Job-related stress and burnout

Occupational stress is a topic of substantial interest to organizational researchers and managers, as well as society at large. Stress arising from work conditions can be pervasive and significant in its impact on individuals, their families and organizations. There is also a widespread belief that management of job stress is a key factor for enhancing individual performance on the job, hence increasing organizational effectiveness. Sethi and Schuler 1984 outlined four major reasons why job stress and coping have become prominent issues: a concern for individual employee health and well-being; b the financial impact on organizations including days lost due to stress-related illness; c organizational effectiveness; and d legal obligations on employers to provide safe and healthy working environments

Pathguide: a Pathway Resource List

Pathguide: the Pathway Resource List () is a meta-database that provides an overview of more than 190 web-accessible biological pathway and network databases. These include databases on metabolic pathways, signaling pathways, transcription factor targets, gene regulatory networks, genetic interactions, protein–compound interactions, and protein–protein interactions. The listed databases are maintained by diverse groups in different locations and the information in them is derived either from the scientific literature or from systematic experiments. Pathguide is useful as a starting point for biological pathway analysis and for content aggregation in integrated biological information systems

Widespread Protein Aggregation as an Inherent Part of Aging in C. elegans

Several hundred proteins become insoluble and aggregation-prone as a consequence of aging in Caenorhabditis elegans. The data indicate that these proteins influence disease-related protein aggregation and toxicity

Consultative Total Parenteral Nutrition Teams: The Effect on the Incidence of Total Parenteral Nutrition‐Related Complications

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/141387/1/jpen0146.pd

The Theory of the Interleaving Distance on Multidimensional Persistence Modules

In 2009, Chazal et al. introduced $\epsilon$-interleavings of persistence modules. $\epsilon$-interleavings induce a pseudometric $d_I$ on (isomorphism classes of) persistence modules, the interleaving distance. The definitions of $\epsilon$-interleavings and $d_I$ generalize readily to multidimensional persistence modules. In this paper, we develop the theory of multidimensional interleavings, with a view towards applications to topological data analysis. We present four main results. First, we show that on 1-D persistence modules, $d_I$ is equal to the bottleneck distance $d_B$. This result, which first appeared in an earlier preprint of this paper, has since appeared in several other places, and is now known as the isometry theorem. Second, we present a characterization of the $\epsilon$-interleaving relation on multidimensional persistence modules. This expresses transparently the sense in which two $\epsilon$-interleaved modules are algebraically similar. Third, using this characterization, we show that when we define our persistence modules over a prime field, $d_I$ satisfies a universality property. This universality result is the central result of the paper. It says that $d_I$ satisfies a stability property generalizing one which $d_B$ is known to satisfy, and that in addition, if $d$ is any other pseudometric on multidimensional persistence modules satisfying the same stability property, then $d\leq d_I$. We also show that a variant of this universality result holds for $d_B$, over arbitrary fields. Finally, we show that $d_I$ restricts to a metric on isomorphism classes of finitely presented multidimensional persistence modules.Comment: Major revision; exposition improved throughout. To appear in Foundations of Computational Mathematics. 36 page

Thoroughness of Mediastinal Staging in Stage IIIA Non-small Cell Lung Cancer

IntroductionGuidelines recommend that patients with clinical stage IIIA non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) undergo histologic confirmation of pathologic lymph nodes. Studies have suggested that invasive mediastinal staging is underutilized, although practice patterns have not been rigorously evaluated.MethodsWe used the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results-Medicare database to identify patients with stage IIIA NSCLC diagnosed from 1998 through 2005. Invasive staging and use of positron emission tomography (PET) scanning were assessed using Medicare claims. Multivariable logistic regression was used to identify patient characteristics associated with use of invasive staging.ResultsOf 7583 stage IIIA NSCLC patients, 1678 (22%) underwent invasive staging. Patients who received curative intent cancer treatment were more likely to undergo invasive staging than patients who did not receive cancer-specific therapy (30% versus 9.8%, adjusted odds ratio, 3.31; 95% confidence interval, 2.78–3.95). The oldest patients (age, 85–94 years) were less likely to receive invasive staging than the youngest (age, 67–69 years; 27.6% versus 11.9%; odds ratio, 0.46; 95% confidence interval, 0.34–0.61). Sex, marital status, income, and race were not associated with the use of the invasive staging. The use of invasive staging was stable throughout the study period, despite an increase in the use of PET scanning from less than 10% of patients before 2000 to almost 70% in 2005.ConclusionNearly 80% of Medicare beneficiaries with stage IIIA NSCLC do not receive guideline adherent mediastinal staging; this failure cannot be entirely explained by patient factors or a reliance on PET imaging. Incentives to encourage use of invasive staging may improve care

Diabetes Mellitus in HIV-Infected Patients Receiving Antiretroviral Therapy

Background. There is little in the literature on HIV and diabetes mellitus (DM) in sub-Saharan Africa. Objective. To assess the characteristics of HIV and DM in patients receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART) in Botswana. Methods. A retrospective case-control study was conducted at 4 sites. Each HIV-infected patient with DM (n=48) was matched with 2 HIV-infected controls (n=108) by age (±2 years) and sex. Primary analysis was conditional logistic regression to estimate univariate odds and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for each characteristic. Results. There was no significant association between co-morbid diseases, tuberculosis, hypertension or cancer and risk of diabetes. DM patients were more likely to have higher pre-ART weight (odds ratio (OR) 1.09; 95% CI 1.04 - 1.14). HIV-infected adults \u3e70 kg were significantly more likely to have DM (OR 12.30; 95% CI 1.40 - 107.98). Participants receiving efavirenz (OR 4.58; 95% CI 1.44 - 14.57) or protease inhibitor therapy (OR 20.7; 95% CI 1.79 - 240.02) were more likely to have DM. Neither mean pre-ART CD4 cell count (OR 1.0; 95% CI 0.99 - 1.01) nor pre-ART viral load \u3e100 000 copies/ml (OR 0.71; 95% CI 0.21 - 2.43) were associated with a significant risk of diabetes. Conclusions. These findings suggest a complex interrelation among traditional host factors and treatment-related metabolic changes in the pathogenesis of DM inpatients receiving ART. Notably, pre-ART weight, particularly if \u3e70 kg, is associated with the diagnosis of diabetes in HIV-infected patients in Botswana