"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.

Functional neuroimaging of emotional learning and autonomic reactions

This article provides a selective overview of the functional neuroimaging literature with an emphasis on emotional activation processes. Emotions are fast and flexible response systems that provide basic tendencies for adaptive action. From the range of involved component functions, we first discuss selected automatic mechanisms that control basic adaptational changes. Second, we illustrate how neuroimaging work has contributed to the mapping of the network components associated with basic emotion families (fear, anger, disgust, happiness), and secondary dimensional concepts that organise the meaning space for subjective experience and verbal labels (emotional valence, activity/intensity, approach/withdrawal, etc.). Third, results and methodological difficulties are discussed in view of own neuroimaging experiments that investigated the component functions involved in emotional learning. The amygdala, prefrontal cortex, and striatum form a network of reciprocal connections that show topographically distinct patterns of activity as a correlate of up and down regulation processes during an emotional episode. Emotional modulations of other brain systems have attracted recent research interests. Emotional neuroimaging calls for more representative designs that highlight the modulatory influences of regulation strategies and socio-cultural factors responsible for inhibitory control and extinction. We conclude by emphasising the relevance of the temporal process dynamics of emotional activations that may provide improved prediction of individual differences in emotionality.

Moving from sustainable management to sustainable governance of natural resources: The role of social learning processes in rural India, Bolivia and Mali

The present paper discusses a conceptual, methodological and practical framework within which the limitations of the conventional notion of natural resource management (NRM) can be overcome. NRM is understood as the application of scientific ecological knowledge to resource management. By including a consideration of the normative imperatives that arise from scientific ecological knowledge and submitting them to public scrutiny, ‘sustainable management of natural resources’ can be recontextualised as ‘sustainable governance of natural resources’. This in turn makes it possible to place the politically neutralising discourse of ‘management’ in a space for wider societal debate, in which the different actors involved can deliberate and negotiate the norms, rules and power relations related to natural resource use and sustainable development. The transformation of sustainable management into sustainable governance of natural resources can be conceptualised as a social learning process involving scientists, experts, politicians and local actors, and their corresponding scientific and non-scientific knowledges. The social learning process is the result of what Habermas has described as ‘communicative action’, in contrast to ‘strategic action’. Sustainable governance of natural resources thus requires a new space for communicative action aiming at shared, intersubjectively validated definitions of actual situations and the goals and means required for transforming current norms, rules and power relations in order to achieve sustainable development. Case studies from rural India, Bolivia and Mali explore the potentials and limitations for broadening communicative action through an intensification of social learning processes at the interface of local and external knowledge. Key factors that enable or hinder the transformation of sustainable management into sustainable governance of natural resources through social learning processes and communicative action are discussed.

How nice is good for patients and for therapy outcome? The role of confrontation in the process of psychotherapy

It is well established that the therapeutic relationship contributes about as much to therapy outcome as 'technical' intervention. Furthermore, it follows clear prescriptive concepts in the same manner as technical interventions do. 'Motive Oriented Therapeutic Relationship' is such a concept for establishing a solid basis for whatever therapeutic work the patients' problems require (Grawe, 1980, 1992; Caspar, 1996). Yet, the therapeutic relationship doesn't explain everything because other factors play a significant role too. Previous studies showed that outcome is clearly better when therapists achieved a generally high quality of a therapeutic relationship when they did not shy away from possibly threatening interventions such as confrontations. This ratio of a fruitful alliance and marginally present confrontations in the same session also showed significant correlations with patient's assessment of alliance and progress in therapy (Figlioli et al., 2009).Aim: The current state of research in the field does not give any answers to questions like how good and bad confrontations can be characterized or what role does the intensity, respectively frequency of confrontations play in the process of psychotherapy. Methods: A sample of 80 therapies of 3 sessions each representing either good or bad outcome was judged moment by moment by independent raters if and how therapists used confrontative interventions. Results: Preliminary analyses show that successful confrontations are explicitly uttered, short but intense, related to important patients goals in therapy and embedded in prior complementarity. Discussion: The results will be discussed in terms of their implications for the clinical daily work.

How nice is good for patients and for therapy outcome? The role of confrontation in the process of psychotherapy

It is well established that the therapeutic relationship contributes about as much to therapy outcome as ‘technical’ intervention. Furthermore, it follows clear prescriptive concepts in the same manner as technical interventions do. ‘Motive Oriented Therapeutic Relationship’ is such a concept for establishing a solid basis for whatever therapeutic work the patients’ problems require (Grawe, 1980, 1992; Caspar, 1996). Yet, the therapeutic relationship doesn’t explain everything because other factors play a significant role too. Previous studies showed that outcome is clearly better when therapists achieved a generally high quality of a therapeutic relationship when they did not shy away from possibly threatening interventions such as confrontations. This ratio of a fruitful alliance and marginally present confrontations in the same session also showed significant correlations with patient’s assessment of alliance and progress in therapy (Figlioli et al., 2009). These findings are also very much in line with Sachse’s metaphor of accumulating, but then also using ‘relationship credits’ and Farrelly’s ‘Provocative Therapy’ (1986), as well as the ‘Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy’ by Davanloo (1980).Aim: The current state of research in the field does not give any answers to questions like how good and bad confrontations can be characterized or what role does the intensity, respectively frequency of confrontations play in the process of psychotherapy.Methods: A sample of 80 therapies of 3 sessions each representing either good or bad outcome was judged moment by moment by independent raters if and how therapists used confrontative interventions. Results / Discussion: The results will be discussed in terms of their implications for the clinical daily work. Preliminary analyses show that successful confrontations are explicitly uttered, short but intense, related to important patients goals in therapy and embedded in prior complementarity.

