Ultimate Fate Research Articles

A comparative study of eschatology in Christianity and African traditional religion

The concept of eschatology remained a captivating theological subject that theologians dedicated substantial time and resources to comprehend. Contrary to popular belief, some Christians may not prioritise theological discussions about eschatological details. Eschatological discourse – the fate of the universe, including humans and the physical world – may also be prioritised. Death, the second coming of Christ, judgement, rewards, heaven and hell are some of the eschatological themes that fascinate and disturb people because of limited understanding about the afterlife. African tradition religion (ATR) has been criticised for omitting eschatology in its belief system which this study debunks. This study showed that Christianity and ATR have the concept of eschatology and identified the main points of convergence and divergence in their eschatologies to demonstrate that ATR’s eschatology is well-established but different from Christianity’s. This paper adopts theoretical research, often referred to as conceptual research, since it is aimed at advancing knowledge. Christianity and ATR agree that physical death ends life in the body, and death symbolises the afterlife. Earthlings have limited time to fulfil their duties. Both sides agree that the soul and spirit survive death and resurrection. Christianity and ATR share many beliefs and traditions across sects, ethnicities and regions. These factors influence the eschatology of each tradition. Both faiths agree that present decisions impact fate and eternity. They also agree that God opposes immorality, but the virtuous will inhabit a place of joy. Positive and negative conduct are punished differentially.Intradisciplinary and/interdisciplinary implications: This work discusses end-of-life issues that strongly relate to systematic theology and African traditional religion, emphasising that while their eschatologies differ, they share a belief in life after death. African traditional religion should not be mocked as a religion without eschatology.

Maternal mitochondrial function affects paternal mitochondrial inheritance in Drosophila.

The maternal inheritance of mitochondria is a widely accepted paradigm, and mechanisms that prevent paternal mitochondria transmission to offspring during spermatogenesis and postfertilization have been described. Although certain species do retain paternal mitochondria, the factors affecting paternal mitochondria inheritance in these cases are unclear. More importantly, the evolutionary benefit of retaining paternal mitochondria and their ultimate fate are unknown. Here we show that transplanted exogenous paternal D. yakuba mitochondria can be transmitted to offspring when maternal mitochondria are dysfunctional in D. melanogaster. Furthermore, we show that the preserved paternal mitochondria are functional, and can be stably inherited, such that the proportion of paternal mitochondria increases gradually in subsequent generations. Our work has important implications that paternal mitochondria inheritance should not be overlooked as a genetic phenomenon in evolution, especially when paternal mitochondria are of significant differences from the maternal mitochondria or the maternal mitochondria are functionally abnormal. Our results improve the understanding of mitochondrial inheritance and provide a new model system for its study.

How Do Children With Medical Complexity Die? A Scoping Review.

Introduction: Advancement in medical expertise and technology has led to a growing cohort of children with medical complexity (CMC), who make up a rising proportion of childhood deaths. However, end of life in CMC is poorly understood and little is known about illness trajectories, communication, and decision-making experiences. Objective: To synthesize existing literature and characterize the end-of-life experience in CMC. Methods: A literature search of MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Scopus, Embase, and Google Scholar was conducted up to August 26, 2021. Studies reporting CMC at end of life were included and the extracted data were analyzed descriptively. Findings: Of 1535 publications identified, 23 studies were included. Most studies (15/23 [65%]) were published from 2015 to 2021 and were quantitative in nature (20/23 [87%]). The majority of studies that extracted data from a single country (18/20 [90%]) originated from North America. Study outcomes were categorized into four main domains: (1) place of death (2) health care use (3) interventions received or withdrawn (4) communication, and end-of-life experiences. The weighted percentage of in-hospital CMC deaths was 80.6%. Studies reported that CMC had increased health care use and were subjected to more intensive interventions at end of life compared with non-CMC. Qualitative studies highlighted the following themes: Intrinsic prognostic uncertainty, differing perspectives of the child's quality of life, the chronic illness experience, a desire to have parental expertise acknowledged, surprise at the terminal event, the experience of multiple losses, with an overarching theme of the need for compassionate care at end of life. Conclusions: This scoping review highlighted important characteristics of end of life in CMC, outlining the emerging evidence and knowledge gaps on this topic. A better understanding of this cohort of seriously and chronically ill children would serve to inform clinical practice, service development, and future research.

