Effects of hyperbaric oxygen therapy on human musculoskeletal pathologies in clinical studies: a systematic review.

Much of the article is associated with UN Sustainable Development Goal SDG 16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions) but is relevant to SDG 3 (Good Health and Well Being), and SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities). Microbial ecology, particularly the gut microbiome, plays a foundational role in cognition, emotion regulation, and behavior—factors central to justice outcomes. Advances in neuromicrobiology and omics technologies show how microbial disruptions linked to poverty, stress, diet, and environment may increase behavioral risks and reinforce inequality. Criminal justice is a neglected but vital dimension of the health and sustainability of human societies. Virtually all of the United Nations’ seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) intersect with justice systems. Poverty, limited education, food insecurity, poor nutrition, untreated health conditions—especially mental illness—discrimination, inequality, and climate change, are each linked to higher risks of arrest and incarceration (Alan C Logan et al. ). These upstream drivers, or structural forms of injustice, reflect complex ecological relationships between degraded environments, social systems, and human biology. Sustainable Development Goal 16, which calls for “promoting peaceful and inclusive societies” and “providing access to justice for all” (United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2025), cannot be achieved without acknowledging these biosocial and ecological determinants—including the punitive foundations of current justice systems (Shenkin ). A planetary health lens shows that human flourishing depends on the vitality of Earth’s natural systems (Whitmee et al. )—including the microbial ecosystems within and around us (Susan L Prescott ) (Gilbert et al. ). Growing evidence highlights the role of microbial ecology in shaping mental health, cognition, and behavior (Devason et al. )—factors central to justice outcomes. The gut microbiome, especially, serves as a dynamic interface between environmental conditions and neurobiological development, influencing emotion regulation, decision-making, and impulse control. As depicted in Fig.  artistry, these microbial communities are, in turn, shaped by nutrition, socioeconomic status, multisensory experiences, stress, and exposure to environmental harms (S. Kwak et al. , Mutlu et al. , Sanz et al. )—embedding inequality at the microbial level.