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Taking appreciation to heart: appreciation at work and cardiovascular risk in male employees.
Get PDFINTRODUCTION
While perceived appreciation at work has been associated with self-reported health and wellbeing, studies considering biological health markers are lacking. In this study, we investigated whether appreciation at work would relate to coronary heart disease (CHD) risk as well as the specificity of this proposed association.
METHODS
Our study comprised a total of 103 male participants, including apparently healthy, medication-free, non-smoking men in the normotensive to hypertensive range (n = 70) as well as medicated hypertensive and CHD patients (n = 33). CHD risk was assessed by blood pressure [mean arterial pressure (MAP)], the diabetes marker glycated hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), blood lipids [total cholesterol (TC)/high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) ratio], coagulation activity (D-dimer and fibrinogen), and inflammation [interleukin (IL)-6, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), and C-reactive protein (CRP)]. Perceived appreciation at work, as well as potentially confounding psychological factors (social support, self-esteem, and work strain due to a lack of appreciation), were measured by self-report questionnaires.
RESULTS
We found higher appreciation at work to relate to lower overall composite CHD risk (p's ≤ 0.011) and, in particular, to lower MAP (p's ≤ 0.007) and lower blood lipids (p's ≤ 0.031) in medication-free participants as well as all participants. This overall association was independent of confounding factors, including related psychological factors (p's ≤ 0.049).
DISCUSSION
Our findings indicate that appreciation at work might be an independent health-promoting resource in terms of CHD risk. Implications include that encouraging appreciation at work may help reduce the development and progression of CHD
Immune response to the recombinant herpes zoster vaccine in people living with HIV over 50 years of age compared to non-HIV age-/gender-matched controls (SHINGR'HIV): a multicenter, international, non-randomized clinical trial study protocol.
Get PDFBACKGROUND
The burden of herpes zoster (shingles) virus and associated complications, such as post-herpetic neuralgia, is higher in older adults and has a significant impact on quality of life. The incidence of herpes zoster and post-herpetic neuralgia is increased in people living with HIV (PLWH) compared to an age-matched general population, including PLWH on long-term antiretroviral therapy (ART) with no detectable viremia and normal CD4 counts. PLWH - even on effective ART may- exhibit sustained immune dysfunction, as well as defects in cells involved in the response to vaccines. In the context of herpes zoster, it is therefore important to assess the immune response to varicella zoster virus vaccination in older PLWH and to determine whether it significantly differs to that of HIV-uninfected healthy adults or younger PLWH. We aim at bridging these knowledge gaps by conducting a multicentric, international, non-randomised clinical study (SHINGR'HIV) with prospective data collection after vaccination with an adjuvant recombinant zoster vaccine (RZV) in two distinct populations: in PLWH on long-term ART (> 10 years) over 50 years of and age/gender matched controls.
METHODS
We will recruit participants from two large established HIV cohorts in Switzerland and in France in addition to age-/gender-matched HIV-uninfected controls. Participants will receive two doses of RZV two months apart. In depth-evaluation of the humoral, cellular, and innate immune responses and safety profile of the RZV will be performed to address the combined effect of aging and potential immune deficiencies due to chronic HIV infection. The primary study outcome will compare the geometric mean titer (GMT) of gE-specific total IgG measured 1 month after the second dose of RZV between different age groups of PLWH and between PLWH and age-/gender-matched HIV-uninfected controls.
DISCUSSION
The SHINGR'HIV trial will provide robust data on the immunogenicity and safety profile of RZV in older PLWH to support vaccination guidelines in this population.
TRIAL REGISTRATION
ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05575830. Registered on 12 October 2022. Eu Clinical Trial Register (EUCT number 2023-504482-23-00)
[Five case reports on granulosa cell tumors in cattle with practical information on diagnosis and possible progression].