Principal stratification analysis of noncompliance with time-to-event outcomes.

Post-randomization events, also known as intercurrent events, such as treatment noncompliance and censoring due to a terminal event, are common in clinical trials. Principal stratification is a framework for causal inference in the presence of intercurrent events. The existing literature on principal stratification lacks generally applicable and accessible methods for time-to-event outcomes. In this paper, we focus on the noncompliance setting. We specify 2 causal estimands for time-to-event outcomes in principal stratification and provide a nonparametric identification formula. For estimation, we adopt the latent mixture modeling approach and illustrate the general strategy with a mixture of Bayesian parametric Weibull-Cox proportional hazards model for the outcome. We utilize the Stan programming language to obtain automatic posterior sampling of the model parameters. We provide analytical forms of the causal estimands as functions of the model parameters and an alternative numerical method when analytical forms are not available. We apply the proposed method to the ADAPTABLE (Aspirin Dosing: A Patient-Centric Trial Assessing Benefits and Long-Term Effectiveness) trial to evaluate the causal effect of taking 81 versus 325mg aspirin on the risk of major adverse cardiovascular events. We develop the corresponding R package PStrata.

Design and evaluation of deltamethrin‐based microemulsion formulation to control Aphis gossypii (Hemiptera: Aphididae)

AbstractA microemulsion is a stable, homogeneous pesticide formulation, based on an aqueous solvent, which is considered as a suitable alternative to emulsion formulations. In this study, microemulsion formulations of deltamethrin insecticide were designed to control Aphis gossypii Glover (Hemiptera: Aphididae), one of the important pests of many crops and ornamental plants. The solvent was selected based on the higher solubility of deltamethrin, and the appropriate surfactants were selected based on the quality of microemulsion formation. Pseudo‐ternary phase diagrams were constructed by the water titration method. The microemulsion systems were prepared using mixtures composed of deltamethrin, surfactants including Kenon 10 + SDS, Tensiofix 8427 + SDS and Tensiofix 8427 + SLS, and cosurfactant (1‐butanol). The Physico‐chemical properties of the obtained microemulsions were also evaluated. The appearance of microemulsion systems was transparent, and the droplet size of all samples was less than 20 nm. The formulations showed thermodynamic stability and low viscosity. All four microemulsion formulations had high insecticidal activity against A. gossypii, compared with an aqueous solution of pure deltamethrin. In this study, an environment‐friendly microemulsion system was designed to improve the efficacy of deltamethrin for controlling populations of A. gossypii. However, further research could be performed to assess the behaviour and ultimate fate in the environment prior to commercialization.

Joint Analysis of Longitudinal Ordinal Categorical Item Response Data and Survival Times with Cure Fraction

For longitudinal ordinal categorical item response data which may not be observable after a subject develops a terminal event, some statistical models have been proposed for the joint analysis of the longitudinal item responses and times to the development of a terminal event denoted as the survival times. All of these models used an accelerated failure time or Cox proportional model for the survival times, which may not be suitable when some of the subjects may be considered as cured and may, therefore, never develop an event. In this article, we propose a new joint model which uses a promotion time cure model for the survival times. Statistical procedures are developed for the inference of the parameters in the model. The proposed model and inference procedures are assessed through a simulation study and application to data from a randomized clinical trial for patients with early breast cancer.

Interferon-Gamma-Inducible Protein 16 Inhibits Hepatocellular Carcinoma via Interferon Regulatory Factor 3 on Chemosensitivity.

