The effect of perceived professional benefits on health professionals' job engagement: the role of psychological availability and future perceived professional benefits.

BACKGROUND: Improving the job engagement of health professionals can effectively enhance the quality of their medical services. However, few studies have investigated whether and how perceived professional benefits affect job engagement. Based on resource conservation theory, this study explored the effect of the influence of perceived professional benefits on job engagement, and also examined the mediating role of psychological availability and the moderating role of future perceived professional benefits. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted in six tertiary hospitals and seven secondary hospitals in Liu Panshui, a city in western China. A total of 1,406 valid questionnaires were obtained and analysed by using correlation analysis, hierarchical regression analysis, and bootstrap tests. RESULT: The study found a significant positive association between health professionals' perceived professional benefits and their job engagement. Additionally, psychological availability was found to mediate this relationship. Future perceived professional benefits not only positively moderate this relationship between perceived professional benefits on health professionals' psychological availability but also positively moderate the mediating role of psychological availability between perceived professional benefits and job engagement. CONCLUSION: Improving health professionals' perceived professional benefits can enhance their job engagement by increasing their psychological availability. However, for health professionals with low future perceived professional benefits, this improvement may disappear. Therefore, it is important to enhance both their current and future perceived professional benefits to improve their job engagement.

New glucosidated indole-quinazoline alkaloids from mangrove endophytic fungus Aspergillus fumigatus SAl12.

Two new glucosidated indole-containing quinazoline alkaloids designated fumigatosides G (1) and H (2) were isolated from mangrove-derived fungus Aspergillus fumigatus SAl12, together with the known analogues fumigatoside B (3) and fumiquinazoline J (4). The planar structures of the new compounds were elucidated by HR-MS and NMR spectroscopic data analyses. The absolute configurations were determined by comparison of electronic circular dichroic (ECD) spectra with that of the known compound fumigatoside B and with the calculated ECD spectrum. All these indole-quinazoline compounds were tested for anti-bacterial and cytotoxic activities.

Procedural justice, relative deprivation, and intra-team knowledge sharing: The moderating role of group identification.

How to promote employees' knowledge-sharing behaviors has become a focus of managers and researchers. Based on the theory of relative deprivation, this study explored the mechanism of organizational procedural justice on employees' intra-team knowledge sharing, as well as the mediating role of relative deprivation and the moderating role of group identification. A path analysis was conducted on 416 valid questionnaire data, and the results revealed that: (1) Procedural justice has a positive effect on intra-team knowledge sharing; (2) Both group relative deprivation and individual relative deprivation play a mediating role between procedural justice and intra-team knowledge sharing, but they have opposite effects. Procedural justice reduces both group relative deprivation and individual relative deprivation, but individual relative deprivation decreases employees' intra-team knowledge sharing, while group relative deprivation increases it. (3) Group identification has an enhancing moderating effect on the relationship between group relative deprivation and intra-team knowledge sharing, while the moderating effect on the relationship between individual relative deprivation and intra-team knowledge sharing is not significant. Therefore, enterprises should make procedures such as performance appraisal and salary allocation justify and transparent to reduce individual relative deprivation, but should moderately trigger group relative deprivation flexibly according to the situation, while enhancing employee group identification through cultural construction.

Effect of transcranial magnetic stimulation on postural control of individuals with major depressive disorder: A case report.

Accidental falls and major depressive disorder (MDD) are two common conditions associated with aging. Initial treatment of MDD often starts with administering antidepressants, followed by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) for treatment-resistant individuals. The purpose of this case study was to determine the effect of repetitive TMS (rTMS) on postural control of an individual with MDD. A 44-year-old male with recurrent severe MDD was assessed for postural balance during eyes closed and eyes open conditions, pre and post three consecutive sessions receiving high-frequency rTMS (NeuroStar). Total excursion and velocity of sway significantly decreased following rTMS treatment when eyes were closed (p < 0.05). Power of the sway changed, but the changes were not statistically significant. The fractal dimension confidence circle area decreased significantly in eyes closed trials (p < 0.05). It appears that rTMS application can potentially impact postural steadiness in individuals with MDD. Our results warrant further studies with larger study samples.

