Work-Life Balance and Satisfaction with Family Life: A Methodological Analysis

Balancing work duties and family responsibilities is an ongoing struggle for many American adults. As work is a crucial aspect of maintaining a family unit, an individual\u27s level of work-life balance may affect how they feel about their family life. This raises the question, is there an association between Americans\u27 work-life balance and their satisfaction with family life? To address this question, a sample of 809 American adult respondents was drawn from the International Social Survey Program\u27s (ISSP) Family and Changing Gender Roles Module. The variable of worklife balance was measured by asking respondents how often in the past three months they experienced difficulty fulfilling family responsibilities because of the amount of time spent on their job. The variable of satisfaction with family life was measured by asking respondents how satisfied they were with family life. The data was analyzed using IBM\u27s SPSS software, where I performed a one-way ANOVA test and cross-tabulation to test for association between work-life balance and satisfaction with family life. My findings indicate a significant difference in satisfaction with family life given variation in the frequency of difficulty fulfilling family responsibilities due to work. In particular, participants who never experienced difficulty with balancing work and family responsibilities had a higher level of satisfaction with family life than those who experienced difficulty several times a month and several times a week (P = .001 )

Online Sexual Harassment Amongst Women Students at Santa Clara University

Online sexual harassment has continued to be a pervasive force in universities. Scholarship suggests that female-identifying students experience particularly high rates of sexual harassment, but little research explores how it manifests in online spaces. Thus, we investigate whether women students at Santa Clara University (SCU) experience online sexual harassment, and what forms of harassment they experience. First, a survey of 50 women undergraduate students was conducted to assess whether respondents had experienced online sexual harassment, and if so, on which platforms. Selecting from survey respondents who opted-in for further research, we conducted semi-structured ethnographic interviews with four students about their experiences with online sexual harassment. In addition, we performed participant observation of an SCU Violence Prevention Program Post-Election Debrief\u27 event and observed the documentary Netizens, which followed the lives of women who have experienced extreme cyber harassment. The transcription and coding of our ethnographic data revealed six key themes: Social Media, Forms of Sexual Harassment, Impact of Sexual Harassment, Toxic Masculine Culture, Normalization, and Suggestions for Improvements. Our findings indicate that women students at SCU experienced many forms of online sexual harassment, which varied depending on the social media platforms students were active on. This online harassment is normalized within a wider context of gendered power dynamics offline, embodied by a culture of toxic masculinity at Santa Clara University. Importantly, respondents and interviewees strongly emphasized their suggestions for improvement at SCU, which included increasing institutional accountability, implementing preventative and educational programs for students regarding online sexual harassment, and encouraging conversation about sexual violence within the SCU community

Nuclear factor-inducing kinase plays a crucial role in osteopontin-induced MAPK/IκBα kinase-dependent nuclear factor κB-mediated promatrix metalloproteinase-9 activation

We have recently demonstrated that osteopontin (OPN) induces nuclear factor κB (NFκB)-mediated promatrix metalloproteinase-2 activation through IκBα/IκBα kinase (IKK) signaling pathways. However, the molecular mechanism(s) by which OPN regulates promatrix metalloproteinase-9 (pro-MMP-9) activation, MMP-9-dependent cell motility, and tumor growth and the involvement of upstream kinases in regulation of these processes in murine melanoma cells are not well defined. Here we report that OPN induced αvβ3 integrin-mediated phosphorylation and activation of nuclear factor-inducing kinase (NIK) and enhanced the interaction between phosphorylated NIK and IKKα/β in B16F10 cells. Moreover, NIK was involved in OPN-induced phosphorylations of MEK-1 and ERK1/2 in these cells. OPN induced NIK-dependent NFκB activation through ERK/IKKα/β -mediated pathways. Furthermore OPN enhanced NIK-regulated urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) secretion, uPA-dependent pro-MMP-9 activation, cell motility, and tumor growth. Wild type NIK, IKKa/ß, and ERK1/2 enhanced and kinase-negative NIK (mut NIK), dominant negative IKKa/β (dn IKKα/β), and dn ERK1/2 suppressed the OPN-induced NFκB activation, uPA secretion, pro-MMP-9 activation, cell motility, and chemoinvasion. Pretreatment of cells with anti-MMP-2 antibody along with anti-MMP-9 antibody drastically inhibited the OPN-induced cell migration and chemoinvasion, whereas cells pretreated with anti-MMP-2 antibody had no effect on OPN-induced pro-MMP-9 activation suggesting that OPN induces pro-MMP-2 and pro-MMP-9 activations through two distinct pathways. The level of active MMP-9 in the OPN-induced tumor was higher compared with control. To our knowledge, this is the first report that NIK plays a crucial role in OPN-induced NFκB activation, uPA secretion, and pro-MMP-9 activation through MAPK/IKKα /β-mediated pathways, and all of these ultimately control the cell motility, invasiveness, and tumor growth

