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The impact of green credit guidelines on green lending and environmental outcomes: Evidence from Chinese banks
Full text linkIn line with global trends, China introduced the Green Credit Guidelines (GCGs) in 2012 to promote green lending and advance environmental protection. This study shifts the analytical focus from borrowing firms, the primary subject of prior research, to lending institutions and examines how banks have responded to the GCGs. Using panel data from 34 A-share listed Chinese banks between 2008 and 2020, we find a general increase in green lending following the implementation of the GCGs. However, this growth is predominantly driven by state-controlled banks, suggesting that institutional constraints limit broader industry uptake. Further analysis reveals that state-controlled banks benefit financially from green lending post-GCGs and the regions with better GCG implementation experience a decrease in pollution emission levels. Our findings support both institutional theory and relationship banking theory, highlighting the perspectives of the lending institutions and the shortcomings of the current GCGs. To enhance the effectiveness of GCGs, we recommend that the GCGs be supplemented with mechanisms that promote practices across the banking sector
Exploring Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) in youth mental health: reflections from researchers and young people
No full textBackgroundResponsible Research and Innovation (RRI) promotes inclusive, anticipatory, and reflexive research practices that respond to societal needs. While widely applied in technological fields, its application in youth mental health remains limited. This study aimed to explore how RRI principles are understood and enacted within a large interdisciplinary programme on digital youth mental health in the United Kingdom, focusing on the perspectives of both researchers and young people.MethodsAn online survey was conducted with 21 researchers and 5 young people (mean age = 21 years, standard deviation = 2.74) involved in the programme. The survey included open-ended questions exploring knowledge, attitudes, and practices related to RRI and youth mental health. Responses were analysed using Reflexive Thematic Analysis to identify patterns of meaning across the dataset and to generate themes.ResultsSix themes were developed, reflecting participants’ knowledge, attitudes, and practices. Both researchers and young people conceptualised youth mental health as multifaceted, shaped by personal, social, and cultural factors, and existing along a continuum from flourishing to struggling. Young people highlighted digital harms and economic precarity, while researchers emphasised biopsychosocial determinants, offering complementary perspectives. Involving young people was seen as essential for challenging adult assumptions, improving clarity and relevance of tools, and strengthening ethical integrity. Barriers included communication gaps, entrenched hierarchies, inconsistent involvement, and the resource-intensive nature of participation. Key facilitators included mutual respect, care, flexibility, and procedural structures such as youth co-chairs (i.e., a young person co-leading the project/grant with the principal investigator/s) and regular collaborative meetings. Together, these elements demonstrated how RRI values can be embedded to foster meaningful and equitable youth–researcher partnerships.ConclusionsThis study shows that applying RRI in youth mental health research enhances co-production by integrating diverse perspectives, addressing ethical concerns, and strengthening the quality and social relevance of research. To fully realise this potential, RRI must be embedded as an ongoing practice supported by intentional infrastructures, such as youth leadership roles, communication training, and opportunities for intergenerational dialogue. Crucially, funders must recognise and resource the relational, iterative, and time-intensive nature of responsible youth involvement. Embedding RRI in this field provides a valuable framework for moving beyond tokenistic consultation towards inclusive, future-oriented, and ethically grounded research
Evaluating the effect of probiotics on severe necrotising enterocolitis in preterm infants born before 32 weeks gestation in England and Wales: a propensity-matched population study
Full text linkBackground: Necrotising enterocolitis (NEC) remains an important cause of morbidity and mortality in preterm infants. This study aimed to examine whether probiotics reduce the risk of severe NEC and other key neonatal morbidities including late onset sepsis and mortality. Methods: Retrospective study using the United Kingdom National Neonatal Research Database. Infants <32 weeks gestation in England and Wales (01/01/2016–31/12/2022) were included if alive on day four, without major congenital anomaly. A propensity score matched approach was applied matching for gestational age cohorts, birth year epochs and 17 further items. Comparators were infants who were exposed or not to probiotics within 14 days. Primary outcome was severe NEC (confirmed at laparotomy or postmortem or listed primary cause of death). Parent focus groups and former NICU patients supported this study but did not contribute to design or writing. Findings: 48,048 infants (45.2% (21,695/48,048) female), median gestational age 29.4 weeks (IQR 27.4–30.9) were included; 25.3% (12,161/48,048) were exposed to at least one of five available probiotics. 