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  • Can lifestyle changes reduce risk?

    Can lifestyle changes reduce risk?

    Image: © Alessandro Biascioli | iStock

    Although age is a risk factor, there are other modifiable factors that can influence dementia risk and disease progression. Angela Bradshaw, the Director for Research at Alzheimer Europe, emphasises the need for more comprehensive interventions across multiple areas to support dementia prevention

    Over 20% of the EU population is currently aged 65 or older (Eurostat, 2024). With an aging population in Europe, dementia is becoming one of the region’s most pressing public health concerns. In 2019, Alzheimer Europe estimated that approximately nine million people were living with dementia across the continent. By 2050, this number is projected to nearly double to 19 million. Globally, the figure stands at over 55 million.

    While age is the greatest known risk factor for developing dementia, dementia is not a normal part of aging. Dementia is a progressive, neurodegenerative condition, with symptoms including memory loss, confusion, problems with language and understanding, and changes in behaviour. Dementia also has wider impacts on families, caregivers, health and social care systems: the annual cost of care for a person with dementia in Europe ranges from €8,000 to €70,000 (Jonsson et al, 2023). There is an urgent need for actions to ensure people affected by dementia can access the care, treatment and support they need to live a life with meaning and dignity.

    Alongside improving care and support for those already affected by dementia, there is growing interest in the possibility of preventing, delaying or slowing dementia.

    The scientific case for risk reduction

    Only around 2% of people with Alzheimer’s disease, the most common cause of dementia, develop the disease due to inherited genetic mutations. Growing evidence indicates that lifestyle, environmental, and social factors may play a causative role. According to the 2024 Lancet Commission on Dementia Prevention, Intervention and Care, up to 45% of future dementia cases could potentially be prevented by addressing 14 key risk factors across the life course (Livingston et al., 2024). These include hypertension, hearing loss, low education, social isolation, air pollution, obesity, smoking, depression, diabetes, high cholesterol and untreated late-life vision loss.

    When the report was published, Jean Georges, Executive Director of Alzheimer Europe, stated: “Alzheimer Europe welcomes this updated report and the hopeful message that nearly half of all future dementia cases could potentially be prevented. The organisation calls on national governments to include these findings in their local public health and risk reduction campaigns. As some of the risk factors originate at the societal level, large-scale policy changes are necessary to seize the full potential of risk mitigation and prevention.” Interestingly, new evidence from the DelpHi-MV trial shows that addressing modifiable risk factors can also slow the progression of symptoms in people with dementia (Blotenberg et al, 2025). Overall, these studies show that risk reduction is not just a preventive strategy – it is a powerful tool that can benefit everyone, including those already living with dementia.

    Making research a reality

    The Finnish Geriatric Intervention Study to Prevent Cognitive Impairment and Disability (FINGER) has become a global model for multi-domain dementia prevention. The trial demonstrated that simultaneous intervention in nutrition, exercise, cognitive training, and cardiovascular risk reduction could slow cognitive decline in older adults at risk of dementia (Ngandu et al., 2015). Today, the World-Wide FINGER network counts research teams based in 70 different countries. These coordinated studies target diverse populations, including people with cardiovascular disease, limited education, or a family history of dementia – bringing prevention science closer to practice.

    At the European level, the Innovative Health Initiative-funded AD-RIDDLE project is working to integrate early detection, timely diagnosis and personalised prevention into different healthcare settings. The project is launching a real-world study across multiple countries and health systems, bringing risk reduction closer to communities in Finland, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden and the UK.

    National initiatives like Luxembourg’s Programme Démence Prévention (PDP) further illustrate how precision prevention can be implemented in practice. Coordinated by the Centre Hospitalier de Luxembourg, partnering with national Alzheimer associations, and with funding from the Luxembourgish Ministry of Health, PDP targets people with mild cognitive impairment. It offers a wide range of cognitive training, physical and social activities, nutrition and psychological counselling tailored to individual needs. Participants are followed up annually, helping to build the evidence base for dementia prevention in the community.

    Stigma and the need for ethical risk communication

    Despite these advances, stigma about dementia remains widespread. According to the 2024 World Alzheimer Report, 80% of the public still believe dementia is a normal part of ageing. This misconception reduces help-seeking behaviour, discourages lifestyle change, and hinders early diagnosis.

    A recent letter in The Lancet Healthy Longevity calls for a more inclusive and sensitive approach to public messaging on dementia risk. The authors argue that while awareness of modifiable risk factors is growing, some public health messages imply personal responsibility in ways that can unintentionally stigmatise people living with dementia.

    This is also a concern for Alzheimer Europe. In our 2023 Position on risk disclosure, we emphasised that risk should be communicated in clear and accessible terms, with careful consideration of psychological and social impacts. People must receive evidence-based guidance that respects their values, circumstances, and preferences.

