The tango between cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) and immune cells in affecting immunotherapy efficacy in pancreatic cancer

The lack of response to therapy in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) patients has contributed to PDAC having one of the lowest survival rates of all cancer types. The poor survival of PDAC patients urges the exploration of novel treatment strategies. Immunotherapy has shown promising results in several other cancer types, but it is still ineffective in PDAC. What sets PDAC apart from other cancer types is its tumour microenvironment (TME) with desmoplasia and low immune infiltration and activity. The most abundant cell type in the TME, cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), could be instrumental in why low immunotherapy responses are observed. CAF heterogeneity and interactions with components of the TME is an emerging field of research, where many paths are to be explored. Understanding CAF-immune cell interactions in the TME might pave the way to optimize immunotherapy efficacy for PDAC and related cancers with stromal abundance. In this review, we discuss recent discoveries on the functions and interactions of CAFs and how targeting CAFs might improve immunotherapy.Cellular mechanisms in basic and clinical gastroenterology and hepatolog

Стратегічне управління як основа фінансової стійкості аграрних підприємств

Метою роботи є формування комплексного стратегічного підходу до управління фінансовою стійкістю аграрних підприємств на основі всебічного аналізу їх діяльності, конкретизації поточних цілей та індикаторів стану, а також розробці системи заходів для досягнення стратегічної мети, в залежності від етапу планування

Innovation Across Cultures: Connecting Leadership, Identification, and Creative Behavior in Organizations

Innovation is considered essential for today's organizations to survive and thrive. Researchers have also stressed the importance of leadership as a driver of followers' innovative work behavior (FIB). Yet, despite a large amount of research, three areas remain understudied: (a) The relative importance of different forms of leadership for FIB; (b) the mechanisms through which leadership impacts FIB; and (c) the degree to which relationships between leadership and FIB are generalizable across cultures. To address these lacunae, we propose an integrated model connecting four types of positive leadership behaviors, two types of identification (as mediating variables), and FIB. We tested our model in a global data set comprising responses of N = 7,225 participants from 23 countries, grouped into nine cultural clusters. Our results indicate that perceived LMX quality was the strongest relative predictor of FIB. Furthermore, the relationships between both perceived LMX quality and identity leadership with FIB were mediated by social identification. The indirect effect of LMX on FIB via social identification was stable across clusters, whereas the indirect effects of the other forms of leadership on FIB via social identification were stronger in countries high versus low on collectivism. Power distance did not influence the relations

Political leaders' identity leadership and civic citizenship behavior:The mediating role of trust in fellow citizens and the moderating role of economic inequality

Identity leadership captures leaders efforts to create and promote a sense of shared group membership (i.e., a sense of “we” and of “us”) among followers. The present research report tests this claim by drawing on data from 26 countries that are part of the Global Identity Leadership Development (GILD) project to examine the relationship between political leaders' identity leadership and civic citizenship behavior (N = 6787). It also examines the contributions of trust and economic inequality to this relationship. Political leaders' identity leadership (PLIL) was positively associated with respondents' people-oriented civic citizenship behaviors (CCB-P) in 20 of 26 countries and civic citizenship behaviors aimed at one's country (CCB-C) in 23 of 26 countries. Mediational analyses also confirmed the indirect effects of PLIL via trust in fellow citizens on both CCB-P (in 25 out of 26 countries) and CCB-C (in all 26 countries). Economic inequality moderated these effects such that the main and indirect effects of trust in one's fellow citizens on CCB-C were stronger in countries with higher economic inequality. This interaction effect was not observed for CCB-P. The study highlights the importance of identity leadership and trust in fellow citizens in promoting civic citizenship behavior, especially in the context of economic inequality.</p

Identity Leadership, Employee Burnout and the Mediating Role of Team Identification: Evidence from the Global Identity Leadership Development Project

Do leaders who build a sense of shared social identity in their teams thereby protect them from the adverse effects of workplace stress? This is a question that the present paper explores by testing the hypothesis that identity leadership contributes to stronger team identification among employees and, through this, is associated with reduced burnout. We tested this model with unique datasets from the Global Identity Leadership Development (GILD) project with participants from all inhabited continents. We compared two datasets from 2016/2017 (n = 5290; 20 countries) and 2020/2021 (n = 7294; 28 countries) and found very similar levels of identity leadership, team identification and burnout across the five years. An inspection of the 2020/2021 data at the onset of and later in the COVID-19 pandemic showed stable identity leadership levels and slightly higher levels of both burnout and team identification. Supporting our hypotheses, we found almost identical indirect effects (2016/2017, b = −0.132; 2020/2021, b = −0.133) across the five-year span in both datasets. Using a subset of n = 111 German participants surveyed over two waves, we found the indirect effect confirmed over time with identity leadership (at T1) predicting team identification and, in turn, burnout, three months later. Finally, we explored whether there could be a “too-much-of-a-good-thing” effect for identity leadership. Speaking against this, we found a u-shaped quadratic effect whereby ratings of identity leadership at the upper end of the distribution were related to even stronger team identification and a stronger indirect effect on reduced burnout