3.6% (1728/48,048) had severe NEC. Of 16,586 infants (8293 exposed and 8293 unexposed) in the propensity-matched analysis, incidence and odds ratios (OR) (95% CI) for exposed versus unexposed for severe NEC was 3.3% versus 4.2%, OR 0.80 (0.72–0.89); other definitions of NEC yielded similar results. Incidence for late onset sepsis (10.8% versus 11.5%, OR 0.94 (0.90–0.97)) and survival to discharge (96.6% versus 94.2%, OR 1.76 (1.65–1.88)). In infants <28 weeks gestation, severe NEC (8.7% versus 9.8%, OR 0.88 (0.82–0.93) and for ≥28 weeks (1.0% versus 1.7%, OR 0.59 (0.47–0.73). Interpretation: Probiotics were associated with a reduction in severe NEC including in those <28 weeks gestation. We currently recommend neonatal units not already using probiotics, to consider the introduction of products meeting appropriate recommendations, in the context of their local morbidity rates
The development of the legend to the Provisional Soil Map of East Africa as a case study in colonial soil science
Full text linkThe Provisional Soil Map of East Africa (PSMEA), published in 1936, was produced by soil scientists in what were then British East African territories. It was an innovative contribution to soil mapping, summarising available information and communicating its incomplete and patchy distribution to the user. In this paper we examine the emergence of the map legend, using proceedings from two key meetings convened for East African soil chemists in 1932 and 1934, and associated correspondence, notes and publications. We consider the international context of the map's production, focusing on attempts to coordinate the efforts of colonial soil scientists in Britain's African territories, and the emergence of an international agenda to map soils at global scale in the aftermath of the formation of the International Soil Science Society (ISSS) (now International Union of Soil Sciences). We examine evidence for the attitudes to indigenous soil knowledge among colonial scientists at the time, showing how this perspective was marginalised, even though it underpinned research in Zambia. We show how, contrary to common assumptions about colonial science, the network behind the East African map was connected to international deliberations on soil survey and made innovative contributions while critiquing proposals from key international experts. We also show the importance of exchange of ideas between the East African team and Colin G. Trapnell, in Zambia. We then outline the later influence of the East African map, and its connections to D'Hoore's Soil Map of Africa
White matter resection and verbal memory deficits after temporal lobe epilepsy surgery
Full text linkTemporal lobe resection for focal, drug-resistant temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) causes verbal memory deficits in 30% of left hemisphere-operated patients. Structural, functional and computational modelling have shown a widespread structural and functional memory network with hubs in critical brain regions including the hippocampus, subcortical and neocortical regions. We hypothesized that damage to white matter pathways forming a network involving cortical and subcortical regions may be responsible for postoperative memory problems. In this study, we measured verbal memory encoding (immediate recall) and retrieval (delayed recall) outcome at three timepoints (preoperative, 3- and 12-month postoperatively) in 146 left TLE patients who underwent temporal lobe surgery and evaluated the impact of white matter tract section on verbal memory. Outcome was measured by the change in scores from preoperative to 3- and 12-month postoperatively and via the reliable change index. Utilizing resection masks from pre- and postoperative T1 scans, an atlas-based analysis utilizing reconstructions of the ventral cingulum and fornix confirmed these tracts involvement in verbal encoding but not retrieval. Using preoperative diffusion MRI (dMRI) reconstructions with resection masks to estimate the percentage of fibre bundle transection, we found that the ventral cingulum was significantly related to verbal encoding change and the fornix was related to verbal retrieval across both 3- and 12-month timepoints. Investigating volumes of ventral cingulum and fornix from postoperative dMRI reconstruction revealed that greater volume remaining of the ventral cingulum and fornix was related to less decline in verbal encoding but not retrieval. Our results suggest that verbal encoding may be supported by direct and indirect connections between the medial temporal lobe and subcortical regions with memory deficits arising from their transection. Verbal retrieval may rely on a greater neocortical network. These findings may inform a revised surgical approach to minimize damage to the fornix and ventral cingulum to optimize memory outcome, but recognizing the potential for worse seizure outcome with less ventral cingulum resections
Sex associated biomarker differences in Chronic Kidney Disease progression and mortality