    Policies to promote dementia prevention

    The scientific case for dementia prevention is stronger than ever. To maximise impact, greater efforts are now needed to translate research into public health strategies and risk reduction policies. The 2024 Lancet Commission recommends several measures to mitigate dementia risk. In addition to ensuring high-quality education for everyone and taking necessary actions to limit air-pollution exposure, the Commission recommends that hearing aids and eye tests be made accessible for all. On an individual level, treating depression, hypertension, high cholesterol, obesity and diabetes is recommended, as is the cessation of smoking and the reduction of alcohol consumption.

    Although Alzheimer Europe supports the conclusions of the Commission, the organisation also emphasises the importance of honest, empathetic and compassionate risk disclosure. In addition, greater representativeness of prevention research studies is needed to ensure applicability of their findings across diverse populations and groups.

    As the evidence base for dementia prevention grows, it is now essential to embed these findings into national public health strategies, clinical guidelines, and prevention programmes that are adequately resourced, evidence-based, and accessible across geographies, communities and cultures.

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  • On Banu Cennetoğlu – Criticism

    On Banu Cennetoğlu – Criticism

    Banu Cennetoğlu’s presentation at the 2009 Venice Biennale, where she represented Türkiye alongside Ahmet Ögüt, consisted of six copies of her artist’s book, CATALOG 2009, that assembled 433 of the artist’s own photographs alongside 18 found images. Alluding to the publishing produced around exhibitions, CATALOG 2009 fulfils the other definitions inherent in its title, functioning both as a systematic set of groupings and a presentation of available items. In an interview with Michael C. Vazquez in Bidoun, the artist explained: “There aren’t any headlines or titles, just pages and pages of images, bound into a book. The paper is quite thin. And if you like anything in the catalog, there’s a little form on the table that you can mark with the code of the photograph that you like.” During the biennale, these images could be downloaded for free by typing the code into a website.

    In its incisive literalism, CATALOG 2009 is an apt introduction to Cennetoğlu’s practice. By opposing metaphor, she provides openings through which the viewer must meet her work on its own terms. Engaging with the material conditions intrinsic to diverse media, she asks how the work can be a document of its own process, its own production.

    Cennetoğlu is both an artist and organizer. This is most evident in her longest-running and most visible project, The List. Between 2006 and 2020, she made public the data compiled and updated annually by UNITED for Intercultural Action, an Amsterdam-based NGO, documenting the tens of thousands of “refugees, asylum seekers and migrants who have lost their lives within, or on the borders of Europe since 1993.” In collaborations with curators, art workers, and institutions that took myriad forms, from displays on billboards in Amsterdam to a sixty-four-page supplement in the Guardian.

    In her home city of Istanbul, in the same year she began work on The List, Cennetoğlu founded BAS to facilitate access to an ongoing archive of artists’ books and printed material. During an interview with Özge Ersoy, Cennetoğlu began by addressing how the limit of the book is approached by each artist. She could have been speaking to the restless methods of her own practice when she asserted that “it is a type of production with a lot of diversity. Each work contains a unique approach.”

    At the time of Cennetoğlu’s contribution to a group exhibition in Vancouver in 2023, my perception of her process focused on the mutability and multiplicity of the media she engaged. Made from helium-filled Mylar letter balloons akin to those that spell out messages of celebration, IKNOWVERYWELLBUTNEVERTHELESS (2015–ongoing) comprises a quote from the Lacanian psychoanalyst Octave Mannoni. In each location that it is installed, the untethered characters begin by spelling out the phrase where the wall meets the ceiling and, at a rate determined by local atmospheric conditions, slowly deflate throughout the duration of exhibition. The gaps that open up between the letters underscore the doubt inherent in the chosen quote.

    Like his contemporary (and sometime critic) Frantz Fanon, Mannoni approached the study of French colonialism from a psychoanalytic perspective. In a 1964 article in Les Temps Modernes, regarding the function of belief and denial, Mannoni analyzed the following phrase: “je sais bien, mais quand-même” (I know very well, but nevertheless). Every time Cennetoğlu exhibits it, Mannoni’s quote is translated into the language of the place where it is presented.

    Parallel to the ongoing presentations of IKNOWVERYWELLBUTNEVERTHELESS, Cennetoğlu has produced right? (2022–ongoing). Each iteration of the work gathers all the letters required to spell out a selection from the thirty articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in the same helium-filled Mylar balloons. Bound together into a bouquet and anchored to the ground, the density of these alphabetic assemblages makes them impossible to decipher. The title asks two questions. First, are these articles we encounter actual rights to be believed, administered, enforced? Second, are these correct—do you agree?

    It would be easy to project onto right? a metaphorical meaning—the articles adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948 are right now in the process of collapsing—but this would be incorrect. Non-binding and not enforced, these articles have instead served as mythologies that nations tell their citizens with their selective application, consolidating rather than critiquing power. Consider that these edicts were adopted by the United Nations General Assembly the same year as the Nakba. Article 9 from the exhibition of right? at the 58th Carnegie International in 2022 proclaims: “No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.”

    If IKNOWVERYWELLBUTNEVERTHELESS can be considered a score in the Fluxus tradition—which the artist has cited as an influence—to be executed on an ongoing basis, right? is decidedly finite. Every invitation for presentation entails articles from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights presented one time only in numerical order, until all thirty of the declarations in this single-edition work have been expended.

