Search Results (20)

Among the distressing side effects of cancer treatments, hair loss is one of the most disturbing for the quality of life and adherence to therapy in breast cancer patients. Many patients take nutritional supplements to prevent hair loss or enhance regrowth. Based on their mechanism and timing of use, nutritional supplements could be divided into safe, cautious, debated, and contraindicated categories. Non-contraindicated supplements generally include safe supplements like vitamin D, which is not known to interfere with cancer treatments. Those that are contraindicated include phytoestrogens and compounds affecting estrogen pathways because of the risk of stimulating tumor growth in cancers sensitive to estrogen. Antioxidants like tocotrienols and resveratrol are given judiciously because of potential interference with cancer therapies dependent on reactive oxygen species. Supplements debated, including nicotinamide, folate, and iron, pose a risk by promoting cellular proliferation or altering the tumor microenvironment. Biotin is nontoxic but interferes with blood test results and is thus difficult in cancer monitoring. Evidence regarding nutritional supplements’ safety and efficacy in this context is conflicting. Management by an oncologist is required along with more studies to clearly establish the safety parameters and efficacy guidelines. Full article

The regulation of end-of-life decisions has been the subject of intense debate for years, marked by the challenge of reconciling two fundamental ethical principles: preservation of life and individual self-determination. From a legal perspective, numerous court rulings have outlined an evolving framework, highlighting the difficulty of establishing a regulatory approach that balances constitutional rights with ethical values. This study examines key Italian judicial decisions, with a particular focus on recent Constitutional Court rulings regarding end-of-life issues, and discusses the underlying ethical and humanistic perspectives. We aim to explore the key ethical and legal issues arising in the context of end-of-life regulation. Judicial developments demonstrate an increasing recognition of individual self-determination in accessing assisted suicide despite persisting ongoing ambiguities and regulatory gaps. The end-of-life debate underscores the urgency of moving beyond abstract and schematic approaches, favoring a perspective that integrates multidisciplinary expertise and human sensitivity. Ensuring effective access to palliative care and comprehensive social and healthcare systems is essential to alleviate suffering and provide genuine alternatives to assisted suicide. Full article

The swift expansion of financial technology (FinTech) can substantially improve financial inclusion, especially in the rural regions of emerging nations such as India. FinTech has the potential to drive inclusive growth, reduce inequalities, and foster sustainable economic development. This research examines the determinants affecting the adoption of FinTech services in rural India by synthesizing three theoretical frameworks: The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), and the Technology Readiness Index (TRI). A mixed methods approach that combines partial least squares structured equation modeling (PLS-SEM) and fuzzy set comparative qualitative analysis (fsQCA) was used to evaluate the suggested framework. The integrated PLS-SEM and fsQCA offer a comprehensive, elegant, and resilient method for data analysis. While fsQCA addresses more intricate patterns within the data, PLS-SEM effectively identifies the relationships among significant factors. This makes the mixed method approach more judicious and advantageous than the single method approach. The findings showed that attitude (β = 0.35), perceived behavioral control (β = 0.28) from the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), perceived ease of use (β = 0.31) from the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), and perceived insecurity (β = −0.19) from the Technology Readiness Index (TRI) all have a big impact on how people use FinTech. The findings also indicate that the desire to adopt FinTech positively influences financial inclusion among rural residents. These research findings enhance the debate on sustainable development by demonstrating how specific FinTech interventions can close the financial inclusion gap, empower rural populations, and achieve various Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The study’s findings could help governments, banks, and FinTech firms aiming to enhance the accessibility and use of digital financial services in rural India. Full article

Background: Third-molar extractions are common procedures often complicated by infections and alveolitis. The use of antibiotics as prophylaxis to prevent these complications is debated due to potential risks and side effects. Therefore, the aim of the present systematic review was to determine the efficacy of antibiotic prescription for the prevention of these complications. Methods: A comprehensive literature search was conducted in MEDLINE/PubMed, Cochrane, and SCOPUS databases up until June 2024. The focused question was “Does the antibiotic prescription influence the incidence of postoperative complications following third-molar extractions in healthy patients?” Systematic reviews assessing complications after third-molar extractions were included. Results: A total of 16 studies were included, revealing that antibiotic use significantly reduces infection risk and dry socket incidence compared to no prescription. Amoxicillin–clavulanic acid was particularly effective. Conclusions: Antibiotics, especially amoxicillin–clavulanic acid, are effective in preventing postoperative infections and alveolitis after third-molar extraction. However, their administration should be carefully considered to balance benefits against potential risks. Evidence supports the judicious use of antibiotics in dental surgery to optimize patient outcomes, minimizing possible adverse effects and the risk of developing antibiotic resistance. Full article