Microbiome and Metabolome Variation as Indicator of Social Stress in Female Prairie Voles.

Social isolation is detrimental to the health of social mammals inducing neurochemical and hormonal changes related to depression and anxiety, as well as impairments of cardiovascular and immune functioning. Likewise, perceptions of loneliness are increasingly recognized as detrimental to human psychological well-being, cognitive functioning, and physical health. Few studies, however, have examined the impact of social isolation on the intestinal microbiome and metabolome. To better understand the impact of social isolation on these systems, intestinal microbiota, and the systemic impact via the gut-brain axis, we employed prairie voles. Physiological stress on female prairie voles (n = 22) either with a same-sex sibling (n = 11) or in isolation (n = 11) for four weeks demonstrated behavioral indicators of increased anxiety and depression in isolated voles (p ≤ 0.01). Bacterial DNA from fecal and colon samples, collected at five time points (T0-4), were sequenced for all nine hypervariable regions of the 16S rRNA gene. Microbiome analyses revealed several differences in gut communities of paired and isolated voles with greater differences at T4. Notably, several taxa associated with host health including Anaerostipes and Lactobacillaceae were more prevalent in paired voles, whereas several taxa associated with known pathogens (e.g., Staphylococcaceae and Enterococcus) or disease were elevated in isolated animals. Similarly, metabolome analyses suggested isolated voles, when compared to paired animals, exhibited differences in metabolites associated with diabetes and colitis. These findings further contribute to our understanding of the harmful effects of social isolation, which cause perturbations in the gut microbiome and serum metabolites.

The impact of emotional leadership on Chinese subordinates' work engagement: role of intrinsic motivation and traditionality.

BACKGROUND: Leaders' emotions and emotion regulation strategies influence subordinates' attitudes and behaviors, while previous studies have mostly taken an emotional perspective. Leaders' emotional competence also has an impact on subordinates through motivational and cognitive pathways. Based on self-determination theory, this study examined the impact of emotional leadership on subordinates' work engagement, as well as the mediating role of subordinates' intrinsic motivation and the moderating role of traditionality. METHODS: We first performed a scenario experiment study in which 116 Chinese college students were asked to read experimental materials on different leadership behaviors and answer relevant questions. Subsequently, a questionnaire survey was conducted, in which 347 Chinese enterprise employees were asked to rate their own experiences with emotional leadership, work engagement and intrinsic motivation. We used SPSS 25.0 for performance reliability analysis, correlation analysis and hierarchical regression analysis to test the reliability of the scales and investigate the relationship between the variables. Bootstrap analysis was used to test the mediating and moderating effects. RESULTS: Emotional leadership has a significant direct positive effect on subordinates' work engagement and positively influences subordinates' work engagement through the mediation of subordinates' intrinsic motivation. The effect of emotional leadership on intrinsic motivation is stronger for those with high traditionality than for those with low traditionality. CONCLUSION: Emotional leadership can improve subordinates' work engagement by stimulating their intrinsic motivation. Therefore, managers need to be able to effectively regulate and manage subordinates' emotions to stimulate their intrinsic motivation and to differentiate the management of subordinates with different levels of traditionality to improve subordinates' work engagement.

How empowering leadership influences medical workers' work-family conflict in the post-pandemic era: A moderated mediation model of leadership "black box".

After experiencing the COVID-19 pandemic, the status and mechanisms of leadership, and the challenges for medical workers in terms of family-work conflicts, have caused widespread concern. In the post-pandemic era, based on role theory and the stressor-detachment model, this paper seeks to break the "black box" of negative effects that can be caused by leadership, research the mechanism and boundary conditions of those negative effects, and explore factors to reduce those negative effects. We recruited 1,010 Chinese medical workers fighting COVID-19 on the frontline. Our study results showed that there was a significant negative correlation between empowering leadership and work-family conflict, and this relationship was completely mediated by role stress, while psychological detachment moderated the relationship between role stress and work-family conflict. Moreover, psychological detachment moderated the mediating effect of empowering leadership on work-family conflict through role stress. Therefore, higher levels of psychological detachment were less conducive to medical workers' family-work conflict. This study has important theoretical significance and practical value for revealing the negative effects and mechanisms of empowering leadership and for medical workers to better deal with work-family relations.

