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Mixed planted forests (MPFs) are often considered more resilient to climate change and provide greater environmental benefits than monocultures. Yet, monocultures dominate tree plantation systems globally. Here, we examined the motivations, barriers, and opportunities that affect forest stakeholders' adoption of MPFs across four countries with strong yet distinct forest sectors: Brazil, France, Portugal, and Sweden. We conducted 81 semi-structured interviews with forest owners,  company employees, and associations involved in forest management. We found that the primary motivation for adopting MPFs is to reduce vulnerability to climate change-related risks. However, the increased management complexity resulting from uneven growth rates among species is an important barrier. Economic constraints, including higher costs and undeveloped markets for alternative species, alongside governance challenges such as limited technical expertise and entrenched monoculture practices further hinder adoption. Possible pathways to diversification include capacity building, management strategies, and policy incentives, promoting more sustainable, climate-resilient, and future-proof forestry practices.

Background/Objectives: Obesity-associated non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) drives systemic metabolic stress and accelerates chronic kidney disease, yet the mechanistic links remain unclear. Mitochondrial dysfunction has emerged as a central mediator of obesity-induced organ injury. Here, we investigated renal mitochondrial remodeling in a rat model of obesity-associated NAFLD (Ob-NAFLD) and examined the effects of metformin. Methods: Female Zucker rats (obese fa/fa and lean Fa/Fa) were fed an AIN-93G diet for eight weeks, followed by 10 weeks of metformin treatment in designated groups. Kidney tissues were analyzed using biochemical assays, immunoblotting, blue native PAGE, in-gel activity assays, and histological evaluation. Results: In Ob-NAFLD rats, renal ATP levels were elevated despite reduced electron transport chain (ETC) Complex III and increased Complex V expression, reflecting compensatory ATP synthase hyperactivity uncoupled from efficient oxidative phosphorylation. Mitochondrial dynamics were disrupted such that inhibitory phosphorylation of DRP1 was reduced, promoting fission, and total OPA1 expression was decreased with a shift in short-to-long isoform balance, indicating impaired fusion and cristae remodeling. Notably, ATPase inhibitory factor 1 (IF1), a checkpoint that limits ATP synthase overdrive, remained stably expressed, suggesting an adaptive ceiling or failed protective control under chronic metabolic stress. Metformin partially alleviated bioenergetic stress by lowering ATP and modestly restoring Complex III, yet ETC imbalance and structural remodeling persisted, revealing the limitations of metabolic modulation alone. Conclusions: These findings position entrenched mitochondrial dysregulation as a mechanistic bridge linking obesity-driven liver disease to kidney injury. Therapeutic strategies combining metabolic interventions with targeted restoration of ETC coordination, mitochondrial dynamics, and regulatory checkpoints such as IF1 may be required to fully restore renal mitochondrial health and prevent the progression of metabolic kidney disease.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a major global public health concern and one of the most prevalent forms of gender-based violence, with significant consequences. This study analyzes non-lethal IPV cases reported to a medico-legal unit of Casablanca between 2018 and 2023. Data from 4,784 female victims were reviewed, focusing on socio-demographics, violence types, perpetrator relationships, and judicial involvement across the pre-COVID, peak COVID-19, and post-COVID periods. Married women represented 59.2% of victims. Physical violence predominated (83.1%), while sexual violence was underreported (14.7%). The year 2020 marked a sharp increase in reported non-lethal IPV cases (n = 1,005), correlating with pandemic confinement. Among married women, judicial requisition (legal request for forensic examination) and medico-legal certification (medical documentation for judicial use) rates were high (81.5% and 81.0%, respectively). Post-pandemic years declined moderately but remained above pre-COVID levels. International comparison confirmed a global rise in IPV during COVID-19, with Morocco displaying comparatively higher rates of medico-legal documentation and judicial involvement. IPV in Morocco is entrenched and intensified by COVID-19. While the medico-legal system is robust in documentation, the system must evolve by integrating systematic psychological assessment into medico-legal evaluations, standardizing certification and referral protocols, and strengthening coordination between medico-legal, health, and social support services to improve victim protection.

