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Much of the research into history teaching and ethnicity concludes that the historical narratives that children from minority ethnic groups construct differ significantly from 'mainstream' or official national narratives and are often accompanied by a sense of disengagement or even alienation from the dominant history narratives taught in schools. Our research suggests that in England (or more specifically in London) the picture is more complicated than this. First, we did not find compelling evidence that students from black and minority ethnic backgrounds feel alienated or disengaged from the British history they are taught. Second, we found a surprising similarity across the narratives that different ethnic groups chose to tell us about British history, suggesting amongst other things some curriculum inertia in schools. Where differences did exist, we suggest that these can be explained as much by gender and broad cultural influences as by ethnicity. Third, whilst "what" students chose to include in their narratives was broadly similar across different ethnic groups, the reasons for including them "did" differ. Finally, and perhaps most positively, we conclude that students of all ethnic groups are keen to engage more critically with British narratives and would relish more opportunities to do so than current school curricula appear to encourage.

Background: Patients with anorexia nervosa (AN) show overgeneralization of memory (OGM) when generating autobiographical episodes related to food and body shape. These memories are central for the construction of a coherent self‐concept, interpersonal relationships, and problem‐solving abilities. The current study aims to investigate changes in autobiographical memory following weight gain. Methods: OGM was assessed with an adapted version of the Autobiographical Memory Test including food‐, body‐, depression‐related, and neutral cues. N = 41 female patients with AN (28 restricting‐, 13 binge‐eating/purging‐subtype; mean disease duration: 4.5 years; mean BMI: 14.5 kg/m2) and N = 27 healthy controls (HC) were included at baseline. After inpatient treatment (mean duration: 11 weeks), 24 patients with AN and 24 age‐matched HC were reassessed. Group differences were assessed using independent samples t‐tests for cross‐sectional comparisons and repeated measures ANOVAs for longitudinal data. Results: At baseline, patients with AN generated significantly fewer specific memories than HC, independent of word category (F(1.66) = 27.167, p < 0.001). During inpatient stay, the average weight gain of patients with AN was 3.1 body mass index points. At follow‐up, patients with AN showed a significant improvement in the number of specific memories for both depression‐related and neutral cues, but not for food‐ and body‐related cues. Conclusions: Generalised OGM (i.e., independent of word category) in patients with AN before weight restoration may be a general incapacity to recall autobiographical memory. After weight gain, the previously well‐studied pattern of eating disorder‐related OGM emerges. The clinical relevance of the continuing disorder‐related OGM in patients with AN after weight gain is discussed. Highlights: 'Overgeneral Memory' (OGM) in severely underweight patients (mean body mass index = 14.5 kg/m2) with anorexia nervosa (AN) might be a state marker in the form of a general incapacity to recall autobiographical memories, regardless of emotional valence.Reduced symptoms of depression in patients with AN after weight gain, compared with the beginning of inpatient treatment, may be an indication of an overall improvement in mental health as negative memories become more specific.The persisting eating disorder‐related OGM after weight gain might be a maintaining factor of AN facilitating relapse and could also reflect increased dysfunctional emotion processing despite decreased eating disorder symptoms: functional avoidance might be a protective mechanism in the form of less confrontation with eating disorder‐related content through generalised memories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Patients with Anorexia Nervosa (AN) show a moderate deficit in overall neuropsychological functioning. Since previous studies on memory performance mainly employed cross‐sectional designs, the present study aims to investigate changes in verbal memory following weight‐gain. Methods: Verbal memory was assessed with the Wechsler Memory Scale‐Revised (WMS‐R; 'logical memory'‐story‐recall‐subtest) and the California Verbal Learning Test‐II (CVLT‐II; 'verbal learning'). Included were 31 female patients with AN (18 restricting‐, 13 purging‐subtype; average disease duration: 5.1 years; average baseline BMI: 14.4 kg/m2) and 24 medication‐free normal‐weight healthy women adjusted for age at baseline (T0). In a post‐treatment assessment of approx. 