    The inherent impermanence of those two works is the opposite of Gurbet’s Diary (27.07.1995–08.10.1997) (2016–17). Originally a chemist, Gurbetelli Ersöz was arrested in 1990 for supporting the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and, after two years in prison, became the first woman to be editor-in-chief of the Kurdish newspaper Özgür Gündem until her arrest in early 1994. Forbidden to work as a journalist, she took up arms for the PKK upon her release the following year. Ersöz’s diary ends just prior to her death in combat in 1997.

    First published in 1998, by Mezopotamien Verlag in Germany, the diary was available for only two years in Türkiye, during the peace talks between the national government and the PKK from 2013 until 2015. Negar Azimi has pointed out that the diary was not only an act of autobiography, but also just one document from a collective struggle: “Fighters are encouraged to keep journals—an act of resistance, a defiant trace of history writing when yours is endlessly rewritten, erased.”

    In conversation with Kaelen Wilson-Goldie, Cennetoğlu stated that the initial proposal of Gurbet’s Diary was for the entire book to be published in daily installments in two newspapers—one in Greece, the other in Germany—over the course of Documenta 14, for which the work was commissioned. When this proved impossible, the artist instead arranged to have the whole diary inscribed onto 145 press-ready lithographic stones with the potential to yield unlimited editions. Since Gurbet’s Diary was acquired by Le Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts de Lausanne in 2022, Cennetoğlu has collaborated with publishers outside the contemporary art context to make editions of Ersöz’s text available in additional languages. This began with a French translation published by Les éditions d’en bas in Lausanne in 2023 and a Greek translation published by Agra Publications in Athens earlier this year.

    If the “defiant trace” of Gurbet’s Diary looked ahead then with False Witness (2003–24) Cennetoğlu has reached into her own past to transmute an extant work into another kind of practical form. At the time of writing, False Witness brackets Cennetoğlu’s exhibition history: first as an artist’s book at her solo exhibition which concluded her time as a resident at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten, and now as a briquette in the recent survey of her practice at Kunsthal Charlottenborg.

    False Witness, like CATALOG 2009, consists primarily of Cennetoğlu’s photographs. This includes images whose production spans several years but primarily consists of views of the registration center for asylum seekers in Ter Apel in the Netherlands. Access was facilitated by a research request, and her photos eschewed the presence of people being judged for entry to focus on the ideology manifested in the architecture itself. Last year, a long-term and labor-intensive process of pulping took place for the remaining 360 copies of False Witness from the original edition of 1,000. Their pages were soaked and shredded along with the pre-softened spines before being shaped using a manual clamping press and then allowed to dry into the final hand-held forms. False Witness is a revision—a seeing-again. What are we left with? Future fires.

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  • JWST Finds An Exoplanet Around A Pulsar Whose Atmosphere Is All Carbon

    JWST Finds An Exoplanet Around A Pulsar Whose Atmosphere Is All Carbon

    Science advances through data that don’t fit our current understanding. At least that was Thomas Kuhn’s theory in his famous On the Structure of Scientific Revolutions. So scientists should welcome new data that challenges their understanding of how the universe works. A recent paper, available in pre-print on arXiv, using data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) might just had found some data that can do that. It looked at an exoplanet around a millisecond pulsar and found its atmosphere is made up of almost entirely pure carbon.

    This type of pulsar, PSR J2322-2650, is known as a “black widow” system, as it powers its high energy outbursts by stealing material from a neighboring star. In this case, that neighboring star has likely been degraded to a “hot Jupiter” companion planet that orbits its parent neutron star every 7.8 hours. A typical “black widow” formation process has two steps – one where the neutron star (which in this case is also a pulsar) steals the material, and a second step where it blasts its companion with high energy gamma radiation, ripping off most of the companion star’s outer layers and resulting in a Jupiter-sized exoplanet composed mainly of helium.

    The exoplanet around PSR J2322-2650, known as PSR J2322-2650b, does fit the description of a Jupiter-sized planet that seems to have the same density as what would be expected if it was made up primarily of helium. However, its atmosphere is unlike any other black widow companion ever seen. According to the spectrographic reports from JWST, its atmosphere is composed mainly of elemental carbon, taking the form of tricarbon (C3) or dicarbon (C2).

    Fraser discusses pulsars and how they form.

    Usually those types of elements are found in the tails of comets, or in actual flames here on Earth. Their presence in a planet’s atmosphere, especially in such abundant quantities, is new to science.

    Another interesting thing about the planet’s atmosphere is the difference between the day and night side. On the dayside, which is always facing the pulsar since the planet is tidally locked, temperatures can reach above 2000 ℃ and there are very clear chemical signatures. However, on the night side, there were almost no features at all, suggesting that side of the planet is covered in soot or something similar that doesn’t have any distinct features.

