Present Danger Research Articles

Supporting the Digital Autonomy of Elders Through LLM Assistance

The internet offers tremendous access to services, social connections, and needed products. However, to those without sufficient experience, engaging with businesses and friends across the internet can be daunting due to the ever present danger of scammers and thieves, to say nothing of the myriad of potential computer viruses. Like a forest rich with both edible and poisonous plants, those familiar with the norms inhabit it safely with ease while newcomers need a guide. However, reliance on a human digital guide can be taxing and often impractical. We propose and pilot a simple but unexplored idea: could an LLM provide the necessary support to help the elderly who are separated by the digital divide safely achieve digital autonomy?

‘Everything everywhere all at once’: Paradigm shifts, the dynamics of agency, and the January 6th assault on the US capitol

To unpack the underlying causes of the events of January 6th, 2021, by supporters of outgoing President Trump, this essay pursues two lines of inquiry. Firstly, drawing on insights from Kuhn and Bion into, respectively, paradigm shifts and group dynamics, we argue support for Trump’s promise to ‘make American great again’ is rooted in anxiety triggered by various disruptive changes facing Americans. Followers alleviate this by becoming dependent upon Trump, thereby affording him undue influence. January 6th itself, we argue, was a paradigm shifting event, constituting a shattering betrayal of a sitting President’s fundamental duty to uphold the Constitution and keep the country safe from harm. Secondly, we examine the MAGA worldview, drawing on social identity theory, its offshoot regarding leadership, and notions of agency. We highlight its deleterious effects on how Trump and his followers exercised their agency and, simultaneously, how it legitimated Trump’s reckless betrayal of his responsibilities. Through our analysis of these underlying causes, we conclude that January 6th was no mere aberration in terms of what Trump and his supporters are capable of doing. Rather we contend the same forces animating what happened that day remain a clear and present danger to democracy in America.

Next-generation precision medicine for suicidality prevention

Suicidality remains a clear and present danger in society in general, and for mental health patients in particular. Lack of widespread use of objective and/or quantitative information has hampered treatment and prevention efforts. Suicidality is a spectrum of severity from vague thoughts that life is not worth living, to ideation, plans, attempts, and completion. Blood biomarkers that track suicidality risk provide a window into the biology of suicidality, as well as could help with assessment and treatment. Previous studies by us were positive. Here we describe new studies we conducted transdiagnostically in psychiatric patients, starting with the whole genome, to expand the identification, prioritization, validation and testing of blood gene expression biomarkers for suicidality, using a multiple independent cohorts design. We found new as well as previously known biomarkers that were predictive of high suicidality states, and of future psychiatric hospitalizations related to them, using cross-sectional and longitudinal approaches. The overall top increased in expression biomarker was SLC6A4, the serotonin transporter. The top decreased biomarker was TINF2, a gene whose mutations result in very short telomeres. The top biological pathways were related to apoptosis. The top upstream regulator was prednisolone. Taken together, our data supports the possibility that biologically, suicidality is an extreme stress-driven form of active aging/death. Consistent with that, the top subtypes of suicidality identified by us just based on clinical measures had high stress and high anxiety. Top therapeutic matches overall were lithium, clozapine and ketamine, with lithium stronger in females and clozapine stronger in males. Drug repurposing bioinformatic analyses identified the potential of renin-angiotensin system modulators and of cyclooxygenase inhibitors. Additionally, we show how patient reports for doctors would look based on blood biomarkers testing, personalized by gender. We also integrated with the blood biomarker testing social determinants and psychological measures (CFI-S, suicidal ideation), showing synergy. Lastly, we compared that to machine learning approaches, to optimize predictive ability and identify key features. We propose that our findings and comprehensive approach can have transformative clinical utility.

Atrial functional mitral regurgitation in cardiology and cardiac surgery.

