Donald Trump did not win the 2020 election, but asserting that he did became a prerequisite for Republicans standing for nomination to Congress or the Senate to win their primaries. An entire party became a vehicle for disinformation.1 Trump did win the 2024 presidential election, and key to that victory was building on the success of that lie. If you control enough of the information ecosystem, truth no longer matters.Another telling example: Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, are not eating cats and dogs. US vice president elect, JD Vance, the source of that claim, admitted as much even as he justified it. “If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that’s what I'm going to do,” he said.2Disinformation in politics is nothing new. History is replete with claims that were fabricated to advance political aims. Although...

Terminally ill adults in England and Wales who are expected to die within six months would be able to get help to end their lives if their applications were approved by two doctors and a High Court judge, under proposed new legislation.1Labour MP Kim Leadbeater, who proposed the bill, said it provided the “strictest safeguards anywhere in the world.” The law would apply only to people who have full mental capacity and are terminally ill. Mental illness and disability are both excluded as eligibility criteria, and a person would need to declare twice in writing that they wanted to be helped to die.A person who wished to end their life would have to administer the medication themselves. It will remain illegal for a doctor or anybody else to end a person’s life. No doctor will be obliged to participate in any part of the process.The bill would also make it...

bmj;387/nov12_10/q2481/FAF1faJulia and Malcolm Donaldsondonaldson20241111.f1Malcolm Donaldson was a distinguished paediatric endocrinologist with a string of research publications to his name—but he was also happy to play second fiddle (almost literally) to his wife Julia, the celebrated author of much loved children’s books, including The Gruffalo and Room on the Broom.Malcolm, a talented musician and performer, accompanied his wife as she toured festivals, schools, and libraries in the UK and around the world. Together they performed the stories, with Malcolm acting characters ranging from an accident prone dragon to a comic cattle thief. His star role, in the words of Julia’s literary agent, was “a particularly suave fox” in The Gruffalo.Malcolm met Julia Shields when they were students at the University of Bristol and they married in 1972. Donaldson went on to work in Brighton, London, and Lyon, France, before moving back to Bristol to be a senior registrar in paediatrics. Six...

At one of my first meetings as an elected council member of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, we approved a report called Access All Ages. It encouraged less ageist thinking and bias among healthcare staff that might lead to them denying older people surgery.1 But sometimes an operation isn’t the best option. Among patients who have surgery, 14% express regret and 15% experience complications, which are at least four times as likely if they’re frail or physically inactive.2 The Centre for Perioperative Care has published information on the importance of exercise before surgery,3 but that alone may not be enough.We need shared decision making,4 including asking patients what matters to them. The public should be primed to ask about BRAN—the benefits, risks, and alternatives to surgery and the likely result from doing nothing.4 A slew of data supports this approach, especially from the POPS initiative (Perioperative Care of...

Endogenous reprogramming of glia into neurogenic progenitors holds great promise for neuron restoration therapies. Using lessons from regenerative species, we have developed strategies to stimulate mammalian Müller glia to regenerate neurons in vivo in the adult retina. We have demonstrated that the transcription factor Ascl1 can stimulate Müller glia neurogenesis. However, Ascl1 is only able to reprogram a subset of Müller glia into neurons. We have reported that neuroinflammation from microglia inhibits neurogenesis from Müller glia. Here we found that the peripheral immune response is a barrier to CNS regeneration. We show that monocytes from the peripheral immune system infiltrate the injured retina and negatively influence neurogenesis from Müller glia. Using CCR2 knock-out mice of both sexes, we found that preventing monocyte infiltration improves the neurogenic and proliferative capacity of Müller glia stimulated by Ascl1. Using scRNA-seq analysis, we identified a signaling axis wherein Osteopontin, a cytokine highly expressed by infiltrating immune cells is sufficient to suppress mammalian neurogenesis. This work implicates the response of the peripheral immune system as a barrier to regenerative strategies of the retina.