Insecticide resistance has become a serious and escalating threat to global agriculture, undermining food security, farmer livelihood, and environmental health. Resistance is now widespread across major pest groups, including Lepidoptera, Hemiptera, Diptera, and Coleoptera, and affects nearly all major classes of insecticides. This review presents the recent progress in understanding the evolution of insecticide resistance at molecular, ecological, and evolutionary levels, while highlighting how modern technologies are reshaping resistance management. Advances in genomics and multi-omics approaches have revealed novel resistance genes, epigenetic regulation, and microbiome-driven detoxification pathways, showing that resistance is often a complex, polygenic trait. At the same time, innovations in surveillance such as molecular diagnostics, machine learning-based prediction tools, and globally integrated resistance databases are shifting resistance monitoring from reactive detection to early warning and prediction. Emerging tools, including RNAi-based bioinsecticides, CRISPR-mediated gene editing, nanotechnology, and microbial interventions, offer promising alternatives to overcome entrenched resistance. The review also emphasises the growing role of precision pest management, enabled by digital agriculture and decision-support systems, in improving insecticide stewardship. Beyond science and technology, it critically examines policy and governance gaps and stresses the need for coordinated, One Health-oriented strategies to achieve sustainable, long-term insecticide resistance management.

Workplace incivility perpetrated by registered nurses in preceptor roles toward learners (students and graduates) in nursing is a historical and persistent issue that negatively impacts wellbeing and retention. While the consequences of incivility are well documented, the factors driving uncivil behaviours remain poorly understood. To explore what is known about the contributing factors to workplace incivility exhibited by preceptors toward learners within clinical environments. A scoping review was conducted guided by Arksey and O'Malley's framework and reported in accordance with PRISMA-ScR Guidelines. Eight databases (CINAHL, MEDLINE, Scopus, Web of Science, ERIC, Embase, Cochrane, and PsycINFO) and Google Scholar were searched in April 2025 and updated on May 25th, 2026. No date restrictions were applied. Literature published in English that addressed contributing factors to workplace incivility perpetrated by preceptors toward learners in nursing was included. Both grey literature and peer-reviewed publications were considered. A two-stage screening process (titles and abstracts followed by full text) was undertaken using Covidence. Of the 660 records identified across databases and web-based resources, 17 records were included in the review. Organisational factors and interpersonal dynamics were identified as key drivers of preceptor incivility toward learners in nursing. Hierarchy and power imbalances fostered cultures that normalised incivility. Heavy workloads, burnout, and poor management further exacerbated uncivil behaviours, which were often rationalised as a "rite of passage". Preceptor role perceptions and generational differences also contributed, with leaners frequently role-modelling such uncivil behaviours and unintentionally perpetuating a cycle of incivility. This scoping review identifies key gaps in understanding workplace incivility perpetrated by preceptors toward learners in nursing. In particular, preceptor perspectives on their own uncivil behaviours remain under-explored. Further research is needed to inform education, intervention strategies, and targeted policy development to meaningfully shift nursing's entrenched culture of incivility.