This article examines the impact of neoliberal political–economic orientations on urban planning policies through a case study of Ireland’s Strategic Housing Development (SHD) fast-track planning scheme. By evaluating SHD applications from 2017 to 2021, this study assesses the scheme’s effectiveness in housing development in County Dublin and addresses how neoliberal policies affect planning objectives. The findings reveal that, although the SHD scheme expedited planning approvals, it faced significant challenges, including high rates of judicial review and low commencement rates for approved developments. These issues hindered the scheme’s capacity to address housing shortages effectively. The research highlights that market-driven policies often shape urban development patterns in ways that misalign with policy goals, potentially compromising social equity and long-term sustainability. By exploring the tensions between planning efficiency, industry interests, and broader policy objectives, this study contributes to ongoing debates about the role of neoliberalism in urban planning. It concludes by advocating for a more integrated approach to urban governance—one that balances economic imperatives with social and environmental priorities to promote sustainable and equitable development. Full article

Within the European socio-cultural landscape, which is increasingly attuned to animal welfare concerns and characterized by growing multiculturalism, ritual slaughter has become a subject of considerable debate due to its legal, economic, and health implications. This debate is increasingly fueled by interventions by judicial bodies that, not infrequently, have filled protection gaps in legislation on the relationship between human rights and the treatment of animals. In this review, the authors aim to describe the evolutionary path of supranational jurisprudence in the case of religious slaughter, focusing on the most recent animal welfare decision rendered by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on 13 February 2024. This innovative judgement, in line with other precedents, indicates the orientation of the international and European law, which, driven by public morality, is increasingly characterized by the compression of human rights in favor of animal interests. Full article

Religious education (RE) is frequently a topic of intense political debate and a focal point of party politics in the Greek context. This article presents the latest chapter in political contestation over the teaching of religion in Greek public schools, one which entails a new dimension—that of intense judicialization. Since 2015, the issue of religious education in Greek public schools has been the subject of multiple court cases addressed by the Greek high court, the Council of State, with one case addressed by and one case pending before the European Court of Human Rights. Beyond teasing out links between Greek Orthodoxy and nationalism underpinning each of these cases, this article also seeks to locate this example of judicialization of politics and religion in a broader theoretical context. It engages with another phenomenon at play in the Greek case as in many other cases globally, the culturalization of religion. Through the example of the Greek legal battles over religious education, we see how the judicialization of a particular political question on religion (policy on RE) rests on a culturalization of religion, which, in the legal domain, entails a rebranding of ‘religion’ as ‘culture’ so as to protect ‘religion’ from limitations placed on it by expectations of liberal state neutrality. The inherent difficulties in defining religion and culture, both individually and in relation to one another, are fundamental to both the theoretical and the practical, socio-legal challenges arising from such developments. Full article

During the first half of the 17th century, the Goa Inquisition increased its focus on religious offences committed by the so-called Cristãos da Terra (local Christianized populations). Many of these perceived offences occurred in connection with rituals, practices and behaviours stemming from Asian cultural and religious settings, leading the inquisitors in Goa to assess a variety of external features and performances (“signs”) in order to determine the seriousness of the offence and the penalty to impose. While these actions were primarily labelled as “idolatry”, during the 1620s, inquisitorial personnel in Goa suddenly adopted a new designation—that of “gentilidade”—to refer to a type of offence that involved apostasy from Catholicism in favour of the “Law of the Gentiles.” In this paper, I will analyse the context that led to this epistemic change in labelling religious offences, while also comparing the extant Goa Inquisition trials and summaries with later catalogues of cases where offences first began to be designated as “gentilidade.” I will argue that during the 1620s such changes in classifying religious offences were the outcome of a debate that, even though it was external to the Goa Inquisition, incidentally questioned some of its procedures and prompted its inquisitors and prosecutor to repurpose an already existing term into a broad category denoting heresy and apostasy, thus reinforcing the legitimacy of the tribunal’s judicial practices. Full article

There are two options for environmental tort remedy in China: resorting to environmental administration or environmental justice, with an ongoing debate over which of the two should lead. Firstly, it compares the structure of China’s environmental tort remedy system and the two types of power: administrative power and judicial power, concluding that administrative power is dominant. Then, it argues for the indispensability of judicial power, attempts to find a clear boundary between the two sides, and justifies their mutual division of labor and collaboration. Through sufficient demonstration, it clarifies why the dominant position of environmental administrative power must be guaranteed. Then, it summarizes the experience of other countries and the practice of environmental protection in China; and provides three innovative paths of the future environmental rights remedy system. These three aspects are setting up a review procedure for administrative priority judgment before filing an environmental lawsuit, establishing the independent position of experts in environmental litigation, advocating a risk communication mechanism other than litigation, and providing a richer institutional guarantee for the relief of environmental rights. Full article

This essay aims to reveal the relationship between sophistry and law in a twofold direction: on one side, how the development of ancient Greek law influenced sophistry’s production, and on the other, how and to what extent the knowledge and skills developed by sophists contributed to the development of legal expertise in classical Athens. The essay will initially focus on the historiographical category of the sophists to identify a line that connects these intellectuals to the new vision of society, the democratic polis, and the community that presides over legal and judicial life. This section will show that we can indeed speak of a “sophistic movement” in light of the structuring role of antilogies (antilogiae, or antithetical arguments) in forensic rhetoric. The rest of the essay will examine, from a theoretical point of view, sophistic methods of argument that contributed to the development of ancient Greek law. Touching on the issues of opposition, the debate, the reductio ad absurdum, and the principle of non-contradiction, the essay will highlight the relevance of sophistic thought to the judicial field and, more generally, the legal arena, in ancient Athens, so much so that one can think of the sophists as advocates of a particular legal culture. Full article

In the framework of the process of secularization of civil society, the institution of marriage has traditionally been at the crossroads between religious and secular law, and it gives the opportunity to investigate whether and to what degree a religious law can develop when it interacts with a secular juridical context without weakening its identity. The Italian lawmaker has traditionally adopted a “benevolent secularism” approach, trying to balance new social expectations with the Catholic idea of marriage. The above-mentioned approach has resulted in aligning with the mainstream opinions in Italian society, which are consistent with the guidelines of the Catholic Church. Indeed, in Italy, the Catholic Church, which considers marriage as a sacred unbreakable bond between a man and a woman, has often had an open and incisive influence on legislative policy choices. Since 1970, there has a been a gradual erosion of Catholic influence on public policies. New statutes and judicial rulings concerning such issue have emphasized a sharp ideological and political polarization between two opposite ethical narratives: the secular and the religious/Catholic one. Catholic tenets are no more able to influence political democratic processes. In the last fifty years, Italian legislation has followed a more progressive direction with regard to the issue of marriage, taking distances from the Catholic model. The Italian legal system has also started to face controversial issues, such as the status of same-sex unions, recognizing broader rights with a view to guaranteeing the coexistence of multiple views about marriage. Thus, the Catholic Church is challenged by new paradigms and is undergoing deep internal tensions and transitions. The present paper aims to focus on some new challenges, with regard to the status of divorcees who married again, unmarried couples, and same-sex couples in canon law. In the framework of the debate concerning the role and the reformability of religious laws, it will take into consideration new pontifical approaches. Full article

