Taking stock of gene therapy for cystic fibrosis

The identification of the cystic fibrosis (CF) gene opened the way for gene therapy. In the ten years since then, proof of principle in vitro and then in animal models in vivo has been followed by numerous clinical studies using both viral and non-viral vectors to transfer normal copies of the gene to the lungs and noses of CF patients. A wealth of data have emerged from these studies, reflecting enormous progress and also helping to focus and define key difficulties that remain unresolved. Gene therapy for CF remains the most promising possibility for curative rather than symptomatic therapy

The effects of having more than one good reputation on distributor investments in the film industry

Reputations of organizations and its individual members are valuable resources that help new organizations to get access to investment capital. Reputations, however, can have different dimensions. In this paper, we argue that an individual’s reputation along a particular dimension will have a positive effect on the behavior of investors when it is role congruent. In addition, we argue that also scoring favorably on the role-incongruent dimension at the same time—or, in other words, engaging in reputational category spanning—will weaken the positive effect of the role-congruent reputation. Our empirical setting is the film industry where we study the effect of the two main dimensions of reputation in cultural industries, artistic and commercial, of both directors and producers on the size of the investment by distributors. In this study, artistic reputation is based on professional critics’ reviews and commercial reputation on box office performance of the films in which individuals were involved in the past. We find that the commercial reputation of a film producer based on past box office performance has a positive effect on the size of the investment by film distributors. In addition, we find that directors who at the same time combine both a favorable commercial as well as an artistic reputation actually receive a lower investment from film distributors

Prediction of Psilocybin Response in Healthy Volunteers

Responses to hallucinogenic drugs, such as psilocybin, are believed to be critically dependent on the user's personality, current mood state, drug pre-experiences, expectancies, and social and environmental variables. However, little is known about the order of importance of these variables and their effect sizes in comparison to drug dose. Hence, this study investigated the effects of 24 predictor variables, including age, sex, education, personality traits, drug pre-experience, mental state before drug intake, experimental setting, and drug dose on the acute response to psilocybin. The analysis was based on the pooled data of 23 controlled experimental studies involving 409 psilocybin administrations to 261 healthy volunteers. Multiple linear mixed effects models were fitted for each of 15 response variables. Although drug dose was clearly the most important predictor for all measured response variables, several non-pharmacological variables significantly contributed to the effects of psilocybin. Specifically, having a high score in the personality trait of Absorption, being in an emotionally excitable and active state immediately before drug intake, and having experienced few psychological problems in past weeks were most strongly associated with pleasant and mystical-type experiences, whereas high Emotional Excitability, low age, and an experimental setting involving positron emission tomography most strongly predicted unpleasant and/or anxious reactions to psilocybin. The results confirm that non-pharmacological variables play an important role in the effects of psilocybin

Sustainable Disruptive Innovation (SDI) : Initiating Systemic Changes by Reconfiguring User Preferences

acceptedVersionPeer reviewe

International Consensus Statement on Rhinology and Allergy: Rhinosinusitis

Background: The 5 years since the publication of the first International Consensus Statement on Allergy and Rhinology: Rhinosinusitis (ICAR‐RS) has witnessed foundational progress in our understanding and treatment of rhinologic disease. These advances are reflected within the more than 40 new topics covered within the ICAR‐RS‐2021 as well as updates to the original 140 topics. This executive summary consolidates the evidence‐based findings of the document. Methods: ICAR‐RS presents over 180 topics in the forms of evidence‐based reviews with recommendations (EBRRs), evidence‐based reviews, and literature reviews. The highest grade structured recommendations of the EBRR sections are summarized in this executive summary. Results: ICAR‐RS‐2021 covers 22 topics regarding the medical management of RS, which are grade A/B and are presented in the executive summary. Additionally, 4 topics regarding the surgical management of RS are grade A/B and are presented in the executive summary. Finally, a comprehensive evidence‐based management algorithm is provided. Conclusion: This ICAR‐RS‐2021 executive summary provides a compilation of the evidence‐based recommendations for medical and surgical treatment of the most common forms of RS

The critical trade-off: identity assignment and,box-office success in the feature film industry

Researchers have begun to study markets that are structured in terms of an opposition between market identities in a manner akin to the role-pairs analyzed in structural role theory. In this paper, we analyze the feature film market, which came to have such a role structure by the mid-1990s. By exploiting the contingency that pertains to the identity of newly released films and the intermediary function played by critics, we assess the tendency for offerings to be assigned one or the other of the available market identities: independent or major. An analysis of the box-office success of 396 feature films released in 1997 shows that a film attracted a larger audience when critics who specialized in major releases reviewed the film and implicitly certified it as fit for the mass market. Such classification was particularly crucial for `breaking out' of the initial constraints set by theatrical exhibitors. However, while attaining a major identity was necessary for success in the mass, market, it was a handicap in penetrating the `art house'. This trade-off illustrates how market structures restrict identity in a manner akin that by which role structures place constraints on the identities available to individuals

Robust identities or nonentities? Typecasting in the feature-film labor market

This article addresses two seemingly incompatible claims about identity: (a) complex, multivalent identities are advantageous because they afford greater flexibility versus (b) simple, focused identities are advantageous because they facilitate valuation. Following Faulkner, it is hypothesized that a focused identity is helpful in gaining entree into an arena but subsequently leads to increasing limitations. The labor market for feature-film actors is analyzed via career patterns recorded in the Internet Movie Database and interviews with key informants, allowing the article to distinguish between typecasting effects and those due to underlying skill differences or social networks. Important implications are drawn for research on identity formation in various social arenas, on categorical boundaries in external labor markets, and on the actor-position interplay inherent in market dynamics