From Widgits to Digits is about the changing nature of the employment relationship and its implications for labor and employment law. For most of the twentieth century, employers fostered long-term ...employment relationships through the use of implicit promises of job security, well-defined hierarchical job ladders, and longevity-based wage and benefit schemes. Today's employers no longer value longevity or seek to encourage long-term attachment between the employee and the firm. Instead employers seek flexibility in their employment relationships. As a result, employees now operate as free agents in a boundaryless workplace, in which they move across departmental lines within firms, and across firm borders, throughout their working lives. Today's challenge is to find a means to provide workers with continuity in wages, on-going training opportunities, sustainable and transferable skills, unambiguous ownership of their human capital, portable benefits, and an infrastructure of support structures to enable them to weather career transitions.
BackgroundHuman papillomavirus (HPV) infection is estimated to be the most common sexually transmitted infection; an estimated 6.2 million persons are newly infected every year in the United States. ...There are limited data on HPV infection in heterosexual men MethodsWe conducted a systematic review of the literature by searching MEDLINE using the terms “human papillomavirus,” “HPV,” “male,” “seroprevalence,” and “serology” to retrieve articles published from 1 January 1990 to 1 February 2006. We included studies that had data on population characteristics and that evaluated male genital anatomic sites or specimens for HPV DNA or included assessments of seropositivity to HPV type 6, 11, 16, or 18 in men. We excluded studies that had been conducted only in children or immunocompromised persons (HIV infected, transplant recipients, or elderly) ResultsWe included a total of 40 publications on HPV DNA detection and risk factors for HPV in men; 27 evaluated multiple anatomic sites or specimens, 10 evaluated a single site or specimen, and 3 evaluated risk factors or optimal anatomic sites/specimens for HPV detection. Twelve studies assessed site- or specimen-specific HPV DNA detection. HPV prevalence in men was 1.3%–72.9% in studies in which multiple anatomic sites or specimens were evaluated; 15 (56%) of these studies reported ⩾20% HPV prevalence. HPV prevalence varied on the basis of sampling, processing methods, and the anatomic site(s) or specimen(s) sampled. We included 15 publications reporting HPV seroprevalence. Rates of seropositivity depended on the population, HPV type, and methods used. In 9 studies that evaluated both men and women, all but 1 demonstrated that HPV seroprevalence was lower in men than in women ConclusionHPV infection is highly prevalent in sexually active men and can be detected by use of a variety of specimens and methods. There have been few natural-history studies and no transmission studies of HPV in men. The information that we have reviewed may be useful for future natural-history studies and for modeling the potential impact of a prophylactic HPV vaccine
The structural organization of the functionally relevant, hexameric oligomer of green-absorbing proteorhodopsin (G-PR) was obtained from double electron-electron resonance (DEER) spectroscopy ...utilizing conventional nitroxide spin labels and recently developed Gd3+-based spin labels. G-PR with nitroxide or Gd3+ labels was prepared using cysteine mutations at residues Trp58 and Thr177. By combining reliable measurements of multiple interprotein distances in the G-PR hexamer with computer modeling, we obtained a structural model that agrees with the recent crystal structure of the homologous blue-absorbing PR (B-PR) hexamer. These DEER results provide specific distance information in a membrane-mimetic environment and across loop regions that are unresolved in the crystal structure. In addition, the X-band DEER measurements using nitroxide spin labels suffered from multispin effects that, at times, compromised the detection of next-nearest neighbor distances. Performing measurements at high magnetic fields with Gd3+ spin labels increased the sensitivity considerably and alleviated the difficulties caused by multispin interactions.
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•Gd3+ DEER techniques are introduced to study membrane protein oligomer structures•Gd3+ measurements in green-absorbing proteorhodopsin hexamers show two distances•This oligomeric structure is similar to that of blue-absorbing proteorhodopsin•Distances to multiple neighbors resolved better with Gd3+ than with nitroxide labels
The structure of transmembrane protein oligomers remains difficult to study. Edwards et al. use EPR measurements of interprotein distances to verify a model of the proteorhodopsin hexamer. Gd3+-based spin labels are shown to improve measurements in oligomers by reporting multiple distances better than traditional labels.
