The influence of stereotypes about old age on the perception of elderly employees’ labor activity

In this article the problem of increasing retirement age in terms of age discrimination and creating conditions encouraging elderly people to continue to work is discussed. This paper presents a study of stereotypes that affect students of management specialties in Russian institutions of higher education between the ages of 20 to 25 years old. The stereotype is investigated in the context of emotionally colored image of reality simplifying the process of perceiving it. The correlation between the students’ existing stereotypes about elderly people and their perception of older employees has been conducted. As a result, 5 stereotypes that exist in young people have been defined. An analysis of the words chosen by students to describe the elderly shows little diversity in young people’s perception of them. Lexical analysis shows that in the Russian language there are practically no concepts which allow creating a positive image of the elderly. The influence of the stereotypes on the perception of elderly people in terms of employment shows that older specialists are perceived as people with experience and knowledge but these experience and knowledge are irrelevant to the present

Traditions of research into interruptions in healthcare: A conceptual review

Background Researchers from diverse theoretical backgrounds have studied workplace interruptions in healthcare, leading to a complex and conflicting body of literature. Understanding pre-existing viewpoints may advance the field more effectively than attempts to remove bias from investigations. Objective To identify research traditions that have motivated and guided interruptions research, and to note research questions posed, gaps in approach, and possible avenues for future research. Methods A critical review was conducted of research on interruptions in healthcare. Two researchers identified core research communities based on the community’s motivations, philosophical outlook, and methods. Among the characteristics used to categorise papers into research communities were the predominant motivation for studying interruptions, the research questions posed, and key contributions to the body of knowledge on interruptions in healthcare. In cases where a paper approached an equal number of characteristics from two traditions, it was placed in a blended research community. Results A total of 141 papers were identified and categorised; all papers identified were published from 1994 onwards. Four principal research communities emerged: epidemiology, quality improvement, cognitive systems engineering (CSE), and applied cognitive psychology. Blends and areas of mutual influence between the research communities were identified that combine the benefits of individual traditions, but there was a notable lack of blends incorporating quality improvement initiatives. The question most commonly posed by researchers across multiple communities was: what is the impact of interruptions? Impact was measured as a function of task time or risk in the epidemiology tradition, situation awareness in the CSE tradition, or resumption lag (time to resume an interrupted task) in the applied cognitive psychology tradition. No single question about interruptions in healthcare was shared by all four of the core communities. Conclusions Much research on workplace interruptions in healthcare can be described in terms of fundamental values of four distinct research traditions and the communities that bring the values and methods: of those research traditions to their investigations. Blends between communities indicate that mutual influence has occurred as interruptions research has progressed. It is clear from this review that there is no single or privileged perspective to study interruptions. Instead, these findings suggest that researchers investigating interruptions in healthcare would benefit from being more aware of different perspectives from their own, especially when they consider workplace interventions to reduce interruptions

Publisher Correction: Biodiversity, environmental drivers, and sustainability of the global deep-sea sponge microbiome

The original version of the Description of Additional Supplementary Files associated with this Article contained errors in the legends of Supplementary Data 5–8 and omitted legends for the Source Data. The HTML has been updated to include a corrected version of the Description of Additional Supplementary Files; the original incorrect version of this file can be found as Supplementary Information associated with this Correction

Biodiversity, environmental drivers, and sustainability of the global deep-sea sponge microbiome

In the deep ocean symbioses between microbes and invertebrates are emerging as key drivers of ecosystem health and services. We present a large-scale analysis of microbial diversity in deep-sea sponges (Porifera) from scales of sponge individuals to ocean basins, covering 52 locations, 1077 host individuals translating into 169 sponge species (including understudied glass sponges), and 469 reference samples, collected anew during 21 ship-based expeditions. We demonstrate the impacts of the sponge microbial abundance status, geographic distance, sponge phylogeny, and the physical-biogeochemical environment as drivers of microbiome composition, in descending order of relevance. Our study further discloses that fundamental concepts of sponge microbiology apply robustly to sponges from the deep-sea across distances of >10,000 km. Deep-sea sponge microbiomes are less complex, yet more heterogeneous, than their shallow-water counterparts. Our analysis underscores the uniqueness of each deep-sea sponge ground based on which we provide critical knowledge for conservation of these vulnerable ecosystems

Relationships between the structure of insulin and its physiological effects - Thyronine insulin analogues

Elucidation of the structure of insulin has provided opportunities to explain its physiological properties. Following secretion directly into the hepatic portal vein, which flows directly to the liver, it acts initially to modulate hepatic glucose output, an effect primarily responsible for glucose homeostasis. Only 50% of secreted insulin passes from the liver to the other tissues where it has a role in controlling lipolysis and glucose uptake particularly after meals. In evolutionary terms selection pressure may have acted to optimize the affinity of the insulin to insulin receptor interaction in order to define the most appropriate relative hepatic to peripheral ratio of insulin action. Therapeutically insulin is given subcutaneously. This unphysiological route results in relative under-exposure of the liver to insulin with peripheral hyperinsulinaemia. By exploiting the peripheral capillary endothelium as a molecular sieve it is proving possible to design insulin analogues which compensate for this imbalance