Behavioral and Neural Correlates of Executive Functioning in Musicians and Non-Musicians

Executive functions (EF) are cognitive capacities that allow for planned, controlled behavior and strongly correlate with academic abilities. Several extracurricular activities have been shown to improve EF, however, the relationship between musical training and EF remains unclear due to methodological limitations in previous studies. To explore this further, two experiments were performed; one with 30 adults with and without musical training and one with 27 musically trained and untrained children (matched for general cognitive abilities and socioeconomic variables) with a standardized EF battery. Furthermore, the neural correlates of EF skills in musically trained and untrained children were investigated using fMRI. Adult musicians compared to non-musicians showed enhanced performance on measures of cognitive flexibility, working memory, and verbal fluency. Musically trained children showed enhanced performance on measures of verbal fluency and processing speed, and significantly greater activation in pre-SMA/SMA and right VLPFC during rule representation and task-switching compared to musically untrained children. Overall, musicians show enhanced performance on several constructs of EF, and musically trained children further show heightened brain activation in traditional EF regions during task-switching. These results support the working hypothesis that musical training may promote the development and maintenance of certain EF skills, which could mediate the previously reported links between musical training and enhanced cognitive skills and academic achievement

Participatory Analysis of the Use and Impact of the Fairtrade Premium

Researchers from LISIS conducted a mixed-methods-based study to analyze how the Fairtrade Premium has been used by Fairtrade organizations and how it generates benefits for Fairtrade producers and their communities. Five cases were explored: a coffee/cocoa small-scale producer organization (SPO) in Peru, a cocoa SPO in Côte d'Ivoire, a banana SPO in Ecuador, a banana SPO in Peru and a flower plantation in Kenya. Using a combination of analysis of data from literature and the case studies, the researchers looked at four characteristics of Fairtrade Premium -- use, participation, accountability, and function -- as well as barriers and enablers for effective Premium use. Finally, the researchers analysed the pathways from Premium investment to six Fairtrade impacts (related to income, gender equality, environmental sustainability, dignity and voice for producers, transparency, and fairness and sustainability of business practices, policy and societal norms). The study provides insights that can enable farmers and workers to make transparent and informed decisions about their Premium use

"Praxis an der Uni": Wie Forschendes Lernen in der Soziologie Berufsbezüge herstellt

An unclear occupational orientation is characteristic of sociological training. How research-based learning in sociology nevertheless creates occupational references is the leading question of this article. The authors bring together findings from the literature on research-based learning with studies on sociology as a profession and use findings from an empirical case study to answer the question. They show that three stages of the research process create occupational references: 1) Raising funds, 2) Identification of a research question with novelty value and 3) Communication of research results through scientific articles. The authors argue that these occupational references can only be realized if research-based learning is practiced holistically.Eine unklare Berufsorientierung ist kennzeichnend für die soziologische Ausbildung. Wie Forschendes Lernen in der Soziologie dennoch Berufsbezüge herstellt, ist die leitende Frage dieses Artikels. Die Autorinnen bringen Erkenntnisse aus der Literatur zu Forschendem Lernen mit Studien zum Thema Soziologie als Beruf zusammen und nutzen Erkenntnisse aus einer empirischen Fallstudie zur Beantwortung der Frage. Sie zeigen, dass drei Etappen des zu durchlaufenen Forschungsprozesses die Entstehung von Berufsbezügen ermöglicht: 1) Finanzierung durch das Einwerben von Geldern, 2) Identifizierung einer Fragestellung mit Neuigkeitswert und 3) Kommunikation der Forschungsergebnisse mittels Publikationen. Sie argumentieren dafür, dass diese Berufsbezüge erst realisiert werden können, wenn Forschendes Lernen ganzheitlich praktiziert wird

Zwischen Heuchelei und Heldentum: Zur Rolle von Organisationen in der sozial-ökologischen Transformation der Gesellschaft

Nachhaltigkeitsdiskurse und Organisationen prägen unsere Gesellschaft. Wir nutzen Einsichten des soziologischen Neo-Institutionalismus, um die Rolle von Organisationen in der sozial-ökologischen Transformation der Gesellschaft zu beleuchten. Im Fokus stehen Wirtschaftsorganisationen, die im Zuge der Nachhaltigkeitsdebatte mit einer Wertetrias – Umweltschutz, Gerechtigkeit, Effizienz – konfrontiert sind. Während programmatische Studien des Neo-Institutionalismus argumentieren, dass Organisationen diese Werte in ihrer Aktivitätsstruktur ignorieren, konzeptualisiert die jüngere Entrepreneurship-Forschung Organisationen als heldenhafte Transformatoren der Gesellschaft. Wir schlagen eine integrierende Perspektive zwischen Heldentum und Heuchelei vor, die dazu aufruft, die durch die Organisationen geleistete Wertearbeit zu untersuchen. Anhand von zwei illustrierenden Fallbeispielen zeigen wir, wie organisationsinterne Wertearbeit zu nicht-intendierten Effekten führt: 1) Gerechtigkeitsorientierte Wertearbeit führt zur Professionalisierung von Expertenwissen. 2) Ökologie-orientierte Wertearbeit führt zur Entstehung von neuen Märkten für Standards, Zertifikate und Akkreditierungen. Sustainability discourses and organizations shape our society. We use insights from sociological neo-institutionalism to illuminate the role of organizations in the socio-ecological transformation of society. We put the focus on economic organizations that are confronted with a triad of values – environmental protection, societal justice, efficiency – in the sustainability debate. Seminal studies of neo-institutionalism argue that organizations implement values in a hypocritical and superficial way, while more recent research on institutional entrepreneurship conceptualizes organizations as heroic transformers of society. We propose an integrating perspective between heroism and hypocrisy that calls for an analysis of the organizations’ value work. We mobilize two illustrative case studies to show how internal value work leads to unintended effects: 1) Justice-oriented value work leads to the professionalization of expert knowledge. 2) Ecology-oriented value work leads to the emergence of new markets for standards, certificates and accreditations. (peer reviewed

LSR/angulin-1 is a tricellular tight junction protein involved in blood-brain barrier formation.