Functional or secondary mitral regurgitation (MR) is a clear and present danger to cardiovascular health, with heightened morbidity and mortality rates. Secondary MR is caused by an imbalance between two sets of forces. There are two forces at play here. One keeps the mitral leaflets tethered, while the other closes them. The evidence clearly shows inadequate coaptation. Functional MR (FMR) is the typical form of MR. It is almost always caused by dysfunction and alterations of the left ventricle (LV) geometry. It occurs in both ischemic and non-ischemic disease states. Atrial FMR (AFMR) is a disease that has only recently come to be acknowledged. This phenomenon arises when mitral annular enlargement is caused by left atrial enlargement. This preserves the geometry and function of the LV. AFMR is most frequently encountered in individuals with chronic atrial fibrillation or heart failure, in whom a normal ejection fraction is present. Published studies and ongoing research vary in their definition of AFMR, but there is no doubt that AFMR exists. This review definitively explains the pathophysiology of AFMR and demonstrates the necessity of a common working standard for the definition of AFMR. This is essential to warrant cohesiveness in the data reported and to drive forward the much-needed research into the outcomes and treatment strategies in this critical field. A number of high-quality studies have demonstrated that restrictive mitral annuloplasty and transcatheter procedure based on edge-to-edge repair are effective in reducing MR and alleviating symptoms. The pathophysiology, echocardiographic diagnosis, and treatment of AFMR are thoroughly reviewed in this comprehensive review.

A Clear and Present Danger: Encephalitis due to Infection with Normocellular Cerebrospinal Fluid.

A Clear and Present Danger: Encephalitis due to Infection with Normocellular Cerebrospinal Fluid.

Human development and disaster mortality: evidence from India

Natural disasters present substantial dangers to both human life and physical infrastructure. Although the human development index (HDI) is recognized for its pivotal role in mitigating mortality resulting from natural disasters, the exact extent of its impact on fatalities remains unclear. In this study, we investigate the relationship between HDI and fatalities resulting from floods and cyclones using panel data for 19 states of India spanning from 1983 to 2011. Employing Fixed Effects Poisson and Negative Binomial estimates, we establish a causal-effect relationship between HDI and disaster-related fatalities. Additionally, we utilize the Instrumental Variable Poisson (IV) model to address the endogeneity between HDI and fatalities. Our empirical findings indicate that states with higher HDI levels experience lower fatalities due to natural disasters. Furthermore, our results underscore the importance of critical policy discussions regarding the role of inequality-adjusted HDI, government responsiveness, and human capital development in disaster risk reduction strategies.

Computer vision-based post-earthquake inspections for building safety assessment

Assessing the safety of earthquake-affected buildings is a critical structural health monitoring task that facilitates the timely response to present dangers and reduces potential threats to life and property. However, post-earthquake time constraints and harsh environmental conditions mean that images and videos taken on-site are frequently affected by poor resolution and blurriness, which may negatively affect the accuracy and usefulness of artificial intelligence image recognition tools. In this study, a HybridGAN model was developed that incorporates ESRGAN for resolution improvement and DeblurGANv2 for blurriness improvement. Additionally, a transfer learning U-Net (TF-Unet) was integrated to detect building components (i.e., columns and structural walls), classify building damage types, and identify building damage levels. Based on recognition results from three case studies and the relevant Taiwan codes, an automated system for building safety evaluation was proposed. The model was trained to directly classify and recognize the level of building component damage. The mean Intersection over Union (mIoU) results for the column and structural wall using the testing dataset were 81.326 % and 57.009 %, respectively. The pre-trained model was used to predict three case studies to test the capability of TF-Unet to handle real-word datasets.

‘Tis new to thee’: response to Gruenewald, Knijp, Schoenmaker, and van Tilburg

ABSTRACT In ‘Embracing the Brave New World: A Response to Demekas and Grippa’, a response to our article ‘Walking a Tightrope: Financial Regulation, Climate Change, and the Transition to a Low-Carbon Economy’, both published in the Journal of Financial Regulation, Gruenewald, Knijp, Schoenmaker, and van Tilburg claim that climate risk is a clear and present danger to financial stability that justifies imposing higher capital requirements on supervised firms. Until the current prudential risk framework is revised to fully capture climate risk, they advocate ad hoc measures, such as adjustments to risk weights, which, they believe, would have the desired effect. In this article, we argue that these claims are misguided. Given the nature of climate risk, risk assessment models cannot provide a reliable basis for calibrating capital requirements. On the basis of the evidence, prudential tools would have only a negligible impact on the transition. And the idea of adjusting risk weights for climate exposures has been abandoned—for good reasons. Ultimately, there is nothing financial regulation can do about the energy transition that an appropriately designed carbon tax cannot do better. Central banks and financial regulators should resist the pressure to take on additional responsibilities that are essentially political and that they cannot properly discharge.

