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Academic entrepreneurship and the commercialization of science have transformed higher education in recent decades. Although there is ample research on the topic, less is known about how individual scientists experience and perceive the transformation. Drawing on a narratological approach to sensemaking, this study examines how entrepreneurial scientists in Finland and Israel make sense of and narrate the perceived changes in the interface between science, university, and industry. An analysis of 53 semi-structured interviews reveals three sensemaking narratives demonstrating how scientists' interactions with the industry have engendered perceived shifts in 'regimes of value' in universities. These narratives focus on: (1) bi-directional learning between academy and industry; (2) the use of new valuation devices and practices; and (3) changing relationships between scientists and universities. Our findings advance research on academic entrepreneurship by highlighting the coexisting regimes of value and the consequences they have for science, value, and power.

While interdisciplinarity has been promoted in universities for decades, research suggests that untenured faculty struggle to receive recognition for their interdisciplinary research. Informed by the microfoundations of institutional theory and discursive legitimation, we examine how members of academic departments participate in the legitimation and reproduction of tenure and promotion norms in relation to disciplinary and interdisciplinary research in a prestigious private university. Our analysis draws on 59 interviews with department chairs, directors of interdisciplinary centers, and disciplinary and interdisciplinary untenured faculty in the STEM fields, the social sciences, and the humanities. Our findings reveal three mechanisms and processes through which tenure and promotion norms become legitimated and reproduced in academic departments: 1) institutional micro-practices concerned with evaluation and gatekeeping, 2) discursive legitimation of the expulsion of interdisciplinarity at the pre-tenure stage, and 3) scholarly positioning through discursive boundary strategies directed at rationalizing the expulsion of interdisciplinarity or the expansion of existing tenure and promotion norms. Taken together, these findings advance our understanding of the tensions between the promotion of interdisciplinary research in higher education institutions, reproduction of the disciplinary order in academic departments, and interdisciplinary early-career scholars' career advancement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to investments in interdisciplinary research endeavors, the number and variety of interdisciplinary research centers have grown exponentially during the past decades. While interdisciplinary research centers rely on varied organizational arrangements, we know little about the conditions and processes that mediate collaborative arrangements and interdisciplinary research outcomes. This study examines how different collaborative arrangements shape scholars' experiences of interdisciplinary research and understandings of interdisciplinary knowledge culminations in the context of university-based research centers. We conducted three in-depth qualitative case studies on different centers, which recruited researchers from natural sciences, medicine, and social sciences. We refer to them as the Biotech Center, the Environmental Center, and the Premature Birth Center. Our analysis of 53 interviews with interdisciplinary scholars across the three centers demonstrates that the scholars perceive particular features of the centers' collaborative arrangements as meaningful for interdisciplinary collaboration. Specifically, the center's mission, physical architecture, and leadership and task structure were seen as affecting scholars' motivation, interaction, and inclusion in the centers, which then shaped the interdisciplinary knowledge culminations. At the Biotech Center, knowledge was translated towards concrete "products," at the Environmental Center knowledge was pooled together from varied fields to create new problem "framings," and at the Premature Birth Center, interdisciplinary collaboration was crafted through top-down knowledge "brokerage."

