Transient poverty in a sustainable development context

Transient poverty (TP) is a phenomenon that, by its characterisation, references a condition that may not necessarily be permanent. Its occurrence may result from an external shock, such as a severe weather-related event or geographic, national, or global impact on the economy, such as a hurricane, financial crisis, or as most recently, a pandemic. The defining aspects of TP and the needs of those pushed into TP offer an opportunity to address one aspect of poverty, which is of significance given both the disproportionate vulnerability of the poor to external shocks as well as the prohibitive effect of poverty on establishing resilience. Unfortunately, TP is not often assessed and is routinely combined and categorised as ‘poverty’, eliminating an opportunity to address unique aspects of TP and establish policies that may be beneficial to the sub-group. This paper provides a bibliometric evaluation of TP specific to the sustainable development literature, highlighting the research gap and providing a rationale for active research on the social phenomenon regarding the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) in general and specifically SDG 1: No poverty. There are three key findings relevant to sustainability. Firstly, there seems to be a disconnection between TP and the sustainable development theory, particularly in a multidisciplinary discussion. Secondly, human action in degrading ecosystems strongly influences TP and exacerbates overall poverty levels. Finally, efforts to tackle transient poverty need to consider issues such as gender, education, health, and political aspects. Based on the findings, items for future research are also presented

Trilateral retinoblastoma: neuroimaging characteristics and value of routine brain screening on admission

Trilateral retinoblastoma (TRb) is a rare disease associating intraocular retinoblastoma with intracranial primitive neuroectodermal tumor. Treatment is difficult and prognosis is poor. This multicenter study evaluates clinical findings and MR imaging characteristics of associated intracranial tumors in Rb patients. Clinical data of 17 patients (16 TRb and 1 quadrilateral Rb patients) included time intervals between Rb and TRb diagnosis and presence of baseline brain-imaging (BBI). Two reviewers reviewed all images individually and one reviewer per center evaluated their images. Consensus was reached during a joint scoring session. Studies were reviewed for tumor location, size and imaging characteristics (signal intensity (SI) on T1- and T2-weighted images, enhancement pattern and cystic appearance). Of 18 intracranial tumors, 78 % were located in the pineal gland and 22 % suprasellar. All tumors showed well-defined borders with mostly heterogenous enhancement (72 %) and isointense SI on T1- (78 %) and T2-weighted images (72 %) compared to gray matter. The majority of pineal TRbs showed a cystic component (57 %). TRb detected synchronously with the intraocular tumors on BBI (n = 7) were significantly smaller (P = 0.02), and mainly asymptomatic than TRb detected later on (n = 10). Overall, 5-year-survival of TRb patients detected on BBI was 67 % (95 % CI 29-100 %) compared to 11 % (95 % CI 0-32 %) for the group with delayed diagnosis. TRb mainly develops in the pineal gland and frequently presents with a cystic appearance that could be misinterpreted as benign pineal cysts. Routine BBI in all newly diagnosed Rb patients can detect TRb at a subclinical stage