A Workshop on AI, Automation of Work, and the Role of Trust and Authentic Leadership During Times of Digital Transformation

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Music and interfaith friendship: lessons from qawwali

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Aggregation-induced emission phosphorescence featured Au–Ag coordination polymer with a diphosphine N-heterocyclic carbene ligand for highly sensitive detection of Cr(VI)

Luminescent materials with aggregation-induced emission (AIE) characteristics have been recognized as highly selective and sensitive probes for the detection of toxic metal ions in recent years. In this paper, a Au–Ag cluster-based coordination polymer [Au3Ag3(L)2(CN)6(H2O)2]n [1, L = 1,3-bis((diphenylphosphanyl)methyl)-4,5-dihydro-imidazolylidene] was prepared by in situ generation of the diphosphine N-heterocyclic carbene (PCNHCP)-type ligand L in the presence of the corresponding metal salts. Compound 1 exhibited 530 nm phosphorescence under 380 nm excitation with a QY of 6.30% and a lifetime (τ) of 7.14 μs in the solid state. 1 showed good AIE behavior in the mixture of MeOH/H2O while the best aggregation state (fwater = 90%, QY = 6.79%, τ = 6.70 μs) exhibited selective and sensitive emission quenching toward Cr(VI) ions. Ultralow detection limits of 9.7 ppb (w/w) for Cr2O72– and 17.9 ppb (w/w) for CrO42– were achieved

Beneath the market tavern

No abstract available

A novel metric for corporate environmental responsibility and its impact on investment inefficiency

This study aims to establish a new measurement standard for quantifying Corporate Environmental Responsibility (CER) information and activities disclosed by enterprises and to examine the relationship between CER and investment inefficiency (IIE), with a specific focus on the mediating role of information asymmetry (IA). By analysing how CER influences IIE through information asymmetry, the study provides insights into how transparency and responsible environmental practices can enhance investment decisions and overall corporate performance. Regression analysis of 22,413 firm-year observations from China A-shares (2011–2021) shows that active CER disclosure effectively reduces IIE by mitigating information asymmetry, particularly moral hazard (MH) and adverse selection (AS). Robustness tests, including instrumental variable analysis, the Heckman self-selection model, and Propensity Score Matching (PSM), consistently support these findings. The study also reveals that CER disclosures by non-state-owned enterprises (non-SOEs) and enterprises less sensitive to environmental concerns (NES) significantly diminish IIE by addressing information asymmetry. This research underscores the need for enterprises to embrace environmental responsibility actively, encouraging proactive engagement and transparent disclosure of environmental activities and information

Clinical phenotypes associated with cerebral small vessel disease: an overview of systematic reviews

Background and Objectives: Cerebral small vessel disease (cSVD) causes lacunar and hemorrhagic stroke and is an important contributor to vascular cognitive impairment. Other potential physical and psychological consequences of cSVD have been described across various body systems. Descriptions of cSVD are available in journals specific to those individual body systems, but a comprehensive assessment of clinical manifestations across this disparate literature is lacking. We conducted an overview of systematic reviews describing clinical cSVD phenotypes. Methods: We searched multidisciplinary databases from inception to December 2023. We included reviews describing concurrent clinical phenotypes in individuals with neuroimaging evidence of cSVD, defined using the STandards for ReportIng Vascular changes on nEuroimaging criteria. We broadly classified phenotypes into cognitive, mood and neuropsychiatric, respiratory, cardiovascular, renal-urinary, peripheral nervous system, locomotor, and gastrointestinal. We included both studies assessing multiple cSVD features and studies examining individual cSVD markers. We extracted risk factor–adjusted effect estimates, where possible, and assessed methodologic quality using the Assessment of Multiple Systematic Reviews-2 tool. Results: After screening 6,156 publications, we included 24 systematic reviews reporting on 685 original studies and 1,135,943 participants. Cognitive and neuropsychiatric phenotypes were examined most often, particularly in relation to white matter hyperintensities (range of risk ratios [RRs] for cognitive phenotypes 1.21–1.49, range of 95% CI 1.01–1.84; for neuropsychiatric, RR 1.02–5.71, 95% CI 0.96–19.69). Two reviews focused solely on perivascular spaces. No reviews assessed lacunes or small subcortical infarcts separately from other cSVD features. Reviews on peripheral nervous system, urinary, or gastrointestinal phenotypes were lacking. Fourteen reviews had high methodologic quality, 5 had moderate quality, and 5 had low quality. Heterogeneity in cSVD definitions and phenotypic assessments was substantial. Discussion: Neuroimaging markers of cSVD are associated with various clinical manifestations, suggesting a multisystem phenotype. However, features classically associated with cSVD, for example, gait, had limited supporting evidence, and for many body systems, there were no available reviews. Similarly, while white matter hyperintensities were relatively well studied, there were limited data on phenotypes associated with other cSVD features. Future studies should characterize the full clinical spectrum of cSVD and explore clinical associations beyond neurocognitive and neuropsychiatric presentations

