The article presents an overview of the problems of child violence, a wide range of its variants-physical, sexual and psychological violence, etc. It is shown that child violence has the quality of transgeneration, in one form or another, is reproduced in the next generations. The experience of violence is also a negative predictor of violent behavior that will manifest itself in the upbringing of their own children. Indicators of the epidemiology of violence are presented. The data vary greatly, for example, the prevalence of sexual violence ranges from 3% to 36%. Sexual violence mainly affects children between the ages of 6 and 13. Children under the age of 4 are most likely to suffer from physical and psychological abuse. Up to a third of victims of sexual violence may show appropriate behavior towards their own or other children. An overview of the factors that predispose / retard the formation of child violence is presented. These are factors such as age, gender, ethnic origin, disability, and social status of the parents. Prevention work should be based on a multi-level concept (multiple participants or institutions are involved). Appropriate measures to prevent violence should not (cannot) only target children / young people, but should also affect, in particular, parents and schools.
This article addresses topical issues of protection of children from domestic violence in the national legal system. Special attention is paid to the forms of domestic violence, protection of the rights and freedoms of victims.
Type II focal cortical dysplasia (FCD II) is a major cause of drug-resistant epilepsy in children, with balloon cells representing a defining histopathological feature of FCD IIb. Although diagnostically important, the biological identity and epileptogenic contribution of balloon cells remain incompletely understood. Current evidence links balloon cells to disrupted cortical development, often driven by somatic mosaic mutations in the PI3K-AKT-mTOR pathway, resulting in impaired differentiation, cellular enlargement, and hybrid neuroglial phenotypes. This review examines current evidence on the developmental origins and lineage states, molecular signatures, electrophysiological features, and network effects of balloon cells in FCD II. Persistent mTOR hyperactivation appears to interact with cytoskeletal abnormalities, oxidative stress, and local inflammatory signaling, thereby creating a microenvironment that favors epileptogenic remodeling. Despite being largely electrically silent, BCs are embedded within lesion microenvironments characterized by disrupted inhibitory circuitry, altered neurotransmitter homeostasis, and complement-associated synaptic remodeling. BCs may participate indirectly in these processes, although their cell-specific causal contribution remains unresolved. Recent single-cell and spatial transcriptomic studies further distinguish balloon cells from dysmorphic neurons and implicate them in local immune activation. Understanding balloon cell biology may reveal cell-specific therapeutic targets and support precision treatment strategies beyond surgical resection.
Violence against children has clearly proven demographic, health, educational, social, and economic consequences which are not limited to immediate trauma and increased child mortality rates. Establishing and maintaining sustainable data collection systems is a key component of the effort to address child abuse. The review of the indicators collected by the institutions in Bulgaria shows that there are partially collected data that are relevant to the topic of violence against children. However, it remains unclear how the collected data is integrated into a general framework. The use of the data collected by the institutions for the improvement of the existing mechanisms, as well as for the planning of effective policies to deal with violence against children, is also in question.
Traditional gender roles persist in modern societies. A division would not be detrimental to women if it were not based on their subordination. Unfortunately, gender inequality is part of a burdensome historical legacy that is common to both Western and non-Western religious and social contexts. Ironically, in patriarchal communities, women are responsible for passing on this legacy of subordination to future generations. Their role of pillars of family honour and custodians of cultural heritage highlights the ambiguity of the term "intangible cultural heritage" and the need to draw a line between what is worth protecting and what should be relegated to the past. The last sentence of Article 2 of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage draws this line, but more research is needed to clarify its content and scope. Until then, armed conflicts seem to be a decisive factor in the selection of historical legacies that survive from the devastation they cause, both in terms of tangible and intangible cultural heritage. Violence against women in armed conflict is used as a means of disrupting the enemy's community. The individual and social trauma caused by mass rape leads to the alienation and loss of social identification of the victims in their social environment. Feeling rejected by the community to which they would naturally belong, women and children lose their cultural heritage. Paradoxically, however, armed conflict can also create unexpected opportunities for the living cultural heritage. In some scenarios, the need for social reconstruction following dramatic demographic changes has led to faster progress towards women's empowerment. This article emphasizes the potential impetus of a visible common trend towards gender equality, which makes it possible to reconcile tradition and evolution in the protection of intangible heritage. By suggesting the adoption of a diachronic perspective, it highlights the need for future avenues of research that can demystify the opposition between the universality of women's rights and the preservation of intangible cultural heritage.
