Development and Psychometric Evaluation of the Questionnaire of Ethical Leadership (QueL)

In this five-study paper, we developed and validated the Questionnaire of ethical Leadership (QueL). We examined the factor structure of QueL using Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analysis, along with measurement invariance techniques, using data from more than 1,200 leaders and subordinates working in Greece. Exploratory analysis indicated two latent highly-correlated factors that were labeled “Telos” and “Ethos.” Confirmatory analysis verified a bifactor solution. The bifactor QueL showed configural, metric, and scalar invariance across independent samples of leaders and subordinates. QueL was found to be a reliable measure across time and occupational groups (leaders and subordinates). We found criterion correlations in the expected direction with other ethical leadership scales, related constructs (i.e., integrity, trust, ethical climate), as well as workplace attitudes and behaviors (i.e., burnout, organizational commitment, organizational citizenship behaviors, deviant behaviors), leadership characteristics (transformational and transactional leadership, abusive supervision, personality), and socio-demographics (i.e., educational level and gender). We conclude that the new measure is a valuable tool for measuring workplace ethical leadership

Matrine suppresses breast cancer cell proliferation and invasion via VEGF-Akt-NF-κB signaling

Matrine has shown therapeutic and/or adjuvant therapeutic effects on the treatment of some patients with breast cancer. However, its mechanisms of action are largely unknown. To disclose the mechanisms, we investigated in vitro and ex vivo effects of matrine on the cancer cells. Our results confirmed that matrine significantly suppressed the proliferation of highly-metastatic human breast cancer MDA-MB-231 cell line. Matrine displayed synergistic effects with existing anticancer agents celecoxib (the inhibitor of cyclooxygenase-2), trichostatin A (the histone deacetylase inhibitor) and rosiglitazone against the proliferation and VEGF excretions in MDA-MB-231 cells. Matrine induced the apoptosis and cell cycle arrest by reducing the ratios of Bcl-2/Bax protein and mRNA levels in the cancer cells. Matrine significantly reduced the invasion, MMP-9/MMP-2 activation, Akt phosphorylation, nuclear factor κB p-65 expression and DNA binding activity, and mRNA levels of MMP-9, MMP-2, EGF and VEGFR1 in MDA-MB-231 cells. Collectively, our results suggest that matrine inhibits the cancer cell proliferation and invasion via EGF/VEGF-VEGFR1-Akt-NF-κB signaling pathway