Full text linkBackground Males with chronic kidney disease (CKD) experience worse outcomes than females, a difference not fully explain ed by comorbidities or sociocultural factors. We explored whether sex-based differences in biomarkers could account for this difference in risk. Methods Our study included 1,680 male and 1,204 female participants with non-dialysis-dependent CKD and 84 controls from NURTuRE-CKD, a prospective multicentre cohort study. Twenty-one biomarkers relating to kidney injury and fibrosis, inflammation, and cardiovascular stress were measured. Outcomes were kidney failure (estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) <15 ml/min/1.73 m² or kidney replacement therapy) and all-cause mortality. Multivariable Cox and Fine and Gray models assessed outcomes by sex. ANCOVA compared biomarker values between males and females adjusted for eGFR and urine albumin to creatinine ratio (UACR). Results Sex differences in biomarker concentrations were observed in both controls and CKD participants. In male controls, higher levels of urinary Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor, Tissue Inhibitor of Metalloproteinases-1 and blood Neutrophil Gelatinase-Associated Lipocalin, soluble Cluster of Differentiation 40, soluble Cluster of Differentiation 40 Ligand, soluble Tumour Necrosis Factor Receptor 1, Monocyte Chemoattractant Protein-1, and High-Sensitivity Cardiac Troponin T were observed. In males with CKD, additionally higher levels of urine Collagen Type I Alpha 1, blood Kidney Injury Molecule-1, Growth Differentiation Factor-15, and N-terminal pro-B-type Natriuretic Peptide. were noted, while females with CKD showed higher urinary Osteoactivin, KIM-1, Matrix Metalloproteinase-9 and blood Fibroblast Growth Factor-23, concentrations. In Cox proportional hazards models adjusted for demographics, kidney function, comorbidities, social factors, and medications, male sex was associated with a higher risk of kidney failure (hazard ratio (HR) 1.28, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.09–1.50) and mortality (HR 1.29, 95% CI: 1.05–1.60). Male sex was no longer associated with higher risk after adjustment for biomarker differences, kidney failure (HR 1.18, 95% CI: 0.97, 1.43) and mortality (HR 1.17, 95% CI: 0.98, 1.58). Conclusions Male sex was associated with a higher risk of kidney failure and mortality, despite adjustment for demographic, clinical, and treatment factors. Males had higher levels of inflammatory and extracellular matrix deposition biomarkers. In contrast, females showed higher levels of matrix turnover and degradation markers. After adjustment for these biomarker differences, the elevated risk associated with male sex was eliminated, suggesting a biological basis for the observed sex difference in outcomes
IHPE Position Statement: Mental Health at Work
Full text linkMental health at work is a major public health challenge with significant social, economic and equity implications. Globally, depression and anxiety are among the leading causes of disability, accounting for an estimated 12 billion working days lost each year and costing the global economy approximately US$1 trillion annually in lost productivity (WHO, 2022; WHO, 2024). Prior to the COVID- 19 pandemic, around 15% of working-age adults were estimated to be living with mental ill-health, with many attributing poor mental health to past or present working conditions (WHO, 2022). In the UK, mental ill-health is now one of the leading causes of sickness absence, presenteeism and labour market inactivity (ONS, 2023; Hassard et al., 2023). This is part of a broader global trend, with international policy bodies and research evidence highlighting rising rates of mental ill-health worldwide. The pandemic and subsequent changes in working patterns have further intensified psychosocial risks, including work intensification, job insecurity, isolation and poor work-life boundaries. These risks are unevenly distributed, disproportionately affecting people in deprived communities, those in insecure or low-paid work, disabled people, and workers facing discrimination related to ethnicity, gender or other protected characteristics. Work is a key social determinant of health. As such, promoting mental health at work aligns directly with IHPE’s commitment to reducing health inequalities, advancing social justice, and supporting health across the life course (Watson et al., 2021). Mental health at work must therefore be understood not solely as an individual issue, but as a collective responsibility shaped by organisational practices, leadership, job design, and wider policy contexts
Investigating the link between sleep quality and belief in conspiracy theories
Full text linkTwo studies examined the link between sleep quality and conspiracy theory beliefs, as well as the underlying mechanisms. In Study 1 (n = 540), participants with poorer sleep quality over the past month reported higher conspiracy beliefs about the 2019 Notre Dame fire when exposed to Notre Dame fire conspiracy theories compared to non-conspiracy information. Study 2 (n = 575) investigated the underlying psychological mechanisms connecting poor sleep quality with increased conspiracy beliefs and whether insomnia shows a similar pattern. We found that poorer sleep quality and insomnia were positively correlated with conspiracy theory beliefs – conspiracy mentality and belief in specific conspiracy theories. A consistent indirect effect through depression was uncovered, although there were inconsistent indirect relationships between both sleep quality and insomnia with conspiracy beliefs for anger and paranoia. These findings suggest that improving sleep quality could reduce susceptibility to conspiracy theories, highlighting the need for sleep-focussed interventions
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