During the middle third of the 20th century, workers in most industrialized countries secured a substantial measure of job security, whether through legislation, contract or social practice. This ..."standard employment contract," as it was known, became the foundation of an impressive array of rights and entitlements, including social insurance and pensions, protection against unsociable working conditions, and the right to bargain collectively. Recent changes in technology and the global economy, however, have dramatically eroded this traditional form of employment. Employers now value flexibility over stability, and increasingly hire employees for short-term or temporary work. Many countries have also repealed labor laws, relaxed employee protections, and reduced state-provided benefits. As the old system of worker protection declines, how can labor regulation be improved to protect workers? InRethinking Workplace Regulation, nineteen leading scholars from ten countries and half a dozen disciplines present a sweeping tour of the latest policy experiments across the world that attempt to balance worker security and the new flexible employment paradigm.
Edited by noted socio-legal scholars Katherine V.W. Stone and Harry Arthurs,Rethinking Workplace Regulationpresents case studies on new forms of dispute resolution, job training programs, social insurance and collective representation that could serve as policy models in the contemporary industrialized world. The volume leads with an intriguing set of essays on legal attempts to update the employment contract. For example, Bruno Caruso reports on efforts in the European Union to "constitutionalize" employment and other contracts to better preserve protective principles for workers and to extend their legal impact. The volume then turns to the field of labor relations, where promising regulatory strategies have emerged. Sociologist Jelle Visser offers a fresh assessment of the Dutch version of the 'flexicurity' model, which attempts to balance the rise in nonstandard employment with improved social protection by indexing the minimum wage and strengthening rights of access to health insurance, pensions, and training. Sociologist Ida Regalia provides an engaging account of experimental local and regional "pacts" in Italy and France that allow several employers to share temporary workers, thereby providing workers job security within the group rather than with an individual firm. The volume also illustrates the power of governments to influence labor market institutions. Legal scholars John Howe and Michael Rawling discuss Australia's innovative legislation on supply chains that holds companies at the top of the supply chain responsible for employment law violations of their subcontractors. Contributors also analyze ways in which more general social policy is being renegotiated in light of the changing nature of work. Kendra Strauss, a geographer, offers a wide-ranging comparative analysis of pension systems and calls for a new model that offers "flexible pensions for flexible workers."
With its ambitious scope and broad inquiry,Rethinking Workplace Regulationillustrates the diverse innovations countries have developed to confront the policy challenges created by the changing nature of work. The experiments evaluated in this volume will provide inspiration and instruction for policymakers and advocates seeking to improve worker's lives in this latest era of global capitalism.
The motions of electrons in solids may be highly correlated by strong, long-range Coulomb interactions. Correlated electron-hole pairs (excitons) are accessed spectroscopically through their allowed ...single-quantum transitions, but higher-order correlations that may strongly influence electronic and optical properties have been far more elusive to study. Here we report direct observation of bound exciton pairs (biexcitons) that provide incisive signatures of four-body correlations among electrons and holes in gallium arsenide (GaAs) quantum wells. Four distinct, mutually coherent, ultrashort optical pulses were used to create coherent exciton states, transform these successively into coherent biexciton states and then new radiative exciton states, and finally to read out the radiated signals, yielding biexciton binding energies through a technique closely analogous to multiple-quantum two-dimensional Fourier transform (2D FT) nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. A measured variation of the biexciton dephasing rate indicated still higher-order correlations.
Abstract
Background
Although studies to date have broadly shown that cardiovascular disease (CVD) increases cognitive and physical impairment risk, there is still limited understanding of the ...magnitude of this risk among relevant CVD subtypes or age cohorts.
Methods
We analyzed longitudinal data from 16 679 U.S. Health and Retirement Study participants who were aged ≥65 years at study entry. Primary endpoints were physical impairment (activities of daily living impairment) or cognitive impairment (Langa–Weir Classification of dementia). We compared these endpoints among participants who developed incident CVD versus those who were CVD free, both in the short term (<2-year postdiagnosis) and long term (>5 years), controlling for sociodemographic and health characteristics. We then analyzed the effects by CVD subtype (atrial fibrillation, congestive heart failure, ischemic heart disease, and stroke) and age-at-diagnosis (65–74, 75–84, and ≥85).
Results
Over a median follow-up of 10 years, 8 750 participants (52%) developed incident CVD. Incident CVD was associated with significantly higher adjusted odds (aOR) of short-term and long-term physical and cognitive impairment. The oldest (≥85) age-at-diagnosis subgroup had the highest risk of short-term physical (aOR 3.01, 95% confidence interval CI: 2.40–3.77) and cognitive impairment (aOR 1.96, 95% CI: 1.55–2.48), as well as long-term impairment. All CVD subtypes were associated with higher odds of physical and cognitive impairment, with the highest risk for patients with incident stroke.
