The relationship between work-related psychological health and psychological type among clergy serving in the Presbyterian Church (USA)

This study examines the relationship between work-related psychological health and the Jungian model of psychological type among a sample of 748 clergy serving within The Presbyterian Church (USA). Psychological type was assessed by the Francis Psychological Type Scales which provide classification in terms of orientation (extraversion or introversion), perceiving (sensing or intuition), judging (thinking or feeling) and attitude toward the outer world (extraverted judging or extraverted perceiving). Work-related psychological health was assessed by the Francis Burnout Inventory which distinguishes between positive affect (the Satisfaction in Ministry Scale) and negative affect (the Scale of Emotional Exhaustion in Ministry). The data demonstrated that these clergy display high levels of negative affect coupled with high levels of positive affect. The data also confirmed that the main association between work-related psychological health and psychological type is a function of the orientations (the source of psychological energy). Compared with clergy who prefer introversion, clergy who prefer extraversion display both higher levels of satisfaction in ministry and lower levels of emotional exhaustion in ministry. These findings are consistent with the theory that the extraverted nature of ministry requires introverted clergy to operate for considerable periods of time outside their preferred orientations, with the consequent loss of energy and the consequent erosion of psychological rewards. Strategies are suggested for enabling introverted clergy to cope more effectively and more efficiently with the extraverted demands of ministry

Reading the back page : listening to clergy serving in the presbyterian church (USA) reflecting on professional burnout

This volume includes a wide range of papers that explore individual and institutional aspects of religion from a social-science perspective. The special section has articles from research groups in Europe, the USA and Australia on clergy work-related psychological health, stress, burnout and coping strategies. The general papers include studies on coping strategies among Buddhists, gender differences in response to church decline, teenage participation in religion, social capital among Friends of Cathedrals, psychological profiles of clergy, education effects on Roman Catholic deacons, and an analysis of prayer requests. Together these papers form a valuable collection indicating the depth and vibrancy of research in these field

Single-pulse Laue diffraction, stroboscopic data collection and femtosecond flash photolysis on macromolecules

We review the time structure of synchrotron radiation and its use for fast time-resolved diffraction experiments in macromolecular photo-cycles using flash photolysis to initiate the reaction. The source parameters and optics for ID09 at ESRF are presented together with the phase-locked chopper and femtosecond laser. The chopper can set up a 900 Hz pulse train of 100 ps pulses from the hybrid bunch-mode and, in conjunction with a femtosecond laser, it can be used for stroboscopic data collection with both monochromatic and polychromatic beams. Single-pulse Laue data from Cutinase, a 22 kD lipolic enzyme, are presented which show that the quality of single-pulse Laue patterns is sufficient to refine the excited state(s) in a reaction pathway from a known ground state. The flash photolysis technique is discussed and an example is given for heme proteins. The radiation damage from a laser pulse in the femto and picosecond range can be reduced by triggering at a wavelength where the interaction is strong. We propose the use of microcrystals between 25–50 μm for efficient photolysis with femto and picosecond pulses. The performance of circular storage rings is compared with the predicted performance of an X-ray free electron laser (XFEL). The combination of micro beams, a gain of 105105 photons per pulse and an ultrashort pulse length of 100 fs is likely to improve pulsed diffraction data very substantially. It may be used to image coherent nuclear motion at atomic resolution in ultrafast uni-molecular reactions. © 1997 American Institute of Physics.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/87418/2/267_1.pd

Phase-amplitude coupled persistent theta and gamma oscillations in rat primary motor cortex in vitro

In vivo, theta (4-7 Hz) and gamma (30-80 Hz) neuronal network oscillations are known to coexist and display phase-amplitude coupling (PAC). However, in vitro, these oscillations have for many years been studied in isolation. Using an improved brain slice preparation technique we have, using co-application of carbachol (10 μM) and kainic acid (150 nM), elicited simultaneous theta (6.6 ± 0.1 Hz) and gamma (36.6 ± 0.4 Hz) oscillations in rodent primary motor cortex (M1). Each oscillation showed greatest power in layer V. Using a variety of time series analyses we detected significant cross-frequency coupling 74% of slice preparations. Differences were observed in the pharmacological profile of each oscillation. Thus, gamma oscillations were reduced by the GABAA receptor antagonists, gabazine (250 nM and 2 μM), and picrotoxin (50 μM) and augmented by AMPA receptor antagonism with SYM2206 (20 μM). In contrast, theta oscillatory power was increased by gabazine, picrotoxin and SYM2206. GABAB receptor blockade with CGP55845 (5 μM) increased both theta and gamma power, and similar effects were seen with diazepam, zolpidem, MK801 and a series of metabotropic glutamate receptor antagonists. Oscillatory activity at both frequencies was reduced by the gap junction blocker carbenoxolone (200 μM) and by atropine (5 μM). These data show theta and gamma oscillations in layer V of rat M1 in vitro are cross-frequency coupled, and are mechanistically distinct. The development of an in vitro model of phase-amplitude coupled oscillations will facilitate further mechanistic investigation of the generation and modulation of coupled activity in mammalian cortex

