Measuring the use of human resources practices and employee attitudes: the linked personnel panel

This paper introduces a new data source available for HRM researchers and personnel economists, the Linked Personnel Panel (LPP). The LPP is a longitudinal and representative employer-employee data set designed for quantitative empirical HR research. The LPP offers a unique structure. First, the data set combines employer and employee surveys that can be matched to each other. Second, it can also be linked to a number of additional administrative data sets. Third, the LPP covers a wide range of firms and workers from different backgrounds. Finally, because of its longitudinal dimension, the LPP should facilitate the study of causal effects of HR practices. The LPP employee survey uses a number of established scales to measure job characteristics, personal characteristics, and employee attitudes. This paper gives an overview of both the employer and employee survey and additionally outlines the definitions, origins and statistical properties of the items used in the individual questionnaire

Analysis of cytosine methylation in genomic dna of solanum × michoacanum (+) s. tuberosum somatic hybrids

Interspecific somatic hybridization is a noteworthy breeding strategy that allows the production of novel genetic variability when crossing barriers exist between two parental species. Although the genetic consequences of somatic hybridization have been well documented, little is known on its impact at the epigenetic level. The objective of our research was to investigate the epigenetic changes, in particular DNA methylation, occurring in a population of potato somatic hybrids. The analysis of 96 Solanum × michoacanum (+) S. tuberosum somatic hybrids from five fusion combinations and their parents was carried out by methylation-sensitive amplified polymorphism (MSAP) and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) methods. Six MSAP primer combinations generated 622 unique bands, of which 295 were fully methylated. HPLC analysis showed from 15.5% to 16.9% total cytosine methylation within the parental forms. Overall, the MSAP and HPLC methods indicated an increase in DNA methylation in the somatic hybrids in comparison to their parents. Among the latter, a lower degree of DNA methylation in the wild S. × michoacanum species than S. tuberosum was found. Our findings indicated that somatic hybridization changed the level of cytosine methylation in the studied potato somatic hybrids

The European Registry for Patients with Mechanical Circulatory Support (EUROMACS)

OBJECTIVES: A second paediatric report has been generated from the European Registry for Patients with Mechanical Circulatory Support (EUROMACS). The purpose of EUROMACS, which is operated by the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery, is to gather data related to durable mechanical circulatory support for scientific purposes and to publish reports with respect to the course of mechanical circulatory support therapy. Since the first report issued, efforts to increase compliance and participation have been extended. Additionally, the data provided the opportunity to analyse patients of younger age and lower weight. METHODS: Participating hospitals contributed pre-, peri- and long-term postoperative data on mechanical circulatory support implants to the registry. Data for all implants in paediatric patients (≤19 years of age) performed from 1 January 2000 to 1 July 2019 were analysed. This report includes updates of patient characteristics, implant frequency, outcome (including mortality rates, transplants and recovery rates) as well as adverse events including neurological dysfunction, device malfunction, major infection and bleeding. RESULTS: Twenty-nine hospitals contributed 398 registered implants in 353 patients (150 female, 203 male) to the registry. The most frequent aetiology of heart failure was any form of cardiomyopathy (61%), followed by congenital heart disease and myocarditis (16.4% and 16.1%, respectively). Competing outcomes analysis revealed that a total of 80% survived to transplant or recovery or are ongoing; at the 2-year follow-up examination, 20% died while on support. At 12 months, 46.7% received transplants, 8.7% were weaned from their device and 18.5% died. The 3-month adverse events rate was 1.69 per patient-year for device malfunction including pump exchange, 0.48 for major bleeding, 0.64 for major infection and 0.78 for neurological events. CONCLUSIONS: The overall survival rate was 81.5% at 12 months following ventricular assist device implant. The comparison of survival rates of the early and later eras shows no significant difference. A focus on specific subgroups showed that survival was less in patients of younger age (<1 year of age) (P = 0.01) and lower weight (<20 kg) (P = 0.015). Transplant rates at 6 months contin

Cationic polyene phospholipids as DNA carriers for ocular gene therapy

Recent success in the treatment of congenital blindness demonstrates the potential of ocular gene therapy as a therapeutic approach. The eye is a good target due to its small size, minimal diffusion of therapeutic agent to the systemic circulation, and low immune and inflammatory responses. Currently, most approaches are based on viral vectors, but efforts continue towards the synthesis and evaluation of new nonviral carriers to improve nucleic acid delivery. Our objective is to evaluate the efficiency of novel cationic retinoic and carotenoic glycol phospholipids, designated C20-18, C20-20, and C30-20, to deliver DNA to human retinal pigmented epithelium (RPE) cells. Liposomes were produced by solvent evaporation of ethanolic mixtures of the polyene compounds and coformulated with 1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine (DOPE) or cholesterol (Chol). Addition of DNA to the liposomes formed lipoplexes, which were characterized for binding, size, biocompatibility, and transgene efficiency. Lipoplex formulations of suitable size and biocompatibility were assayed for DNA delivery, both qualitatively and quantitatively, using RPE cells and a GFP-encoding plasmid. The retinoic lipoplex formulation with DOPE revealed a transfection efficiency comparable to the known lipid references 3β-[N-(N',N'-dimethylaminoethane)-carbamoyl]-cholesterol (DC-Chol) and 1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-ethylphosphocholine (EPC) and GeneJuice. The results demonstrate that cationic polyene phospholipids have potential as DNA carriers for ocular gene therapy.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Validation of a self-efficacy instrument and its relationship to performance of crisis resource management skills

Self-efficacy is thought to be important for resuscitation proficiency in that it influences the development of and access to the associated medical knowledge, procedural skills and crisis resource management (CRM) skills. Since performance assessment of CRM skills is challenging, self-efficacy is often used as a measure of competence in this area. While self-efficacy may influence performance, the true relationship between self-efficacy and performance in this setting has not been delineated. We developed an instrument to measure pediatric residents’ self-efficacy in CRM skills and assessed its content validity, internal structure, and relationship to other variables. After administering the instrument to 125 pediatric residents, critical care fellows and faculty, we performed an exploratory factor analysis within a confirmatory factor analysis as well as a known group comparison. The analyses specified four factors that we defined as: situation awareness, team management, environment management, and decision making. Pediatric residents reported lower self-efficacy than fellows and faculty in each factor. We also examined the correlation between self-efficacy and performance scores for a subset of 30 residents who led video recorded simulated resuscitations and had their performances rated by three observers. We found a significant, positive correlation between residents’ self-efficacy in situation awareness and environment management and their overall performance of CRM skills. Our findings suggest that in a specific context, self-efficacy as a form of self-assessment may be informative with regards to performance