Metabolic Basis of Cognitive Improvement Associated With Active B Vitamin Supplementation in Cognitively Impaired Elderly Subjects - A Metabolomics Study.

Intervention studies with active B vitamin supplementation in cognitively impaired individuals have yielded varying results in randomized controlled trials. In addition, a negative interaction of active B vitamin supplementation with aspirin usage on cognitive outcome was noted, but the molecular basis of the interaction has largely remained unknown. To investigate the metabolic basis of cognitive improvement brought about by active B vitamin supplementation, we conducted an extensive metabolomics analysis covering 302 identified metabolites on the baseline and 24-month serum samples from a cohort of 137 subjects randomly assigned to active supplementation or placebo. Pathway analysis uncovered enhanced gluconeogenesis and War-burg effects underlying cognitive improvement in non-aspirin users supplemented with active B vitamins. In addition, metabolomics revealed that aspirin usage may interact with B vitamin supplementation by altering gut microbial metabolism, particularly in terms of propionate production. Lastly, our omics data suggest that varying capacities to assimilate B vitamins at baseline, possibly mediated by differences in gut microbial composition, may underlie variations in inter-individual responses to active B vitamin supplementation.

Experiences of caregivers and hospice leaders with telehealth for palliative care: a mixed methods study.

BACKGROUND: Telehealth was expanded worldwide during the COVID-19 pandemic to deliver essential care remotely to patients, including those receiving palliative care. Bipartisan groups of politicians in the United States call for continuing the expanded Medicare coverage of telehealth services beyond the pandemic period. The aim was to understand telehealth's benefits and risks to hospice and palliative care patients and their families. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional survey of 595 caregivers of seriously ill patients and interviewed 25 hospice leaders across the United States. We used multiple linear regression to analyze the survey data and qualitative methods to determine themes from the interview data. RESULTS: Our survey showed that a good internet connection, better access to video, and the patient being younger than 65 years old were associated with greater satisfaction with telehealth. The hospice leader interviews highlighted that telehealth can enhance or detract from quality care, depending on the function; confusion over telehealth policies and concern for abuse exists; and telehealth during the pandemic has spurred on technology-enabled innovation and improvements, especially for resource-constrained hospice and palliative care organizations. CONCLUSIONS: Telehealth used during the pandemic showed that it may work for certain hospice and palliative care services. As telehealth coverage expands, it is important to address its risks and shortcomings upfront. When designed and implemented with the patient and equity in mind, telehealth has the potential to improve access to hospice and palliative care for all.

Potent Anticancer Activities of Beauvericin Against KB Cells In Vitro by Inhibiting the Expression of ACAT1 and Exploring Binding Affinity.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Beauvericin (BEA), a cyclic hexadepsipeptide mycotoxin, is a potent inhibitor of the acyl-CoA: cholesterol acyltransferase enzyme 1 (ACAT1), involved in multiple tumor-correlated pathways. However, the binding mechanisms between BEA and ACAT1 were not elucidated. METHODS: BEA was purified from a mangrove entophytic Fusarium sp. KL11. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction was used to determine the structure of BEA. Wound healing assays of BEA against KB cell line and MDA-MB-231 cell line were evaluated. Inhibitory potency of BEA against ACAT1 was determined by ELISA assays. Molecular docking was carried out to illuminate the bonding mechanism between BEA and ACAT1. RESULTS: The structure of BEA was confirmed by X-ray diffraction, indicating a monoclinic crystal system with P21 space group (α = 90°, ß = 92.2216(9)°, γ= 90°). BEA displayed migration-inhibitory activities against KB cells and MDA-MB-231 cells In Vitro. ELISA assays revealed that the protein expression level of ACAT1 in KB cells was significantly decreased after BEA treatment (P ＜0.05). Molecular docking demonstrated that BEA formed hydrogen bond with His425 and pi-pi staking with Tyr429 in ACAT1. CONCLUSION: BEA sufficiently inhibited the proliferation and migration of KB cells and MDA-MB-231 cells by downregulating ACAT1 expression. In addition, BEA potentially possessed a strong binding affinity with ACAT1. BEA may serve as a potential lead compound for the development of a new ACAT1-targeted anticancer drug.

