Former eating disorder impairs 3rd person but not 1st person perspective taking. Does dance training help?

The mental ability to take the perspective of another person may depend on one's own bodily awareness and experience. In the present study, the former was defined as having a history of an eating disorder, and the latter variable was defined as formal experience with dance. The study used a 2 × 2 × 2 factorial design in which reaction times in two mental perspective taking tasks were compared between female dancers and non-dancers with and without a former eating disorder. Participants were asked to imagine two perspectives: i) the position of front-facing and back-facing figures (3rd person perspective taking task) and ii) that these same figures are a self reflection in a mirror (1st person perspective taking task). In both tasks, a particular hand was indicated in the presented figures, and the participants had to decide whether the hand represented their own left or right hand. Overall, responses were slower for front-facing than back-facing figures in the 3rd person perspective taking task, and for back-facing than front-facing figures in the 1st person perspective taking task. Importantly, having a former history of an eating disorder related to a decreased performance in the 3rd person perspective taking task, but only in participants without dance experience. Results from an additional control group (a history of exercise but no dance experience) indicated that dance is particularly beneficial for mental bodily perspective taking. Dance experience, more so than exercise in general, can benefit 3rd person or extrapersonal perspective taking, supporting the favourable impact this exercise has on own body processing

Multisensory mechanisms in temporo-parietal cortex support self-location and first-person perspective.

Self-consciousness has mostly been approached by philosophical enquiry and not by empirical neuroscientific study, leading to an overabundance of diverging theories and an absence of data-driven theories. Using robotic technology, we achieved specific bodily conflicts and induced predictable changes in a fundamental aspect of self-consciousness by altering where healthy subjects experienced themselves to be (self-location). Functional magnetic resonance imaging revealed that temporo-parietal junction (TPJ) activity reflected experimental changes in self-location that also depended on the first-person perspective due to visuo-tactile and visuo-vestibular conflicts. Moreover, in a large lesion analysis study of neurological patients with a well-defined state of abnormal self-location, brain damage was also localized at TPJ, providing causal evidence that TPJ encodes self-location. Our findings reveal that multisensory integration at the TPJ reflects one of the most fundamental subjective feelings of humans: the feeling of being an entity localized at a position in space and perceiving the world from this position and perspective.

Gender, family and employment in comparative perspective: the realities and representations of rqual rpportunities in Britain and France

In this paper, we will explore how contrasting national discourses relating to women, and gender equality have been incorporated into and reflected in national policies. In the first section, we will outline the recent history of EU equal opportunities policy, in which positive action has been replaced by a policy of 'mainstreaming'. Second, we will describe the evolution of policies towards women and equal opportunities in Britain and France. It will be argued that whereas some degree of positive action for women has been accepted in Britain, this policy is somewhat alien to French thinking about equality - although pro-natalist French policies have resulted in favourable conditions for employed mothers in France. In the third section, we will present some attitudinal evidence, drawn from national surveys, which would appear to reflect the national policy differences we have identified in respect of the 'equality agenda'. In the fourth section, we will draw upon biographical interviews carried out with men and women in British and French banks in order to illustrate the impact of these cross-national differences within organizations and on individual lives. We demonstrate that positive action gender equality policies have made an important impact in British banks, while overt gender exclusionary practices still persist in the French banks studied. In the conclusion, we reflect on the European policy implications of our findings.

Primary care at Swiss universities--current state and perspective.

BACKGROUND: There is increasing evidence that a strong primary care is a cornerstone of an efficient health care system. But Switzerland is facing a shortage of primary care physicians (PCPs). This pushed the Federal Council of Switzerland to introduce a multifaceted political programme to strengthen the position of primary care, including its academic role. The aim of this paper is to provide a comprehensive overview of the situation of academic primary care at the five Swiss universities by the end of year 2012. RESULTS: Although primary care teaching activities have a long tradition at the five Swiss universities with activities starting in the beginning of the 1980ies; the academic institutes of primary care were only established in recent years (2005 - 2009). Only one of them has an established chair. Human and financial resources vary substantially. At all universities a broad variety of courses and lectures are offered, including teaching in private primary care practices with 1331 PCPs involved. Regarding research, differences among the institutes are tremendous, mainly caused by entirely different human resources and skills. CONCLUSION: So far, the activities of the existing institutes at the Swiss Universities are mainly focused on teaching. However, for a complete academic institutionalization as well as an increased acceptance and attractiveness, more research activities are needed. In addition to an adequate basic funding of research positions, competitive research grants have to be created to establish a specialty-specific research culture.

