How can employees break free from helplessness in critical work incidents?

Critical incidents, defined as traumatic time-limited events, often happen unexpectedly, and have largely impacted employees in many ways. In this study, we apply the conservation of resources theory as our overarching framework to examine whether and when employees involved in a critical work incident would experience helplessness at work, which may consequently spill over into the life domain and negatively impact their well-being. Taking the COVID-19 as a typical example of critical incidents, we collected multiwave data from 765 Chinese doctors. The results showed that perceived COVID-19 event strength is positively related to doctors' helplessness at work, which further negatively impacts their presence of meaning in life. Besides, meaningful work exacerbates the effect of perceived COVID-19 event strength on doctors' helplessness, while social support and psychological detachment reduce the negative impact of helplessness on their presence of meaning in life. Our study calls attention to protection of the mental health and psychological well-being of employees faced with critical incidents at work and their psychological recovery, and sheds light on the effectiveness of social support and psychological detachment as resource replenishing mechanisms, while cautions against further emphasizing work meaningfulness to employees confronted with a highly novel, disruptive, and critical work event. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Toxicity effects of disinfection byproduct chloroacetic acid to Microcystis aeruginosa: Cytotoxicity and mechanisms.

Chlorine-based disinfectants are widely used for disinfection in wastewater treatment. The mechanism of the effects of chlorinated disinfection by-products on cyanobacteria was unclear. Herein, the physiological effects of chloroacetic acid (CAA) on Microcystis aeruginosa (M. aeruginosa), including acute toxicity, oxidative stress, apoptosis, production of microcystin-LR (MC-LR), and the microcystin transportation-related gene mcyH transcript abundance have been investigated. CAA exposure resulted in a significant change in the cell ultrastructure, including thylakoid damage, disappearance of nucleoid, production of gas vacuoles, increase in starch granule, accumulation of lipid droplets, and disruption of cytoplasm membranes. Meanwhile, the apoptosis rate of M. aeruginosa increased with CAA concentration. The production of MC-LR was affected by CAA, and the transcript abundance of mcyH decreased. Our results suggested that CAA poses acute toxicity to M. aeruginosa, and it could cause oxidative damage, stimulate MC-LR production, and damage cell ultrastructure. This study may provide information about the minimum concentration of CAA in the water environment, which is safe for aquatic organisms, especially during the global coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic period.

How can employees break free from helplessness in critical work incidents?

Critical incidents, defined as traumatic time-limited events, often happen unexpectedly, and have largely impacted employees in many ways. In this study, we apply the conservation of resources theory as our overarching framework to examine whether and when employees involved in a critical work incident would experience helplessness at work, which may consequently spill over into the life domain and negatively impact their well-being. Taking the COVID-19 as a typical example of critical incidents, we collected multiwave data from 765 Chinese doctors. The results showed that perceived COVID-19 event strength is positively related to doctors' helplessness at work, which further negatively impacts their presence of meaning in life. Besides, meaningful work exacerbates the effect of perceived COVID-19 event strength on doctors' helplessness, while social support and psychological detachment reduce the negative impact of helplessness on their presence of meaning in life. Our study calls attention to protection of the mental health and psychological well-being of employees faced with critical incidents at work and their psychological recovery, and sheds light on the effectiveness of social support and psychological detachment as resource replenishing mechanisms, while cautions against further emphasizing work meaningfulness to employees confronted with a highly novel, disruptive, and critical work event.

A Note on COVID-19 Diagnosis Number Prediction Model in China (preprint)

Objective: In December 2019, pneumonia infected with the novel coronavirus burst in Wuhan, China. We aimed to use a mathematical model to predict number of diagnosed patients in future to ease anxiety on the emergent situation. Methods: According to all diagnosis number from WHO website and combining with the transmission mode of infectious diseases, the mathematical model was fitted to predict future trend of outbreak. Our model was based on the epidemic situation in China, which could provide referential significance for disease prediction in other countries, and provide clues for prevention and intervention of relevant health authorities. In this retrospective, all diagnosis number from Jan 21 to Feb 10, 2020 reported from China was included and downloaded from WHO website. We develop a simple but accurate formula to predict the next day diagnosis number: ，where N i is the total diagnosed patient till the i th day, and was estimated as 0.904 at Feb 10. Results: Based on this model, it is predicted that the rate of disease infection will decrease exponentially. The total number of infected people is limited; thus, the disease will have limited impact. However, new diagnosis will last to end of March. Conclusions: Through the establishment of our model, we can better predict the trend of the epidemic in China.

A Note on COVID-19 Diagnosis Number Prediction Model in China (preprint)

In December 2019, pneumonia infected with the novel coronavirus burst in Wuhan, China. We aimed to use a mathematical model to predict number of diagnosed patients in future to ease anxiety on the emergent situation. Our model was based on the epidemic situation in China, which could provide referential significance for disease prediction in other countries, and provide clues for prevention and intervention of relevant health authorities. In this retrospective, all diagnosis number from Jan 21 to Feb 10, 2020 reported from China was included and downloaded from WHO website. We develop a simple but accurate formula to predict the next day diagnosis number: N_i/N_(i-1) =〖(N_(i-1)/N_(i-2) )〗^α，where Ni is the total diagnosed patient till the ith day, and α was estimated as 0.904 at Feb 10. Based on this model, it is predicted that the rate of disease infection will decrease exponentially. The total number of infected people is limited; thus, the disease will have limited impact. However, new diagnosis will last to end of March. Through the establishment of our model, we can better predict the trend of the epidemic in China.

COVID-19 Epidemic Outside China: 34 Founders and Exponential Growth (preprint)

Background: In December 2019, pneumonia infected with a novel coronavirus burst in Wuhan, China. Now the situation is almost controlled in China but is worse outside China. We aimed to build a mathematical model to capture the global trend of epidemics outside China. Methods: In this retrospective, outside-China diagnosis number reported from Jan 21 to Feb 28, 2020 was downloaded from WHO website. We develop a simple regression model on these numbers: log10 (Nt+34)=0.0515*t+2.075 where Nt is the total diagnosed patient till the ith day, t=1 at Feb 1. Findings: Based on this model, we estimate that there have been about 34 unobserved founder patients at the beginning of spread outside China. The global trend is approximately exponential, with the rate of 10 folds every 19 days.