There have been few longitudinal studies on Chinese bus drivers and the individual differences in the relationships between organizational justice and job satisfaction. This study examined the ...organizational justice and job satisfaction in bus drivers and the individual differences in this relationship.
A two-wave longitudinal study design was employed. A first survey was conducted on 513 Chinese bus drivers in October 2021 that collected socio-demographic information and asked about their perceptions of organizational fairness. A second survey was conducted six months later that asked about role overload and job satisfaction and assessed their proactive personality type. An effect model was then used to explore the moderating effects of role overload and proactive personality type on the relationships between organizational justice and job satisfaction.
Both procedural and interactive justice predicted the bus drivers' job satisfaction. Proactive personalities and role overload were found to enhance this relationship.
Organizations could benefit from screening at the recruitment stage for drivers with highly proactive personalities. Relevant training for drivers with low proactive personalities could partially improve employee job satisfaction. When viewed from a Chinese collectivist cultural frame, role overload could reflect trust and a sense of belonging, which could enhance job satisfaction. Finally, to improve employee job satisfaction, organizations need to ensure procedural and interactive justice.
Disordered gut microbiota (GM) structure and function may contribute to osteoporosis (OP). Nodakenin has been shown to ameliorate osteoporosis; however, its anti-osteoporotic mechanism is unknown. ...This study aimed to further reveal the mechanism of the anti-osteoporotic action of nodakenin from the perspective of the microbiome and metabolome. An osteoporosis model was induced in mice through ovariectomy (OVX), with bone mass and microstructure assessed using μCT. Subsequently, ELISA and histologic examination were used to detect biochemical indicators of bone conversion and intestinal morphology. Using metabolomics and 16S rRNA sequencing, it was possible to determine the composition and abundance of the gut microbiota in feces. The results revealed that nodakenin treatment improved the bone microstructure and serum levels of bone turnover markers, and increased the intestinal mucosal integrity. 16S rRNA sequencing analysis revealed that nodakenin treatment decreased the relative abundance of Firmicutes and Patescibacteria, as well as the F/B ratio, and elevated the relative abundance of Bacteroidetes in OVX mice. In addition, nodakenin enhanced the relative abundance of
and
, among others, at the genus level. Moreover, metabolomics analysis revealed that nodakenin treatment significantly altered the changes in 113 metabolites, including calcitriol. A correlation analysis revealed substantial associations between various gut microbiota taxa and both the osteoporosis phenotype and metabolites. In summary, nodakenin treatment alleviated OVX-induced osteoporosis by modulating the gut microbiota and intestinal barrier.
Ceramics have been widely used in the field of tribology due to their superior corrosion resistance and low friction coefficient. The tribological properties of ceramics can be improved by machining ...proper surface texture. This work uses a nanosecond laser to process dimples on different ceramic surfaces. The morphology and size of dimples as a function of the number of laser shots and laser power are investigated. A theoretical model relating laser parameters and dimple size is established. In the initial point contact friction test, based on the experimental parameters mentioned in this paper, the existence of surface texture reduces the wear volume of Si3N4 balls in water by 41.5% and the wear volume of ZrO2 balls in oil by 51%.
Diisononyl phthalate (DINP), a mixture of chemical compounds composed of diverse isononyl esters of phthalic acid, is commonly applied as a plasticizer to substitute for di (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate ...(DEHP). It has been demonstrated that DINP exposure impairs the functions of kidney and liver in animals. However, the effects and potential mechanisms of DINP exposure on the female reproduction, especially the oocyte quality are still poorly understood. Here, we discovered that DINP exposure weakened the porcine oocyte meiotic competency (78.9% vs 53.6%, P < 0.001) and fertilization ability (78.5% vs 34.1%, P < 0.0001) during in vitro maturation. Specifically, DINP exposure induced the persistent spindle assembly checkpoint (SAC) activation caused by the disorganized spindle/chromosome apparatus (spindle: 20.0% vs 83.3%, P < 0.001; chromosome: 20.0% vs 80.0%, P < 0.01) to arrest meiotic progression of oocytes at metaphase I stage. In addition, DINP exposure disturbed the dynamics of sperm binding (146.7 vs 58.6, P < 0.0001) and fusion proteins (19.5 vs 11.6, P < 0.0001) in oocytes to compromise their fertilization ability. In particular, transcriptome data uncovered that the action mechanism of DINP on the oocyte maturation was associated with oxidative phosphorylation, apoptosis and autophagy pathways. Lastly, we validated that DINP exposure resulted in the mitochondrial dysfunction (27.2 vs 19.8, P < 0.0001) and elevated levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS; 8.9 vs 19.9, P < 0.0001) to trigger the occurrence of apoptosis (7.2 vs 13.1, P < 0.0001) and protective autophagy (68.6 vs 139.3, P < 0.01). Altogether, our findings not only testify that DINP has a potentially adverse impact on the mammalian oocyte quality, but also provide a scientific reference regarding how environment pollutants act on the female germ cell development.
Constrained layer damping (CLD) is an effective method for suppressing the vibration and sound radiation of lightweight structures. In this article, a two-level optimization approach is presented as ...a systematic methodology to design position layouts and thickness configurations of CLD materials for suppressing the sound power of vibrating structures. A two-level optimization model for the CLD structure is developed, considering sound radiation power as the objective function and different additional mass fractions as constraints. The proposed approach applies a modified bi-directional evolutionary structural optimization (BESO) method to obtain several optimal position layouts of CLD materials pasted on the base structure, and sound power sensitivity analysis is formulated based on sound radiation modes for the position optimization of CLD materials. Two strategies based on the distributions of average normalized elemental kinetic energy and strain energy of the base plate are proposed to divide optimal position layouts of CLD materials into several subareas, and a genetic algorithm (GA) is employed to optimally reconfigure the thicknesses of CLD materials in the subareas. Numerical examples are provided to illustrate the validity and efficiency of this approach. The sound radiation power radiated from the vibrating plate, which is treated with multiple position layouts and thickness reconfigurations of CLD materials, is emphatically discussed.
