Relationship between pain catastrophizing and pain self-efficacy and presenteeism in workers: a cross-sectional-study focusing on gender differences.

Presenteeism has been noted to be associated with cognitive factors of pain, such as pain catastrophizing (PC) and pain self-efficacy (PS). Pain perception differs by gender, so it is important to consider gender differences when examining the association between cognitive factors of pain and presenteeism. This study aimed to examine the association between presenteeism and cognitive factors of pain, taking gender differences into account. A cross-sectional survey of 305 workers was conducted using a self-administered questionnaire that included items on pain status, PC, PS, and work performance. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to test whether PC and PS independently influence presenteeism, separately for men and women. Logistic regression analysis showed that PC was extracted in men, and the group with severe PC had higher odds of presenteeism (odds ratio 6.56, 95%confidence interval [CI] 1.83-23.40). Contrarily, PS was extracted in women, with higher odds of presenteeism in the moderate (odds ratio 2.54, 95%CI 1.01-6.39) and low (odds ratio 5.43, 95%CI 1.31-22.50) PS groups than in the high PS. This study showed that the cognitive factors of pain related to presenteeism may differ by gender.

Translation, Inter-rater Reliability, Agreement, and Internal Consistency of the Japanese Version of the Cumulated Ambulation Score in Patients after Hip Fracture Surgery.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to translate the Cumulated Ambulation Score (CAS) from English into Japanese in cooperation with different types of healthcare providers and to investigate its inter-rater reliability and internal consistency. METHODS: Two physical therapists at each of three general hospitals in Japan measured the mobility of 50 consecutive post-operative hip fracture patients on two occasions between 2 and 6 days after surgery using the Japanese version of the CAS (CAS-JP). We analyzed the inter-rater reliability and agreement using both the linear weighted kappa and the interclass correlation coefficient; we also analyzed the internal consistency using Cronbach's alpha coefficient. RESULTS: The mean age of patients was 81 (SD: 11.6) years and 82% were women. Approximately half of the patients had severe cognitive impairment. Kappa was ≥ 0.93 for the three mobility activities and for the total CAS-JP score, the percentage agreement was ≥ 0.98, the ICC was ≥ 0.95, and Cronbach's alpha coefficient was 0.85. CONCLUSIONS: We found that the CAS-JP possessed good inter-rater reliability, agreement, and internal consistency. The CAS-JP is a reliable and easy-to-use evaluation tool suitable for daily clinical practice across different healthcare providers to monitor mobility in older hip fracture patients in Japan. We suggest that CAS-JP be evaluated in future studies for use in younger patients and in other patient groups with mobility problems.

Crystal structure of Escherichia coli YidC, a membrane protein chaperone and insertase.

Bacterial YidC, an evolutionally conserved membrane protein, functions as a membrane protein chaperone in cooperation with the Sec translocon and as an independent insertase for membrane proteins. In Gram-negative bacteria, the transmembrane and periplasmic regions of YidC interact with the Sec proteins, forming a multi-protein complex for Sec-dependent membrane protein integration. Here, we report the crystal structure of full-length Escherichia coli YidC. The structure reveals that a hydrophilic groove, formed by five transmembrane helices, is a conserved structural feature of YidC, as compared to the previous YidC structure from Bacillus halodurans, which lacks a periplasmic domain. Structural mapping of the substrate- or Sec protein-contact sites suggested the importance of the groove for the YidC functions as a chaperone and an insertase, and provided structural insight into the multi-protein complex.