Transforming personal experience and emotions through education to cultural diversity: an interplay between unicity and genericity

When subjects studied at school are close to societal discourses and to the students' social identities, when they have high emotional resonance, is it possible to enable the students to distance themselves from their emotions and personal experience, and to conceptualise them? Examining the relation between emotion and learning through the lens of socio-cultural psychology, the aim of our study was to shed light on "secondarisation" processes, that is, processes that transform personal experience and emotions into conceptualised forms of thinking. We analysed 85 video-recorded lessons in education for cultural diversity involving 12 teachers (of primary and secondary schools). Having identified episodes in which emotions were put into words or personal experience was reported, we analysed the use of pronouns (taken as indicators of secondarisation processes) and found a recurrent pattern: "the unicity-genericity routine". We illustrate the functioning of this routine with various excerpts taken from lessons in education for diversity taught in the classes of two teachers in primary school. The results show that the interplay between unicity and genericity works as a discursive resource for the development of secondarisation processes.

The list of the chromosome races of the common shrew Sorex araneus (updated 2002)

In 1996 the International Sorex araneus Cytogenetics Committee (ISACC) published a comprehensive list of 50 chromosome races of the common shrew Sorex araneus (lima et al. 1996). Since that time twenty one new races have been described and three races have been removed from the list. The present list summarises the data about races described since the 1996 publication. The rules introduced by Searle et al. (1991) and Hausser et al. (1994) were followed in the compilation of the list. It can be considered a reference for further studies of evolutionary relationships between the chromosome races of Sorex araneus. A summary table of all the 68 known races, arranged alphabetically according to their names, is given.

Outcomes of patients on dual-boosted PI regimens : experience of the Swiss HIV cohort study

Rapport de Synth��seLa th��rapie antir��trovirale a progress��e de mani��re significative depuis te d��but de l'��pid��mie du syndrome d'immunod��ficience acquise (SIDA). Durant les 20 derni��res ann��es, plusieurs combinaisons de traitements ont ��t�� utilis��es avec succ��s menant �� une r��duction de la mortalit�� associ��e. Par contre, le traitement a aussi engendr�� des cas de r��sistances multiples avec comme r��sultat, le besoin d'utiliser plusieurs mol��cules en combinaison, et une augmentation des cas de toxicit��. Une strat��gie souvent employ��e f��t la combinaison de deux mol��cules inhibitrices de la prot��ase en m��me temps en combinaison avec une troisi��me mol��cule, le ritonavir. (DBPI).La cohorte Suisse sur le VIH existe depuis 1987 et permet d'��tudier de fa��on longitudinale les patients qui y sont inscrits. Pour ce travail de th��se, nous avons ��tudi�� les patients inscrits �� la cohorte suisse de 1996 �� 2007 qui ont re��u une combinaison DBPI.Pendant la p��riode ��tudi��e, un total de 405 patients ont re��u un traitement DBPI, dont 295 patients ont re��u le DBPI pour plus de 6 mois. La dur��e m��diane du traitement ��tait de 2.2 ans. Sur les 287 patients qui ��taient en ��chec viral au d��but du traitement (d��fini comme HIV RNA>400 copies/ml), 64.1% ont r��ussi �� supprimer la vir��mie et 54.4% ont eu une suppression dans les 24 semaines qui ont suivi le d��but de la th��rapie. Les patients avaient re��u en moyenne 6 combinaisons de traitement diff��rentes avant le d��but de la th��rapie DBPi. Pour les patients qui ont arr��t�� le traitement DBPI, la cause principale de l'arr��t ��tait due au souhait du patient (48.3%), �� l'��chec virologique (22.5%) et �� la toxicit�� (15.8%). Les patients ayant re��u le traitement apr��s 1999, ou ayant ��t�� trait��s avec une combinaison de Lopinavir-ritonvir/saquinavir ou lopinavir-ritonavir/atazanavir arrivaient �� supprimer leur vir��mie plus souvent que ceux qui avaient re��u d'autres combinaisons.Cette ��tude constitue la plus grande ��tude publi��e sur le sujet de l'utilisation des DBPI pour les patients �� r��sistances multiples. Malgr�� le fait que c'est une ��tude observationnelle, nous pouvons attester que le taux de succ��s ��tait de 64.4%, le taux de toxicit�� ��tait relativement bas (15.8%) et que la plus part des patients ont tol��r�� ces combinaisons, malgr�� le taux ��lev�� d'effets secondaires souvent rapport��s. En somme, cette approche pourrait ��tre envisag��e dans des situations ou les nouveaux traitements tels que les inhibiteurs de l'int��grase et du CCR5 ne sont pas encore disponibles.