6 weeks with weight increase (T1), 18 patients with AN and 20 healthy women were assessed again. Group differences in verbal memory (i.e., WMS‐R, CVLT‐II) were assessed for the baseline comparisons with a multivariate ANOVA and longitudinal data were analysed with repeated measures (RM) ANOVAs. Results: At baseline, patients with AN as compared to healthy women displayed deficits in logical memory. In the follow‐up assessment, patients with AN improved their logical memory significantly compared to healthy controls (p < 0.006). Furthermore, groups did not differ in verbal learning neither before nor after inpatient treatment. Conclusions: Enhanced logical memory in patients with AN following weight‐gain is probably due to the impaired memory as compared to healthy controls at T0. A survivorship bias could explain the improved memory performance in longitudinal data in contrast to cross‐sectional studies. Patients with AN with poorer memory performance before inpatient treatment are at higher risk to drop out and need support. Key points: Impaired logical memory before inpatient treatment improves in patients with anorexia nervosa (AN) during weight‐gain, while verbal learning seems to be intact before as well as after inpatient treatment as compared to healthy women.Drop‐out‐analyses revealed that patients with AN with poorer logical memory performance before inpatient treatment are at higher risk to drop out, and should receive further therapeutic support.Results imply, that therapeutic interventions using cognitive strategies may be overwhelming in severely ill patients with AN during early stages of the disease, while early cognitive interventions might be effective in a less sick, more motivated subgroup of patients with AN. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Anorexia nervosa (AN) is characterized by an overgeneralization of food/body-related autobiographical memories (AM). This is regarded as an emotion regulation strategy with adverse long-term effects implicated in disorder maintenance and treatment resistance. Therefore, we aimed to examine neural correlates of food/body-related AM-recall in AN. Methods: Twenty-nine female patients with AN and 30 medication-free age-sex-matched normal-weight healthy controls (HC) underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging while recalling AMs in response to food/body-related and neutral cue words. To control for general knowledge retrieval, participants engaged in a semantic generation and riser detection task. Results: In comparison to HC, patients with AN generated fewer and less specific AMs in response to food/body-related words, but not for neutral cue words. Group comparisons revealed reduced activation in regions associated with self-referential processing and memory retrieval (precuneus and angular gyrus) during the retrieval of specific food/body-related AM in patients with AN. Brain connectivity in regions associated with memory functioning and executive control was reduced in patients with AN during the retrieval of specific food/body-related AM. Finally, resting-state functional connectivity analysis revealed no differences between groups, arguing against a general underlying disconnection of brain networks implicated in memory and emotional processing in AN. Conclusions: These results indicate impaired neural processing of food/body-related AM in AN, with a reduced involvement of regions involved in self-referential processing. Our findings are discussed as possible neuronal correlates of emotional avoidance in AN and provide new insights of AN-pathophysiology underscoring the importance of targeting dysfunctional emotion regulation strategies during treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Spatial-Numerical Association of Response Codes (SNARC) effect - i.e., faster responses to small numbers with the left compared to the right side and to large numbers with the right compared to the left side - suggests that numbers are associated with space. However, it remains unclear whether the SNARC effect evolves from a number's magnitude or the ordinal position of a number in working memory. One problem is that, in different paradigms, the task demands influence the role of ordinality and magnitude. While single-task setups in which participants judge the parity of a displayed number indicate the importance of magnitude for the SNARC effect, evidence for ordinal influences usually comes from experiments where ordinal sequences have to be memorized or setups in which participants possess pre-existing knowledge of the ordinality of stimuli. Therefore, in this preregistered study, we employed a SNARC task without secondary ordinal sequence memorization. We dissociate ordinal and magnitude accounts by carefully manipulating experimental stimulus sets. The results indicate that even though the magnitude model better accounts for the observed data, the ordinal position seems to matter as well. Hence, numbers are associated with space in both a magnitude- and an order-respective manner, yielding a mixture of both compatibility effects. Moreover, a multiple