Tolerance verification for sheet metal bending: factors influencing dimensional accuracy of bent parts

The dimensional accuracy of bent sheet metal parts is influenced by many factors and possible sources of inaccuracy such as the sheet material, machine, and material handling. This paper addresses the issue of tolerance verification for sheet metal bending by analytically and experimentally exploring the associations between each of these factors and the achievable dimensional accuracy of bending operations. Making use of the GUM method for quality assessment, in a first step, the influencing factors on the angular and linear dimensions of the parts are listed. The influences of these factors on each type of dimension are subsequently determined by geometry analysis. Secondly, special experimental setups were designed and experiments were conducted with industrial machines to establish the statistical characteristics of these factors. Therefore, the dominant factors determining the dimensional variations of the bending operations were fully identified and quantified. The result of this study can be used to predict the error range and thus the scrap ratio for the process. The developed methodology allows to point out possible improvements in the process plan, and most importantly, to predict the achievable dimensional accuracy of complex bent parts. © 2007 Springer.status: publishe

Factors underlying COVID-19 booster vaccine uptake among adults in Belgium

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate factors influencing the uptake of first and second COVID-19 booster vaccines among adults in Belgium, particularly age, sex, region of residence and laboratory confirmed COVID-19 infection&nbsp;history. RESULTS: A binomial regression model was used with having received the first or second booster as outcome and age, sex, region of residence and infection history as fixed variables. Among adults, there was generally a higher uptake to receive the first booster among older age groups compared to younger ones. Females, individuals residing in Flanders and those with no previous COVID-19 infection were more likely to receive the first booster. For the second booster, the same age trend was seen as for the first booster. Males, individuals residing in Flanders and those who tested positive for COVID-19 once after first booster were more likely to receive the second booster. Individuals with multiple positive COVID-19 tests before and after primary course or first booster were less likely to receive the subsequent booster dose compared to COVID-naïve individuals. This information could be used to guide future vaccination campaigns during a pandemic and can provide valuable insights into booster uptake&nbsp;patterns.</p

Factors underlying COVID-19 booster vaccine uptake among fully vaccinated adults in Belgium

Background To tackle waning protection against severe COVID-19 infection, booster doses of the COVID-19 vaccines were recommended among individuals who received their primary course. A first COVID-19 vaccine booster campaign was performed in winter of 2021 (age ≥ 18 years) and a second campaign for (age ≥ 50 years) in autumn of 2022. During these campaigns persons were actively invited to get a booster dose against COVID-19. We aimed to explore (first and second) booster uptake among fully vaccinated adults in Belgium and investigate demographic (age, region of residence and sex) and COVID-19 related (having had a documented COVID-19 infection) factors associated with the first and second booster&nbsp;uptake. Methods We used individually-linked data from the Belgian COVID-19 vaccine registry and the COVID-19 test database to determine booster uptake among the 18+ Belgian population having completed the primary vaccination course (PC). We reported coverage by demographics (age, region of residence and sex) and COVID-19 infection history before or after completion PC (based on PCR tests). We used a quasibinomial logistic regression model to determine influential factors on the booster&nbsp;uptake. Results Among the Belgian adult population (N = 9270186), the coverages reached on the 31st January 2023 were 72.65% and 40.85% for the first and second booster respectively. The highest coverage (number boosted over number PC completed) was observed in the 75-84 age group (96.73%) and 85+ age group (82.30%) for the first and second booster respectively and the lowest for both boosters in the 18-24 age group (69.86% and 17.85%). Individuals who had previous infections were significantly less likely to receive the first booster dose compared to individuals with no infection, especially when the infection occurred after completion of PC and with multiple infections (COVID-naive reference, minimum 1 infection before PC: OR=0.73, 95%CI 0.67-0.79, 1 infection after PC: OR=0.29, 95%CI 0.27–0.31; multiple infections before and after; OR=0.15, 95%CI 0.12–0.18; multiple infections after, none before: OR=0.09, 95%CI 0.03–0.29). Older age and living in Flanders were positively associated with uptake in both&nbsp;boosters. Conclusions We report a high booster uptake among the 18+ Belgian population (72.65% and 40.85%) compared to the European average (first booster: 57.54% ± 21.71%, second booster: 14.61% ± 11.91%). Individuals previously infected were less likely to receive the first booster dose while older individuals were more likely to receive any booster dose. These results offer important insights for future booster campaigns for COVID-19&nbsp;vaccines. &nbsp; &nbsp;</p