Couples' Resolution of an Infertility Diagnosis Before Undergoing in Vitro Fertilization

Although the use of assisted reproductive technology has today become more familiar, the suffering associated with the experience of infertility remains. This study assesses the emotional resolution of couples faced with an infertility diagnosis by examining their narratives. Fifty-seven couples were recruited from fertility clinics to participate in a semistructured interview prior to in vitro fertilization. Two aspects of the couples' reactions to the infertility diagnosis were assessed: (1) each individual's capacity to acknowledge the emotional reality of the diagnosis (diagnosis resolution) and (2) the couple's ability to construct a shared meaning of the infertility diagnosis experience (narrative co-construction). Associations between these aspects and self-reported marital satisfaction, infertility-related stress, and diagnosis-related variables were analyzed. 73.7% of women and 61.4% of men had acknowledged the emotional reality of the diagnosis, and their scores for narrative co-construction were comparable to reference samples. Marital satisfaction, but not infertility-related stress, was associated with diagnosis resolution and narrative co-construction. The results indicate the importance of detecting couples with fewer individual and marital resources needed to face the reality of the diagnosis. A couple's capacity to perceive the infertility diagnosis as a shared problem is also essential for dealing with this common life event.

Schizotypy : do not worry, it is not all worrisome

A long-standing tradition in personality research in psychology, and nowadays increasingly in psychiatry, is that psychotic and psychotic-like thoughts are considered common experiences in the general population. Given their widespread occurrence, such experiences cannot merely reflect pathological functioning. Moreover, reflecting the multi-dimensionality of schizotypy, some dimensions might be informative for healthy functioning while others less so. Here, we explored these possibilities by reviewing research that links schizotypy to favourable functioning such as subjective wellbeing, cognitive functioning (major focus on creativity) and personality correlates. This research highlights the existence of healthy people with psychotic-like traits who mainly experience positive schizotypy (but also affective features mapping onto bipolar disorder). These individuals seem to benefit from a healthy way to organise their thoughts and experiences, i.e. they employ an adaptive cognitive framework to explain and integrate their unusual experiences. We conclude that, instead of focussing only on the pathological, future studies should explore the behavioural, genetic, imaging and psychopharmacological correlates that define the healthy expression of psychotic-like traits. Such studies would inform on protective or compensatory mechanisms of psychosis-risk and could usefully inform us on the evolutionary advantages of the psychosis dimension.

Exome sequencing identifies DYNC2H1 mutations as a common cause of asphyxiating thoracic dystrophy (Jeune syndrome) without major polydactyly, renal or retinal involvement.

BACKGROUND: Jeune asphyxiating thoracic dystrophy (JATD) is a rare, often lethal, recessively inherited chondrodysplasia characterised by shortened ribs and long bones, sometimes accompanied by polydactyly, and renal, liver and retinal disease. Mutations in intraflagellar transport (IFT) genes cause JATD, including the IFT dynein-2 motor subunit gene DYNC2H1. Genetic heterogeneity and the large DYNC2H1 gene size have hindered JATD genetic diagnosis. AIMS AND METHODS: To determine the contribution to JATD we screened DYNC2H1 in 71 JATD patients JATD patients combining SNP mapping, Sanger sequencing and exome sequencing. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: We detected 34 DYNC2H1 mutations in 29/71 (41%) patients from 19/57 families (33%), showing it as a major cause of JATD especially in Northern European patients. This included 13 early protein termination mutations (nonsense/frameshift, deletion, splice site) but no patients carried these in combination, suggesting the human phenotype is at least partly hypomorphic. In addition, 21 missense mutations were distributed across DYNC2H1 and these showed some clustering to functional domains, especially the ATP motor domain. DYNC2H1 patients largely lacked significant extra-skeletal involvement, demonstrating an important genotype-phenotype correlation in JATD. Significant variability exists in the course and severity of the thoracic phenotype, both between affected siblings with identical DYNC2H1 alleles and among individuals with different alleles, which suggests the DYNC2H1 phenotype might be subject to modifier alleles, non-genetic or epigenetic factors. Assessment of fibroblasts from patients showed accumulation of anterograde IFT proteins in the ciliary tips, confirming defects similar to patients with other retrograde IFT machinery mutations, which may be of undervalued potential for diagnostic purposes.

