Cerebrospinal Fluid Space Alterations in Melancholic Depression

Melancholic depression is a biologically homogeneous clinical entity in which structural brain alterations have been described. Interestingly, reports of structural alterations in melancholia include volume increases in Cerebro-Spinal Fluid (CSF) spaces. However, there are no previous reports of CSF volume alterations using automated whole-brain voxel-wise approaches, as tissue classification algorithms have been traditionally regarded as less reliable for CSF segmentation. Here we aimed to assess CSF volumetric alterations in melancholic depression and their clinical correlates by means of a novel segmentation algorithm (‘new segment’, as implemented in the software Statistical Parametric Mapping-SPM8), incorporating specific features that may improve CSF segmentation. A three-dimensional Magnetic Resonance Image (MRI) was obtained from seventy patients with melancholic depression and forty healthy control subjects. Although imaging data were pre-processed with the ‘new segment’ algorithm, in order to obtain a comparison with previous segmentation approaches, tissue segmentation was also performed with the ‘unified segmentation’ approach. Melancholic patients showed a CSF volume increase in the region of the left Sylvian fissure, and a CSF volume decrease in the subarachnoid spaces surrounding medial and lateral parietal cortices. Furthermore, CSF increases in the left Sylvian fissure were negatively correlated with the reduction percentage of depressive symptoms at discharge. None of these results were replicated with the ‘unified segmentation’ approach. By contrast, between-group differences in the left Sylvian fissure were replicated with a non-automated quantification of the CSF content of this region. Left Sylvian fissure alterations reported here are in agreement with previous findings from non-automated CSF assessments, and also with other reports of gray and white matter insular alterations in depressive samples using automated approaches. The reliable characterization of CSF alterations may help in the comprehensive characterization of brain structural abnormalities in psychiatric samples and in the development of etiopathogenic hypotheses relating to the disorders

CSR and related terms in SME owner-managers' mental models in six European countries: national context matters

As a contribution to the emerging field of corporate social responsibility (CSR) cognition, this article reports on the findings of an exploratory study that compares SME owner–managers’ mental models with regard to CSR and related concepts across six European countries (Belgium, Italy, Norway, France, UK, Spain). Utilising Repertory Grid Technique, we found that the SME owner–managers’ mental models show a few commonalities as well as a number of differences across the different country samples. We interpret those differences by linking individual cognition to macro-environmental variables, such as language, national traditions and dissemination mechanisms. The results of our exploratory study show that nationality matters but that classifications of countries as found in the comparative capitalism literature do not exactly mirror national differences in CSR cognition and that these classifications need further differentiation. The findings from our study raise questions on the universality of cognition of academic management concepts and warn that promotion of responsible business practice should not rely on the use of unmediated US American management terminology

Neuroimaging in anxiety disorders

Neuroimaging studies have gained increasing importance in validating neurobiological network hypotheses for anxiety disorders. Functional imaging procedures and radioligand binding studies in healthy subjects and in patients with anxiety disorders provide growing evidence of the existence of a complex anxiety network, including limbic, brainstem, temporal, and prefrontal cortical regions. Obviously, “normal anxiety” does not equal “pathological anxiety” although many phenomena are evident in healthy subjects, however to a lower extent. Differential effects of distinct brain regions and lateralization phenomena in different anxiety disorders are mentioned. An overview of neuroimaging investigations in anxiety disorders is given after a brief summary of results from healthy volunteers. Concluding implications for future research are made by the authors

The Stigmatization and Devaluation of Elites Associated with Corporate Failures: A Process Model

We develop a model to explain the process by which corporate failure leads to professional devaluation of individual elites. We envision that corporate failure evokes a stigmatization process, in which society\u27s arbiters engage in constituent-minded sensemaking to interpret the conditions surrounding the failure, including the characteristics of the individual elite, and arrive at judgments about the person\u27s blameworthiness. We discuss implications of this research for the study of stigma and stigmatization, as well as settling-up in managerial labor markets