Postgraduate medical training plays a critical role in preparing junior doctors for independent practice, yet participation in teaching sessions remains challenging in many clinical training environments. Existing literature highlights persistent tensions between clinical service demands and learning, compounded by diverse learner needs, limited resources, and entrenched workplace cultures. Similarly, in Singapore, junior doctors are expected to attend structured teaching during working hours, but attendance remains suboptimal. This study aims to explore these junior doctors' perception of the barriers and motivators influencing their attendance at these teaching sessions, and how they negotiate learning within service-intensive environments. We conducted a qualitative exploratory study in March 2025 at a large tertiary hospital in Singapore. Fourteen junior doctors participated in semi-structured focus group discussions. Discussions explored their perceptions of the value of teaching sessions, motivations for attendance, barriers encountered, and suggestions for improvement. Transcripts were analysed inductively using thematic analysis, supported by independent coding and iterative discussion among the research team. Participants valued the teaching sessions as they help to address knowledge gaps and enhance clinical confidence. Motivation to attend was influenced by both extrinsic factors (e.g., lunch, attendance requirements) and intrinsic factors (e.g., interest in relevant topics). However, attendance was hindered by clinical workload and interruptions during sessions. Participants recommended protected training time, flexible delivery formats and improved content selection. Supportive departmental learning culture and timely administrative reminders further facilitated participation. Junior doctors perceive teaching sessions as valuable and are motivated to engage in learning, but face workload-related barriers that limit attendance. Curated topic selection to enhance clinical relevance, providing multiple formats to deliver learning resources and ensuring protected training time may help improve participation. The participants' perspectives offer practical strategies that educators can use to enhance attendance and strengthen postgraduate teaching.

In 2022, the case of Andrea Prudente, an American tourist denied an abortion for a non-viable pregnancy in Malta, catalysed unprecedented social mobilisation, and compelled a legislative review of the country's abortion ban. This paper traces the political and social dynamics that shaped this process, from the initial advocacy to the final, heavily contested legislative outcome. Drawing on Morgan and Roberts' concept of reproductive governance, we examine media content and parliamentary discourses to trace how state actors mediated the conflict between competing moral, and legal frameworks. Our analysis demonstrates that while persistent pressure by pro-choice advocates was instrumental in forcing a legislative review, the government's initial proposed reforms were systematically contested, and ultimately neutralised by a powerful, well-organised anti-choice countermovement. We argue that state actors ultimately capitulated to immense conservative pressures from influential religious and civil society actors. The resulting amendment, which permits termination only under exceptionally restrictive circumstances to save a pregnant person's life, is a stark example of how reproductive governance can accommodate pressure for change while leaving the underlying system intact. This process highlights how legal reform can be critically decoupled from meaningful access, failing to secure genuine reproductive rights. Despite its profound limitations, the amendment constitutes the first-ever legal exception to Malta's absolute ban, proving that such entrenched governance frameworks are not immutable. The Prudente case and the mobilisation it inspired have irrevocably fractured the previous politico-legal consensus, thereby creating a precedent for future legal challenges and continued advocacy for comprehensive reproductive justice in Malta. In 2022, an American tourist in Malta named Andrea Prudente needed an abortion for a pregnancy that could not survive. Doctors refused because of the country's total ban. Her case sparked major protests and forced the Maltese government to review its abortion law. This paper studies how this process unfolded. We looked at newspapers and political speeches. We wanted to understand the arguments of those fighting for abortion rights and those against them. We found that those fighting for abortion pushed the government to act. But a powerful and well-organised anti-choice movement fought against any changes. The government gave in to pressure from influential conservative and religious groups. The result was a new law that is very restrictive. It only allows an abortion in rare cases to save the pregnant person's life. This change does not provide meaningful access to abortion care. Yet, this is the first time there was a change to Malta's complete ban. This shows that the old rules can change. It creates an important starting point for future work to secure full reproductive rights in Malta.

Despite ongoing national efforts to improve health outcomes, the UK continues to experience entrenched inequalities in maternal mortality, disproportionately affecting Black, Asian, and migrant women. The MBRRACE-UK 2025 report reaffirms that these disparities are not random but rooted in structural deficiencies within the maternity service delivery system. This commentary argues that achieving maternal health equity requires a fundamental shift in how maternity care is commissioned, delivered, and evaluated. Cultural awareness and inclusivity should be recognised as an important integral to the provision of safe and effective maternity care, rather than treated as supplementary considerations. Embedding these principles into national clinical guidelines, service contracts, commissioning frameworks, and mandatory workforce training will reduce barriers to access, promote equity, improve the quality of maternity care, and rebuild trust among underserved populations. The paper calls for bold and decisive leadership, targeted policy reforms, and genuine co-production with affected women and communities to ensure that maternity services reflect diverse needs. Without such decisive actions, inequalities will persist, undermining the credibility and safety of the UK's maternity care system. The paper also offers actionable policy and system-level recommendations to guide measurable transition towards equitable, culturally responsive maternity services in the UK.