Peripheral taste neurons exhibit functional, genetic, and morphological diversity, yet understanding how or if these attributes combine into taste neuron types remains unclear. In this study, we used male and female mice to relate taste bud innervation patterns to the function of a subset of proenkephalin-expressing (Penk+) taste neurons. We found that taste arbors (the portion of the axon within the taste bud) stemming from Penk+ neurons displayed diverse branching patterns and lacked stereotypical endings. The range in complexity observed for individual taste arbors from Penk+ neurons mirrored the entire population, suggesting that taste arbor morphologies are not primarily regulated by the neuron type. Notably, the distinguishing feature of arbors from Penk+ neurons was their propensity to come within 110 nm (in apposition with) different types of taste-transducing cells within the taste bud. This finding is contrary to the expectation of genetically defined taste neuron types that functionally represent a single stimulus. Consistently, further investigation of Penk+ neuron function revealed that they are more likely to respond to innately aversive stimuli—sour, bitter, and high salt concentrations—as compared with the full taste population. Penk+ neurons are less likely to respond to nonaversive stimuli—sucrose, umami, and low salt—compared with the full population. Our data support the presence of a genetically defined neuron type in the geniculate ganglion that is responsive to innately aversive stimuli. This implies that genetic expression might categorize peripheral taste neurons into hedonic groups, rather than simply identifying neurons that respond to a single stimulus.

The prefrontal cortex is critical for decision-making across species, with its activity linked to choosing between options. Drift diffusion models (DDMs) are commonly employed to understand the neural computations underlying this behavior. Studies exploring the specific roles of regions of the rodent prefrontal cortex in controlling the decision process are limited. This study explored the role of the prelimbic cortex (PLC) in decision-making using a two-alternative forced-choice task. Rats first learned to report the location of a lateralized visual stimulus. The brightness of the stimulus indicated its reward value. Then, the rats learned to make choices between pairs of stimuli. Sex differences in learning were observed, with females responding faster and more selectively to high-value stimuli than males. DDM analysis found that males had decreased decision thresholds during initial learning, whereas females maintained a consistently higher drift rate. Pharmacological manipulations revealed that PLC inactivation reduced the decision threshold for all rats, indicating that less information was needed to make a choice in the absence of normal PLC processing. μ-Opioid receptor stimulation of the PLC had the opposite effect, raising the decision threshold and reducing bias in the decision process toward high-value stimuli. These effects were observed without any impact on the rats’ choice preferences. Our findings suggest that PLC has an inhibitory role in the decision process and regulates the amount of evidence that is required to make a choice. That is, PLC activity controls "when," but not "how," to act.

The extent to which neural representations of fear experience depend on or generalize across the situational context has remained unclear. We systematically manipulated variation within and across three distinct fear-evocative situations including fear of heights, spiders, and social threats. Participants (n = 21; 10 females and 11 males) viewed ~20 s clips depicting spiders, heights, or social encounters and rated fear after each video. Searchlight multivoxel pattern analysis was used to identify whether and which brain regions carry information that predicts fear experience and the degree to which the fear-predictive neural codes in these areas depend on or generalize across the situations. The overwhelming majority of brain regions carrying information about fear did so in a situation-dependent manner. These findings suggest that local neural representations of fear experience are unlikely to involve a singular pattern but rather a collection of multiple heterogeneous brain states.

Engage, OM South Africa’s bi-annual conference, provides a challenge and a channel for joining missions with OM.

Participants of a poverty simulation activity hosted by AIDSLink International discover that it’s very different to minister to the poor than to be the poor.

In July, an OM team of artists will use their creative gifts to share about the Creator at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown.

Missions Discipleship Training in South Africa is not a wasted six months--it's a springboard into your calling, preparing and equipping you for the real deal.

After leading AIDS Hope for the past 11 years, Nico and Alma hand over the leadership of Meetse a Bophelo centre in Mamelodi.