Micrographia is a common symptom of Parkinson's disease (PD), and it may precede other motor symptoms. Despite the high prevalence of micrographia in PD, its neurobiological mechanisms are not known. Given that levodopa may alleviate consistent micrographia and that nondopaminergic essential tremor (ET) is not associated with micrographia, micrographia could possibly be used as an ancillary diagnostic method that reflects nigrostriatal dopamine function. We evaluated the usefulness of micrographia as a simple one-sentence writing test in differentiating PD from ET. A total of 146 PD patients, 42 ET patients and 38 healthy controls provided writing samples and were scanned with brain [123I]FP-CIT dopamine transporter (DAT) SPECT imaging with ROI-based and voxelwise analyses. The diagnostic accuracy of micrographia was evaluated and compared to that of DAT binding. Compared to ET and healthy controls, PD patients showed micrographia (consistent, 25.6% smaller area of handwriting sample in PD compared to ET, p = 0.002, and 27.2% smaller area of handwriting compared to healthy controls, p = 0.004). PD patients showed 133% more severe progressive micrographia compared with ET patients (median b = − 0.14 in PD, b = − 0.06 in ET, p = 0.021). In early unmedicated cognitively normal patients, consistent micrographia showed 71.2% specificity and 87.5% sensitivity in PD versus ET differentiation, but micrographia had no correlation with striatal or extrastriatal [123I]FP-CIT binding in patients with PD. The one-sentence micrographia test shows moderately good accuracy in PD versus ET differentiation. The severity of micrographia has no relationship with DAT binding, suggesting nondopaminergic mechanism of micrographia in PD. ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT02650843 (NMDAT study). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Knowledge co-creation at the boundaries of communities of practice (CoPs) can lead to heightened tensions and power struggles. This study examines how power struggles among CoPs can begin to structure knowledge creation processes. Drawing on a qualitative case study of a new medical research project, the study shows how power and knowledge negotiations became manifested through conflicting discursive positioning and coercive power affecting knowledge co-creation efforts. One CoP adopted an authoritative leader role, prioritized their own problem definition and knowledge creation process, and engaged in the peripheralization of other CoPs. The power and discursive moves prevented the development of shared problems and interconnected practices contributing to epistemological suspicion among the participating CoPs. The study offers new insights to research on power dynamics in situated learning and knowing by problematizing the relationship between localized practices and emerging interconnected practices, by shedding light on how discursive positioning and coercive power operate together, and by developing peripheralization and epistemological suspicion as potential explanations for how and why knowledge workers struggle to act on opportunities for knowledge co-creation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The neurophysiological correlates of gastrointestinal symptoms (GISs) in Parkinson's disease (PD) are not well understood. It has been proposed that in patients with a gastrointestinal origin of PD dopaminergic neurodegeneration would be more symmetric. Objectives: The aim is to assess the associations between GISs and asymmetry of nigrostriatal dopaminergic neurodegeneration in PD. Methods: Ninety PD patients were assessed using motor and GIS scales and 123I‐FP‐CIT SPECT. We calculated the asymmetry index and the predominant side of motor symptoms and dopamine transporter (DAT) imaging defect and assessed their association with GISs. Results: There were no significant differences in GISs between symmetric and asymmetric dopaminergic defect. Left predominant defect was related to more GIS and higher constipation scores. Conclusions: GISs were associated with left predominant reduction in putaminal DAT binding but not asymmetry per se. It remains open whether left‐sided DAT deficit is related to more pronounced GI involvement or symptom perception in PD. © 2022 The Authors. Movement Disorders published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of International Parkinson Movement Disorder Society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Treatment of brain cancer, glioma, can cause cognitive impairment as a side‐effect, possibly because it disrupts the integrity of the hippocampus, a structure vital for normal memory. Radiotherapy is commonly used to treat glioma, but the effects of irradiation on the brain are still poorly understood, and other biological effects have not been extensively studied. Here, we exposed healthy adult male rats to moderate‐dose irradiation of the head. We found no effect of irradiation on systemic inflammation, weight gain or gut microbiota diversity, although it increased the abundance of Bacteroidaceae family, namely Bacteroides genus in the gut microbiota. Irradiation had no effect on long‐term potentiation in the CA3‐CA1 synapse or endogenous hippocampal electrophysiology, but it did reduce adult hippocampal neurogenesis and impaired short‐term spatial recognition memory. However, no overall cognitive impairment was observed. To summarize, our results suggest that in adult male rats head irradiation does not compromise health or cognition overall even though the number of new, adult‐born hippocampal neurons is decreased. Thus, the sole effects of head irradiation on the body, brain and cognition might be less harmful than previously thought, and the cognitive decline experienced by cancer patients might originate from physiological and mental effects