Executive functions in birds

Executive functions comprise of top-down cognitive processes that exert control over information processing, from acquiring information to issuing a behavioral response. These cogni- tive processes of inhibition, working memory, and cognitive flexibility underpin complex cognitive skills, such as episodic memory and planning, which have been repeatedly investigated in several bird species in recent decades. Until recently, avian executive functions were studied in relatively few bird species but have gained traction in comparative cognitive research following MacLean and colleagues’ large-scale study from 2014. Therefore, in this review paper, the relevant previous findings are collected and organized to facilitate further investigations of these core cognitive processes in birds. This review can assist in integrating findings from avian and mammalian cognitive research and further the current understanding of executive functions’ significance and evolution

Psychological frailty in aging: Lifespan trajectories and emerging risks

In the study of aging, "frailty" is the state that increases the individual's vulnerability to stress factors. In the context of biomedical sciences, the concept of frailty has been operationalized differently, and the most used is the frailty phenotype. However, different constructs have emerged in recent decades complementing the traditional one of physical frailty. From a biopsychosocial, gerontological outlook, multidimensional and dynamic perspectives that include physical, functional, cognitive, and psychosocial domains (e.g., cumulative deficit model), are currently more relevant (Rockwood and Mitnitski, 2007; Gobbens et al., 2010)

Sub-physiological culture temperature boosts expression levels of membrane proteins in CHO cells

Membrane proteins especially G-protein coupled receptors (GPCR) are the targets of a large number of small molecule therapeutics. With the advances in biopharmaceutical therapeutic approach, development of antibodies against the membrane proteins are increasingly attempted. Generation of therapeutic antibodies against these targets is a major challenge due to the limited accessibility of these proteins in vivo. Stable clonal cell lines expressing the membrane proteins are used as antigen-presenting cells for antibody development in one of two ways: whole-cell based selection including complexing with B cells, or immunization. They also serve as valuable reagents in characterizing the binding properties of antibodies. Expression levels for multi-span membrane proteins are often low and unstable. Insufficient expression levels of the membrane protein of interest, amid endogenous membrane proteins, is often a constraint for the success of the above applications especially antibody discovery. We employed serum-free methods to generate stable CHO cells expressing membrane proteins, and in the course of cell line development, most clones showed a decline in expression levels during culture scale up, before stabilizing. We reasoned that this is associated with an increase in cell growth rate that accompanies scale up. We found that retarding the cell growth by culturing them at a sub-physiological culture temperature substantially boosted the expression of membrane proteins. CHO cell lines expressing a chemokine receptor (CCR, a GPCR), when cultured at 31 °C, grew at a very low rate; the CCR expression level increased 3.5 fold within a day, and continued to increase for 3 days, reaching a maximum increment of 9 fold compared to the 37 °C counterparts. In a second study, 31 °C-cultures of lead CHO lines expressing a human-, murine- and cyno-type I membrane protein showed 7, 4 and 5 fold increases, respectively, compared to the 37 °C-cells. Thus, culturing at a slightly hypothermic condition serves as a simple method to boost CHO cell expression of membrane proteins just as it does for secreted proteins

Elayne Oliphant, The Privilege of Being Banal: Art, Secularism, and Catholicism in Paris

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Catholicism in Sweden

Since its establishment in 1953, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Stockholm has been growing at a fast pace, both due to migration and, to a minor extent, conversions. During that time its position has strengthened significantly, wearing off the historical resentments and becoming a significant interfaith agent. It also became an important periphery in Pope Francis' vision of the Church, which found its concrete expression in his visit in 2016. The article analyzes this changing role of the Swedish Catholic Church, both locally and within the global Church, presenting the Diocese of Stockholm and new Swedish Catholicism as an embodiment of the turn towards the Church of Mission. The article frames these developments in the context of the Second Vatican Council, which initiated such a turn and developed it in papal documents such as Redemptoris Missio and Evangelii Gaudium. In conclusion, the article compares the Swedish approach with that of places where Catholicism is slowly losing its established position, considering it as a possible model for further renewal and development

Flexibility in Problem Solving: Analogical Transfer of Tool Use in Toddlers Is Immune to Delay

Solving problems that are perceptually dissimilar but require similar solutions is a key skill in everyday life. In adults, this ability, termed analogical transfer, draws on memories of relevant past experiences that partially overlap with the present task at hand. Thanks to this support from long-term memory, analogical transfer allows remarkable behavioral flexibility beyond immediate situations. However, little is known about the interaction between long-term memory and analogical transfer in development as, to date, they have been studied separately. Here, for the first time, effects of age and memory on analogical transfer were investigated in 2-to-4.5-olds in a simple tool-use setup. Children attempted to solve a puzzle box after training the correct solution on a different looking box, either right before the test or 24 hours earlier. We found that children (N = 105) could transfer thesolution regardless of the delay and a perceptual conflict introduced in the tool set. For children who failed to transfer (N = 54) and repeated the test without a perceptual conflict, the odds of success did not improve. Our findings suggest that training promoted the detection of functional similarities between boxes and, thereby, flexible transfer both in the short and the long term

Configuration interaction studies of the excited states of water

We report the results of extensive configuration interaction studies on 16 excited states of water. These states can be accurately described as corresponding to excitation from one of the highest two molecular orbitals (1b_1 or 3a_1) of the ground state into either the 3s or one of the three 3p Rydberg orbitals. The results provide the most accurate and consistent treatment of these states to date (within 0.1 eV for all known transitions) and form a reliable basis for the assignment of the photon and electron impact spectra of H_2O