Stress Management in the Modern Workplace and the Role of Human Resource Professionals

Due to the potentially negative impact on the employees’ well-being and productivity, the stress in the workplace becomes one of the most difficult problems for the enterprise’s successful operation. The frequency of its manifestations in the workplace is constantly increasing. These issues are especially relevant in the Covid-19 era, when HR managers constantly have to form and implement policies to protect the employees’ mental health and general working conditions. It creates the preconditions to identify the factors underlying the occurrence of stress and employees’ potential behavioral responses

Polychromatic flow cytometry is more sensitive than microscopy in detecting small monoclonal plasma cell populations

Background There is an emerging role for flow cytometry (FC) in the assessment of small populations of plasma cells (PC). However, FC's utility has been questioned due to consistent underestimation of the percentage of PC compared to microscopy. Methods A retrospective study was performed on bone marrow samples analysed by 8-colour FC. Plasma cell populations were classified as polyclonal or monoclonal based on FC analysis. FC findings were compared with microscopy of aspirates, histology and immunohistochemistry of trephine biopsies, and immunofixation (IFX) of serum and/or urine. Results FC underestimated PC compared to aspirate and trephine microscopy. The 10% diagnostic cutoff for MM on aspirate microscopy corresponded to a 3.5% cutoff on FC. Abnormal plasma cell morphology by aspirate microscopy and clonality by FC correlated in 229 of 294 cases (78%). However, in 50 cases, FC demonstrated a monoclonal population but microscopy reported no abnormality. In 15 cases, abnormalities were reported by microscopy but not by FC. Clonality assessment by trephine microscopy and FC agreed in 251/280 cases (90%), but all 29 discordant cases were monoclonal by FC and not monoclonal by microscopy. These cases had fewer PC and proportionally more polyclonal PC, and when IFX detected a paraprotein, it had the same light chain as in the PC determined by FC. Conclusions FC was more sensitive in detecting monoclonal populations that were small or accompanied by polyclonal PC. This study supports the inclusion of FC in the evaluation of PC, especially in the assessment of small population

A minimally invasive lens-free computational microendoscope

Ultra-miniaturized microendoscopes are vital for numerous biomedical applications. Such minimally invasive imagers allow for navigation into hard-to-reach regions and observation of deep brain activity in freely moving animals. Conventional solutions use distal microlenses. However, as lenses become smaller and less invasive, they develop greater aberrations and restricted fields of view. In addition, most of the imagers capable of variable focusing require mechanical actuation of the lens, increasing the distal complexity and weight. Here, we demonstrate a distal lens-free approach to microendoscopy enabled by computational image recovery. Our approach is entirely actuation free and uses a single pseudorandom spatial mask at the distal end of a multicore fiber. Experimentally, this lensless approach increases the space-bandwidth product, i.e., field of view divided by resolution, by threefold over a best-case lens-based system. In addition, the microendoscope demonstrates color resolved imaging and refocusing to 11 distinct depth planes from a single camera frame without any actuated parts.R21 EY028436 - NEI NIH HHS; R21 EY028381 - NEI NIH HHSPublished versio

Tapping customers: a spatially-explicit, open-source platform for crowdsourcing water service data in Ghana

Municipal water rationing has become increasingly common in developing urban centres, leading to substantial variation in service levels among residential customers. This paper introduces an open-source tool called Improving Quality of Urban Water Service by Engaging SMS Technology (IQUEST), a geographic decision support system that harnesses crowdsourced water data to enable Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) to monitor residential water service quality in Accra, Ghana. This paper presents the conceptual model, general architecture, and user interface, and highlights the potential for other municipal water managers to implement a decision support tool in a resource-constrained setting

Acoustic Power Absorption and its Relation with Vector Magnetic Field of a Sunspot

