Das Potenzial von Filmanalysen für die (Familien-) Soziologie. Eine methodische Betrachtung anhand der Verfilmungen von "Das doppelte Lottchen"

Sociological research has so far largely underestimated the potential of film analysis as a means of analyzing societal change. The findings presented in this article are part of current efforts to establish a visual sociology, and specifically a sociology of film. Based on a research project on the cultural foundations of the family and gender order, the article is centered on the potential contribution of film analysis for sociological enquiry. For this purpose, it introduces research on the films Das doppelte Lottchen ("Two Times Lotte," 1950, director: Josef von BAKY) and its remake Charlie und Louise. Das doppelte Lottchen (1994, director: Joseph VILSMAIER). Both movies are understood as "discursive events" within broader public discourses. Our methodology draws on a sociology of knowledge approach to discourse analysis and takes it further by applying audio-visual methods. Documentary video analysis serves as a particularly important toolkit. The article examines the interpretative options with respect to different ways of private life that these movies discursively offer. Both films deny the widely observed social developments towards a pluralization of ways of private life and support an ideal image of the nuclear family. In the 1950 film, the parents' divorce is considered unacceptable, whereas the 1994 remake takes the separation as the starting point of its narration. This discursive transformation can be interpreted as an institutionalization and normalization of separation and divorce. However, the general cultural principle of an intact and harmonious family is not challenged, but rather discursively updated, affirmed and reproduced.URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs1401157La investigación sociológica ha subestimado durante mucho tiempo el potencial del análisis de películas como un medio para analizar el cambio social. Las conclusiones presentadas en este artículo son parte de los esfuerzos actuales para establecer una sociología visual, y específicamente una sociología de películas. Basado en un proyecto de investigación sobre los fundamentos culturales de la familia y el orden de género, el artículo se centra en la contribución potencial del análisis de películas para la investigación sociológica. Para este propósito, presenta investigación sobre las películas "Das doppelte Lottchen" ([Dos Veces Lotte], " 1950, director: Josef von BAKY) y su nueva versión "Charlie & Louise. Das doppelte Lottchen" (1994, director: Joseph VILSMAIER). Ambas películas son entendidas como "acontecimientos discursivos" dentro de discursos públicos más amplios. Nuestra metodología utiliza un enfoque de sociología del conocimiento para el análisis del discurso y lo lleva más allá al aplicar métodos audiovisuales. El análisis documental de video sirve como un juego de herramientas particularmente importante. El artículo examina opciones interpretativas con respecto a diferentes formas de vida privada que estas películas ofrecen discursivamente. Ambas películas niegan los acontecimientos sociales extensamente observados hacia una pluralización de las formas de vida privada y apoyan una imagen ideal de la familia nuclear. En la película de 1950, el divorcio de los padres es considerado inaceptable, mientras que la nueva versión 1994 toma la separación como el punto de partida de su narración. Esta transformación discursiva puede interpretarse como una institucionalización y la normalización de la separación y el divorcio. Sin embargo, no se cuestiona el principio cultural general de una familia intacta y armoniosa, si no que más bien fue discursivamente afirmado, reproducido y puesto al día.URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs1401157Die soziologische Forschung hat die Spielfilmanalyse als Erkenntnismittel zur Gesellschaftsanalyse bisher weitgehend vernachlässigt. Die vorliegende Analyse reiht sich in die aktuellen Bemühungen ein, eine visuelle Soziologie, einschließlich einer Filmsoziologie zu etablieren. Anhand der Ergebnisse eines Forschungsprojektes zur kulturellen Fundierung der Familien- und Geschlechterordnung wird diskutiert, welchen Beitrag Spielfilmanalysen für die soziologische Forschung leisten können. Dafür wird eine Analyse der Filme "Das doppelte Lottchen" (1950, Regie: Josef v. BAKY) und einer seiner Remakes "Charlie und Louise. Das doppelte Lottchen" (1994, Regie: Joseph VILSMAIER) vorgestellt. Die Spielfilme werden als "diskursive Ereignisse" in öffentlichen Diskursen verstanden. Die entwickelte Methode knüpft an die wissenssoziologische Diskursanalyse (WDA) an und erweitert sie um audiovisuelle Methoden, insbesondere dient die dokumentarische Videoanalyse als "Werkzeugkasten". Herausgearbeitet wird, welche diskursiven Deutungsangebote die Filme dem Publikum hinsichtlich der Lebensform anbieten: Trotz Pluralisierung der Lebensformen konstruieren beide Filme die vollständige Kernfamilie als Ideal und schreiben damit die kulturelle Leitidee einer vermeintlich universellen und vollständigen Eltern-Kind-Familie fort. Die Scheidung der Eltern wird im 1950er-Jahre-Film tabuisiert, im 1990er-Jahre-Film fungiert sie hingegen als Ausgangspunkt der filmischen Erzählung. In dieser Hinsicht lassen sich diskursive Verschiebungen hin zu einer Institutionalisierung und Normalisierung von Trennung und Scheidung aufzeigen, die kulturelle Leitidee der intakten und harmonischen Kernfamilie wird jedoch nicht hinterfragt, sondern im Diskurs aktualisiert.URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs140115