Conclusions
Incident CVD was associated with an increased risk of physical and cognitive impairment across CVD subtypes. Impairment risk after CVD was highest among the oldest patients (≥85 years) who should therefore remain a target for prevention efforts.
Oligomerization has important functional implications for many membrane proteins. However, obtaining structural insight into oligomeric assemblies is challenging, as they are large and resist ...crystallization. We focus on proteorhodopsin (PR), a protein with seven transmembrane α-helices that was found to assemble to hexamers in densely packed lipid membrane, or detergent-solubilized environments. Yet, the structural organization and the subunit interface of these PR oligomers were unknown. We used site-directed spin-labeling together with electron spin-resonance lineshape and Overhauser dynamic nuclear polarization analysis to construct a model for the specific orientation of PR subunits within the hexameric complex. We found intersubunit distances to average 16 Å between neighboring 55 residues and that residues 177 are >20 Å apart from each other. These distance constraints show that PR has a defined and radial orientation within a hexamer, with the 55-site of the A-B loop facing the hexamer core and the 177-site of the E-F loop facing the hexamer exterior. Dynamic nuclear polarization measurements of the local solvent dynamics complement the electron spin-resonance-based distance analysis, by resolving whether protein surfaces at positions 55, 58, and 177 are exposed to solvent, or covered by protein-protein or protein-detergent contacts.
Critics often discount the television mini-series
Unsere Mütter, unsere Väter
(2013) as bad history, constructed around emotions rather than facts. This article argues, however, that emotional ...engagement does not necessarily inhibit critical engagement or moral reflection. My argument builds on an analysis of how the drama manipulates the sort of generational and gendered tropes that are central to Marianne Hirsch's theory of postmemory. Exemplifying the aesthetics of postmemory, the mini-series illuminates transformations in contemporary memory culture. It also raises questions overlooked by Hirsch about the ethical imperatives of postmemorial engagements with the history of the perpetrators.
Background:
The COVID-19 pandemic led to the urgent implementation of telehealth visits in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) care; however, data assessing feasibility remain limited.
Objectives:
We ...looked to determine the completion rate of telehealth appointments for adults with IBD, as well as to evaluate demographic, clinical, and social predictors of incomplete appointments.
Design:
We conducted a retrospective analysis of all patients with IBD who had at least one scheduled telehealth visit at the NYU IBD Center between 1 March 2020 and 31 August 2021, with only the first scheduled telehealth appointment considered.
Methods:
Medical records were parsed for relevant covariables, and multivariable logistic regression was used to estimate the adjusted association between demographic factors and an incomplete telehealth appointment.
Results:
From 1 March 2020 to 31 August 2021, there were 2508 patients with IBD who had at least one telehealth appointment, with 1088 (43%) having Crohn’s disease (CD), 1037 (41%) having ulcerative colitis (UC), and 383 (15%) having indeterminate colitis. Of the initial telehealth visits, 519 (21%) were not completed, including 435 (20%) among patients <60 years as compared to 84 (23%) among patients ⩾60 years (p = 0.22). After adjustment, patients with CD had higher odds of an incomplete appointment as compared to patients with UC adjusted odds ratio (adjOR): 1.37, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.10–1.69, as did females (adjOR: 1.26, 95% CI: 1.04–1.54), and patients who had a non-first-degree relative listed as an emergency contact (adjOR: 1.69, 95% CI: 1.16–2.44). While age ⩾60 years was not associated with appointment completion status, we did find that age >80 years was an independent predictor of missed telehealth appointments (adjOR: 2.92, 95% CI: 1.12–7.63) when compared to individuals aged 60–70 years.
Conclusion:
Patients with CD, females, and those with less social support were at higher risk for missed telehealth appointments, as were adults >80 years. Engaging older adults via telehealth, particularly those aged 60–80 years, may therefore provide an additional venue to complement in-person care.
We present two-dimensional Fourier transform optical spectroscopy measurements of two types of molecular J-aggregate thin films and show that temperature-dependent dynamical effects govern exciton ...delocalization at all temperatures, even in the presence of significant inhomogeneity. Our results indicate that in the tested molecular aggregates, even when the static structure disorder dominates exciton dephasing dynamics, the extent of exciton delocalization may be limited by dynamical fluctuations, mainly exciton–phonon coupling. Thus inhomogeneous dephasing may mediate the exciton coherence time whereas dynamical fluctuations mediate the exciton coherence length.
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