Search Results (255)

Background: Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) have been reshaping maternal, fetal, neonatal, and reproductive healthcare by enhancing risk prediction, diagnostic accuracy, and operational efficiency across the perinatal continuum. However, no comprehensive synthesis has yet been published. Objective: To conduct a scoping review of reviews of AI/ML applications spanning reproductive, prenatal, postpartum, neonatal, and early child-development care. Methods: We searched PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Library, Web of Science, and Scopus through April 2025. Two reviewers independently screened records, extracted data, and assessed methodological quality using AMSTAR 2 for systematic reviews, ROBIS for bias assessment, SANRA for narrative reviews, and JBI guidance for scoping reviews. Results: Thirty-nine reviews met our inclusion criteria. In preconception and fertility treatment, convolutional neural network-based platforms can identify viable embryos and key sperm parameters with over 90 percent accuracy, and machine-learning models can personalize follicle-stimulating hormone regimens to boost mature oocyte yield while reducing overall medication use. Digital sexual-health chatbots have enhanced patient education, pre-exposure prophylaxis adherence, and safer sexual behaviors, although data-privacy safeguards and bias mitigation remain priorities. During pregnancy, advanced deep-learning models can segment fetal anatomy on ultrasound images with more than 90 percent overlap compared to expert annotations and can detect anomalies with sensitivity exceeding 93 percent. Predictive biometric tools can estimate gestational age within one week with accuracy and fetal weight within approximately 190 g. In the postpartum period, AI-driven decision-support systems and conversational agents can facilitate early screening for depression and can guide follow-up care. Wearable sensors enable remote monitoring of maternal blood pressure and heart rate to support timely clinical intervention. Within neonatal care, the Heart Rate Observation (HeRO) system has reduced mortality among very low-birth-weight infants by roughly 20 percent, and additional AI models can predict neonatal sepsis, retinopathy of prematurity, and necrotizing enterocolitis with area-under-the-curve values above 0.80. From an operational standpoint, automated ultrasound workflows deliver biometric measurements at about 14 milliseconds per frame, and dynamic scheduling in IVF laboratories lowers staff workload and per-cycle costs. Home-monitoring platforms for pregnant women are associated with 7–11 percent reductions in maternal mortality and preeclampsia incidence. Despite these advances, most evidence derives from retrospective, single-center studies with limited external validation. Low-resource settings, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa, remain under-represented, and few AI solutions are fully embedded in electronic health records. Conclusions: AI holds transformative promise for perinatal care but will require prospective multicenter validation, equity-centered design, robust governance, transparent fairness audits, and seamless electronic health record integration to translate these innovations into routine practice and improve maternal and neonatal outcomes. Full article

Medieval and modern readers of Johannes de Hauvilla’s late XII-century Latin poem Architrenius have proposed an array of discordant interpretations of the eponymous protagonist. This paper offers a historical profile of the critical reception of this peculiar fictional character, tracing responses from the Middle Ages to the present day. Given the poem’s limited dissemination and the modest critical attention it has received in modern times, it is possible to provide a nearly comprehensive overview of the reception history of the Architrenius. We analyze and classify the terminology and the argumentative strategies used by critics in constructing their portrait of the hero of Johannes’ poem and observe how these choices interact with the overall critical assessment of the Architrenius. Our analysis identifies two principal families of readers—both philologically and thematically—suggesting a dual trajectory in the reception of the poem throughout the centuries. Full article

The Western genre has traditionally been associated with American identity and male-dominated narratives. However, recent decades have seen increasing attention to female protagonists, particularly the European woman as a cultural mediator within the frontier context. This study aims to identify the archetypes of the European woman in the Western genre through a diachronic and comparative analysis of the visual language found in European painting from the late 17th to early 19th centuries and in 20th–21st century cinema. The research methodology combines narrative, visual, and semiotic analysis, with a focus on intermedial and intertextual parallels between visual art and film. The study identifies nine archetypal models corresponding to goddesses of the Greek pantheon and traces their transformation across different aesthetic systems. These archetypes, rooted in artistic traditions such as Baroque, Classicism, Romanticism, and others, reappear in Western films through compositional, symbolic, and iconographic strategies, demonstrating their persistence and ability to transcend temporal, medial, and geographical boundaries. The findings suggest that the woman in the Western genre is not merely a central character, but a visual sign that activates cultural memory and engages with deep archetypal structures embedded in the collective unconscious. Full article

