Perceived organizational support and work engagement: the role of psychosocial variables

PurposeThis study aims to test the role that organizational sociopsychological variables may play in influencing job stress and work engagement in an organizational identity change scenario.Design/methodology/approachOn a sample of 118 employees of an Italian company in the personnel training services sector, multivariate statistical analysis tests a pattern where organizational variables such as work support (by supervisors and coworkers, independent variables) – moderated by corporate identification (moderating variable) – and mediated by organizational trust (mediating variable) – boosts employee work engagement and lowers psychosocial risks (dependent variables).FindingsThe mediating effect of "organizational trust" is significant in the relationships of "supervisor social support" and "coworker social support" with the "absence of psychosocial risks." Moreover, an increase in supervisor social support can lead to a statistically significant increase in work engagement. This occurs only for employees with low or medium identification and not in highly identified individuals.Originality/valueThe findings from the analysis on moderation are of primary importance because they show us a new perspective that can play the role of a guiding and practical principle on how to act on an organization's human resources, specifically targeting those with lower or medium corporate identification

A multi-analytical approach to better assess the keratan sulfate contamination in animal origin chondroitin sulfate

Abstract Chondroitin sulfate is a glycosaminoglycan widely used as active principle of anti-osteoarthritis drugs and nutraceuticals, manufactured by extraction from animal cartilaginous tissues. During the manufacturing procedures, another glycosaminoglycan, the keratan sulfate, might be contemporarily withdrawn, thus eventually constituting a contaminant difficult to be determined because of its structural similarity. Considering the strict regulatory rules on the pureness of pharmaceutical grade chondrotin sulfate there is an urgent need and interest to determine the residual keratan sulfate with specific, sensitive and reliable methods. To pursue this aim, in this paper, for the first time, we set up a multi-analytical and preparative approach based on: i) a newly developed method by high performance anion-exchange chromatography with pulsed amperometric detection, ii) gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analyses, iii) size exclusion chromatography analyses coupled with triple detector array module and on iv) strong anion exchange chromatography separation. Varied KS percentages, in the range from 0.1 to 19.0% (w/w), were determined in seven pharmacopeia and commercial standards and nine commercial samples of different animal origin and manufacturers. Strong anion exchange chromatography profiles of the samples showed three or four different peaks. These peaks analyzed by high performance anion-exchange with pulsed amperometric detection and size exclusion chromatography with triple detector array, ion chromatography and by mono- or two-dimensional nuclear magnetic resonance revealed a heterogeneous composition of both glycosaminoglycans in terms of sulfation grade and molecular weight. High molecular weight species (>100 KDa) were also present in the samples that counted for chains still partially linked to a proteoglycan core

PATZ1 acts as a tumor suppressor in thyroid cancer via targeting p53-dependent genes involved in EMT and cell migration

PATZ1, a POZ-Zinc finger protein, is emerging as an important regulator of development and cancer, but its cancer-related function as oncogene or tumor-suppressor is still debated. Here, we investigated its possible role in thyroid carcinogenesis. We demonstrated PATZ1 is down-regulated in thyroid carcinomas compared to normal thyroid tissues, with an inverse correlation to the degree of cell differentiation. In fact, PATZ1 expression was significantly further down-regulated in poorly differentiated and anaplastic thyroid cancers compared to the papillary histotype, and it resulted increasingly delocalized from the nucleus to the cytoplasm proceeding from differentiated to undifferentiated thyroid carcinomas. Restoration of PATZ1 expression in three thyroid cancer-derived cell lines, all characterized by fully dedifferentiated cells, significantly inhibited their malignant behaviors, including in vitro proliferation, anchorage-independent growth, migration and invasion, as well as in vivo tumor growth. Consistent with recent studies showing a role for PATZ1 in the p53 pathway, we showed that ectopic expression of PATZ1 in thyroid cancer cells activates p53-dependent pathways opposing epithelial-mesenchymal transition and cell migration to prevent invasiveness. These results provide insights into a potential tumor-suppressor role of PATZ1 in thyroid cancer progression, and thus may have potential clinical relevance for the prognosis and therapy of thyroid cancer

How future surgery will benefit from SARS-COV-2-related measures: a SPIGC survey conveying the perspective of Italian surgeons

