General Comments Research Articles

Stakeholder perspectives on non-invasive brain stimulation.

Non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) techniques such as transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) or transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) have made great progress in recent years and offer boundless potential for the neuroscientific research and treatment of disorders. However, the possible use of NIBS devices for neuro-doping and neuroenhancement in healthy individuals and the military are poorly regulated. The great potentials and diverse applications can have an impact on the future development of the technology and society. This participatory study therefore aims to summarize the perspectives of different stakeholder groups with the help of qualitative workshops. Nine qualitative on-site and virtual workshops were conducted in the study with 91 individuals from seven stakeholder groups: patients, students, do-it-yourself home users of tDCS, clinical practitioners, industry representatives, philosophers, and policy experts. The co-creative and design-based workshops were tailored to each group to document the wishes, fears, and general comments of the participants. The outlooks from each group were collected in written form and summarized into different categories. The result is a comprehensive overview of the different aspects that need to be considered in the field of NIBS. For example, several groups expressed the wish for home-based tDCS under medical supervision as a potential therapeutic intervention and discussed the associated technical specifications. Other topics that were addressed were performance enhancement for certain professional groups, training requirements for practitioners, and questions of agency, among others. This qualitative participatory research highlights the potential of tDCS and repetitive TMS as alternative therapies to medication, with fewer adverse effects and home-based use for tDCS. The ethical and societal impact of the abuse of NIBS for non-clinical use must be considered for policy-making and regulation implementations. This study adds to the neuroethical debate on the responsible use and application of NIBS technologies, taking into consideration the different perspectives of important stakeholders in the field.

Caregivers in implantable brain-computer interface research: a scoping review.

While the ethical significance of caregivers in neurological research has increasingly been recognized, the role of caregivers in brain-computer interface (BCI) research has received relatively less attention. This report investigates the extent to which caregivers are mentioned in publications describing implantable BCI (iBCI) research for individuals with motor dysfunction, communication impairment, and blindness. The scoping review was conducted in June 2024 using the PubMed and Web of Science bibliographic databases. The articles were systematically searched using query terms for caregivers, family members, and guardians, and the results were quantitatively and qualitatively analyzed. Our search yielded 315 unique studies, 78 of which were included in this scoping review. Thirty-four (43.6%) of the 78 articles mentioned the study participant's caregivers. We sorted these into 5 categories: Twenty-two (64.7%) of the 34 articles thanked caregivers in the acknowledgement section, 6 (17.6%) articles described the caregiver's role with regard to the consent process, 12 (35.3%) described the caregiver's role in the technical maintenance and upkeep of the BCI system or in other procedural aspects of the study, 9 (26.5%) discussed how the BCI enhanced participant communication and goal-directed behavior with the help of a caregiver, and 3 (8.8%) articles included general comments that did not fit into the other categories but still related to the importance of caregivers in the lives of the research participants. Caregivers were mentioned in less than half of BCI studies in this review. The studies that offered more robust discussions of caregivers provide valuable insight into the integral role that caregivers play in supporting the study participants and the research process. Attention to the role of caregivers in successful BCI research studies can help guide the responsible development of future BCI study protocols.

La protección de los derechos de la infancia en el ámbito digital

The study analyzes the protection of children's rights in the digital environment, addressing the current context in which minors interact with digital technologies that can violate their privacy and expose them to risks of cyberbullying and data exploitation. It examines normative frameworks such as the Convention on the Rights of the Child and UN General Comment 25, which seek to adapt child protection to the digital age, although significant shortcomings persist. Through a literature review, the article evaluates the effectiveness of current policies and proposes the adoption of preventive approaches, such as safe design, in addition to digital citizenship education for minors. The results highlight the lack of specific regulation, the difficulty in adapting privacy policies and the commercial exploitation of children's data. In conclusion, the need for multisectoral collaboration and a unified regulation that allows minors to have a safe online experience, where their fundamental rights are respected and their integral development is favored, is emphasized.

A comparative study of how teachers communicate in deaf education classrooms.

This study investigates the communication practices of four teachers in 3rd to 6th grade classrooms with 9 deaf students with limited language proficiency and in stages of emergent writing development. Analyzing language modalities, utterance types, and class interactivity, we found that teachers using American sign language used student-centered approaches, generating a greater number of directives and responsive utterances. They persevered in increasing students' engagement and were successful in clarifying misunderstandings. Teachers using spoken English used teacher-centered approaches, making general comments directed at the whole class, which consequently reduced student participation and responsiveness. They also largely avoided repairing communication breakdowns with emergent writers, focusing instead on those with greater auditory and speaking abilities. These patterns reveal disparities in classroom communication that can affect student learning. Our findings highlight the need for teacher preparation programs to equip teachers with skill sets to employ accessible and effective communication during instruction, especially with deaf students who are still developing foundational language and writing skills.