Neural signals predict information sharing across cultures

Information sharing influences which messages spread and shape beliefs, behavior, and culture. In a preregistered neuroimaging study conducted in the United States and the Netherlands, we demonstrate replicability, predictive validity, and generalizability of a brain-based prediction model of information sharing. Replicating findings in Scholz et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 114, 2881–2886 (2017), self-, social-, and value-related neural signals in a group of individuals tracked the population sharing of US news articles. Preregistered brain-based prediction models trained on Scholz et al. (2017) data proved generalizable to the new data, explaining more variance in population sharing than self-report ratings alone. Neural signals (versus self-reports) more reliably predicted sharing cross-culturally, suggesting that they capture more universal psychological mechanisms underlying sharing behavior. These findings highlight key neurocognitive foundations of sharing, suggest potential target mechanisms for interventions to increase message effectiveness, and advance brain-as-predictor research

High-resolution analysis of individual Drosophila melanogaster larvae uncovers individual variability in locomotion and its neurogenetic modulation

Neuronally orchestrated muscular movement and locomotion are defining faculties of multicellular animals. Due to its simple brain and genetic accessibility, the larva of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster allows one to study these processes at tractable levels of complexity. However, although the faculty of locomotion clearly pertains to the individual, most studies of locomotion in larvae use measurements aggregated across animals, or animals tested one by one, an extravagance for larger-scale analyses. This prevents grasping the inter- and intra-individual variability in locomotion and its neurogenetic determinants. Here, we present the IMBA (individual maggot behaviour analyser) for analysing the behaviour of individual larvae within groups, reliably resolving individual identity across collisions. We use the IMBA to systematically describe the inter- and intra-individual variability in locomotion of wild-type animals, and how the variability is reduced by associative learning. We then report a novel locomotion phenotype of an adhesion GPCR mutant. We further investigated the modulation of locomotion across repeated activations of dopamine neurons in individual animals, and the transient backward locomotion induced by brief optogenetic activation of the brain-descending ‘mooncrawler’ neurons. In summary, the IMBA is an easy-to-use toolbox allowing an unprecedentedly rich view of the behaviour and its variability of individual larvae, with utility in multiple biomedical research contexts

The Ubiquitin Ligase RNF138 Cooperates with CtIP to Stimulate Resection of Complex DNA Double-Strand Breaks in Human G1-Phase Cells

DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) represent the molecular origin of ionizing-radiation inflicted biological effects. An increase in the ionization density causes more complex, clustered DSBs that can be processed by resection also in G1 phase, where repair of resected DSBs is considered erroneous and may contribute to the increased biological effectiveness of heavy ions in radiotherapy. To investigate the resection regulation of complex DSBs, we exposed G1 cells depleted for different candidate factors to heavy ions or α-particle radiation. Immunofluorescence microscopy was used to monitor the resection marker RPA, the DSB marker γH2AX and the cell-cycle markers CENP-F and geminin. The Fucci system allowed to select G1 cells, cell survival was measured by clonogenic assay. We show that in G1 phase the ubiquitin ligase RNF138 functions in resection regulation. RNF138 ubiquitinates the resection factor CtIP in a radiation-dependent manner to allow its DSB recruitment in G1 cells. At complex DSBs, RNF138′s participation becomes more relevant, consistent with the observation that also resection is more frequent at these DSBs. Furthermore, deficiency of RNF138 affects both DSB repair and cell survival upon induction of complex DSBs. We conclude that RNF138 is a regulator of resection that is influenced by DSB complexity and can affect the quality of DSB repair in G1 cells

Effects of self-transcendence on neural responses to persuasive messages and health behavior change

Self-transcendence refers to a shift in mindset from focusing on self-interests to the well-being of others. We offer an integrative neural model of self-transcendence in the context of persuasive messaging by examining the mechanisms of self-transcendence in promoting receptivity to health messages and behavior change. Specifically, we posited that focusing on values and activities that transcend the self can allow people to see that their self-worth is not tied to a specific behavior in question, and in turn become more receptive to subsequent, otherwise threatening health information. To test whether inducing self-transcendent mindsets before message delivery would help overcome defensiveness and increase receptivity, we used two priming tasks, affirmation and compassion, to elicit a transcendent mindset among 220 sedentary adults. As preregistered, those who completed a self-transcendence task before health message exposure, compared with controls, showed greater increases in objectively logged levels of physical activity throughout the following month. In the brain, self-transcendence tasks up-regulated activity in a region of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, chosen for its role in positive valuation and reward processing. During subsequent health message exposure, self-transcendence priming was associated with increased activity in subregions of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, implicated in self-related processing and positive valuation, which predicted later decreases in sedentary behavior. The present findings suggest that having a positive self-transcendent mindset can increase behavior change, in part by increasing neural receptivity to health messaging