coding framework may most accurately explain the roots of the SNARC effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The urban heat island (UHI) effect is a serious health risk for people living in cities and thus calls for effective mitigation strategies in urban areas. Satellite data enable monitoring of the surface urban heat island (SUHI) over large areas at high spatial resolution. Here we analysed SUHI in the city of Stuttgart (Germany) based on land surface temperature (LST) data from Landsat at 30 m resolution. The overall SUHI in Stuttgart decreased by 1.4 °C between the investigated time periods 2004–2008 and 2016–2020, while the absolute LST increased by 2.5 °C. We identified local hotspots of strong warming and cooling in Stuttgart through the change in SUHI and categorised them based on the predominant land cover change occurring at the hotspot using the Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) from Landsat as well as visual information on land cover changes from Google Earth Pro. The establishment of green roofs, as well as albedo changes, are predominantly responsible for cooling spots, while warming spots are mostly associated with the sealing of surfaces. This highlights that vegetation has a dominant influence on SUHI development in Stuttgart. Combining satellite-based LST data with visual information thus provides an effective method to identify local warming and cooling hotspots, which allows monitoring of the success of city policies against heat stress and guides future policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the interplay between agency and therapeutic bond in predicting patient symptoms in outpatient psychotherapy. A total of N = 731 patients provided measurements of agency (Therapeutic Agency Inventory; TAI), therapeutic bond (bond subscale of Working Alliance Inventory-Short Form Revised [WAI-SR]), and symptoms (Symptom Checklist Short Form [SCL-K11]) every fifth session of long-term treatment for up to 60 sessions. When investigated in separate models, both more agency and a stronger therapeutic bond predicted symptom improvement. However, within-person changes and between-person differences in agency predicted symptom improvement over and above the effects of therapeutic bond. Multilevel response surface analysis was used to further investigate the interplay between agency and therapeutic bond. When both agency and therapeutic bond levels were high, symptoms improved the most. When agency and therapeutic bond ratings differed, symptom ratings were significantly lower when agency exceeded therapeutic bond levels than when therapeutic bond ratings exceeded agency. Findings suggest that both agency and therapeutic bond are important treatment factors, but outcome could be improved when a strong therapeutic bond is combined with an equally strong sense of agency that empowers patients to pursue changes in their lives. When a strong therapeutic bond is present, but the patient feels less agentic, therapists may want to foster agency to improve outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bortezomib is a well-established treatment option for patients with multiple myeloma (MM). It is a selective and reversible inhibitor of the proteasome that is responsible for the degradation of many regulatory proteins that are involved in apoptosis, cell-cycle regulation, or transcription. Because patients with MM are prone to develop acute renal failure, we evaluated the influence of Bortezomib on renal ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI). Mice were subjected to renal IRI by having the renal pedicles clamped for 30 min followed by reperfusion for 3, 24, and 48 h. Mice were either pretreated with 0.5 mg/kg body wt Bortezomib or vehicle intravenously 12 h before induction of IRI. Serum creatinine and tubular necrosis were significantly increased in Bortezomib compared with vehicle-treated mice. The inflammatory response was found to be significantly decreased in Bortezomib-treated mice as reflected by a decreased infiltration of [CD4.sup.+] T cells and a significantly decreased Thl cytokine expression in the kidneys. In contrast, apoptosis was significantly increased in kidneys of Bortezomib-treated mice compared with vehicle-treated controls. Increased numbers of TUNEL-positive cells/[mm.sup.2] and increased mRNA expression of proapoptotic factors were detected in kidneys of Bortezomib-treated mice. Of note, p21, a cell senescence marker, was also significantly increased in kidneys of Bortezomib-treated mice. In summary, we provide evidence that Bortezomib worsens the outcome of renal IRI by leading to increased apoptosis of tubular cells despite decreased infiltrating T cells and proinflammatory mediators. inflammation; T cells; apoptosis; senescence

