Genetic basis of psychopathological dimensions shared between schizophrenia and bipolar disorder

Shared genetic vulnerability between schizophrenia (SCZ) and bipolar disorder (BP) was demonstrated, but the genetic underpinnings of specific symptom domains are unclear. This study investigated which genes and gene sets may modulate specific psychopathological domains and if genome-wide significant loci previously associated with SCZ or BP may play a role. Genome-wide data were available in patients with SCZ (n = 226) or BP (n = 228). Phenotypes under investigation were depressive and positive symptoms severity, suicidal ideation, onset age and substance use disorder comorbidity. Genome-wide analyses were performed at gene and gene set level, while 148 genome-wide significant loci previously associated with SCZ and/or BP were investigated. Each sample was analyzed separately then a meta-analysis was performed. SH3GL2 and CLVS1 genes were associated with suicidal ideation in SCZ (p = 5.62e-08 and 0.01, respectively), the former also in the meta-analysis (p = .01). SHC4 gene was associated with depressive symptoms severity in BP (p = .003). A gene set involved in cellular differentiation (GO:0048661) was associated with substance disorder comorbidity in the meta-analysis (p = .03). Individual loci previously associated with SCZ or BP did not modulate the phenotypes of interest. This study provided confirmatory and new findings. SH3GL2 (endophilin A1) showed a role in suicidal ideation that may be due to its relevance to the glutamate system. SHC4 regulates BDNF-induced MAPK activation and was previously associated with depression. CLVS1 is involved in lysosome maturation and was for the first time associated with a psychiatric trait. GO:0048661 may mediate the risk of substance disorder through an effect on neurodevelopment/neuroplasticity

Multidisciplinary Management of Pituitary Apoplexy

Pituitary apoplexy is a rare clinical syndrome due to ischemic or haemorrhagic necrosis of the pituitary gland which complicates 2–12% of pituitary tumours, especially nonfunctioning adenomas. In many cases, it results in severe neurological, ophthalmological, and endocrinological consequences and may require prompt surgical decompression. Pituitary apoplexy represents a rare medical emergency that necessitates a multidisciplinary approach. Modalities of treatment and times of intervention are still largely debated. Therefore, the management of patients with pituitary apoplexy is often empirically individualized and clinical outcome is inevitably related to the multidisciplinary team’s skills and experience. This review aims to highlight the importance of a multidisciplinary approach in the management of pituitary apoplexy and to discuss modalities of presentation, treatment, and times of intervention

Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries

Abstract Background Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres. Methods This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was co-prioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and low–middle-income countries. Results In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of ‘single-use’ consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for low–middle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia. Conclusion This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both high– and low–middle–income countries

Collective electric and magnetic plasmonic resonances in spherical nanoclusters

We report an investigation on the optical properties of three-dimensional nanoclusters (NCs) made by spherical constellations of metallic nanospheres arranged around a central dielectric sphere, which can be realized and assembled by current state-of-the-art nanochemistry techniques. This type of NCs supports collective plasmon modes among which the most relevant are those associated with the induced electric and magnetic resonances. Combining a single dipole approximation for each nanoparticle and the multipole spherical-wave expansion of the scattered field, we achieve an effective characterization of the optical response of individual NCs in terms of their scattering, absorption, and extinction efficiencies. By this approximate model we analyze a few sample NCs identifying the electric and magnetic resonance frequencies and their dependence on the size and number of the constituent nanoparticles. Furthermore, we discuss the effective electric and magnetic polarizabilities of the NCs, and their isotropic properties. A homogenization method based on an extension of the Maxwell Garnett model to account for interaction effects due to higher order multipoles in dense packed arrays is applied to a distribution of NCs showing the possibility of obtaining metamaterials with very large, small, and negative values of permittivity and permeability, and even negative index. (C)2011 Optical Society of Americ

Effect of irregularities of nanosatellites position and size on collective electric and magnetic plasmonic resonances in spherical nanoclusters.

