Editorial Essay: Introduction to a Special Issue on Work and Employment Relations in Health Care

[Excerpt] This special issue of the ILR Review is designed to showcase the central role that work organization and employment relations play in shaping important outcomes such as the quality of care and organizational performance. Each of the articles included in this special issue makes an important contribution to our understanding of the large and rapidly changing health care sector. Specifically, these articles provide novel empirical evidence about the relationship between organizations, institutions, and work practices and a wide array of central outcomes across different levels of analysis. This breadth is especially important because the health care literature has largely neglected employment-related factors in explaining organizational and worker outcomes in this industry. Individually, these articles shed new light on the role that health information technologies play in affecting patient care and productivity (see Hitt and Tambe; Meyerhoefer et al.); the relationship between work practices and organizational reliability (Vogus and Iacobucci); staffing practices, processes, and outcomes (Kramer and son; Hockenberry and Becker; Kossek et al.); health care unions’ effects on the quality of patient care (Arindrajit, Kaplan, and Thompson); and the relationship between the quality of jobs and the quality of care (Burns, Hyde, and Killet). Below, we position the articles in this special issue against the backdrop of the pressures and challenges facing the industry and the organizations operating within it. We highlight the implications that organizational responses to industry pressures have had for organizations, the patients they care for, and the employees who deliver this care

Having Your Cake and Condemning It Too: When Asserting the Power of Eminent Domain Constitutes Breach of an Oil and Gas Lease

The rapid increase in urban drilling for oil and gas in Texas, especially the shale natural gas plays that have become major producers of energy in Texas and other parts of the United States, have created new concerns for surface owners who also own the related minerals. One question is, how can land and mineral owners limit or prohibit surface use while leasing the minerals to producers? The advent of horizontal drilling that permits exploitation of leased minerals from off-site drilling locations prompts this new concern. The following is a scenario that frequently occurs in the current development and production of oil and natural gas, especially where minerals that a landowner leases are associated with a surface that the landowner concurrently uses for residential or commercial purposes

Aprendizaje organizacional como base de los procesos de cambio

Este capítulo tiene como propósito retomar aspectos esenciales del aprendizaje tanto desde lo organizacional, como desde lo individual, aportados por diversos autores para comprender cómo promover el cambio en las organizaciones de trabajo. Se parte de la importancia de comprender la complejidad del cambio como consecuencia esencialmente de un sistema en el que se aprende y se comparten modelos mentales, creencias, valores, incertidumbres, tecnología, información, etc., y que tiene por visión el concretar objetivos que le permitan a la organización sobrevivir, crecer, desarrollarse y lograr utilidades, a través de innovación, procesos eficientes, liderazgo, desarrollo de personas y una cultura organizacional fortalecida.1a edició

Entry and Fusion of Emerging Paramyxoviruses

Paramyxoviruses are a family of non-segmented RNA viruses that includes major human pathogens such as measles virus and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and significant animal viruses like rinderpest. In recent years, several new paramyxoviruses have been identified, further increasing the breadth and importance of this viral family. While many elements of the fusion and entry mechanisms of these recently identified pathogens are conserved, there are interesting differences, including variations in receptor binding, cell tropism, fusion (F) protein proteolytic activation, and triggering of membrane fusion. Thus, study of their entry mechanisms has highlighted the diversity of these critical events in the family

Three dimensional multi-pass repair weld simulations

Full 3-dimensional (3-D) simulation of multi-pass weld repairs is now feasible and practical given the development of improved analysis tools and significantly greater computer power. This paper presents residual stress results from 3-D finite element (FE) analyses simulating a long (arc length of 62°) and a short (arc length of 20°) repair to a girth weld in a 19.6 mm thick, 432 mm outer diameter cylindrical test component. Sensitivity studies are used to illustrate the importance of weld bead inter-pass temperature assumptions and to show where model symmetry can be used to reduce the analysis size. The predicted residual stress results are compared with measured axial, hoop and radial through-wall profiles in the heat affected zone of the test component repairs. A good overall agreement is achieved between neutron diffraction and deep hole drilling measurements and the prediction at the mid-length position of the short repair. These results demonstrate that a coarse 3-D FE model, using a ‘block-dumped’ weld bead deposition approach (rather than progressively depositing weld metal), can accurately capture the important components of a short repair weld residual stress field. However, comparisons of measured with predicted residual stress at mid-length and stop-end positions in the long repair are less satisfactory implying some shortcomings in the FE modelling approach that warrant further investigation