Environmental Rights and the Impact of Climate Change within the Committee on the Rights of the Child Concluding Observation Reports

Abstract In recent years, there has been an increasing global focus on climate change and environmental issues. Although there are only two articles that refer to environmental health and none to climate change in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the UN Committee has considered these subjects to be children’s rights issues. Presented here is a summary of the findings from an empirical study demonstrating the increasing frequency of comments relevant to environmental issues and climate change within the Concluding Observation reports from the Committee on the Rights of the Child from 2000 to 2022 before the introduction of the new General Comment No. 26. It is further established that though relevant comments occur within all rights clusters, it is the health cluster and under the general measure of implementation where these are mainly focused, with access to clean water and sanitation being the primary issue.

Child and Youth Friendly Justice for the Climate Crisis: Relying on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

Abstract The climate crisis is a human rights crisis, and one of the worst affected groups is children and youth. This same group has been key to climate action in and outside of the courts. As well as engaging in numerous consultative fora such as cop, and in the introduction of a General Comment on the right of children to a healthy environment, they have gone on to become key litigators in climate cases/applications at both national and international level. These justice processes are, however, notoriously ill suited to the particular needs of children and youth. Child friendly justice is a concept which has been elaborated in recent years by the Council of Europe. Yet climate litigation is very different to the cases (e.g. in family law) in which children have traditionally been parties – amongst other things it can involve very public campaigns. This article considers child and youth friendly justice in the context of the climate crisis through the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and through the concepts of access, participation, interests, and judgments.

Twenty-five years of the United Nations General Comment number 12 on the human right to adequate food – malnutrition continues to surge

The human right to adequate food is one of the most fundamental human rights crucial for the sustenance of the planet, and the prosperity of all people. It is firmly established in international human rights instruments and is clarified in the United Nations’ General Comment 12 (GC 12). However, deep vulnerabilities and deprivation of the right to adequate food in the form of hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition have persisted in many parts of the world. The climate-induced disasters also continues to devastate many communities, thereby depriving them of their rights including adequate food. This commentary provides a broader perspective on the 25 years of the GC 12 to stimulate further debate and actions to entrench human rights, especially the right to adequate food, at the centre of the food systems transformation and overall sustainable development agenda. This year 2024, marks 25 years of the Global Compact 12 on the human right to adequate food. While it is an important opportunity to celebrate this great achievement of engraining this right into the wider sphere of global reference at the United Nations level, the domestication in countries into actions that concretely address the problem of hunger and malnutrition has been slow in many countries. The world is now faced with the grim realities of starving populations arising from unnecessary and unjust wars, and food continues to be used as a weapon of war against international law and human imagination. Worse still, in the current environment of climate change and its adverse effects on food systems, SDG2 (Zero hunger by 2030), seems unrealistic. Finally, it is no longer a question of providing carbohydrates, as the need to address quality, safety, nutrition and cultural acceptability is ever so pressing. Going forward, there is a need to accelerate advocacy efforts, research and policy formulation that fully operationalise GC 12 in country-level food systems and nutrition interventions. Realization of the right to adequate food benchmarks in GC 12 should certainly be the penultimate of such interventions as strategic food reserves, poverty and hunger reduction programmes, humanitarian disaster preparedness, contingency funding, social protection and child care among others.

Contemporary reflections on William Gull's case studies of anorexia nervosa, 150years on.

To analyse and compare the original four published anorexia nervosa (AN) case histories of William Gull with modern-day approaches. Case histories of the patients described by Gull were reviewed and placed in a tabulated format (which included demographics, clinical presentation, treatment, and prognosis) along with his general comments on AN, for easier comparison. Many of the presenting features of AN are similar to cases seen in more modern times but lack weight or body image disturbances. The cases described by Gull can be categorised as AN under the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual-Fifth Edition (DSM-5) and the Text Revision (DSM-5-TR) however, they were excluded by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual-Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) and the International Classification of Diseases-10th Revision (ICD-10) criteria. Reference to Gull's work might have avoided the necessary change in diagnostic criteria. 150years on, Gull's cases resemble presentations of AN without weight or body image issues and emphasise the heterogeneity of the diagnostic conceptualisation of AN in the modern era. Nutritional rehabilitation remains core to the treatment with other interventions supporting this goal while aetiology remains elusive.