This article proposes recognizing innovation as the European Union’s “fifth freedom”, alongside the free movement of goods, services, capital, and people, with the aim of embedding it into renewable energy legislation. Focusing on renewable energy storage—a critical but overlooked component of decarbonization—it identifies structural barriers in EU cleantech innovation, including regulatory fragmentation, slow financing, and weak industrial coordination. To address these, this article introduces the Risk–Resilience–Reward (RRR) framework, a strategic tool for more anticipatory policymaking. It outlines how the proposed Clean Energy Delivery Agency and Clean Energy Deployment Fund could operationalize the RRR framework to accelerate storage deployment and strengthen EU competitiveness. Embedding purpose-led principles in energy policy, this article positions storage as the “unsung hero of decarbonization” and offers takeaways for advancing a just, sustainable EU economy. Full article

As a synthetic analogue of vasopressin, desmopressin or DDAVP has well established hemostatic properties. We present a review of DDAVP and summarize the clinical and laboratory evidence for its use in hemophilia A, von Willebrand disease (VWD), platelet function disorders, uremia, liver cirrhosis, and pregnancy, followed by illustrative examples of its broad efficacy from our local practice. In brief, DDAVP acts to release von Willebrand factor (VWF) and factor VIII from endogenously stored reserves, thereby correcting plasma deficiencies present in mild to moderately affected patients with hemophilia A and VWD. Thus, DDAVP represents a non-transfusional therapy for these disorders. Typically, a trial of DDAVP is arranged to assess individual responsiveness before employing DDAVP clinically, since there is individual variation in responsiveness. Thereafter, DDAVP can be utilized in responsive patients for clinical use and provides a factor replacement sparing strategy in these patients for some clinical situations. Nevertheless, DDAVP is best applied as a factor replacement sparing strategy, especially for minor procedures or short-term use. Full article

A preterm neonate born at 24 + 5 weeks gestation developed congenital Candida krusei sepsis, diagnosed via placental culture, axillary swab, and elevated beta-glucan levels. Although initial blood cultures were negative, continuous HeRo monitoring played a crucial role in the early detection of clinical deterioration, prompting timely antifungal therapy with amphotericin B followed by micafungin. This proactive approach, combining prompt diagnosis, HeRo surveillance, and tailored treatment, ensured a favorable outcome. Our case underscores the value of HeRo monitoring as an early warning tool in managing neonatal fungal infections. Full article

While studies consistently show that the popular media often provide medicalized images of disabled people as “other” or inferior, dynamic societal changes, such as the diffusion of human rights laws, increasing public awareness, and the mediatization of disability activism, also influence media representations. The present research aims to identify relevant discursive practices in Hungarian online news media, a non-Western European country with about 50 years of a state party system under communism, and offer insight into how progressive policy changes and mediatized activism shape media features on disability. To establish the dataset, the most visited and independent online news media portal in Hungary (24.hu) was searched for articles discussing disability between 2019 and 2022. The 481 relevant articles extracted were analyzed using Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) with the help of MAXQDA 2020. The findings reveal a multiplicity of disability representations: medicalized and victimized images on the one hand, and reports of resilience and “heroism” on the other. Three distinct discursive practices are identified: (1) traditional/ableist representations, (2) alternative representations with ableist framing, and (3) agency and the co-creation of disability representations. Results suggest that even 30 years after the political changes, disabled people’s collective agency is marginal in Hungary, and that socio-legal changes and mediatized disability activism are yet to influence news media features. Full article