Thromboxane biosynthesis in cancer patients and its inhibition by aspirin: a sub-study of the Add-Aspirin trial

BACKGROUND: Pre-clinical models demonstrate that platelet activation is involved in the spread of malignancy. Ongoing clinical trials are assessing whether aspirin, which inhibits platelet activation, can prevent or delay metastases. METHODS: Urinary 11-dehydro-thromboxane B2 (U-TXM), a biomarker of in vivo platelet activation, was measured after radical cancer therapy and correlated with patient demographics, tumour type, recent treatment, and aspirin use (100 mg, 300 mg or placebo daily) using multivariable linear regression models with log-transformed values. RESULTS: In total, 716 patients (breast 260, colorectal 192, gastro-oesophageal 53, prostate 211) median age 61 years, 50% male were studied. Baseline median U-TXM were breast 782; colorectal 1060; gastro-oesophageal 1675 and prostate 826 pg/mg creatinine; higher than healthy individuals (~500 pg/mg creatinine). Higher levels were associated with raised body mass index, inflammatory markers, and in the colorectal and gastro-oesophageal participants compared to breast participants (P < 0.001) independent of other baseline characteristics. Aspirin 100 mg daily decreased U-TXM similarly across all tumour types (median reductions: 77-82%). Aspirin 300 mg daily provided no additional suppression of U-TXM compared with 100 mg. CONCLUSIONS: Persistently increased thromboxane biosynthesis was detected after radical cancer therapy, particularly in colorectal and gastro-oesophageal patients. Thromboxane biosynthesis should be explored further as a biomarker of active malignancy and may identify patients likely to benefit from aspirin

A Cis-Regulatory Map of the Drosophila Genome

Systematic annotation of gene regulatory elements is a major challenge in genome science. Direct mapping of chromatin modification marks and transcriptional factor binding sites genome-wide1, 2 has successfully identified specific subtypes of regulatory elements3. In Drosophila several pioneering studies have provided genome-wide identification of Polycomb response elements4, chromatin states5, transcription factor binding sites6, 7, 8, 9, RNA polymerase II regulation8 and insulator elements10; however, comprehensive annotation of the regulatory genome remains a significant challenge. Here we describe results from the modENCODE cis-regulatory annotation project. We produced a map of the Drosophila melanogaster regulatory genome on the basis of more than 300 chromatin immunoprecipitation data sets for eight chromatin features, five histone deacetylases and thirty-eight site-specific transcription factors at different stages of development. Using these data we inferred more than 20,000 candidate regulatory elements and validated a subset of predictions for promoters, enhancers and insulators in vivo. We identified also nearly 2,000 genomic regions of dense transcription factor binding associated with chromatin activity and accessibility. We discovered hundreds of new transcription factor co-binding relationships and defined a transcription factor network with over 800 potential regulatory relationships

The Jumonji-C oxygenase JMJD7 catalyzes (3S)-lysyl hydroxylation of TRAFAC GTPases