Adding Environmental, Social, and Governance Reporting to an Introductory Accounting Course

ABSTRACT As more firms are focusing on sustainability issues, ESG reporting is quickly becoming a beneficial topic for business and accounting students to understand. This learning strategy provides faculty with materials that can be used to introduce ESG reporting in an introductory accounting course. This paper discusses the background on ESG reporting and summarizes the accounting profession’s involvement in compiling and reviewing these reports. The teaching materials include general suggestions and comments, example ESG factors, example ESG disclosures, sustainability accounting scenarios with discussion suggestions, resource links for ESG reporting frameworks and assessment, an example reading assignment, multiple-choice questions, and PowerPoint slides. Sustainability and ESG reporting are topics of increasing importance to stakeholders. Exposing business and accounting students to these topics early into their education can provide them with a foundational knowledge that will surely be built upon in their upper-level courses and eventual careers. JEL Classifications: M41; Q56.

Big Science: before and after the Manhattan Project

Abstract Although the concept of Big Science is not well defined, it is often identified with expensive and government-funded post-World-War II projects in physics and space research. However, this definition is too narrow both with regard to chronology and with regard to the sciences in question. Apart from offering some general comments on the notion of Big Science this paper adopts a historical perspective by singling out a few cases of pre-twentieth century Big Science projects in physics and astronomy. These were exceptions, however, and it was only with the Manhattan Project and the early generations of high-energy accelerators that the Big Science era truly started. As argued the development involved new forms of organisation as well as new ethical problems relating to the role and responsibility of the individual scientist.

A Human Right to Science: Inadequate without Participation in Science? Human Rights as a Governance Tool in Scientific Fields

ABSTRACT This article demonstrates how participation in science and protection from risks of harm resulting from science fall within the scope of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) Article 15(1)(b), despite not being explicitly included in its wording. General Comment 25 on science and economic, social and cultural rights, adopted in 2020, has clarified this right to enjoy scientific progress and its applications and the derived obligations. The scholarly debate in the subsequent years shows that there are still diverse understandings of the scope of this underresearched and non-implemented human rights. The core elements involved in ensuring this right include access, protection, participation, freedom, and an enabling environment. The obligations specified in Article 15, Article 2(1) and Article 4 of the ICESCR enable fruitful exchanges between human rights, regulatory bodies, and science communities, implying that human rights can be a governance tool when considering introducing new technologies.

Chapter 10: Cultural Activities and Facilities, Including the Media, in the Context of the Rights of European Minorities—International Developments in 2022

Abstract This report overviews the central 2022 international developments related to cultural activities and facilities as well as the media, or more broadly implementing the freedom of expression, in the context of the rights of European minorities. The ECtHR cases of Basu v. Germany and Muhammad v. Spain are among the highlights, since they elaborate on ethnic profiling during identity checks by the police. The adoption of General Comment No. 26 (2022) on Land and Economic, Social and Cultural Rights by the UN CESCR Committee and the General Recommendation No. 39 (2022) on the rights of Indigenous Women and Girls by the CEDAW Committee is also commented on as among the most significant advancements in 2022.

Menstrual Health Education: School Health Curriculum Topics by Grade Level Recommended by Specialized Medical Professionals in Menstrual Health Clinics

Study ObjectiveEvidence-based menstrual health education is not mandated in any US state or territory. Aspects of normal and abnormal menstruation impact quality of life and educational engagement, but many youths are not prepared to know when to seek medical help. We sought to determine which topics should be included in a third- through eighth-grade school-based menstrual health curriculum. MethodsWe conducted a cross-sectional online survey of medical professionals who care for patients with menstrual problems. We asked participants to indicate the top 3 menstrual health topics by grade, and we compared the most common responses by year. We also solicited general comments about the curriculum content. ResultsSurveys from 55 medical professionals met the criteria for analysis. The topics selected most frequently were normal and abnormal menstruation, reproductive anatomy, puberty timeline, and menstrual products. Most recommended the topics of puberty timeline (38, 69.1%) and reproductive anatomy (34, 61.8%) for third grade, introducing normal menstruation (31, 56.4%) and menstrual products (24, 46.3%) in fourth grade, and abnormal menstruation (27, 49.1%) in sixth grade. More complex topics, such as world cultures around menstruation (14, 25.5%) and period poverty (11, 20.0%), were preferred for eighth grade. Many providers emphasized the importance of teaching normal vs abnormal menstruation in a school health curriculum. ConclusionMedical professionals provided recommendations for a school-based menstrual health curriculum that introduces topics at developmentally appropriate ages from a medical perspective, teaches basic menstrual symptom management, and instructs on warning signs for abnormal menstruation.