Il mercato antiquariale nella Venezia di Ruskin. L'arte medievale in Germania

I primi viaggi di Ruskin a Venezia cadono durante la dominazione austriaca, una lunga fase che vede una dispersione di materiali medievali veneziani che sono divenuti oggetto d’interesse per un mercato che risponde a sollecitazioni diverse: privati collezionisti, amatori e turisti stranieri che cercano “souvenir” ma anche committenze elevate finalizzate alla costituzione di musei e luoghi evocativi. È questo il caso dell’imponente acquisto negli anni Quaranta ( committente Federico Guglielmo di Prussia) di sculture antiche e medievali in Italia che andranno a costituire un importante nucleo per il museo di arte medievale e bizantina dei musei di stato in corso di costruzione. Tra queste si trova un gruppo interessante di opere veneziane acquistate tutte presso un unico commerciante veneziano (Pajaro). Anche il fratello di Federico Gugliemo, Carlo, acquista arte veneziana per ricreare nel castello di Glienicke un chiostro veneziano. Ancora: la Friedenkirche a Potsdam viene ornata da un mosaico acquistato a Murano dalla demolita chiesa di san Cipriano. Frammenti e opere intere vanno quindi a costituire raccolte destinate al pubblico e alla sua educazione, oppure a impreziosire edifici neomedievali o evocativi. Una spoliazione che va in direzione opposta all’attenzione di Ruskin. L’occhio e la mano di Ruskin ci hanno consegnato documentazione grafica e visiva di un patrimonio in contesto. I suoi scritti sono animati dalla attenzione ad ogni frammento, come testimonianza di un fare che è anche storia. Delle esportazioni delle opere medievali resta traccia anche nella reazione di veneziani (Seguso in primis) e si può cogliere non solo negli scritti ma nelle azioni successive la crescita di una attenzione e una sensibilità per un patrimonio che verrà sentito come identitario. Dopo l’annessione all’Italia pur non cessando l’azione del mercato e le vendite possiamo riscontrare una dinamica non solo di attenzione e forte impegno nel restauro di monumenti significativi, ma anche la costituzione di musei dove trovano posto i frammenti emersi da restauri e le sculture decontestualizzate in nome di un nuovo spirito e di una attenzione di cui Ruskin è stato attivo promotore e protagonista

AI is a viable alternative to high throughput screening: a 318-target study

: High throughput screening (HTS) is routinely used to identify bioactive small molecules. This requires physical compounds, which limits coverage of accessible chemical space. Computational approaches combined with vast on-demand chemical libraries can access far greater chemical space, provided that the predictive accuracy is sufficient to identify useful molecules. Through the largest and most diverse virtual HTS campaign reported to date, comprising 318 individual projects, we demonstrate that our AtomNet® convolutional neural network successfully finds novel hits across every major therapeutic area and protein class. We address historical limitations of computational screening by demonstrating success for target proteins without known binders, high-quality X-ray crystal structures, or manual cherry-picking of compounds. We show that the molecules selected by the AtomNet® model are novel drug-like scaffolds rather than minor modifications to known bioactive compounds. Our empirical results suggest that computational methods can substantially replace HTS as the first step of small-molecule drug discovery

Standards for plant synthetic biology: a common syntax for exchange of DNA parts.

Inventors in the field of mechanical and electronic engineering can access multitudes of components and, thanks to standardization, parts from different manufacturers can be used in combination with each other. The introduction of BioBrick standards for the assembly of characterized DNA sequences was a landmark in microbial engineering, shaping the field of synthetic biology. Here, we describe a standard for Type IIS restriction endonuclease-mediated assembly, defining a common syntax of 12 fusion sites to enable the facile assembly of eukaryotic transcriptional units. This standard has been developed and agreed by representatives and leaders of the international plant science and synthetic biology communities, including inventors, developers and adopters of Type IIS cloning methods. Our vision is of an extensive catalogue of standardized, characterized DNA parts that will accelerate plant bioengineering.Biotechnological and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC). Grant Numbers: BB/K005952/1, BB/L02182X/1 Synthetic Biology Research Centre ‘OpenPlant’ award. Grant Number: BB/L014130/1 Spanish MINECO. Grant Number: BIO2013‐42193‐R Engineering Nitrogen Symbiosis for Africa (ENSA) The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation US Department of Energy, Office of Biological and Environmental. Grant Number: DE‐AC02‐05CH1123 COST Action. Grant Number: FA100

Assessing the effectiveness of support strategies in reducing professional burnout among clergy serving in the Presbyterian Church (USA)

The pastoral care and support of the clergy is an issue of growing concern to denominational leaders in the light of reported levels of stress in ministry, sickness, and early retirement. Drawing on the balanced affect model of professional burnout proposed by the Francis Burnout Inventory and the dimensional model of personality proposed by the abbreviated Eysenck Personality Questionnaire Revised, this study assesses the effectiveness of five support strategies operated by The Presbyterian Church (USA) to reduce levels of professional burnout among the clergy: study leave, sabbaticals, ministry mentors, spiritual directors, and minister peer groups. Data provided by a random sample of 744 clergy demonstrated that, after controlling for individual difference in age and personality, none of the five examined strategies served as predictors of lower levels of emotional exhaustion in ministry, but two strategies served as predictors of enhancing satisfaction in ministry, namely having a mentor and taking study leave