Reducing day-level emotional exhaustion: The complementary role of high involvement work systems and engaging leadership

High involvement work systems (HIWS) have been found to be improve employee well-being. The underlying processes through which HIWS influence employee well-being and the conditions under which these practices work are not fully understood. This study draws on job demands-resources theory to address this gap by theorising two novel mediators, that is, work pressure and bonding social capital, to explain how HIWS influence emotional exhaustion. We further proposed that engaging leadership as a proxy of line manager implementation of HIWS would strengthen these relationships. An integrated model is presented on how, why, and when HIWS influence employee well-being. Using data collected from 97 employees in a pharmaceutical company via a general survey and then a diary survey for 5 working days, this study found that HIWS alleviated day-level emotional exhaustion through their experience of higher day-level bonding social capital and lower day-level work pressure and these relationships were stronger under high level of engaging leadership

The effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a participative community singing programme as a health promotion initiative for older people: protocol for a randomised controlled trial

Background The growth in numbers of older people represents a considerable cost to health and social care services in the United Kingdom. There is an acknowledged need to address issues of social exclusion and both the physicial and mental health of this age group. In recent years there has been much interest in the potential contribution of the arts to the health of communities and individuals. There is some evidence that participative singing may be of benefit to older people, however studies to date are limited in number and have lacked rigour. There is therefore a need to build on this knowledge base to provide more quantifiable evidence of both effectiveness and cost efffectness of singing as a health intervention of this population group. Methods The proposed study is a pragmatic randomised controlled trial with two parallel arms. The primary hypothesis is that singing groups for older people improve both physical and mental aspects of qualaity of life when compared to usual activities. Potential participants will be volunteers over 60 years living in the community and recruited through publicity. Eligible and consenting participants will be randomized to either a singing group or a control group. Singing groups will take part in a twelve week planned programme of singing and control groups will continue with usual activities. The primary outcome measure will be the York SF-12, a health related quality of life measure which will be administered at baseline, three and six months after baseline. The study will evaluate both effectiveness and cost-effectiveness. Discussion This study proposes to add to the exisiting body of evidence on the value of singing for older people by using a rigorous methodological design, which includes a power calucation, a standardised intervention and assessment of cost-effectiveness. It should be regarded as a stage in a progressive programme of studies in this area. If group singing is found to be effective and cost-effective it may offer an alternative means to maintaining the health of people in later life

SAGES consensus recommendations on an annotation framework for surgical video

Background: The growing interest in analysis of surgical video through machine learning has led to increased research efforts; however, common methods of annotating video data are lacking. There is a need to establish recommendations on the annotation of surgical video data to enable assessment of algorithms and multi-institutional collaboration. Methods: Four working groups were formed from a pool of participants that included clinicians, engineers, and data scientists. The working groups were focused on four themes: (1) temporal models, (2) actions and tasks, (3) tissue characteristics and general anatomy, and (4) software and data structure. A modified Delphi process was utilized to create a consensus survey based on suggested recommendations from each of the working groups. Results: After three Delphi rounds, consensus was reached on recommendations for annotation within each of these domains. A hierarchy for annotation of temporal events in surgery was established. Conclusions: While additional work remains to achieve accepted standards for video annotation in surgery, the consensus recommendations on a general framework for annotation presented here lay the foundation for standardization. This type of framework is critical to enabling diverse datasets, performance benchmarks, and collaboration

The E3 ubiquitin ligase TRIM25 regulates adipocyte differentiation via proteasomemediated degradation of PPAR gamma

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPAR??) is a ligand-dependent transcription factor that regulates adipocyte differentiation and glucose homeostasis. The transcriptional activity of PPAR?? is regulated not only by ligands but also by post-translational modifications (PTMs). In this study, we demonstrate that a novel E3 ligase of PPAR??, tripartite motif-containing 25 (TRIM25), directly induced the ubiquitination of PPAR??, leading to its proteasome-dependent degradation. During adipocyte differentiation, both TRIM25 mRNA and protein expression significantly decreased and negatively correlated with the expression of PPAR??. The stable expression of TRIM25 reduced PPAR?? protein levels and suppressed adipocyte differentiation in 3T3-L1 cells. In contrast, the specific knockdown of TRIM25 increased PPAR?? protein levels and stimulated adipocyte differentiation. Furthermore, TRIM25-knockout mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) exhibited an increased adipocyte differentiation capability compared with wild-type MEFs. Taken together, these data indicate that TRIM25 is a novel E3 ubiquitin ligase of PPAR?? and that TRIM25 is a novel target for PPAR??-associated metabolic diseases