Psychiatrists’ experiences of involuntary care in South Africa: dilemmas for practice in challenging contexts

Providing for people with psychosocial conditions in crisis is a complex and controversial endeavour that has gained significant attention over the past decade. This increased focus is driven by global...

Building resilience of street-connected children during COVID-19: turning rights into practices through CINI method.

This article examines the methods and opportunities for SCC's meaningful participation that recognize their agency and are aligned with General Comment No. 21 (GC21) to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) on Children in Street Situations (UNCRC, 1989). This article explains the application of CINI's core practice models which explains the child centrality in development practices for "turning rights into practice for children" derived from the Sustainable Development Goals, principles of Human Rights, UNCRC, and General Comment No. 20 (2016). The Institutional knowledge was practiced through child-led action research with street- connected children which resulted in the development of agency among SCC, peer researchers, and child advocates for resilience building within their community during COVID-19. Child in Need Institute (CINI) has been working with SCC since 1989 and has derived a rich body of experience from the interventions. CINI applied participatory approaches to practice, research, decision-making, and policy development; thus, facilitating children in the process of systematically gathering information with their peers, identifying key issues and problems faced by SCC, and securing support from duty bearers that were required for the survival within their situations. Drawing on the approach undertaken and the tools used in the participatory research and advocacy, this article reflects upon the processes and strategies that worked out in facilitating SCC's ability to exercise agency and resilience through evidence generation and advocacy during COVID-19 and the associated lockdown and beyond. Through capacity building on research tools, leadership and communication skills, SCC can build concrete evidence of their vulnerabilities and the gaps that pose as barriers to their access to existing support mechanisms. This evidence helps them to prioritize the solutions that are required to bring changes in their lives and that of their peers, with which they can advocate at different platforms that promote dialogs and negotiations between children and duty-bearers. A participatory research project funded by Wellcome Trust focused on the vulnerabilities faced by street-connected young people and the access to services available to them. It revealed the lack of understanding regarding SCC and their invisibility in data and planning of support services, the gaps in access to healthcare services, the social determinants of health including safety, and their exclusion in platforms for dialogs with duty bearers. They took these issues to local government leaders, service providers, and national and international advocacy platforms; and suggested solutions to local and world leaders to bring changes in their situations. This resulted in a marked increase in the responsiveness of service providers toward SCC during the period of COVID-19, and the increased agency and negotiation skills of peer leaders to support their communities and demand solutions during the period of COVID-19 and associated lockdown.

Assessing ChatGPT's ability to emulate human reviewers in scientific research: A descriptive and qualitative approach

BackgroundChatGPT is an AI platform whose relevance in the peer review of scientific articles is steadily growing. Nonetheless, it has sparked debates over its potential biases and inaccuracies. This study aims to assess ChatGPT's ability to qualitatively emulate human reviewers in scientific research. MethodsWe included the first submitted version of the latest twenty original research articles published by the 3rd of July 2023, in a high-profile medical journal. Each article underwent evaluation by a minimum of three human reviewers during the initial review stage. Subsequently, three researchers with medical backgrounds and expertise in manuscript revision, independently and qualitatively assessed the agreement between the peer reviews generated by ChatGPT version GPT-4 and the comments provided by human reviewers for these articles. The level of agreement was categorized into complete, partial, none, or contradictory. Results720 human reviewers’ comments were assessed. There was a good agreement between the three assessors (Overall kappa >0.6). ChatGPT's comments demonstrated complete agreement in terms of quality and substance with 48 (6.7 %) human reviewers’ comments, partially agreed with 92 (12.8 %), identifying issues necessitating further elaboration or recommending supplementary steps to address concerns, had no agreement with a significant 565 (78.5 %), and contradicted 15 (2.1 %). ChatGPT comments on methods had the lowest proportion of complete agreement (13 comments, 3.6 %), while general comments on the manuscript displayed the highest proportion of complete agreement (17 comments, 22.1 %). ConclusionChatGPT version GPT-4 has a limited ability to emulate human reviewers within the peer review process of scientific research.

