"It was hard to come to mutual understanding..." - Multidimensionality of social learning processes in natural resource use in India, Africa and Latin America

Sustainable natural resource use requires that multiple actors reassess their situation in a systemic perspective. This can be conceptualised as a social learning process between actors from rural communities and the experts from outside organisations. A specifically designed workshop oriented towards a systemic view of natural resource use and the enhancement of mutual learning between local and external actors, provided the background for evaluating the potentials and constraints of intensified social learning processes. Case studies in rural communities in India, Bolivia, Peru and Mali showed that changes in the narratives of the participants of the workshop followed a similar temporal sequence relatively independently from their specific contexts. Social learning processes were found to be more likely to be successful if they 1) opened new space for communicative action, allowing for an intersubjective re-definition of the present situation, 2) contributed to rebalance the relationships between social capital and social, emotional and cognitive competencies within and between local and external actors.

[Possible genetic link between Darier's disease and depression : Review of the literature and case history.]

Darier's disease is a rare, inherited autosomal dominant skin disorder caused by a mutation in the sarcoendoplasmatic reticulum calcium transporter (SERCA)-2-gene. In a number of pedigrees, Darier's disease closely relates with affective disorder. The most likely hypothesis for this is a susceptibility gene for affective disorder near the SERCA-2-gene. A 6.5-megabase region could be identified as a susceptibility locus. This region constitutes a susceptability locus also in affective disorder without Darier's disease. The underlying gene has not yet been identified.