The Role of Tourism and Recreation in the Spread of Non-Native Species: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Managing the pathways by which non-native species are introduced and spread is considered the most effective way of preventing species invasions. Tourism and outdoor recreation involve the frequent congregation of people, vehicles and vessels from geographically diverse areas. They are therefore perceived to be major pathways for the movement of non-native species, and ones that will become increasingly important with the continued growth of these sectors. However, a global assessment of the relationship between tourism activities and the introduction of non-native species–particularly in freshwater and marine environments–is lacking. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to determine the impact of tourism and outdoor recreation on non-native species in terrestrial, marine and freshwater environments. Our results provide quantitative evidence that the abundance and richness of non-native species are significantly higher in sites where tourist activities take place than in control sites. The pattern was consistent across terrestrial, freshwater and marine environments; across a variety of vectors (e.g. horses, hikers, yachts); and across a range of taxonomic groups. These results highlight the need for widespread biosecurity interventions to prevent the inadvertent introduction of invasive non-native species (INNS) as the tourism and outdoor recreation sectors grow

Diverse and Active Roles for Adipocytes During Mammary Gland Growth and Function

The mammary gland is unique in its requirement to develop in close association with a depot of adipose tissue that is commonly referred to as the mammary fat pad. As discussed throughout this issue, the mammary fat pad represents a complex stromal microenvironment that includes a variety of cell types. In this article we focus on adipocytes as local regulators of epithelial cell growth and their function during lactation. Several important considerations arise from such a discussion. There is a clear and close interrelationship between different stromal tissue types within the mammary fat pad and its adipocytes. Furthermore, these relationships are both stage- and species-dependent, although many questions remain unanswered regarding their roles in these different states. Several lines of evidence also suggest that adipocytes within the mammary fat pad may function differently from those in other fat depots. Finally, past and future technologies present a variety of opportunities to model these complexities in order to more precisely delineate the many potential functions of adipocytes within the mammary glands. A thorough understanding of the role for this cell type in the mammary glands could present numerous opportunities to modify both breast cancer risk and lactation performance

Determinants of recovery from post-COVID-19 dyspnoea: analysis of UK prospective cohorts of hospitalised COVID-19 patients and community-based controls

Background The risk factors for recovery from COVID-19 dyspnoea are poorly understood. We investigated determinants of recovery from dyspnoea in adults with COVID-19 and compared these to determinants of recovery from non-COVID-19 dyspnoea. Methods We used data from two prospective cohort studies: PHOSP-COVID (patients hospitalised between March 2020 and April 2021 with COVID-19) and COVIDENCE UK (community cohort studied over the same time period). PHOSP-COVID data were collected during hospitalisation and at 5-month and 1-year follow-up visits. COVIDENCE UK data were obtained through baseline and monthly online questionnaires. Dyspnoea was measured in both cohorts with the Medical Research Council Dyspnoea Scale. We used multivariable logistic regression to identify determinants associated with a reduction in dyspnoea between 5-month and 1-year follow-up. Findings We included 990 PHOSP-COVID and 3309 COVIDENCE UK participants. We observed higher odds of improvement between 5-month and 1-year follow-up among PHOSP-COVID participants who were younger (odds ratio 1.02 per year, 95% CI 1.01–1.03), male (1.54, 1.16–2.04), neither obese nor severely obese (1.82, 1.06–3.13 and 4.19, 2.14–8.19, respectively), had no pre-existing anxiety or depression (1.56, 1.09–2.22) or cardiovascular disease (1.33, 1.00–1.79), and shorter hospital admission (1.01 per day, 1.00–1.02). Similar associations were found in those recovering from non-COVID-19 dyspnoea, excluding age (and length of hospital admission). Interpretation Factors associated with dyspnoea recovery at 1-year post-discharge among patients hospitalised with COVID-19 were similar to those among community controls without COVID-19. Funding PHOSP-COVID is supported by a grant from the MRC-UK Research and Innovation and the Department of Health and Social Care through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) rapid response panel to tackle COVID-19. The views expressed in the publication are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the National Health Service (NHS), the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care. COVIDENCE UK is supported by the UK Research and Innovation, the National Institute for Health Research, and Barts Charity. The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the funders

Thermal Perceptual Thresholds are typical in Autism Spectrum Disorder but Strongly Related to Intra-individual Response Variability

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are often reported to exhibit an apparent indifference to pain or temperature. Leading models suggest that this behavior is the result of elevated perceptual thresholds for thermal stimuli, but data to support these assertions are inconclusive. An alternative proposal suggests that the sensory features of ASD arise from increased intra-individual perceptual variability. In this study, we measured method-of-limits warm and cool detection thresholds in 142 individuals (83 with ASD, 59 with typical development [TD], aged 7–54 years), testing relationships with diagnostic group, demographics, and clinical measures. We also investigated the relationship between detection thresholds and a novel measure of intra-individual (trial-to-trial) threshold variability, a putative index of “perceptual noise.” This investigation found no differences in thermal detection thresholds between individuals with ASD and typical controls, despite large differences between groups in sensory reactivity questionnaires and modest group differences in intra-individual variability. Lower performance IQ, male sex, and higher intra-individual variability in threshold estimates were the most significant predictors of elevated detection thresholds. Although no psychophysical measure was significantly correlated with questionnaire measures of sensory hyporeactivity, large intra-individual variability may partially explain the elevated psychophysical thresholds seen in a subset of the ASD population