Russians at the Gates

Abstract This article analyzes two recent streaming series—the third season of Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan (Prime, USA, 2022) and the limited series Treason (Netflix, UK, 2022)—as aspects of “Cold War II,” the increasingly common term for the resurgence of anti-Russian attitudes and stereotypes in Anglophone cinema and television that has been apparent since 2010. These two series reflect a shared fear of Russians and offer interesting and illuminating points of comparison, especially regarding their definitions of the threat (internal or external), the battleground (at home or abroad), and strategies for confronting the enemy (shoot ’em up or run and hide). At the same time, these series reflect different national concerns, with Jack Ryan 3 as one of many US-produced spy thrillers that trumpet aggressive, offensive action in a way that deflects attention from the country's serious divisions and protracted domestic crises. Treason, on the other hand, engages with British concerns over corruption in the UK's police and security services. Finally, the series’ differing treatments of the relationship of the not-so-distant past to present dangers (real and perceived) is also noteworthy, if puzzling; the demise of the Soviet Union is central to the crisis in Jack Ryan 3 but only glancingly mentioned in Treason.

Visual detection and discrimination of nerve and blood agents using a dual-site fluorescent probe in living cells and mice

Of all chemical warfare agents (CWAs), only nerve and blood agents cause massive mortality at low concentrations. To better detect and discriminate nerve and blood agents, a reliable detection method is desirable. We report a series of fluorescent probes for nerve and blood agent detection. Among the tested probes, SR-Pip detected nerve and blood agents quickly (within 10 s for nerve agents and 1 min for blood agents). SR-Pip coupled with nerve agent produced a weak orange fluorescence with good sensitivity [limit of detection (LOD)= 5.5 μM]. Upon reaction with blood agent, the fluorescence of SR-Pip changed from orange fluorescence to blue fluorescence with detection limits as low as 9.6 nM. This probe effectively visualised different concentrations of nerve agents in living cells and mice. A portable test kit using SR-Pip instantly detected nerve and blood agents. To the best of our knowledge, SR-Pip is the first fluorescent probe for nerve and blood agent detection.

The Clear and Present Danger Test in Turkish Penal Law

The Clear and Present Danger Test in Turkish Penal Law

Decoding immunogenic cell death from a dendritic cell perspective.

Dendritic cells (DCs) are myeloid cells bridging the innate and adaptive immune system. By cross-presenting tumor-associated antigens (TAAs) liberated upon spontaneous or therapy-induced tumor cell death to T cells, DCs occupy a pivotal position in the cancer immunity cycle. Over the last decades, the mechanisms linking cancer cell death to DC maturation, have been the focus of intense research. Growing evidence supports the concept that the mere transfer of TAAs during the process of cell death is insufficient to drive immunogenic DC maturation unless this process is coupled with the release of immunomodulatory signals by dying cancer cells. Malignant cells succumbing to a regulated cell death variant called immunogenic cell death (ICD), foster a proficient interface with DCs, enabling their immunogenic maturation and engagement of adaptive immunity against cancer. This property relies on the ability of ICD to exhibit pathogen-mimicry hallmarks and orchestrate the emission of a spectrum of constitutively present or de novo-induced danger signals, collectively known as damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs). In this review, we discuss how DCs perceive and decode danger signals emanating from malignant cells undergoing ICD and provide an outlook of the major signaling and functional consequences of this interaction for DCs and antitumor immunity.

Embracing the Brave New World: A Response to Demekas and Grippa

ABSTRACT In the article ‘Walking a Tightrope: Financial Regulation, Climate Change, and the Transition to a Low-Carbon Economy’ in the Journal of Financial Regulation, Demekas and Grippa (2022) argue that it is dangerous to give central banks and financial regulators a ‘promotional’ role in the transition to a low-carbon economy. In this article we argue that both climate change and the transition to a low-carbon economy are clear and present dangers for financial stability. Accelerating the transition through proper risk management, both of micro and macro risks, should therefore be what regulators should do. Regulators should accept that they need to act with incomplete information. We agree with Demekas and Grippa that financial supervisors should not be the only, or even first, game in town. Nevertheless, we disagree that the effect of their action will be negligible. Financial supervisors should embrace the brave new world and play their role in addressing climate and environmental risks within the financial system.

Overview on Blood Transfusion-Transmitted Diseases

As it is important for the Blood transfusion to be extremely safe, some measures have to be taken long safeguarded the blood supply from the major transfusion transmissible diseases (TTIs). The risk of transfusion-transmitted infection (TTI) rises with the number of donors exposed, and the effects of TTI are frequently more severe in immune compromised people. TTIs (hepatitis B virus [HBV], HIV, and hepatitis C virus [HCV]) are examples of typical transfusion-transmitted infectious agents. As a result of the gradual application of nucleic acid-amplification technology (NAT) screening for HIV, HCV, and HBV, the residual risk of infected window-period donations has been minimized. Nonetheless, infections emerge far more frequently than is commonly acknowledged, needing ongoing surveillance and individual assessment of transfusion-associated risk. Although there is a constant need to monitor present dangers owing to established TTI, the ongoing issues in blood safety are mostly related to surveillance for developing agents, as well as the creation of quick reaction systems when such agents are detected.

