adjusting for age, sex, initial shockable rhythm, witnessed cardiac arrest, bystander CPR, the time from cardiac arrest until ROSC, and location of cardiac arrest was performed in the as-treated groups. Between January 15, 2018 and December 1, 2022; a total of 862 participants were enrolled into the trial. Data for the primary outcome for this analysis were available in 818/862 (94.9%). Patients delivered to an ED in a CAC had fewer deaths at 30 days compared with the ED in a non-CAC group (83/182, 45.6% versus 178/233, 76.4%; adjusted OR 0.43, 95% CI 0.24 to 0.76; P=0.0039). Patients delivered to a cardiac catheter laboratory in a CAC also had fewer deaths compared with the ED in a non-CAC group but there was no statistical difference (250/403, 62.0%: adjusted OR 0.72, 95% CI 0.44 to 1.18; P=0.19). Survival with a favourable neurological outcome at hospital discharge occurred in 88/177 (49.7%) of the ED in a CAC group, 130/406 (32%) of the catheter laboratory in a CAC group and 42/228 (18.4%) of the ED in a non-CAC group. In this as-treated analysis of the ARREST trial, in adult patients with resuscitated OHCA without ST-elevation, we observed a lower 30-day mortality and favourable neurological outcomes following delivery to an ED in a CAC and cardiac catheter laboratory in CAC, when compared with delivery to ED in a non-CAC.

Recreational drug use among sports fans has received relatively little scholarly attention. Nonetheless, understanding this landscape is crucial to better understand fan behaviors and attitudes, as well as to support fan communities through effective harm reduction and educational initiatives. Addressing this gap, we surveyed fans in the US (football, baseball, basketball, ice hockey) and the UK (soccer, rugby, cricket) to assess the prevalence, correlates, contexts, and motivations behind drug use at major sporting events ( N = 2,556). Fans reported more drug use than the general population, with significantly more use in the US (22.9%) than in the UK (6.5%), where there was more alcohol consumption. There were no significant differences for drug use at games between sports in the US, yet in the UK, soccer (8.9%) and rugby (8.3%) fans reported more use than cricket fans (2.2%). Drug types, motivations for use, and demographic correlates of use were broadly consistent across sports, whereas the role of collective identities was distinct according to national context. In the UK, team bonding was associated with both drug use and support of sanctions for drugs at games, aligning with a carnivalesque interpretation of fan behavior, where temporary suspension of broader social norms may coexist with internal group regulation. In the US, by contrast, team bonding was unrelated to drug-taking, with divergent effects on support for sanctions suggesting tensions between inclusive group norms and efforts to police in-group transgressions. Findings point to a need for tailored harm reduction and educational initiatives: we suggest that acknowledging drug use as part of fan culture could inform targeted interventions to reduce shame and better prioritize education, safety, and well-being within sports communities.

Since the carceral elements of #MeToo were first observed, long-simmering debates around what it means to listen to – and indeed believe – survivors have been reignited within Anglophone feminist anti-violence work and scholarship. Using analysis of the anger that erupts on social media when seemingly carceral feminist campaigns proclaim to be ‘led by’ survivors as a starting point, this article demonstrates that – while seemingly divided – much feminist work around sexual violence is deeply affected by a ‘survivor-led’ politics. Through situating this politics within feminism's testimonial legacies, I engage with citationally dominant texts to show that belief and listening – core principles of feminist work – have become increasingly ensnared with affective notions of innocence. The result is the production of work that is unable – or unwilling – to ask critical questions of survivor speech, and the circulation of a powerful core narrative: that because some survivors say they desire carceral outcomes, these can never be abandoned. Through asking questions around what it means to listen to, believe and respond to those who say they want carceral outcomes, I provide a thorough interrogation of the ethics and risks of the epistemological politics of being ‘survivor led’. Contending that a ‘survivor-led’ politics arises due to the affective force of a newly conceptualised figure – the figure of the wounded survivor – I argue that this politics risks furthering injustice for survivors everywhere, especially those who are deemed less ‘innocent’. I conclude by attending to the potential that lies instead in a ‘survivor-centred’ politics. Through offering compelling evidence of this politics in practice, I show the ways in which it encourages a different kind of listening and responding to survivors, and in turn a more just approach to justice seeking.

The sharing economy (SE) is often promoted as a sustainable and inclusive model for resource provision, increasingly so for base-of-pyramid (BoP) contexts. However, dominant SE frameworks ground in individualistic and commodified understandings of ownership may misalign with values in collectivist societies. This article presents a case study from rural Kazakhstan to examine how ownership is conceptualized and enacted through Kazakh linguistic and cultural traditions that draw from the physical steppe ecology. Our findings reveal a relational understanding of ownership that privileges shared access and social obligation over individual control or exclusion. These principles generate forms of social value that extend beyond efficiency and economic utility. By highlighting how sharing practices are shaped by embedded ownership norms, this study challenges the universal applicability of mainstream SE models. It calls for greater attention to culturally situated ownership understanding in order to develop SE strategies that are ethically grounded and contextually responsive to BoP settings.