Antecedents of Job Satisfaction, Organizational Commitment and Stress in a Public Hospital: A P-E Fit Perspective

This article tests different P-E fit dimensions in order to assess their impact on three work outcomes: job satisfaction; organizational commitment; and stress perception. Findings shows that P-E fit dimensions have differentiated effects on its dependent variables. This study contributes to several important academic discussions. The first concerns the model tested, which contains several P-E fit dimensions. The second scientific contribution is to consider P-E fit dimensions as antecedents of three job outcomes. The third contribution concerns the development and testing of a new P-E fit dimension called "person-reforms" fit.

A multi-perspective approach to performance anxiety in music students

AbstractPerforming publicly has become increasingly important in a variety of professions. This condition is associated with performance anxiety in almost all performers. Whereas some performers successfully cope with this anxiety, for others it represents a major problem and even threatens their career. Musicians and especially music students were shown to be particularly affected by performance anxiety.Therefore, the goal of this PhD thesis was to gain a better understanding of performance anxiety in university music students. More precisely, the first part of this thesis aimed at increasing knowledge on the occurrence, the experience, and the management of performance anxiety (Article 1). The second part aimed at investigating the hypothesis that there is an underlying hyperventilation problem in musicians with a high level of anxiety before a performance. This hypothesis was addressed in two ways: firstly, by investigating the association between the negative affective dimension of music performance anxiety (MPA) and self-perceived physiological symptoms that are known to co-occur with hyperventilation (Article 2) and secondly, by analyzing this association on the physiological level before a private (audience-free) and a public performance (Article 3). Article 4 places some key variables of Article 3 in a larger context by jointly analyzing the phases before, during, and after performing.The main results of the self-report data show (a) that stage fright is experienced as a problem by one-third of the surveyed students, (b) that the students express a considerable need for more help to better cope with it, and (c) that there is a positive association between negative feelings of MPA and the self-reported hyperventilation complaints before performing. This latter finding was confirmed on the physiological level in a tendency of particularly high performance-anxious musicians to hyperventilate. Furthermore, the psycho-physiological activation increased from a private to a public performance, and was higher during the performances than before or after them. The physiological activation was mainly independent of the MPA score. Finally, there was a low response coherence between the actual physiological activation and the self-reports on the instantaneous anxiety, tension, and perceived physiological activation.Given the high proportion of music students who consider stage fright as a problem and given the need for more help to better cope with it, a better understanding of this phenomenon and its inclusion in the educational process is fundamental to prevent future occupational problems. On the physiological level, breathing exercises might be a good means to decrease - but also to increase - the arousal associated with a public performance in order to meet an optimal level of arousal needed for a good performance.

The use of methylamphetamine chemical profiling in an intelligence-led perspective and the observation of inhomogeneity within seizures

This study focuses on methylamphetamine (MA) seizures made by the Australian Federal Police (AFP) to investigate the use of chemical profiling in an intelligence perspective. Correlation coefficients were used to obtain a similarity degree between a population of linked samples and a population of unlinked samples. Although it was demonstrated that a general framework can be followed for the use of any forensic case data in an intelligence-led perspective, threshold values have to be re-evaluated for each type of illicit drug investigated. Unlike the results obtained in a previous study on 3,4-methylenedioxymethylamphetamine (MDMA) seizures, chemical profiles of MA samples coming from the same seizure showed relative inhomogeneity, limiting their ability to link seizures. Different hypotheses were investigated to obtain a better understanding of this inhomogeneity although no trend was observed. These findings raise an interesting discussion in regards to the homogeneity and representativeness of illicit drug seizures (for intelligence purposes). Further, it also provides some grounds to discuss the initial hypotheses and assumptions that most forensic science studies are based on.

