Burnout and engagement of young adults in study, work and leisure

Introduction Young adulthood is an important stage of life. Health development and problems during young adulthood have impact on life later on (Koskinen, Kestilä, Martelin & Aromaa, 2005). Well- and ill-being during studying and working have been studied from the perspective of burnout and engagement. Burnout is defined as a studying- or work-related prolonged stress-disorder (Maslach, Schaufeli & Leiter, 2001; Salmela-Aro, 2009), while engagement is a positive, long-term affective-cognitive state (Schaufeli, Salanova, González-Romá & Bakker, 2002). According to the demands-resources -model, in studying and work, burnout leads to ill-being while engagement leads to well-being (Demerouti, Bakker, Nachreiner & Schaufeli, 2001; Salmela-Aro & Upadyaya, 2014a; Schaufeli & Bakker, 2004). Apparently it has not been previously studied, whether it is possible to experience burnout and engagement in leisure-time like it is in studying and working. The main goal of this study was to identify burnout- and engagement groups using the person-centered approach (Bergman & Anderson, 2010) in studying or working young adults, who could differ in terms of background-, health- and welfare-factors. The secondary goal was to explore the structure of burnout and engagement in leisure-time of the same participants and also find out what kind of factors were involved. Methods This study is part of the Finnish Educational Transitions Studies (FinEdu) -longitudinal study, using the latest questionnaire material collected in 2013–2014. Only students and employees were included in the analyzed data (N=924, women=562, primary students=317, employees=607), their age varying from 24 to 29 years of age. Burnout and engagement groups in studying and work were identified through latent profile analysis. The structure of burnout and engagement in leisure-time was studied with explorative factor analysis. The acquired groups along with burnout and engagement in leisure-time were compared to different background-, health- and welfare-factors. Results The latent-profile-analysis identified three burnout- and engagement groups in studying and work. The engaged (56%) experienced engagement and minor burnout in their studies or work. They also had the best state of health and well-being. The burned-out (14%) experienced burnout in their studies or work and had low engagement. Their group also had the worst state of health and well-being. The disengaged (30%) reminded the burned-out, but did not have as low experience of engagement or as high burnout as the burned-out. The disengaged placed in between the engaged and the burned-out in terms of health and well-being. In leisure-time, both burnout- and engagement dimensions were distinguishable through explorative factor analysis. Burnout in leisure-time was connected to a worse state of health and lesser well-being, while engagement linked to better health and higher well-being. In addition, burnout and engagement in leisure-time was connected to the burnout- and engagement groups in studying and work. Discussion Young adults experience burnout and engagement in their studies, work and leisure time. According to this study, half of the students experience more engagement than burnout in their studies or work. Alarmingly, the other half experiences more burnout than engagement in their studies or work which is also linked to burnout and engagement experienced in leisure-time. Burnout and engagement are linked to many ill- and well-being factors, thus having a great impact on both the individual and the society. Therefore, it is important that the study of these phenomena is pursued.Johdanto Nuori aikuisikä on tärkeä