    To further prove how strange this planet’s atmosphere is, the researchers calculated the ratios between carbon and oxygen as well as carbon and nitrogen. The C/O ratio was over 100, while the C/N ratio was over 10,000. In comparison, the Earth has a C/O ratio of .01 and a C/N ratio of 40. Obviously, there’s a lot of carbon on this planet.

    And that doesn’t fit well with models of how scientists thought the planet should form. As part of the “black widow” process, the outer layers of the planet should have been either siphoned up by the companion star or burned away by that star’s radiation. The fact that such a rich carbon atmosphere still exists remains a mystery. There are processes that can create such an atmosphere, such as a white-dwarf merger between who “carbon stars”, but even that falls short of explaining how the planet’s C/O ratio got so high.

    Fraser discusses black widow pulsars and an interesting theory behind their formation.

    Other aspects of the planet align with general theory though. Circulation models predict that rapidly rotating planets, like PSR J2322-2650b, would have strong westerly winds, which is different from the typical easterly winds on other tidally locked hot Jupiters. The JWST data show that the hottest part of the planet is about 12 degrees west of center, providing the first ever observational evidence of this western wind phenomena.

    In other words, PSR J2322-2650b is contradictory. It’s the right size and shape for a typical black widow pulsar system. Its window circulation also fits well with our best models. But its atmosphere is something else entirely, and scientists will have to go back to the theory to try to find a way to make it make sense with the new data. While they’re busy doing that, JWST will continue scanning the sky for more anomalies that could drive the next scientific revolution.

    Learn More:

    M. Zhang et al – A carbon-rich atmosphere on a windy pulsar planet

    UT – Astronomers Scan 800 Pulsars to See If Any of Them Have Planets

    UT – Planets Orbiting Pulsars Should Have Strange and Beautiful Auroras. And We Could Detect Them

    UT – Astronomers Weigh a Pulsar’s Planets

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  • Daniel Day-Lewis says he ‘never intended to retire’ from acting

    Daniel Day-Lewis says he ‘never intended to retire’ from acting

    Daniel Day-Lewis has revealed that he “never intended to retire,” eight years after he announced he was stepping back from acting.

    The Oscar-winner announced that he was retiring following his 2017 movie “Phantom Thread.”

    But now, the 68-year-old actor is starring in “Anemone,” a movie he co-wrote with his son Ronan Day-Lewis, who has directed it.

    Released next month, the film, which also stars Samantha Morton and Sean Bean, “explores the complex and profound ties that exist between brothers, fathers, and sons,” according to production company Focus Features.

    In an interview with Rolling Stone published Wednesday, Day-Lewis senior reflected on his acting return.

    “I would have done well to just keep my mouth shut,” he said. “It just seems like such grandiose gibberish to talk about. I never intended to retire, really. I just stopped doing that particular type of work so I could do some other work.”

    The pair revealed that they started writing the script in 2020.

    Day-Lewis said: “I had some residual sadness because I knew Ronan was going to go on to make films, and I was walking away from that. I thought, wouldn’t it be lovely if we could do something together and find a way of maybe containing it, so that it didn’t necessarily have to be something that required all the paraphernalia of a big production.”

    As time went on, the question arose of whether or not he would consider acting in the film.

    He said: “When we had a script and we weren’t sure what the next steps were, there was some part of me that began to feel, you know, certain reservations about being back in the public world again.”

    He told his son he was free to do what he liked with the script, but then “Ro made it pretty clear that he wasn’t going to do it if I didn’t do it.”

    Day-Lewis explained his reservations, saying: “It was just kind of a low-level fear, (an) anxiety about re-engaging with the business of filmmaking.” He said that he’d always “loved” the work.

    “But there were aspects of the way of life that went with it that I’d never come to terms with – from the day I started out to today. There’s something about that process that left me feeling hollowed out at the end of it.”


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  • Floods in Bali kill at least nine

    Floods in Bali kill at least nine


    JAKARTA:

    Floods on Indonesia’s holiday island of Bali have killed at least nine this week and affected 600 people, blocking off major roads in the capital and disrupting a busy travel destination, officials said on Wednesday.

    Continuous heavy rains between Tuesday evening and Wednesday caused the floods and killed five people in Bali’s capital Denpasar, Abdul Muhari, the spokesperson of the country’s disaster mitigation agency said in a statement.

    Four more people were killed in the regions of Jembrana, Gianyar, and Badung, Abdul added. Two people were still missing. Out of 600 people affected, nearly 200 have been evacuated to schools and mosques because their houses were still flooded, the agency said.

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  • Hundreds seek to leave Nepal as the army tries to restore order after violent protests

    Hundreds seek to leave Nepal as the army tries to restore order after violent protests

    KATHMANDU, Nepal — Hundreds of people crowded Nepal’s main airport in Kathmandu Thursday to get a flight out of the country, as confusion set in over who governs the Himalayan nation after violent protests toppled the country’s government.

    In the capital, residents rushed to buy food staples like rice, vegetables and meat early Thursday, when the army briefly lifted a curfew. Armed soldiers were guarding the streets, checking vehicles and offering assistance to those in need.