A Child's Right to Identity in the Context of Embryo Donation: Lessons from Australia and New Zealand, Part 2

In part 1 of this article, the current level of protection for the right to identity both at the national and international levels were considered in the case of embryo donation. It was concluded that at a national level the NHA, its accompanying regulations and the Children’s Act fail to protect this right. The constitutional provisions on children’s rights are further unhelpful in providing the requisite level of protection. At an international level it was further found that neither the CRC or the ACRWC explicitly uphold the child’s right to identity in the case of embryo donation. In an attempt to address this defect, this article draws comparisons on the legal protection provided for the right to identity of children born through embryo donation in Australia and New Zealand. A number of lessons can be drawn from this comparative analysis. At a national level, the article submits that the birth certificate should indicate the child’s true origins and in addition to a register which holds the particulars of the child’s donor parents, a separate donor sibling register is also suggested. Legislative amendments are also suggested to Parliament. At an international level, the following recommendations are made: a new UN Convention which is centred around Assisted Reproductive Technology, a General Comment drafted by the Convention on the Rights of the Child to cover specific issues and interests of children, ratification of a Convention by the Hague Conference, and an investigation into the concerns raised by international embryo donation to be carried out by the International Social Service Network. Further, the article concludes that an African based instrument would not be as effective as a UN proposed solution given the cultural and religious concerns in traditional African societies.

Results of the work of the Reference center for diagnostic radiology with using telemedicine technology

Introduction: the main goal of the Moscow Reference Center (MRC) for Diagnostic Radiology is to optimize study reporting by using teleradiology with a team of highly qualified specialists. Purpose: to evaluate the effectiveness of diagnostic radiology centralization in the capital health care system. Materials and methods. We analyzed the results of telemedicine-based MRC consultations in diagnostic radiology examinations between 08.2020 and 10.2022. Results. The radiologists of MRC reported four million two hundred thousand eighty one study (84.1% first reading, and 15.9% second reading). For the majority of modalities, except for computed tomography (CT), there was a positive correlation between the number of primary descriptions and the number of radiologists. There was a trend towards shorter description times for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), fluorography, densitometry, and radiography. An audit among MRC employees showed a significantly higher number of fully compliant reports without discrepancies, lower number of general comments, and clinically significant errors compared to the audit of on-site radiologists at medical institutions. Research limitations: no data on (i) anatomical regions of the examinations, (ii) the balance of “normal/pathological” conclusion classes, (iii) the number of examinations with contrast enhancement, making establishing the changes in reporting time impossible. Conclusion. The unification of diagnostic radiology at the MRC has improved report quality and reduced time costs.

A Significant Events Approach to Children’s Rights with children under three in early childhood education and care

ABSTRACT The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child is one of the most widely-ratified human rights treaties, yet the visibility of children in the early years, in the mandatory government reports to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child and in the Committee’s concluding observations to States Parties, is relatively low (Lundy, 2020, “Implementing the Rights of Young Children: An Assessment of the Impact of General Comment No. 7 on Law and Policy on a Global Scale,” In Routledge International Handbook of Young Children’s Rights, edited by J. Murray, B. B. Swadener, and K. Smith, 15–29, London: Routledge). This paper sets out an innovative approach to record and analyse rights-based practice with young children, which focuses on significant events in a child’s daily life that could help raise the visibility of children in the early years as rights holders. The analysis of 75 h of participant observations across two settings in England and two in Finland, involving 16 two-year-old children, revealed that there were five rights that cut across the two countries and related to all children. The study found that having a way of recording rights-based practice is important if we wish to support all children, in learning about, experiencing, and exercising their rights, so that they can have an impact on pedagogical practice and thus influence their own lives in ECEC.

Some General Comments on The Results For Sheep Breeding Researches at Atatürk University Farm

This article puts forward to brief comparative results of three unpressed doctorate thesis relating to the investigation on Merino, Morkaraman and their crosses which were maintained in Ataturk University farm, Erzurum. It contains; (i) General aspects of sheep population in Türkiye for both pure and crossbred genotypes relating to domestic and improved sheep breeds were summarized, (ii) The aims of research projects which were undertaken in Ataturk University farm were outlined, (iii) The effects of environmental factors such as year, age of ewe, breeding systems, birth status and sex relating productive and reproductive traits depended on data collected from Merino, Morkaraman and their crossbred sheep flocks were analyzed, (iv) Genetic parameters as heritability, repeatability and correlation estimates for the characteristics studied have been calculated from data adjusted for the effects of statistically significant environmental factors, (v) It was concluded that it can be possible to developed a more productive type of sheep for the establishment of a new Morkaraman flock in the area, by mating inter se of the members of a combination of the genotypic groups and applying a selection program for the criterions aimed.