Personality moderators of the cross-sectional relationship between job demands and both burnout and work engagement in judges: The boosting effects of conscientiousness and introversion

The central question of this study is whether buffering, boosting and exacerbating effects of the Big Five personality factors extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, conscientiousness and neuroticism can be demonstrated in the relationship between two job demands (i.e., work pressure and working overtime) and both burnout and work engagement in 257 Dutch judges. It is important to better understand the interaction effects between various job demands (work pressure and working overtime) and personality on both burnout and work engagement in judges given their increased risk of burnout and lower work engagement due to cognitively and their emotionally demanding work. Three hypotheses were tested in a cross-sectional design study. Moderation analyses showed that, as expected, conscientiousness significantly boosted the relationship between working overtime and work engagement. Hence, high scorers on conscientiousness showed more work engagement when working overtime. Also, extraversion moderated the relation between working overtime and work engagement, but only at a low level of extraversion. Thus, contrary to expectations, introverts showed more work engagement when they work overtime. Also, significant main effects were found. Work pressure and neuroticism related positively to burnout, while extraversion and agreeableness related negatively to burnout. Moreover, extraversion, agreeableness and conscientiousness related positively to work engagement. In our study, conscientiousness, extraversion and agreeableness can be considered as personal resources for judges, in line with the Conservation of Resources (COR) theory. Especially conscientiousness can facilitate judges to cope with challenging working circumstances and introversion ensures that judges stay engaged despite working overtime

Burnout, work engagement and workaholism in a group of Dutch judges:Distinctiveness and two-year structural stability

The aim of this two-wave study is to investigate whether burnout, work engagement and workaholism can be empirically distinguished in one model and whether this model shows structural stability over a period of 2 years (i.e. whether the distinguishability between the constructs holds across time). The study was conducted among 118 judges in the Netherlands who completed questionnaires measuring burnout, work engagement and workaholism. The results showed that these are relatively distinguishable constructs, despite a considerable overlap of professional efficacy loading on work engagement (instead of burnout; as hypothesized), absorption loading on workaholism (in addition to work engagement; as hypothesized) and exhaustion loading on workaholism (in addition to burnout), which represents a new finding. These extra loadings led to model modifications, which were found at both time points. As hypothesized, this model appeared to be stable over time. Nevertheless, further clarification and conceptualization of these constructs are undoubtedly needed

HEPES activates a MiT/TFE-dependent lysosomal-autophagic gene network in cultured cells: A call for caution

In recent years, the lysosome has emerged as a highly dynamic, transcriptionally regulated organelle that is integral to nutrient-sensing and metabolic rewiring. This is coordinated by a lysosome-to-nucleus signaling nexus in which MTORC1 controls the subcellular distribution of the microphthalmia-transcription factor E (MiT/TFE) family of "master lysosomal regulators". Yet, despite the importance of the lysosome in cellular metabolism, the impact of traditional in vitro culture media on lysosomal dynamics and/or MiT/TFE localization has not been fully appreciated. Here, we identify HEPES, a chemical buffering agent that is broadly applied in cell culture, as a potent inducer of lysosome biogenesis. Supplementation of HEPES to cell growth media is sufficient to decouple the MiT/TFE family members-TFEB, TFE3 and MITF-from regulatory mechanisms that control their cytosolic retention. Increased MiT/TFE nuclear import in turn drives the expression of a global network of lysosomal-autophagic and innate host-immune response genes, altering lysosomal dynamics, proteolytic capacity, autophagic flux, and inflammatory signaling. In addition, siRNA-mediated MiT/TFE knockdown effectively blunted HEPES-induced lysosome biogenesis and gene expression profiles. Mechanistically, we show that MiT/TFE activation in response to HEPES requires its macropinocytic ingestion and aberrant lysosomal storage/pH, but is independent of MTORC1 signaling. Altogether, our data underscore the cautionary use of chemical buffering agents in cell culture media due to their potentially confounding effects on experimental result

Mental health of new undergraduate students before and after COVID-19 in China

AbstractThe purpose of this study was to examine the changes in severity of anxiety and depression symptoms, stress and sleeping quality after three months of mass quarantine for COVID-19 among undergraduate fresh students compared to their pre-COVID-19 measures. We used participants from the Chinese Undergraduate Cohort (CUC), a national prospective longitudinal study to examine the changes in anxiety and depression symptoms severity, stress and sleep quality after being under mass quarantine for three months. Wilcoxon matched pair signed-rank test was used to compare the lifestyle indicators. Severity of anxiety, depression symptoms, stress and sleep quality were compared with Wilcoxon signed-rank test. We used generalized estimating equation (GEE) to further quantify the change in mental health indicators and sleep quality after the COVID-19 mass quarantine compared to baseline. This study found that there was no deterioration in mental health status among Chinese new undergraduate students in 2020 after COVID-19 mass quarantine compared with the baseline measures in 2019. There was an improvement in sleep quality and anxiety symptoms. After adjusting for age, sex, exercise habit, time spent on mobile gadgets, and time spent outdoors, year 2020 was significantly associated with severity of depression symptoms in males (OR:1.52. 95%CI:1.05–2.20, p-value = 0.027). Year 2020 was significantly associated with the improvement of sleeping quality in total (OR:0.45, 95%CI:0.38–0.52, p &lt; 0.001) and in all the subgroups. This longitudinal study found no deterioration in mental health status among Chinese new undergraduate students after three months of mass quarantine for COVID-19.</jats:p

HEPES activates a MiT/TFE-dependent lysosomal-autophagic gene network in cultured cells: A call for caution

<p>In recent years, the lysosome has emerged as a highly dynamic, transcriptionally regulated organelle that is integral to nutrient-sensing and metabolic rewiring. This is coordinated by a lysosome-to-nucleus signaling nexus in which MTORC1 controls the subcellular distribution of the microphthalmia-transcription factor E (MiT/TFE) family of “master lysosomal regulators”. Yet, despite the importance of the lysosome in cellular metabolism, the impact of traditional in vitro culture media on lysosomal dynamics and/or MiT/TFE localization has not been fully appreciated. Here, we identify HEPES, a chemical buffering agent that is broadly applied in cell culture, as a potent inducer of lysosome biogenesis. Supplementation of HEPES to cell growth media is sufficient to decouple the MiT/TFE family members–TFEB, TFE3 and MITF–from regulatory mechanisms that control their cytosolic retention. Increased MiT/TFE nuclear import in turn drives the expression of a global network of lysosomal-autophagic and innate host-immune response genes, altering lysosomal dynamics, proteolytic capacity, autophagic flux, and inflammatory signaling. In addition, siRNA-mediated MiT/TFE knockdown effectively blunted HEPES-induced lysosome biogenesis and gene expression profiles. Mechanistically, we show that MiT/TFE activation in response to HEPES requires its macropinocytic ingestion and aberrant lysosomal storage/pH, but is independent of MTORC1 signaling. Altogether, our data underscore the cautionary use of chemical buffering agents in cell culture media due to their potentially confounding effects on experimental results.</p

Work Pressure and sickness absence among judges

In this study, work pressure in the judiciary is the central theme in a comprehensive model of job characteristics and personal characteristics. The issue of work pressure has increasingly received scientific attention during the last decade. The judiciary is no exception in this regard. This article addresses the above characteristics in terms of their relationships and of their influence on judges’ performance, through the incorporation of studies from the Netherlands and several other countries into our theoretical framework (conceptual model). Possible outcomes and their practical implications for the judiciary are formulated on the basis of this model