Previous reports have suggested IFI16 as a tumor suppressor in hepatocellular carcinoma (HC). Nonetheless, the biological significance of IFI16 and its mechanism concerning resistance to cisplatin (DDP) in HC requires further exploration. Samples of tumor and corresponding para-carcinoma tissues were acquired from patients with HC. Furthermore, DDP-resistant cell lines of HC, specifically HCC, Huh7 and Hepatoblastoma, HepG3, were generated by gradually increasing the concentration of DDP. Cell apoptosis and DNA damage were evaluated by utilizing flow cytometry assay and TUNEL staining. The interaction between IFI16 and interferon regulatory factor 3 (IRF3) proteins were analyzed using Co-Immunoprecipitation (Co-IP) assay. In vivo assays were conducted by establishing HC subcutaneous xenograft tumor models. The study found a reduction in IFI16 expression in both HC tissues and DDP-resistant HC cell lines. The binding of IFI16 to IRF3 regulated DNA damage-associated markers in vitro. Overexpression of IFI16 heightened the susceptibility of DDP-induced apoptosis and DNA damage, which was counteracted by IRF3 knockdown, while strengthened by IRF3 overexpression. Moreover, overexpression of IFI16 diminished in vivo DDP-resistant HC tumorigenicity. In summary, our findings suggest that IFI16 serves as a tumor suppressor in HC by promoting DNA damage via its interaction with IRF3, thereby reversing DDP resistance.

Cocatalyst effects in Hf-catalysed olefin polymerization: taking well-defined Al-alkyl borate salts into account.

Hafnium catalysts for olefin polymerization are often very sensitive to the nature of cocatalysts, especially if they contain "free" aluminium trialkyls. Herein, cocatalyst effects in Hf-catalysed propene polymerization are examined for four Hf catalysts belonging to the family of CS-symmetric (Hf-CS-Met) and C2-symmetric (Hf-C2-Met) metallocenes, as well as of octahedral (Hf-OOOO) and pentacoordinated (Hf-PyAm) "post-metallocenes". The performance of the recently developed {[iBu2(PhNMe2)Al]2(μ-H)}+[B(C6F5)4]- (AlHAl) cocatalyst is compared with that of established systems like methylalumoxane, phenol-modified methylalumoxane and trityl borate/tri-iso-butylaluminium. The worst catalytic performance is observed with MAO. Conversely, the best cocatalyst varies depending on the Hf catalyst used and the performance indicator of interest, highlighting the complexity and importance of selecting the right precatalyst/cocatalyst combination. AlHAl proved to be a suitable system for all catalysts tested and, in some cases, it provides the best performance in terms of productivity (e.g. with hafnocenes). Furthermore, it generally leads to high molecular weight polymers, also with catalysts enabling easy chain transfer to Al like Hf-PyAm. This suggests that AlHAl has a low tendency to form heterodinuclear adducts with the cationic active species, therefore preventing the formation of dormant sites and/or termination events by chain transfer to Al.

MODERNIZATION OF CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS IN THE CONTEXT OF ITS LIBERALIZATION FOR ENTREPRENEuRS

Modernization of criminal procedure legislation, which is most often im-plemented during codification, is always, according to the legislator’s plan, aimed at the public good. Criminal policy can also be aimed at increasing the effectiveness of coun-tering crimes that most threaten social and public peace. When developing the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation in 2001, it included norms aimed at im-proving the effectiveness of criminal proceedings — on the participation of a legal entity, on the seizure of securities. Currently, the legislative trend has changed, amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation are aimed at liberalizing criminal proceedings against entrepreneurs who have committed crimes in the field of economic and entrepreneurial activity. The circle of persons belonging to the members of the management bodies of commercial organizations and individual entrepreneurs is defined in detail. It is regulated in detail what is included in the definition of compensa-tion for damages in cases of tax crimes in the event of termination of criminal prosecution. All these amendments are aimed at increasing the procedural guarantees of the estate- professional group of entrepreneurs. In fact, they protect the financial interests of the state. The improvement of criminal procedure legislation should be based on the doctrine of criminal procedure, the modernization of the law pursuing someone’s financial inter-ests can lead to unpredictable consequences.