SIRT6, the sixth member of the sirtuin family proteins, has been characterized as a crucial regulator in multiple molecular pathways related to aging, including genome stability, DNA damage repair, ...telomere maintenance, and inflammation. However, the exact roles of SIRT6 during female germ cell development have not yet been fully determined. Here, we assessed the acquisition of meiotic competency of porcine oocytes by inhibition of SIRT6 activity. We observed that SIRT6 inhibition led to the oocyte meiotic defects by showing the impairment of polar body extrusion and cumulus cell expansion. Meanwhile, the compromised spindle/chromosome structure and actin dynamics were also present in SIRT6-inhibited oocytes. Moreover, SIRT6 inhibition resulted in the defective cytoplasmic maturation by displaying the disturbed distribution dynamics of cortical granules and their content ovastacin. Notably, we identified that transcript levels of genes related to oocyte meiosis, oxidative phosphorylation, and cellular senescence were remarkably altered in SIRT6-inhibited oocytes by transcriptome analysis and validated that the meiotic defects caused by SIRT6 inhibition might result from the excessive reactive oxygen species (ROS)-induced early apoptosis in oocytes. Taken together, our findings demonstrate that SIRT6 promotes the porcine oocyte meiotic maturation through maintaining the redox homeostasis.
Period mappings were introduced in the sixties 4 to study variation of complex structures of families of algebraic varieties. The theory of tautological systems was introduced recently 7,8 to ...understand period integrals of algebraic manifolds. In this paper, we give an explicit construction of a tautological system for each component of a period mapping. We also show that the D-module associated with the tautological system gives rise to many interesting vanishing conditions for period integrals at certain special points of the parameter space.
The low quality of oocytes is one of the main causes of the suboptimal reproductive outcome of female mammals with advanced maternal age. Here, we present a detailed protocol to obtain high-quality ...oocytes and embryos from aged mice by nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN) administration. We also describe fluorescence staining procedures to assess the organelle dynamics in oocytes, and in vitro fertilization and embryo culture systems to evaluate the influence of NMN on the fertilization ability and embryonic development potential.
For complete information on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Miao et al. (2020).
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•A protocol for harvest of high-quality mouse oocytes and embryos by NMN treatment•Fluorescence staining and confocal imaging to evaluate oocyte quality•In vitro fertilization and embryo culture procedures to assess embryo quality
The low quality of oocytes is one of the main causes of the suboptimal reproductive outcome of female mammals with advanced maternal age. Here, we present a detailed protocol to obtain high-quality oocytes and embryos from aged mice by nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN) administration. We also describe fluorescence staining procedures to assess the organelle dynamics in oocytes, and in vitro fertilization and embryo culture systems to evaluate the influence of NMN on the fertilization ability and embryonic development potential.
The management of thyroid eye disease (TED) has undergone significant changes for decades. The study sought to investigate current clinical practice on the management of TED in China.
An online ...questionnaire survey was conducted from April to May 2023. The questionnaire involved diagnostic criteria for TED, multidisciplinary treatment (MDT) collaboration, and treatment preference for mild, moderate, and severe TED.
A total of 289 questionnaires were collected, with 165 from endocrinologists and 124 from ophthalmologists. Only 36.7% of participants claimed there was an MDT clinical pattern for TED in their institutions. The coverage of biological agents was around 10% or lower. These were distinctly lower than in Western countries. About 62.6% of participants believed the incidence of TED has increased in recent years. Imaging techniques were used widely to assist in the diagnosis of TED. However, there was still controversy regarding the definition of proptosis in the Chinese population. Most doctors managed risk factors and provided orbital supportive treatments of artificial tears and glasses. For mild active TED, endocrinologists (39.4%) were inclined to recommend therapy for hyperthyroidism alone, while ophthalmologists (43.6%) preferred orbital corticosteroid injections. Currently, the most widely used treatment for moderate to severe active TED was high-dose intravenous corticosteroid (94.8%), while orbital radiotherapy combined with immunosuppressive agents was the most recognized second-line therapy (43.6%).
The study documented the consistency and differences between current clinical practices in the management of TED in China and the recently updated guidelines. There was a remarkable difference between ophthalmology and endocrinology departments, warranting management optimization.
Copper (Cu) is an essential trace element for animals, and also an important nutritional component for the normal physiology and metabolism of animal reproductive systems. An excess or lack of Cu ...will directly or indirectly affect animal reproductive activities. However, the effect of Cu, in particular excessive Cu, on the reproductive performance of sows has not been studied. Here, we report that excessive Cu had negative effects on oocyte maturation and organelle functions. We showed that Cu exposure perturbed porcine oocyte meiotic maturation and impaired spindle/chromosome structure, resulting in a defective spindle assembly, as well as the abnormal distribution of actin dynamics and cortical granules. In addition, single-cell transcriptome analysis identified the target effectors of Cu actions in porcine oocytes, further demonstrating that Cu exposure affects the mitochondrial distribution and function, leading to the high levels of reactive oxygen species, DNA damage, and early apoptosis of porcine oocytes. These findings demonstrate that Cu exposure causes abnormalities in the mitochondrial distribution and function, resulting in the increased oxidative stress and levels of reactive oxygen species, DNA damage, and apoptosis, ultimately leading to a decreased porcine oocyte quality.
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