elämänvaihe. Sen varaan rakentunut terveys ja ongelmat vaikuttavat myöhempään elämään (Koskinen, Kestilä, Martelin & Aromaa, 2005). Opiskelussa ja työssä ihmisten hyvin- ja pahoinvointia on tutkittu uupumuksen ja innokkuuden näkökulmasta. Uupumus on opiskeluun tai työhön liittyvä pitkittynyt stressioireyhtymä (Maslach, Schaufeli & Leiter, 2001; Salmela-Aro, 2009), kun taas opiskelu- ja työinnokkuus on positiivinen, pitkäkestoinen affektiivis-kognitiivinen tila (Schaufeli, Salanova, González-Romá & Bakker, 2002). Vaatimus-voimavarat -mallin mukaisesti opiskelussa ja työssä uupumus johtaa pahoinvointiin ja innokkuus hyvinvointiin (Demerouti, Bakker, Nachreiner & Schaufeli, 2001; Salmela-Aro & Upadyaya, 2014a; Schaufeli & Bakker, 2004). Aikaisemmin ei tiettävästi ole tutkittu, sopiiko uupumuksen ja innokkuuden viitekehys myös vapaa-ajan kontekstiin. Tämän tutkimuksen päätavoitteena oli tunnistaa henkilösuuntautuneen lähestymistavan (Bergman & Andersson, 2010) avulla opiskelevien tai työssä käyvien nuorten aikuisten opiskeluun ja työhön liittyviä uupumus- ja innokkuusryhmiä, joiden vastaajat saattavat poiketa toisistaan myös erilaisten tausta-, terveys- ja hyvinvointitekijöiden suhteen. Tutkimuksen toinen päätavoite oli selvittää samojen vastaajien uupumuksen ja innokkuuden rakenne vapaa-ajan kontekstissa, sekä minkälaisiin tekijöihin nämä olivat yhteydessä. Menetelmät Tämä tutkimus oli osa Finnish Educational Transitions Studies (FinEdu) -pitkittäistutkimusta, jossa käytettiin viimeisintä vuosina 2013–2014 kerättyä kyselyaineistoa. Analysoitavaan aineistoon jätettiin ainoastaan opiskelijat ja työntekijät (N = 924, naisia = 562, ensisijaisesti opiskelijoita = 317 ja työntekijöitä = 607), ja heidän ikänsä vaihteli 24–29-ikävuoden välillä. Opiskelun ja työn uupumus- ja innokkuusryhmät tunnistettiin latentin profiilianalyysin avulla. Vapaa-ajan uupumuksen ja innokkuuden rakennetta tarkasteltiin eksploratiivisen faktorianalyysin avulla. Saatuja ryhmiä sekä vapaa-ajan uupumusta ja innokkuutta vertailtiin erilaisiin tausta-, terveys- ja hyvinvointitekijöihin . Tulokset Latenttiprofiili analyysi tunnisti kolme uupumus- ja innokkuusryhmää opiskelussa ja työssä. Innostuneet (56 %) kokivat innokkuutta ja vähäistä uupumusta opiskeluaan tai työtään kohtaan. Heillä oli myös paras terveydentila ja hyvinvointi. Uupuneet (14 %) kokivat itsensä opinnoissaan tai työssään uupuneeksi ja heillä innokkuus oli matalaa. Heidän ryhmänsä voi myös huonoiten terveyden ja hyvinvoinnin näkökulmasta. Innottomat (30 %) muistuttivat uupuneita, mutta heillä innokkuuden kokemus ei ollut niin matala tai uupumus niin korkea kuin uupuneilla. Innottomat sijoittuvat terveydessä ja hyvinvoinnissa innokkaiden ja uupuneiden väliin. Vapaa-ajalle oli eroteltavissa eksploratiivisen faktorianalyysin avulla uupumus- ja innokkuusulottuvuus. Vapaa-ajan uupumus oli yhteydessä huonompaan terveyteen ja vähäisempään hyvinvointiin, kun taas innokkuus oli yhteydessä parempaan terveyteen ja korkeampaan hyvinvointiin. Lisäksi vapaa-ajan uupumus ja innokkuus olivat yhteydessä opiskelun ja työn uupumus- ja innokkuusryhmiin. Pohdinta Nuoret aikuiset kokivat uupumusta ja innokkuutta niin opiskelussa, työssä kuin vapaa-aikanakin. Tämän tutkimuksen mukaan puolet opiskelijoista kokee opinnoissaan tai työssään enemmän innokkuutta kuin uupumusta. Huolestuttavaa kuitenkin on, että toinen puolikas kokee opinnoissaan tai työssään enemmän uupumusta kuin innokkuutta, ja tämä on vielä yhteydessä vapaa-aikana koettuun uupumukseen ja innokkuuteen. Uupumus ja innokkuus linkittyvät moniin pahoin- ja hyvinvointitekijöihin, joten niillä on suuri merkitys niin yksilölle kuin hänen kauttaan koko yhteiskunnalle. Siksi on tärkeää, että tutkimusta näiden ilmiöiden parissa jatketaan