Introduction Turkish permits grammatical non-canonical word order while morphological case marking disambiguates thematic roles. Methods We examined comprehension accuracy and verb-locked event-related potentials (ERPs) to Turkish canonical subject-object-verb (SOV) and non-canonical object-subject-verb (OSV) sentences in adults ( n = 67; 18–44 years) and children ( n = 37; 4.3–9.7 years). Results Accuracy was lower for OSV than SOV in both groups, with a significantly larger SOV-OSV accuracy difference in children. Adults showed a late posterior OSV > SOV positivity, with significant effects in several prespecified windows within the 600–1,200-ms interval, consistent with increased sentence-final processing demands associated with the non-canonical configuration at the final verb. Children showed no reliable corresponding positivity after correction for multiple comparisons. Critically, however, Group × Sentence Type interactions did not survive correction, providing insufficient evidence that the magnitude of the SOV-OSV ERP effect differed between adults and children. Within children, chronological age showed no reliable linear or quadratic association with the behavioral or ERP SOV-OSV difference across the sampled age range. By contrast, stronger grammatical ability predicted higher comprehension accuracy in both sentence types beyond age; the same general pattern was obtained for broader language ability. Neither grammatical nor broader language ability reliably modulated the SOV-OSV ERP difference. Discussion Overall, the findings suggest that the availability of morphosyntactic case cues does not by itself entail adult-like efficiency in integrating those cues during sentence comprehension, and that developmental patterns may be expressed differently across behavioral and electrophysiological measures.
Background and purpose Isolated seizures represent a distinct, rare, and underrecognized phenotype of myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) antibody-associated disease (MOGAD). In recent years, documentation of this phenotype has been limited to sporadic reports, with dedicated case series being extremely scarce. This study aimed to describe the clinical characteristics of isolated seizures in pediatric patients with MOGAD. Methods We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of pediatric patients diagnosed with MOG antibody-associated isolated seizures between January 2019 and January 2026. Clinical manifestations, brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings, laboratory data, treatment regimens, and clinical outcomes were systematically analyzed. Results Among the cohort of 172 pediatric patients with seropositive MOG antibodies, 6 (3.4%) met the inclusion criteria for isolated seizures. The median age at onset was 7.5 years (range, 5–9 years), with a male-to-female ratio of 1:2. Clinically, 4 patients presented solely with epileptic seizures, while the other 2 patients had additional transient limb weakness or headache, respectively. Focal seizures were observed in 5 patients, including 3 with focal motor seizures; additionally, 2 cases experienced status epilepticus. No patients exhibited encephalopathy or focal neurological deficits. Four patients had peripheral blood leukocytosis (range, 11.9–26 × 10 9 /L), and five had elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rates (ESR; range, 22–43 mm/h). All six patients showed cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) pleocytosis (41.1 ± 20.4/μL; range, 15–69/μL) without detectable infectious pathogens. Abnormal electroencephalogram (EEG) findings, including abnormal background activity and focal slow waves, were identified in 3 patients. No cranial MRI abnormalities were detected in any patient. All patients received immunotherapy, with one patient additionally receiving anti-seizure medications (ASMs). At final follow-up, all patients had favorable outcomes, with no recurrence of seizures or subsequent demyelinating events. Conclusion Myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein antibody-associated isolated seizures is a rare and frequently underrecognized phenotype within the spectrum of MOGAD. For school-age children presenting with epileptic seizures, particularly focal motor seizures, along with elevated ESR and CSF pleocytosis, early testing for MOG antibody is recommended in the absence of clinical or radiological evidence of encephalitis or focal neurological deficits. Most patients achieve favorable clinical outcomes, which may be partially attributed to immunotherapy. However, the efficacy of immunotherapy in preventing seizure recurrence, subsequent demyelinating events, and subclinical radiological disease remains indeterminate.
<p>This paper explores how to employ effective, community-engaged strategies to understand and address the underlying power asymmetries that fuel violence against women and children. Utilising Participatory Action Research and underpinned by Integral Activist Epistemology, the action research adopts a novel approach combining Theory U and Powercube frameworks to facilitate a comprehensive understanding and transformation of these power relations in Shinyanga district, Tanzania.</p> <p>The paper describes the journey of engaging the community in identifying and challenging the unwritten rules that perpetuate violence. Key to this process is the recognition of violence as a manifestation of deeply ingrained patriarchal power structures, which are sustained through coercion and social exclusion, yet paradoxically fragile due to the pain these norms inflict on the whole community, including men. This understanding leads to the development of practical, community-led interventions, or 'prototypes', aimed at reshaping these dynamics.</p> <p>Key messages from the action research highlight the critical role of local context in shaping interventions, the importance of reframing existing cultural practices so that they are more inclusive, and the necessity for long-term commitment from development actors for sustainable change. The implications extend beyond Shinyanga, offering insights for practitioners globally. This paper contributes to the academic discourse on violence prevention but also serves as a practical guide, providing tools and strategies for practitioners working towards creating safer, more inclusive communities.</p>
Violence against children (VAC) is a global phenomenon that needs deliberate attention. Children exposed to violence in their families, communities, and schools in their early years are likely to maintain this cycle of violence in their youth and adult lives if no efforts are made to break this cycle. Taking this into consideration the author adopts a social-ecological theoretical perspective in exploring global, regional, and South African literature on the risks and causes of VAC as well as the protective factors that can prevent VAC. Embedding VAC within a social-ecological perspective warrants the need to explore it at four crucial levels, namely individual, relationships, community, and society. The literature review embodies the relevance of these four levels since all risk and causal factors of VAC are easily categorised in one or more of these levels. As such, the author provides a social-ecological perspective comprising all four levels that holistically address the prevention of VAC. The literature review indicated that many of the risks and causes of VAC are a common trend across countries even though it is more prevalent within African contexts. This suggests that the preventive measures discussed are likely to have global value.