Association Study of Common Genetic Variants and HIV-1 Acquisition in 6,300 Infected Cases and 7,200 Controls.

Multiple genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have been performed in HIV-1 infected individuals, identifying common genetic influences on viral control and disease course. Similarly, common genetic correlates of acquisition of HIV-1 after exposure have been interrogated using GWAS, although in generally small samples. Under the auspices of the International Collaboration for the Genomics of HIV, we have combined the genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data collected by 25 cohorts, studies, or institutions on HIV-1 infected individuals and compared them to carefully matched population-level data sets (a list of all collaborators appears in Note S1 in Text S1). After imputation using the 1,000 Genomes Project reference panel, we tested approximately 8 million common DNA variants (SNPs and indels) for association with HIV-1 acquisition in 6,334 infected patients and 7,247 population samples of European ancestry. Initial association testing identified the SNP rs4418214, the C allele of which is known to tag the HLA-B*57:01 and B*27:05 alleles, as genome-wide significant (p = 3.6��10(-11)). However, restricting analysis to individuals with a known date of seroconversion suggested that this association was due to the frailty bias in studies of lethal diseases. Further analyses including testing recessive genetic models, testing for bulk effects of non-genome-wide significant variants, stratifying by sexual or parenteral transmission risk and testing previously reported associations showed no evidence for genetic influence on HIV-1 acquisition (with the exception of CCR5Δ32 homozygosity). Thus, these data suggest that genetic influences on HIV acquisition are either rare or have smaller effects than can be detected by this sample size.

Europe���s experience in countering radicalization: approaches and challenges

For the last decade Europe has perceived itself to be under a constant threat from jihadistinspired terrorism. Terrorist organizations motivated by other ideologies are still active throughout the European Union, but the 2010 Europol annual report clearly states that ���Islamist terrorism is still perceived as the biggest threat to most Member States,��� and statements from the highest-ranking officials in most European countries confirm this observation (EUROPOL, 2010, p. 6). Authorities base their assessment on the extensive intelligence and investigative activities directed against jihadist networks taking place in virtually every European country. On average, in fact, European authorities arrest some 200 individuals and thwart a handful of plots of jihadist inspiration every year (EUROPOL, 2009). Keeping the global scenario in mind, European authorities deem this dynamic likely to continue in the foreseeable future.

Expression of neuroectodermal antigens common to melanomas, gliomas, and neuroblastomas. I. Identification by monoclonal anti-melanoma and anti-glioma antibodies.

The reactivity spectrum of five different monoclonal anti-melanoma antibodies cross-reacting with gliomas and neuroblastomas and one monoclonal anti-glioma antibody cross-reacting with melanomas and neuroblastomas was investigated. Comparison of the binding activity of these monoclonal antibodies for 11 melanoma, seven glioma, and three neuroblastoma cell lines showed that each of these clones had a different pattern of cross-reactivity. The results indicated that the antigenic determinants detected by these antibodies were not associated with the same antigen and thus suggested the existence of at least six different antigens common to melanomas, gliomas, and neuroblastomas. Since all these tumors are known to derive from cells originating embryologically from the neural crest, it can be assumed that the antigens recognized by our monoclonal antibodies are neuroectodermal differentiation antigens. However, absorption with fetal brain homogenates abolished only the binding of monoclonal anti-glioma antibody, but did not modify the binding of monoclonal anti-melanoma antibodies.