The impact of Long COVID on Health-Related Quality-of-Life using OpenPROMPT

Background Long COVID is a major problem affecting patient health, the health service, and the workforce. To optimise the design of future interventions against COVID-19, and to better plan and allocate health resources, it is critical to quantify the health and economic burden of this novel condition. We aimed to evaluate and estimate the differences in health impacts of long COVID across sociodemographic categories and quantify this in Quality-Adjusted Life-Years (QALYs), widely used measures across health systems. Methods With the approval of NHS England, we utilised OpenPROMPT, a UK cohort study measuring the impact of long COVID on health-related quality-of-life (HRQoL). OpenPROMPT invited responses to Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) using a smartphone application and recruited between November 2022 and October 2023. We used the validated EuroQol EQ-5D questionnaire with the UK Value Set to develop disutility scores (1-utility) for respondents with and without Long COVID using linear mixed models, and we calculated subsequent Quality-Adjusted Life-Months (QALMs) for long COVID. Findings The total OpenPROMPT cohort consisted of 7575 individuals who consented to data collection, with which we used data from 6070 participants who completed a baseline research questionnaire where 24.6% self-reported long COVID. In multivariable regressions, long COVID had a consistent impact on HRQoL, showing a higher likelihood or odds of reporting loss in quality-of-life (Odds Ratio (OR): 4.7, 95% CI: 3.72–5.93) compared with people who did not report long COVID. Reporting a disability was the largest predictor of losses of HRQoL (OR: 17.7, 95% CI: 10.37–30.33) across survey responses. Self-reported long COVID was associated with an 0.37 QALM loss. Interpretation We found substantial impacts on quality-of-life due to long COVID, representing a major burden on patients and the health service. We highlight the need for continued support and research for long COVID, as HRQoL scores compared unfavourably to patients with conditions such as multiple sclerosis, heart failure, and renal disease

Percutaneous revascularization for ischemic left ventricular dysfunction: Cost-effectiveness analysis of the REVIVED-BCIS2 trial

BACKGROUND: Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is frequently undertaken in patients with ischemic left ventricular systolic dysfunction. The REVIVED (Revascularization for Ischemic Ventricular Dysfunction)-BCIS2 (British Cardiovascular Society-2) trial concluded that PCI did not reduce the incidence of all-cause death or heart failure hospitalization; however, patients assigned to PCI reported better initial health-related quality of life than those assigned to optimal medical therapy (OMT) alone. The aim of this study was to assess the cost-effectiveness of PCI+OMT compared with OMT alone. METHODS: REVIVED-BCIS2 was a prospective, multicenter UK trial, which randomized patients with severe ischemic left ventricular systolic dysfunction to either PCI+OMT or OMT alone. Health care resource use (including planned and unplanned revascularizations, medication, device implantation, and heart failure hospitalizations) and health outcomes data (EuroQol 5-dimension 5-level questionnaire) on each patient were collected at baseline and up to 8 years post-randomization. Resource use was costed using publicly available national unit costs. Within the trial, mean total costs and quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) were estimated from the perspective of the UK health system. Cost-effectiveness was evaluated using estimated mean costs and QALYs in both groups. Regression analysis was used to adjust for clinically relevant predictors. RESULTS: Between 2013 and 2020, 700 patients were recruited (mean age: PCI+OMT=70 years, OMT=68 years; male (%): PCI+OMT=87, OMT=88); median follow-up was 3.4 years. Over all follow-ups, patients undergoing PCI yielded similar health benefits at higher costs compared with OMT alone (PCI+OMT: 4.14 QALYs, £22 352; OMT alone: 4.16 QALYs, £15 569; difference: −0.015, £6782). For both groups, most health resource consumption occurred in the first 2 years post-randomization. Probabilistic results showed that the probability of PCI being cost-effective was 0. CONCLUSIONS: A minimal difference in total QALYs was identified between arms, and PCI+OMT was not cost-effective compared with OMT, given its additional cost. A strategy of routine PCI to treat ischemic left ventricular systolic dysfunction does not seem to be a justifiable use of health care resources in the United Kingdom

‘God really hated the hypocrites’: Hypocrisy and anti-clerical rhetoric in the early Lutheran Reformation

In 1524, two anonymous pamphlets were published, both professing to be letters written by a married woman to her sister, a nun. Both draw on a range of New Testament texts to express criticism of ‘the hypocrites’, a term the anonymous author uses to refer particularly to clergy and religious. This article examines how the author of these pamphlets constructed and characterized the category of the hypocrite. Drawing on the work of Hans-Christoph Rublack, the article shows that her critique is coherent with anti-clerical rhetoric found in a wide range of early Reformation pamphlets. It then compares her strictures on hypocrisy with references to hypocrisy and hypocrites in the early German writings of Martin Luther and Andreas Bodenstein von Karlstadt to explore the extent to which accusations of hypocrisy were entwined with anti-clerical and anti-monastic rhetoric in the early Lutheran Reformation. It concludes that while accusations against clergy and religious were often couched in terms of their hypocrisy, Luther's use of the term hypocrite was much broader, extending to all those whom he viewed as presenting themselves as ‘holier than thou’, while Karlstadt made less use of the term