Extreme managers, extreme workplaces: capitalism, organizations and corporate psychopaths

This paper reports on in-depth, qualitative research carried out in England in 2013 among five organizational directors and two senior managers who had worked with other senior directors or managers who were Corporate Psychopaths, as measured by a management psychopathy measure. The Corporate Psychopaths reported on in this research displayed remarkable consistency in their approach to management to the extent that they could be called “text book examples” of managerial psychopathy. They were seen as being organizational stars and as deserving of performance awards by those above them, while the Corporate Psychopaths simultaneously subjected those below them to extreme forms of behavior, including bullying, intimidation and coercion and also engaged in extreme forms of mismanagement; such as very poor levels of personnel management, directionless leadership, miss-management of resources and outright fraud

Fluoroscopy-free ultrasonography-guided percutaneous nephrolithotomy in pediatric patients: a single-center experience

Objectives: To present the safety and efficacy of fluoroscopy-free ultrasound-guided PCNL for the treatment of renal calculi in pediatric patients of all ages. Methods: 30 children with mean age of 5 years (6 months–12 years) underwent totally ultrasound-guided PCNL from March 2013 to August 2016. The pyelocalyceal system was punctured in prone position using only ultrasonography guidance, and the tract was dilated using a single shot dilation technique. No fluoroscopy was used during any of the stages of renal access. The procedure was performed using adult-sized instruments. Results: The mean stone size was 27.1 ± 8.7 mm. Mean access time was 4.3 ± 2 min. Mean nephroscopic time was 34.6 ± 15.2 min. Mean hospital stay of patients was 3 days (range 2–5). 21 patients were stone-free after the procedure (70 success rate). Only four patients out of 30 experienced postoperative complications. Conclusions: The results of this study showed that fluoroscopic-free ultrasound-guided PCNL in pediatric patients of all ages is safe, highly efficient, and minimizes potential radiation exposure risks associated with the procedure. © 2018, Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature

Gliomas Infiltrating the Corpus Callosum: A Systematic Review of the Literature

Background: Gliomas infiltrating the corpus callosum (G-I-CC) majorly impact patient quality-of-life, but maximally safe tumor resection is challenging. We systematically reviewed the literature on G-I-CC. Methods: PubMed, EMBASE, Scopus, Web of Science, and Cochrane were searched following the PRISMA guidelines to include studies of patients with G-I-CC. Clinicopathological features, treatments, and outcomes were analyzed. Results: We included 52 studies comprising 683 patients. Most patients experienced headache (33%), cognitive decline (18.7%), and seizures (17.7%). Tumors mostly infiltrated the corpus callosum genu (44.2%) with bilateral extension (85.4%) into frontal (68.3%) or parietal (8.9%) lobes. Most G-I-CC were glioblastomas (84.5%) with IDH-wildtype (84.9%) and unmethylated MGMT promoter (53.5%). Resection (76.7%) was preferred over biopsy (23.3%), mostly gross-total (33.8%) and subtotal (32.5%). The tumor-infiltrated corpus callosum was resected in 57.8% of cases. Radiation was delivered in 65.8% of patients and temozolomide in 68.3%. Median follow-up was 12 months (range, 0.1–116). In total, 142 patients (31.8%) experienced post-surgical complications, including transient supplementary motor area syndrome (5.1%) and persistent motor deficits (4.3%) or abulia (2.5%). Post-treatment symptom improvement was reported in 42.9% of patients. No differences in rates of complications (p = 0.231) and symptom improvement (p = 0.375) were found in cases with resected versus preserved corpus callosum. Recurrences occurred in 40.9% of cases, with median progression-free survival of 9 months (0.1–72). Median overall survival was 10.7 months (range, 0.1–116), significantly longer in low-grade tumors (p = 0.013) and after resection (p p = 0.041) in patients with high-grade tumors. Conclusions: G-I-CC show clinicopathological patterns comparable to other more frequent gliomas. Maximally safe resection significantly improves survival with low rates of persistent complications

Customizable composite fibers for engineering skeletal muscle models

Published online: 14 November 2019Engineering tissue-like scaffolds that can mimic the microstructure, architecture, topology, and mechanical properties of native tissues while offering an excellent environment for cellular growth has remained an unmet need. To address these challenges, multicompartment composite fibers are fabricated. These fibers can be assembled through textile processes to tailor tissue-level mechanical and electrical properties independent of cellular level components. Textile technologies also allow control of the distribution of different cell types and the microstructure of fabricated constructs and the direction of cellular growth within the 3D microenvironment. Here, we engineered composite fibers from biocompatible cores and biologically relevant hydrogel sheaths. The fibers are mechanically robust to being assembled using textile processes and could support adhesion, proliferation, and maturation of cell populations important for the engineering of skeletal muscles. We also demonstrated that the changes in the coating of the multicompartment fibers could potentially enhance myogenesis in vitro.S.R.S. was partially supported by the National Institutes of Health (R21EB026824) and the Brigham Research Institute Stepping Strong Innovator Award. C.R. would like to thank the funding from the National Centre for Research and Develop ment (STRATEGMED1/233224/10/NCBR/2014, project START). This work was partially supported by the National Institutes of Health (AR066193, AR066193, EB022403, AR057837, HL137193, GM126831, AR073822). M.A. would like to thank the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). H.A. thanks the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK). Additionally, I.K.Y. acknowledges financial support from the NIH through the Organ Design and Engineering Training program (T32 EB16652); R.C.-A. thanks the Portuguese funds through FCT−Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia in the framework of FCT-POPH-FSE, the Ph.D. grant SFRH/BD/96593/2013

Genome-wide inactivation of porcine endogenous retroviruses (PERVs)

The shortage of organs for transplantation is a major barrier to the treatment of organ failure. While porcine organs are considered promising, their use has been checked by concerns about transmission of porcine endogenous retroviruses (PERVs) to humans. Here, we describe the eradication of all PERVs in a porcine kidney epithelial cell line (PK15). We first determined the PK15 PERV copy number to be 62. Using CRISPR-Cas9, we disrupted all 62 copies of the PERV pol gene and demonstrated a > 1000-fold reduction in PERV transmission to human cells using our engineered cells. Our study shows that CRISPR-Cas9 multiplexability can be as high as 62 and demonstrates the possibility that PERVs can be inactivated for clinical application of porcine- to-human xenotransplantation