Contrast enhanced breast ultrasound to differentiate papillomas from intraductal secretion : initial experience : P22

Purpose: To describe low mechanical index grey scale contrast enhanced breast ultrasound in patients with intraductal echogenic material in the differentiation of papillomas from intraductal secretions. Methods and materials: In five patients with echographically detected ductal dilatation containing echogenic material low mechanical index grey scale contrast enhanced ultrasonography was performed. No patient had nipple discharge. The examination was performed with a 9 MHz linear transducer after injection of 4 ml of Sonovue. It was assessed if contrast enhancement was present or not. The results were correlated with histologic results after surgical resection or percutaneous biopsy when performed. Results: In 3 patients contrast enhancement was observed. These patients were operated and the papillomas confirmed by histology. In two patients no contrast enhancement was observed. In one of these two patients percutaneous biopsy was performed without evidence of a papillary lesion. The second patient presented with multiple dilated ducts containing echogenic material. No biopsy was performed but breast MRI showed no intraductal enhancement supporting the non papillary nature of the intraductal material. Conclusion: This pilot study shows that contrast enhanced ultrasound is able to detect the vascularisation of papillomas and that it may differentiate intraductal papillomas from secretions.

Delirium auf der Intensivstation [Delirium in the intensive care unit.]

The prevalence of delirium in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) is reported to vary from 20 to 80 %. Delirium in the ICU is not only a frightening experience for the patient and his or her family, it is also a challenge for the nurses and physicians taking care of the patient. Furthermore, it is also associated with worse outcome, prolonged hospitalisation, increased costs, long-term cognitive impairment and higher mortality rates. Thus, strategies to prevent ICU-delirium in addition to the early diagnosis and treatment of delirium are important. The pathophysiology of delirium is still incompletely understood, but numerous risk factors for the development of delirium have been identified in ICU-patients, among which are potentially modifiable factors such as metabolic disturbances, hypotension, anaemia, fever and infection. Key factors are the prevention and management of common risk factors, including avoiding overzealous sedation and analgesia and creating an environment that enhances reintegration. Once delirium is diagnosed, treatment consists of the use of typical and atypical antipsychotics. Haloperidol is still the drug of choice for the treatment of delirium and can be given intravenously in incremental doses of 1 to 2 to 5 (to 10) mg every 15 - 20 minutes.

Approche interdisciplinaire de la decision de don d'organes: l'experience lausannoise [An interdisciplinary approach of the organ donation decision: the Lausanne's experience].

Since 2007, the Interdisciplinary Ethics Platform (Ethos) of the University of Lausanne is leading an interdisciplinary reflection on the organ donation decision. On this basis, the project "Organ transplantation between the rhetoric of the gift and a biomedical view of the body" studies the logics at stake in the organ donation decision-making process. Results highlight many tensions within practices and public discourses in the field of organ donation and transplantation and suggest lines of inquiry for future adjustments.

Factors psicosocials associats a Inexperi��ncia de dolor cr��nic en adolescents

El dolor cr��nic pedi��tric ��s un problema molt important. Malgrat que la informaci�� disponible ��s molt menor que en adults, els informes publicats no deixen lloc a cap mena de dubte. Per una banda els treballs epidemiol��gics realitzats en la poblaci�� general mostren que els problemes de dolor cr��nic s��n habituals entre la poblaci�� infantil i adolescent, mentre que, per una altra, els estudis fets amb poblaci�� cl��nica apunten que el dolor cr��nic pedi��tric ��s causa important de desajust social i un dels problemes que m��s perjudiquen la qualitat de vida dels nens, i dels seus familiars, a tots els nivells. L���objectiu fonamental d���aquest treball era avan��ar en el oneixement dels factors psicosocials relacionats amb l���experi��ncia del dolor cr��nic, de manera que a llarg termini aquesta informaci�� ens permet��s plantejar i contrastar programes de prevenci�� secund��ria pel dolor i la discapacitat cr��nics. Han participat un total de 92 joves amb edats compreses entre els 14 i 16 anys (79% de resposta positiva), dels quals el 64.2% eren noies. Majorit��riament experimentaven problemes de dolor abdominal. Els resultats han mostrat que, en efecte, els adolescents amb dolor cr��nic (dolor igual o superior a tres mesos) tenenuna pitjor qualitat de vida que els nois d���edat semblant per�� sense problemes cr��nics de dolor. Espec��ficament, destaquen d���entre els factors estudiats: els pensaments catastr��fics, l���estat afectiu, i certes actituds i alguns tipus d���estrat��gies d���afrontament dels nens. Les reaccions dels pares davant la conducta de dolor dels seus fills tamb�� resulta ser un factor de risc que cal considerar: les conductes dels pares tendents a minimitzar el problema estaven relacionades significativament amb el dolor i la discapacitat dels seus fills/es.