Teacher stress and burnout in Australia: examining the role of intrapersonal and environmental factors.

Concerns regarding high rates of teacher stress and burnout are present globally. Yet there is limited current data regarding the severity of stress, or the role of intrapersonal and environmental factors in relation to teacher stress and burnout within the Australian context. The present study, conducted over an 18-month period, prior to the COVID pandemic, surveyed 749 Australian teachers to explore their experience of work-related stress and burnout; differences in stress and burnout across different demographic groups within the profession; as well as the contributing role of intrapersonal and environmental factors, particularly, emotion regulation, subjective well-being, and workload. Results showed over half of the sample reported being very or extremely stressed and were considering leaving the profession, with early career teachers, primary teachers, and teachers working in rural and remote areas reporting the highest stress and burnout levels. Conditional process analyses highlighted the importance of emotion regulation, workload and subjective well-being in the development of teacher stress and some forms of burnout. Implications for educational practice are discussed.

The Downstream Effects of Teacher Well-Being Programs: Improvements in Teachers' Stress, Cognition and Well-Being Benefit Their Students.

Quality interventions addressing the important issue of teacher stress and burnout have shown promising outcomes for participating teachers in terms of decreased distress, improved well-being and increased commitment to their jobs. Less is known however about whether such interventions also benefit students. The present study investigated the downstream effects for a completer sample of 226 primary and high school students after their teachers (n = 17) completed one of two 8-week stress reduction interventions. The relationships between change in teacher self-reported distress and burnout after completing the interventions, and change in students' self-reported well-being, academic self-perceptions, and perceptions of classroom environment were explored. A secondary aim of this study was to assess whether changes in teachers' cognitive flexibility mediated the relationship between teacher and student self-report outcomes. Results of correlational and multi-level mediation analyses showed that changes to teachers' self-reported distress and burnout affected multiple facets of students' well-being and the academic environment. Specifically, reductions in teachers' self-reported distress and burnout were related to students' improved perceptions of their teachers' support in the classroom. Reductions in teachers' personal and work-related burnout correlated with greater increases of academic self-perception in students. Contrary to predictions, cognitive flexibility in teachers did not mediate the relationship between these student and teacher measures. These findings indicate important downstream benefits for students and highlight the broader value of stress-reduction and well-being programs for teachers.

A 4-year retrospective study of tonsillectomy rate and admission rate of tonsillitis and complications in the East of England and nationally.

OBJECTIVES: Guidance set out by Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) sought to restrict the frequency of elective tonsillectomy in reaction to the recognised and substantial risks of the procedure, namely pain and bleeding. With stricter criteria in place before a patient can undergo tonsillectomy, patients must endure more episodes of tonsillitis than was previously the case. The cost of managing tonsillitis and its complications as an inpatient is substantial to the NHS and also to the economy as a whole in missed work days. The authors sought to establish if the reduced rate of tonsillectomy performed had any effect on the rate of acute hospital admission for tonsillitis or the associated abscesses-peritonsillar, parapharyngeal and retropharyngeal. METHODS: A retrospective multi-centre study reviewed admission data across a 4-year period. The rate of tonsillectomies performed for recurrent tonsillitis across four trusts in Mid-Essex was compared with the number of admissions for tonsillitis, peritonsillar, parapharyngeal and retropharyngeal abscesses. National hospital episode statistics data over a 5-year period was also analysed. RESULTS: For the regional data in 2015, 979 tonsillectomies were performed across the four centres, reducing to 875 in 2018. There was no trend in the rates of acute tonsillitis requiring admission but the rates of peritonsillar abscess increased from 156 to 192 cases per year in the same period. This correlation was found not to be statistically significant in the measured sample size. The National hospital episode statistics data showed a significant correlation between tonsillectomy rates and admissions from complications of tonsillitis as well as the associated abscesses. CONCLUSION: This study shows that the reduced tonsillectomy rate was correlated with an increased number of admissions with peritonsillar abscess regionally. Nationally reduced tonsillectomy rate is significantly associated with increased admissions with tonsillitis and all its complications. A decreased rate of tonsillectomy may be increasing the rate of serious tonsillitis. This has an impact on patient morbidity, an increasing financial burden on the NHS and the UK economy.