Evaluating bicyclists’ risk perception using video clips: Comparison of frequent and infrequent city cyclists

Abstract Hazard and risk perception has been studied extensively among car drivers, and their link to crash involvement is established. Bicyclists, in particular, are vulnerable road users. Better understanding of their risk and hazard perception could help to improve their traffic safety. In this study, we investigated the risk perception of bicyclists in a city environment. Two groups of bicyclists were compared: 19 frequent and 19 infrequent bicyclists. Participants were shown video clips taken with a camera attached to the handlebar of a bicycle, and they were asked to continuously indicate with a slider how much caution the situation needed. The frequent cyclists had more frequent rises in the caution estimate, which suggest that they anticipated or detected more hazards than infrequent cyclists. This is in line with the classical hazard perception results, which link the car driving experience to faster and more accurate hazard perception. The overall level or caution was not directly related to the rise event rate or bicycling frequency. Those cyclists who reported typically cycling faster than others showed elevated overall level of caution on sidewalks compared with others, but there was no difference on bike paths.Hazard and risk perception has been studied extensively among car drivers, and their link to crash involvement is established. Bicyclists, in particular, are vulnerable road users. Better understanding of their risk and hazard perception could help to improve their traffic safety. In this study, we investigated the risk perception of bicyclists in a city environment. Two groups of bicyclists were compared: 19 frequent and 19 infrequent bicyclists. Participants were shown video clips taken with a camera attached to the handlebar of a bicycle, and they were asked to continuously indicate with a slider how much caution the situation needed. The frequent cyclists had more frequent rises in the caution estimate, which suggest that they anticipated or detected more hazards than infrequent cyclists. This is in line with the classical hazard perception results, which link the car driving experience to faster and more accurate hazard perception. The overall level or caution was not directly related to the rise event rate or bicycling frequency. Those cyclists who reported typically cycling faster than others showed elevated overall level of caution on sidewalks compared with others, but there was no difference on bike paths. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.Peer reviewe

Raw Meat-Based Diets in Dogs and Cats

Feeding pets raw meat-based diets (RMBDs) is commonly practiced by many companion animal owners and has received increasing attention in recent years. It may be beneficial for the animals, but may also pose a health risk for both pets and their owners, as RMBDs may be contaminated by enteric pathogens-such as Campylobacter, Salmonella, and Yersinia-which are the most common zoonotic bacteria causing enteritis in humans. Little information exists on the prevalence of these pathogens in pet food, and thus one aim was to investigate the prevalence of Campylobacter, Salmonella, and Yersinia in commercial RMBDs from retail stores. Little evidence also exists on the significance of raw meat feeding on the shedding of Campylobacter, Salmonella, and enteropathogenic Yersinia in the feces of pets, and therefore, the second goal was to study the presence of these pathogens in dogs and cats fed RMBDs. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) only sporadically detected Campylobacter, Salmonella, and enteropathogenic Yersinia in RMBDs. These pathogens were not found by culturing, indicating a low contamination level in frozen RMBDs. They were also detected in the feces of dogs and cats, but the association with feeding RMBDs to them remained unclear.Peer reviewe

Aging and serum exomiR content in women-effects of estrogenic hormone replacement therapy

Exosomes participate in intercellular messaging by transporting bioactive lipid-, protein-and RNA-molecules and -complexes. The contents of the exosomes reflect the physiological status of an individual making exosomes promising targets for biomarker analyses. In the present study we extracted exosome microRNAs (exomiRs) from serum samples of premenopausal women (n = 8) and monozygotic postmenopausal twins (n = 10 female pairs), discordant for the use of estrogenic hormone replacement therapy (HRT), in order to see whether the age or/and the use of HRT associates with exomiR content. A total of 241 exomiRs were detected by next generation sequencing, 10 showing age, 14 HRT and 10 age + HRT-related differences. When comparing the groups, differentially expressed miRs were predicted to affect cell proliferation processes showing inactivation with younger age and HRT usage. MiR-106-5p, -148a-3p, -27-3p, -126-5p, -28-3p and -30a-5p were significantly associated with serum 17 beta-estradiol. MiRs formed two hierarchical clusters being indicative of positive or negative health outcomes involving associations with body composition, serum 17 beta-estradiol, fat-, glucose-and inflammatory markers. Circulating exomiR clusters, obtained by NGS, could be used as indicators of metabolic and inflammatory status affected by hormonal changes at menopause. Furthermore, the individual effects of HRT-usage could be evaluated based on the serum exomiR signature.Peer reviewe

