Stress, Coping, Occupational Attitudes, and Burnout Among Mental Health Practitioners

While the concept of stress has intrigued researchers for centuries, occupational stress is a relatively new area and found to be critical in the understanding of physical and psychological health as well as occupational attitudes and performance (Abbott, 1990; Cox, 1993; Lambert & Hogan, 2009; Lazarus & Folkman, 1984; Lloyd, King, & Chenoweth, 2002; Snow, Swan, Raghavan, Connell, & Klein, 2003; Väänänena, Anttilab, Turtiainena, & Varje, 2012). Due to the nature of their work, mental health practitioners are particularly susceptible to work stress and ensuing burnout and turnover. Previous research, guided by the transactional theory of stress and coping (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984), suggests that coping style mediates the impact of stress on the individual. As such, the paper starts with a review of stress and coping via the transactional theory, and then explores the impact on employee functioning. Subsequently, 150 mental health practitioners were sampled to examine stress, coping, and occupational attitudes. Results suggest that stress, coping, burnout, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment are significantly related, and that levels of stress, burnout, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment vary based on coping style, years of practice, work setting, and presenting client concerns. Furthermore, stress has direct effects on coping style, emotional exhaustion, and job satisfaction, while job satisfaction directly affects emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and affective commitment

The Ursinus Weekly, November 1, 1907

Phantom party at Olevian • Football • Historical Political meeting • The Schubert string quartette • Editorial: Smiles • Society • Personals • Seminary notes • College world • Alumni notes • Literary Supplement: The lack of appreciation of the beautiful; A defense of American poetry; The danger of hero worship in a democracy; Hallowe\u27en; The price of an experience; Hannibalhttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/weekly/2882/thumbnail.jp

Induced ectopic expression of HigB toxin in Mycobacterium tuberculosis results in growth inhibition, reduced abundance of a subset of mRNAs and cleavage of tmRNA.

In Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the genes Rv1954A-Rv1957 form an operon that includes Rv1955 and Rv1956 which encode the HigB toxin and the HigA antitoxin respectively. We are interested in the role and regulation of this operon, since toxin-antitoxin systems have been suggested to play a part in the formation of persister cells in mycobacteria. To investigate the function of the higBA locus, effects of toxin expression on mycobacterial growth and transcript levels were assessed in M. tuberculosis H37Rv wild type and in an operon deletion background. We show that expression of HigB toxin in the absence of HigA antitoxin arrests growth and causes cell death in M. tuberculosis. We demonstrate HigB expression to reduce the abundance of IdeR and Zur regulated mRNAs and to cleave tmRNA in M. tuberculosis, Escherichia coli and Mycobacterium smegmatis. This study provides the first identification of possible target transcripts of HigB in M. tuberculosis

Quantified effect of seawater biogeochemistry on the temperature dependence of sea spray aerosol fluxes

Future change in sea surface temperature may influence climate via various air-sea feedbacks and pathways. In this study, we investigate the influence of surface seawater biogeochemical composition on the temperature dependence of sea spray number emission fluxes. Dependence of sea spray fluxes was investigated in different water masses (i.e. subantarctic, subtropical and frontal bloom) with contrasting biogeochemical properties across a temperature range from ambient (13&ndash;18 &deg;C) to 2 &deg;C, using seawater circulating in a plunging jet sea spray generator. We observed sea spray total concentration to increase significantly at temperatures below 8 &deg;C, with an average 4-fold increase at 2 &deg;C relative to initial concentration at ambient temperatures. This temperature dependence was more pronounced for smaller size sea spray particles (i.e. nucleation and Aitken modes). Moreover, temperature dependence varied with water mass type and so biogeochemical properties. While the sea spray flux at moderate temperatures (8&ndash;11 &deg;C) was highest in frontal bloom waters, the effect of low temperature on the sea spray flux was highest with subtropical seawaters. The temperature dependence of sea spray flux was also inversely proportional to the seawater cell abundance of the cyanobacterium Synechococcus, which facilitated parameterization of temperature dependence of sea spray emission fluxes as a function of Synechococcus for future implementation in modelling exercises.</p

The diagnosis of feline leukaemia virus (FeLV) infection in owned and group-housed rescue cats in Australia

A field study was undertaken to (i) measure the prevalence of feline leukaemia virus (FeLV) exposure and FeLV infection in a cross-section of healthy Australian pet cats; and (ii) investigate the outcomes following natural FeLV exposure in two Australian rescue facilities. Group 1 (n = 440) consisted of healthy client-owned cats with outdoor access, predominantly from eastern Australia. Groups 2 (n = 38) and 3 (n = 51) consisted of a mixture of healthy and sick cats, group-housed in two separate rescue facilities in Sydney, Australia, tested following identification of index cases of FeLV infection in cats sourced from these facilities. Diagnostic testing for FeLV exposure/infection included p27 antigen testing using three different point-of-care FeLV kits and a laboratory-based ELISA, real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) testing to detect FeLV proviral DNA in leukocytes, real-time reverse-transcription PCR (qRT-PCR) testing to detect FeLV RNA in plasma, and neutralising antibody (NAb) testing. Cats were classified as FeLV-uninfected (FeLV-unexposed and presumptively FeLV-abortive infections) or FeLV-infected (presumptively regressive and presumptively progressive infections). In Group 1, 370 FeLV-unexposed cats (370/440, 84%), 47 abortive infections (47/440, 11%), nine regressive infections (9/440, 2%), and two progressive infections (2/440, 0.5%) were identified, and 12 FeLV-uninfected cats (12/440, 3%) were unclassifiable as FeLV-unexposed or abortive infections due to insufficient samples available for NAb testing. In Groups 2 and 3, 31 FeLV-unexposed cats (31/89, 35%), eight abortive infections (8/89, 9%), 22 regressive infections (22/89; 25%), and 19 progressive infections (19/89; 21%) were discovered, and nine FeLV-uninfected cats (9/89; 10%) were unclassifiable due to insufficient samples available for NAb testing. One of the presumptively progressively-infected cats in Group 3 was likely a focal FeLV infection. Two other presumptively progressively-infected cats in Group 3 may have been classified as regressive infections with repeated testing, highlighting the difficulties associated with FeLV diagnosis when sampling cats at a single time point, even with results from a panel of FeLV tests. These results serve as a reminder to Australian veterinarians that the threat of FeLV to the general pet cat population remains high, thus vigilant FeLV testing, separate housing for FeLV-infected cats, and FeLV vaccination of at-risk cats is important, particularly in group-housed cats in shelters and rescue facilities, where outbreaks of FeLV infection can occur

Background: A Social Framework for Big Data

This is a Background document to 'A Social Framework for Big Data', which proposes an agenda that understands how social composition and social effects are related and proposes that giving Big Data a ‘social intelligence’ requires acting with an ethic of care. The Background provides a discussion of some conceptual issues and debates related to this agenda. Both documents along with a working paper, 'Socialising Big Data: from concept to practice' are the product of an ESRC funded project, Socialising Big Data, led by Evelyn Ruppert (2013-14)

A Social Framework for Big Data

The Social Framework proposes an agenda that understands how social composition and social effects are related and proposes that giving Big Data a ‘social intelligence’ requires acting with an ethic of care. It is the product of an ESRC funded project, Socialising Big Data, led by Evelyn Ruppert (2013-14). Accompanying documents that are available are a working paper, 'Socialising Big Data: from concept to practice' and 'Background: A Social Framework for Big Data.