Public and private sector compensation: what is affordable in this recession and beyond? -- a conference summary

On February 26, 2009, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and The Civic Federation hosted a forum to examine the differences in wages and benefits between the public sector and private sector and to discuss best practices in work force sustainability.Wages ; Recessions ; Displaced workers

Are suggestible people more likely to change their belief in the occurrence of autobiographical events?

peer reviewedA “nonbelieved memory” (NBM) refers to an autobiographical memory that is no longer believed to represent an event that actually took place, despite a vivid recollection of the event. While most studies have sought tocharacteriseNBMs (e.g. their frequency, dating, phenomenological characteristics), very few studies have attempted to differentiate individuals who report these memories from those who do not. The aim of the present study was thus to examine the role of suggestibility on the occurrence of NBMs and on the reasons for changes in belief in the occurrence of an event. One hundred and eighty-three people aged between 20 and 60 first completed the short version of the Multidimensional Iowa Suggestibility Scale and the Gudjonsson Compliance Scale. They were then asked whether or not they could report an NBM.If so, they had to describe the event, explain why they had stopped believing in its occurrence, and rate the phenomenological characteristics of their memory.In addition, participants had to describe an age-matched believed memory (BM) so that the characteristics of both types of memories could be compared. The results showed that a higher level of suggestibility was associated with a greater likelihood of reporting an NBM. However, contrary to our hypothesis that more suggestible people would tend to change their belief due to social feedback, there was no link between reasons for changing one’s belief and individual levels of suggestibility

Characterising nonbelieved memories: the respective contributions of dictionaries and thematic progressions

peer reviewedEn psychologie cognitive, dans le domaine de la mémoire autobiographique, on appelle « souvenirs désavoués » un phénomène mnésique se référant à la possibilité de ne plus croire en la réalité d’un événement pour lequel nous avons pourtant un souvenir clair et précis. Jusqu’à ce jour, les études se sont concentrées sur les caractéristiques de ces souvenirs ainsi que sur celles des individus qui les possèdent. La présente étude innove en examinant la manière dont ces souvenirs particuliers sont rapportés, comparativement à des souvenirs autobiographiques classiques. Spécifiquement, nous avons comparé ces récits au niveau de leur contenu et de leur structuration, en mobilisant deux méthodes d’analyse textuelle distinctes. Les contenus des récits de souvenirs désavoués et autobiographiques classiques ont été comparés (à l’aide des dictionnaires du logiciel LIWC) en termes de référence à soi, de caractéristiques perceptives et cognitives. Pour sa part, la structure des récits des deux types de souvenirs a été caractérisée en termes de progressions thématiques et d’alternance des temps (via une analyse de discours menée de manière collaborative, sans logiciel). Ensemble, ces analyses permettent de cerner les spécificités discursives des souvenirs autobiographiques ainsi que du sous-genre des souvenirs désavoués.In cognitive psychology, in the field of autobiographical memory, the term “nonbelieved memories” refers to the possibility of no longer believing in the reality of an event for which we have a clear and precise recollection. Previous studies have focused on the characteristics of these memories and of the individuals who possess them. The present study breaks new grounds by examining how these memories are reported compared to classic autobiographical memories. Specifically, we compared participants’ narratives in terms of their content and structuring, mobilizing two distinct methods of textual analysis. We compared the contents of nonbelieved and classic autobiographical memory (using LIWC software) in terms of self-reference, perceptual and cognitive features. Further, the structure of the narratives was characterized in terms of thematic progressions and alternation of tenses (via a collaborative discourse analysis, without software). Taken together, these analyses enable us to identify the discursive specificities of autobiographical memories and the sub-genre of nonbelieved memories

The SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics' resources: focus on curated databases

The SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics (www.isb-sib.ch) provides world-class bioinformatics databases, software tools, services and training to the international life science community in academia and industry. These solutions allow life scientists to turn the exponentially growing amount of data into knowledge. Here, we provide an overview of SIB's resources and competence areas, with a strong focus on curated databases and SIB's most popular and widely used resources. In particular, SIB's Bioinformatics resource portal ExPASy features over 150 resources, including UniProtKB/Swiss-Prot, ENZYME, PROSITE, neXtProt, STRING, UniCarbKB, SugarBindDB, SwissRegulon, EPD, arrayMap, Bgee, SWISS-MODEL Repository, OMA, OrthoDB and other databases, which are briefly described in this article

