Towards (more) integrity in academia: transcending neo-liberal assumption of research and knowledge creation and the “rules” supressing academic freedom

European researchers across heterogeneous disciplines voice concerns and argue for new paths towards a brighter future regarding scientific and knowledge creation and communication. Recently, in biological and natural sciences concerns have been expressed that major threats are intentionally ignored. These threats are challenging Europe’s future sustainability towards creating knowledge that effectively deals with emerging social, environmental, health, and economic problems of a planetary scope. Within social science circles however, the root cause regarding the above challenges, have been linked with macro level forces of neo-liberal ways of valuing and relevant rules in academia and beyond which we take for granted. These concerns raised by heterogeneous scholars in natural and the applied social sciences concern the ethics of today’s research and academic integrity. Applying Bourdieu’s sociology may not allow an optimistic lens if change is possible. Rather than attributing the replication of neo-liberal habitus in intentional agent and institutional choices, Bourdieu’s work raises the importance of thoughtlessly internalised habits in human and social action. Accordingly, most action within a given paradigm (in this case, neo-liberalism) is understood as habituated, i.e. unconsciously reproducing external social fields, even ill-defined ways of valuing. This essay analyses these and how they may help critically analyse the current habitus surrounding research and knowledge production, evaluation, and communication and related aspects of academic freedom. Although it is acknowledged that transformation is not easy, the essay presents arguments and recent theory paths to suggest that change nevertheless may be a realistic hope once certain action logics are encouraged

The impact of surgical delay on resectability of colorectal cancer: An international prospective cohort study

AIM: The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has provided a unique opportunity to explore the impact of surgical delays on cancer resectability. This study aimed to compare resectability for colorectal cancer patients undergoing delayed versus non-delayed surgery. METHODS: This was an international prospective cohort study of consecutive colorectal cancer patients with a decision for curative surgery (January-April 2020). Surgical delay was defined as an operation taking place more than 4 weeks after treatment decision, in a patient who did not receive neoadjuvant therapy. A subgroup analysis explored the effects of delay in elective patients only. The impact of longer delays was explored in a sensitivity analysis. The primary outcome was complete resection, defined as curative resection with an R0 margin. RESULTS: Overall, 5453 patients from 304 hospitals in 47 countries were included, of whom 6.6% (358/5453) did not receive their planned operation. Of the 4304 operated patients without neoadjuvant therapy, 40.5% (1744/4304) were delayed beyond 4 weeks. Delayed patients were more likely to be older, men, more comorbid, have higher body mass index and have rectal cancer and early stage disease. Delayed patients had higher unadjusted rates of complete resection (93.7% vs. 91.9%, P = 0.032) and lower rates of emergency surgery (4.5% vs. 22.5%, P < 0.001). After adjustment, delay was not associated with a lower rate of complete resection (OR 1.18, 95% CI 0.90-1.55, P = 0.224), which was consistent in elective patients only (OR 0.94, 95% CI 0.69-1.27, P = 0.672). Longer delays were not associated with poorer outcomes. CONCLUSION: One in 15 colorectal cancer patients did not receive their planned operation during the first wave of COVID-19. Surgical delay did not appear to compromise resectability, raising the hypothesis that any reduction in long-term survival attributable to delays is likely to be due to micro-metastatic disease

Sustainability centres and fit: how centres work to integrate sustainability within business schools

For nearly as long as the topic of sustainable business has been taught and researched in business schools, proponents have warned about barriers to genuine integration in business school practices. This article examines how academic sustainability centres try to overcome barriers to integration by achieving technical, cultural and political fit with their environment (Ansari, Fiss, & Zajac, 2010). Based on survey and interview data, we theorise that technical, cultural and political fit are intricately related, and that these interrelations involve legitimacy, resources and collaboration effects. Our findings about sustainability centres offer novel insights on integrating sustainable business education given the interrelated nature of different types of fit and misfit. We further contribute to the literature on fit by highlighting that incompatibility between strategies to achieve different types of fit may act as a source of dynamism

Isolation in Globalizing Academic Fields: A Collaborative Autoethnography of Early Career Researchers

This study examines academic isolation – an involuntary perceived separation from the academic field to which one aspires to belong, associated with a perceived lack of agency in terms of one’s engagement with the field – as a key challenge for researchers in increasingly globalized academic careers. While prior research describes early career researchers’ isolation in their institutions, we theorize early career researchers’ isolation in their academic fields and reveal how they attempt to mitigate isolation to improve their career prospects. Using a collaborative autoethnographic approach, we generate and analyze a dataset focused on the experiences of ten early career researchers in a globalizing business academic field known as Consumer Culture Theory. We identify bricolage practices, polycentric governance practices, and integration mechanisms that work to enhance early career researchers’ perceptions of agency and consequently mitigate their academic isolation. Our findings extend discussions on isolation and its role in new academic careers. Early career researchers, in particular, can benefit from a deeper understanding of practices that can enable them to mitigate isolation and reclaim agency as they engage with global academic fields

