Family supportive supervisor behavior and work-family boundary control in teleworkers during a lockdown: Portugal and Pakistan comparison.

The imposition of telework due to the COVID-19 pandemic brought with it the need for individuals to readjust their work-non-work boundaries. In this crisis situation, individuals' needs to manage these boundaries may have been influenced by contextual factors, such as family-supportive supervisor behaviors (FSSB) and macro-structural aspects, such as the country to which the teleworkers belong. This study tests the mediating effect of boundary control on the relationship between FSSB and satisfaction with life and examines the moderating effect of the country (Pakistan vs. Portugal) in the relationship between FSSB and boundary control. With a sample of 108 Portuguese and 118 Pakistani individuals, the results were analyzed using Process tool. FSSB was found to be important for teleworkers to control their boundaries and for their satisfaction with life and this control was also seen to contribute to higher levels of life satisfaction. Differences between the two countries were observed: boundary control mediates the relationship between FSSB and satisfaction with life for Pakistani teleworkers and these workers are more dependent on FSSB to exercise boundary control than Portuguese teleworkers. This study highlights the importance of considering contextual factors when implementing telework. Practical implications are discussed.

Status conflict and tam creativity: the roles of depersonalization and organizational awareness / El conflicto de estatus y la creatividad de equipo: los roles de la despersonalización y la conciencia organizativa

Status – one's position and influence within a social network – is a psych-social resource which fulfills one's need for social esteem. Striving to gain status in a social setup, including organizational settings, can cause conflict and reduce employees' positive work behavior. This study is aimed at discussing two questions: first, how status conflict in team, a newly established type of conflict, poses a threat toward individual wellbeing and affects team creativity; and second, to what extent organizational awareness, an individual characteristic, might act as buffer against the negative effects of status conflict. The data was collected from 245 healthcare professionals from 55 teams and analyzed through multilevel analysis, after achieving the model fit. The counterintuitive findings at team level revealed that status conflict does not impede team creativity but causes depersonalization that could undermine the overall team creativity. This multilevel study serves to widen the literature, responding to the recent call for new research by investigating the effects of depersonalization caused by status conflict on team creativity. Likewise, from a practical standpoint, it also emphasizes social competency as a moderator that can reduce the negative feelings caused by status conflict. Additionally, the study extends the job-demand resource model by introducing status as an individual requirement in organizational context, arguing that depletion of status creates negative feelings which are ultimately able to lower creativity.(AU)

El estatus (la propia posición e influencia en una red social) es un recurso psicosocial que satisface la necesidad de valoración social. Empeñarse en conseguir estatus en una organización social que incluya escenarios organizativos puede acabar en conflictos y en un menor comportamiento laboral positivo. El estudio pretende abordar dos cuestiones: primera, de qué modo el conflicto de estatus en grupo, un tipo de conflicto recientemente introducido, supone una amenaza para el bienestar de la persona y afecta a la creatividad del equipo y, segunda, en qué medida la conciencia organizativa como característica individual puede actuar como amortiguación contra los efectos negativos del conflicto de estatus. Se recogieron datos de 245 profesionales sanitarios de 55 equipos y se realizó un análisis multinivel una vez se consiguió el ajuste del modelo. Los resultados contraintuitivos al nivel de equipo mostraron que el conflicto de estatus no impide la creatividad del equipo aunque produce despersonalización, lo que podría minar la creatividad global del equipo. Este estudio multinivel permite ampliar la literatura en respuesta a una petición reciente de nueva investigación para analizar los efectos de la despersonalización que produce el conflicto de estatus en la creatividad del equipo. Igualmente, desde un punto de vista práctico, también hace hincapié en la competencia social como moderador que puede aminorar los sentimientos negativos derivados del conflicto de estatus. También el estudio amplia el modelo de exigencias laborales-recursos, al considerar el estatus como requisito individual en el contexto organizativo, sosteniendo que la disminución del estatus conlleva sentimientos negativos que en último término podría mermar la creatividad.(AU)

Evaluation of time delay between discovery of a high blood pressure in a health screening survey and hypertension diagnosis.

PURPOSE: Early treatment of hypertension is important to reduce adverse cardiovascular outcomes. The aim of this study was to investigate the time delay from detection of a high blood pressure in a health screening survey to hypertension diagnosis in primary care. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Seventy years old inhabitants in the Uppsala County were randomly invited to the Prospective Investigation of the Vasculature in Uppsala Seniors (PIVUS) study. We found 409 individuals without antihypertensive treatment with a blood pressure >140/90 mmHg, being the average of three recordings measured after 30 min rest in a supine position. These individuals were recommended to ask their primary care physician to further investigate this finding. RESULTS: During 10 years of follow-up, 285 of them (70%) received a hypertension diagnosis. The mean time to diagnosis was 5 (SD 2) years. The chance of receiving a diagnosis of hypertension during the follow-up period in this group with elevated blood pressure at baseline was related to the systolic blood pressure (OR 1.04 per 1 mmHg, 95%CI 1.02-1.04), the BMI (OR 1.06 per 1 kg/m2, 95%CI 1.01-1.12), and statin use (OR 3.76, 95%CI 1.35-10.3) at the health survey, but was not significantly related to sex, prevalence of diabetes, or use of salicylic acid. No significant interaction between sex and systolic blood pressure regarding hypertension diagnosis was observed. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, when an elevated blood pressure was discovered in elderly persons at a health screening, 70% of those received a hypertension diagnosis within 10 years, with a mean time to diagnosis of 5 years. Health care actions should be enforced to shorten this time lag both in terms of information to the individuals, as well as the handling of this patient group in primary care.

Seeking Divine Solutions for Our Youth: A Conversation With Imam Hassan Mohamud.

The life period of youth and young adulthood is a time of forming identities and making allegiances. In the absence of adequate, consistent support, negative influences abound. Religious and spiritual leaders are potential sources of support for young people. Increasingly, empirical reports document the influence, most of it positive, of religion on both physical and emotional well-being. This interview with a Somali religious leader illustrates the importance of understanding and addressing the unique needs and challenges of young Somalis in Minnesota and beyond.

Gene transfer of vasostatin, a calreticulin fragment, into neuroendocrine tumor cells results in enhanced malignant behavior.

Vasostatin, a fragment of calreticulin, was transfected in the BON cell line to evaluate the feasibility of using it for gene therapy in neuroendocrine tumors. Vasostatin transfected cells were subcutaneously inoculated in nude mice. Burkitt lymphoma cell line, CA46, colorectal adenocarcinoma cell line, SW480, as well as endothelial cells PAE and SVEC4 were used for evaluating the function of vasostatin. The results demonstrated that vasostatin transfer caused enhanced malignant behavior of neuroendocrine tumor cell line, BON. Cell adhesion, spreading and cellular invasion were also enhanced in vasostatin-expressing BON cells. Tumor suppressor genes including p53, nm23, Rb and vinculin were down-regulated. Moreover, cell cycle regulatory protein, p27kip1, and cell differentiation-related protein kinase, PKR, were also significantly down-regulated. Furthermore, expression of NKG2D ligands, MICA and MICB, were down-regulated. Mice implanted with vasostatin-expressing BON cells showed an earlier and faster tumor growth compared to wild type. Anti-proliferative effects of vasostatin could not be proven in other cells except in PAE. These results indicated that vasostatin does probably not have a tumor growth inhibitory effect by itself, but rather modulates processes which are necessary for tumor growth. Therefore, one should be very careful when using vasostatin as an anti-tumoral agent in clinical trials, at least for neuroendocrine tumors.