    Nepal’s army took control of the capital Tuesday night after two days of huge protests that left the presidential residence and government buildings in flames and forced the prime minister to resign and flee.

    Many tried to leave the country after the airport reopened late Wednesday and international flights resumed Thursday.

    “It was very difficult time for us. We had trouble just to get to airport and back to hotel hoping for flights but finally I have found a seat and am going to be flying out of Nepal,” said Raj Kumar Bika, a chicken farmer who was trying to get to New Delhi for business.

    It remained unclear who would take control of the government as the search for an interim leader continued.

    When the protests prompted Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Oli to resign Tuesday, the country’s ceremonial President Ram Chandra Poudel asked him to lead a transitional government until a new one could be put in place. But Oli fled from his official residence, and his whereabouts were not clear.

    Residents of the capital were left wondering who was in charge. “I feel there should be an election soonest and new leaders who are able to work for the country should be elected,” said Sanu Bohara, a shop owner. “After all this what we need is peace. I feel there should not have been so much destruction, but that has already happened.”

    Anup Keshar Thapa, a retired government officer who was looking at the charred official residences of ministers, said it was not clear who would lead the country and if people would actually listen to them. “If the protests had gone in an organized way, it would be clear who was leading,” he said.

    Protest leaders met with military officials at the army headquarters in Kathmandu on Wednesday to discuss a transitional leader.

    Rehan Raj Dangal, a representative of the protesters, said his group proposed to military leaders that Sushila Karki, a popular former chief justice, should head an interim government. Karki was the only woman to serve as chief justice of Nepal’s Supreme Court. Other protesters opposed her appointment.

    Demonstrations by thousands of protesters were sparked Monday by a short-lived government ban on social media platforms including Facebook, X and YouTube, which the government said had failed to register with authorities and submit to oversight.

    Officers opened fire on protesters, and the clashes escalated Tuesday with attacks on government buildings.

    The social media ban was lifted on Tuesday, but the demonstrations continued, fueled by rage over the deaths of some 30 protesters blamed on police.

    The protests also spiraled to reflect broader discontent. Many young people are angry about “nepo kids” of political leaders who seem to enjoy luxury lifestyles and numerous advantages while most youth struggle to find work.

    With youth unemployment running at about 20% last year, according to the World Bank, the government estimates that more than 2,000 young people leave the country every day to seek work in the Middle East or Southeast Asia.

    Protesters set fires at the the parliament building, the presidential residence, the central secretariat that houses the offices of the prime minister and key ministries, and the prime minister’s official residence. Smoke was still rising from those buildings on Wednesday.

    The building of Kantipur publication, Nepal’s biggest media outlet, also was torched and damaged. Car showrooms were also targeted, and burned-out vehicles dotted the streets.

    “We are compelled to go abroad because there is no future for people like us in Nepal,” said Asmita Poudel, who was waiting to board a flight to Dubai. “If there were opportunities, we would all stay back in the country.”

    The military is rarely mobilized in Nepal, and soldiers initially stayed in their barracks as police lost control of the situation. Security forces started to mobilize late Tuesday, saying they were committed to preserving law and order.

    The overall death toll in the violence has reached 30, the Health Ministry said Wednesday, with 1,033 people injured. The toll has risen as reports on casualties trickled in from other parts of the country.

    On Wednesday, soldiers quelled a jailbreak in the heart of Kathmandu. Inmates at the main jail had overpowered guards, set fire to buildings and tried to escape. Soldiers fired into the air, apprehended the escaping inmates and transferred them to other jails. No injuries were reported.

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  • Online Learning’s Health Burden in Low-Resource Countries

    Online Learning’s Health Burden in Low-Resource Countries

    The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated a digital transformation in education across the globe. Almost overnight, schools shifted to online learning to mitigate the disruption to academic activities.

    Although this transition was necessary to avoid learning loss, it came with unintended consequences—particularly in low-resource settings. The shift, once hailed as a great equalizer, instead deepened inequalities and introduced physical and mental health burdens on vulnerable student populations.  

    Even in the aftermath of the pandemic, many educational institutions continue to adopt hybrid or fully online models of instruction. However, the long-term health effects of prolonged digital learning, particularly on students in under-resourced regions, remain under-explored in public discourse. In countries such as Nigeria—where for 13 years I have taught and mentored students across various universities— the digital divide is not just a technical gap. It is a health emergency in disguise. 

    Access to the internet, availability of digital devices, and digital literacy are among the most urgent digital determinants of health

    The challenges of digital migration are often measured by infrastructure indicators such as internet access, device availability, and bandwidth. In 2024, a joint study led by the World Health Organization, Europe, and the London School of Economics reported that access to the internet, availability of digital devices, and digital literacy are among the most urgent digital determinants of health.  

    Yet, for students in northern Nigeria and similar low-resource environments, the digital learning experience goes beyond technical limitations. It exacts a toll on the mind and body, and the consequent risks toward physical, mental, and social health remain under-addressed. 