of the disease itself. Therefore, to increase the translational value of animal studies, the effects of irradiation should be studied together with cancer, in older animals, using varying irradiation protocols and doses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human microbial communities are bodies of microorganisms that reside in or on different body parts. Importantly, they have been found to affect human health. However, scientific research on human microbial communities has created new challenges for human subject recruitment. First, individuals are asked to collect samples of bodily substances that can be seen as repulsive (e.g. feces and urine). Second, because scientists want to understand how human microbial communities evolve over time, individuals are asked to commit to a regular sample collection for extended periods of time. A longitudinal qualitative study of the work of scientists, physicians, research staff, and study coordinators involved in a human microbiome research project has found that these actors can bypass some aspects of these recruitment and retention challenges through 'tuning work'. Tuning work is a collaborative process where professionals agree to adjust their practices towards shared goals. Such professionals reconfigure their work practices, personal routines, and the study protocol in an effort to obviate cultural taboos against handling bodily substances. The burden of long-term participation provides fewer opportunities for tuning work for these professionals, however. As such, long-term commitment by human subjects remains a recruitment and retention obstacle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim/Purpose Given that leadership has been shown to play a key role in knowledgeproducing organizations, leaders of transdisciplinary science have received surprisingly little empirical attention. This study addresses the research gap by examining leadership in the context of a new transdisciplinary research organization. Background Drawing on complexity leadership theory—a framework developed for identifying behaviors that facilitate creativity, learning, and adaptability in complex adaptive systems—this study examines leadership roles and practices that affect the generation of adaptive dynamics in transdisciplinary science. Methodology The study is based on a longitudinal, qualitative in-depth case study on a newly formed transdisciplinary research center and its leadership team. The data includes ethnographic observations from leadership meetings and interviews with leaders. Contribution This unique empirical case contributes to the study of transdisciplinary science by shedding light on the actions of academic leaders as they try to support transdisciplinary conversation, learning, and collaboration in a new center. Findings The analysis shows that the leaders relied on both enabling and administrative leadership practices in a way that made them the focal point of transdisciplinary knowledge integration and thus jeopardized the creation of adaptive dynamics throughout the organization. Recommendations for Practitioners The study highlights the importance of having knowledge brokers and hybrid scholars in strategic positions at different levels of the transdisciplinary research organization already in its early stages. Recommendation for Researchers Longitudinal qualitative case studies that rely on different types of data provide rich information on how new leadership conceptualizations are implemented in organizations and the complex ways in which they relate to knowledge creation processes and outcomes. Impact on Society Transdisciplinary science has the potential to find cures to complex diseases. Understanding leadership in transdisciplinary science can help in maintaining transdisciplinary research activities in the long run and thus make it more impactful. Future Research The use of leadership roles and practices will be examined at different developmental stages in the transdisciplinary research process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non-motor symptoms (NMSs) are clearly more prevalent in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients compared to healthy individuals. However, NMSs are also common in the elderly and other neurological conditions, and thus, it is not known whether NMSs could be used to differentiate PD from parkinsonism/tremor without dopamine deficiency. We prospectively evaluated NMSs immediately before brain dopamine transporter (DAT) [123I]FP-CIT SPECT scanning in 193 patients with unclear parkinsonism/tremor. According to the clinical follow-up and imaging results, 84 patients had PD. NMSs and their correlations with striatal DAT binding were investigated in PD patients and in parkinsonism/tremor patients with normal dopamine function. Total NMS burden, anxiety or depression did not differ between PD patients and patients with normal DAT binding. DAT-normal patients reported more perception-related (p = 0.045) and attention/memory-related NMSs than PD patients (p < 0.001). Total NMS score did not correlate with striatal DAT binding in either group. In clinically uncertain cases, the total NMS burden cannot be used as a tool in distinguishing PD patients from patients with non-dopaminergic parkinsonism/tremor. Clinical screening of NMSs appears equally important in all patients with parkinsonism. • Burden of non-motor symptoms is similar in Parkinson's disease and parkinsonism with normal brain dopamine function • Total burden of non-motor symptoms may not be used in differential diagnosis between Parkinson's disease and non-dopaminergic parkinsonism • Total non-motor symptom burden does not correlate with striatal brain dopamine transporter binding in patients with Parkinson's disease [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]