[Fatigue among working and non-working students: a sociological analysis of the environmental determinants of its level]. / Zmeczenie wsród pracujacych i niepracujacych studentów: socjologiczna analiza czynników srodowiskowych determinujacych jego poziom.

BACKGROUND: Students often combine learning with working. Their additional responsibilities may reflect on their functioning and health. The aim of the research was to define the average level of fatigue among working and non-working students and to identify environmental factors that can influence this level. Despite the fact that this phenomenon is usually considered as a symptom of a more complex problem, this research focuses directly on fatigue itself without determining whether it is a result of burnout, the chronic fatigue syndrome or some other disease. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The research was conducted among 298 randomly selected second- and third-year full-time students of the Faculty of Economics and Sociology at the University of Lodz. The questionnaire which they completed included scales used to measure the level of fatigue, as well as the level of satisfaction with various aspects of the academic community life. RESULTS: The results demonstrated that level of fatigue among non-working students is significantly higher than among the working ones (p < 0.05). In the first group a negative correlation was observed between fatigue and satisfaction with studies (r = -0.264), and satisfaction with lecturers (r = -0.281).Also, a positive correlation was found between fatigue and taking a second course of studies (r = 0.170). In the second group negative correlations were identified between fatigue and satisfaction with studies (r = -0.310), and satisfaction with the atmosphere in a group of students (r = -0.216). In addition, the authors found that working female students were more fatigued than working male students. CONCLUSIONS: The factors analysed, directly linked to an individual's functioning in an academic community, can be predictors of the level of fatigue among students. Med Pr. 2019;70(5):597-609.

From global bioethics to ethical governance of biomedical research collaborations.

One of the features of advanced life sciences research in recent years has been its internationalisation, with countries such as China and South Korea considered 'emerging biotech' locations. As a result, cross-continental collaborations are becoming common generating moves towards ethical and legal standardisation under the rubric of 'global bioethics'. Such a 'global', 'Western' or 'universal' bioethics has in turn been critiqued as an imposition upon resource-poor, non-Western or local medical settings. In this article, we propose that a different tack is necessary if we are to come to grips with the ethical challenges that inter-continental biomedical research collaborations generate. In particular we ask how national systems of ethical governance of life science research might cope with increasingly global research collaborations with a focus on Sino-European collaboration. We propose four 'spheres' - deliberation, regulation, oversight and interaction - as a helpful way to conceptualise national systems of ethical governance. Using a workshop-based mapping methodology (workshops held in Beijing, Shanghai, Changsha, Xian, Shenzen and London) we identified three specific ethical challenges arising from cross-continental research collaborations: (1) ambiguity as to which regulations are applicable; (2) lack of ethical review capacity not only among ethical review board members but also collaborating scientists; (3) already complex, researcher-research subject interaction is further complicated when many nationalities are involved.