Spatial immunoprofiling of the intratumoral and peritumoral tissue of renal cell carcinoma patients

While the abundance and phenotype of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes are linked with clinical survival, their spatial coordination and its clinical significance remain unclear. Here, we investigated the immune profile of intratumoral and peritumoral tissue of clear cell renal cell carcinoma patients (n = 64). We trained a cell classifier to detect lymphocytes from hematoxylin and eosin stained tissue slides. Using unsupervised classification, patients were further classified into immune cold, hot and excluded topographies reflecting lymphocyte abundance and localization. The immune topography distribution was further validated with The Cancer Genome Atlas digital image dataset. We showed association between PBRM1 mutation and immune cold topography, STAG1 mutation and immune hot topography and BAP1 mutation and immune excluded topography. With quantitative multiplex immunohistochemistry we analyzed the expression of 23 lymphocyte markers in intratumoral and peritumoral tissue regions. To study spatial interactions, we developed an algorithm quantifying the proportion of adjacent immune cell pairs and their immunophenotypes. Immune excluded tumors were associated with superior overall survival (HR 0.19, p = 0.02) and less extensive metastasis. Intratumoral T cells were characterized with pronounced expression of immunological activation and exhaustion markers such as granzyme B, PD1, and LAG3. Immune cell interaction occurred most frequently in the intratumoral region and correlated with CD45RO expression. Moreover, high proportion of peritumoral CD45RO+ T cells predicted poor overall survival. In summary, intratumoral and peritumoral tissue regions represent distinct immunospatial profiles and are associated with clinicopathologic characteristics.Peer reviewe

Population genetics and antimicrobial susceptibility of canine Campylobacter isolates collected before and after a raw feeding experiment

In recent years, increasing numbers of consumers have become interested in feeding raw food for their pet dogs as opposed to commercial dry food, in the belief of health advantages. However, raw meat and internal organs, possibly contaminated by pathogens such as Campylobacter spp., may pose a risk of transmission of zoonoses to the pet owners. Campylobacter jejuni is the leading cause of bacterial gastroenteritis in humans but C. upsaliensis has also been associated with human disease. In this study we investigated the effect of different feeding strategies on the prevalence of Campylobacter spp. in Finnish dogs. We further characterized the isolates using multilocus sequence typing (MLST), whole-genome (wg) MLST and antimicrobial susceptibility testing. Dogs were sampled before and after a feeding period consisting of commercial raw feed or dry pellet feed. Altogether 56% (20/36) of the dogs yielded at least one Campylobacter-positive fecal sample. C. upsaliensis was the major species detected from 39% of the dogs before and 30% after the feeding period. Two C. jejuni isolates were recovered, both from raw-fed dogs after the dietary regimen. The isolates represented the same genotype (ST-1326), suggesting a common infection source. However, no statistically significant correlation was found between the feeding strategies and Campylobacter spp. carriage. The global genealogy of MLST types of dog and human C. upsaliensis isolates revealed weakly clonal population structure as most STs were widely dispersed. Major antimicrobial resistance among C. upsaliensis isolates was against streptomycin (STR MIC > 4mg/l). Apart from that, all isolates were highly susceptible against the antimicrobials tested. Mutations were found in the genes rpsL or rpsL and rsmG in streptomycin resistant isolates. In conclusion, increasing trend to feed dogs with raw meat warrants more studies to evaluate the risk associated with raw feeding of pets in transmission of zoonoses to humans.Peer reviewe

Hemin and Cobalt Protoporphyrin Inhibit NLRP3 Inflammasome Activation by Enhancing Autophagy : A Novel Mechanism of Inflammasome Regulation

