Collegium Helveticum

This paper presents an updated analysis of South Africans’ trust in scientists, situated within the South African context and based on a secondary analysis of the Trust in Science and Science-Related Populism (TISP) data set. We find that South Africans have moderately high trust in scientists (ranked 23rd) and perceive scientists as having moderately benevolent intentions and moderate integrity. South Africans’ trust in scientists is mainly based on trust in the scientific method. We also present evidence on how trust is shaped by factors such as gender, age, education, religion, income, and ideology. While most South Africans trust scientists, many are concerned about the unequal distribution of the benefits of science. Furthermore, there is a strong public demand for scientists to communicate their work more effectively, engage in dialogue with society, and advocate for the value of science in policymaking. Overall, our results provide a nuanced picture of trust in scientists in South Africa, with implications for future research, communication practices, and policymaking.

Cities are expanding globally, exposing animals to novel ecological conditions that can alter the frequency and nature of their social interactions. Urban habitat features, such as built infrastructure and patchy resource distributions, can constrain movement and promote aggregation, potentially increasing encounters among conspecifics and introducing unique social challenges. Understanding how urbanization affects social behaviour is therefore crucial. However, these effects remain poorly understood, and studies on solitary or non-gregarious species are particularly scarce. Here, we investigate how urbanization influences social behaviour in the common wall lizard (Podarcis muralis), a territorial species and successful urban dweller. We constructed social networks using proximity-based association data from urban and non-urban lizard populations. Urban lizards had more social connections, stronger associations and were observed in more associations overall. These differences were not explained by variation in population density. We propose that spatial constraints and resource heterogeneity in urban habitats may enhance social tolerance. Our results reveal that urbanization can reshape social behaviour even in less gregarious species and suggest that shifts in social strategies may facilitate persistence in urban landscapes.

Family resilience theory suggests that families can collectively overcome distress and build resilience, while empirical research shows that parents can influence their children’s Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms. The aim of this study is to examine the intergenerational associations between resilience and traumatic exposure, with PTSD symptoms within mother-daughter dyads. The sample included 309 Rwandan mother-daughter dyads who had experienced traumatic events. Participants completed the PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 to assess PTSD symptoms, the Life Events Checklist to measure traumatic experiences, and the Nicholson McBride Resilience Questionnaire to evaluate their resilience levels. The data were analyzed using Actor-Partner Interdependence Model statistical techniques. Results show associations of mothers’ resilience and resilience of their daughters with mothers’ resilience negatively associated with their own and their daughters’ PTSD symptoms, while daughters’ resilience is negatively associated with their own and their mothers’ PTSD symptoms. Furthermore, mothers’ traumatic experiences were positively associated with both their own PTSD symptoms and those of their daughters. In contrast, daughters’ traumatic experiences were only associated with their own PTSD symptoms. Resilience and traumatic experiences of mothers and daughters mutually impact their PTSD symptoms, suggesting that interventions targeting both resilience and trauma could benefit both generations. Furthermore, parents transmit not only their PTSD symptoms but also their resilience. Notably, the resilience of children can have a reciprocal impact positively influencing both their own well-being and that of their parents.

Abstract Scientists increasingly engage in policy advocacy, especially on climate change. Does this advocacy undermine—or bolster—public trust in scientists and support for scientists’ recommendations? We leveraged a unique opportunity to answer this question in a real-world setting: the 2023 referendum for the Swiss climate protection law (CPL), which was supported by a public statement of 252 renowned scientists across disciplines. We conducted a pre-registered, two-wave, quasi-field experiment (n pre-vote = 1,622, n post-vote = 891) to test how scientists’ collective support for the law affected public trust in scientists and voting behavior. We found that scientists’ advocacy was associated with greater public trust, particularly among left-leaning individuals; only a minority viewed these scientists as not objective. However, perceptions of scientists’ role in society and policymaking and voting behavior remained largely unaffected when participants were reminded of the CPL advocacy. Although we studied a restrained form of policy advocacy in a somewhat unique setting, our study challenges the widespread assumption that policy advocacy undermines public trust in scientists.

Primate brain development is shaped by inputs received during critical periods. These inputs differ between independent and cooperative breeders: In cooperative breeders, infants interact with multiple caregivers. We study how the neurodevelopmental timing of the cooperatively breeding common marmoset maps onto behavioral milestones. To obtain structure-function co-constructions, we combine behavioral, neuroimaging (anatomical and functional), and neural tracing experiments. We find that brain areas critically involved in observing conspecifics interacting (i) develop in clusters, (ii) have prolonged developmental trajectories, (iii) differentiate during the period of negotiations between immatures and multiple caregivers, and (iv) do not share stronger connectivity than with other regions. Overall, developmental timing of social brain areas correlates with social and behavioral milestones in marmosets and, as in humans, extends into adulthood. This rich social input is likely critical for the emergence of their strong socio-cognitive skills. Because humans are cooperative breeders too, these findings have strong implications for the evolution of human social cognition.