USE OF FOOD DYES: PROBLEM, SOLUTION AND SOURCE OF PERSPECTIVE

For consumers, the colour presents an indicator that characterizes the quality of the food. As a result of the processes of caramelization of carbohydrates and products of the Maillard reaction, brown compounds are formed with a negative impact on the external appearance of food, which has led to the massive use of synthetic dyes, stable from a technological point of view. The objectives of the European Union foresee the transition to the exclusive use of natural dyes, because synthetic dyes significantly affect the health of the population. Compounds with "azo" type chromophore groups (amaranth, tartrazine) present carcinogenic dangers, being banned in several European countries. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the problem of synthetic dyes and their substitution in food, obtaining, stabilizing and using natural dyes for the food industry. The study highlighted that safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) presents a promising source of yellow and red dyes, necessary for use in the food industry, but insufficient information was found regarding the technological properties of safflower petals, the methods of simultaneous extraction of yellow and red dyes and the peculiarities of the use of dyes in the finished product.

An Overview of Israel's ‘Judicial Overhaul’: Small Parts of a Big Populist Picture

AbstractIn the comparative constitutional field relating to backsliding democracies, it is difficult to find an example of a single constitutional event that undermines the basic principles of democracy. Democracies die in a slow and gradual process. Each of the laws passed is not in itself fatal for democracy but when the measures are examined together, cumulatively, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. It is the big picture, the whole series of legal moves, that brings about a fundamental change in the state's regime until it is no longer a liberal democracy. In these situations of gradual erosion there is no single law that can reveal the magnitude of the change inherent in it. To understand the risk, it is therefore necessary to refer to its overall institutional context. The proposed reform in Israel may result in serious harm to the principle of separation of powers. Moreover, given the importance of imposing limits on governmental power as a tool for protecting human rights and the ‘rules of the game’ in democratic regimes, the reform would seriously harm the protection afforded to these rights and principles, and constitute a clear and present danger to Israel's liberal democracy.

Law Enforcement and Mental Health: The Limpid Kryptonite—A Clear and Present Danger

The job of a police officer is extremely stressful and members of the law enforcement community exhibit disproportionately higher incidents of depression, PTSD, suicide ideation, and other mental health issues. Unfortunately, these mental health concerns are becoming increasingly grave as negative interactions with the public are more highly publicized than ever before. The present study evaluated the relationship between officers’ regard for their role as a member of law enforcement, years of experience, and awareness of the media, with stress level and PTSD symptoms. Most notable among the findings were that officers with a higher regard for their role as law enforcement, and those with more media awareness, reported higher stress levels and other maladaptive behaviors that negatively impacted their mental health. The current study contributes to the extant literature by exploring the intersectionality between officers’ stress levels, years of experience, PTSD symptomology, perceived identity, and media awareness. The widespread use of social media to publicize the actions of a small minority of law enforcement officers is among the many elements discovered and discussed in the current research.

Antimicrobial resistance patterns of Gram-negative bacteria in an Iranian referral pediatric hospital: A present danger of New Delhi metallo-β-lactamase.

