How to reduce mental health burden in health care workers during COVID-19? A scoping review of guideline recommendations

The COVID-19 pandemic has posed an unprecedented demand and a huge burden for healthcare workers (HCWs) worldwide, with alarming reports of heightened mental health problems. To counteract these mental health challenges, guidelines and recommendations for the support of HCWs during the COVID-19 pandemic have been published. With this scoping review and guideline evaluation, we aim to provide a critical overview of these guidelines and recommendations and to guide policy makers in establishing respective surveillance and care programs. In summary, 41 articles were included in this review which were published between April 2020 and May 2021. Across all articles, the guidelines and recommendations could be clustered into four main categories: “Social/structural support,” “Work environment,” “Communication/Information,” “Mental health support.” Although there was substantial agreement across articles about the recommendations given, empirical evidence on the effectiveness of these recommendations is still lacking. Moreover, most recommendations were developed without involving different members of the target group (HCWs) or other involved stakeholders. Strategies to detect potential barriers and to implement these guidelines in clinical practice are lacking

Lethal lust: suicidal behavior and chemsex — a narrative review of the literature

Chemsex is described as the use of certain drugs—commonly methamphetamine, gamma-butyrolactone (GBL)/gammahydroxybutyrate (GHB), and mephedrone—before or during planned sexual activity primarily among men who have sex with men (MSM). Evidence shows that MSM who engage in chemsex are at increased risk of physical harm, such as sexually transmittable infections (STIs), and are more likely to experience mental health symptoms. To further assess this, we reviewed the recent literature to evaluate whether the psychological impact of chemsex behavior includes suicidal ideation and suicidal attempts. Pubmed/MEDLINE was searched for articles reporting suicidal ideation and behavior among chemsex users with the terms “chemsex”, “sexualized drug use”, “suicide”, and “mental health”. Twelve articles (three case reports and nine cross-sectional studies) were included in the final narrative review. Overall, we retrieved mixed results regarding the relationship between chemsex practice and suicidality outcomes. Considering the inhomogeneous nature of the studies, the findings indicate that suicidality could be an issue of concern among MSM in general but among chemsex users in particular. Possible risk factors for suicidality among chemsex participants may include adversities experienced due to one’s sexual orientation and an increased risk for HIV and other STI infections and the resulting negative impact on mental well-being. These aspects warrant further investigations

Overexpression of Mcl-1 exacerbates lymphocyte accumulation and autoimmune kidney disease in lpr mice

Cell death by apoptosis has a critical role during embryonic development and in maintaining tissue homeostasis. In mammals, there are two converging apoptosis pathways: the ‘extrinsic’ pathway, which is triggered by engagement of cell surface ‘death receptors’ such as Fas/APO-1; and the ‘intrinsic’ pathway, which is triggered by diverse cellular stresses, and is regulated by prosurvival and pro-apoptotic members of the Bcl-2 family of proteins. Pro-survival Mcl-1, which can block activation of the proapoptotic proteins, Bax and Bak, appears critical for the survival and maintenance of multiple haemopoietic cell types. To investigate the impact on haemopoiesis of simultaneously inhibiting both apoptosis pathways, we introduced the vavP-Mcl-1 transgene, which causes overexpression of Mcl-1 protein in all haemopoietic lineages, into Faslpr/lpr mice, which lack functional Fas and are prone to autoimmunity. The combined mutations had a modest impact on myelopoiesis, primarily an increase in the macrophage/monocyte population in Mcl-1tg/lpr mice compared with lpr or Mcl-1tg mice. The impact on lymphopoiesis was striking, with a marked elevation in all major lymphoid subsets, including the non-conventional double-negative (DN) T cells (TCRβ+ CD4– CD8– B220+ ) characteristic of Faslpr/lpr mice. Of note, the onset of autoimmunity was markedly accelerated in Mcl-1tg/lpr mice compared with lpr mice, and this was preceded by an increase in immunoglobulin (Ig)-producing cells and circulating autoantibodies. This degree of impact was surprising, given the relatively mild phenotype conferred by the vavP-Mcl-1 transgene by itself: a two- to threefold elevation of peripheral B and T cells, no significant increase in the non-conventional DN T-cell population and no autoimmune disease. Comparison of the phenotype with that of other susceptible mice suggests that the development of autoimmune disease in Mcl-1tg/lpr mice may be influenced not only by Ig-producing cells but also other haemopoietic cell types