In many clinical settings, the duration of renal ischemia and therefore the outcome of acute renal failure cannot be determined adequately. Renal ischemia reperfusion injury is known to shorten telomeres and upregulate stress-induced genes, such as the cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) inhibitor p21. So far, the expression and role of CDK inhibitors, as well as mouse telomerase reverse transcriptase (mTERT), has not been investigated in a model with variable lasting ischemic periods. Male C57B1/6 mice were subjected to renal ischemia reperfusion injury by clamping both renal pedicles for 10, 20, 30, and 45 min, and the kidneys were allowed to be reperfused for 3, 24, and 48 h. Expression of different CDK inhibitors and mTERT was evaluated. Mice developed signs of acute renal failure linear to the duration of the ischemic period. Real-time PCR revealed that mTERT was only significantly upregulated in kidneys after short ischemic periods (20 min). In contrast, p21 was constantly upregulated in kidneys after long ischemic intervals (30 and 45 min), but not in kidneys, which were clamped for shorter periods. Mainly, tubular cells contributed to the observed increase in p21 expression. Targeting p21 via the selective p53 inhibitor pifithrin-[alpha] was able to prevent acute renal failure when administered immediately before ischemia. The expression of another CDK inhibitor, namely p16, was differentially regulated, depending on the time of reperfusion. Taken together, we detected mTERT and p21 as 'indicator' genes for short and long ischemic intervals, respectively. These two proteins might also be possible new therapeutic targets in the treatment and prevention of acute renal failure. cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitors; acute renal failure; cell cycle

The Spatial-Numerical Association of Response Codes (SNARC) effect - i.e., faster responses to small numbers with the left compared to the right side and to large numbers with the right compared to the left side - suggests that numbers are associated with space. However, it remains unclear whether the SNARC effect evolves from a number's magnitude or the ordinal position of a number in working memory. One problem is that, in different paradigms, the task demands influence the role of ordinality and magnitude. While single-task setups in which participants judge the parity of a displayed number indicate the importance of magnitude for the SNARC effect, evidence for ordinal influences usually comes from experiments where ordinal sequences have to be memorized or setups in which participants possess pre-existing knowledge of the ordinality of stimuli. Therefore, in this preregistered study, we employed a SNARC task without secondary ordinal sequence memorization. We dissociate ordinal and magnitude accounts by carefully manipulating experimental stimulus sets. The results indicate that even though the magnitude model better accounts for the observed data, the ordinal position seems to matter as well. Hence, numbers are associated with space in both a magnitude- and an order-respective manner, yielding a mixture of both compatibility effects. Moreover, a multiple coding framework may most accurately explain the roots of the SNARC effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study examined the reciprocal effects between therapeutic agency, working alliance, and symptoms during psychotherapy. We aimed to predict symptom improvement by previous changes in either agency or alliance. In addition, we examined whether alliance development was predicted by previous changes in agency. Method: A sample of 386 patients in psychodynamic outpatient psychotherapy answered the Therapeutic Agency Inventory (TAI), the Working Alliance Inventory-SR (WAI-SR), and the Symptom Checklist-K11 (SCL-K11) after Sessions 1, 5, 10, 15, and 20. Dynamic panel models were estimated using structural equation modeling. Associations were tested while controlling for autoregressive effects and differentiating within-person changes over time from between-person differences. Results: Increases in agency predicted subsequent symptom improvement. Similarly, increases in alliance predicted subsequent symptom improvement. For agency and alliance, we found a more complex pattern with varying reciprocal effects over time. Conclusions: Findings show evidence for agency and alliance as curative change factors in psychodynamic psychotherapy. The study supports the importance of both agency and alliance and further suggests that both mechanisms may need to be balanced in successful psychotherapies. Public Health Significance: This study highlights the importance of including patients as active agents of change in psychotherapy. Patients who experience higher intentional influence over the process of psychotherapeutic change show an improved symptom response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pollen sterility (PS) in mother lines is crucial for hybrid crossings in plant breeding. 