Antimicrobial resistance among gram-negative bacteria has been growing, particularly in developing countries, like Iran. The emergence and spread of carbapenem-resistance mechanisms is a major public health concern because no definite treatments have yet been established for this problem. This study aimed to evaluate antibiotic susceptibility of gram-negative bacteria, metallo-β-lactamases (MBLs) and carbapenemase-producing genes, including bla NDM, bla VIM, and bla IMP in patients referred to Children's Medical Center, Tehran, Iran. In this cross-sectional study, a total of 944 gram-negative isolates were tested in the study, and antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed. Moreover, MBL production of carbapenem-resistant isolates, as well as the presence of bla NDM, bla VIM, and bla IMP, was investigated. The most common gram-negative isolated bacteria were Escherichia coli (489 samples, 52%), followed by Klebsiella pneumoniae (167 samples, 18%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (101 samples, 11%), Enterobacter spp. (64 samples, 7%), Pseudomonas spp. (35 samples, 4%), Acinetobacter baumannii (18 samples, 2%), and Burkholderia cepacia (17 samples, 2%). Imipenem-resistant was found in 75%, 61%, and 60% of Stenotrophomonas maltophilia, Enterobacter spp., and A. baumannii isolates, respectively. Moreover, the highest resistance to meropenem was observed in S. maltophilia, A. baumannii, P. aeruginosa, and B. cepacia (100%, 96%, 83%, and 61.5%, respectively). Double disk synergy test (DDST) results showed that 112 out of 255 carbapenem-resistant isolates (44%) were MBL-producing ones. The presence of the bla NDM gene was identified in 32 (29%) of MBL-producing isolates, 13 of which were K. pneumoniae, 7 P. aeruginosa, and 7 E. coli, 3 Enterobacter spp., and 2 Klebsiella spp, respectively. The presence of the bla IMP and bla VIM genes was detected in 2 (2%) and 1 (1%) of MBL-producing isolates. These genes were detected in only MBL-producing P. aeruginosa isolates. Our findings suggest the emergence of NDM-producing strains in our hospital, and bla NDM was the most frequently detected carbapenemase gene in MBL-producing P. aeruginosa, K. pneumoniae, and Klebsiella spp. Since such bacteria can easily spread among patients in the hospital, a strong infection control and prevention plan is highly recommended.

The Oslo disaster 30 years on

ABSTRACT Thirty years after its euphoric launch, the ‘Oslo peace process’ between Israel and the PLO stands as the worst calamity to have afflicted Israelis and Palestinians since the 1948 war, and the most catastrophic strategic blunder in Israel’s history. By replacing Israel’s control of the West Bank and Gaza Palestinians with corrupt and repressive terrorist entities that indoctrinated their subjects with burning hatred of Jews and Israelis, as well as murdered some 2,000 Israelis and rained thousands of rockets and missiles on their population centres, the Oslo process has made the prospects for peace and reconciliation ever more remote. By deflating the combative ethos of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), it has weakened Israel’s national security and made the outbreak of a multi-front war a distinct possibility. By transforming the PLO (and, to a lesser extent, Hamas) into internationally accepted political actors without forcing them to shed their genocidal commitment to the Jewish state’s destruction, it weakened Israel’s international standing. And by deepening Israel’s internal cleavages and destabilising its sociopolitical system, it has created a clear and present danger to the Jewish State’s thriving democracy, indeed to its very existence.

Does sharing bring happiness? Understanding the sharenting phenomenon

The rapid changes in the field of technology have made the use of social media one of the routines in the life of the individual. This behaviour of parents who share information about their children with pictures, videos, stories, and status updates on social networks such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp is defined as “Sharenting”. Parents sharing information about their children on social media brings with it many risks. Children who do not realise the possible risks due to their age are abused by their primary caregivers. Understanding the experience of Sharenting, which is seen as a present danger to children, motivated the researchers to conduct this research. From this point of view, the aim of this research is to understand the reasons and effects of social media sharing of parents about their children. In this study, which was carried out in the phenomenological design of the qualitative research method, twelve participants were reached with the snowball sampling method. The data collected from the participants were obtained with a semi-structured interview form developed by the researchers. The semi-structured interview form consisted of nine open-ended questions, each of which was aimed at understanding the sharenting phenomenon. Within the scope of the research, online interviews were conducted with each participant with ZOOM Meeting, which lasted an average of 40 min. The interviews with the participants were transcribed. The obtained data were subjected to content analysis independently by three researchers who conducted the research. Afterwards, the research team evaluated the themes and categories determined by each researcher and finalised the findings. As a result, it was seen that the sharing experiences of the participants were gathered under six different themes. These themes were determined as sharenting “reasons”, “actions”, “platforms”, “effects”, “criteria”, and “awareness”. The reasons for sharenting of the participants were determined as “Collecting Memories”, “Affectivity”, “Staying in Communication”, “Approval/Being Liked”, “Providing Benefit with Followers”, “Followers/Relatives Reaction”, and “Change in Routine”. When the participants shared, “Increased Social Media Use”, “Evil Eye Anxiety”, “Positive Affect”, “The Feeling of Being a Good Woman/Good Parent”, “Addiction”, “Wondering About Others”, “Temporary Happiness”, and “Neutral Effect” effects were found. In the absence of sharing, the effects of “Neutral Effect”, “Impulse to Share”, and “Feeling Inadequate” were determined. The findings are presented by giving exemplary quotations for each theme.