In the social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum, shortened stalks may limit obligate cheater success even when exploitable partners are available.

Cooperation is widespread across life, but its existence can be threatened by exploitation. The rise of obligate social cheaters that are incapable of contributing to a necessary cooperative function can lead to the loss of that function. In the social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum, obligate social cheaters cannot form dead stalk cells and in chimeras instead form living spore cells. This gives them a competitive advantage within chimeras. However, obligate cheaters of this kind have thus far not been found in nature, probably because they are often enough in clonal populations that they need to retain the ability to produce stalks. In this study we discovered an additional cost to obligate cheaters. Even when there are wild-type cells to parasitize, the chimeric fruiting bodies that result have shorter stalks and these are disadvantaged in spore dispersal. The inability of obligate cheaters to form fruiting bodies when they are on their own combined with the lower functionality of fruiting bodies when they are not represent limits on obligate social cheating as a strategy.

Forensic findings in urban red fox mortality in the metropolitan area of Madrid, 2014-2022.

The expanding presence of red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) in urban and suburban regions could potentially lead to increased instances of human aggression towards this species. We studied 10 deceased red foxes that were submitted by law enforcement agencies in the metropolitan area of Madrid in 2014-2022 because of suspected abuse. Forensic autopsies were performed to establish the cause and manner of death. In 4 of the 10 cases, the cause of death was deemed unnatural, involving blunt-force trauma (n = 2), asphyxia resulting from hanging (n = 1), and firearm injury (n = 1). Among the remaining cases, most had succumbed to natural causes (n = 4), often marked by severe emaciation and a high burden of parasites, primarily Sarcoptes scabiei. In 2 cases, death was undetermined given the poor preservation of the carcass. The growing prevalence of wildlife species in urban areas, particularly red foxes, may require forensic veterinary investigation of deaths potentially related to abuse.

Family planning in the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo: personal beliefs, intimate partner negotiations and social pressure.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has a low prevalence of family planning use. Recent studies have highlighted the significant role that socio-cultural factors play in the decision to use family planning or not. This qualitative study explored barriers to women's use of family planning methods in an ongoing conflict region, South-Kivu, DRC. Focus group discussions and individual in-depth interviews were conducted to understand perceptions and habits regarding family planning. An inductive approach was used to analyse the data. Precariousness of life, religious beliefs and fear of side effects were limiting factors to the use of family planning. Power relations within the couple also played an important role in decision-making. Sole provider ('breadwinner') women were more likely to use family planning, including hormonal methods. Our findings highlight the continued importance of family planning programmes that respond to socio-cultural factors, personal beliefs, and fear of side effects in parallel with addressing availability and accessibility. This will require including the community in their design and implementation in order to meet unmet family planning needs. Health care providers' capacity building and training to help women manage family planning side effects will also be beneficial.

Impacts of attacks to female health care workers in three territories of Colombia.

BACKGROUND: This study explores the impacts of attacks perpetrated in the context of armed conflict, to female health workers in three Colombian territories. METHODS: We conducted a document review of the reports and databases of the Colombian Truth Commission, 17 in-depth semi-structured interviews with experts on the national and regional armed conflict and the medical mission, and 26 female health workers who were victims of attacks. RESULTS: Experts and female health workers reported attacks to health activities, facilities, equipment, and personnel, including attacks to traditional doctors belonging to indigenous communities. The most frequent attacks were threats and retention of health personnel; theft of supplies and medicines; damage and use of infrastructure and means of transport for purposes other than health care; and hinderance of health service provision. The attacks occurred in a framework of structural violence that intersects with poverty, racism, and gender bias. The impacts of these attacks include gender-based violence, significant disruption of the lives of health workers, and physical, emotional, psychological, social, and economic effects on the victims and their families. The government response to protect victims and populations has been absent or insufficient. CONCLUSIONS: Attacks to health care were reported in all the studied territories obstructing adequate health care. Impacts of these attacks affect negatively the professional and personal life of the workers and are aggravated by structural violence and absent or little institutional response.

Do working parents in the United States expect work location to impact job and family satisfaction in the post-pandemic period? Evidence from a survey experiment.