ՊԱՏԱՍԽԱՆՈՂԻՆ ՍՆԱՆԿ ՃԱՆԱՉԵԼՈՒ ՀԻՄՔՈՎ ՔԱՂԱՔԱՑԻԱԿԱՆ ԳՈՐԾԻ ՎԱՐՈՒՅԹԸ ԿԱՐՃԵԼՈՒ ԴԵՊՔՈՒՄ ՊԵՏԱԿԱՆ ՏՈՒՐՔԻ ՎԵՐԱԴԱՐՁՄԱՆ ԱՆՀՆԱՐԻՆՈՒԹՅԱՆ ՀԱՐՑԸ՝ ԴԱՏԱԿԱՆ ՊԱՇՏՊԱՆՈՒԹՅԱՆ ԵՎ ՍԵՓԱԿԱՆՈՒԹՅԱՆ ԻՐԱՎՈՒՆՔՆԵՐԻ ԼՈՒՅՍԻ ՆԵՐՔՈ / IMPOSSIBILITY OF REFUND OF THE STATE FEE IN CASE OF TERMINATION OF CIVIL PROCEEDINGS ON THE BASIS OF RECOGNITION OF THE DEFENDANT AS BANKRUPT

This article examines the problem of the impossibility of returning the state fee in the event of termination of the proceedings on the basis of the recognition of the defendant as bankrupt due to the current legislative regulations in the Republic of Armenia in the light of the right to access to court, which is an element of the right to effective judicial protection, and right to property (protection of property). The purpose of this study is to establish, as a result of a comprehensive study of the current legal regulations, the legal grounds that will allow the court, in the event of termination of proceedings in a civil case on the basis of recognition of the defendant as bankrupt, to partially or completely return to the plaintiff the state fee already paid, and in case of non-payment, to resolve this issue. As a result of the research, the authors discuss such issues as the ratio of the right to access to court and the institution of state fee collection, the purpose of state fee collection, the issue of refund of state duty in the light of property rights, as well as the issue of distribution of court costs in the light of the specifics of bankruptcy proceedings.

The fate of a quantum-corrected collapsing star in General Relativity

We incorporate some corrections inspired by loop quantum gravity into the concept of gravitational collapse and propose a complete model of the dynamic process. The model carries the essence of a mass-independent upper bound on the curvature scalars, originally found as a crucial feature of black holes in loop quantum gravity. The quantum-inspired interior is immersed in a geometry filled with null radiation, and they are matched at a distinct boundary hypersurface. The ultimate fate of the process depends on the inhomogeneities of the metric tensor coefficients. We find a critical parameter λ embedded in the inhomogeneity of the conformal factor of the interior metric. Examples with λ< 0 enforce an eventual collapse to singularity, and λ> 0 cases produce a non-singular collapse resulting in a loop-quantum-corrected Schwarzschild geometry modulo a conformal factor. Interestingly, for λ< 0 as well, there exist situations where the quantum effects are able to cause a bounce but fall short of preventing the ultimate formation of a singularity. The trapped surface formation condition is studied for the λ<0 case to infer about the visibility of the final singularity. Interestingly, we find a possibility of the formation of three horizons during the course of the collapse. Eventually, all of them merge into a single horizon, which envelopes the final singularity. For the non-singular case, there is a possibility that the sphere can evolve into a wormhole throat whose radius is found to be inversely proportional to the critical parameter λ. Depending on the nature of evolution and the shell regions, the collapsing shells violate some standard energy conditions, which can be associated with quantum-inspired corrections.

Between Empires: Women’s Resistance and Domestic Slavery in the Libyan Territories in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries

In 1854, Fekiriyeh and Renghi Sefa, two enslaved girls from the Sudan, fled their enslaver, Ahmed Pasha, and sought refuge in the house of the British Consul in Salonica. Their ordeal had begun weeks earlier when they were loaded onto a ship and transported from the Ottoman Tripoli to the Greek port city. To evade the Ottoman prohibition on slave trafficking within the Empire, the Pasha furnished them with manumission papers. On arrival in Salonica, the Pasha confiscated the documents and destroyed them. After Ahmed Pasha revoked their freedom, the two girls absconded, showing up at the door of the British Consul.This article examines historical cases of enslaved women and girls, like Fekiriyeh and Renghi Sefa, who escaped their enslavers and sought refuge or help from various political authorities in Ottoman and post-Ottoman Libya or connected territories. These cases were often marked by trafficking, enslavement, abuse, sale, and an eventual quest for emancipation, By analyzing the interactions between enslaved individuals, European and Ottoman authorities, and Muslim households, this study highlights the gendered nature of slavery in North Africa.Contrary to conventional top-down perspectives, this research emphasizes the importance of the individual actions of enslaved women in seeking alternative authorities, such as foreign consulates, to adjudicate their claims. Despite opposition to the trans-Saharan slave trade and the slave trade within the Ottoman Empire before its disintegration after the First World War, British representatives avoided getting involved in cases of domestic slavery in Libya. Italian authorities would continue a similar policy after annexing the territory in 1911. Notwithstanding this reluctance, enslaved girls and women learned through various networks how to find sympathetic forums for their grievances. Evaluating the policies of British Consuls, Italian abolitionists, and the Italian colonial government, this paper argues that the actions of enslaved women, rather than male policymakers, were central to changing the status of enslaved individuals and eventually contributing to abolition.The focus on the experiences of girls like Fekiriyeh and Renghi Sefa exemplifies the importance of documenting enslaved girls' and women's lives and experiences. While the ultimate fate of these women and girls post-manumission remains unknown, their courageous efforts to resist enslavement contribute to a broader understanding of the intricacies of abolition in Libya and the larger Ottoman World in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Histopathological Profile of Lung Lesions- An Autopsy Study at a Tertiary Care Centre, Kerala, India