Tuberculostearic Acid-Containing Phosphatidylinositols as Markers of Bacterial Burden in Tuberculosis

One-fourth of the global human population is estimated to be infected with strains of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC), the causative agent of tuberculosis (TB). Using lipidomic approaches, we show that tuberculostearic acid (TSA)-containing phosphatidylinositols (PIs) are molecular markers for infection with clinically relevant MTBC strains and signify bacterial burden. For the most abundant lipid marker, detection limits of ∼10$^{2}$ colony forming units (CFUs) and ∼10$^{3}$ CFUs for bacterial and cell culture systems were determined, respectively. We developed a targeted lipid assay, which can be performed within a day including sample preparation─roughly 30-fold faster than in conventional methods based on bacterial culture. This indirect and culture-free detection approach allowed us to determine pathogen loads in infected murine macrophages, human neutrophils, and murine lung tissue. These marker lipids inferred from mycobacterial PIs were found in higher levels in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of TB patients compared to healthy individuals. Moreover, in a small cohort of drug-susceptible TB patients, elevated levels of these molecular markers were detected at the start of therapy and declined upon successful anti-TB treatment. Thus, the concentration of TSA-containing PIs can be used as a correlate for the mycobacterial burden in experimental models and in vitro systems and may prospectively also provide a clinically relevant tool to monitor TB severity

OECD validation study to assess intra- and inter-laboratory reproducibility of the zebrafish embryo toxicity test for acute aquatic toxicity testing

The OECD validation study of the zebrafish embryo acute toxicity test (ZFET) for acute aquatic toxicity testing evaluated the ZFET reproducibility by testing 20 chemicals at 5 different concentrations in 3 independent runs in at least 3 laboratories. Stock solutions and test concentrations were analytically confirmed for 11 chemicals. Newly fertilised zebrafish eggs (20/concentration and control) were exposed for 96 h to chemicals. Four apical endpoints were recorded daily as indicators of acute lethality: coagulation of the embryo, lack of somite formation, non-detachment of the tail bud from the yolk sac and lack of heartbeat. Results (LC50 values for 48/96 h exposure) show that the ZFET is a robust method with a good intra- and inter-laboratory reproducibility (CV 30%) for some very toxic or volatile chemicals, and chemicals tested close to their limit of solubility. The ZFET is now available as OECD Test Guideline 236. Considering the high predictive capacity of the ZFET demonstrated by Belanger et al. (2013) in their retrospective analysis of acute fish toxicity and fish embryo acute toxicity data, the ZFET is ready to be considered for acute fish toxicity for regulatory purposes

A genome-wide association study identifies protein quantitative trait loci (pQTLs)

There is considerable evidence that human genetic variation influences gene expression. Genome-wide studies have revealed that mRNA levels are associated with genetic variation in or close to the gene coding for those mRNA transcripts - cis effects, and elsewhere in the genome - trans effects. The role of genetic variation in determining protein levels has not been systematically assessed. Using a genome-wide association approach we show that common genetic variation influences levels of clinically relevant proteins in human serum and plasma. We evaluated the role of 496,032 polymorphisms on levels of 42 proteins measured in 1200 fasting individuals from the population based InCHIANTI study. Proteins included insulin, several interleukins, adipokines, chemokines, and liver function markers that are implicated in many common diseases including metabolic, inflammatory, and infectious conditions. We identified eight Cis effects, including variants in or near the IL6R (p = 1.8×10 -57), CCL4L1 (p = 3.9×10-21), IL18 (p = 6.8×10-13), LPA (p = 4.4×10-10), GGT1 (p = 1.5×10-7), SHBG (p = 3.1×10-7), CRP (p = 6.4×10-6) and IL1RN (p = 7.3×10-6) genes, all associated with their respective protein products with effect sizes ranging from 0.19 to 0.69 standard deviations per allele. Mechanisms implicated include altered rates of cleavage of bound to unbound soluble receptor (IL6R), altered secretion rates of different sized proteins (LPA), variation in gene copy number (CCL4L1) and altered transcription (GGT1). We identified one novel trans effect that was an association between ABO blood group and tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) levels (p = 6.8×10-40), but this finding was not present when TNF-alpha was measured using a different assay , or in a second study, suggesting an assay-specific association. Our results show that protein levels share some of the features of the genetics of gene expression. These include the presence of strong genetic effects in cis locations. The identification of protein quantitative trait loci (pQTLs) may be a powerful complementary method of improving our understanding of disease pathways. © 2008 Melzer et al