Effect of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor and angiotensin receptor blocker initiation on organ support-free days in patients hospitalized with COVID-19

IMPORTANCE Overactivation of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) may contribute to poor clinical outcomes in patients with COVID-19. Objective To determine whether angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor or angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) initiation improves outcomes in patients hospitalized for COVID-19. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS In an ongoing, adaptive platform randomized clinical trial, 721 critically ill and 58 non–critically ill hospitalized adults were randomized to receive an RAS inhibitor or control between March 16, 2021, and February 25, 2022, at 69 sites in 7 countries (final follow-up on June 1, 2022). INTERVENTIONS Patients were randomized to receive open-label initiation of an ACE inhibitor (n = 257), ARB (n = 248), ARB in combination with DMX-200 (a chemokine receptor-2 inhibitor; n = 10), or no RAS inhibitor (control; n = 264) for up to 10 days. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES The primary outcome was organ support–free days, a composite of hospital survival and days alive without cardiovascular or respiratory organ support through 21 days. The primary analysis was a bayesian cumulative logistic model. Odds ratios (ORs) greater than 1 represent improved outcomes. RESULTS On February 25, 2022, enrollment was discontinued due to safety concerns. Among 679 critically ill patients with available primary outcome data, the median age was 56 years and 239 participants (35.2%) were women. Median (IQR) organ support–free days among critically ill patients was 10 (–1 to 16) in the ACE inhibitor group (n = 231), 8 (–1 to 17) in the ARB group (n = 217), and 12 (0 to 17) in the control group (n = 231) (median adjusted odds ratios of 0.77 [95% bayesian credible interval, 0.58-1.06] for improvement for ACE inhibitor and 0.76 [95% credible interval, 0.56-1.05] for ARB compared with control). The posterior probabilities that ACE inhibitors and ARBs worsened organ support–free days compared with control were 94.9% and 95.4%, respectively. Hospital survival occurred in 166 of 231 critically ill participants (71.9%) in the ACE inhibitor group, 152 of 217 (70.0%) in the ARB group, and 182 of 231 (78.8%) in the control group (posterior probabilities that ACE inhibitor and ARB worsened hospital survival compared with control were 95.3% and 98.1%, respectively). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE In this trial, among critically ill adults with COVID-19, initiation of an ACE inhibitor or ARB did not improve, and likely worsened, clinical outcomes. TRIAL REGISTRATION ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT0273570

La téléconsultation dans le cadre des troubles de la déglutition du patient âgé en EHPAD : étude préliminaire. Analyse qualitative des singularités liées à la modalité « téléconsultation »

Introduction : In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, a telemedicine day hospital was established in the Rennes region in 2020 in order to provide speech and language therapy assessments and medical evaluations to elderly dysphagic patients. This study aims to investigate the essential elements necessary for implementing such teleconsultations when in-person meetings are not accessible. Method : We developed questionnaires to survey patients and health professionals on various issues related to their teleconsultation experiences. A qualitative analysis was carried out. Results : Our results reveal the good acceptance of teleconsultation, by the different participants. These results highlight participants’ adherence to these teleconsultations as well as the material and human factors essential for their successful implementation. Conclusion : These results demonstrate the feasibility of this project within a defined medical territory. However, further studies would be required to generalize these results on a larger scale.Introduction : Au regard de l’épidémie de COVID-19, un télé-hôpital de jour a été créé en 2020, dans la région rennaise, pour proposer des évaluations orthophoniques et médicales aux patients âgés dysphagiques. Cette étude souhaite explorer les éléments essentiels à la mise en place de telles téléconsultations, lorsqu’une rencontre en présentiel n’est pas accessible. Méthode : Nous avons élaboré des questionnaires afin d’interroger les patients et professionnels de santé sur diverses problématiques en lien avec leur expérience de téléconsultation. Une analyse qualitative a été réalisée. Résultats: Les résultats mettent en lumière l’adhésion des participants à ces téléconsultations ainsi que les facteurs matériels et humains indispensables à leur bon déroulement. Discussion : Ces données soutiennent la faisabilité d’un tel projet au sein d’un territoire médical défini. Néanmoins, d’autres études sont nécessaires pour généraliser ces résultats à plus grande échelle

Adaptive behavior within technological stability: field experiments with potters from five cultures.

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