21 di‐ (2x) and tetraploid (4x) accessions of the hermaphroditic chamomile were screened for spontaneous, thermic or gametocide induced PS. Two crossing trials with the diploid accessions 'Bona' (BON) and 'Hungary 2' (HUN2) should specify maternally inherited cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS). Progeny thereof showed increased PS. BON as mother (BH) entailed means of 30 and 22% PS, versus 8% and 20% after reciprocal crossings. Backcrosses of BH with HUN2 in paternal and maternal direction revealed increasing mean PS (24% and 32%), without verification of CMS. A split plot design of 100 individuals treated with four chemical gametocides analyzed PS, seed set, germination rate and whole plant damage. Tri‐iodobenzoic acid caused the highest PS (43%). Progeny of two plants (2x, 4x) with degenerated anthers without pollen, showed 100% PS either in tetraploid F1 and F2 (4% and 11%) or in diploid F2 and F3 (26% and 23%). High temperature (30/28°C day/night) decreased the male fertility to some extent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much of the research into history teaching and ethnicity concludes that the historical narratives that children from minority ethnic groups construct differ significantly from 'mainstream' or official national narratives and are often accompanied by a sense of disengagement or even alienation from the dominant history narratives taught in schools. Our research suggests that in England (or more specifically in London) the picture is more complicated than this. First, we did not find compelling evidence that students from black and minority ethnic backgrounds feel alienated or disengaged from the British history they are taught. Second, we found a surprising similarity across the narratives that different ethnic groups chose to tell us about British history, suggesting amongst other things some curriculum inertia in schools. Where differences did exist, we suggest that these can be explained as much by gender and broad cultural influences as by ethnicity. Third, whilst what students chose to include in their narratives was broadly similar across different ethnic groups, the reasons for including them did differ. Finally, and perhaps most positively, we conclude that students of all ethnic groups are keen to engage more critically with British narratives and would relish more opportunities to do so than current school curricula appear to encourage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study aimed to develop an observer-rated measure of Insight into Conflictual Relationship Patterns (ICR) applicable to audio- or videotapes of psychotherapy sessions and conduct a first psychometric evaluation. Method: We investigated the item properties, principal components, reliability, and validity of the ICR in a naturalistic sample of N = 125 outpatients in psychodynamic psychotherapy. Results: The ICR consists of 12 items that showed adequate item discrimination and item difficulty indices. All items represent one principal component. Using item response theory, discrimination parameters and item characteristic curves revealed that the ability of all items to differentiate patients was adequate to very good. The scale demonstrated good interrater reliability (ICC(3,1) =.76–.93), adequate internal consistency (Cronbach's α =.84), and high retest reliability (r =.91). Regarding validity, the ICR was significantly associated with insight according to the Achievement of Therapeutic Objectives Scale and patient-perceived session depth. Insight at session five predicted a symptomatic increase from session five to session ten. Conclusion: The ICR is an observer-rated measure to assess insight from psychotherapy session recordings that has demonstrated several aspects of reliability and validity. Future studies are needed to clarify the impact of ICR-assessed insight for symptomatic outcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transcription factor FOXO3 is associated with poor outcome in high-stage neuroblastoma (NB), as it facilitates chemoprotection and tumor angiogenesis. In other tumor entities, FOXO3 stimulates metastasis formation, one of the biggest challenges in the treatment of aggressive NB. However, the impact of FOXO3 on the metastatic potential of neuronal tumor cells remains largely unknown. In the present study, we uncover the small leucine-rich proteoglycan family member lumican (LUM) as a FOXO3-regulated gene that stimulates cellular migration in NB. By a drug-library screen we identified the small molecular weight compound repaglinide (RPG) as a putative FOXO3 inhibitor. Here, we verify that RPG binds to the FOXO3-DNA-binding-domain (DBD) and thereby silences the transcriptional activity of FOXO3. Consistent with the concept that the FOXO3/LUM axis enhances the migratory capacity of aggressive NB cells, we demonstrate that stable knockdown of LUM abrogates the FOXO3-mediated increase in cellular migration. Importantly, FOXO3 inhibition by RPG represses the binding of FOXO3 to the LUM promoter, inhibits FOXO3-mediated LUM RNA and protein expression, and efficiently abrogates FOXO3-triggered cellular “wound healing” as well as spheroid-based 3D-migration. Thus, silencing