Etude des mécanismes de la calcification artérielle des membres inférieurs dans le diabète dans une perspective thérapeutique "Etude DIACART"

1. Contexte La physiopathologie de l'artériopathie diabétique a fait l'objet de nombreuses études qui ont révélé l'importance des voies de l'ostéogenèse et de la glycation. Ces nouvelles connaissances s'avèrent prometteuses, notamment dans une perspective thérapeutique. Mais peu d'études se sont intéressées à l'artériopathie des membres inférieurs en présence de diabète. 2. Objectifs L'objectif principal est d'étudier l'association entre marqueurs de remodelage osseux, glycation avancée et calcification artérielle des membres inférieurs en présence de diabète afin de pouvoir par la suite et sur la base d'un bon niveau de preuves, mettre en place des protocoles à visée thérapeutique ciblant spécifiquement ces mécanismes physiopathologiques. Le processus ciblé est la calcification artérielle, particulièrement prévalente en présence de diabète, mais dont la localisation aux membres inférieurs est encore peu étudiée en clinique. Nous étudions également la relation de la calcification artérielle avec de nombreux autres paramètres, notamment des marqueurs inflammatoires, l'adiponectine, le métabolisme phosphocalcique et la neuropathie diabétique. 3. Méthodologie Notre protocole est intitulé DIACART (« DIAbète et Calcification ARTérielle »). Il s'agit d'une étude transversale et prospective menée par le groupe hospitalier universitaire Pitié-Salpêtrière (GHPS) à Paris, sous la direction du Professeur Agnès Hartemann, cheffe du service de diabétologie. J'ai été le médecin responsable des visites d'inclusion. Ma thèse se décline en 3 parties : la 1ère partie s'intéresse aux données actuelles de la littérature sur l'artériopathie diabétique : épidémiologie, facteurs de risque, traitement, physiopathologie ; la 2e partie décrit la mise en oeuvre du protocole DIACART et présente les résultats de la partie transversale de cette étude. La 3e partie présente les 3 études ancillaires au protocole DIACART, qui ont donné lieu à 3 articles dont l'un a été accepté pour publication le 3.02.2013, alors que les 2 autres ont été soumis en mars 2013 et sont en revue. 4. Résultats et conclusion Les résultats transversaux de notre étude suggèrent que l'ostéoprotégérine (OPG), la fétuine A et la glycation avancée sont impliquées dans le processus de calcification des artères des membres inférieurs chez les patients diabétiques. Par ailleurs, nous observons une relation positive très forte entre adiponectine et artériopathie périphérique. Notre étude confirme également le lien connu entre calcification artérielle et différents marqueurs et/ou facteurs de risque cardiovasculaire (RCV) : âge, sexe, durée du diabète, tabagisme, neuropathie, néphropathie, rétinopathie. L'analyse prospective apportera des notions complémentaires quant aux liens dynamiques de ces variables avec la calcification artérielle, aidera à préciser leur rôle comme marqueurs et/ou facteurs de RCV, et permettra peut-être la mise en place d'essais thérapeutiques ciblant ces mécanismes.

Dietary and lifestyle interventions in the management of the metabolic syndrome: present status and future perspective.

OBJECTIVE: To review the mechanisms underlying the metabolic syndrome, or syndrome X, in humans, and to delineate dietary and environmental strategies for its prevention. DESIGN: Review of selected papers of the literature. RESULTS: Hyperinsulinemia and insulin resistance play a key role in the development of the metabolic syndrome. Strategies aimed at reducing insulin resistance may be effective in improving the metabolic syndrome. They include low saturated fat intake, consumption of low-glycemic-index foods, physical exercise and prevention of obesity. CONCLUSIONS: Future research, in particular the genetic basis of the metabolic syndrome and the interorgan interactions responsible for insulin resistance, is needed to improve therapeutic strategies for the metabolic syndrome.