The restorative effect of the environment on organizational cynicism and work engagement

The aim of this study is to explore the relationship between restorativeness, work engagement and organizational cynicism. A positive effect of restorativeness on work engagement and a negative effect on organizational cynicism are hypothesized. A self-report questionnaire was filled out by 247 employees. Results of hierarchical linear regression supported a positive effect of restorativeness in reducing both organizational cynicism and in fostering work engagement. The original contribution of this research is the analysis of the multivariate relationship between restorativeness (which is a relevant construct in environmental psychology) and relevant constructs deriving from the work and organizational psychology field (i.e., work engagement and cynicism in the workplace

Psychological Flexibility and Mindfulness as Predictors of Individual Outcomes in Hospital Health Workers

Research in organizational psychology emphasizes the idea that wellbeing and productivity outcomes are influenced both by individual differences (traits, values) and work environment characteristics (relationships, climate). Evidence on the effectiveness of psychological interventions for stress is currently unclear. To date, research on psychological flexibility in workplaces has not been systematically conducted in Italy. We investigated its relevance in the context of the Italian health care system. In this study, the relationship between sources of stress at work and its outcomes in terms of psychological and physical health are explored. Furthermore, the moderating effect of psychological flexibility and mindfulness on psychological and physical health are investigated. Four hundred and eleven health workers from a Sicilian hospital, with different job positions were recruited, of which 42.7% were males (N = 169) and 57.3% were females (N = 227). Their ages ranged between 25 and 72 years (M = 49.16; SD = 8.65). Participants answered a questionnaire that assessed psychological flexibility, mindfulness, sources of stress at work and health benefits. In a bivariate analysis, managerial factors (MF), relationships, and intrinsic factors are partially negatively related to psychological and physical health; whereas, multivariate analyses show that psychological flexibility does not moderate the relationship between psychological and physical health. Instead, mindfulness is strongly and consistently correlated to psychological and physical health. Employees who show psychological flexibility, are more likely to show greater openness to the acceptance of setbacks in the working environment and to carry on their valued living and working path. This seems to correlate positively on individual wellbeing. Data show that a flexible and mindful attitude toward difficult psychological events aids responsiveness to changes and the ability to work more effectively

An Environmental Resource within the Job Demands-Resources Model: The Mediating Role of Self-Efficacy between Properties of the Learning Environment and Academic Engagement

The characteristics of learning environments are relevant for promoting academic engagement and learning achievement. Thus, this study seeks to identify whether perceived characteristics of the learning environment, and specifically, the sub-dimensions of Perceived Restorativeness (compatibility, being away, extent, fascination), can promote academic Engagement and self-efficacy using the Job Demands-Resources Model as the underlying conceptual framework. Further, we tested the mediating effect of self-efficacy on the relationship between Perceived Restorativeness and academic engagement. Data were collected from a sample of 188 Italian university students. Hierarchical multivariate regression analysis indicated that a restorative quality of the learning environment (i.e., compatibility and fascination) was positively correlated with academic engagement, but that there was a non-significant relationship between being Away and academic engagement and between extent and academic engagement. Regression analyses showed significant indirect effects of compatibility and extent through students’ self-Efficacy. Further, self-efficacy was a complete mediator between extent and academic engagement. Furthermore, self-efficacy was found to play a partially mediating role between compatibility and academic engagement. The results of this study provide important information that students, teachers and designers should pay attention to levels of restorative quality in the environment for improving engagement and self-efficacy

The Role of a Restorative Resource in the Academic Context in Improving Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation and Flow within the Job Demands–Resources Model

The perceived quality of the learning environment may influence both motivation and concentration. Little is known about how perceived characteristics of the learning environment, and specifically sub-dimensions of Perceived Restorativeness (being away, fascination, compatibility, and extent), can promote these positive effects in an academic context. We addressed, through a correlational study, the possibility that the characteristics of learning environments may promote concentration and involvement in activity (i.e., flow) via intrinsic and extrinsic motivation for academic study within the job demands–resources model. A total of 165 Italian university psychology classes in a 3-year degree course from two different universities context completed an online questionnaire made up of the construct considered in this study. Results in the hierarchical multivariate regression analyses confirm that the restorative quality of learning environments (i.e., being away, compatibility, extent) is positively correlated with flow. However, there is a non-significant relationship between extent and flow. Regression analyses show a significant indirect effect of compatibility, both through intrinsic and extrinsic student motivation. Furthermore, the results confirm a significant indirect effect of extent through intrinsic motivation and being away, and fascination through Extrinsic motivation. Furthermore, intrinsic motivation is a full mediator between the extent and flow relationship. The results underline the importance of considering the restorative quality of the environment for improving place design, concentration, and student learning motivation