Background/Objectives: Veterans differ in sociodemographic composition and experience higher frequencies of disability than non-Veterans of the same age. Yet the epidemiology of the long-term care needs of Veterans, specifically activities of daily living (ADLs) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs), remains an important gap in the literature. The objectives of this study were to (1) characterize Veterans across levels of hierarchy of ADL and IADL support needs; (2) compare Veterans across the degree of need for help, from those who can still “self-manage” to those with an “unmet need”; and (3) identify the types and prevalence of ADL and IADL need combination patterns. Methods: This study used cross-sectional data from the 2021 administration of the HERO CARE survey. We included Veterans ages 65+ in our analyses (N = 7424). We calculated the overall weighted descriptive statistics across a hierarchy of ADL and IADL problems and the degree of need for help. One-way ANOVA for continuous variables and Rao–Scott chi-square tests for categorical variables were conducted to examine associations between groups, followed by post hoc pairwise comparisons, as appropriate. Results: Veteran respondents mean age was 82.3 (SD: 8.2 years), and most were male, non-Hispanic White, and married. In weighted analyses, more Veterans with both ADL and IADL problems compared to only ADL problems reported food insecurity, missed appointments, low health literacy, and depression. Among Veterans with ADL or IADL problems, 32.3% reported an unmet need for help. Almost a quarter of Veterans with ADL problems reported difficulties performing all eight ADLs (23.9%), and over a quarter of Veterans with IADL problems reported difficulties performing all seven IADLs (31.3%). Conclusions: Our findings show that Veterans are demographically and clinically different based on their hierarchy of impairment and degree of need for help. Identifying the patterns and prevalence of ADL and IADL needs among Veterans provides valuable information to align the Veterans Affairs (VA) programs and services with Veterans’ needs. Full article

The COVID-19 pandemic has had an enormous economic impact on society. One of the little-known links is the impact of the pandemic on corporate social responsibility. The main aim of this research was to compare the situation before and during the pandemic, which allows the assessment of the impact of the pandemic on the rates and ways of implementing CSR in different organizations. A new research model incorporating all CSR dimensions was created to examine the implementation rates through 83 indicators. The findings indicate an overall decrease in CSR activities during the pandemic. Employee and community activities were the most affected. However, the biggest disparities were recorded in the environmental dimension. The originality of the study lies in the development of a novel methodological approach to documenting the CSR involvement in organization and its application to compare the pandemic and post-pandemic levels. By understanding the effects of major adverse events, it is possible to further develop its evolution and combat the barriers that led to a decrease in CSR areas during the pandemic. Full article

While the development of the Empedocles figure in the various versions of Hölderlin’s unfinished tragedy has long been the subject of scholarship, the shifts in his relationships to the women around him have largely gone unnoticed. Yet these changes are anything but subtle: in the Frankfurt Plan, Empedocles is married with children, and his wife plays a significant role in the outline of the plot; in the first draft, Empedocles is unmarried but adored by Panthea, a young Agrigentine woman; in the last draft, the figure of Panthea has been reconfigured as Empedocles’ biological sister. With each successive draft Hölderlin imposed new barriers, the crossing of which would imply sexual transgression or incest, in order to set Empedocles apart from potential sexual or erotic entanglements with the dramatis personae. But at the same time, we observe language suited for erotic settings (and used thus by Hölderlin here and in other works) being displaced to ever new objects throughout the drafts. In other words, while the author as editor of his material successively deleted or prohibited the sexual/erotic relationships of his titular hero, at the same time he allowed this fluidly metonymic, multivalent erotic language to flow, continuously redirected, throughout the entire Empedocles project. With Empedocles’ leap into Mount Etna, we find the culmination of this meandering erotic diction, imagined in the last draft as an hybristic, incestuous union with his divine parents. Full article