The blood-brain barrier (BBB) is a term used to describe the unique properties of central nervous system (CNS) blood vessels. One important BBB property is the formation of a paracellular barrier made by tight junctions (TJs) between CNS endothelial cells (ECs). Here, we show that Lipolysis-stimulated lipoprotein receptor (LSR), a component of paracellular junctions at points in which three cell membranes meet, is greatly enriched in CNS ECs compared with ECs in other nonneural tissues. We demonstrate that LSR is specifically expressed at tricellular junctions and that its expression correlates with the onset of BBB formation during embryogenesis. We further demonstrate that the BBB does not seal during embryogenesis in Lsr knockout mice with a leakage to small molecules. Finally, in mouse models in which BBB was disrupted, including an experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) model of multiple sclerosis and a middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) model of stroke, LSR was down-regulated, linking loss of LSR and pathological BBB leakage

Artificial vascularised scaffolds for 3D-tissue regeneration – a perspective of the ArtiVasc 3D Project

This is an Open Access Article. It is published by WHIOCE Publishing under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported Licence (CC BY). Full details of this licence are available at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/The aim of this paper is to raise awareness of the ArtiVasc 3D project and its findings. Vascularization is one of the most important and highly challenging issues in the development of soft tissue. It is necessary to supply cells with nutrition within a multilayer tissue, for example in artificial skin. Research on artificial skin is driven by an increasing demand for two main applications. Firstly, for the field of regenerative medicine, the aim is to provide patients with implants or grafts to replace damaged soft tissue after traumatic injuries or ablation surgery. Secondly, another aim is to substitute expensive and ethically disputed pharmaceutical tests on animals by providing artificial vascularized test beds to simulate the effect of pharmaceuticals into the blood through the skin. This paper provides a perspective on ArtiVasc 3D, a major European Commission funded project that explored the development of a full thickness, vascularized artifi-cial skin. The paper provides an overview of the aims and objectives of the project and describes the work packages and partners involved. The most significant results of the project are summarized and a discussion of the overall success and remaining work is given. We also provide the journal papers resulting from the project

A Comparison Efficacy Study of Commercial Nasopharyngeal Swabs versus a Novel 3D Printed Swab for the Detection of SARS-CoV-2

The large volume of diagnostic tests required by the response to the pandemic of COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a shortage of commercial nasopharyngeal swabs. In an effort to alleviate the shortage, swabs created by 3D printing may be a solution. We designed and produced 3D printed swabs and sought to compare their ability to detect SARS-CoV-2 in patients admitted for COVID-19 or who were suspected of having COVID-19. A total of 30 patients were swabbed with a commercial and printed 3D swab. Results matched in 28 of 31 patients (90%). Two patients were discordant with a positive commercial swab and a negative 3D printed swab and another was discordant because the 3D printed swab was positive and the commercial swab was negative. The sensitivity was 89%, specificity was 92% and Cohen’s kappa coefficient was 0.80. The 3D printed swabs performed acceptably compared to the commercial swab and may be considered for use in lieu of a commercial swab

Effects of a higher dose of alglucosidase alfa on ventilator-free survival and motor outcome in classic infantile Pompe disease: an open-label single-center study

Background: Though enzyme-replacement therapy (ERT) with alglucosidase alfa has significantly improved the prospects for patients with classic infantile Pompe disease, some 50 % of treated infants do not survive ventilator-free beyond the age of 3 years. We investigated whether higher and more frequent dosing of alglucosidase alfa improves outcome. Methods: Eight cross-reactive immun

Selective improvement of pulmonary arterial hypertension with a dual ETA/ETB receptors antagonist in the apolipoprotein E−/− model of PAH and atherosclerosis

Idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension (IPAH) is increasingly diagnosed in elderly patients who also have an increased risk of comorbid atherosclerosis. Apolipoprotein E deficient (ApoE-/-) mice develop atherosclerosis with severe PAH when fed a high-fat diet (HFD), and have increased levels of endothelin (ET)-1. ET-1 receptor antagonists (ERAs) are used for the treatment of PAH but less is known about whether ERAs are beneficial in atherosclerosis. We therefore examined whether treatment of HFD-ApoE-/- mice with macitentan, a dual ETA/ETB receptor antagonist, would have any effect on both atherosclerosis and PAH. ApoE-/- mice were fed chow or HFD for 8 weeks. After 4 weeks of HFD, mice were randomised to a 4-week treatment of macitentan by food (30mg/kg/day dual ETA/ETB antagonist), or placebo groups. Echocardiography and closed-chest right heart catheterisation were used to determine PAH phenotype and serum samples were collected for cytokine analysis. Thoracic aortas were harvested to assess vascular reactivity using wire myography, and histological analyses were performed on the brachiocephalic artery and aortic root to assess atherosclerotic burden. Macitentan treatment of HFD-fed ApoE-/- mice was associated with a beneficial effect on the PAH phenotype and led to an increase in endothelial-dependent relaxation in thoracic aortae. Macitentan treatment was also associated with a significant reduction in interleukin 6 (IL-6) concentration but there was no significant effect on atherosclerotic burden. Dual blockade of ETA/ETB receptors improves endothelial function and improves experimental PAH but had no significant effect on atherosclerosis