Introduction: Autopsy plays a crucial role in understanding and identifying pulmonary pathology, encompassing non neoplastic lesions, neoplastic conditions and the secondary implications of the lungs in terminal events of cardiovascular diseases. Pathological analysis confirms diagnosis and identifies the prevalence of lesions, contributing significantly to medical understanding and patient care. Aim: To estimate the prevalence of lung pathology in autopsy specimens through Histopathological Examination (HPE). Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional one-year study was conducted to determine the histopathological alterations in 132 lung autopsy specimens from Medicolegal autopsies received in the Department of Pathology at a tertiary care centre in Government Medical College, Cochin, Kerala, India from January 2021 to December 2021. Autopsy specimens of the lung were fixed in 10% formalin. Following gross examination, tissue sections were processed with paraffin and subjected to staining, with microscopy findings recorded. The data was numerically coded and entered into a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21.0 was used for descriptive statistics and graphical representations of findings. Results: The mean age of the study population, comprising 132 autopsy cases, was 49.41±52.12 years and the male-to- female ratio was 3.71:1. Most cases 97/132 (73.50%) involved sudden deaths where the cause remained unknown. Significant microscopic findings found in 117 (88.63%) cases were as follows: Pulmonary oedema and congestion: 61 (46.21%), Pneumonia: 17 (12.87%), Diffuse Alveolar Damage (DAD): 12 (9.09%), Chronic venous congestion: 8 (6.06%), Tuberculosis: 7 (5.30%), Emphysema: 7 (5.30%), Pulmonary fibrosis: 1 (0.75%), Fat embolism: 1 (0.75%) and Pulmonary arterial hypertension: 1 (0.75%). Neoplastic lesions were identified in 7 (5.30%) cases, with primary lung cancers accounting for 3 (2.27%) cases. There were 10 cases of Real-time Reverse Transcriptase-Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR), positive Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) autopsies, of which 6 (60%) exhibited DAD, while 4 (40%) showed changes of bronchopneumonia. Conclusion: Non neoplastic lesions such as pulmonary oedema, DAD and infections contributed to mortality in most cases. DAD was the most common lung finding in more than half of COVID- 19 deaths. The prevalence of pulmonary neoplastic lesions in autopsies underscores their epidemiological significance in a particular geographical area.

Semiparametric Reversed Mean Model for Recurrent Event Process with Informative Terminal Event

Semiparametric Reversed Mean Model for Recurrent Event Process with Informative Terminal Event

Enhanced synthesis of multiblock copolymers via acid-triggered RAFT polymerization.