    Mental Health 

    Mental health and digital well-being remain some of the least addressed aspects of the digital education transition in low-resource settings. Cultural stigma and lack of access to psychological services mean that many students suffer in silence. Universities in Nigeria and other low- or middle-income countries typically do not have robust mental health programs, and online counseling remains a luxury available to only a few. 

    The abrupt shift to digital platforms caused students to lose access to in-person support systems such as peer groups, academic mentors, and extracurricular activities that traditionally serve as buffers against stress. The World Health Organization, in collaboration with the Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children released a study warning of a growing mental health crisis among children and young people due to pandemic disruptions. However, little has been done to translate these warnings into targeted interventions for university students in low-resource environments. 

    The Human Cost of Digital Learning 

    Students in low-resource settings often lack access to personal laptops, stable electricity, suitable devices, or quiet environments to study. More than 66% attend online classes and complete assignments using smartphones, and nearly 40% lack a functional, online-ready smartphone for effective participation. Hours spent staring at small screens without ergonomic support have led to increased complaints of eye strain, poor posture, and chronic fatigue.

    Students enrolled in a special STEM program for children from poor families attend a computer class, in Abuja, Nigeria, on February 18, 2022. REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde

    Postpandemic disruptions and new routines that could be linked to changes brought about by digital learning have contributed to rising reports of anxiety, depression, and stress-related symptoms. Those trends are consistent with emerging global burden of disease literature on the increase in the major depressive and anxiety disorders after the pandemic.

    A 2022 study in Brazil indicated that the majority of university students enrolled in online classes experienced heightened levels of stress and anxiety during the pandemic. Although similar data from northern Nigeria remains limited, anecdotal evidence and small-scale surveys indicate that students experience these symptoms due to unstable internet connections, high data costs, and academic disruptions. 

    Gendered Disparities 

    The pressure to complete classwork without having the necessary learning tools and support systems leaves many students feeling isolated and overwhelmed. For female students, the burden is even greater. Cultural expectations often require women to manage household responsibilities alongside academic demands. Unlike their male counterparts, many juggle care-giving roles, domestic chores, and online classes simultaneously. Although preliminary observations from 36 countries suggest that the cumulative burden of these responsibilities has a negative impact on academic performance and mental well-being, a paucity of robust, population-specific evidence remains. Future research, particularly longitudinal studies and meta-analyses targeting the affected demographic, is essential to substantiate and quantify these effects.  

    Such gendered disparities have been documented globally. A UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization report from 2021 noted that the digital shift had a disproportionate effect on girls and young women in developing countries, often limiting their access to education and exacerbating existing inequalities. 

    Toward an Equitable Digital Future 

    The road to digital equity requires a multidimensional approach. To ensure that students enjoy a seamless transition to online learning, governments and institutions should adopt a comprehensive framework to address the intersection of digital learning and student well-being in low-resource settings.  

    Instructors should begin with systematic needs assessments, ensuring that the unique digital and health-related challenges students face are identified and prioritized. Using such evidence, institutions can design awareness and wellness programs [PDF] that provide guidance on issues such as healthy screen time management, ergonomics, and coping strategies for stress and anxiety linked to digital education. At the same time, strengthening the digital infrastructure by incorporating flexibility in learning delivery using asynchronous content and low-bandwidth options, thereby making education more accessible and equitable, is essential.  

    Equally important is the need to empower mental health support systems within academic environments. This includes building peer support networks, expanding access to telecounseling services, and training academic staff to recognize and support at-risk students. Finally, a transformative approach requires student codesign, in which students are active participants in shaping digital learning models. By incorporating student voices, experiences, and challenges into decision-making, institutions can ensure that emerging educational models are both contextually relevant and inclusive. 

    Digital migration in education was an essential response to an unprecedented global crisis. Yet, in the urgency to go online, the unequal burdens students in low-resource settings carry were too often overlooked. If governments are to create a truly inclusive and sustainable digital future, they should confront those hidden costs head-on. This means integrating health, equity, and student voices into every stage of digital education design.

    It is not merely an academic concern: It is a matter of public health, social justice, and global equity. 

    An empty computer science classroom is seen at the University of Somalia, in Mogadishu, Somalia, on July 13, 2017. Picture taken July 13, 2017.
    An empty computer science classroom is seen at the University of Somalia, in Mogadishu, Somalia, on July 13, 2017. REUTERS/Feisal Omar

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  • Blood test spots hidden mesothelioma that scans can’t see

    Blood test spots hidden mesothelioma that scans can’t see

    People with operable diffuse pleural mesothelioma may benefit from immunotherapy before and after surgery, based on results of a clinical trial exploring the sequence of treatment and the role of surgery for this difficult to treat cancer.

    Mesothelioma is a rare cancer that affects the tissue that lines many organs of the body. Approximately 30,000 cases are diagnosed every year worldwide, most of them in the pleura, or lining of the lungs. It occurs most often in people who have been exposed to asbestos.