In Canada, HIV stigma remains a persistent barrier to equitable access to health and social-services, particularly for racialized immigrants-such as African, Caribbean, and Black communities (ACB)-who remain structurally exposed to new HIV infections amidst insufficient policy attention to their distinct health needs and challenges. To bridge the knowledge-practice gap in addressing HIV-related stigma in Canada, this intervention study engaged service organizations and providers in a multi-phase implementation across Ontario and Alberta. Qualitative insights from post-intervention activity logs revealed three main areas of impact: (1) Structural reforms: Service providers are advocating for and revising organizational policies to enhance inclusivity, challenging discriminatory language and practices, organizing trainings on unconscious bias and HIV stigma, coordinating with law enforcement agencies and engaging in political mobilization to address selective criminalization of racialized immigrants for status non-disclosure; (2) Community empowerment: The service providers began engaging and educating affected communities about HIV stigma, and fostering collective empowerment against social injustices. While some are volunteering with legal aid organizations to help racialized immigrants navigate disputes, others are joining charity organizations to set up donation centres to support racialized community members; and (3) Personal and professional growth: Providers reported acknowledging the privileges they enjoy as non-racialized individuals, becoming more intentional in addressing their personal biases, and ensuring inclusive practices in service delivery. In conclusion, sustained, community-informed implementation efforts are crucial for addressing entrenched inequities and ensuring a more inclusive, just, and effective HIV response for racialized immigrant populations in Canada.

Obstetric complications remain a leading cause of preventable maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Persistent barriers to facility-based antenatal care (ANC), including geographic remoteness, transportation costs, socio-cultural norms, and fragmented health systems, have prompted the large-scale expansion of community-based ANC models designed to bring preventive and early-detection services directly to underserved populations. This systematic review evaluated the impact of community-based ANC models on the prevention and early detection of obstetric complications in LMICs, compared maternal and neonatal outcomes with conventional facility-based care, and identified critical implementation gaps. A systematic review was conducted in accordance with PRISMA 2020 guidelines. Seven electronic databases, PubMed, CINAHL, Cochrane Library, WHO IRIS, Scopus, Embase, and Google Scholar, were searched for peer-reviewed studies published between 2000 and 2025. Studies were screened against predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria, and 40 studies that met these criteria were included. Data were synthesised both narratively and quantitatively. The study concluded that 40 included studies (77.5%) reported significant improvements in preventive maternal health practices, including anaemia screening, blood pressure monitoring, and birth preparedness, attributable to community-based interventions. Early ANC initiation improved in 82.5% of studies, with referral compliance increasing by 18%-38% in community-supported models. Neonatal mortality reductions of 15%-24% were documented in participatory women's group interventions. However, 65% of studies identified implementation challenges, including weak referral systems, inadequate community health worker (CHW) supervision, supply chain inconsistencies, and entrenched socio-cultural barriers. Community-based ANC models greatly improve prevention and early detection of obstetric complications, especially in rural and resource-limited areas. Their effectiveness is maximised when they are organisationally integrated with primary healthcare systems, supported by strong referral connections, and tailored to local contexts. Expanding these models requires ongoing investment in the workforce, training, and coordination mechanisms for community facilities.

Power disparities in the food system are reflected in food policy processes and outcomes that are failing to address major food system challenges. As interest in investigating and addressing these power disparities grows, it is important to assess the research methods that have been used to examine power in food policy, and how methodological choices shape our understanding. This scoping review critically maps the methodological approaches applied in empirical studies of power in national-level food policy. A systematic search across fourteen databases identified 46 empirical studies published between 2014 and 2025: 33 qualitative, 9 discourse analytic and 4 quantitative. Qualitative research examined the relative power of food system actors and their strategies, as well as the structural dynamics sustaining unequal influence. Quantitative analyses studied the patterns of structural and positional power within policy networks and across political systems. Discourse analytic studies examined how ideas and discourses construct and legitimize understandings of food policy problems and solutions. Across methods, most research investigates how entrenched power constrains progress on food system challenges, with fewer studies exploring examples of resistance. Each approach demonstrates strengths and limitations that are shaped by theory and data. This review highlights the need for methodological innovation-including applying mixed methods, longitudinal designs, and comparative analyses-to expand our understanding of power in food policy and identify actionable strategies to address disparities for the benefit of people and planet.

Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO) laws allow civil courts to authorize orders to temporarily prevent a person from purchasing or possessing firearms upon finding that they pose a significant risk of harm to themselves or others. In Louisiana, a state with one of the highest rates of firearm homicide of women in the nation, multiple attempts to pass ERPO legislation have failed despite evidence of their effectiveness. We sought to identify places of common ground on the matter of domestic violence against women in Louisiana and to understand how perspectives on politics and policy solutions - including ERPOs - diverged from there. We interviewed 16 key informants purposefully recruited to ensure diversity in political ideology, professional roles, and regions of Louisiana. All held active roles in gun rights or gun regulation advocacy and lobbying; law enforcement and judicial systems; public health and domestic violence prevention; and state policymaking. Verbatim transcripts were analyzed via thematic analysis with deductive coding following the Multiple Streams Framework. Among key informants, there was nearly universal agreement on the matter of domestic violence as a problem. However, there was ambiguity around the role of firearms in domestic violence and the utility of targeting their removal for the prevention of fatal violence against women. Concerns specific to ERPO law as one such approach included anticipated misuse of the law, uncertainty about its relationship to existing firearm transfer laws, undue burdens on gun owners, and due process. Aspects of the political and cultural context were identified as barriers to the passage of ERPO, including concentrated political polarity, entrenched patriarchy, and lack of connectedness with growing distrust and dehumanization of politicians and of each other. Suggested strategies for overcoming barriers to an ERPO law in Louisiana included broader education about the law and provisions, long-term relationship building outside of legislative sessions, and aisle-bridging collaboration on the drafting of legislation. Understanding the factors that have constrained ERPO legislation in Louisiana can inform research and advocacy efforts to promote evidence-based policy decisions that promote the health and safety of all people.

Psychologists have long known that contact with and exposure to so-called outgroup members can help overcome separation, including those resulting from entrenched conflicts. Getting to know each other facilitates understanding and fosters tolerance, whether we think of national, religious, cultural, socio-economic or age divides. Thus, we here expand the concept of Environmental Peacebuilding to Environmental Bridgebuilding, because sharing knowledge and practices around nature conservation objectives offers opportunities to find common ground for individuals and groups. With Environmental Bridgebuilding, we are emphasising the connectivity effects of nature conservation planning and implementation. Due to our shared experiences, we take our work with the barn owl, Tyto alba, as an example to discuss Environmental Bridgebuilding. This choice does not limit Environmental Bridgebuilding to this species, on the contrary. Moreover, we discuss psychological factors in addition to between-subgroup and intergroup challenges that might impact the success of socially engaging nature conservation initiatives, as well as the need for the combined expertise from various professions, such as biologists, psychologists, farmers and economists. Ecology and science more generally can be an inspiring source to bring together people that life has divided.

Synthetic nucleic acid technologies underpin modern biological research and biomanufacturing. However, their growing accessibility through commercial synthesis services, benchtop devices, and AI-assisted design tools creates significant dual-use biosecurity risks. This paper presents a harmonised EU biosecurity screening framework operationalised through the proposed EU Biotech Act I (December 2025), evaluating two complementary control mechanisms: Know Your Customer (KYC) verification and sequence screening against Sequences of Concern (SOC). We find that existing voluntary frameworks leave systematic coverage gaps that binding EU-level obligations, anchored to ISO 20688-2:2024, would substantively address - particularly for smaller providers and benchtop devices. We argue that near-term EU action offers a time-sensitive opportunity to shape global synthetic biology governance before regulatory fragmentation becomes entrenched.

