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Decoding the brain, respecting the person : a neuroethical inquiry into consent and cognitive liberty in South Africa
Botes , Marietjie; Labuschaigne, Melodie; Casteleyn, Camille; Inkster, Becky; Sheppard, Mark (Springer, 2025-10-09)
As neurotechnologies emerge in South Africa's clinical, research, and consumer health landscapes, existing informed consent models, predominantly shaped by Western individualist ethics, prove insufficient. Neural data, uniquely intimate and increasingly commodified, poses profound ethical and legal risks, including mental privacy violations, behavioural profiling, and cultural alienation. This article interrogates these risks through a neuroethical lens grounded in African relational philosophy, particularly Ubuntu, which emphasises communal personhood, collective decision-making, and spiritual interconnectedness. We analyse the limitations of South African and international legal frameworks, arguing that they neither adequately recognise neural data as a distinct category nor accommodate culturally appropriate consent processes. In response, we propose a pluralistic, relational consent framework that incorporates tiered, dynamic, and interactive mechanisms, sensitive to linguistic, educational, and spiritual diversity. By centring cognitive liberty and advocating for sui generis neurorights protections, this paper contributes a decolonial, culturally situated perspective to global neuroethics and informs more inclusive governance models for neural technologies in legally and socially pluralistic societies.
Real‑time automated measurements of optic nerve sheath diameter for noninvasive assessment of intracranial pressure in aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage
Netteland, Dag Ferner; Aarhus, Mads; Sandset, Else Charlotte; Padayachy, Llewellyn; Helseth, Eirik; Brekken, Reidar (BioMed Central, 2025-06)
BACKGROUND : Optic nerve sheath diameter (ONSD) is a promising noninvasive parameter for intracranial pressure (ICP) assessment. However, in the setting of aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH), several previous studies have reported no association between ultrasonically measured ONSD and ICP. In this study, we evaluate ONSD in patients with aSAH using a novel method of automated real-time ultrasonographic measurements and explore whether factors such as having undergone surgery affects its association to ICP. METHODS : We prospectively included adult patients with aSAH undergoing invasive ICP monitoring. ONSD was obtained using a prototype ultrasound machine with software for real-time automated measurements at the bedside. Correlation between ONSD and ICP was explored, and the ability of ONSD to discriminate dichotomized ICP was evaluated. Abovementioned analyses were performed for the whole cohort and repeated for subgroups by whether the basal cisterns had been surgically entered before ultrasound examination. RESULTS : Twenty-six ultrasound examinations were performed in 20 patients. There was a positive correlation between ONSD and ICP (R = 0.43; p = 0.03). In the subgroup where the basal cisterns had not been surgically entered before ultrasound examination, there was a stronger correlation (R = 0.55; p = 0.01), whereas no correlation was seen in the subgroup where the basal cisterns had been surgically entered (R = - 0.16; p = 0.70). ONSD displayed an ability to discriminate ICP dichotomized at ≥ 15 mm Hg (area under the curve [AUC] = 0.84, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.65-0.96). Subgroup analysis revealed a perfect discriminatory ability (AUC = 1, 95% CI 0.81-1) where the basal cisterns had not been surgically entered and no discriminatory ability (AUC = 0.47, 95% CI 0.16-0.84) where the basal cisterns had been surgically entered before ultrasound examination. CONCLUSIONS : Automatically measured ONSD correlated well with ICP and displayed a perfect discriminatory ability in patients with aSAH in whom the basal cisterns had not been entered surgically before ultrasound examination, and may be a clinically valuable noninvasive marker of ICP in these patients. Caution should be exercised in using ONSD in patients in whom the basal cisterns have been entered surgically before ONSD measurements, as no association was observed in this subgroup.
Cash strapped! Can the multi-lateral human rights system survive the UN financial crisis?
