Studies on ultra-endurance suggest that during the races, athletes typically experience three vitality states (i.e., preservation, loss, and revival) at the phenomenological level. Nevertheless, how these states contribute to the management and outcome of performance remains unclear. The aim of this study was to determine whether and how the vitality states experienced by runners and their evolution during a trail race can be used to distinguish finishers from withdrawers. From an enactive and phenomenological framework, we processed enactive interviews and blog posts of race narratives. We distinguished units of meaning, which were grouped into sequences of experience; each sequence was then categorized as one of the three vitality states: state of vitality preservation (SVP), state of vitality loss (SVL) or state of vitality revival (SVR). We analyzed the distribution of these vitality states and their temporal organization at the beginning, in the second and third quarters, and at the end of the races, and we qualitatively characterized runners’ adaptations to SVL. Results showed that finishers completed the race in SVP, with overall significantly more sequences in SVP and significantly fewer sequences in SVL than withdrawers. SVR did not discriminate finishers from withdrawers. The temporal organization of the vitality states showed a significant difference in the emergence of SVP from the second quarter of the race, as well as a significant difference in the emergence of SVL from the third quarter of the race. The analysis of adaptations to SVL confirmed that finishers were more capable of exiting SVL by enacting a preservation world when they felt physical or psychological alerts, whereas withdrawers remained in SVL. Our results showed that finishers and withdrawers did not enact the same phenomenological worlds in the race situation, especially in the organization of vitality adaptations and their relationships to difficulties; the cumulative effect of the succession of experienced vitality states differed, as well.

This article addresses the debate initiated in this journal on analyses exploring the extent to which sociodemographic background and scientific knowledge explain gender differences in attitudes toward science. Using data from a nationally stratified Swiss survey on attitudes toward science, initial results suggest that, although men have more positive attitudes toward science and greater levels of scientific knowledge than women, gender differences are non-significant once the sociodemographic variables are included in the multiple regression models. More specifically, scientific knowledge and education have an independent effect on attitudes toward science. However, the interpretation of these results is slightly different if the hypothesis, that the effect of any single explanatory variable is the same among men and women in the regression model, is validated. Results show that the interaction between gender and scientific knowledge is significant, so that the effect of scientific knowledge on attitude toward science depends on gender.

Science communication research has tended to focus on the perceptions of the public and has often neglected the views of scientists. This article analyzes public outreach and engagement attitudes and activities of women scientists; it is based on a case study conducted in Switzerland. The survey results found that attitudes toward public outreach and engagement activities are the same among men and women scientists, but that activities are done significantly more often by men scientists than by women scientists. A multivariate analysis showed that there is a gender difference in the level of activities even after the effects of position, age, and faculty are removed. Because public outreach and engagement activities may be due to either scientists’ initiatives or media initiatives, the author analyzed media contacts. The media contact women scientists less often than men scientists—and this independently of position, age, and faculty. When comparing men’s and women’s improvements for public outreach and engagement, this study found significant differences that can be used to tailor incentives for each group of scientists.

The goal of this article is to map out public perceptions of animal experimentation in 28 European countries. Postulating cross-cultural differences, this study mixes country-level variables (from the Eurostat database) and individual-level variables (from Eurobarometer Science and Technology 2010). It is shown that experimentation on animals such as mice is generally accepted in European countries, but perceptions are divided on dogs and monkeys. Between 2005 and 2010, we observe globally a change of approval on dogs and monkeys, with a significant decrease in nine countries. Multilevel analysis results show differences at country level (related to a post-industrialism model) and at individual level (related to gender, age, education, proximity and perceptions of science and the environment). These results may have consequences for public perceptions of science and we call for more cross-cultural research on press coverage of animal research and on the level of public engagement of scientists doing animal research.