Frequently asked questions about chlorophyll fluorescence, the sequel

[EN] Using chlorophyll (Chl) a fluorescence many aspects of the photosynthetic apparatus can be studied, both in vitro and, noninvasively, in vivo. Complementary techniques can help to interpret changes in the Chl a fluorescence kinetics. Kalaji et al. (Photosynth Res 122: 121-158, 2014a) addressed several questions about instruments, methods and applications based on Chl a fluorescence. Here, additionalChl a fluorescence-related topics are discussed again in a question and answer format. Examples are the effect of connectivity on photochemical quenching, the correction of F-V/F-M values for PSI fluorescence, the energy partitioning concept, the interpretation of the complementary area, probing the donor side of PSII, the assignment of bands of 77 K fluorescence emission spectra to fluorescence emitters, the relationship between prompt and delayed fluorescence, potential problems when sampling tree canopies, the use of fluorescence parameters in QTL studies, the use of Chl a fluorescence in biosensor applications and the application of neural network approaches for the analysis of fluorescence measurements. The answers draw on knowledge fromdifferent Chl a fluorescence analysis domains, yielding in several cases new insights.Kalaji, H.; Schansker, G.; Brestic, M.; Bussotti, F.; Calatayud, A.; Ferroni, L.; Goltsev, V.... (2017). Frequently asked questions about chlorophyll fluorescence, the sequel. 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Identification of regulatory variants associated with genetic susceptibility to meningococcal disease.

Non-coding genetic variants play an important role in driving susceptibility to complex diseases but their characterization remains challenging. Here, we employed a novel approach to interrogate the genetic risk of such polymorphisms in a more systematic way by targeting specific regulatory regions relevant for the phenotype studied. We applied this method to meningococcal disease susceptibility, using the DNA binding pattern of RELA - a NF-kB subunit, master regulator of the response to infection - under bacterial stimuli in nasopharyngeal epithelial cells. We designed a custom panel to cover these RELA binding sites and used it for targeted sequencing in cases and controls. Variant calling and association analysis were performed followed by validation of candidate polymorphisms by genotyping in three independent cohorts. We identified two new polymorphisms, rs4823231 and rs11913168, showing signs of association with meningococcal disease susceptibility. In addition, using our genomic data as well as publicly available resources, we found evidences for these SNPs to have potential regulatory effects on ATXN10 and LIF genes respectively. The variants and related candidate genes are relevant for infectious diseases and may have important contribution for meningococcal disease pathology. Finally, we described a novel genetic association approach that could be applied to other phenotypes

Zwischen Bruch und Kontinuität

Mit dem „Anschluss“ Österreichs an das „Dritte Reich“ nahm der Raubzug der Nationalsozialisten, der 1933 bereits in Deutschland begann, neue Ausmaße an. Unter dem kräftigen Mitwirken der österreichischen NSDAP-Mitglieder, aber auch der restlichen Bevölkerung, fand eine systematische und organisierte Enteignung und Beraubung der Juden statt. Bei diesem Raubzug hatten es die Nationalsozialisten vor allem auf Kunst- und Kulturgegenstände abgesehen. Nach dem Krieg stand die Republik Österreich vor der Aufgabe der Wiedergutmachung und der Restitution. Immense Bestände an geraubten Kunstgegenständen befanden sich im Besitz des österreichischen Staates. Innerhalb weniger Jahre wurden mehrere Gesetze verabschiedet, die die Rückgabe von entzogenem Vermögen regeln sollten. Durch das Ausfuhrverbotsgesetz durften jedoch viele Gegenstände nicht das Land verlassen. Da die meisten Betroffenen und Erben nicht mehr in Österreich lebten, waren sie dazu genötigt, Vergleiche mit der Republik Österreich einzugehen, die in vielen Fällen mit unentgeltlichen Schenkungen an den Staat endeten. Erst das Jahr 1998 brachte eine Neubewertung der Vorgänge der damaligen Restitutionsverfahren. Die vorliegende Arbeit möchte den Weg vom NS-Kunstraub über die Restitutionspolitik nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg bis hin zu den Vorgängen seit 1998 und aktuellen Debatten aufzeigen. Ein wichtiger Aspekt dabei ist das Beleuchten von Brüchen zwischen der NS-Zeit und der Zeit der Wiedergutmachung, aber auch die Fokussierung auf Kontinuitäten, die sich über siebzig Jahre nach dem Ende des Nationalsozialismus vorfinden lassen. Darüber hinaus gilt es, das gesamte Spektrum zwischen den Brüchen und den Kontinuitäten zu behandeln