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In Constitutional Culture, Independence, and Rights , Javier García Oliva and Helen Hall coin the term constitutional culture to encapsulate the collective rules and expectations that govern the collective life within a jurisdiction. Significantly, these shared norms have both legal and social elements, including matters as diverse as standards of parenting, the modus operandi of police officers, and taboos around sexuality. Using Quebec, Scotland, and Catalonia as case studies, the book delves into what these constitutional battles mean for the rights, identity, and needs of everyday people, and it powerfully demonstrates why the hypothetical future independence of these regions would have far-reaching practical consequences, beyond the realm of political structures and academic theory. The book does not present a magic bullet to resolve debates around independence – this is not its purpose, and the text in fact demonstrates why there is no objectively optimal approach in any or all contexts. Instead, it seeks to shed light on aspects of these situations often overlooked in discussions around the fate of nations, and it addresses what the consequences of constitutional paradigm shifts might be for individuals. Constitutional culture is a complex web of interconnected understandings and behaviours, and the vibrations from shaking or cutting a fundamental strand will be felt throughout the structure.

In patients with shock, whether noninvasive blood-pressure monitoring is an effective alternative to the recommended use of an arterial catheter is uncertain. In this multicenter, open-label, noninferiority trial, we randomly assigned patients who had shock and had been admitted to an intensive care unit within the past 24 hours to receive early insertion (<4 hours after randomization) of an arterial catheter (invasive strategy) or to be monitored with an automated brachial cuff (noninvasive strategy). Insertion of an arterial catheter was allowed later in patients assigned to the noninvasive-strategy group who met prespecified safety criteria. The primary outcome was death from any cause at day 28 (noninferiority margin, 5 percentage points). Adverse events of special interest related to the blood-pressure-monitoring device that was used were recorded, as was patient-reported pain or discomfort related to the ongoing presence of the device. A total of 1010 patients underwent randomization; 504 patients assigned to the noninvasive-strategy group and 502 assigned to the invasive-strategy group were included in the analyses. A total of 74 patients (14.7%) in the noninvasive-strategy group and 493 (98.2%) in the invasive-strategy group underwent insertion of an arterial catheter. Death within 28 days occurred in 173 patients (34.3%) in the noninvasive-strategy group and 185 (36.9%) in the invasive-strategy group (adjusted risk difference, -3.2 percentage points; 95% confidence interval, -8.9 to 2.5; P = 0.006 for noninferiority). Results of per-protocol analyses were similar in the two groups. A total of 66 patients (13.1%) in the noninvasive-strategy group and 45 (9.0%) in the invasive-strategy group had at least 1 day of pain or discomfort related to the ongoing presence of the blood-pressure-monitoring device. Hematoma or hemorrhage related to the arterial catheter occurred in 5 patients (1.0%) in the noninvasive-strategy group and 41 patients (8.2%) in the invasive-strategy group. Among patients with shock, results for death from any cause at day 28 indicated that management without early arterial catheter insertion was noninferior to early catheter insertion. (Funded by the French Ministry of Health; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT03680963.).

\"What is it to pursue a goal, to strive for an ideal, to follow a dream? These are the questions explored by The Balvenie in this unique collection compiled by award-winning novelist Alex Preston. The stories - from some of the brightest and most exciting voices writing today - tell of determination, endeavour and perseverance against the odds. They range across wildly different contexts and cultures, from the epic to the intimate, in fiction and non-fiction, illustrating and illuminating the outer limits of human character and achievement.\"--Publisher description.

Background Goldfish is an important model for various areas of research, including neural development and behavior and a species of significant importance in aquaculture, especially as an ornamental species. It has a male heterogametic (XX/XY) sex determination system that relies on both genetic and environmental factors, with high temperatures being able to produce female-to-male sex reversal. Little, however, is currently known on the molecular basis of genetic sex determination in this important cyprinid model. Here we used sequencing approaches to better characterize sex determination and sex-chromosomes in an experimental strain of goldfish. Results Our results confirmed that sex determination in goldfish is a mix of environmental and genetic factors and that its sex determination system is male heterogametic (XX/XY). Using reduced representation (RAD-seq) and whole genome (pool-seq) approaches, we characterized sex-linked polymorphisms and developed male specific genetic markers. These male specific markers were used to distinguish sex-reversed XX neomales from XY males and to demonstrate that XX female-to-male sex reversal could even occur at a relatively low rearing temperature (18 °C), for which sex reversal has been previously shown to be close to zero. We also characterized a relatively large non-recombining region (~ 11.7 Mb) on goldfish linkage group 22 (LG22) that contained a high-density of male-biased genetic polymorphisms. This large LG22 region harbors 373 genes, including a single candidate as a potential master sex gene, i.e., the anti-Mullerian hormone gene ( amh ). However, no sex-linked polymorphisms were detected in the coding DNA sequence of the goldfish amh gene. Conclusions These results show that our goldfish strain has a relatively large sex locus on LG22, which is likely the Y chromosome of this experimental population. The presence of a few XX males even at low temperature also suggests that other environmental factors in addition to temperature could trigger female-to-male sex reversal. Finally, we also developed sex-linked genetic markers, which will be important tools for future research on sex determination in our experimental goldfish population. However, additional work would be needed to explore whether this sex locus is conserved in other populations of goldfish.