The pandemic response allowed many parents in the United States and globally to work remotely for the first time ever which, for many, continued into the recovery. It is unclear whether, after a period when a large segment of the United States labor force worked remotely, remote work is viewed favorably or unfavorably among employed parents. We present results from a survey experiment assessing whether employed parents in the United States perceive that remote work will impact a hypothetical employed parents' job and family satisfaction and, critically, whether perceptions of work-family conflict and anticipated job rewards mediate this relationship. We find that respondents who are also employed parents perceive that hypothetical employed parents who access remote work will report lower job satisfaction and higher family satisfaction. Perceptions of work-family conflict do not mediate this association. Rather, we find that job rewards (e.g., pay, promotion, etc.) fully mediate the relationship between remote work and perceived job satisfaction. Ultimately, this indicates that employed parents perceive that remote work will bring workers like them less pay and thus lower job satisfaction but greater family satisfaction. This extends arguments about remote work in the light of the conceptualization of a flexibility stigma and a flexibility paradox. Implications for practice and theory are discussed.

Exploring Cultural and Religious Effects on HPV Vaccination Decision Making Using a Web-Based Decision Aid: A Quasi-experimental Study.

BACKGROUND: Human papillomavirus (HPV) poses a significant public health concern, as it is linked to various serious health conditions such as cancer and genital warts. Despite the vaccine's safety, efficacy, and availability through national school programs, HPV vaccination rates remain low in Israel, particularly within the ultra-Orthodox community due to religious and cultural barriers. Decision aids have shown promise in facilitating shared decision making and promoting informed choices in health care. This study aimed to assess the impact of a novel Web-based decision aid on HPV vaccination intentions, knowledge, decision self-efficacy, and decisional conflict among Israeli parents and young adults, with a specific focus on exploring differences between religious groups. METHODS: Two Web-based decision aids were developed for parents of children aged 10 to 17 y (n = 120) and young adults aged 18 to 26 y (n = 160). A quasi-experimental study was conducted among Hebrew-speaking parents and young adults eligible for HPV vaccination. Participants completed pre- and postintervention questionnaires assessing vaccination intentions, knowledge about HPV, decision self-efficacy, and decisional conflict. RESULTS: The decision aid significantly improved intentions toward HPV vaccination among most religious groups, except the Jewish ultra-Orthodox community. Ultra-Orthodox participants exhibited reluctance to vaccinate themselves or their children (odds ratio [OR] = 0.23, P < 0.001 for parents' group; OR = 0.43, P < 0.001 for young adults' group). Parental preference for vaccinating girls over boys (OR = 2.66, P < 0.001) and increased inclination for vaccination among Muslim-Arabs were observed (OR = 3.12, P < 0.001). Knowledge levels improved among ultra-Orthodox participants but not decisional conflict and self-efficacy. CONCLUSIONS: The Web-based decision aid positively influenced the quality of HPV vaccination decision making among various religious groups in Israel, except for the ultra-Orthodox community. Culturally tailored approaches that address specific community concerns are essential for informed decision making. HIGHLIGHTS: Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination rates in Israel are substantially lower than those of other routine vaccinations, particularly among religious and ultra-Orthodox communities, largely due to sociocultural beliefs and misinformation.A newly developed Web-based decision aid was implemented in a study involving parents and young adults to evaluate its impact on vaccination intent, knowledge about HPV, decision self-efficacy, and decisional conflict.While the decision aid significantly enhanced vaccination intention, knowledge, and perceived behavioral control among various religious groups, it did not yield the same outcomes within the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community.This study highlights the vital role of cultural adaptation in HPV vaccine decision aids within Israel, revealing significant disparities in vaccination perceptions and decisions among diverse religious and cultural groups.

Dual-process model of courage.

Courage is one of the most significant psychological constructs for society, but not one of the most frequently studied. This paper presents a process model of courage consisting of decision-based pathways by which one comes to enact a courageous action. We argue the process of courage begins with a trigger involving an actor(s) and a situation(s). The actor(s) then engage(s) in four key assessments concerning (a) immediacy of the situation, (b) meaningfulness, value, and relevance to the actor, (c) adequacy of efficacy to act, and (d) decision to act with courage. The central component of this process entails an approach-avoidance conflict involving assessments of perceived risks and potential noble outcomes of acting with courage. The decision to act may result in courageous actions assuming it satisfies the four elements: intentionality, objective and substantial risk, a noble purpose, and meaning in time and place. Courageous actions have consequences. Finally, the consequences shape the actors' experience, which feeds into the trigger, closing the loop. Potential moderators of the courage process as well as potential tests of the model have been discussed.