Perihilar cholangiocarcinoma is a rare hepatobiliary malignancy that requires thoughtful, multidisciplinary evaluation in the preoperative setting to ensure optimal patient outcomes. Comprehensive preoperative imaging, including multiphase CT angiography and some form of cholangiographic assessment, is key to assessing resectability. While many staging systems exist, the Blumgart staging system provides the most useful combination of resectability assessment and prognostic information for use in the preoperative setting. Once resectability is confirmed, volumetric analysis should be performed. Upfront resection without biliary drainage or portal venous embolization may be considered in patients without cholangitis and an estimated functional liver remnant (FLR) > 40%. In patients with FLR < 40%, judicious use of biliary drainage is advised, with the goal of selective biliary drainage of the functional liver remnant. Percutaneous biliary drainage may avoid inadvertent contamination of the contralateral biliary tree and associated infectious complications, though the relative effectiveness of percutaneous and endoscopic techniques is an ongoing area of study and debate. Patients with low FLR also require intervention to induce hypertrophy, most commonly portal venous embolization, in an effort to reduce the rate of postoperative liver failure. Even with extensive preoperative workup, many patients will be found to have metastatic disease at exploration and diagnostic laparoscopy may reduce the rate of non-therapeutic laparotomy. Management of perihilar cholangiocarcinoma continues to evolve, with ongoing efforts to improve preoperative liver hypertrophy and to further define the role of transplantation in disease management. Full article

By means of a paradigmatic investigation of the subjective, interior side of mysticism, this article intends to contribute to the methodological debate within religious studies. By tracing the possibilities of empirical access to their limit, it will be shown that the study of religion cannot possibly do without recourse to a phenomenological mode of access of its material and without philosophical reflection on its significance if it wants to do full justice to its distinctive object of research in its most essential features. The holistic approach urged here, requires, as its constitutive basis, an integrative methodology, one that is in principle able to combine all fruitful lines of inquiry in a methodically differentiated and reflexively judicious manner and, thus, to allow each of the complementary ways of looking to have their own legitimacy respected as they unfold their specific questions. Seeking a robust support for the methodological pluralism of an integral study of religion, which will keep it from succumbing to the empiricist reductionism of the cultural studies perspective, I propose that a transcendental philosophical method should be considered as a basis. Furthermore, this empowers a critical expansion and deepening of new approaches to the phenomenology of religion and a constructive interaction with the intercultural philosophy of religion. Full article

The precautionary principle has been implemented in many fields including environment protection, biological diversity, and climate change. In the field of international nuclear safety regulation, the implementation of this principle is in an ongoing process. Since Japan declared to discharge Fukushima nuclear waste water into the ocean, the precautionary principle was put on the stage, and some debates are invoked on it. As is observed by this article, the precautionary principle has not been effectively implemented in nuclear safety regulation, specifically in nuclear safety law making, law enforcement, and judicial application. The reasons can be found from two main challenges: indeterminacy of perceived risk level required to justify precautionary action and hard balance of national interest and community interest in nuclear safety. In a long-term perspective, the framework of international nuclear safety regulation has to respond to these challenges, both by clarifying the precautionary principle in legal binding nuclear safety documents and moving towards a more transparent, fair, and effective enforcement regime in order to promote safer, more sustainable, and efficient civilian nuclear utilization around the world. Full article

Debates about judicial review and departmentalism have continued to rage, and in the wake of the last three Supreme Court appointments and current Presidential Commission on the Court, only look to intensify. Should the US adopt a notwithstanding or override provision, of the kind that exits in Canada and Israel? These countries take a departmentalist approach to allow the legislature to override the Court, “notwithstanding” its ruling. Although America is a presidential framework, a paradox emerges: evidence exists that its system already makes possible the equivalent of a notwithstanding clause. This consists of Congress and the President together “overruling” the Supreme Court. In another sense, however, this is not an accepted practice—large parts of the legal community hold that the US Constitution establishes judicial supremacy. To better understand this dynamic, we consider two kinds of power: formal and authorized (potestas) as well as direct and concrete (potentia). The contrast between the positions on both power and sovereignty of Thomas Hobbes (associated with potestas) and Baruch Spinoza (linked to potentia) helps clarify these issues in a contemporary context. It turns out that a robust departmentalist equivalent of the notwithstanding clause already exists in the US, as a matter of Hobbesian potestas but not of Spinozist potentia. Another term for the latter is pouvoir constituant. Spinoza’s perspective on political activity further clarifies the in-between nature of the American override capacity: the active or passive character of a multitude is not binary, but is a matter of degree. Without making an institutional recommendation, we note that Spinoza’s understanding of power also allows for dynamic interaction between potentia and potestas: formal authorization can contribute to the expression of direct power. It is, therefore, conceivable that additional codification of the existing American override capacity, either through a joint declaration of Congress and the Presidency or a Constitutional Amendment, can strengthen the effective sovereignty of the American people in relation to the courts. Full article