Perturbation-evoked lateral steps in older adults: Why take two steps when one will do?

BACKGROUND: Hip fractures in older adults often result from a fall in the lateral direction. While younger adults tend to recover balance from a lateral perturbation with a single lateral sidestep, older adults are prone to multistep responses which are associated with an increased fall risk. This study compared the stepping characteristics and stability of single and multistep responses to lateral perturbation in healthy older adults. METHODS: Eighty-four older adults received lateral waist-pull perturbations to either side. Spatio-temporal stepping characteristics and balance stability were quantified. FINDINGS: Fewer steps were taken to recover balance when the first step was a lateral sidestep. The stability margin of single lateral sidesteps was greater than medial sidesteps and cross-over steps to the back but not significantly different from single cross-over steps to the front at step termination. Single step responses were more stable than multistep responses at step termination and at step initiation for lateral sidesteps and cross-over steps to the front. The decreased stability of multistep responses was attributed to an increased center of mass velocity and a smaller distance between the center of mass and base-of-support at step termination. INTERPRETATION: Although lateral sidesteps result in fewer steps than cross-over steps to the front, the stability margin was not significantly different at step termination. These results suggest difficulty terminating center of mass motion and/or inefficient center of mass control differentiates single and multistep responses. Future studies should investigate perturbation training and/or hip abductor muscle conditioning as a means of improving compensatory stepping reactions.

Reactive and proactive aggression as meaningful distinctions at the variable and person level in primary school-aged children.

Reactive and proactive aggression is a dichotomous classification of aggression in adults and children. This distinction has been supported by a number of variable-based and factor analytic studies. Due to high inter-correlations, however, the reactive-proactive aggression distinction may not be entirely useful for understanding how group or individual aggressive behavior varies in children and adolescents. Drawing on a sample of primary school-aged children (N = 242) aged 7-12 years, this study sought to determine whether reactive and proactive aggression could be distinguished at the variable-level and the person-level in children. Exploratory Factor Analysis of data from an aggression instrument measuring both functions and forms of aggression, found a two-factor construct of aggression constituted by a reactive and proactive aggression factor. A person-based analysis was then conducted after classifying children according to the presence of reactive and/or proactive aggression. Discriminant function analysis was used to discern whether classifications on the basis of aggression function produced meaningful distinctions in terms of antisocial traits and emotional valence and intensity measures. Two functions were identified which distinguished children with different combinations of reactive and proactive aggression. Reactive-only aggressive children were defined primarily by high levels of impulsivity, while proactive-only children were defined primarily by higher levels of antisocial traits. Children high in both types of aggression exhibited both the presence of antisocial traits and impulsivity. Contrary to recent findings, this suggests that differences in aggression functions remain meaningful at the person level in children. Implications for interventions are discussed.

Antimonite is accumulated by the glycerol facilitator GlpF in Escherichia coli.

In a search for genes responsible for the accumulation of antimonite in Escherichia coli, TnphoA was used to create a pool of random insertional mutants, from which one antimonite-resistant mutant was isolated. Sequence analysis showed that the TnphoA insertion was located in the glpF gene, coding for the glycerol facilitator GlpF. The mutant was shown to be defective in polyol transport by GlpF. These results suggest that in solution Sb(III) is recognized as a polyol by the glycerol facilitator.

Alternate energy coupling of ArsB, the membrane subunit of the Ars anion-translocating ATPase.

The arsenical resistance (ars) operon of the conjugative R-factor R773 confers resistance to arsenical and antimonial compounds in Escherichia coli, where resistance results from active extrusion of arsenite catalyzed by the products of the arsA and arsB genes. Previous in vivo studies on the energetics of arsenite extrusion showed that expression of both genes produced an ATP-coupled arsenite extrusion system that was independent of the electrochemical proton gradient. In contrast, in cells expressing only the arsB gene, arsenite extrusion was coupled to electrochemical energy and independent of ATP, suggesting that the Ars transport system exhibits a dual mode of energy coupling depending on the subunit composition. In vitro the ArsA-ArsB complex has been shown to catalyze ATP-coupled uptake of 73AsO2(-1) in everted membrane vesicles. However, transport catalyzed by ArsB alone has not previously been observed in vitro. In this study we demonstrate everted membrane vesicles prepared from cells expressing only arsB exhibit uptake of 73AsO2(-1) coupled to electrochemical energy.

