Protective effect of green tea polyphenols on dinitrobenzene sulphonicacid (DNBS)-induced colitis in mice

published_or_final_versionPharmacologyMasterMaster of Philosoph

The impact of the psychological contract, justice and individual differences: nurses take it personally when employers break promises

Aim: to explore affective and attitudinal outcomes of aspects of the psychological contract, organizational justice and negative affectivity in nursing. Background Job satisfaction, mental health and commitment to organizations and the nursing profession is important for nurse retention. The psychological contract and organizational justice are related constructs that have been linked to these outcomes, as has the characteristic of negative affectivity. Rarely have the relationships between these concepts and outcomes been examined. Design Cross-sectional data were collected during November, 2007. Method Survey data collected on Registered Nurses and midwives from a large metropolitan hospital in Australia (n = 193, after removing missing cases and outliers) were analysed using structural equation modelling. The model used self-report measures of psychological contract obligations, fulfilment and breach, organizational justice and negative affectivity as predictors of job satisfaction, organizational commitment, career commitment and psychological distress. Results Goodness-of-fit statistics confirmed a well-fitting model. The model explained 49%, 29%, 60% and 47% of the variance in psychological distress, job satisfaction, organizational commitment and career commitment respectively. Conclusion Findings support the influence of the psychological contract, fairness and individual differences on outcomes important to nurse retention. Keeping promises is more important than making promises that cannot be kept. The results support a discrepancy mechanism underlying fulfilment and breach. The impact of breach suggests that nurses take breach personally, whereas fulfilment may represent a global evaluation of discrepancies. Ultimately, fulfilling, rather than making promises, keeps nurses happy

Effect of Hepatitis B Virus Reverse Transcriptase Variations on Entecavir Treatment Response

Background. Entecavir therapy often reduces hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA to an undetectable level, but HBV DNA remain detectable in some patients. We investigated whether baseline HBV reverse transcriptase (rt) polymorphism and quasispecies complexity and diversity were associated with treatment response.Methods. Pretreatment HBV DNA levels, HBV rt sequence, serology, and quasispecies complexity and diversity from 305 entecavir-treated patients were determined. These data were tested for their association with year 1 virological outcome, defined by optimal response (undetectable HBV DNA; lower limit of detection, </=12 IU/mL) or partial response (detectable HBV DNA).Results. Four rt variants were more frequently detected in the 64 partial responders than in the 241 optimal responders (all P < .05). Multivariate analysis revealed that high baseline HBV DNA level (P < .0001; odds ratio [OR], 2.32), HBV e antigen (HBeAg) positivity (P < .001; OR, 3.70), and rt124N (P = .002; OR, 3.06) were associated with a partial entecavir response. Compared with the optimal responders, the partial responders had a lower quasispecies complexity and diversity.Conclusions. Apart from the known factors (high baseline HBV DNA level and HBeAg positivity), a novel single nucleotide polymorphism (rt124N) and lower quasispecies complexity and diversity were associated with partial entecavir response at year 1