The paradoxical association between tension-reduction alcohol outcome expectancies and tension following alcohol consumption.

Background: Behavioral models suggest that strong tension-reduction alcohol-outcome expectancies (TREs) among drinkers should be associated with greater tension reduction after drinking. Yet, the few studies investigating this have found either no relationship or the opposite relationship.Objectives: We sought to explore this relationship by building upon the limitations of past studies and employing a placebo-controlled, within-subject experimental design.Methods: Sixty social drinkers (26 M, 34 F) visited the lab on two occasions spaced one week apart. Each participant was randomly assigned to receive alcoholic drinks targeting a BAC of 0.05% on one testing day and placebo drinks on the other, with the order counter-balanced. On both testing days, participants completed measures of state anxiety and fear both before drinking and following a drinking/absorption period. While completing the self-report measures, participants were anticipating an impending, mildly stressful heartbeat perception task.Results: Multilevel modeling revealed that the more strongly individuals believed that alcohol reduces tension, the less the pharmacologic properties of alcohol did so (p = .02 for the state anxiety outcome measure; p = .001 for the fear outcome measure). This was the case even with anxiety sensitivity - a known predictor of stress-response dampening - controlled for.Conclusions: These results provide further evidence for the paradoxical association of TREs and the dampening of anxiety. Additionally, the findings are consistent with the basis of expectancy challenges that aim to reframe inaccurate TREs among drinkers.

Discovery of a Highly Potent and Novel Gambogic Acid Derivative as an Anticancer Drug Candidate.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Gambogic Acid (GA), a promising anti-cancer agent isolated from the resin of Garcinia species in Southeast Asia, exhibits high potency in inhibiting a wide variety of cancer cells' growth. Moreover, the fact that it is amenable to chemical modification makes GA an attractive molecule for the development of anti-cancer agents. METHODS: Gambogic acid-3-(4-pyrimidinyloxy) propyl ester (compound 4) was derived from the reaction between 4-hydroxypropoxy pyrimidine and GA. Its structure was elucidated by comprehensive analysis of ESIMS, HRESIMS, 1 D NMR data. Anti-tumor activities of compound 4 and GA in vitro against HepG-2, A549 and MCF-7 cells were investigated by MTT assay. FITC/PI dye was used to test apoptosis. The binding affinity difference of compound 4 and GA binding to IKKß was studied by using Discovery Studio 2016. RESULTS: Compound 4 was successfully synthesized and showed strong inhibitory effects on HepG-2, A549 and MCF-7 cells lines with an IC50 value of 1.49±0.11, 1.37±0.06 and 0.64±0.16µM, respectively. Molecular docking study demonstrated that four more hydrogen bonds were established between IKKß and compound 4, compared with GA. CONCLUSION: Our results suggested that compound 4 showed significant effects in inducing apoptosis. Further molecular docking study indicated that the introduction of pyrimidine could improve GA's binding affinity to IKKß. Compound 4 may serve as a potential lead compound for the development of new anti-cancer drugs.

Parametric mode regression for bounded responses.

We propose new parametric frameworks of regression analysis with the conditional mode of a bounded response as the focal point of interest. Covariate effects estimation and prediction based on the maximum likelihood method under two new classes of regression models are demonstrated. We also develop graphical and numerical diagnostic tools to detect various sources of model misspecification. Predictions based on different central tendency measures inferred using various regression models are compared using synthetic data in simulations. Finally, we conduct regression analysis for data from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative to demonstrate practical implementation of the proposed methods. Supporting Information that contain technical details and additional simulation and data analysis results are available online.

Bayes factors for choosing among six common survival models.

