Workplace harassment - a health issue: Anti-discrimination cases and work compensation claims

This article describes the adverse health-related effects of racial and sexual harassment elicited from files held by the Western Australian Equal Opportunity Commission where the complainant has nominated sexual or racial harassment as a ground of discrimination. Those results are compared with publicly available data on work-related stress claims obtained from the Compendium of Workers' Compensation Statistics Australia 2004-06, arising from allegations of harassment. Information gleaned from a survey of unreported court decisions (from publicly available legal data bases, such as www.austlii.edu.au and www.ohs.alert.com) is also reviewed. The purpose of examining this data is to consider the links between various forms of unlawful harassment, workplace stress and the evidence of adverse effect upon worker health. The results of this triangulation of data are consistent with that body of research which shows that workplace harassment can give rise to a range of adverse health outcomes. This paper explores how the inter-relationship of anti-discrimination and workers compensation laws may affect claimant behaviours

Bronchiectasis: a model for chronic bacterial infection inducing autoimmunity in rheumatoid arthritis.

ArticleCopyright © 2015 The Authors. Arthritis & Rheumatology is published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of the American College of Rheumatology.Objective: Bronchiectasis (BR) is a risk factor for rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Here we examine the potential of BR in generating rheumatoid factors (RFs) and anti-citrullinated peptide antibodies (ACPA) in patients with BR alone and in patients with BR and RA (BRRA). Methods: We studied 122 patients with BR alone, 50 BRRA, 50 RA without lung disease, with 87 asthma and 79 healthy subjects as controls. RFs were measured by an automated analyzer, and ACPA using CCP2. Fine specificities to citrullinated α-enolase (CEP-1), citrullinated vimentin (cVim) and fibrinogen (cFib) with their arginine control peptides (REP-1, Vim and Fib) measured by ELISA. Results: In the BR patients 39% were ever smokers compared to 42% of the controls. Serum samples from BR patients had an increased frequency of RF (25%; p< 0.05) and 5% to CCP2, 7% to CEP-1, 7% to cVIM (all p=ns) and 12% cFib (p <0.05). There was also a corresponding increase in antibodies to the arginine-containing control peptides in the BR patients; REP-1, 19% (p< 0.01) and Vim, 16% (p<0.05), demonstrating that the ACPA response in BR is not citrulline-specific. Lack of citrulline specificity was further confirmed by absorption studies. In BRRA all ACPA specificities were highly citrulline-specific. Conclusion: Bronchiectasis is an unusual but potent model for the induction of autoimmunity in RA by bacterial infection in the lung. Our study suggests that in the early stages of tolerance breakdown, the ACPA response is not citrulline-specific, but becomes more so in those patients with BR that develop BRRA.Arthritis Research UKEuropean UnionIMI project BTCure7th Framework Programme project Gums and Joint

Stable Panoramic Views Facilitate Snap-Shot Like Memories for Spatial Reorientation in Homing Pigeons

Following spatial disorientation, animals can reorient themselves by relying on geometric cues (metric and sense) specified both by the macroscopic surface layout of an enclosed space and prominent visual landmarks in arrays. Whether spatial reorientation in arrays of landmarks is based on explicit representation of the geometric cues is a matter of debate. Here we trained homing pigeons (Columba livia) to locate a food-reward in a rectangular array of four identical or differently coloured pipes provided with four openings, only one of which allowed the birds to have access to the reward. Pigeons were trained either with a stable or a variable position of the opening on pipes, so that they could view the array either from the same or a variable perspective. Explicit mapping of configural geometry would predict successful reorientation irrespective of access condition. In contrast, we found that a stable view of the array facilitated spatial learning in homing pigeons, likely through the formation of snapshot-like memories

Search for supersymmetry with a dominant R-parity violating LQDbar couplings in e+e- collisions at centre-of-mass energies of 130GeV to 172 GeV

A search for pair-production of supersymmetric particles under the assumption that R-parity is violated via a dominant LQDbar coupling has been performed using the data collected by ALEPH at centre-of-mass energies of 130-172 GeV. The observed candidate events in the data are in agreement with the Standard Model expectation. This result is translated into lower limits on the masses of charginos, neutralinos, sleptons, sneutrinos and squarks. For instance, for m_0=500 GeV/c^2 and tan(beta)=sqrt(2) charginos with masses smaller than 81 GeV/c^2 and neutralinos with masses smaller than 29 GeV/c^2 are excluded at the 95% confidence level for any generation structure of the LQDbar coupling.Comment: 32 pages, 30 figure