OM has trained thousands of young people into a stronger relationship with Christ and prepared them for the mission field.

An Australian working with OM Russia shares about seeing God work in the lives of the students of OM Russia’s Discipleship Centre.

Twenty students graduate OM Russia’s Discipleship programme with a heart for missions.

OM Russia’s Student Christian Centre, in partnership with the local Evangelical Church, reaches universities in Novosibirsk. The project leader shares about plans for this year.

Dorothea, from Germany, joins the one-year programme with OM Russia, which includes visiting Siberian villages to help churches and sharing the Gospel with locals.

OM Russia's short-term outreach team travels across Russia sharing about Christ with as many travellers as possible.

OM Russia works to bring hope to neighbours affected by HIV and AIDS.

How OM Founder George Verwer's visit to Siberia impacted local churches.

OM Russia and partner organisations work to thwart two killers picking off the younger generation in Russia: drugs and HIV and AIDS.

A young couple who met on the Internet answers God’s call to missions to help others find Christ using their IT and web design skills.

OM Russia leader Colin Cleaver discusses why he values the involvement of families in OM Russia’s ministry and encourages other families to consider missions.

A team member from the USA who participated in a short-term trip on the Trans-Siberian railroad across Russia shares her experience.

A group of Russians participates in an OM Moldova summer outreach for children.

A shepherd from a Muslim background comes to Jesus thanks to a goat ministry started by OM Mozambique.

"...if they don’t believe you, you have to keep on talking and talking and talking until it gets stuck in their head," said Lansipe.

A Christian teacher shares from the Bible with her Muslim headmaster in Turkey.

An OM team in Coventry, UK, meets an 80-year-old woman who becomes an acquaintance, then a friend and then a sister in Christ.

A small Black Country, UK, church were blessed by the efforts of five young missionaries from different parts of the world.

When Rev Graham Clay, Pastor of Stratford-Upon-Avon Baptist Church, decided to have an OM ministry team work with his church, he didn’t hesitate to take action.

Dominic Notegen, a 27-year-old English Language Community Outreach student at OM Lifehope, feels called to spread the Gospel.

OM Lifehope coordinates the Transit Challenge, sending out teams all over Europe to love, serve and proclaim Christ.

An OM ministry team in the UK has been reaching out to Iranian and Afghan refugees since May 2012 and praying for growth.

At Manna House, in the Greater London Area, guests from all over the world come for accommodation and a place to rest.

The Kid's 'n' Things team visited two churches to run five-day long holiday clubs, with the theme of “Lionheart and the Great Wild West Adventure”.

Meet one woman who serves God as the only community health worker for over 2,000 people in six remote villages of Zambia.

A young man with a disability finds help at Mercy House and his grandmother finds a way to serve.

Rachel's personal transformation through Jesus inspires her to serve the women in her community.

Many Albanian couples are in crisis in their marriages and life situations in Greece. Prayer is really appreciated for these couples as well as for the people who try to help these couples in their struggles!

In 2008, the Greek Evangelical Church in Athens opened a community centre, in a suburb where many Albanians live. OM worker Martha describes how she and other staff are reaching out with God's love to local young people.

Beneath the scenes of turmoil in Greece, one OMer sees a different crisis altogether – and for the same reason, an opportunity for the gospel.

In an interview with OM Greece’s country leader, Kees den Toom (Netherlands), we learn about the current situation in Greece and OM’s response to it.

OM's Gabby Markus shares how his team is working with a local church to help people facing economic crisis.

How OM is partnering with Greek churches to address the growing immigrant and trafficking situation

A long-term worker overseeing refugee relief work on Lesbos describes the people he’s met on the island, the chances he’s had to share his faith and how God has shown up during the crisis.

Europe short-term mission coordinators gather in Sibiu, Romania, to increase vision, gain training and share resources for greater impact in Europe.