Work-family life conflict and mental well-being.

BACKGROUND: The promotion and maintenance of workers' mental health is an increasingly important issue, both for employers and society. Previous research has shown that job characteristics (i.e. demands, control and support) are significantly associated with employees' mental well-being. However, changes in work characteristics have given rise to the emergence of new job demands, leading to work-family life conflict. AIMS: To investigate the association between work-family life conflict and employee mental well-being. METHODS: A cross-sectional study with two samples: one sample comprising clothes store sales employees and the other comprising call centre operators. Logistic regression models were used to examine the effects of work-family life conflict on employee well-being. RESULTS: After controlling for job demands, job control, supervisory support and co-workers support, work-family life conflict was associated with employee mental well-being. CONCLUSIONS: Work-family life conflict is an important factor to explain employee well-being and productivity and should be addressed as well as work factors.

Charge orders, magnetism and pairings in the cuprate superconductors.

We review the recent developments in the field of cuprate superconductors with special focus on the recently observed charge order in the underdoped compounds. We introduce new theoretical developments following the study of the antiferromagnetic quantum critical point in two dimensions, in which preemptive orders in both charge and superconducting (SC) sectors emerge, that are in turn related by an SU(2) symmetry. We consider the implications of this proliferation of orders in the underdoped region, and provide a study of the type of fluctuations which characterize the SU(2) symmetry. We identify an intermediate energy scale where the SC fluctuations are dominant and argue that they are unstable towards the formation of a resonant excitonic state at the pseudogap temperature T (*). We discuss the implications of this scenario for a few key experiments.

Isolation of Pantoea ananatis from sugarcane and characterization of its potential for plant growth promotion.

Each year, approximately 170 million metric tons of chemical fertilizer are consumed by global agriculture. Furthermore, some chemical fertilizers contain toxic by-products and their long-term use may contaminate groundwater, lakes, and rivers. The use of plant growth-promoting bacteria may be a cost-effective strategy for partially replacing conventional chemical fertilizers, and may become an integrated plant nutrient solution for sustainable crop production. The main direct bacteria-activated mechanisms of plant growth promotion are based on improvement of nutrient acquisition, siderophore biosynthesis, nitrogen fixation, and hormonal stimulation. The aim of this study was to isolate and identify bacteria with growth-promoting activities from sugarcane. We extracted the bacterial isolate SCB4789F-1 from sugarcane leaves and characterized it with regard to its profile of growth-promoting activities, including its ability to colonize Arabidopsis thaliana. Based on its biochemical characteristics and 16S rDNA sequence analysis, this isolate was identified as Pantoea ananatis. The bacteria were efficient at phosphate and zinc solubilization, and production of siderophores and indole-3-acetic acid in vitro. The isolate was characterized by Gram staining, resistance to antibiotics, and use of carbon sources. This is the first report on zinc solubilization in vitro by this bacterium, and on plant growth promotion following its inoculation into A. thaliana. The beneficial effects to plants of this bacterium justify future analysis of inoculation of economically relevant crops.

A mortalidade na cidade do Salvador / The mortality in the city of Salvador

Estudo da mortalidade na cidade do Salvador, compreendendo, de maneira descritiva do período que vai da fundação da cidade até o fim do século XVIII e, através de dados expressos numericamente, de 1800 a 1981. As informações são relativas à mortalidade geral, encontrando-se dados esparsos sobre mortalidade infantil a partir de 1920...