Prolonged amelioration of acute lung allograft rejection by sequential overexpression of human interleukin-10 and hepatocyte growth factor in rats

The effect of prolonged electroporation-mediated human interleukin-10 (hIL-10) overexpression 24 hours before transplantation, combined with sequential human hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) overexpression into skeletal muscle on day 5, on rat lung allograft rejection was evaluated. Left lung allotransplantation was performed from Brown-Norway to Fischer-F344 rats. Gene transfer into skeletal muscle was enhanced by electroporation. Three groups were studied: group I animals (n = 5) received 2.5 μg pCIK-hIL-10 (hIL-10/CMV [cytomegalovirus] early promoter enhancer) on day -1 and 80 μg pCIK-HGF (HGF/CMV early promoter enhancer) on day 5. Group II animals (n = 4) received 2.5 μg pCIK-hIL-10 and pUbC-hIL-10 (hIL-10/pUbC promoter) on day -1. Control group III animals (n = 4) were treated by sham electroporation on days -1 and 5. All animals received daily nontherapeutic intraperitoneal dose of cyclosporin A (2.5 mg/kg) and were sacrificed on day 15. Graft oxygenation and allograft rejection were evaluated. Significant differences were found between study groups in graft oxygenation (Pao(2)) (P = .0028; group I vs. groups II and III, P < .01 each). Pao(2) was low in group II (31 ± 1 mm Hg) and in group III controls (34 ± 10 mm Hg), without statistically significant difference between these 2 groups (P = .54). In contrast, in group I, Pao(2) of recipients sequentially transduced with IL-10 and HGF plasmids was much improved, with 112 ± 39 mm Hg (vs. groups II and III; P < .01 each), paralleled by reduced vascular and bronchial rejection (group I vs. groups II and III, P < .021 each). Sequential overexpression of anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10, followed by sequential and overlapping HGF overexpression on day 5, preserves lung function and reduces acute lung allograft rejection up to day 15 post transplant as compared to prolonged IL-10 overexpression alone.

The structural architecture of adult mammalian articular cartilage evolves by a synchronized process of tissue resorption and neoformation during postnatal development

OBJECTIVE: During postnatal development, mammalian articular cartilage acts as a surface growth plate for the underlying epiphyseal bone. Concomitantly, it undergoes a fundamental process of structural reorganization from an immature isotropic to a mature (adult) anisotropic architecture. However, the mechanism underlying this structural transformation is unknown. It could involve either an internal remodelling process, or complete resorption followed by tissue neoformation. The aim of this study was to establish which of these two alternative tissue reorganization mechanisms is physiologically operative. We also wished to pinpoint the articular cartilage source of the stem cells for clonal expansion and the zonal location of the chondrocyte pool with high proliferative activity. METHODS: The New Zealand white rabbit served as our animal model. The analysis was confined to the high-weight-bearing (central) areas of the medial and lateral femoral condyles. After birth, the articular cartilage layer was evaluated morphologically at monthly intervals from the first to the eighth postnatal month, when this species attains skeletal maturity. The overall height of the articular cartilage layer at each juncture was measured. The growth performance of the articular cartilage layer was assessed by calcein labelling, which permitted an estimation of the daily growth rate of the epiphyseal bone and its monthly length-gain. The slowly proliferating stem-cell pool was identified immunohistochemically (after labelling with bromodeoxyuridine), and the rapidly proliferating chondrocyte population by autoradiography (after labelling with (3)H-thymidine). RESULTS: The growth activity of the articular cartilage layer was highest 1 month after birth. It declined precipitously between the first and third months, and ceased between the third and fourth months, when the animal enters puberty. The structural maturation of the articular cartilage layer followed a corresponding temporal trend. During the first 3 months, when the articular cartilage layer is undergoing structural reorganization, the net length-gain in the epiphyseal bone exceeded the height of the articular cartilage layer. This finding indicates that the postnatal reorganization of articular cartilage from an immature isotropic to a mature anisotropic structure is not achieved by a process of internal remodelling, but by the resorption and neoformation of all zones except the most superficial (stem-cell) one. The superficial zone was found to consist of slowly dividing stem cells with bidirectional mitotic activity. In the horizontal direction, this zone furnishes new stem cells that replenish the pool and effect a lateral expansion of the articular cartilage layer. In the vertical direction, the superficial zone supplies the rapidly dividing, transit-amplifying daughter-cell pool that feeds the transitional and upper radial zones during the postnatal growth phase of the articular cartilage layer. CONCLUSIONS: During postnatal development, mammalian articular cartilage fulfils a dual function, viz., it acts not only as an articulating layer but also as a surface growth plate. In the lapine model, this growth activity ceases at puberty (3-4 months of age), whereas that of the true (metaphyseal) growth plate continues until the time of skeletal maturity (8 months). Hence, the two structures are regulated independently. The structural maturation of the articular cartilage layer coincides temporally with the cessation of its growth activity - for the radial expansion and remodelling of the epiphyseal bone - and with sexual maturation. That articular cartilage is physiologically reorganized by a process of tissue resorption and neoformation, rather than by one of internal remodelling, has important implications for the functional engineering and repair of articular cartilage tissue.