Practicing Capitals Across Fields: Extending Bourdieu to Study Inter-Field Dynamics

This essay extends a Bourdieusian perspective on the microfoundations of institutions. Drawing on this perspective, we argue that the recursive dynamics of institutions and action orient actors towards the maintenance of distinct and contradictory practices within, rather than bridging across, different fields. We corroborate our argument with an illustration of how corporate executives strategize within the tax field compared to the philanthropy field. Specifically, we show how actors are simultaneously oriented by different capitals towards apparently contradictory strategies. Our essay provides promising avenues for future research on the microfoundations of institutions, inter-field dynamics, and critical accounting and business ethics studies

Use of Serum MicroRNAs as Biomarker for Hepatobiliary Diseases in Dogs

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Agreeing on what? creating joint accounts of strategic change

This paper addresses a fundamental conundrum at the heart of meaning-making: how are multiple meanings accommodated within a joint account, given the plurivocal nature of organizations? While a new strategic initiative introduces new meanings that must coexist within multiple prevailing meanings; studies on meaning-making processes place different emphases on the accommodation of such multiplicity within a joint account. Based on the findings from a longitudinal case study conducted in a university setting, we develop a framework that demonstrates two patterns of meaning-making on the basis of distinct micro processes of expanding, combining and reframing that are involved in the accomplishment of a joint account. Our study offers counter-intuitive insights into the way vested interests enable or constrain the construction of a joint account of meaning. In doing so, we contribute to knowledge about resistance, ambiguity and the role of agreement, or lack of agreement in constructing joint accounts within a plurivocal context

The course of mental health problems in children presenting with abdominal pain in general practice

Objective. To investigate the course of mental health problems in children presenting to general practice with abdominal pain and to evaluate the extent to which abdominal pain characteristics during follow-up predict the presence of mental health problems at 12 months' follow-up. Design. A prospective cohort study with one-year follow-up. Setting. 53 general practices in the Netherlands, between May 2004 and March 2006. Subjects. 281 children aged 4-17 years. Main outcome measures. The presence of a depressive problem, an anxiety problem, and multiple non-specific somatic symptoms at follow-up and odds ratios of duration, frequency, and severity of abdominal pain with these mental health problems at follow-up. Results. A depressive problem persisted in 24/74 children (32.9%; 95% CI 22.3-44.9%), an anxiety problem in 13/43 (30.2%; 95% CI 17.2-46.1%) and the presence of multiple non-specific somatic symptoms in 75/170 children (44.1%; 95% CI 36.7-51.6%). None of the abdominal pain characteristics predicted a depressive or an anxiety problem at 12 months' follow-up. More moments of moderate to severe abdominal pain predicted the presence of multiple nonspecific somatic symptoms at follow-up. Conclusions. In one-third of the children presenting to general practice for abdominal pain, anxiety and depressive problems persist during one year of follow-up. Characteristics of the abdominal pain during the follow-up period do not predict anxiety or depressive problems after one-year follow-up. We recommend following over time children seen in primary care with abdominal pain

A Chemically Defined Hydrogel for Human Liver Organoid Culture

End-stage liver diseases are an increasing health burden, and liver transplantations are currently the only curative treatment option. Due to a lack of donor livers, alternative treatments are urgently needed. Human liver organoids are very promising for regenerative medicine; however, organoids are currently cultured in Matrigel, which is extracted from the extracellular matrix of the Engelbreth-Holm-Swarm mouse sarcoma. Matrigel is poorly defined, suffers from high batch-to-batch variability and is of xenogeneic origin, which limits the clinical application of organoids. Here, a novel hydrogel based on polyisocyanopeptides (PIC) and laminin-111 is described for human liver organoid cultures. PIC is a synthetic polymer that can form a hydrogel with thermosensitive properties, making it easy to handle and very attractive for clinical applications. Organoids in an optimized PIC hydrogel proliferate at rates comparable to those observed with Matrigel; proliferation rates are stiffness-dependent, with lower stiffnesses being optimal for organoid proliferation. Moreover, organoids can be efficiently differentiated toward a hepatocyte-like phenotype with key liver functions. This proliferation and differentiation potential maintain over at least 14 passages. The results indicate that PIC is very promising for human liver organoid culture and has the potential to be used in a variety of clinical applications including cell therapy and tissue engineering