Addressing the psychological impact of infertility risk arising from breast cancer treatment: Education and self-compassion interventions

Breast cancer incidence is increasing globally, including populations of childbearing age. Infertility risk from cancer treatment can negatively impact mental health in breast cancer patients and survivors, in part due to a lack of understanding of the risk and mitigation options ahead of treatment. In this commentary, recent literature on understanding of breast cancer treatment risk to infertility is reviewed, and recommendations are made for improving knowledge for at-risk populations. In addition, we propose a novel integration of self-compassion interventions be applied within breast cancer clinical care, building on groundwork from both breast cancer and primary infertility research areas that indicate the psychological benefits of self-compassion. Considerations for the application of self-compassion interventions to address fertility concerns within breast cancer patient and survivor populations are discussed

Role-play Games (RPGs) for Mental Health (Why Not?): Roll for Initiative

COVID-19 has impacted the mental health of the general public negatively, associated with preventative measures, restricting life activities. These restrictions, such as the stay-at-home strategy, resulted in heightened stress, depression, loneliness, substance abuse and domestic violence, violating people’s occupational and personal lives. During the pandemic, the demands for roleplay games (RPGs) have increased: for example, the sales of “Dungeons & Dragons” tripled, underscoring the potential mental health benefits of such games. However, research into the mental health benefits of such games remains under-developed, needing more scientific attention. Accordingly, this commentary paper reviews the existing literature, and suggests areas for application and research about RPGs and mental health including psychotherapy, career guidance, education, and people with disabilities. Insights offered can help practitioners and researchers in RPGs and mental health conduct empirical research and develop alternative approaches for mental health in stressful times

Dispositional greed and life satisfaction: the role of social comparison for well-being

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted and reshaped effective leadership practices by introducing working-from-home protocols (WFH) and the hybrid workplace model. The current study sought to identify and understand leadership practices adopted in WFH and the transition to the hybrid model, the effectiveness of these practices, and the implications of these on future effective leadership practices in knowledge-based organizations. The current study employed an inductive thematic analysis on semi-structured interviews with thirteen senior leaders in marketing agencies and departments, grounded in causal leadership epistemology. Five themes were identified: (1) remote leadership capabilities required, (2) a soft skills leadership renaissance, (3) introspection is a coping strategy, (4), leaders' temporal quandary, and (5) hybrid leadership uncertainty. The study findings indicated the leaders who successfully coped and continued to be effective exhibited a more adaptive and resilient mindset, evolving their leadership practices and skills to suit the needs of remote (WFH) leadership. They embraced softer leadership skills and developed more humanistic leadership behaviors. They developed an introspection practice to maintain their mental and psychological balance and they mastered time management in an always-on world. This study offers leaders, managers, and employers practical insights into ongoing effective leadership practice with remote (WFH) empowered workforces and hybrid workplace normalization

Stress, coping and job satisfaction in UK academics during the COVID-19 pandemic

Objectives. The occurrence of work-related stress is high among UK academics. This is associated with increased risk of ill-health, reduced productivity, and lower job satisfaction. These might have been exacerbated by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. Social support and coping strategies have the potential to ameliorate the impact of stress but have been less explored in academics; these were explored in a cross-sectional study. Methods. Fifty academic staff were recruited via links posted on social media and through snowballing sample technique. The survey included key demographics such as age, gender, relationship status, educational attainment, known to have relationship with work-related stress. Other measures include perceived stress, social support, coping strategies and job satisfaction. Results. Moderate stress was found in UK academics. Greater impact of COVID-19 and greater use of avoidance coping were significant predictors of higher stress. Conclusion. Encouraging the use of adaptive coping strategies such as problem solving, through staff training could help to reduce stress. Future longitudinal research should examine stress and coping in academics, establishing causation, while accounting for confounders such as contract type, teaching hours, and class sizes. Stress-management interventions should account for pandemic-related stressors including high workload and isolation, as academics continue to engage in hybrid/remote working. Implication. It is important that universities put in place support systems to reduce the level of stress in academics. This could be through training and education in the use of adaptive coping strategies, such as planning and problem solving as well as support from co-workers and management; which are associated with positive psychological wellbeing

Sustainability in practice: a case report of an interdisciplinary online student conference

Sustainable development is interdisciplinary and applicable to all Higher Education subject areas. However, in some curricula its importance is overlooked which presents a barrier to the achievement of the United Nation Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). To address this, we organised a ‘Sustainability in Practice’ online conference that invited students to discuss ‘Sustainability, what's it got to do with me?’. The conference, embraced a transformational education approach and active learning, included keynote speakers, breakout sessions and research posters. Student feedback highlighted that they found the event valuable and inspirational: the knowledge gained and discussions with academics and peers were particularly helpful. Students also wished for further engagement, emphasising the event's value and impact on their appetite for knowledge. Insights reported will enable other institutions to replicate the conference thereby helping them to develop their own students’ knowledge and facilitate conversations on sustainability, contributing to education for sustainable development and further achieving the SDGs