Get PDFFive cases of ovarian tumors (granulosa cell tumors) in cattle are presented from the patient load of the Vetsuisse University of Zurich and Bern. The aim of this work was to demonstrate the variable development of the illness and to indicate diagnostic and therapeutic possibilities to the practicing veterinarians. Case 1 shows bilateral appearance and the development of malignancy and metastases. The main symptoms in case 2 were the development of the mammary gland in a juvenile animal and the behavior modification due to a hormonal imbalance. The cases 3, 4 and 5 underwent surgery, case 4 restarted reproductive activity resulting in five subsequent pregnancies. The initial presumption is a result of a gynecological including ultrasonographic examination and can be verified by the analysis of Müllerian Inhibiting Hormone in serum. The decision to perform surgery should be done rapidly, as normal fertility can be achieved if the tumor is located unilaterally. Tumor growth and potential malignancy can provoke fatal health issues and also make it impossible to use meat of these animals for consumption
Genetic diversity from proviral DNA as a proxy for time since HIV-1 infection.
Get PDFHIV-1 RNA genetic diversity predicts time since infection which is important for clinical care and research. It's unclear, however, whether proviral DNA genetic diversity sampled under suppressive antiretroviral therapy can be used for this purpose. We tested whether proviral genetic diversity from NGS sequences predicts time since infection and recency in 221 people with HIV-1 with known infection time. Proviral diversity was significantly associated with time since infection (p<5*10-07, R2 up to 25%) and predictive of treatment initiation during recent infection (AUC-ROC up to 0.85). This shows the utility of proviral genetic diversity as a proxy for time since infection
Biocatalyst Immobilization and Process Intensification: Production of ( S )-Piperazine-2-carboxylic Acid Dihydrochloride
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Algebraic overshear density property
Get PDFWe introduce the notion of the algebraic overshear density property which implies both the algebraic notion of flexibility and the holomorphic notion of the density property. We investigate basic consequences of this stronger property, and propose further research directions in this borderland between affine algebraic geometry and elliptic holomorphic geometry. As an application, we show that any smoothly bordered Riemann surface with finitely many boundary components that is embedded in a complex affine surface with the algebraic overshear density property admits a proper holomorphic embedding
Are Spiders good to think with?
No full textNot just since the dissemination of Donna Haraway’s concept of “tentacular thinking” (Haraway 2016) and the publication of Feral Atlas (Tsing et. al. 2020) it is apparent that human exceptionalism and the mono-perspectivism that often accompanies it, have become inadequate knowledge practices. In media anthropology as well as in artistic research, tentacularity is often conceptualised in terms of entanglements and layerings, and the tentacular is imagined as spreading through nets and networks.
In my presentation, I am taking Haraway’s proposition of “tentacular thinking” quite literal: I am drawing on long-term multimodal ethnographic research on Apulian tarantism, a spider possession cult that is endemic to Southern Italy and intrinsically linked to Saint Paul, the patron saint of those bitten by venomous animals. I argue that several more-than-human agents – venomous critters, Catholic saints and eventually landscape itself – continue to shape social relations that are grounded in a principle of shared corporeality open to suffering.
