Social anxiety symptoms in young children:Investigating the interplay of theory of mind and expressions of shyness

Children’s early onset of social anxiety may be associated with their social understanding, and their ability to express emotions adaptively. We examined whether social anxiety in 48-month-old children (N = 110; 54 boys) was related to: a) a lower level of theory of mind (ToM); b) a lower proclivity to express shyness in a positive way (adaptive); and c) a higher tendency to express shyness in a negative way (non-adaptive). In addition, we investigated to what extent children’s level of social anxiety was predicted by the interaction between ToM and expressions of shyness. Children’s positive and negative expressions of shyness were observed during a performance task. ToM was measured with a validated battery, and social anxiety was assessed using both parents’ reports on questionnaires. Socially anxious children had a lower level of ToM, and displayed more negative and less positive shy expressions. However, children with a lower level of ToM who expressed more positive shyness were less socially anxious. Additional results show that children who displayed shyness only in a negative manner were more socially anxious than children who expressed shyness only in a positive way and children who did not display any shyness. Moreover, children who displayed both positive and negative expressions of shyness were more socially anxious than children who displayed shyness only in a positive way. These findings highlight the importance of ToM development and socio-emotional strategies, and their interaction, on the early development of social anxiety

The Policy Dystopia Model:an interpretive analysis of tobacco industry political activity

BACKGROUND: Tobacco industry interference has been identified as the greatest obstacle to the implementation of evidence-based measures to reduce tobacco use. Understanding and addressing industry interference in public health policy-making is therefore crucial. Existing conceptualisations of corporate political activity (CPA) are embedded in a business perspective and do not attend to CPA's social and public health costs; most have not drawn on the unique resource represented by internal tobacco industry documents. Building on this literature, including systematic reviews, we develop a critically informed conceptual model of tobacco industry political activity. METHODS AND FINDINGS: We thematically analysed published papers included in two systematic reviews examining tobacco industry influence on taxation and marketing of tobacco; we included 45 of 46 papers in the former category and 20 of 48 papers in the latter (n = 65). We used a grounded theory approach to build taxonomies of "discursive" (argument-based) and "instrumental" (action-based) industry strategies and from these devised the Policy Dystopia Model, which shows that the industry, working through different constituencies, constructs a metanarrative to argue that proposed policies will lead to a dysfunctional future of policy failure and widely dispersed adverse social and economic consequences. Simultaneously, it uses diverse, interlocking insider and outsider instrumental strategies to disseminate this narrative and enhance its persuasiveness in order to secure its preferred policy outcomes. Limitations are that many papers were historical (some dating back to the 1970s) and focused on high-income regions. CONCLUSIONS: The model provides an evidence-based, accessible way of understanding diverse corporate political strategies. It should enable public health actors and officials to preempt these strategies and develop realistic assessments of the industry's claims

From hands to minds: Gestures promote understanding

Gestures serve many roles in communication, learning and understanding both for those who view them and those who create them. Gestures are especially effective when they bear resemblance to the thought they represent, an advantage they have over words. Here, we examine the role of conceptually congruent gestures in deepening understanding of dynamic systems. Understanding the structure of dynamic systems is relatively easy, but understanding the actions of dynamic systems can be challenging. We found that seeing gestures representing actions enhanced understanding of the dynamics of a complex system as revealed in invented language, gestures and visual explanations. Gestures can map many meanings more directly than language, representing many concepts congruently. Designing and using gestures congruent with meaning can augment comprehension and learning

Immuntherapie von Kopf- und Halskarzinomen: Induktion LOXL4-spezifischer T-Lymphozyten durch LOXL4-RNA transfizierte autologe dendritische Zellen in vitro

Einleitung: Das Prinzip der Immunisierung gegen Infektionskrankheiten hat zur Entwicklung längst etablierter Impfstoffe geführt. Dagegen scheint die Vakzinierung gegen maligne Tumoren weit schwieriger, u.a. wegen zahlreicher Strategien von Tumoren zur Unterwanderung einer wirksamen Immunantwort. Dendritische Zellen (DC), die wirksamsten antigenpräsentierenden Zellen, können jedoch ex vivo mit Tumorantigenen beladen werden und dann im Kontext der kostimulatorischen Moleküle als Vakzine eine tumorspezifische Immunantwort im Patienten auslösen.Methoden: Aus autologen Monozyten wurden unter Zytokineinfluss (IL-4, GM-CSF) dendritische Zellen hergestellt und nach Maturierung mittels Elektroporation mit Tumorantigen in Form von LOXL4-mRNA transfiziert. Den Expressionsnachweis führten wir mit anti-LOXL4-Ak immunhistochemisch sowie mittels Durchflusszytometrie. Autologe T-Zellen wurden dreimal im wöchentlichen Abstand wiederholt mit transfizierten maturen DC stimuliert.Ergebnisse: LOXL-4 spezifische T-Lymphozyten ließen sich durch spezifische IFN-gamma-Sekretion nachweisen. Somit konnte grundsätzlich gezeigt werden, dass in vitro LOXL-4-spezifische T-Lymphozyten durch LOXL-4-transfizierte DC aktiviert werden können. Solche T-Zellen könnten Effektorzellen gegen LOXL-4-exprimierende HNO-Tumoren als Resultat einer erfolgreichen antitumoralen Immuntherapie mit DC darstellen.Schlussfolgerungen: Der erfolgreiche in vitro-Nachweis einer spezifischen T-Zellstimmulation durch die Tumorvakzine ist die unabdingbare Voraussetzung für die spätere Anwendung einer Immuntherapie am Patienten und beweist die Funktionalität der DC-basierten Vakzine. Der in vivo-Nachweis von Machbarkeit und Sicherheit dieses immuntherapeutischen Konzeptes stellt das nächste Ziel dar.Unterstützt durch Forschungsmittel der Med. Fakultät der Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel