One Hundred Years of Inertia: An Exposé of the Concept of the Psychosocial Work Environment in Swedish Policy and Research

The purpose of this article is to describe a broader concept of the psychosocial work environment, a concept that not only is limited to the individual and her immediate environment but also takes into account a broader context that includes production technology as well as work organization and learning. Based on examples from Sweden, we discuss concepts and approaches to psychosocial work environment and how these have changed over time (e.g., how knowledge about the psychosocial work environment is used to understand and discuss health, management, and development—for individuals, groups, and organizations). The knowledge presented is not new; it has been around a long time. The title of the article—One Hundred Years of Inertia—shows some impatience on the part of its authors given that the pace of change in the work environment has not always been great

The Knowledge-based resources of Venture Capital firms’ and Born Global firms’ internationalization

This study analyzes how venture capital firms’ (VCs’) value-added activities affect the speed and scope of the internationalization and growth of born global firms. The existing literature has gaps in terms of the resources that facilitate the development of born global firms and how VCs may contribute certain knowledge-based resources in this development. This study received a response rate of 26% to questionnaires sent to 593 VC-backed entrepreneurs in Sweden. The study complements the survey data with four years of annual report data and tests the relationship between VC value-added activities and the born global firms’ speed and scope with multivariate statistics. The results show that while born global firms are prevalent among Swedish VC-backed firms, there is no significant evidence that VC firms contribute to their speed and scope of internationalization through their knowledge-based resources

STUDIES OF EFFECTS OF GSM-900 MICROWAVE EXPOSURE ON DNA ”MICRONUCLEUS” FORMATION IN MICE

Possible genotoxic effects of microwave exposure from GSM-900 mobile telephones have investigated with in vivo micronucleus assay of mouse erythrocytes from CBA mice and GFAP knockout mice. No significant change in the frequency of erythrocytes with micronuclei neither in the young (polychromatic PCE) or mature (normichromatic NCE) erythrocytes. There is, however, a tendency but not significant to increased MPCE in female mice after 35 days of exposure. There is a marked tendency to lower PCE-fraction in the exposed groups. When male and female is studied separately there is no significant difference. However, if the values are normalised to eliminate the sex-difference there is a significant lower fraction in the exposed mice. Another observation is lower weight of the exposed male. If normalised data for both sexes are pooled there is an almost significant difference (95% level) in weight. We found a less pronounced difference in the CBE mice than in the GFAP experiment. Thus genotype might play a role in microwave exposure. Differences in exposure time and number of controls in GFAP and CBA experiment might influence the results. We observe a moderate decrease of formation of new erythrocytes in the exposed animals. This might fit the tendency of lower weight in the exposed animals and might indicate a general decreased cell-proliferation in the exposed animals

Altered glucose-dependent secretion of glucagon and ACTH is associated with insulin resistance, assessed by population analysis

This study aimed to characterize how the dysregulation of counter-regulatory hormones can contribute to insulin resistance and potentially to diabetes. Therefore, we investigated the association between insulin sensitivity and the glucose- and insulin-dependent secretion of glucagon, adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), and cortisol in non-diabetic individuals using a population model analysis. Data, from hyperinsulinemic–hypoglycemic clamps, were pooled for analysis, including 52 individuals with a wide range of insulin resistance (reflected by glucose infusion rate 20–60 min; GIR 20–60min). Glucagon secretion was suppressed by glucose and, to a lesser extent, insulin. The GIR20–60min and BMI were identified as predictors of the insulin effect on glucagon. At no rmoglycemia (5 mmol/L), a 90% suppression of glucagon was achieved at insulin concentrations of 16.3 and 43.4 μU/mL in individuals belonging to the highest and lowest quanti les of insulin sensitivity, respectively. Insulin resistance of glucagon secretion explained the elevated fasting glucagon for individuals with a low GIR20–60min. ACTH secretion was suppressed by glucose and not affected by insulin. The GIR20–60min was superior to other measures as a predictor of glucose-dependent ACTH secretion, with 90% suppression of ACTH secretion by glucose at 3.1 and 3.5 mmol/L for insulin-sensitive and insulin-resista nt individuals, respectively. This difference may appear small but shifts the suppression rang e into normoglycemia for individuals with insulin resistance, thus, leading to earli er and greater ACTH/cortisol response when the glucose falls. Based on modeling of pooled glucose-clamp data, insulin resistance was associated with generally elevated glucagon and a potentiated cortisol-axis response to hypoglycemia, and over time both hormonal pathways may therefore contribute to dysglycemia and possibly type 2 diabetes

Does bilingualism come with linguistic costs? A meta-analytic review of the bilingual lexical deficit

A series of recent studies have shown that the once-assumed cognitive advantage of bilingualism finds little support in the evidence available to date. Surprisingly, however, the view that bilingualism incurs linguistic costs (the so-called lexical deficit) has not yet been subjected to the same degree of scrutiny, despite its centrality for our understanding of the human capacity for language. The current study implemented a comprehensive meta-analysis to address this gap. By analyzing 478 effect sizes from 130 studies on expressive vocabulary, we found that observed lexical deficits could not be attributed to bilingualism: Simultaneous bilinguals (who acquired both languages from birth) did not exhibit any lexical deficit, nor did sequential bilinguals (who acquired one language from birth and a second language after that) when tested in their mother tongue. Instead, systematic evidence for a lexical deficit was found among sequential bilinguals when tested in their second language, and more so for late than for early second language learners. This result suggests that a lexical deficit may be a phenomenon of second language acquisition rather than bilingualism per se

Геофизические закономерности локализации месторождений углеводородов Баренцево-Карского региона

Background: Rising serum levels of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) after radical prostatectomy are indicative of recurrent prostate cancer. This double-blind, placebo-controlled phase II study evaluated the anti-tumour activity of the anti-epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) antibody adecatumumab in delaying biochemical disease progression. Patients and Methods: Prostate cancer patients with increasing serum PSA levels following radical prostatectomy were randomized to low- (2 mg/kg) or high-dose adecatumumab (6 mg/kg) or placebo. The primary efficacy endpoint was the mean change from baseline in total serum PSA at week 24. Secondary endpoints included PSA response rate, prolongation of serum PSA doubling time and time to biochemical disease progression. Results: The primary and secondary endpoints of the study were not met in the predefined analyses. In a retrospective analysis of patients with baseline PSA <= 1 ng/ml and a high EpCAM expression, both the mean increase in PSA from baseline to week 24 and the PSA doubling time at week 15 were significantly improved in the high-dose adecatumumab group compared with the placebo group. Most frequent treatment-related clinical adverse events were gastrointestinal (diarrhoea and nausea) or general events (chills), showing a dose dependency but no grade 3/4 intensity in any patient. Conclusion: In men with rising PSA levels after radical prostatectomy and no evidence of clinical relapse, adecatumumab delayed disease progression in a subgroup of patients with baseline PSA levels <= 1 ng/ml and high EpCAM-expressing tumours. Copyright (C) 2010 S. Karger AG, Base

Prognostic impact of t(16;21)(p11;q22) and t(16;21)(q24;q22) in pediatric AML: A retrospective study by the I-BFM study group

To study the prognostic relevance of rare genetic aberrations in acute myeloid leukemia (AML), such as t(16:21), international collaboration is required. Two different types of t(16:21) translocations can be distinguished: t(16:21)(p11;q22), resulting in the FUS-ERG fusion gene; and t(16:21)(q24;q22), resulting in RUNX1-core binding factor (CBFA2T3). We collected data on clinical and biological characteristics of 54 pediatric AML cases with t(16:21) rearrangements from 14 international collaborative study groups participating in the international Berlin-Frankfurt-Miinster (I-BFM) AML study group. The AML-BFM cohort diagnosed between 1997 and 2013 was used as a reference cohort. RUNX1-CBFA2T3 (n = 23) had significantly lower median white blood cell count (12.5 x 10(9)/L, P = .03) compared with the reference cohort. FUS-ERG rearranged AML (n = 31) had no predominant French-American-British (FAB) type, whereas 76% of RUNX1-CBFA2T3 had an M1/M2 FAB type (M1, M2), significantly different from the reference cohort (P = .004). Four-year event-free survival (EFS) of patients with FUS-ERG was 7% (standard error [SE] = 5%), significantly lower compared with the reference cohort (51%, SE = 1%, P < .001). Four-year EFS of RUNX1-CBFA2T3 was 77% (SE = 8%, P = .06), significantly higher compared with the reference cohort. Cumulative incidence of relapse was 74% (SE = 8%) in FUS-ERG, 0% (SE = 0%) in RUNX1-CBFA2T3, compared with 32% (SE = 1%) in the reference cohort (P < .001). Multivariate analysis identified both FUS-ERG and RUNX1-CBFA2T3 as independent risk factors with hazard ratios of 1.9 (P < .0001) and 0.3 (P = .025), respectively. These results describe 2 clinically relevant distinct subtypes of pediatric AML. Similarly to other core-binding factor AMLs, patients with RUNX1-CBFA2T3 rearranged AML may benefit from stratification in the standard risk treatment, whereas patients with FUS-ERG rearranged AML should be considered high-risk