A super model that includes proportional hazards, proportional odds, accelerated failure time, accelerated hazards, and extended hazards models, as well as the model proposed in Diao et al. (Biometrics 69(4):840-849, 2013) accounting for crossed survival as special cases is proposed for the purpose of testing and choosing among these popular semiparametric models. Efficient methods for fitting and computing fast, approximate Bayes factors are developed using a nonparametric baseline survival function based on a transformed Bernstein polynomial. All manner of censoring is accommodated including right, left, and interval censoring, as well as data that are observed exactly and mixtures of all of these; current status data are included as a special case. The method is tested on simulated data and two real data examples. The approach is easily carried out via a new function in the spBayesSurv R package.

Body mass index trajectories during the first year of life and their determining factors.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to examine the trajectories of body mass index (BMI) in the first year of life and their determining factors. METHODS: We used data from the Infant Feeding Practices Survey II restricted to children with 2 or more time points of BMI data during follow-up visits within the first year of life (n = 2320). Latent class growth analysis was used to identify distinct BMI trajectories. Using multinomial logistic regression, we examined the prenatal and early life determinants of the identified trajectories. RESULTS: Three BMI trajectories were identified during the first year of life: "low-stable" (81.6%), "high-stable" (15.6%), and "rising" (2.8%) trajectories. Boys, preterm infants, infants born to overweight mothers, Hispanic mothers, non-Hispanic Black mothers, and mothers who smoked during pregnancy were significantly more likely to have high-stable versus low-stable trajectories. Infants born to non-Hispanic Black mothers were more likely to have a rising versus a low-stable trajectory. Household income ≥350% of the federal poverty level and full adherence to the guidelines of the American Academy of Pediatrics for both breastfeeding exclusivity and duration reduced the likelihood of infants being in the rising versus the low-stable trajectory. CONCLUSION: Distinct BMI trajectories were evident as early as infancy. The predictors of these trajectories offer information about high-risk groups, and important and preventable prenatal and postnatal risk factors for future intervention programs.

Generalized accelerated failure time spatial frailty model for arbitrarily censored data.

Flexible incorporation of both geographical patterning and risk effects in cancer survival models is becoming increasingly important, due in part to the recent availability of large cancer registries. Most spatial survival models stochastically order survival curves from different subpopulations. However, it is common for survival curves from two subpopulations to cross in epidemiological cancer studies and thus interpretable standard survival models can not be used without some modification. Common fixes are the inclusion of time-varying regression effects in the proportional hazards model or fully nonparametric modeling, either of which destroys any easy interpretability from the fitted model. To address this issue, we develop a generalized accelerated failure time model which allows stratification on continuous or categorical covariates, as well as providing per-variable tests for whether stratification is necessary via novel approximate Bayes factors. The model is interpretable in terms of how median survival changes and is able to capture crossing survival curves in the presence of spatial correlation. A detailed Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithm is presented for posterior inference and a freely available function frailtyGAFT is provided to fit the model in the R package spBayesSurv. We apply our approach to a subset of the prostate cancer data gathered for Louisiana by the surveillance, epidemiology, and end results program of the National Cancer Institute.

Association of green tea consumption with mortality from all-cause, cardiovascular disease and cancer in a Chinese cohort of 165,000 adult men.

Tea is the most ancient and popular beverage in the world, and its beneficial health effects has attracted tremendous attention worldwide. However, the prospective evidence relating green tea consumption to total and cause-specific mortality is still limited and inconclusive. We recruited 164,681 male participants free of pre-existing disease during 1990-1991, with green tea consumption and other covariates assessed by the standardized questionnaire and mortality follow up continued until 2006 (mean 11 years; total person-years: 1,961,791). Cox regression analyses were used to quantify the associations of green tea consumption with all-cause (n = 32,700), CVD (n = 11,839) and cancer (n = 7002) mortality, adjusting simultaneously for potential confounders. At baseline, 18 % reported regular consumption of green tea. Compared with non-green tea drinkers, regular drinkers had significantly lower all-cause mortality, with adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) being 0.94 (95 % CI 0.89, 0.99) for ≤5 g/day, 0.95 (0.91, 0.99) for 5-10 g/day and 0.89 (0.85, 0.93) for >10 g/day. For CVD mortality, the corresponding HRs were 0.93 (0.85, 1.01) 0.91 (0.85, 0.98) and 0.86 (0.79, 0.93), respectively, while for cancer they were 0.86 (0.78, 0.98), 0.92 (0.83, 1.00) and 0.79 (0.71, 0.88), respectively. The patterns of these associations varied by smoking, alcohol drinking and locality. This large prospective study shows that regular green tea consumption is associated with significantly reduced risk of death from all-cause, CVD and cancer among Chinese adults.