Current quality improvement (QI) efforts rarely engage with the structural conditions that sustain health inequalities. Powering Up tested whether creative co-production-using arts, storytelling and citizen science-could move beyond tokenism to meaningfully involve young people (YP) experiencing health inequalities in shaping more equitable paediatric care. Conducted in Birmingham and London, the study compared two creative co-production models: LISTEN UP! (science-based) and SHOW UP! (arts-based). Across both sites, 116 participants (aged 13-18, plus clinicians) engaged in participatory workshops, youth-led investigations and co-produced public outputs. In this process evaluation, we used feminist, community-based and constructivist principles to undertake a reflexive thematic analysis of creative artefacts, observations and participant reflections to explore how co-production was implemented, what supported or constrained it and what was learnt about embedding equity-enhancing participation. Creative co-production catalysed transformation through three mechanisms-Education, Empathy and Expression-which validated lived experience, deepened trust and redefined whose knowledge counts in healthcare. YP reported increased confidence and systemic belonging; clinicians gained insight into social determinants and relational care. Yet entrenched Intellectual, Institutional and Interpersonal barriers-limited time, emotional labour and structural misalignment-restricted wider uptake. Sustaining this work required extensive unpaid and affective labour, resulting in moral distress and burnout among facilitators. This revealed a paradox: co-production as a labour of love operating within systems whose structures make that labour unsustainable. Meaningful co-production is not a technical fix, but a moral and political practice grounded in Respect, Relationships and Reciprocity. While creative methods can catalyse relational healing and systemic insight, their continuation demands policy-level recognition, funding reform and protection of the human infrastructure that makes participation possible. Without structural investment, co-production risks remaining an ethical aspiration performed in unsustainable conditions-an institutional hypocrisy that must be addressed for health systems to deliver equity.

CD8+ T cell exhaustion is a conserved differentiation program induced by persistent antigen stimulation and originally characterized in chronic infection. In cancer, this program is actively reinforced and stabilized by the tumor microenvironment. Here, we examine how tumors convert a physiological adaptation to chronic stimulation into a deeply entrenched dysfunctional state. Sustained TCR signaling initiates exhaustion through NFAT- and TOX-dependent transcriptional remodeling, but tumor-specific extrinsic pressures, including hypoxia, metabolic competition, ionic imbalance, mechanical stress, and heterogeneous antigen exposure, amplify and stabilize this program. These environmental cues converge on transcription factor networks such as IRF, BATF, NR4A, and NFAT5, which integrate chronic signaling with stress-adaptive responses and progressively restrict effector potential. Exhaustion in tumors becomes epigenetically imprinted. Exhaustion-specific enhancer landscapes persist despite PD-1 blockade, reflecting a lineage-like state enforced by chromatin remodeling factors such as TOX. Thus, checkpoint inhibition transiently restores function without fully reprogramming cellular identity. We propose that tumor-induced exhaustion arises from the layered convergence of chronic antigen signaling and microenvironmental reinforcement, culminating in chromatin fixation. Understanding this stabilization process reframes therapeutic strategies: effective cancer immunotherapy will likely require combinatorial approaches that target not only inhibitory receptors but also metabolic resilience, stress-sensing pathways, and epigenetic architecture. By dissecting how tumors convert adaptive restraint into durable dysfunction, new avenues may emerge to destabilize exhaustion and restore durable antitumor immunity.