the FOXO3/LUM axis by the FDA-approved compound RPG represents a promising strategy for novel therapeutic interventions in NB and other FOXO3-dependent tumors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Innovative teaching models promoting beneficial therapist behaviour are central to the improvement of psychotherapeutic practice. This study investigated the effects of peer role‐play (RP) and standardised patients (SP) in the context of an intervention skill training course during psychodynamic psychotherapy training. Methods: In a mixed‐method approach, effects of intervention training with RP and SP on trainees' self‐efficacy and intervention use during treatment were investigated using trainees' self‐report questionnaires, qualitative interviews and psychotherapy session observer ratings. Twenty graduate psychotherapy students (17 female; mean age 36 years) participated in an intervention skill seminar. We assessed subjective ratings of intervention competence before and after training as well as acceptance of the training format. For a subsample of 11 participants, we examined changes in frequency and competency of intervention use with session‐based observer ratings during their current outpatient treatments. Furthermore, 10 participants reflected on their training experiences in open interviews, evaluated using inductive content analysis. Findings: The trainees' self‐efficacy for the trained interventions increased significantly after training. The training was well accepted and subjectively associated with learning success. Training transfer effects were observed regarding higher frequency and competence in the domain of clarifying and mirroring interventions during participants' outpatient psychotherapy sessions. Qualitative analysis showed training effects for self‐reflection regarding intervention use, while also promoting the development of therapeutic self‐understanding. Conclusion: Our findings provide further evidence that RP and SP training can assist the development of psychotherapy skills. Hence, the regular implementation of RP and SP training during graduate psychotherapy training seems feasible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Therapeutic agency is defined as a patient's intentional influence over the process of psychotherapeutic change. However, there is a lack of conceptually sound self-report measures with adequate psychometric properties. The aim of this study was to develop and psychometrically evaluate the patient-rated Therapeutic Agency Inventory (TAI). Method: Based on the literature, we developed items related to therapeutic agency and investigated their psychometric properties in a naturalistic study with a sample of 334 psychotherapy participants. We assessed changes in TAI scores in a subsample of 58 patients over the course of inpatient psychotherapy and related TAI scores to therapeutic improvement. Results: The TAI consists of 15 items. We performed exploratory factor analyses, and the following three factors were extracted: In-session activity, therapy-related processing, and therapist-oriented passivity. Internal consistency was.84 for the total score and ranged between.73 and.80 for each of the factors. The TAI was significantly associated with other psychotherapy process factors, self-efficacy expectations, control beliefs, lower overall psychological distress, and lower depression scores. Changes in agency during psychotherapy predicted therapy outcome, even after controlling for baseline distress. Conclusions: The TAI is a reliable, valid, and change-sensitive self-report instrument that can be used to assess agency in psychotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate associations between patients' subjective agency, their observable in‐session behavior, and the patient–therapist interaction during the early phase of psychotherapy. Methods: The sample included 52 depressed patients in psychodynamic psychotherapy. After Session 5, the patients' agency and the quality of the therapeutic alliance were assessed. Based on session recordings, two independent observers rated the patients' involvement, their interpersonal behavior, and the therapists' directiveness. Results: Higher agency was associated with stronger therapeutic alliances. Patients who indicated higher agency in their therapy participated more actively in the session and showed less hostile impact messages. Patients' agency was not related to therapists' directiveness. Conclusions: Patients' sense of agency in psychotherapy was associated with more active involvement and affiliative interaction. The findings support the idea that patients need to feel capable of acting within and having an influence on their therapy to benefit from it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: An increased understanding of repetitive dysfunctional patterns and their relationship to an individual's life history is regarded as a key mechanism of change in insight-oriented therapies. At the same