Understanding the human conflict processing network: A review of the literature on direct neural recordings during performance of a modified stroop task.

The Stroop Task is a well-known neuropsychological task developed to investigate conflict processing in the human brain. Our group has utilized direct intracranial neural recordings in various brain regions during performance of a modified color-word Stroop Task to gain a mechanistic understanding of non-emotional human conflict processing. The purpose of this review article is to: 1) synthesize our own studies into a model of human conflict processing, 2) review the current literature on the Stroop Task and other conflict tasks to put our research in context, and 3) describe how these studies define a network in conflict processing. The figures presented are reprinted from our prior publications and key publications referenced in the manuscript. We summarize all studies to date that employ invasive intracranial recordings in humans during performance of conflict-inducing tasks. For our own studies, we analyzed local field potentials (LFPs) from patients with implanted stereotactic electroencephalography (SEEG) electrodes, and we observed intracortical oscillation patterns as well as intercortical temporal relationships in the hippocampus, amygdala, and orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) during the cue-processing phase of a modified Stroop Task. Our findings suggest that non-emotional human conflict processing involves modulation across multiple frequency bands within and between brain structures.

The impact of conflict on infectious disease: a systematic literature review.

BACKGROUND: Conflict situations, armed or not, have been associated with emergence and transmission of infectious diseases. This review aims to identify the pathways through which infectious diseases emerge within conflict situations and to outline appropriate infectious disease preparedness and response strategies. METHODS: A systematic review was performed representing published evidence from January 2000 to October 2023. Ovid Medline and Embase were utilised to obtain literature on infectious diseases in any conflict settings. The systematic review adhered to PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis). No geographical restrictions were imposed. FINDINGS: Our review identified 51 studies covering AIDS, Hepatitis B, Tuberculosis, Cholera, Coronavirus 2, Ebola, Poliomyelitis, Malaria, Leishmaniasis, Measles, Diphtheria, Dengue and Acute Bacterial Meningitis within conflict settings in Europe, Middle East, Asia, and Africa since October 2023. Key factors contributing to disease emergence and transmission in conflict situations included population displacement, destruction of vital infrastructure, reduction in functioning healthcare systems and healthcare personnel, disruption of disease control programmes (including reduced surveillance, diagnostic delays, and interrupted vaccinations), reduced access by healthcare providers to populations within areas of active conflict, increased population vulnerability due to limited access to healthcare services, and disruptions in the supply chain of safe water, food, and medication. To mitigate these infectious disease risks reported preparedness and response strategies included both disease-specific intervention strategies as well as broader concepts such as the education of conflict-affected populations through infectious disease awareness programmes, investing in and enabling health care in locations with displaced populations, intensifying immunisation campaigns, and ensuring political commitment and intersectoral collaborations between governments and international organisations. CONCLUSION: Conflict plays a direct and indirect role in the transmission and propagation of infectious diseases. The findings from this review can assist decision-makers in the development of evidence-based preparedness and response strategies for the timely and effective containment of infectious disease outbreaks in conflict zones and amongst conflict-driven displaced populations. FUNDING: European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control under specific contract No. 22 ECD.13,154 within Framework contract ECDC/2019/001 Lot 1B.

Informed Consent for Psychotherapy: The Moderating Role of Therapeutic Alliance, Prior Knowledge and Autonomous Motivation on Decision-Making and Treatment Expectation.

BACKGROUND: Informed consent is an ethical prerequisite for psychotherapy. There are no routinely used standardized strategies for obtaining informed consent. A new optimized informed consent consultation (OIC) strengthened treatment-relevant aspects. It remains unclear which factors influence the OIC efficacy regarding clinical and decision-related outcomes. METHODS: N = 122 adults were included in a randomized controlled online trial. Participants received an information brochure on psychotherapy (TAU; n = 61) or OIC + TAU (n = 61). The main and interaction effects of group allocation, therapeutic alliance, prior knowledge about psychotherapy and treatment motivation on treatment expectations, decisional conflict and capacity to consent were tested. Floodlight analyses were conducted for significant interactions. RESULTS: Large interaction effects were shown between treatment motivation and group allocation on treatment expectations (ß = -0.53) and between prior knowledge and group assignment on capacity to consent (ß = 0.68). The interaction between treatment motivation and group allocation was significant up to a motivation score of 5.54 (range: 1-7). The interaction between prior knowledge and group assignment was significant up to a knowledge score of 14.38 (range: 5-20). CONCLUSION: Moderator analyses indicated varying efficacy degrees for the OIC regarding decisional outcomes and expectation. Especially patients with little treatment motivation or low prior knowledge benefited from optimized information about the efficacy and possible side effects of psychotherapy. TRIAL REGISTRATION: PsychArchives (https://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.4929): 17.06.2021.