Sensitivity of Pollutant Concentrations to the Turbulence Schemes of a Dispersion Modelling Chain over Complex Orography

Atmospheric circulation over mountainous regions is more complex than over flat terrain due to the interaction of flows on various scales: synoptic-scale flows, thermally-driven mesoscale winds and turbulent fluxes. In order to faithfully reconstruct the circulation affecting the dispersion and deposition of pollutants in mountainous areas, meteorological models should have a sub-kilometer grid spacing, where turbulent motions are partially resolved and the parametrizations of the sub-grid scale fluxes need to be evaluated. In this study, a modelling chain based on the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model and the chemical transport model Flexible Air Quality Regional Model (FARM) is applied to estimate the pollutant concentrations at a 0.5 km horizontal resolution over the Aosta Valley, a mountainous region of the northwestern Alps. Two pollution episodes that occurred in this region are reconstructed: one summer episode dominated by thermally-driven winds, and one winter episode dominated by synoptic-scale flows. Three WRF configurations with specific planetary boundary layer and surface layer schemes are tested, and the numerical results are compared with the surface measurements of meteorological variables at twenty-four stations. For each WRF configuration, two different FARM runs are performed, with turbulence-related quantities provided by the SURface-atmosphere interFace PROcessor or directly by WRF. The chemical concentrations resulting from the different FARM runs are compared with the surface measurements of particulate matter of less than 10 µm in diameter and nitrogen dioxide taken at five air quality stations. Furthermore, these results are compared with the outputs of the modelling chain employed routinely by the Aosta Valley Environmental Protection Agency, based on FARM driven by COSMO-I2 (COnsortium for Small-scale MOdelling) at 2.8 km horizontal grid spacing. The pollution events are underestimated by the modelling chain, but the bias between simulated and measured surface concentrations is reduced using the configuration based on WRF turbulence parametrizations, which imply a reduced dispersion

“Bridging the Gap” Everything that Could Have Been Avoided If We Had Applied Gender Medicine, Pharmacogenetics and Personalized Medicine in the Gender-Omics and Sex-Omics Era

Gender medicine is the first step of personalized medicine and patient-centred care, an essential development to achieve the standard goal of a holistic approach to patients and diseases. By addressing the interrelation and integration of biological markers (i.e., sex) with indicators of psychological/cultural behaviour (i.e., gender), gender medicine represents the crucial assumption for achieving the personalized health-care required in the third millennium. However, ‘sex’ and ‘gender’ are often misused as synonyms, leading to frequent misunderstandings in those who are not deeply involved in the field. Overall, we have to face the evidence that biological, genetic, epigenetic, psycho-social, cultural, and environmental factors mutually interact in defining sex/gender differences, and at the same time in establishing potential unwanted sex/gender disparities. Prioritizing the role of sex/gender in physiological and pathological processes is crucial in terms of efficient prevention, clinical signs’ identification, prognosis definition, and therapy optimization. In this regard, the omics-approach has become a powerful tool to identify sex/genderspecific disease markers, with potential benefits also in terms of socio-psychological wellbeing for each individual, and cost-effectiveness for National Healthcare systems. “Being a male or being a female” is indeed important from a health point of view and it is no longer possible to avoid “sex and gender lens” when approaching patients. Accordingly, personalized healthcare must be based on evidence from targeted research studies aimed at understanding how sex and gender influence health across the entire life span. The rapid development of genetic tools in the molecular medicine approaches and their impact in healthcare is an example of highly specialized applications that have moved from specialists to primary care providers (e.g., pharmacogenetic and pharmacogenomic applications in routine medical practice). Gender medicine needs to follow the same path and become an established medical approach. To face the genetic, molecular and pharmacological bases of the existing sex/gender gap by means of omics approaches will pave the way to the discovery and identification of novel drug-targets/therapeutic protocols, personalized laboratory tests and diagnostic procedures (sex/gender-omics). In this scenario, the aim of the present review is not to simply resume the state-of-the-art in the field, rather an opportunity to gain insights into gender medicine, spanning from molecular up to social and psychological stances. The description and critical discussion of some key selected multidisciplinary topics considered as paradigmatic of sex/gender differences and sex/gender inequalities will allow to draft and design strategies useful to fill the existing gap and move forward

Increased age and male sex are independently associated with higher frequency of blood–cerebrospinal fluid barrier dysfunction using the albumin quotient