I will screen passages from my ethnographic documentary film “Tarantism Revisited” (together with Anja Dreschke) to discuss principles of essayistic montage, layering and leveraging the (multimodal) archive in relation to “tentacular thinking.” I maintain that spiders ARE good to think with when it comes to generating other forms of knowledge and/or connecting seemingly unrelated phenomena that challenge culture/nature dichotomies
La collaboration d’Élie Bertrand aux Questions sur l’Encyclopédie: une version méconnue de « Droit canonique » et le manuscrit inédit de « Scélératesse et scélérat »
No full textNous savons par la correspondance de Voltaire qu’Élie Bertrand, ancien premier pasteur de l’église française de Berne, fournit deux articles pour les Questions sur l’Encyclopédie. « Droit canonique » figure en bonne place et sous le nom de Bertrand, alors que « Scélératesse » disparut presque sans laisser de traces. Un Mémoire sur la vie de Bertrand nous apporte de nouveaux éléments sur la genèse de « Droit canonique ». Peut-être écrit pour le roi Stanislas de Pologne vers 1765, il fut, selon Bertrand, « mutilé et tronqué » pour sa première publication dans les Questions en 1771, mais parut sous une forme plus complète dans l’Encyclopédie d’Yverdon en 1772. En effet, la comparaison de « Droit canonique » avec les articles « Ecclésiastiques, biens » et « Ecclésiastique, autorité et puissance » que Bertrand contribua à cette encyclopédie révèle d’étroits parallèles. Presque tout « Droit canonique » peut vraisemblablement lui être attribué, ainsi qu’un grand nombre de ses variantes dans la deuxième édition, neuchâteloise, des Questions. Le manuscrit « Scélératesse et scélérat », quant à lui, semble avoir été écrit spécifiquement pour les Questions et sur un sujet demandé par Voltaire (« les usurpations de la cour romaine »). Comment expliquer alors qu’il n’ait pas été retenu ? Nous émettons l’hypothèse que Voltaire considérait l’article de nouveau comme trop long, mais qu’il ne prit pas la peine de le raccourcir puisqu’il n’était de toute façon pas d’accord avec les représentations protestantes du pape Alexandre VI.We know from Voltaire’s correspondence that Élie Bertrand, former chief pastor of the French Protestant church in Bern, supplied two articles for the Questions sur l’Encyclopédie. “Droit canonique” features in good place and under Bertrand’s name, whereas “Scélératesse” had vanished almost without trace. A Memoir of Bertrand’s life provides new evidence on the genesis of “Droit canonique”. Possibly first written for king Stanislas of Poland around 1765, it was, according to Bertrand, “mutilated and truncated” for its first publication in the Questions in 1771 but appeared in more complete form in the Encyclopédie d’Yverdon in 1772. Indeed, comparing “Droit canonique” to the articles “Ecclésiastiques, biens” and “Ecclésiastique, autorité et puissance” that Bertrand contributed to this encyclopaedia reveals close parallels. Almost all of “Droit canonique” can plausibly be attributed to him, as well as many of its variants in the second, Neuchâtel edition of the Questions. The manuscript “Scélératesse et scélérat” on the other hand appears to have been written specifically for the Questions and on a topic requested by Voltaire (“the usurpations of the Roman court”). How then to explain that it was not used? We hypothesise that Voltaire may again have considered the article overlong but did not take the trouble to cut it since he fundamentally disagreed with the Protestant view of pope Alexander VI
The revival of the psychedelic experience scale: Revealing its extended-mystical, visual, and distressing experiential spectrum with LSD and psilocybin studies
Get PDFBackground: Research with the Psychedelic Experience Questionnaire/Scale (PES) focuses on questions relating to mystical experience (Mystical Experience Questionnaire (MEQ)). The psychometric potential of the non-MEQ items of the PES remains largely unexplored.
Aims: We investigated whether the PES also yields subscales besides the MEQ30 subscales.
Methods: Data from 239 PES measurements (140 healthy participants) from six studies with moderate to high doses of lysergic acid diethylamide and/or psilocybin were included. New subscales (with items other than MEQ30) were created and validated as follows: (1) theoretical derivation of candidate items; (2) removal of items with rare experiences; (3) exploratory factor analysis; and (4) confirmatory factor analysis. Correlations of subscales within the PES and between the PES and the 5-Dimensional Altered States of Consciousness Scale (5D-ASC) were performed. In addition, a cluster analysis using all items (except rare experiences) was performed.
Results: The reliability of the four original factors of the MEQ30 was confirmed and four additional factors for the non-MEQ items were revealed: paradoxicality, connectedness, visual experience, and distressing experience. The first two additional factors were strongly correlated with the MEQ30 mystical subscale. Adding the new subscales to the MEQ30 subscales increased the explained variance with the 5D-ASC. The cluster analysis confirmed our main results and provided additional insights for future psychedelic psychometrics.
Conclusion: The study yields a new validated 6-factor structure for extended mystical experience (MEQ40: MEQ30 + Paradoxicality + Connectedness) and covers psychedelic experience as a whole more comprehensively than has hitherto been possible within a single questionnaire (PES48). The entire PES (PES100) can also be used for further future psychedelic-psychometric research
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