Does deliberate practice surpass didactic training in learning empathy skills? – A randomized controlled study

A large body of research identifies therapist expressed empathy as one of the most important predictors of psychotherapy outcome. Deliberate practice (DP) is an effective method to improve skills in many fields. We asked if DP also can be used to enhance the skill of expressing empathy. Objective: The aim was to compare the efficacy of DP to didactical learning methods (DLM) in enhancing the skill of empathic expression in students. Method: A repeated measures randomized controlled group design was used. Novice students (N¼36) from psychologist-, medicine-, social work-, and nursing programs received two training sessions of either DP (n¼21) or DLM (n¼15). Participants’ skills in empathic expression were assessed with the Measure of Expressed Empathy (MEE) on three occasions: before the first, between, and after the last training session. Results: Participants in the DP-group showed improved empathic expression, whereas participants in the DLM-group did not. Conclusions: These findings suggest that DP is an effective training method for therapeutic skills such as empathic expression and holds implications for the future development of educational practices to incorporate active skill training methods.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Potassium, chlorine, and sulfur in ash, particles, deposits, and corrosion during wood combustion in a circulating fluidized-bed boiler

The effect of the addition of chlorine and/or sulfur to the fuel on fly ash composition, deposit formation, and superheater corrosion has been studied during biomass combustion in a circulating fluidized-bed boiler. The chlorine (HCl (aq)) and sulfur (SO2 (g)) were added in proportions of relevance for the potassium chemistry. The composition of the bottom and the fly ashes was analyzed. Gas and particle measurements were performed downstream of the cyclone before the convection pass and the flue gas composition was recorded in the stack with a series of standard instruments and an FTIR analyzer. At the position downstream of the cyclone, a deposit probe was situated, simulating a superheater tube. Deposits on the probe and initial corrosion were examined. It is concluded that addition of sulfur and chlorine increases the formation of submicron particles leading to deposition of potassium sulfate and chloride. The results compare well with earlier work based on laboratory-scale experiments concerning effects of chlorine and sulfur on potassium chemistry

Инфекционно-токсический шок в акушерстве и гинекологии

ШОК ТОКСИЧЕСКИЙ /ДИАГН /ПАТОФИЗИОЛ /ТЕРСЕПТИЦЕМИЯИНФЕКЦИЯ /ОСЛЖЕНСКИЕ БОЛЕЗНИ /ОСЛ /СМЕРТНАБОРТ КРИМИНАЛЬНЫЙБАКТЕРИАЛЬНЫЕ ИНФЕКЦИИ /ОСЛГИСТЕРЭКТОМИЯГИНЕКОЛОГИЧЕСКИЕ ХИРУРГИЧЕСКИЕ ОПЕРАЦИ

Time-resolved structural studies of protein reaction dynamics: a smorgasbord of X-ray approaches

Time-resolved structural studies of proteins have undergone several significant developments during the last decade. Recent developments using time-resolved X-ray methods, such as time-resolved Laue diffraction, low-temperature intermediate trapping, time-resolved wide-angle X-ray scattering and time-resolved X-ray absorption spectroscopy, are reviewed

Nanosecond pump-probe device for time-resolved serial femtosecond crystallography developed at SACLA

X-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs) have opened new opportunities for timeresolved X-ray crystallography. Here a nanosecond optical-pump XFEL-probe device developed for time-resolved serial femtosecond crystallography (TRSFX) studies of photo-induced reactions in proteins at the SPring-8 Angstrom Compact free-electron LAser (SACLA) is reported. The optical-fiber-based system is a good choice for a quick setup in a limited beam time and allows pump illumination from two directions to achieve high excitation efficiency of protein microcrystals. Two types of injectors are used: one for extruding highly viscous samples such as lipidic cubic phase (LCP) and the other for pulsed liquid droplets. Under standard sample flow conditions from the viscous-sample injector, delay times from nanoseconds to tens of milliseconds are accessible, typical time scales required to study large protein conformational changes. A first demonstration of a TR-SFX experiment on bacteriorhodopsin in bicelle using a setup with a droplet-type injector is also presented.112Ysciescopu

