Age Differences in Self-Continuity in the German Socioeconomic Panel

Self-continuity, the sense that one’s personal past, present, and future selves are meaningfully connected, is unique to human beings. Self-continuity varies across individuals with higher levels conveying benefits for mental health and well-being, physical health and health-related behaviors, as well as financial planning and moral choices (for a review see Hershfield, 2019). From a developmental point of view, self-continuity emerges over the course of childhood, but less is known about its development in adulthood. Recent evidence indicates that higher chronological age is associated with higher perceived self-continuity among healthy adults. Studies further suggest that age effects are more pronounced for more distant time intervals but fairly symmetrical for past and future (for a review see Loeckenhoff & Rutt, 2017). However, prior work has predominantly relied on U.S. convenience samples raising questions about generalizability to broader population samples as well as cross-national consistency of the findings. To address these concerns, the present study examined self-continuity in the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP, 2017 Innovation Sample, n = 1659, aged 18-92, M = 62.8, SD = 18.1, 53% female). In addition to replicating the previously reported positive association between age and self-continuity (r = .17, p < .001) and testing for curvilinear effects, we report on the role of temporal direction (past vs. future), temporal distance (1, 5, and 10 years), and demographic factors (i.e., gender, education, and wealth). The present findings add to the literature on adult age differences in self-continuity. Practical implications and directions for future research are discussed.

Do dietary carotenoids improve the escape-response performance of southern corroboree frog larvae?

Dietary antioxidants can improve escape-response performance in adult vertebrates, but whether juveniles receive similar benefits remains untested. Here, we investigated the effect of two dietary carotenoids (β-carotene and lutein) on the escape-response of juvenile corroboree frogs (Pseudophryne corroboree) at two developmental points (early and late larval development). We found that burst speed was lower during late larval development compared to early larval development, particularly in the low- and high-dose lutein treatments. These findings suggest that performance decreased over time, and was reduced by lutein consumption. At each developmental point we found no treatment effect on escape-response, providing no evidence for carotenoid benefits. A previous study in corroboree frogs demonstrated that carotenoids improved adult escape-response, so our findings suggest that benefits of carotenoids in this species may be life-stage dependent. Continued investigation into how carotenoids influence escape-response at different life-stages will provide insights into mechanistic links between nutrition and behaviour.

The Evolutionary Continuum of Functional Homodonty to Heterodonty in the Dentition of Halichoeres Wrasses

Synopsis Vertebrate dentitions are often collapsed into a few discrete categories, obscuring both potentially important functional differences between them and insight into their evolution. The terms homodonty and heterodonty typically conflate tooth morphology with tooth function, and require context-dependent subcategories to take on any specific meaning. Qualifiers like incipient, transient, or phylogenetic homodonty attempt to provide a more rigorous definition but instead highlight the difficulties in categorizing dentitions. To address these issues, we recently proposed a method for quantifying the function of dental batteries based on the estimated stress of each tooth (inferred using surface area) standardized for jaw out-lever (inferred using tooth position). This method reveals a homodonty–heterodonty functional continuum where small and large teeth work together to transmit forces to a prey item. Morphological homodonty or heterodonty refers to morphology, whereas functional homodonty or heterodonty refers to transmission of stress. In this study, we use Halichoeres wrasses to explore how a functional continuum can be used in phylogenetic analyses by generating two continuous metrics from the functional homodonty–heterodonty continuum. Here we show that functionally heterodont teeth have evolved at least 3 times in Halichoeres wrasses. There are more functionally heterodont teeth on upper jaws than on lower jaws, but functionally heterodont teeth on the lower jaws bear significantly more stress. These nuances, which have functional consequences, would be missed by binning entire dentitions into discrete categories. This analysis points out areas worth taking a closer look at from a mechanical and developmental point of view with respect to the distribution and type of heterodonty seen in different jaws and different areas of jaws. These data, on a small group of wrasses, suggest continuous dental variables can be a rich source of insight into the evolution of fish feeding mechanisms across a wider variety of species.

COMMUNICATION AND EMPATHY WITHIN PERSON-CENTERED MEDICINE: A DEVELOPMENTAL POINT OF VIEW

Communication between patients and health care providers (HCP) is at the heart of medicine and even more within its person-centered paradigm. Within a person centered medicine (PCM) perspective, it is thus crucial, for both the HCP and the patient, to build on a relationship with the objective to establish a therapeutic alliance and share decision making related to the patient’s health issues and to integrate the subjective aspects (and not only the objective aspects) of these health Issues. After showing that the effects of communication go beyond mere cognitive and affective sharing, particularly in highly emotional relations, this paper’sobjective is to understand more thoroughly what is transmitted in the patients/HCP relation and how some of the child and adolescent developmental psychiatry processes (i.e., early mother–baby interactions and transgenerational transmission of attachment) provide good models to understand this transmission.Building on these models, the paper will discuss how and at which conditions, the HCP’s narrative empathy plays a major role to access to the patient’s subjectivity through the HCP’s subjective experience. It concludes that, therefore, subjectivity of the HCPs should not be seen as a negative side effect of the patient–HCP (or the patient–team) relation but as a crucial clinical tool in person-centered diagnostics and cares if HCPs are properly trained and educated to use their feelings and representations as tools in individual or collective deliberations. But one has to be aware that there is no empathy without subjectivity.

