Banter within the NHS: A tool for boosting morale or a front for workplace bullying?

Workplace humour, such as banter between colleagues, is a widespread means of developing relationships and relieving daily work stresses. Despite this, banter in the workplace is a prevalent theme of harassment and bullying claims. With staff morale at an all-time low among NHS employees, efforts must be made to identify and rectify issues which work to damage staff experiences within the organisation. We aimed to explore both the positive and negative impacts of banter on NHS staff well-being. We discuss the role of staff training on the appropriate use of workplace humour, with reference to a workshop delivered to NHS employees, educating them on the appropriate use of banter.

The Association of Transcription Factor 7 like 2 Gene Polymorphism with Diabetic Nephropathy in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus.

BACKGROUND: The exact relationship between the different TCF7L2 gene polymorphisms and the development of diabetic nephropathy (DN) remains unclear. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the association of TCF7L2 rs12255372 (G/T) gene polymorphism and diabetic nephropathy (DN) in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D). METHODS: 100 patients with T2D (50 patients without DN and 50 patients with DN) and 50 age and sex-matched healthy controls (HC) were enrolled in the study. Genotyping for the rs12255372 (G>T) polymorphism in the TCF7L2 gene was performed by real-time PCR. RESULTS: The rs12255372 polymorphism showed a statistically significant difference between HC and patients with and without DN in both the genotype and allele frequency. However, the rs12255372 polymorphism genotype or allele frequency was not statistically different between patients with DN and those patients without DN. The G allele was found to be higher in patients and the T allele was higher in HC suggesting that the G allele was the risk allele for developing T2D & DN and that the T allele was protective. CONCLUSION: rs12255372 TCF7L2 gene polymorphism was strongly associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus and DN. The association between rs12255372 polymorphism and DN was a mere reflection of a complicated diabetes mellitus rather than a direct independent association.