Background Genotypic (GSD) and environmental (ESD) sex determination coexist in many species of reptiles, fish, and amphibians. Inherited genotypic signals and environmental factors conceivably interact as pro-testis or pro-ovary signals during sex determination, but how such interactions affect gonadal sex differentiation in these species remains largely unexplained. This study uses a model gonochoristic fish with coexisting GSD and ESD, the pejerrey Odontesthes bonariensis , to examine how synergism and antagonism between sex genotype (XX/XY) and thermal (feminizing/masculinizing) regimes interactively affect environmental sensitiveness and the critical time of environmental sex determination as well as how genotype-by-environment conflicts are resolved. Methods We performed a series of controlled rearing experiments involving shift-once and shift-twice transfers of fish of known sex genotype (XX/XY) between feminizing and masculinizing temperatures at different stages of gonadal sex differentiation. Match/mismatch analysis of phenotypic (ovary/testis) and genotypic (absence/presence of the master sex determining gene amhy ) sex was performed in juveniles to estimate sex reversal rates and the critical period of sex determination for each combination of sex genotype and thermal conditions. Results The results show that convergence/divergence between genotypic and environmental signals advances/delays the critical time of sex determination and lowers/raises the degree of environmental sensitiveness, respectively, even when genotypic control is ultimately overridden. This study also provides evidence that ovarian formation is the default state regardless of genotypic sex but commitment to femaleness is a lengthy, passive process requiring absolute seclusion from environmental pro-male stimuli in the span of weeks. Testis formation, in turn, is the alternative state that can be imposed on this default, regardless of genotype, by an extremely short (range of hours) environmental stimulus of sufficient strength at any time before ovarian commitment. We argue that this combination of developmental features increases the likelihood of male development and at the same time may be crucial to avoid ambiguous differentiation under conflicting genotypic/environmental signals in GSD + ESD species. Conclusions Overall, the results reveal genotypic sex-dimorphic critical periods of sex determination, show that it is “easier” to make males in pejerrey, and provide clues to understand how GSD + ESD species may prevent discrepant sex determination/differentiation when genotype and environment diverge. Plain language summary Genotypic (GSD) and environmental (ESD) sex determination coexist in many species of reptiles, fish, and amphibians. Inherited genotypic signals and environmental factors conceivably interact as pro-testis or pro-ovary signals during sex determination, but how such interactions affect gonadal sex differentiation in these species remains largely unexplained. We used a model gonochoristic fish with coexisting GSD and ESD, the pejerrey Odontesthes bonariensis , to examine how synergism and antagonism between sex genotype (XX/XY) and thermal (feminizing/masculinizing) regimes interactively affect environmental sensitiveness and the critical time of environmental sex determination and how genotype-by-environment conflicts are resolved. We show that convergence/divergence between genotypic and environmental signals advances/delays the critical time of sex determination and lowers/raises the degree of environmental sensitiveness, respectively, even when genotypic control is ultimately overridden. The results also evidence that ovarian formation is the default state regardless of genotypic sex and yet that commitment to femaleness is a lengthy, passive process requiring absolute seclusion from environmental pro-male stimuli. Testis formation, in turn, is the alternative state that can be imposed on this default by an extremely short environmental stimulus of sufficient strength at any time before ovarian commitment. We argue that this combination of developmental features is crucial to avoid ambiguous differentiation under conflicting genotypic/environmental signals. Overall, the results reveal genotypic sex-dimorphic critical periods of sex determination, show that it is “easier” to make males in pejerrey, and provide clues to understand how GSD + ESD species prevent discrepant sex determination/differentiation when genotype and environment diverge. Highlights Convergence or divergence between genotypic and environmental signals advances or delays the critical time of sex determination and lowers or raises the degree of environmental sensitiveness, respectively, even when genotypic control is ultimately overridden. Ovarian formation is the default state regardless of genotypic sex but commitment to femaleness is a lengthy, passive process requiring absolute seclusion from environmental pro-male stimuli in the span of weeks. Testis formation is the alternative state that can be imposed on this default, regardless of genotype, by an extremely short (range of hours) environmental stimulus of sufficient strength at any time before ovarian commitment. This combination of features for female and male differentiation increases the likelihood of male development in pejerrey but may also be key to prevent discrepant gonadal differentiation under conflicting genotypic and environmental signals.

The White Possessiveexplores the links between race, sovereignty, and possession through themes of property: owning property, being property, and becoming propertyless. Focusing on the Australian Aboriginal context, Aileen Moreton-Robinson questions current race theory in the first world and its preoccupation with foregrounding slavery and migration. The nation, she argues, is socially and culturally constructed as a white possession. Moreton-Robinson reveals how the core values of Australian national identity continue to have their roots in Britishness and colonization, built on the disavowal of Indigenous sovereignty. Whiteness studies literature is central to Moreton-Robinson's reasoning, and she shows how blackness works as a white epistemological tool that bolsters the social production of whiteness-displacing Indigenous sovereignties and rendering them invisible in a civil rights discourse, thereby sidestepping thorny issues of settler colonialism. Throughout this critical examination Moreton-Robinson proposes a bold new agenda for critical Indigenous studies, one that involves deeper analysis of how the prerogatives of white possession function within the role of disciplines.