Differences in the semantics of prosocial words: an exploration of compassion and kindness

The study of prosocial behaviour has accelerated greatly in the last 20 years. Researchers are exploring different domains of prosocial behaviour such as compassion, kindness, caring, cooperation, empathy, sympathy, love, altruism and morality. While these constructs can overlap, and are sometimes used interchangeably, they also have distinctive features that require careful elucidation. This paper discusses some of the controversies and complexities of describing different (prosocial) mental states, followed by a study investigating the differences between two related prosocial concepts: compassion and kindness. For the study, a scenario-based questionnaire was developed to assess the degree to which a student (N = 222) and a community (N = 112) sample judged scenarios in terms of compassion or kindness. Subsequently, participants rated emotions (e.g. sadness, anxiety, anger, disgust, joy) associated with each scenario. Both groups clearly distinguished kindness from compassion in the scenarios on the basis of suffering. In addition, participants rated compassion-based scenarios as significantly higher on sadness, anger, anxiety and disgust, whereas kindness-based scenarios had higher levels of joy. As a follow-up, a further sample (29 male, 63 female) also rated compassionate scenarios as involving significantly more suffering compared to the kindness scenarios. Although overlapping concepts, compassion and kindness are clearly understood as different processes with different foci, competencies and emotion textures. This has implications for research in prosocial behaviour, and the cultivation of kindness and compassion for psychotherapy and in general.N/

First estimates of entanglement rate of humpback whales Megaptera novaeangliae observed in coastal Icelandic waters

Publisher's version (útgefin grein)Entanglement in fishing gear is a significant anthropogenic source of large whale injury and mortality. Although entanglements have been reported in the eastern North Atlantic, their frequency has not been previously estimated. This study used systematic scar analysis to estimate the frequency of non-lethal entanglements among individual humpback whales Megaptera novaeangliae off coastal Iceland, from 2005 through 2017. Images of the caudal peduncle and fluke insertions of 379 individuals were analyzed for wrapping injuries and notches known to be indicative of entanglement. The results indicated that at least 24.8% (n = 94, 95% confidence intervals [95% CI]: 20.5-29.1%) of individuals had a history of prior entanglement when first encountered. Depending on the metric used, the whales subsequently acquired new entanglement-related injuries at an average rate of 1.9% (95% CI: 0.6-3.2%) or 16.3% (95% CI: 3.0-29.3%) per year, with no statistically significant change over time. Furthermore, evidence suggests that at least some entanglements occurred locally. Observations of whales with gear still entangling the body confirmed the patterns of injury studied here. These results are lower than scar-based estimates from other parts of the world, but the cause of this difference requires further study. Scar-based methods underestimate the frequency of prior entanglement because some injuries heal beyond recognition, do not involve the caudal peduncle, and may occur on whales that die before they are studied. Long-term monitoring of humpback whale entanglement in Icelandic coastal waters is important for evaluating the local effects of fisheries, as well as the viability of the endangered Cape Verde breeding population.This work was funded in part by a National Geographic Explorer Grant awarded by the National Geographic Society, a PhD sponsorship grant awarded by Gentle Giants Whale Watching, and a Doctoral Grant awarded by Rannís Icelandic Research Fund. We thank all the students at the University of Iceland’s Húsavík Research Center for contributing data, the Faxaflói Ceta - cean Research volunteers (in Húsavík and Reykjavík), and all the whale-watching companies in Iceland who showed interest in the project and contributed photographs and/or space onboard their vessels for data collection. Furthermore, we thank the anonymous reviewers, who provided valuable input into the manuscript. Photographs used in the figures are copyright of University of Iceland (Figs. 2,3,4a1,b,c, 5 & 6a,b,d) Elding Adventures at Sea (Fig. 6c), and Charlie Frank Lavin (Elding Whale Watching Akureyri) (Fig. 4a2).Peer Reviewe

A short history of heme dioxygenases: rise, fall and rise again

It is well established that there are two different classes of enzymes—tryptophan 2,3-dioxygenase (TDO) and indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO)—that catalyse the O2-dependent oxidation of l-tryptophan to N-formylkynurenine. But it was not always so. This perspective presents a short history of the early TDO and IDO literature, the people that were involved in creating it, and the legacy that this left for the future