Energy expenditure of autoperfusing heart-lung preparation.

The autoperfused heart-lung preparation was developed as a method for extending the acceptable donor-to-recipient interval in clinical heart-lung transplantation. Metabolic substrate enhancement has been shown to be necessary for the survival and homeostasis of the functioning preparation. To define basic metabolic requirements and to determine the resting energy expenditure of the working canine heart-lung preparation, two groups were studied. Ten canine heart-lung blocks were placed in a normothermic autoperfusion circuit. In Group 1 (n = 5), a hyperalimentation solution of balanced substrate was infused (15% dextrose, 4.25% amino acids, 8 meq magnesium sulfate, 30 IU/dl insulin, and 10% lipids). In Group 2 (n = 5), no substrate was given. The preparations were ventilated with a mixture of room air and 5% CO2 at a rate of 4 breaths/min to maintain physiological pH. Myocardial function was assessed by cardiac output determinations and mixed venous gases. Pulmonary function was assessed with arterial blood gases. The oxygen consumption (VO2) and carbon dioxide production (VCO2) were measured with a Metabolic Cart, and the resting energy expenditure was calculated. The mean survival time for Group 1 was 360 minutes, and all preparations were terminated electively. The mean survival time for Group 2 was 219 +/- 43 minutes (p less than 0.01) with congestive heart failure as the common terminal event. All parameters of cardiac function and blood gases remained within physiological limits without significant differences between groups. The resting energy expenditure, a measure of metabolic rate, was 2.5 +/- 0.3 kcal/hr in Group 1 and 1.0 +/- 0.2 in Group 2 at termination (mean +/- SD) (p less than 0.01).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Differential lung ventilation with a modified ventilator.

To achieve synchronized differential pulmonary ventilation, an Ohio 560 ventilator was modified through separation of the outputs of the deep breath bellows and the tidal volume bellows and providing independent volume, flow rate, PEEP, oxygen-humidification, and alarm systems. The described ventilator modification is simple, inexpensive, and does not alter the performance characteristics of the original unmodified ventilator. Differential lung ventilation may be more easily achieved with this modified ventilator than with the simultaneous use of two ventilators or external electronic synchronizers.

Whey Protein Use in Cottage Cheese Dressing.

Cottage cheese whey protein concentrate prepared by heat precipitation and centrifugation was mixed with skimmilk, NaCl and xanthan gum and used as a dressing for cottage cheese curd. The resultant experimental cottage cheese contained more protein than a sample of commercial cottage cheese. The dressed curd particles of the experimental cheese tended to cling together and the flavor was somewhat flat. When evaluated by an 18-member sensory panel, it was given preference scores slightly below the commercial sample.

Use of Direct-Acid-Set Cottage Cheese Whey to Manufacture Sherbet.

Orange sherbet of 1% fat and 45 or 46% direct-add-set cottage cheese whey were compared to a control sherbet containing no whey. The titratable acidity was higher in sherbets containing whey. An untrained taste panel found no difference between the three sherbets studied, describing them as "like moderately."

Tomato-Flavored Beverage and Onion-Flavored Chip Dip Made from Cottage Cheese Whey.

Whey from cottage cheese made by the short-set culture method was used to make tomato-flavored drink by addition of 6% dried tomato-spice flavoring material, and was found by 10 panelists to have a pleasing taste. Heat treatment of cottage cheese whey at 93 to 99 C resulted in a precipitate containing over 9% total solids. This precipitate was further concentrated by centrifugation or filtration through a cotton cloth. The precipitates were blended with xanthan gum and onion-flavoring to produce a chip dip.

Effects of a polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) on sleeping times, plasma corticosteroids, and testicular activity of white-footed mice.

Forty adult male white-footed mice (Peromyscus leucopus) were divided into four equal groups and fed diets containing 0, 100, 200 or 400 p.p.m. of a polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) for 2 weeks. PCB ingestion increased liver weights and reduced pentobarbital-induced sleeping times at all levels tested, indicating increased hepatic microsomal enzyme activity. Plasma corticoid levels, seminal vesicle weights and testicular spermatozoa numbers were reduced at the 400 p.p.m. level.