The distribution of acoustic power over sunspots shows an enhanced absorption near the umbra--penumbra boundary. Earlier studies revealed that the region of enhanced absorption coincides with the region of strongest transverse potential field. The aim of this paper is to (i) utilize the high-resolution vector magnetograms derived using Hinode SOT/SP observations and study the relationship between the vector magnetic field and power absorption and (ii) study the variation of power absorption in sunspot penumbrae due to the presence of spine-like radial structures. It is found that (i) both potential and observed transverse fields peak at a similar radial distance from the center of the sunspot, and (ii) the magnitude of the transverse field, derived from Hinode observations, is much larger than the potential transverse field derived from SOHO/MDI longitudinal field observations. In the penumbra, the radial structures called spines (intra-spines) have stronger (weaker) field strength and are more vertical (horizontal). The absorption of acoustic power in the spine and intra-spine shows different behaviour with the absorption being larger in the spine as compared to the intra-spine.Comment: 18 pages, 7 figures, In Press Solar Physics, Topical Issue on Helio-and-Astroseismolog

Genome-wide DNA methylation analysis of KRAS mutant cell lines

Oncogenic RAS mutations are associated with DNA methylation changes that alter gene expression to drive cancer. Recent studies suggest that DNA methylation changes may be stochastic in nature, while other groups propose distinct signaling pathways responsible for aberrant methylation. Better understanding of DNA methylation events associated with oncogenic KRAS expression could enhance therapeutic approaches. Here we analyzed the basal CpG methylation of 11 KRAS-mutant and dependent pancreatic cancer cell lines and observed strikingly similar methylation patterns. KRAS knockdown resulted in unique methylation changes with limited overlap between each cell line. In KRAS-mutant Pa16C pancreatic cancer cells, while KRAS knockdown resulted in over 8,000 differentially methylated (DM) CpGs, treatment with the ERK1/2-selective inhibitor SCH772984 showed less than 40 DM CpGs, suggesting that ERK is not a broadly active driver of KRAS-associated DNA methylation. KRAS G12V overexpression in an isogenic lung model reveals >50,600 DM CpGs compared to non-transformed controls. In lung and pancreatic cells, gene ontology analyses of DM promoters show an enrichment for genes involved in differentiation and development. Taken all together, KRAS-mediated DNA methylation are stochastic and independent of canonical downstream effector signaling. These epigenetically altered genes associated with KRAS expression could represent potential therapeutic targets in KRAS-driven cancer

Mapping child growth failure across low- and middle-income countries

Childhood malnutrition is associated with high morbidity and mortality globally1. Undernourished children are more likely to experience cognitive, physical, and metabolic developmental impairments that can lead to later cardiovascular disease, reduced intellectual ability and school attainment, and reduced economic productivity in adulthood2. Child growth failure (CGF), expressed as stunting, wasting, and underweight in children under five years of age (0�59 months), is a specific subset of undernutrition characterized by insufficient height or weight against age-specific growth reference standards3�5. The prevalence of stunting, wasting, or underweight in children under five is the proportion of children with a height-for-age, weight-for-height, or weight-for-age z-score, respectively, that is more than two standard deviations below the World Health Organization�s median growth reference standards for a healthy population6. Subnational estimates of CGF report substantial heterogeneity within countries, but are available primarily at the first administrative level (for example, states or provinces)7; the uneven geographical distribution of CGF has motivated further calls for assessments that can match the local scale of many public health programmes8. Building from our previous work mapping CGF in Africa9, here we provide the first, to our knowledge, mapped high-spatial-resolution estimates of CGF indicators from 2000 to 2017 across 105 low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), where 99 of affected children live1, aggregated to policy-relevant first and second (for example, districts or counties) administrative-level units and national levels. Despite remarkable declines over the study period, many LMICs remain far from the ambitious World Health Organization Global Nutrition Targets to reduce stunting by 40 and wasting to less than 5 by 2025. Large disparities in prevalence and progress exist across and within countries; our maps identify high-prevalence areas even within nations otherwise succeeding in reducing overall CGF prevalence. By highlighting where the highest-need populations reside, these geospatial estimates can support policy-makers in planning interventions that are adapted locally and in efficiently directing resources towards reducing CGF and its health implications. © 2020, The Author(s)

Track A Basic Science

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/138319/1/jia218438.pd