Autonomous self and inter-processual self: two ways of explaining how people “see” and live relationships and the resulting dialogue between science and faith

The relationship between science and faith is not a given, nor is it objectively defined, but rather depends on personal ways of approaching this relationship. Accordingly, it can be lived as a conflict, i.e. as agency striving to master independent and separate domains or as a process of dialogue or an integral relationship. In this chapter, we suggest that adopting one stance or the other depends on factors that go beyond the rational assessment that a person makes of science or faith. To explain the perspective that people adopt, cross-disciplinary theoretical insights relevant to human beings and their development are decisive. Based on previous research consolidating several theoretical proposals across a diverse disciplinary orientation (mainly philosophy, psychology and neuroscience), we suggest that there are two contrasting paradigms for conceiving of the self and human development, namely, the autonomous self (AS) and the inter-processual self (IPS) (Akrivou K, Orón JV: Challenges of capitalism for virtue and the common good: Inter-disciplinary perspectives. Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, 2016). We purport here that, depending on which of these two corresponding backgrounds characterises the person, people will ‘see’ and live the relationship—dialogue between science and faith—differently

Polymer–Lipid Microparticles for Pulmonary Delivery

Toward engineering approaches that are designed to optimize the particle size, morphology, and mucoadhesion behavior of the particulate component of inhaler formulations, this paper presents the preparation, physicochemical characterization, and preliminary in vitro evaluation of multicomponent polymer–lipid systems that are based on “spray-drying engineered” α-lactose monohydrate microparticles. The formulations combine an active (budesonide) with a lung surfactant (dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine) and with materials that are known for their desirable effects on morphology (polyvinyl alcohol), aerosolization (l-leucine), and mucoadhesion (chitosan). The effect of the composition of formulations on the morphology, distribution, and in vitro mucoadhesion profiles is presented along with “Calu-3 cell monolayers” data that indicate good cytocompatibility and also with simulated-lung-fluid data that are consistent with the therapeutically useful release of budesonide

Postherpes simplex encephalitis: a case series of viral-triggered autoimmunity, synaptic autoantibodies and response to therapy

Background: Recent evidence suggests that patients with herpes simplex virus (HSV) encephalitis may relapse because of autoimmunity against the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR). We present a case series of post-HSV relapsing encephalopathy associated with antibodies to central nervous system (CNS) synaptic antigens. Patient/Methods: Sera and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from five patients with HSV encephalitis who relapsed after antiviral therapy were tested for anti-NMDAR, gamma-aminobutyric acid b receptor (GABAbR), α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid receptor (AMPAR), Leucine-rich, glioma inactivated 1 (LGI1), anti -contactin-associated protein-like 2 (CASPR2) and dipeptidyl-peptidase-like protein-6 (DDPX) antibodies using cell-based assays. Results: Five patients (two infants, one child and two adults) developed post-HSV autoimmune encephalitis. The infants, aged 9 months and 10 months, after prompt and seemingly successful anti-HSV therapy, were readmitted with typical signs of NMDAR-encephalitis evolving within days, with NMDAR antibodies detected in both serum and CSF. Although they were promptly treated with intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) and with IVIg followed by rituximab, respectively, they were both left with psychomotor deficits. A 14-year-old girl with seizures due to HSV encephalitis improved with anti-HSV therapy. Later, she manifested intractable seizures and she was found positive for anti-NMDAR antibodies which persist. The two adults were women, aged 58 and 33 years. The first recovered after anti-HSV therapy and remained asymptomatic for 6 months, until she developed generalized seizures with persisting CSF anti-NMDAR antibodies; the second, who continued to be encephalopathic after 2 weeks of anti-HSV therapy, tested positive for anti-NMDAR antibodies in the serum and anti-GABAbR antibodies in the serum and CSF. She recovered fully following IVIg therapy but her serum anti-GABAbR antibodies persist 34 months later. Discussion: Infection of the CNS with HSV can trigger CNS autoimmunity associated not only with anti-NMDAR but also with anti-GABAbR antibodies. These antibodies can persist in the serum, even without associated symptoms, but their presence in the CSF is firmly associated with disease development. In contrast to children and adults who responded well to therapies, the infants had an incomplete recovery with severe psychomotor deficits probably due to the interference of anti-NMDAR antibodies with neuro-developmental processes. © The Author(s), 2018