Biochemical, structural and cellular studies reveal Jumonji-C (JmjC) domain-containing 7 (JMJD7) to be a 2-oxoglutarate (2OG)-dependent oxygenase that catalyzes (3S)-lysyl hydroxylation. Crystallographic analyses reveal JMJD7 to be more closely related to the JmjC hydroxylases than to the JmjC demethylases. Biophysical and mutation studies show that JMJD7 has a unique dimerization mode, with interactions between monomers involving both N- and C-terminal regions and disulfide bond formation. A proteomic approach identifies two related members of the translation factor (TRAFAC) family of GTPases, developmentally regulated GTP-binding proteins 1 and 2 (DRG1/2), as activity-dependent JMJD7 interactors. Mass spectrometric analyses demonstrate that JMJD7 catalyzes Fe(ii)- and 2OG-dependent hydroxylation of a highly conserved lysine residue in DRG1/2; amino-acid analyses reveal that JMJD7 catalyzes (3S)-lysyl hydroxylation. The functional assignment of JMJD7 will enable future studies to define the role of DRG hydroxylation in cell growth and disease.Fil: Markolovic, Suzana. University of Oxford; Reino UnidoFil: Zhuang, Qinqin. University Of Birmingham; Reino UnidoFil: Wilkins, Sarah E.. University of Oxford; Reino UnidoFil: Eaton, Charlotte D.. University Of Birmingham; Reino UnidoFil: Abboud, Martine I.. University of Oxford; Reino UnidoFil: Katz, Maximiliano Javier. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Buenos Aires. Fundación Instituto Leloir. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: McNeil, Helen E.. University Of Birmingham; Reino UnidoFil: Leśniak, Robert K.. University of Oxford; Reino UnidoFil: Hall, Charlotte. University Of Birmingham; Reino UnidoFil: Struwe, Weston B.. University of Oxford; Reino UnidoFil: Konietzny, Rebecca. University of Oxford; Reino UnidoFil: Davis, Simon. University of Oxford; Reino UnidoFil: Yang, Ming. The Francis Crick Institute; Reino Unido. University of Oxford; Reino UnidoFil: Ge, Wei. University of Oxford; Reino UnidoFil: Benesch, Justin L. P.. University of Oxford; Reino UnidoFil: Kessler, Benedikt M.. University of Oxford; Reino UnidoFil: Ratcliffe, Peter J.. University of Oxford; Reino Unido. The Francis Crick Institute; Reino UnidoFil: Cockman, Matthew E.. The Francis Crick Institute; Reino Unido. University of Oxford; Reino UnidoFil: Fischer, Roman. University of Oxford; Reino UnidoFil: Wappner, Pablo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Buenos Aires. Fundación Instituto Leloir. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Chowdhury, Rasheduzzaman. University of Stanford; Estados Unidos. University of Oxford; Reino UnidoFil: Coleman, Mathew L.. University Of Birmingham; Reino UnidoFil: Schofield, Christopher J.. University of Oxford; Reino Unid

Variation in human water turnover associated with environmental and lifestyle factors

Water is essential for survival, but one in three individuals worldwide (2.2 billion people) lacks access to safe drinking water. Water intake requirements largely reflect water turnover (WT), the water used by the body each day. We investigated the determinants of human WT in 5604 people from the ages of 8 days to 96 years from 23 countries using isotope-tracking (2H) methods. Age, body size, and composition were significantly associated with WT, as were physical activity, athletic status, pregnancy, socioeconomic status, and environmental characteristics (latitude, altitude, air temperature, and humidity). People who lived in countries with a low human development index (HDI) had higher WT than people in high-HDI countries. On the basis of this extensive dataset, we provide equations to predict human WT in relation to anthropometric, economic, and environmental factors.acceptedVersio

Energy compensation and adiposity in humans

Acknowledgments The DLW database, which can be found at https://doubly-labelled-water-database.iaea.org/home, is hosted by the IAEA and generously supported by Taiyo Nippon Sanso and SERCON. We are grateful to the IAEA and these companies for their support and especially to Takashi Oono for his tremendous efforts at fundraising on our behalf. The authors also gratefully acknowledge funding from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS 153E11KYSB20190045) to J.R.S. and the US National Science Foundation (BCS-1824466) awarded to H.P. The funders played no role in the content of this manuscript. We are grateful for the data submission of David Ludwig and Cara Ebbeling, and for the analysis by Steve Heymsfield of his own data indicating no change in FFM hydration with age in adults.Peer reviewedPublisher PD