Qur’an on Embryology: A Study of Qur’anic and Modern concept of Human Development

The present era is the most astonishing from a developmental point of view. People across the globe are impressed by the latest developments and, more particularly, by genetic engineering. From the academic point of view, debates are organized on religion and science. Intellectuals are trying to prove their stands in their respective fields. Religious scholars put their efforts to establish their stand as the most applicable in the present era. A good number of modern scholars like Keith Moore, Maurice Bucaille, etc. also supported some religious facts mentioned in religious books, mainly in the Quran related to embryology. Among the most debate table issues is the concept of human development in the Quran and gave rise to a comparative study between religion and science again. In this manuscript, an analytical approach is applied to find the compatibility of Qur’anic embryology and modern embryology to pinnacle and galvanize Qur’anic modern attitude.

Recognition and Critical Interaction Theory

This chapter explores how we might move from considerations that focus on social-cognitive issues to understanding their implications for concepts that are basic to the development of a critical theory that addresses social and political issues—basic concepts of agency, autonomy, and recognition. Following a brief philosophical history of the concept of recognition from Fichte through Hegel to contemporary accounts in Honneth and Ricoeur, this chapter takes a close look at Honneth’s analysis of recognition. I argue that Honneth does not sufficiently distinguish recognition as uniquely or specifically intersubjective. Moreover, he starts at a developmental point too late to acknowledge the role of primary intersubjectivity, a concept he interprets from a psychoanalytic perspective in contrast to its original formulation in developmental psychology. I then outline a concept of responsivity as an alternative to Honneth’s notion of elementary recognition. This is nonetheless in broad agreement with his analysis of relational autonomy.

Identifying the Translatome of Mouse NEBD-Stage Oocytes via SSP-Profiling; A Novel Polysome Fractionation Method

Meiotic maturation of oocyte relies on pre-synthesised maternal mRNA, the translation of which is highly coordinated in space and time. Here, we provide a detailed polysome profiling protocol that demonstrates a combination of the sucrose gradient ultracentrifugation in small SW55Ti tubes with the qRT-PCR-based quantification of 18S and 28S rRNAs in fractionated polysome profile. This newly optimised method, named Scarce Sample Polysome Profiling (SSP-profiling), is suitable for both scarce and conventional sample sizes and is compatible with downstream RNA-seq to identify polysome associated transcripts. Utilising SSP-profiling we have assayed the translatome of mouse oocytes at the onset of nuclear envelope breakdown (NEBD)—a developmental point, the study of which is important for furthering our understanding of the molecular mechanisms leading to oocyte aneuploidy. Our analyses identified 1847 transcripts with moderate to strong polysome occupancy, including abundantly represented mRNAs encoding mitochondrial and ribosomal proteins, proteasomal components, glycolytic and amino acids synthetic enzymes, proteins involved in cytoskeleton organization plus RNA-binding and translation initiation factors. In addition to transcripts encoding known players of meiotic progression, we also identified several mRNAs encoding proteins of unknown function. Polysome profiles generated using SSP-profiling were more than comparable to those developed using existing conventional approaches, being demonstrably superior in their resolution, reproducibility, versatility, speed of derivation and downstream protocol applicability.

Mechanics unlocks the morphogenetic puzzle of interlocking bivalved shells

Brachiopods and mollusks are 2 shell-bearing phyla that diverged from a common shell-less ancestor more than 540 million years ago. Brachiopods and bivalve mollusks have also convergently evolved a bivalved shell that displays an apparently mundane, yet striking feature from a developmental point of view: When the shell is closed, the 2 valve edges meet each other in a commissure that forms a continuum with no gaps or overlaps despite the fact that each valve, secreted by 2 mantle lobes, may present antisymmetric ornamental patterns of varying regularity and size. Interlocking is maintained throughout the entirety of development, even when the shell edge exhibits significant irregularity due to injury or other environmental influences, which suggests a dynamic physical process of pattern formation that cannot be genetically specified. Here, we derive a mathematical framework, based on the physics of shell growth, to explain how this interlocking pattern is created and regulated by mechanical instabilities. By close consideration of the geometry and mechanics of 2 lobes of the mantle, constrained both by the rigid shell that they secrete and by each other, we uncover the mechanistic basis for the interlocking pattern. Our modeling framework recovers and explains a large diversity of shell forms and highlights how parametric variations in the growth process result in morphological variation. Beyond the basic interlocking mechanism, we also consider the intricate and striking multiscale-patterned edge in certain brachiopods. We show that this pattern can be explained as a secondary instability that matches morphological trends and data.