COVID-19 negatively affected surgical activity, but the potential benefits resulting from adopted measures remain unclear. The aim of this study was to evaluate the change in surgical activity and potential benefit from COVID-19 measures in perspective of Italian surgeons on behalf of SPIGC. A nationwide online survey on surgical practice before, during, and after COVID-19 pandemic was conducted in March-April 2022 (NCT:05323851). Effects of COVID-19 hospital-related measures on surgical patients' management and personal professional development across surgical specialties were explored. Data on demographics, pre-operative/peri-operative/post-operative management, and professional development were collected. Outcomes were matched with the corresponding volume. Four hundred and seventy-three respondents were included in final analysis across 14 surgical specialties. Since SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, application of telematic consultations (4.1% vs. 21.6%; p < 0.0001) and diagnostic evaluations (16.4% vs. 42.2%; p < 0.0001) increased. Elective surgical activities significantly reduced and surgeons opted more frequently for conservative management with a possible indication for elective (26.3% vs. 35.7%; p < 0.0001) or urgent (20.4% vs. 38.5%; p < 0.0001) surgery. All new COVID-related measures are perceived to be maintained in the future. Surgeons' personal education online increased from 12.6% (pre-COVID) to 86.6% (post-COVID; p < 0.0001). Online educational activities are considered a beneficial effect from COVID pandemic (56.4%). COVID-19 had a great impact on surgical specialties, with significant reduction of operation volume. However, some forced changes turned out to be benefits. Isolation measures pushed the use of telemedicine and telemetric devices for outpatient practice and favored communication for educational purposes and surgeon-patient/family communication. From the Italian surgeons' perspective, COVID-related measures will continue to influence future surgical clinical practice

Identification of PATZ1-Targeting miRNAs in thyroid cancer

Thyroid cancer is one of the most frequent malignancies of the endocrine system, and its incidence is predicted to become the fourth leading cancer diagnosis by 2030. In spite of the progressive knowledge of the molecular mechanisms involved in thyroid transformation, its prognosis remains unpredictable and the identification of new biological markers are needed in addition to already known molecules, to correctly stratify patients at risk of recurrence and progression, eventually providing new targeted therapies. We recently showed that the transcriptional regulator PATZ1 is constantly down-regulated in human thyroid cancer and acts as a tumor suppressor in thyroid cancer cell lines by targeting p53-dependent genes involved in Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition and cell migration. The aim of the present work was to elucidate the upstream signaling pathway regulating PATZ1 expression during thyroid transformation. We first identified miR-23b and miR-29b to specifically target PATZ1 expression, which was inversely correlated to their expression in rat thyroid cells stimulated to proliferate with Thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH). Next, using an inducible cell system, we found that miR-29b was up-regulated by oncogenic Ras during transformation of FRTL-5 rat thyroid cells toward an undifferentiated phenotype resembling that of anaplastic carcinomas and characterized by the acquisition of a migratory and invasive behavior. Conversely, PATZ1 was down-regulated, with an inverse correlation compared to miR-29b expression, and was specifically targeted by miR-29b in untransformed FRTL-5 cells. Restoration of PATZ1 expression in FRTL-5 cells stably expressing oncogenic Ras inhibited cell proliferation and migration, indicating a key role of PATZ1 in Ras-driven thyroid transformation. These results confirm the tumor suppressor role of PATZ1 in thyroid cancer and suggest that its downregulation in thyroid cancer requires the activation of Ras GTPase signaling via miR-29b

OGC-to-W3C Services: A Wrapper-Based Solution for Geospatial Metadata Exchange

When trying to compose services that are developed according to different standards, interoperability issues arise that are often faced by developing ad-hoc solutions. A typical example is represented by the composition of W3C and OGC services, which were developed more or less concurrently by independent organizations. In such a context, developing a wrapper that abstracts as much as possible the inner details and logic of a wrapped service well embraces the low-coupled nature of the general Service Oriented Computing paradigm. This paper focuses on the proper management of geospatial metadata into a W3C-based environment and is based on the development of a wrapper that exposes OGC functionality in a W3C-compliant way, thus overcoming the technical differences between the two types of services. To efficiently accomplish this task, a flexible, wrapper-based, and standard-compliant mechanism for metadata retrieval is proposed that avoids the use of third-party entities. The proposal exploits the scalable and adaptable nature of the WS-Metadata (Web Services Metadata) specification