How university’s activities support the development of students’ entrepreneurial abilities: case of Slovenia and Croatia

The paper reports how the offered university activities support the development of students’ entrepreneurship abilities. Data were collected from 306 students from Slovenian and 609 students from Croatian universities. The study reduces the gap between theoretical researches about the academic entrepreneurship education and individual empirical studies about the student’s estimation of the offered academic activities for development of their entrepreneurial abilities. The empirical research revealed differences in Slovenian and Croatian students’ perception about (a) needed academic activities and (b) significance of the offered university activities, for the development of their entrepreneurial abilities. Additionally, the results reveal that the impact of students’ gender and study level on their perception about the importance of the offered academic activities is not significant for most of the considered activities. The main practical implication is focused on further improvement of universities’ entrepreneurship education programs through selection and utilization of activities which can fill in the recognized gaps between the students’ needed and the offered academic activities for the development of students’ entrepreneurial abilities

Genetic predisposition to mosaic Y chromosome loss in blood.

Mosaic loss of chromosome Y (LOY) in circulating white blood cells is the most common form of clonal mosaicism1-5, yet our knowledge of the causes and consequences of this is limited. Here, using a computational approach, we estimate that 20% of the male population represented in the UK Biobank study (n = 205,011) has detectable LOY. We identify 156 autosomal genetic determinants of LOY, which we replicate in 757,114 men of European and Japanese ancestry. These loci highlight genes that are involved in cell-cycle regulation and cancer susceptibility, as well as somatic drivers of tumour growth and targets of cancer therapy. We demonstrate that genetic susceptibility to LOY is associated with non-haematological effects on health in both men and women, which supports the hypothesis that clonal haematopoiesis is a biomarker of genomic instability in other tissues. Single-cell RNA sequencing identifies dysregulated expression of autosomal genes in leukocytes with LOY and provides insights into why clonal expansion of these cells may occur. Collectively, these data highlight the value of studying clonal mosaicism to uncover fundamental mechanisms that underlie cancer and other ageing-related diseases.This research has been conducted using the UK Biobank Resource under application 9905 and 19808. This work was supported by the Medical Research Council [Unit Programme number MC_UU_12015/2]. Full study-specific and individual acknowledgements can be found in the supplementary information

The Comet Interceptor Mission

Here we describe the novel, multi-point Comet Interceptor mission. It is dedicated to the exploration of a little-processed long-period comet, possibly entering the inner Solar System for the first time, or to encounter an interstellar object originating at another star. The objectives of the mission are to address the following questions: What are the surface composition, shape, morphology, and structure of the target object? What is the composition of the gas and dust in the coma, its connection to the nucleus, and the nature of its interaction with the solar wind? The mission was proposed to the European Space Agency in 2018, and formally adopted by the agency in June 2022, for launch in 2029 together with the Ariel mission. Comet Interceptor will take advantage of the opportunity presented by ESA's F-Class call for fast, flexible, low-cost missions to which it was proposed. The call required a launch to a halo orbit around the Sun-Earth L2 point. The mission can take advantage of this placement to wait for the discovery of a suitable comet reachable with its minimum ΔV capability of 600 ms-1. Comet Interceptor will be unique in encountering and studying, at a nominal closest approach distance of 1000 km, a comet that represents a near-pristine sample of material from the formation of the Solar System. It will also add a capability that no previous cometary mission has had, which is to deploy two sub-probes - B1, provided by the Japanese space agency, JAXA, and B2 - that will follow different trajectories through the coma. While the main probe passes at a nominal 1000 km distance, probes B1 and B2 will follow different chords through the coma at distances of 850 km and 400 km, respectively. The result will be unique, simultaneous, spatially resolved information of the 3-dimensional properties of the target comet and its interaction with the space environment. We present the mission's science background leading to these objectives, as well as an overview of the scientific instruments, mission design, and schedule