This article examines in depth whether electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) satisfies bioethics' four healthcare provision principles: nonmaleficence, beneficence, justice, and autonomy. Treating patients ethically implies protecting them from damages, working to ensure their well-being, and respecting their decisions once they have been correctly informed. Although most of the medical literature states that ECT is an effective and safe technique, there is no conclusive evidence of long-term effectiveness. The frequent and sometimes persistent side effects such as amnesia that imply a profound disturb of lived experience, or the difficulties regarding the informed consent process, allow us to conclude that the bioethical debate about ECT is not currently closed, and the information provided to patients needs to be revised.

Orchids comprise one of the largest families of flowering plants and have important roles in the total biomass, water balance, and nutrient cycling of tropical ecosystems; however, they are also one of the most endangered plant taxa. Because their diversity is strongly coupled to environmental factors, we hypothesize that local elevation can affect the diversity of these organisms. The purpose of this research was to compare the orchid species diversity at 1200, 1400, and 1700 m of elevation, corresponding to a sandstone plateau of the Cordillera del Cóndor that hosts a great orchid diversity. For each elevation, three plots of 0.1 ha were established. Each plot was subdivided into 25 subplots, and 8 were randomly selected, wherein all orchid species were counted and identified. The results obtained revealed the existence of 119 species belonging to 54 genera and a total of 867 individuals. The greatest diversity of species was found at an elevation of 1700 with 63 species, followed by 1400 m with 52 species, with the least diversity at an elevation of 1200 m with 39 species. Orchid composition differed significantly among the three elevations related to more humidity at higher elevations (e.g., 1700 m). More importantly, twenty-one species were the best candidate indicators of environmental conditions (e.g., Maxillaria grayi, Elleanthus oliganthus, Maxillaria mapiriensis, Stelis pittieri, Stelis ortegae) in this region. We conclude that orchid communities in sandstone plateau forests in the Shagmi Range of the Cordillera del Cóndor are mainly limited by elevation.

Orthodontic appliances are commonly used to achieve anchorage during orthodontic treatments; however, their use can contribute to oral diseases. Studies have shown that bisphosphonates and osteoprotegerin are highly effective in reducing orthodontic tooth movement. To determine the efficacy of bisphosphonates and osteoprotegerin in reducing orthodontic tooth movement. A comprehensive search was conducted across five databases-MEDLINE-PubMed, Scopus, Google Scholar, ScienceDirect, and Taylor & Francis-up to August 2, 2023. Clinical trials conducted in healthy animals, where bisphosphonates and osteoprotegerin were administered during tooth movement, were included. The search identified 3,099 articles, which underwent a two-phase screening process, resulting in twelve studies for the systematic review and seven for the meta-analysis. Risk of bias was assessed using the SYRCLE tool, and Egger's regression was used to evaluate publication bias. The administration of bisphosphonates was more effective than osteoprotegerin in reducing mesiodistal orthodontic movement. However, osteoprotegerin did not significantly reduce orthodontic tooth movement. The findings align with previous studies, confirming the superior efficacy of bisphosphonates over osteoprotegerin. Further research is required to determine the optimal dosage and mechanism of action for these drugs in clinical practice, considering the specific objectives of orthodontic treatments.

The species of the genus Ceroxylon have narrow geographical ranges, and subsequently, their populations are subjected to a high degree of fragmentation due to deforestation and land conversion. Ceroxylon parvifrons (Engel) H. Wendl is a representative floristic species of the Andean rainforest; however, little information related to its natural history, ecology, biology, and conservation status is available, making it difficult to assess its biological relationship with the environmental factors and the current status of their populations in natural environments. Here, we studied the spatial pattern of adults, rosettes, and seedlings of C. parvifrons in the montane rainforest and assessed the role of populations spatial structure and intraspecific interactions on plant performance. A total of 460 individuals were categorized according to their size, with 11 adults, 10 juveniles, 336 rosettes, and 103 seedlings being recorded. C. parvifrons showed that the population is expanding during the first two stages of the plant (seedling and rosette). After this, there is a significant decrease where the frequency of individuals of the juvenile and adult categories tend to disappear from the population. The L (r) function shows a robust clustering throughout the entire scale for seedlings, rosettes, and adult palms. Also, the Poisson cluster process describes a patchy distribution in which plant individuals are distributed in clumps (clusters). Thus, this approximation related to spatial patterns of C. parvifrons will provide an important step for the conservation of this species in tropical zones.

Air pollution is a global problem in urban and rural areas, mainly related to vehicular traffic and industrial activities. Bromeliads have been widely used globally for active and passive air quality monitoring. However, a systematic review to facilitate the access and analysis of this information is yet to be made available. The objective of this work was to systematically review the use of bromeliads in biomonitoring of the air quality from articles published between 1990 and 2023 to analyze the progress and impact of the research related to the type of monitoring, species used, pollutants measured, and sampling protocols. The search was carried out in global (Scopus, ISI Web of Science, ScienceDirect, and MDPI) and regional (SciELO and Redalyc) databases with a total of 60 scientific articles, where the neotropical region with 31 articles and the Nearctic region with 11 articles were the most influential regions. In addition, more than 90% of the research has been published in high‐impact journals (quartile 1). Passive monitoring registered 25 articles compared to active monitoring with 23, with 23 species of the family Bromeliaceae, predominantly the genus Tillandsia. Tillandsia usneoides was the most common species used in active monitoring, while Tillandsia recurvata was used for passive monitoring. The measurement of heavy metals was the preferred technique (93% of the studies) for air quality monitoring, where Zn, Fe, Pb, Cr, and Mn and the nonessential elements K, Ca, and Na were the most measured. Results obtained by different research groups cannot be compared directly because different methodologies have been used, highlighting the importance of standardized techniques for future work. Thus, as a contribution in this direction, we propose a protocol to facilitate or standardize the selection of the proper methodology for developing air quality monitoring using bromeliads.