Background: The cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)/serum quotient of albumin (QAlb) is the most used biomarker for the evaluation of blood–cerebrospinal fluid barrier (B-CSF-B) permeability. For years QAlb was considered only as an age-related parameter but recently it has also been associated to sex. The aim of the present study was to explore the impact of sex in the determination of B-CSF-B dysfunction. Methods: The analysis was retrospectively conducted on subjects consecutively admitted to the neurological ward. CSF and serum albumin levels were measured by immunonephelometry and pathological QAlb thresholds were considered: 6.5 under 40 years, 8.0 in the age 40–60 and 9.0 over 60 years. Results: 1209 subjects were included in the study. 718 females and 491 males (age: 15–88 years): 24.6% of patients had a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis, 23.2% suffered from other inflammatory neurological diseases, 24.6% were affected by non-inflammatory neurological diseases, and for 27.6% of patients the final neurological diagnosis could not be traced. Dysfunctional B-CSF-B was detected more frequently (44 vs. 20.1%, p < 0.0001) and median QAlb value were higher (7.18 vs. 4.87, p < 0.0001) in males than in females in the overall study population and in all disease sub- groups. QAlb and age were positively correlated both in female (p < 0.0001) and male (p < 0.0001) patients, however the slopes of the two regression lines were not significantly different (p = 0.7149), while the difference between the elevations was extremely significant (p < 0.0001) with a gap of 2.2 units between the two sexes. Finally, in a multivari- able linear regression analysis increased age and male sex were independently associated with higher QAlb in the overall study population (both p < 0.001) and after stratification by age and disease group. Conclusions: Accordingly, identification and validation of sex-targeted QAlb thresholds should be considered as a novel tool in an effort to achieve more precision in the medical approach

Multiplex Matrix Metalloproteinases Analysis in the Cerebrospinal Fluid Reveals Potential Specific Patterns in Multiple Sclerosis Patients

Background: Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are pleiotropic enzymes involved in extracellular protein degradation and turnover. MMPs are implicated in the pathogenesis of many neurological diseases, including multiple sclerosis (MS).Objective: To search the level of MMPs in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of MS patients and detect possible disease-specific patterns.Methods: CSF samples from 32 MS patients and, from 15 control subjects with other inflammatory neurological diseases (OIND) were analyzed. The Bio-Plex Pro Human MMP 9-Plex Panel (Bio-Rad) was used for the quantification of MMP-1, MMP-2, MMP-3, MMP-7, MMP-8, MMP-9, MMP-10, MMP-12, and MMP-13.Results: CSF MMP-1 and MMP-12 levels were significantly reduced in MS as compared with OIND. In MS patients' CSF: (i) MMP-1 levels were significantly higher in women vs. men; (ii) MMP-10 concentrations were higher in patients with CSF-restricted IgG oligoclonal bands, and (iii) MMP-7 levels were increased in patients with longer disease duration. In the OIND group MMP-7 and MMP-12 levels significantly and directly correlated with age.Conclusions: Our study contributes to investigating the role of MMPs in MS, with regard to CSF immunological features and disease duration. Sex-specific differences were also detected in MMPs CSF levels

A Calcium- and GTP-Dependent Transglutaminase in Leishmania infantum

While human and animal leishmaniasis affect several millions of people worldwide, L. infantum is the species responsible for visceral leishmaniasis in Europe, Middle East, and America. Antileishmanial drugs present issues associated with drug toxicity and increasing parasite resistance. Therefore, the study of this parasite with a focus on new potential drug targets is extremely useful. Accordingly, we purified and characterized a transglutaminase (TGase) from L. infantum promastigotes. While Tgases are known to be involved in cell death and autophagy, it appears that these functions are very important for parasites' virulence. For the first time, we showed a Ca2+- and GTP-dependent TGase in Leishmania corresponding to a 54 kDa protein, which was purified by two chromatographic steps: DEAE-Sepharose and Heparin-Sepharose. Using polyclonal antibodies against a 50-amino-acid conserved region of the catalytic core of human TGase 2, we revealed two other bands of 66 and 75 kDa. The 54 kDa band appears to be different from the previously reported TGase, which was shown to be Ca2+- independent. Future research should address the identification of the purified enzyme sequence and, subsequently, its cloning to more comprehensively investigate its pathophysiological function and possible differences from mammal enzymes

COVID-19 respiratory support outside the ICU's doors. An observational study for a new operative strategy

During the first wave of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome CoronaVirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic, we faced a massive clinical and organizational challenge having to manage critically ill patients outside the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). This was due to the significant imbalance between ICU bed availability and the number of patients presenting Acute Hypoxemic Respiratory Failure caused by SARS-CoV-2-related interstitial pneumonia. We therefore needed to perform Non-Invasive Ventilation (NIV) in non-intensive wards to assist these patients and relieve pressure on the ICUs and subsequently implemented a new organizational and clinical model. This study was aimed at evaluating its effectiveness and feasibility