Deep soft-tissue leiomyoma of the forearm mimicking a primary bone tumor of the ulna

AbstractLeiomyomas of the soft tissues are rare in general, and extremely uncommon in the forearm. In general, leiomyomas are benign soft-tissue tumors that occur where smooth muscles are present. We present a case of soft-tissue leiomyoma of the forearm eroding the midshaft of the ulna, with emphasis on radiological diagnosis and histopathological correlation

A review of nutritional factors in hypertension management.

Hypertension is a major health problem worldwide. Its attendant morbidity and mortality complications have a great impact on patient\u27s quality of life and survival. Optimizing blood pressure control has been shown to improve overall health outcomes. In addition to pharmacological therapies, nonpharmacological approach such as dietary modification plays an important role in controlling blood pressure. Many dietary components such as sodium, potassium, calcium, and magnesium have been studied substantially in the past decades. While some of these nutrients have clear evidence for their recommendation, some remain controversial and are still of ongoing study. Dietary modification is often discussed with patients and can provide a great benefit in blood pressure regulation. As such, reviewing the current evidence will be very useful in guiding patients and their physician and/or dietician in decision making. In this review article of nutritional factors in hypertension management, we aim to examine the role of nutritional factors individually and as components of whole dietary patterns

Hypoxia regulates cross-talk between Syk and Lck leading to breast cancer progression and angiogenesis

Hypoxia is a key parameter that controls tumor angiogenesis and malignant progression by regulating the expression of several oncogenic molecules. The nonreceptor protein-tyrosine kinases Syk and Lck play crucial roles in the signaling mechanism of various cellular processes. The enhanced expression of Syk in normal breast tissue but not in malignant breast carcinoma has prompted us to investigate its potential role in mammary carcinogenesis. Accordingly, we hypothesized that hypoxia/reoxygenation (H/R) may play an important role in regulating Syk activation, and Lck may be involved in this process. In this study, we have demonstrated that H/R differentially regulates Syk phosphorylation and its subsequent interaction and cross-talk with Lck in MCF-7 cells. Moreover, Syk and Lck play differential roles in regulating Sp1 activation and expressions of melanoma cell adhesion molecule (MelCAM), urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA), matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9), and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in response to H/R. Overexpression of wild type Syk inhibited the H/R-induced uPA, MMP-9, and VEGF expression but up-regulated MelCAM expression. Our data also indicated that MelCAM acts as a tumor suppressor by negatively regulating H/R-induced uPA secretion and MMP-9 activation. The mice xenograft study showed the cross-talk between Syk and Lck regulated H/R-induced breast tumor progression and further correlated with the expressions of MelCAM, uPA, MMP-9, and VEGF. Human clinical specimen analysis supported the in vitro and in vivo findings. To our knowledge, this is first report that the cross-talk between Syk and Lck regulates H/R-induced breast cancer progression and further suggests that Syk may act as potential therapeutic target for the treatment of breast cancer