Inflammasomes are intracellular protein platforms, which, upon activation, produce the highly proinflammatory cytokines interleukin (IL)-1 beta and IL-18. Heme, hemin and their degradation products possess significant immunomodulatory functions. Here, we studied whether hemin regulates inflammasome function in macrophages. Both hemin and its derivative, cobalt protoporphyrin (CoPP), significantly reduced IL-1 beta secretion by cultured human primary macrophages, the human monocytic leukemia cell line and also mouse bone marrow-derived and peritoneal macrophages. Intraperitoneal administration of CoPP to mice prior to urate crystal-induced peritonitis alleviated IL-1 beta secretion to the peritoneal cavity. In cultured macrophages, hemin and CoPP inhibited NLRP3 inflammasome assembly by reducing the amount of intracellular apoptosis-associated speck-like protein containing a caspase-recruitment domain (ASC). The reduction of ASC was associated with enhanced autophagosome formation and autophagic flux. Inhibition of autophagy prevented the CoPP-induced depletion of ASC, implying that the depletion was caused by increased autophagy. Our data indicate that hemin functions as an endogenous negative regulator of the NLRP3 inflammasome. The inhibition is mediated via enhanced autophagy that results in increased degradation of ASC. This regulatory mechanism may provide a novel approach for the treatment of inflammasome-related diseases. (C) 2016 S. Karger AG, BaselPeer reviewe

Blood and skeletal muscle ageing determined by epigenetic clocks and their associations with physical activity and functioning

The aim of this study was to investigate the correspondence of different biological ageing estimates (i.e. epigenetic age) in blood and muscle tissue and their associations with physical activity (PA), physical function and body composition. Two independent cohorts (N = 139 and N = 47) were included, whose age span covered adulthood (23–69 years). Whole blood and m. vastus lateralis samples were collected, and DNA methylation was analysed. Four different DNA methylation age (DNAmAge) estimates were calculated using genome-wide methylation data and publicly available online tools. A novel muscle-specific methylation age was estimated using the R-package ‘MEAT’. PA was measured with questionnaires and accelerometers. Several tests were conducted to estimate cardiorespiratory fitness and muscle strength. Body composition was estimated by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. DNAmAge estimates from blood and muscle were highly correlated with chronological age, but different age acceleration estimates were weakly associated with each other. The monozygotic twin within-pair similarity of ageing pace was higher in blood (r = 0.617–0.824) than in muscle (r = 0.523–0.585). Associations of age acceleration estimates with PA, physical function and body composition were weak in both tissues and mostly explained by smoking and sex. The muscle-specific epigenetic clock MEAT was developed to predict chronological age, which may explain why it did not associate with functional phenotypes. The Horvath’s clock and GrimAge were weakly associated with PA and related phenotypes, suggesting that higher PA would be linked to accelerated biological ageing in muscle. This may, however, be more reflective of the low capacity of epigenetic clock algorithms to measure functional muscle ageing than of actual age acceleration. Based on our results, the investigated epigenetic clocks have rather low value in estimating muscle ageing with respect to the physiological adaptations that typically occur due to ageing or PA. Thus, further development of methods is needed to gain insight into muscle tissue-specific ageing and the underlying biological pathways.Peer reviewe

Determination of Removal Efficiencies for Escherichia coli, Clostridial Spores, and F-Specific Coliphages in Unit Processes of Surface Waterworks for QMRA Applications

The removal efficiencies of bacteria, bacterial spores, and viruses after a change in source water and water pH in coagulation were studied at pilot scale in coagulation with flotation, rapid sand filtration, and disinfection with UV and chlorine. The results were compared to the treatment efficiencies of full-scale waterworks and data from literature. A quantitative microbial risk assessment (QMRA)-method was applied to estimate the numbers of illness cases caused by Campylobacter and norovirus after simulation of six operational malfunction scenarios. Coagulation with flotation and disinfection were more efficient in removing Clostridium spp. spores and MS2 coliphages than sand filtration in the pilot scale experiments (p View Full-Text</a

Inflammatory mediator polymorphisms associate with initial periodontitis in adolescents

Peer reviewe