Abstract Focusing on the effects of union membership on partisan preferences, this article explores how changes in Swedish industrial relations and trade-union politics have affected electoral support for Left parties since the mid-1980s. Our analysis shows that unionization among blue-collar workers has declined sharply since the mid-1990 and that this development has contributed to the decline of electoral support for the Social Democrats and for the Swedish Left as a whole. In addition, we find that the association between union membership and voting for Left parties has declined among white-collar employees without tertiary education as well as blue-collar workers over the same period. We argue that sectoral blue-collar and white-collar unions alike have responded to membership losses and intensified competition between unions by engaging in practices that render the partisan preferences of union members less distinctive than what they used to be (less Left-leaning relative to non-unionized counterparts).

Factors influencing susceptibility to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) remain to be resolved. Using data from the Swiss HIV Cohort Study on 6270 people with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and serologic assessment for SARS-CoV-2 and circulating human coronavirus (HCoV) antibodies, we investigated the association of HIV-related and general parameters with SARS-CoV-2 infection. We analyzed SARS-CoV-2 polymerase chain reaction test results, COVID-19-related hospitalizations, and deaths reported to the Swiss HIV Cohort Study between 1 January 2020 and 31 December 2021. Antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 and HCoVs were determined in prepandemic (2019) and pandemic (2020) biobanked plasma samples and compared with findings in HIV-negative individuals. We applied logistic regression, conditional logistic regression, and bayesian multivariate regression to identify determinants of SARS-CoV-2 infection and antibody responses to SARS-CoV-2 in people with HIV. No HIV-1-related factors were associated with SARS-CoV-2 acquisition. High prepandemic HCoV antibodies were associated with a lower risk of subsequent SARS-CoV-2 infection and with higher SARS-CoV-2 antibody responses on infection. We observed a robust protective effect of smoking on SARS-CoV-2 infection risk (adjusted odds ratio, 0.46 [95% confidence interval, .38-.56]; P < .001), which occurred even in previous smokers and was highest for heavy smokers. Our findings of 2 independent protective factors, smoking and HCoV antibodies, both affecting the respiratory environment, underscore the importance of the local immune milieu in regulating susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2.

Abstract BackgroundAlthough sex hormones are recognized to induce immune variations, little is known on the effect of exogenous sex hormone intake on immune responses in cis and trans women. Here, we aimed at quantifying how sex hormone intake affects HIV-1 immune markers in cis women (CW) and trans women (TW) with HIV.MethodsWe considered measurements of key HIV-1 immune markers (CD4, CD8, lymphocyte counts, and CD4:CD8 ratio) from cis men (CM), CW, and TW enrolled in the Swiss HIV Cohort Study. We modeled immune markers using linear mixed-effects models with an interaction between the variables “group” (CW, TW) and “with sex hormone intake” (yes/no). We conducted serum proteomics measurements of 92 inflammation markers on samples from 31 TW before and after sex hormone intake to assess the inflammation environment.ResultsWe included 54’141 measurements from 3’092 CW and 83 TW sampled between 2015 and 2022, and 147’298 from 8’611 CM. Sex hormone intake was associated with significant distinct effects on CD4 and CD4:CD8 ratio between the different groups of women (p=0.0025 and 0.015). TW with sex hormone intake had significantly higher CD4 counts (median = 772 (1Q-3Q=520-1’006)) than without (median = 617 (1Q-3Q=426-892)). This increase was similar in magnitude to the difference in CD4 counts between CW and CM. None of the serum inflammation proteins showed significant concentration difference before and after sex hormone intake in TW.ConclusionThis study highlights the need to consider the potential role of sex hormone intake in modulating the immune system among other biological and social factors, especially in TW in HIV.

In contrast to the times of Höllerer and Zemanek, we are now truly on the threshold of being surrounded by texts that are entirely artificial—while at the same time we continue to merge with our language technologies in our own writing, so that our text production is increasingly supported, extended, and partially taken over by assistance systems. Therefore, I want to discuss—quite speculatively, but always with an eye on the state of the art—two questions: first, what happens when we are confronted with artificial texts in addition to natural ones? How do we read a text that we can no longer be sure was not written by an AI? And second, what direction might this development take if, at some point, the distinction between natural and artificial itself becomes obsolete, so that we no longer even ask about it and instead read post-artificial texts?