How Seeking Transfer Often Fails to Help Define Medically Inappropriate Treatment.

On September 1, 2023, Texas made important revisions to it its decades-old statute granting legal safe harbor immunity to physicians who withhold or withdraw life-sustaining treatment over the objection of critically ill patients' surrogate decision-makers. However, lawmakers left untouched glaring flaws in a key safeguard for patients-the transfer option. The transfer option is ethically important because, when no hospital is willing to accept the patient in transfer, that fact is taken as strong evidence that the surrogates' treatment requests fall outside accepted medical practice. But there are serious shortcomings in how the transfer option is carried out in Texas and many other states, which undermines the ethical usefulness of the process. We identify these shortcomings and recommend revisions to state statutes and professional guidelines to overcome them.

Long working hours, work-life imbalance, and poor mental health: a cross-sectional mediation analysis based on the sixth Korean Working Conditions Survey, 2020-2021.

Background There has been growing concern about the negative mental health impact of long working hours and overwork. Our study examined how work-life imbalance (WLI) could be a mediator between working hours and poor mental well-being.Methods We included 34,968 individuals from a nationwide cross-sectional survey in Korea. Self-reported working hours per week was collected, and mental health was assessed by the WHO-5 Well-Being Index. Counterfactual-based mediation models were employed to disentangle the total effects into a direct effect (work hour - poor mental health) and an indirect effect (work hour - WLI - poor mental health).Results Out of 34,968 participants, 52.6% worked 35-40 h/week, 20.0% worked 41-48 h/week, 11.7% worked 49-54 h/week, and 15.6% worked ≥55 h/week. The odds ratios (ORs) of the total impact of working hours on poor mental health were 1.08 (95% CI: 1.01-1.16) for 41-48 h/week, 1.28 (1.17-1.39) for 49-54 h/week, and 1.60 (1.48-1.74) for ≥55 h/week in comparison to 35-40 h/week. The ORs of the indirect effects were 1.04 (1.03-1.05) for 41-48 h/week, 1.08 (1.07-1.09) for 49-54 h/week, and 1.14 (1.12-1.16) for ≥55 h/week, accounting for 51%, 31%, and 28% of the total effects.Conclusion: Our findings suggest that WLI can partially mediate the association of long working hours with mental health deterioration. Policy efforts are required to mitigate the adverse mental health effects of overwork.

Women's Lives and Voices in Conflict Situations Matter: A Study of Farmer-Herder Conflict in Agogo Traditional Area, Ghana.

This study examines Agogo Traditional Area (ATA) women's well-being during farmer-herder conflicts. It emphasizes women's voices, and survival mechanisms in conflict resolution. A gendered dimension to the farmer-herder conflict in the ATA is essential to a more lasting resolution in the afflicted area. Qualitative data from semistructured interviews and Focus Group Discussions with ATA women shows how the conflict affected them. Themes were created to clarify and frame the discussions. The themes included safety and security, destruction of crops, death and forced migration, and impact on infrastructure. Civil society organizations addressing violence should offer psychosocial help to women victims in conflict areas in Ghana.

Habituation of Brain Activity with Repetition in Color and Picture-Word Stroop Tests.

As a widely used mental task for functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), the original color-word Stroop task has the advantage of being difficult to habituate, but also the disadvantage of being difficult to understand, especially for children. While the introduction of derived Stroop tasks offers highly promising countermeasures, changes in brain activity during these tests have not been well tested. We investigated the degree of habituation between the original and a derived Stroop task by measuring brain activity to obtain a better fNIRS task design. Fourteen healthy adults participated in the study, and a 10-channel fNIRS device was used. A picture-word Stroop task with lower linguistic conflict than the original was conducted. The original and derived Stroop tests were repeated four times in a 1-week interval. We found that the original Stroop test did not show any significant changes in brain activity with repeated measures; however, brain activity decreased during the derived test. The differences in habituation between the original and derived tests may be due to the differences in the strength of the linguistic conflict. Our findings also highlight the need to consider the effects of habituation when using derived Stroop tasks in repeated measures.