    “Mesothelioma is a difficult tumor to treat,” said the study’s lead author Joshua Reuss, MD, a thoracic medical oncologist with Georgetown’s Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center. “Our study demonstrated the feasibility and safety of using immunotherapy before surgery for patients who have tumors that can potentially be removed surgically.

    “Immunotherapy is making substantial contributions to extending the lives of patients with lung cancer and many other solid tumors. This is an important step in identifying mesothelioma patients who could benefit from immunotherapy in the perioperative period, meaning right before or after their surgery and in choosing patients who are actually candidates for that surgery,” said Reuss, who is also an attending physician at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital.

    Reuss designed the clinical trial during fellowship training at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, the primary site where the study was conducted. He presented the results of the phase II study, Neoadjuvant Nivolumab or Nivolumab plus Ipililumab in Resectable Diffuse Pleural Mesothelioma, at the 2025 World Conference on Lung Cancer in Barcelona, Spain on September 8 and is lead author of the study published concurrently in the journal Nature Medicine (DOI 10.1038/s41591-025-03958-3).

    Phase II clinical trials are designed to assess whether it is possible to deliver innovative treatments to specific patient populations, and whether the potential benefits of the therapy outweigh any adverse effects that patients experience.

    “When looking at patient outcomes to date, the issue of whether any mesothelioma is truly resectable is controversial,” said Reuss. “Several major studies have not shown improvement in survival when surgery is incorporated into systemic therapy for mesothelioma. This study incorporates immunotherapy into the treatment of patients who might benefit from surgery.

    “Since they occur in the tissue that lines the lungs, mesotheliomas don’t grow and spread like other cancers.” Reuss said. “They don’t typically form solid masses or nodules. These tumors are more fluid, or diffuse throughout the lining of the lung. That makes it more difficult to use our usual methods to determine how extensive a tumor is or to measure whether a treatment is effective by standard imaging assessments.”

    In this study, the clinical team worked closely with scientists in the laboratory to test a novel approach studying circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) in their patient’s blood. Tumors frequently shed cancer DNA into the blood stream. Oncologists can test the blood to detect the presence of this ctDNA, but their role in clinical decision-making is an evolving area of interest. This is particularly challenging in mesothelioma, a tumor type that has a low number of cancer mutations that can be detected by traditional ctDNA techniques.

    “Imaging doesn’t always capture what’s happening with mesothelioma, especially during treatment,” said the study’s senior author, Valsamo Anagnostou, MD, PhD, the Alex Grass professor of oncology and co-director of the upper aerodigestive cancers program at Johns Hopkins. “By using an ultra-sensitive genome-wide ctDNA sequencing method, we were able to detect microscopic signs of cancer that imaging missed and predict which patients were most likely to benefit from treatment or experience relapse.”

    “This approach may give us a baseline to monitor the efficacy of that treatment,” Reuss said. “If the ctDNA decreases or disappears, it is a good indication that the therapy is working, If not, it indicates a change in therapy may be warranted.” Reuss added that further validation of this methodology is required before it can routinely be incorporated into clinical practice.

    “These analyses contribute to our understanding of which patients with mesothelioma may be candidates for surgery,” Reuss said. “Up until now, ctDNA assessments have not been part of the clinical landscape in the management of diffuse pleural mesothelioma, but our analyses suggest this may be nearing a change in the future.”

    Phase II clinical trials are not designed to measure the clinical efficacy of treatment options but both arms of this trial showed improvements in the time from treatment to when the tumors began to grow again and overall length of survival.

    Reuss cautions against drawing conclusions about that data, but notes that the results do provide positive signals about the potential value of neoadjuvant immunotherapy for mesothelioma patients with tumors that can be surgically removed and point the way to future studies.

    “This is a small study,” he said, “and it does not tell us whether neoadjuvant immunotherapy will improve outcomes for these patients, but it does open windows of opportunity. We need to take what we learned and do further studies, dig deeper so that we can develop better therapies for patients with mesothelioma.”

    The study was conducted across multiple academic cancer centers. The trial was sponsored by Bristol Myers Squibb. The research was supported in part by the Department of Defense Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs grant CA190755, the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center NCI Support Grant NCI CCSG P30 CA006973, the US Food and Drug Administration grant U01FD005942-FDA, National Institutes of Health grant CA1211113, the Bloomberg~Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, the ECOG-ACRIN Thoracic Malignancies Integrated Translational Science Center Grant UG1CA233259, the Robyn Adler Fellowship Award, the Commonwealth Foundation, the Mark Foundation for Cancer Research, and the Florence Lomax Eley Fund.

    Reuss reports receives research funding through Georgetown University from Genentech/Roche, Verastem, Nuvalent, Arcus, Revolution Medicines, Regeneron, Amgen, DualityBio, and AstraZeneca, and serves in a consultant/advisory role for AstraZeneca, Bristol Myers Squibb, Daiichi Sankyo, Seagen, Gilead, Janssen, Novocure, Regeneron, Summit Therapeutics, Pfizer, Lilly, Natera, Merck, EMD Serono, Roche Diagnostics, and OncoHost. Anagnostou reports receiving research funding from Astra Zeneca and Personal Genome Diagnostics, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and Delfi Diagnostics, is an advisor to Astra Zeneca and Neogenomics and receives honoraria from Foundation Medicine, Guardant Health, Roche and Personal Genome Diagnostics. Other author disclosures are included in the manuscript.