New Insights into the Mechanisms of Embryonic Stem Cell Self-Renewal under Hypoxia: A Multifactorial Analysis Approach

Previous reports have shown that culturing mouse embryonic stem (mES) cells at different oxygen tensions originated different cell proliferation patterns and commitment stages depending on which signaling pathways are activated or inhibited to support the pluripotency state. Herein we provide new insights into the mechanisms by which oxygen is influencing mES cell self-renewal and pluripotency. A multifactorial approach was developed to rationally evaluate the singular and interactive control of MEK/ERK pathway, GSK-3 inhibition, and LIF/STAT3 signaling at physiological and non-physiological oxygen tensions. Collectively, our methodology revealed a significant role of GSK-3-mediated signaling towards maintenance of mES cell pluripotency at lower O2 tensions. Given the central role of this signaling pathway, future studies will need to focus on the downstream mechanisms involved in ES cell self-renewal under such conditions, and ultimately how these findings impact human models of pluripotency

Organizaciones saludables

El presente capítulo tiene como objetivo realizar una introducción al concepto de Organización Saludable a través de una descripción teórica de sus enunciados básicos y de la presentación de lo que constituye una organización saludable según algunos modelos teóricos organizacionales.1a edició

Pleiotropy of Glycogen Synthase Kinase-3 Inhibition by CHIR99021 Promotes Self-Renewal of Embryonic Stem Cells from Refractory Mouse Strains

Background: Inhibition of glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK-3) improves the efficiency of embryonic stem (ES) cell derivation from various strains of mice and rats, as well as dramatically promotes ES cell self-renewal potential. b-catenin has been reported to be involved in the maintenance of self-renewal of ES cells through TCF dependent and independent pathway. But the intrinsic difference between ES cell lines from different species and strains has not been characterized. Here, we dissect the mechanism of GSK-3 inhibition by CHIR99021 in mouse ES cells from refractory mouse strains. Methodology/Principal Findings: We found that CHIR99021, a GSK-3 specific inhibitor, promotes self-renewal of ES cells from recalcitrant C57BL/6 (B6) and BALB/c mouse strains through stabilization of b-catenin and c-Myc protein levels. Stabilized b-catenin promoted ES self-renewal through two mechanisms. First, b-catenin translocated into the nucleus to maintain stem cell pluripotency in a lymphoid-enhancing factor/T-cell factor–independent manner. Second, b-catenin binds plasma membrane-localized E-cadherin, which ensures a compact, spherical morphology, a hallmark of ES cells. Further, elevated c-Myc protein levels did not contribute significantly to CH-mediated ES cell self-renewal. Instead, the role of c-Myc is dependent on its transformation activity and can be replaced by N-Myc but not L-Myc. b-catenin and c-Myc have similar effects on ES cells derived from both B6 and BALB/c mice. Conclusions/Significance: Our data demonstrated that GSK-3 inhibition by CH promotes self-renewal of mouse ES cell

An Explanation for the Nitrous Oxide Layer Observed in the Mesopause Region

Recent satellite measurements of a layer of enhanced nitrous oxide (N₂O) in the mesosphere-lower thermosphere (MLT) from the Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment-Fourier Transform Spectrometer have suggested an unexpected, minor high-altitude production source. Here we report the development of a mechanism and the first model simulations, which can explain the formation of this MLT N₂O layer. N₂O production occurs primarily via a reaction route involving the excitation of N₂ from secondary electrons. Simulations using the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model, with external forcing from the Global Airglow model, quantitatively reproduce the observed vertical, latitudinal, and seasonal N₂O variations. Sensitivity results indicate that photoelectrons are far more important than previously predicted, causing approximately two thirds of global N₂O production in the MLT. Energetic electron precipitation over high latitudes provides the remaining contribution. Solar cycle analysis reveals N₂O enhancements of up to ×2 at solar maximum compared to solar minimum

A Tripartite Model of Group Identification: Theory and Measurement

Group identification is defined as member identification with an interacting group and is distinguished conceptually from social identity, cohesion, and common fate. Group identification is proposed to have three sources: cognitive (social categorization), affective (interpersonal attraction), and behavioral (interdependence). Inconsistent use of the term and problematic measurement mar existing literature on group identity and group identification. A new group identification scale, composed of three subscales that match the tripartite model for the cognitive, affective, and behavioral sources, is presented and its psychometric properties described.Yeshttps://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/manuscript-submission-guideline