Skelton, Ann, 1961- (Sage, 2025-12)
The United Nations is facing a financial emergency so acute that it threatens not only the day-to-day functioning of its institutions but also the very architecture of the multilateral human rights system. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the institutional anchor of global rights protection, recently announced a shortfall of around US $60 million in its core budget, having received only US $179 million of the US $246 million allocated for 2025. Extra-budgetary funding, on which many of its programmes rely, has simultaneously been cut by another US $60 million. These are not abstract numbers: they translate into treaty bodies forced to cancel sessions for the first time in their history, special rapporteurs restricted to a single country visit each year, and commissions of inquiry struggling to secure the staff and resources needed to investigate atrocities. The crisis raises an unsettling question – are we witnessing a temporary budgetary glitch, or the beginning of a deeper unraveling, in which states no longer have the political will to sustain the human rights project they created? This column takes up that question by tracing the roots of the UN's financial shortfall, examining its immediate and long-term consequences, situating it against pre-existing weaknesses in the system, and exploring whether its timing – coinciding with an increasingly hostile global environment for human rights – is mere coincidence or symptomatic of a more profound shift. It concludes with reflections on survival: not through unbounded expansion, but through consolidation, reform, and above all, solidarity.
Atlantochodaeus, a new genus of Ochodaeidae Streubel, 1846 (Coleoptera, Scarabaeoidea) from Brazilian Atlantic Forest with four new species and morphological notes to the family
Da Costa-Silva, Vinicius; Sousa, Rafael; Fuhrmann, Juares; Grossi, Paschoal C.; Vaz‑de‑Mello, Fernando Z. (Springer, 2025-06)
Atlantochodaeus, a new genus of Ochodaeidae from the Brazilian Atlantic Forest is described, discussed, and illustrated. Additionally, four new species belonging to Atlantochodaeus are described: Atlantochodaeus everardoi n. sp. and Atlantochodaeus paulseni n. sp., both recorded from Rio de Janeiro State; Atlantochodaeus hucheti n. sp. from Espírito Santo, Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro, and São Paulo States, and Atlantochodaeus oliviae n. sp. from Minas Gerais State. Detailed descriptions of these species are accompanied by a differential diagnosis and a distribution map. A dichotomous key for all South American genera of Ochodaeidae and the species of Atlantochodaeus is provided to aid in identification. A comprehensive comparative morphology study regarding Parochodaeus pectoralis (LeConte, 1868) (type species of Parochodaeus) and the Atlantochodaeus species are discussed and illustrated. A discussion about gland, mycangium and stridulatory apparatus of Ochodaeinae are also provided. These findings emphasize the richness of the Atlantic Forest and underscore the importance of detailed taxonomic studies in revealing its biodiversity.
WatchListR : a tool for developing watch-lists of invasive species to inform biosecurity decision-making
Ivey, Philip J.; Faulkner, Katelyn T.; Miller, Justin; Van Steenderen, Clarke J.M. (Pensoft Publishers, 2025-11-20)
The Global Biodiversity Framework calls for member countries to reduce the rate of introduction of known or potential invasive alien species by at least 50 percent by 2030. An essential tool that will assist countries in achieving this ambitious target is a list of known or potential invasive alien species that are absent from their territories but might enter along a variety of pathways (‘watch-list’ hereafter). Generating watch-lists requires consideration of curated information on a large number of species. The growing volume of distribution data and the improved understanding of historical species introductions and invasions have created a significant data overload for countries compiling watch-lists. We have developed a computational workflow to automate part of this process, enabling countries to draw up these lists quickly and cost-effectively. The WatchListR tool requires reliable and accurate information on species present in the country (indigenous and introduced, as well as economically important). As information on which species are present is sometimes not readily available, local experts should ideally review and verify the watch-lists developed by WatchListR. As a case study, we used WatchListR to develop a list of species prohibited for importation into the Republic of Mauritius. We explore the development of WatchListR, describe the processes used, consider the efficacy of the tool, highlight planned future advancements, and suggest how countries can support the tool’s development through the use and creation of expert-validated watch-lists.