PathPred: an enzyme-catalyzed metabolic pathway prediction server

The KEGG RPAIR database is a collection of biochemical structure transformation patterns, called RDM patterns, and chemical structure alignments of substrate-product pairs (reactant pairs) in all known enzyme-catalyzed reactions taken from the Enzyme Nomenclature and the KEGG PATHWAY database. Here, we present PathPred (http://www.genome.jp/tools/pathpred/), a web-based server to predict plausible pathways of muti-step reactions starting from a query compound, based on the local RDM pattern match and the global chemical structure alignment against the reactant pair library. In this server, we focus on predicting pathways for microbial biodegradation of environmental compounds and biosynthesis of plant secondary metabolites, which correspond to characteristic RDM patterns in 947 and 1397 reactant pairs, respectively. The server provides transformed compounds and reference transformation patterns in each predicted reaction, and displays all predicted multi-step reaction pathways in a tree-shaped graph

E-zyme: predicting potential EC numbers from the chemical transformation pattern of substrate-product pairs

Motivation: The IUBMB's Enzyme Nomenclature system, commonly known as the Enzyme Commission (EC) numbers, plays key roles in classifying enzymatic reactions and in linking the enzyme genes or proteins to reactions in metabolic pathways. There are numerous reactions known to be present in various pathways but without any official EC numbers, most of which have no hope to be given ones because of the lack of the published articles on enzyme assays

Positive psychology of Malaysian students: impacts of engagement, motivation, self-compassion and wellbeing on mental health

Malaysia plays a key role in education of the Asia Pacific, expanding its scholarly output rapidly. However, mental health of Malaysian students is challenging, and their help-seeking is low because of stigma. This study explored the relationships between mental health and positive psychological constructs (academic engagement, motivation, self-compassion, and wellbeing), and evaluated the relative contribution of each positive psychological construct to mental health in Malaysian students. An opportunity sample of 153 students completed the measures regarding these constructs. Correlation, regression, and mediation analyses were conducted. Engagement, amotivation, self-compassion, and wellbeing were associated with, and predicted large variance in mental health. Self-compassion was the strongest independent predictor of mental health among all the positive psychological constructs. Findings can imply the strong links between mental health and positive psychology, especially selfcompassion. Moreover, intervention studies to examine the effects of self-compassion training on mental health of Malaysian students appear to be warranted.N/

Climate change anxiety among parents of school-aged children in the UK: Experience as a common predictor of cognitive-emotional and functional impairments

Climate change anxiety (CCA) is distress about climate change and its impacts on the environment and human health. CCA is manifested as cognitive-emotional impairment and functional impairment. CCA has been increasingly recognised in the mental health field, however, how to reduce CCA remains uninformed. Parents of school-aged children are vulnerable to CCA, due to parenting stress and worries for the future. We aimed to identify predictors of the CCA impairment, from experience of climate change, behavioural engagement, and number of children among parents of school-aged children. A convenience sample of 126 parents (82 mothers and 44 fathers) responded to an online survey. Multiple regression analyses were used. After controlling for age and gender, (a) experience of climate change (b=0.16, p< 0.01, 95%CI 0.06-0.27) and behavioural engagement (b=0.31, p<0.05, 95%CI 0.08-0.55) predicted cognitive-emotional impairment, and (b) experience of climate change predicted functional impairment (b=0.20, p<0.01, 95%CI 0.08-0.31). Experience of climate change was a common predictor. Cognitive re-appraisal and compassion practice may help alter the experiential aspect of climate change to mitigate CCA. Future research needs to evaluate the mechanism of climate change experience in order to effectively reduce CCA

Understanding how children are coping with climate change anxiety by exploring coping strategies and supportive interventions.

Climate change presents a significant threat to both the planet and human prosperity which impacts our physical health and mental well-being. There is an imminent requirement for significant global action. This means (a) our children have been born into unprecedented times and (b) as future adults, they will find themselves facing the major consequences of climate change. These can negatively affect their mental health and well-being. This paper reports the effect of climate anxiety on this population group through an exploration of coping strategies and supportive interventions. Empowering children to engage in climate action has been identified as a coping strategy. Whilst equipping them with knowledge and resources on climate change and providing safe spaces and experiences in nature are identified as supportive interventions. However, further empirical research evidence is needed to determine the next steps to address the extent of the impact of climate anxiety and prepare our children for the future