The Expanding Burden of Elevated Blood Pressure in China: Evidence From Jiangxi Province, 2007-2010.

Elevated blood pressure (BP) as a risk factor accounts for the biggest burden of disease worldwide and in China. This study aimed to estimate attributed mortality and life expectancy (LE) to elevated BP in Jiangxi province between 2007 and 2010. BP and mortality data (2007 and 2010 inclusive) were obtained from the National Chronic Diseases and Risk Factors Surveillance Survey and Disease Surveillance Points system, respectively. Population-attributable fraction used in comparative risk assessment of the Global Burden of Disease study 2010 were followed to quantify the attributed mortality to elevated BP, subsequently life table methods were applied to estimate its effects on LE. Uncertainty analysis was conducted to get 95% uncertainty intervals (95% uncertainty interval [UI]) for each outcome. There are 35,482 (95% UI: 31,389-39,928) and 47,842 (42,323-53,837) deaths in Jiangxi province were caused by elevated BP in 2007 and 2010, respectively. 2.24 (1.87-2.65) years of LE would be gained if all the attributed deaths were eliminated in 2007, and increased to 3.04 (2.52-3.48) in 2010. If the mean value of elevated BP in 2010 was decreased by 5 and 10 mm Hg, 5324 (4710-5991) and 11,422 (10,104-12,853) deaths would be avoided, with 0.41 (0.37-0.48) and 0.85 (0.71-1.09) years of LE gained, respectively. The deaths attributable to elevated BP in Jiangxi province has increased by 35% from 2007 to 2010, with 0.8 years of LE loss, suggesting the necessity to take actions to control BP in Chinese population.

MODELLING COUNTY LEVEL BREAST CANCER SURVIVAL DATA USING A COVARIATE-ADJUSTED FRAILTY PROPORTIONAL HAZARDS MODEL.

Understanding the factors that explain differences in survival times is an important issue for establishing policies to improve national health systems. Motivated by breast cancer data arising from the Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results program, we propose a covariate-adjusted proportional hazards frailty model for the analysis of clustered right-censored data. Rather than incorporating exchangeable frailties in the linear predictor of commonly-used survival models, we allow the frailty distribution to flexibly change with both continuous and categorical cluster-level covariates and model them using a dependent Bayesian nonparametric model. The resulting process is flexible and easy to fit using an existing R package. The application of the model to our motivating example showed that, contrary to intuition, those diagnosed during a period of time in the 1990s in more rural and less affluent Iowan counties survived breast cancer better. Additional analyses showed the opposite trend for earlier time windows. We conjecture that this anomaly has to be due to increased hormone replacement therapy treatments prescribed to more urban and affluent subpopulations.

Marginal Bayesian nonparametric model for time to disease arrival of threatened amphibian populations.

The global emergence of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) has caused the extinction of hundreds of amphibian species worldwide. It has become increasingly important to be able to precisely predict time to Bd arrival in a population. The data analyzed herein present a unique challenge in terms of modeling because there is a strong spatial component to Bd arrival time and the traditional proportional hazards assumption is grossly violated. To address these concerns, we develop a novel marginal Bayesian nonparametric survival model for spatially correlated right-censored data. This class of models assumes that the logarithm of survival times marginally follow a mixture of normal densities with a linear-dependent Dirichlet process prior as the random mixing measure, and their joint distribution is induced by a Gaussian copula model with a spatial correlation structure. To invert high-dimensional spatial correlation matrices, we adopt a full-scale approximation that can capture both large- and small-scale spatial dependence. An efficient Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithm with delayed rejection is proposed for posterior computation, and an R package spBayesSurv is provided to fit the model. This approach is first evaluated through simulations, then applied to threatened frog populations in Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Park.