The role of vitamin D in pulmonary disease: COPD, asthma, infection, and cancer

The role of vitamin D (VitD) in calcium and bone homeostasis is well described. In the last years, it has been recognized that in addition to this classical function, VitD modulates a variety of processes and regulatory systems including host defense, inflammation, immunity, and repair. VitD deficiency appears to be frequent in industrialized countries. Especially patients with lung diseases have often low VitD serum levels. Epidemiological data indicate that low levels of serum VitD is associated with impaired pulmonary function, increased incidence of inflammatory, infectious or neoplastic diseases. Several lung diseases, all inflammatory in nature, may be related to activities of VitD including asthma, COPD and cancer. The exact mechanisms underlying these data are unknown, however, VitD appears to impact on the function of inflammatory and structural cells, including dendritic cells, lymphocytes, monocytes, and epithelial cells. This review summarizes the knowledge on the classical and newly discovered functions of VitD, the molecular and cellular mechanism of action and the available data on the relationship between lung disease and VitD status

The effectiveness of a diveristy awareness training program.

The objective of this study was to assess the effectiveness of a diversity awareness training programme. A sample of 382 employees from four different departments within a large accounting firm was used to form the groups of a simulated Solomon four-group design. The impact of a two-day workshop on diversity awareness was assessed using a 68-item questionnaire designed to measure awareness of self, impact of differences, performance management, career development, teamwork, work-family needs, participation, organisational culture, relationship building, and general satisfaction with the organisation. The Minnesota Job Satisfaction Questionnaire (20 items) was included to measure job satisfaction. The results showed no evidence of a statistically significant effect of the diversity awareness training programme

Managing Student Diversity in Business Education: Incorporating Campus Diversity into the Curriculum to Foster Inclusion and Academic Success of International Students

The past three decades have witnessed significant growth of culturally and linguistically diverse international students in Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development countries. International students now constitute an important component of the student body at many universities, especially in their business schools. The increased presence of international students has generated new demands and challenges for these business schools, and a number of issues related to international students have been identified in the literature. However, the increased presence of international students has not led universities and business schools to develop adequate responses to the issues and make subsequent changes in the curriculum. Diversity on campus continues to be managed in roughly the same way as in business organizations. Drawing on the notion that diversity should be defined and understood in terms of context, this conceptual paper redefines diversity on campus, identifies limitations of current diversity education in the higher education context, and develops a competency-oriented approach to improve inclusion and academic performance of international students