The Lamiaceae family, commonly known as the mint or sage family, comprises a vast group of aromatic medicinal plants with a global distribution and a deeply entrenched history in traditional medicine systems worldwide. This systematic review and meta-analysis investigated the effects of Lamiaceae plants on anthropometric indices in metabolic syndrome patients. We searched PubMed, Scopus, ISI Web of Science, ProQuest, SID, and MagIran from inception to July 15, 2025, for RCTs evaluating Lamiaceae plants versus placebo in adults (≥18 years) with metabolic syndrome or related conditions (obesity, type 2 diabetes, dyslipidemia, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease). Two reviewers independently screened records, extracted data, and assessed risk of bias using the Cochrane RoB 2.0 tool. Random-effects meta-analyses were performed, with subgroup analyses by intervention duration (≤8 vs. >8 weeks), metabolic status, and Lamiaceae genus. Certainty of evidence was evaluated using NutriGrade. This review followed PRISMA 2020 guidelines and was pre-registered (PROSPERO: CRD420251051273). Twenty eligible RCTs (n = 2445 participants) met inclusion criteria. Using the Cochrane RoB 2.0 tool, 50% of studies had unclear allocation concealment, and 10% had high performance bias risk. Random-effects meta-analysis demonstrated statistically significant reductions in size-based indices (BMI, weight) and proxies of central adiposity (WC, WHR), while changes in direct body composition (BFM) were not significant. Both short-term (≤8 weeks) and long-term (>8 weeks) consumption of Lamiaceae reduced BMI, with effects on WC and weight primarily in overweight/obese individuals. Subgroup analyses revealed that specific genera within the Lamiaceae family, particularly Salvia and Zataria, were effective in reducing BMI and WC (only Salvia). Meta-regression analysis revealed no significant linear associations between intervention duration, metabolic status, or Lamiaceae genus and the anthropometric changes. The NutriGrade assessment rated the overall confidence in the meta-evidence as high for the pooled estimates of BMI and weight and moderate for WHR. Lamiaceae supplementation is associated with modest reductions in size-based and central adiposity indices (BMI, WC, WHR) in adults with metabolic syndrome; exploratory subgroup analyses suggested potential signals for Salvia and Zataria, though based on limited trials. However, current evidence is insufficient to demonstrate significant changes in BFM or benefits in patients with diabetes, likely due to limited trial numbers, short durations, and indirect measurement methods. Therefore, Lamiaceae may be considered a supportive adjunct within multicomponent lifestyle interventions.

It is widely thought that deliberative quality improves with the number of participants: the more voices in the room, the better the collective judgment. This "wisdom of the crowds" intuition suggests that representative deliberation - in which a subset of deliberators acts on behalf of the larger group - should be epistemically inferior to full, plenary deliberation. We test this using a computational agent-based model in which deliberators exchange evidence for and against a proposition and are evaluated on how accurately their collective beliefs track an objective truth. Varying four conditions - the length of deliberation, the distribution of available evidence, problem difficulty, and agents' memory capacity - we find that representative deliberation frequently matches or outperforms full deliberation. This advantage does not stem from any superior epistemic ability of the representatives themselves. Rather, it emerges from two structural features of the two-tier process: the selective triage of the strongest available evidence, and the periodic resetting of polarized or entrenched beliefs that a second phase of deliberation enables. Our findings suggest that representative structure can be an epistemic asset rather than a liability - not despite, but because of the constraints it imposes.

In this study we examine how intersecting gendered and ethnic identities shape access to sexual and reproductive health (SRH) information among Zezuru and Karanga people in rural Zimbabwe. While SRH policies in Zimbabwe promote universal access, they overlook intra-ethnic differences that produce uneven patterns of knowledge, service engagement, and autonomy. Using the theory of intersectionality, we investigate how cultural norms, religious beliefs, and socio-economic structures interact to create differentiated access to information and services. Data were collected through a cross-sectional quantitative survey conducted in Mashonaland East and Masvingo. The sample consisted of 418 respondents aged 18-49, selected using stratified multistage sampling. To analyse the data, we used descriptive and inferential statistics. Results show significant disparities where 84.3% (Karanga) compared to 55.9% (Zezuru) reported limited access to information. Additionally, men reported lower engagement with SRH information and services than women. Access to SRH information was shaped by intersecting factors including gender, ethnicity, religion, education, and livelihood insecurity. Findings call for SRH programmes and interventions that are locally entrenched, culturally responsive, and supported by strengthened community-based health systems.