The Moderating Effect of Reciprocity Beliefs on Work Outcomes

Researchers have long assumed that employees’ reactions to treatment by their organization are guided by reciprocity norms. Eisenberger, Huntington, Hutchison, and Sowa (1986) developed a measure to assess how sensitive employees were to reciprocity obligations, focusing in particular on their beliefs that work effort should depend on treatment by the organization. Since then, research has found that this Exchange Ideology (EI) predicts variables such as organizational citizenship but cannot predict negative outcomes such as workplace deviance. Insight into why this is the case can be found by examining the related construct of reciprocity orientation. Positive (PRO) and Negative Reciprocity Orientation (NRO) measure the extent to which individuals believe they should reward individuals who have helped them or punish individuals who have hurt them, respectively (Eisenberger, Lynch, Aselage, & Rohdieck, 2004). Missing from the literature on reciprocity beliefs is a similar idea of retaliating against an organization that caused harm. In this dissertation, I developed a measure of Negative Exchange Ideology (NEI), the belief that it is appropriate to retaliate against an organization for negative actions on the part of that organization. Confirmatory factor analyses in Study 1 supported a four-factor structure composed of EI, NEI, PRO, and NRO (N = 302). This structure was supported in Study 2, and NEI moderated the relationship between psychological contract breach and deviance directed at the organization, such that for employees higher in NEI, higher breach perceptions were related to more deviance. EI moderated between breach and citizenship behavior directed at the organization, and NRO moderated between supervisor interactional justice and supervisor-directed deviance (N = 194). PRO was expected to moderate between justice and supervisor-directed OCBs, but no significant effect was found. In Study 3, scenarios depicting high and low levels of breach or interactional justice were presented to participants (N = 282) and anticipated reactions measured in order to gauge the causal effects of reciprocity beliefs. As expected, NEI moderated between breach and organizational deviance, and NRO moderated between injustice and supervisor-directed deviance. Taken together, these results suggest that reciprocity beliefs are useful predictors of workplace deviance and, in some cases, citizenship behaviors

A Pilot Study on the Effects of Curcumin on Parasites, Inflammation, and Opportunistic Bacteria in Riding Horses

Twelve riding horses were utilized to examine the effects of curcumin on intestinal parasites, inflammation, and the fecal shedding of Streptococcus bovis/equinus complex (SBEC), Clostridium difficile and Clostridium perfringens. Known for having anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and antiparasitic properties it was hypothesized that curcumin would decrease parasite shedding, inflammation, and opportunistic bacteria found in the GIT of riding horses. Horses were randomly assigned to one of the following treatments (n = 6/treatment): 1) no curcumin, control (CON); or 2) 15 g of 95% pure curcumin, (CUR). Curcumin was dosed per day for 30 d. Fecal samples were evaluated for shedding of ova and concentrations of selected bacteria. Blood samples taken pre and post riding intervals and evaluated for erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) for inflammation. All data were analyzed for repeated measures. Treatment had no effect (P ≥ 0.58) on total fecal egg count, strongyles, or ascarids. Treatment had no effect on ESR (P ≤ 0.42); however, ESR decreased (P = 0.0006) on d 14 in CUR horses. Treatment had no effect (P ≥ 0.34) on concentrations of SBEC, C. difficile, or C. perfringens. Curcumin was not an effective compound against intestinal parasites or fecal microbial strains examined when administered for 30 days; but could potentially decrease inflammation. Curcumin has been observed to have many beneficial effects in other species, however, more research is needed to evaluate those benefits in horses

Sexual Dysfunction as a Marker of Cardiovascular Disease in Males With 50 or More Years of Type 1 Diabetes

OBJECTIVE Vascular dysfunction is a major contributor to diabetes complications. It is also the primary physiologic cause of erectile dysfunction and considered an independent predictor of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in males over age 40 years. A cohort of individuals with 50 or more years of type 1 diabetes, Joslin Medalists, have low rates of small but not large vessel complications. This study aims to identify the prevalence and longitudinal association of sexual dysfunction (SD) with CVD in Joslin Medalists. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Description and association of self-assessment of SD in males of the Medalist cohort by self-reported sexual problems with CVD. SD is validated through the use of the abbreviated International Index of Erectile Dysfunction (IIEF). RESULTS Of 301 males in the Medalist Study, 69.8% reported a history of SD. Unadjusted risk factors included elevated glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) (P = 0.02), elevated BMI (P = 0.03), higher total cholesterol (P = 0.02), lower HDL (P 0.05) with SD. Current report of SD (IIEF score ≤17) in a subset of Medalists was significantly correlated with self-reported longitudinal SD. CONCLUSIONS SD in those with extreme-duration type 1 diabetes is independently associated with CVD, representing a large-vessel pattern. The findings suggest that SD may predict CVD in those with type 1 diabetes of long duration. These individuals have also been found to be relatively free of microvascular complications

Pyruvate kinase M2 activation may protect against the progression of diabetic glomerular pathology and mitochondrial dysfunction

Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is a major cause of end-stage renal disease, and therapeutic options for preventing its progression are limited. To identify novel therapeutic strategies, we studied protective factors for DN using proteomics on glomeruli from individuals with extreme duration of diabetes (≥ 50 years) without DN and those with histologic signs of DN. Enzymes in the glycolytic, sorbitol, methylglyoxal and mitochondrial pathways were elevated in individuals without DN. In particular, pyruvate kinase M2 (PKM2) expression and activity were upregulated. Mechanistically, we showed that hyperglycemia and diabetes decreased PKM2 tetramer formation and activity by sulfenylation in mouse glomeruli and cultured podocytes. Pkm-knockdown immortalized mouse podocytes had higher levels of toxic glucose metabolites, mitochondrial dysfunction and apoptosis. Podocyte-specific Pkm2-knockout (KO) mice with diabetes developed worse albuminuria and glomerular pathology. Conversely, we found that pharmacological activation of PKM2 by a small-molecule PKM2 activator, TEPP-46, reversed hyperglycemia-induced elevation in toxic glucose metabolites and mitochondrial dysfunction, partially by increasing glycolytic flux and PGC-1α mRNA in cultured podocytes. In intervention studies using DBA2/J and Nos3 (eNos) KO mouse models of diabetes, TEPP-46 treatment reversed metabolic abnormalities, mitochondrial dysfunction and kidney pathology. Thus, PKM2 activation may protect against DN by increasing glucose metabolic flux, inhibiting the production of toxic glucose metabolites and inducing mitochondrial biogenesis to restore mitochondrial function

A second generation radiation hybrid map to aid the assembly of the bovine genome sequence

BACKGROUND: Several approaches can be used to determine the order of loci on chromosomes and hence develop maps of the genome. However, all mapping approaches are prone to errors either arising from technical deficiencies or lack of statistical support to distinguish between alternative orders of loci. The accuracy of the genome maps could be improved, in principle, if information from different sources was combined to produce integrated maps. The publicly available bovine genomic sequence assembly with 6× coverage (Btau_2.0) is based on whole genome shotgun sequence data and limited mapping data however, it is recognised that this assembly is a draft that contains errors. Correcting the sequence assembly requires extensive additional mapping information to improve the reliability of the ordering of sequence scaffolds on chromosomes. The radiation hybrid (RH) map described here has been contributed to the international sequencing project to aid this process. RESULTS: An RH map for the 30 bovine chromosomes is presented. The map was built using the Roslin 3000-rad RH panel (BovGen RH map) and contains 3966 markers including 2473 new loci in addition to 262 amplified fragment-length polymorphisms (AFLP) and 1231 markers previously published with the first generation RH map. Sequences of the mapped loci were aligned with published bovine genome maps to identify inconsistencies. In addition to differences in the order of loci, several cases were observed where the chromosomal assignment of loci differed between maps. All the chromosome maps were aligned with the current 6× bovine assembly (Btau_2.0) and 2898 loci were unambiguously located in the bovine sequence. The order of loci on the RH map for BTA 5, 7, 16, 22, 25 and 29 differed substantially from the assembled bovine sequence. From the 2898 loci unambiguously identified in the bovine sequence assembly, 131 mapped to different chromosomes in the BovGen RH map. CONCLUSION: Alignment of the BovGen RH map with other published RH and genetic maps showed higher consistency in marker order and chromosome assignment than with the current 6× sequence assembly. This suggests that the bovine sequence assembly could be significantly improved by incorporating additional independent mapping information

Preterm Birth Associated With Group B Streptococcus Maternal Colonization Worldwide: Systematic Review and Meta-analyses.

Background: Preterm birth complications are the leading cause of deaths among children <5 years of age. Studies have suggested that group B Streptococcus (GBS) maternal rectovaginal colonization during pregnancy may be a risk factor for preterm delivery. This article is the fifth of 11 in a series. We aimed to assess the association between GBS maternal colonization and preterm birth in order to inform estimates of the burden of GBS. Methods: We conducted systematic literature reviews (PubMed/Medline, Embase, Latin American and Caribbean Health Sciences Literature [LILACS], World Health Organization Library Information System [WHOLIS], and Scopus) and sought unpublished data from investigator groups on the association of preterm birth (<37 weeks' gestation) and maternal GBS colonization (GBS isolation from vaginal, cervical, and/or rectal swabs; with separate subanalysis on GBS bacteriuria). We did meta-analyses to derive pooled estimates of the risk and odds ratios (according to study design), with sensitivity analyses to investigate potential biases. Results: We identified 45 studies for inclusion. We estimated the risk ratio (RR) for preterm birth with maternal GBS colonization to be 1.21 (95% confidence interval [CI], .99-1.48; P = .061) in cohort and cross-sectional studies, and the odds ratio to be 1.85 (95% CI, 1.24-2.77; P = .003) in case-control studies. Preterm birth was associated with GBS bacteriuria in cohort studies (RR, 1.98 [95% CI, 1.45-2.69]; P < .001). Conclusions: From this review, there is evidence to suggest that preterm birth is associated with maternal GBS colonization, especially where there is evidence of ascending infection (bacteriuria). Several biases reduce the chance of detecting an effect. Equally, however, results, including evidence for the association, may be due to confounding, which is rarely addressed in studies. Assessment of any effect on preterm delivery should be included in future maternal GBS vaccine trials