By borrowing the metaphor of the ‘tapestry of existence’ to discuss the matter of fate in Homer’s Iliad, we selected four threads that are interwoven in the warp of each hero’s destiny—that of necessity/fatality, the relations between Zeus and the Moîra, the plots and tricks of the gods, and fate and human actions—with the aim of inviting the reader to appreciate the texture of the work with the passages that most caught our attention, without the intention of exhausting the subject. To do so, we draw upon the origin of the word Moîra in anthropology, as well as some of Heidegger’s ideas and those of other commentators to enrich the discussion. Full article

This study examines how large language models reproduce Jungian archetypal patterns in storytelling. Results indicate that AI excels at replicating structured, goal-oriented archetypes (Hero, Wise Old Man), but it struggles with psychologically complex and ambiguous narratives (Shadow, Trickster). Expert evaluations confirmed these patterns, rating AI higher on narrative coherence and thematic alignment than on emotional depth and creative originality. Full article

The Neotropical brown stink bug (NBSB), Euschistus heros, is the most prevalent sucking soybean pest in Brazil, and control of it largely relies on the application of synthetic insecticides such as ethiprole, a phenylpyrazole insecticide targeting GABA-gated chloride channels encoded by the Rdl (resistant to dieldrin) gene. This study monitored 41 NBSB populations collected between 2021 and 2024 and revealed, for the first time, the presence of a mutation, A301S, in NBSB RDL receptors commonly known to confer target-site resistance to channel blockers such as phenylpyrazoles. Laboratory contact bioassays with ethiprole at 150 g a.i./ha (ethiprole label dose) revealed that most populations were quite susceptible, despite rather high resistance allele frequencies in some populations. Genotyping results confirmed that susceptible and A301S heterozygous genotypes largely dominate in frequency compared to homozygous resistant individuals, which exhibited high survivorship (84%) when exposed to discriminating rates of ethiprole in laboratory bioassays, while susceptible and heterozygote individuals showed lower survival rates (13% and 34%, respectively), suggesting an incompletely recessive trait conferring ethiprole resistance. Furthermore, we developed a TaqMan assay for molecular genotyping to monitor the spread of resistance allele frequency and to inform resistance management strategies for sustainable NBSB control using highly effective phenylpyrazole insecticides such as ethiprole. Full article

The fungus Metarhizium anisopliae is under development as a bioinsecticide for Euschistus heros. To further elucidate the effect of this fungus on E. heros behavior, we monitored the feeding activities of adults treated with the fungus at 1 × 10⁸ conidia mL⁻¹ on soybean in the pod-filling stage (R5) through electropenetrography (EPG) AC-DC. We also determined the virulence of M. anisopliae to adults and its damage to soybean seeds. M. anisopliae displayed high levels of virulence to adults even at low concentrations of 5 × 10⁶ conidia mL⁻¹ (98% mortality). E. heros females were more susceptible to M. anisopliae than males, exhibiting a lower LT₅₀ for mycosed adults (7.1 and 9.7 days, respectively). The EPG experiment showed that fungus-treated adults spent significantly less time on probing activities (reduced by 86% at day four and ceased at day five) than untreated insects, and the number of waveform events per insect significantly decreased. This information is valuable for managing stink bugs at the field level, as it shows that even though the insect is alive, its feeding is compromised, consequently minimizing the damage inflicted to the crop. This study paves the way for further research employing entomopathogenic fungi in pest control. Full article

This article is an attempt to analyse how monastic communities are presented in the latest Russian cinematography. It is an issue that has not been well researched so far, because scholars tend to focus primarily on broadly understood religious films. Considering the achievements of the last 25 years, two selected films were analysed in terms of the aforementioned themes, both at the level of visual and verbal representations, as well as at the level of interpretation. In addition, the attitude of the Russian Orthodox Church to individual visions of the artists was taken into account. The research results indicate that one can identify the most popular motifs in films about monastic life. Moreover, the monastery itself most often becomes a place of refuge and at the same time a place of transformation for the heroes. In recent years, the Russian Orthodox Church has had a significant impact on artists’ visions. Full article