time, empirical research on the insight-outcome relationship is rare, and its generalizability is restricted by the use of a wide range of definitions and methods among studies. The authors conducted a meta-analysis to systematically examine the association between patient insight and psychotherapy outcome across a range of treatment modalities.Method: Insight was defined as patients' understanding of associations between past and present experiences, typical relationship patterns, and the relation between interpersonal challenges, emotional experience, and psychological symptoms. From 13,849 initially identified abstracts, the authors extracted 23 independent effect sizes. A random-effects meta-analysis was performed to assess the magnitude of the insight-outcome relationship. Risk of publication bias was assessed with funnel plot inspections, Egger's regression test, and Duval and Tweedie's trim-and-fill procedure as sensitivity analyses.Results: A significant, moderate correlation (r=0.31) was observed between insight and treatment outcome. Sensitivity analyses demonstrated the robustness of the results.Conclusions: The findings support the importance of insight for psychotherapy outcome. Insight may be a relevant mechanism of change across different treatment modalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Performance in visual quantification tasks shows two characteristic patterns as a function of set size. A precise subitizing process for small sets (up to four) was contrasted with an approximate estimation process for larger sets. The spatial arrangement of elements in a set also influences visual quantification performance, with frequently perceived arrangements (e.g., dice patterns) being faster enumerated than random arrangements. Neuropsychological and imaging studies identified the intraparietal sulcus (IPS), as key brain area for quantification, both within and above the subitizing range. However, it is not yet clear if and how set size and spatial arrangement of elements in a set modulate IPS activity during quantification. In an fMRI study, participants enumerated briefly presented dot patterns with random, canonical or dice arrangement within and above the subitizing range. We evaluated how activity amplitude and pattern in the IPS were influenced by size and spatial arrangement of a set. We found a discontinuity in the amplitude of IPS response between subitizing and estimation range, with steep activity increase for sets exceeding four elements. In the estimation range, random dot arrangements elicited stronger IPS response than canonical arrangements which in turn elicited stronger response than dice arrangements. Furthermore, IPS activity patterns differed systematically between arrangements. We found a signature in the IPS response for a transition between subitizing and estimation processes during quantification. Differences in amplitude and pattern of IPS activity for different spatial arrangements indicated a more precise representation of non-symbolic numerical magnitude for dice and canonical than for random arrangements. These findings challenge the idea of an abstract coding of numerosity in the IPS even within a single notation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a result of the implementation of the CE-marking in the European Union, the testing method as defined in prEN 16516 is about to become the new volatile organic compounds (VOC) testing standard and replace a multitude of testing methods and regulative systems in Europe that assess the existence of VOC in building materials, including wood-based materials. The aim of this study is, first, to compile expert positions regarding testing methods and regulative systems for VOC in wood-based materials, and second, to examine the suitability of using an Argument-Delphi approach to point out consent or dissent regarding testing methods for VOC. A systematic content analysis of initial interviews with 13 experts produced 130 arguments which were subscribed to 13 categories, resulting in 6 potential positions of which 5 were actively taken by experts. While the second step was undertaken as a cross verification of the analysis, the experts were asked to choose a final position as a last step. It was observed that several experts changed their initial position to testing methods and regulative systems for VOC, but still without a consensus arising within the expert panel. Hence, the results of the study reveal that no verifiable consent exists within the group of experts-neither concerning testing methods, nor regulative systems. The Argument-Delphi approach applied constitutes a useful method in pointing out dissent between the experts towards a legal requirement like a European standard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To the Editor: Members of the genus Mycobacterium are well-established causes of granulomatous lymphadenitis in children. M. bohemicum was first described in 1998 in a patient with Down syndrome (1). [...]