Spherical nanoclusters (NCs) with a central dielectric core surrounded by several satellite plasmonic nanospheres have been recently investigated as aggregates supporting electric and magnetic collective resonances. Notably, the collective magnetic resonance has been exploited to provide magnetic properties in optics, i.e., materials with macroscopic relative permeability different from unity. The NCs discussed in this paper can be realized using state-of-the-art nanochemistry self-assembly techniques. Accordingly, perfectly regular disposition of the nanoplasmonic satellites is not possible and this paper constitutes the first comprehensive analysis of the effect of such irregularities onto the electric and magnetic collective resonances. In particular we will show that the peak of the scattering cross section associated to the magnetic resonance is very sensitive to certain irregularities and significantly less to others. It is shown here that "artificial magnetic" properties of NCs are preserved for certain degrees of irregularities of the nanosatellites positions, however they are strongly affected by irregularities in the plasmonic nanosatellites sizes and by the presence of "defects" caused by the absence of satellites in the process of self-assembly around the dielectric core. The "artificial electric" resonance is instead less affected by irregularities mainly because of its wider frequency bandwidth

SOSYAL SERMAYE VE İŞ PERFORMANSI ARASINDAKİ İLİŞKİDE ÖRTÜLÜ BİLGİ PAYLAŞIMI DAVRANIŞININ ARACILIK ETKİSİ: SİGORTACILIK SEKTÖRÜNDE BİR ARAŞTIRMA

ÖZ: Bu araştırma örtülü bilgi paylaşımı davranışının sosyal sermaye boyutları ile iş performansı arasındaki ilişkide aracılık etkisi olup olmadığını analiz etmektedir. Araştırma hipotezlerinin testi için sigortacılık sektöründe faaliyet gösteren bir şirketin acentalarında istihdam edilen 123 pazarlama çalışanına anket uygulanmıştır. Elde edilen bulgular araştırma hipotezlerini destekler niteliktedir ve literatürle paralel sonuçlar elde edilmiştir. Bulgulara göre sosyal sermaye boyutları ile iş performansı ve örtülü bilgi paylaşımı davranışı arasında pozitif ilişkiler saptanmıştır. Ayrıca örtülü bilgi paylaşımının sosyal sermaye boyutlarından yapısal boyutu temsil eden iletişim açıklığı değişkeni ile iş performansı arasındaki ilişkide tam aracı etkiye sahip olduğu bulunmuştur. ABSTRACT: Abstract This study examines the mediating effect of tacit knowledge sharing on the relationship between the dimensions of social capital and job performance. For testing research hypothesis, a survey was conducted on 123 marketing employees in agencies of a Turkish insurance company. The results obtained from statistical findings support research hypothesis and are in line with literature. In the research, it has been shown the effect of social capital on both job performance and tacit knowledge sharing behavior. Furthermore, the full mediating effect of tacit knowledge sharing behavior was found on the relationship between open communication (the structural dimension of social capital) and job performance

Equivalent Transmission Line Model With a Lumped X-Circuit for a Metalayer Made of Pairs of Planar Conductors

We present an equivalent X-shaped lumped circuit network to be interposed in the transmission line (TL) modelling reflection and transmission through a recently proposed metalayer in planar technology. The metalayer consists of arrayed pairs of planar conductors that support two main resonant modes, corresponding to either a symmetric or an antisymmetric current distribution in the pairs. The antisymmetric mode is associated with artificial magnetism. We show that reflection and transmission features of a metalayer are accurately predicted by this simple but effective TL model. We also make a clear distinction for the first time between transmission peaks and resonance frequencies, and their relations are investigated in detail. This paper clearly defines the concept of magnetic resonance and identifies the analytical conditions corresponding to total reflection and transmission through a metalayer made of pairs of conductors supporting symmetric and antisymmetric modes. © 2012 IEEE