    Additional authors include Paul K. Lee, Reza J. Mehran, Chen Hu, Suqi Ke, Amna Jamali, Mimi Najjar, Noushin Niknafs, Jaime Wehr, Ezgi Oner, Qiong Meng, Gavin Pereira, Samira Hosseini-Nami, Mark Sausen, Marianna Zahurak, Richard J. Battafarano, Russell K. Hales, Joseph Friedberg, Boris Sepesi, Julie S. Deutsch, Tricia Cottrell, Janis Taube, Peter B. Illei, Kellie N. Smith, Drew M. Pardoll, Anne S. Tsao, Julie R. Brahmer, and Patrick M. Forde.

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  • New three-part BBC documentary investigates the case of missing British woman Sarm Heslop who disappeared from a Caribbean charter yacht

    New three-part BBC documentary investigates the case of missing British woman Sarm Heslop who disappeared from a Caribbean charter yacht

    On the night of 7 March 2021, Sarm Heslop disappeared from Siren Song, a luxury charter yacht in the Caribbean where she was living with her boyfriend, Ryan Bane. She hasn’t been seen since and her body has never been found.

    Now in a new BBC documentary series Missing in Paradise: Searching for Sarm (3×30’), journalist Tir Dhondy investigates the circumstances around her disappearance: did she vanish of her own accord? Was there a terrible accident? Or has something more sinister happened?

    Tir Dhondy said: “Sarm’s possessions including her passport, wallet and phone were still onboard the catamaran when she vanished. There are so many unanswered questions about her disappearance. I’ve tested the theories and the timeline to understand the facts in this missing person case that has left a family devastated.”

    Over three episodes Tir retraces Sarm’s steps whilst also interviewing the police who led the investigation, the coastguard and possible witnesses. Featuring testimony from the people closest to Sarm, friends and family describe the nightmare they have faced since she went missing and have been fighting for answers about what happened that night ever since.

    Sarm Heslop was in a relationship with Ryan Bane, a US citizen, and had been staying and working with him on his catamaran Siren Song. They were moored off the US Virgin Islands in the Caribbean. They had gone to a bar on the island of St John on the evening of 7th March. He reported her missing from his catamaran around 02:30 local time on the 8th March and told police she may have fallen overboard during the night.

    It was around noon that day that Ryan informed the coastguard about her disappearance who then began a search and rescue operation. The police say they instructed Ryan to call the coastguard immediately to report Sarm missing but Ryan says he believed the police would be contacting them.

    The coastguard conducted a limited safety check of the catamaran. However when they returned to the boat later that day, on advice from his lawyer Ryan didn’t allow them to do a full forensic search and refused questioning by the police, invoking his US Amendment rights. For the first time, Tir gets to question Ryan’s account of what happened through his lawyer David Cattie. Bane denies any wrongdoing and maintains that Sarm had a tragic accident whilst he was sleeping.

    Tir investigates the possibility that Sarm fell overboard and what could have happened to her body and if it could have drifted outside of the coastguard’s search area. She also hears from a reporter who covered the case – she tells Tir there are around 40 missing persons cases on the islands some dating back many years.

    In the documentary Tir hears serious concerns about the US Virgin Island’s Police Department investigation. For the first time, police release CCTV footage of Sarm’s movements on the night she disappeared which is exclusively shown in the documentary.

    Five weeks after Sarm went missing, Bane sailed away from the US Virgin Islands on Siren Song and has never returned. As part of the investigation, Tir looks into what happened to Siren Song which Bane says he sold after her disappearance.

    Missing in Paradise: Searching for Sarm is a BBC Current Affairs documentary series for BBC Two and BBC Three. It is Directed by Alexander Nott and the Executive Producer is Sarah Waldron. The commissioners are Nasfim Haque for BBC Three, and Joanna Carr for BBC Current Affairs.

    Missing in Paradise: Searching for Sarm will air on BBC Two at 10pm on Wednesday 17 September, Thursday 18 September and Friday 19 September. All three episodes will be available on BBC iPlayer from 6am on Wednesday 17 September.

    Missing in Paradise: Searching for Sarm will also be shown on BBC Three from 9pm on Monday 22 September.

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  • Men’s World Championship Pool Previews: Pool H

    The 21st edition of the tournament will be the first in the new era, which will have the world title put in dispute every two years and 32 national teams fighting for it.

    The 32 participating teams were split into eight pools of four and will face each of their three opponents during pool play from September 12-18. The top two national teams in each pool will advance to the elimination rounds. The Round of 16 will go from September 20-23, with the quarterfinals following on September 24-25, the semifinal being held on September 27 and the medal matches ending the event on September 28.

    With fans from all over the world preparing to tune in on VBTV and enjoy the matches, we’ll preview each of the eight pools.


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