Musical performance requires the ability to master a complex integration of highly specialized motor, cognitive, and perceptual skills developed over years of practice. It often means also being able to deal with considerable pressure within dynamic environments. Consequently, many musicians suffer from health-related problems and report a large number of physical and psychological complaints. Our research aimed to evaluate and analyze the wellbeing of two distinct groups of musicians, college music students and amateur performers in the French-speaking part of Switzerland. A total sample of 126 musicians was recruited for the study (mean age ± SD = 22.4 ± 4.5 years, 71 male). Wellbeing was assessed through the World Health Organization Quality of Life-BREF questionnaire evaluating two general measures, quality of life (QoL) and general health, and four specific dimensions: physical health, psychological health, social relationships, and environment. For both groups, respondents’ QoL was high on each measure: median scores were higher than 4 for the two general measures and higher than 70 for the four specific dimensions. Among the dimensions, respondents had the highest mean score for environment (75.0), then social relationships and physical health (74.0 and 73.8, respectively), and finally, psychological health (70.3). Differences between groups of musicians emerged in terms of overall QoL and general health, as well as the physical health dimension, where college music students scored lower than the amateur musicians; conversely, college music students scored higher than the amateurs on social relationships. Our overview of musicians’ wellbeing in Western Switzerland demonstrates that, while music making can offer some health protective effects, there is a need for greater health awareness and promotion among advanced music students. This research offers insight into musicians’ wellbeing and points to the importance of involving different actors (teachers, administrators, support staff) in facilitating healthy music making.

How executive function training paradigms can be effectively designed to promote a transfer of the effects of interventions to untrained tasks remains unclear. Here, we tested the hypothesis that training with a complex task involving motor, perceptual and task-set control components would result in more transfer than training with a simple motor control task, because the Complex training would lead to more involvement-and in turn modification-of domain-general executive control networks. We compared performance and electrophysiological activity before and after 10 days of executive control training with the complex (n ¼ 18) versus the simple task (n ¼ 17). We further assessed the effect of the two training regimens on untrained executive tasks involving or not one of the trained control components. A passive control group (n ¼ 19) was used to assess retest effects. Both training groups improved at the trained task but exhibited different plastic changes within left-lateralized and medial frontal areas at 200-250 ms post-stimulus onset. However, contrary to our hypotheses, they showed equivalent improvement to the passive group to the transfer tasks. Our collective results reveal that the effect of training with a task involving multiple executive control components is highly specific to the trained task, even when the training modifies the functional networks underlying the trained executive components. Our findings corroborate current evidence that general cognitive enhancement cannot be achieved with training, even when the interventions modify domain-general brain areas.

The Athlete's Biological Passport (ABP) is a tool for the indirect detection of blood doping. Current guidelines from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) require a delay of 2 hours after any physical exercise and to be seated for 10 minutes prior to any blood sampling to obtain a valid measurement.Since body position prior to and during phlebotomy may influence the outcome, this study compared blood biomarker variations with changes in body position during blood sample collection. Ten successive venous blood samples from 38 subjects of 3 groups (elite cyclists, apnea divers and controls) in three situations (seated, after a 50 m walk, and supine) were collected and analyzed via flow cytometry. While reticulocytes percentage was unchanged in all conditions, haemoglobin concentration and hematocrit were stable after at least 10 min in a seated position. Due to shifts in plasma volume, the measures were significantly higher after changing posture for a short walk, but readjusted to previous levels after only 5 min. Supine position caused generally lower values after 10-30 min. The results support the current guidelines and additionally provide evidence to adjust the waiting time for blood sampling after short changes in posture.

Switzerland has implemented a mandatory training in laboratory animal science since 1999; however a comprehensive assessment of its effects has never been undertaken so far. The results from the analysis of participants in the Swiss Federation of European Laboratory Animal Science Associations (FELASA) Category B compulsory courses in laboratory animal science run in 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2016 showed that the participants fully appreciated all elements of the course. The use of live animals during the course was supported and explained by six arguments characterized with cognitive, emotional and forward-looking factors. A large majority considered that the 3R (replacement, reduction and refinement) principles were adequately applied during the course. Responses to an open question offered some ideas for improvements. This overall positive picture, however, revealed divergent answers from different subpopulations in our sample (for example, scientists with more hindsight, scientists trained in biology, or participants from Asian countries).