The synthesis of multiblock copolymers has emerged as an efficient tool to not only reveal the optimal way to access complex structures and investigate polymer properties but also to ascertain the end-group fidelity of a given polymerization methodology. Although reversible addition-fragmentation chain-transfer (RAFT) polymerization is arguably the most dominant strategy employed, its success is often hampered by the unavoidable and excessive use of radical initiators which results in increased termination and loss of end-group fidelity. In this work, we employ acid in RAFT polymerization to enhance the synthesis of multiblock copolymers. By the addition of a small amount of acid, a 4-fold decrease in the overall required radical initiator concentration was achieved, enabling the synthesis of a range of well-defined multiblock copolymers with various degrees of polymerization (DP) per block. The acid enhances the propagation rate, minimizing the initiator concentration. In all cases, near-quantitative monomer conversion was obtained (>97%) for every iterative block formation step. Notably, and in contrast to conventional RAFT approaches, the tailing to low molecular weight was significantly suppressed and the dispersity was maintained nearly constant (i.e. in most cases Đ = 1.1-1.2), thus indicating minor termination events and side reactions during acid-enhanced synthesis. The possibility to synthesize multiblocks consisting of methacrylates, acrylates, and acrylamides was also demonstrated. This work presents an advancement in the synthesis of well-defined multiblock copolymers and more broadly, RAFT polymers with high end-group fidelity.

Nonparametric Estimation and Testing for Panel Count Data with Informative Terminal Event

Nonparametric Estimation and Testing for Panel Count Data with Informative Terminal Event

‘우주와 별의 종말’을 통해 고찰해 본 종말론에 관한 물리학적 전망

Many concepts about the end of time and the afterlife are common to nearly every religion in the human world. However, the human discussion of the end of life and the afterlife has been limited to the teachings and testimonies of a few sages and saints, including Jesus Christ. However, with the advancement of science and technology, a better understanding of the nature of the universe and the material world around us may assist in the search for some sort of analogical hints about the end of time and the afterlife.&#x0D; This paper does not attempt to explain various concepts of Christian eschatology or to determine their scientific authenticity. Instead, it seeks to analogically explain the Christian concept of death from the end of the material world by scientifically analyzing the phenomenon of the end of the material world as given by God the Creator.&#x0D; Thus, this paper summarizes the beginning, evolution, and end of the universe and the stars through the findings of modern physics over the past 100 years. By showing that the fate of the stars and the universe is similar to one of humans and the world as described in Christian eschatology, I hope to make it clear that the perspective of Christian eschatology is sufficiently similar to the one of the material world.

Multistate modeling for estimating clinical outcomes of Covid-19 patients

The severity of COVID-19 is often associated with severe pneumonia requiring intensive care unit (ICU) without Ventilation and ICU with ventilation. Clinical outcomes depend on the length of the ICU and the duration of the states. It is difficult to estimate how many people will experience each of these outcomes (discharge, death) due to the time dependence of the data and the potential for multiple events. Because of their time dependence, potential multiple events, and competing, terminal events of discharge, alive and death, estimating these quantities statistically is challenging. The main objective of this paper is to study the time-dependent progress of COVID-19 patients through the multistate approach with hazard rates and transition probabilities. The methodology allows for the analysis of active instances by accommodating censoring and the probability plots offer comprehensive information in a straightforward manner that can be easily shared with decision-makers in healthcare capacity planning

A girl travels to the end of the Universe

A girl travels to the end of the Universe

Pharmacogenetic aspects of efficacy and safety of methotrexate treatment in pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

To evaluate the role of ABCB1 (C3435T rs1045642, rs1128503, rs2032582, rs4148738), SLCO1B1 T521C rs4149056 genetic polymorphisms in the development of major types of methotrexate (MTX) toxicities and the occurrence of a terminal event (death, relapse) in pediatric АLL. The study included 124 patients diagnosed with pediatric ALL. All patients treated according to the protocols of the German BFM group (2002/2009) with high-dose (1,000, 2,000 and 5,000 mg/m2) methotrexate. MTX-related toxicities, including hematologic, hepatic and renal, were evaluated according to the common terminology criteria for adverse events version 5.0 (CTCAE v.5.0). Real-time PCR method was used to investigate polymorphisms of ABCB1 and SLCO1B1 genes. The study material was peripheral blood. A competitive analysis demonstrated significant relationships between MTX ADRs. The results of the study support the existence of relationships between some ADRs and MTX kinetics. An associative analysis showed association with the development of AEs to methotrexate indicating their clinical significance from different genetic polymorphisms protein-transporters. The available results confirm the associations of the studied genes with the increased risk of high doses MTX toxic ADRs and terminal events. Complementing the existing criteria for pediatric ALL risk groups with pharmacogenetic indicators will allow further individualization of therapy.