The COVID-19 pandemic propelled many employees into remote work arrangements, and face-to-face meetings were quickly replaced with virtual meetings. This rapid uptick in the use of virtual meetings ...led to much popular press discussion of virtual meeting fatigue (i.e., "Zoom fatigue"), described as a feeling of being drained and lacking energy following a day of virtual meetings. In this study, we aimed to better understand how one salient feature of virtual meetings-the camera-impacts fatigue, which may affect outcomes during meetings (e.g., participant voice and engagement). We did so through the use of a 4-week within-person experience sampling field experiment where camera use was manipulated. Drawing from theory related to self-presentation, we propose and test a model where study condition (camera on versus off) was linked to daily feelings of fatigue; daily fatigue, in turn, was presumed to relate negatively to voice and engagement during virtual meetings. We further predict that gender and organizational tenure will moderate this relationship such that using a camera during virtual meetings will be more fatiguing for women and newer members of the organization. Results of 1,408 daily observations from 103 employees supported our proposed model, with supplemental analyses suggesting that fatigue affects same-day and next-day meeting performance. Given the anticipated prevalence of remote work even after the pandemic subsides, our study offers key insights for ongoing organizational best practices surrounding virtual meetings.
While some organizations are thriving during the COVID-19 pandemic, many are experiencing a crisis-a threat to organizational longevity, time pressure, and inadequate resources. Building on prior ...work examining emotions during times of crisis and changes that people undergo during major life transitions, as well as media accounts suggesting that employees have had positive and negative emotions tied to aspects of working during COVID-19, we adopt a person-centric view to examine profiles of monthly emotions regarding organizational reopening. Additionally, we consider how employees transition from one profile of emotions to another across months. In so doing, we consider whether feelings of hope, gratitude, fear, and resentment co-occur for employees; how employees transition across profiles from one month to the next as a function of perceptions of organizational leaders' trustworthiness and their handling of the COVID-19 crisis; and how changes in profile membership relate to employee well-being, work outcomes, and prevention behaviors to avoid contracting COVID-19. Using 1,422 total measurements from August 2020 to November 2020 from employees at a single university during two monthly transitions with significant crisis-related events (i.e., return to in-person teaching, students living on campus, announcement of pay cuts and furloughs, and the subsequent announcement that some of those conditions would change), we identified four profiles of monthly emotions, with perceived leader trustworthiness and handling of the pandemic being critical features of why employees belonged to different profiles between August-September and October-November. Further, we found implications of monthly transitions for work and COVID-related outcomes.
This paper introduces an active–passive framework to the conceptualization and measurement of counterproductive work behavior (CWB), in order to establish a dimension that categorizes the content of ...behaviors within the existing interpersonally directed (CWBI) and organizationally directed (CWBO) framework. Doing so provides new insights into the relationship between workplace counterproductivity and sleep. Stressor-emotion models of CWB predict that employees engage in counterproductivity in response to workplace stressors, but extant research suggests that counterproductive behavior increases strain, including reduced sleep quality. We develop a new scale for measuring CWB that differentiates active and passive behaviors and demonstrates the potential for positive intrapsychic consequences for passive CWBI. In Study 1, using five samples, we demonstrate the convergent and discriminant validity, reliability, and acceptable psychometric properties of a 19-item scale that reconceptualizes CWB into four dimensions: active CWBI, passive CWBI, active CWBO, and passive CWBO. In Study 2, using experience-sampling methodology, we found that when employees engage in active CWBO at work in the afternoon they experience reduced sleep quality that evening, whereas engaging in passive CWBI was related to increased sleep quality.
New labor market entrants face significant hurdles when searching for a job, with these stressors likely amplified during the COVID-19 pandemic. Here, we consider how COVID-induced job search ...anxiety-feeling anxious about one's job search due to issues imposed by the pandemic-has the potential to affect adaptive, goal-directed efforts, and maladaptive, goal-avoidant reactions. We theorize that this anxiety can prompt job seekers to engage in problem-solving pondering and affect-focused rumination, with these experiences relating to whether job seekers engage in various forms of search-related efforts the following week. In particular, we consider whether job seekers are engaging in dream job search effort (i.e., effort toward pursuing one's dream job), as well as focused (i.e., effort toward a selection of carefully screened jobs), exploratory (i.e., effort toward a wide swath of jobs in a broad manner), and haphazard (i.e., effort toward applying for any job without a clear plan) job search effort. Further, we consider how stable beliefs relevant to the pandemic (i.e., belief in conspiracy theories; belief in COVID-19 being a public health crisis) affect the aforementioned relationships. Using a weekly study of 162 new labor market entrants, results indicated that COVID-induced job search anxiety positively related to problem-solving pondering and affect-focused rumination; problem-solving pondering promoted dream, focused, and exploratory job search effort the following week, whereas affect-focused rumination hindered dream job search effort. Finally, the detrimental effects of COVID-induced job search anxiety via affect-focused rumination were amplified for those who held higher levels of conspiracy theory beliefs.
Background
Varicella-zoster virus (VZV) is one of the main viruses responsible of acute encephalitis. However, data on the prognosis and neurologic outcome of critically ill patients with VZV ...encephalitis are limited. We aimed to describe the clinical features of VZV encephalitis in the ICU and to identify factors associated with a favorable neurologic outcome. We performed a multicenter cohort study of patients with VZV encephalitis admitted in 18 ICUs in France between 2000 and 2017. Factors associated with a favorable neurologic outcome, defined by a modified Rankin Score (mRS) of 0–2 1 year after ICU admission, were identified by multivariable regression analysis.
Results
Fifty-five patients (29 (53%) men, median age 53 (interquartile range 36–66)) were included, of whom 43 (78%) were immunocompromised. ICU admission occurred 1 (0–3) day after the onset of neurological symptoms. Median Glasgow Coma Score at ICU admission was 12 (7–14). Cerebrospinal fluid examination displayed a median leukocyte count of 68 (13–129)/mm
3
, and a median protein level of 1.37 (0.77–3.67) g/L. CT scan and MRI revealed brain lesions in 30% and 66% of the cases, respectively. Invasive mechanical ventilation was implemented in 46 (84%) patients for a median duration of 13 (3–30) days. Fourteen (25%) patients died in the ICU. One year after ICU admission, 20 (36%) patients had a favorable neurologic outcome (mRS 0–2), 12 (22%) had significant disability (mRS 3–5), and 18 (33%) were deceased (lost to follow-up
n
= 5, 9%). On multivariable analysis, age (OR 0.92 per year, (0.88–0.97),
p
= 0.01), and invasive mechanical ventilation (OR 0.09 CI 95% (0.01–0.84),
p
= 0.03) reduced the likelihood of favorable neurologic outcome.
Conclusion
One in every three critically ill patients with VZV encephalitis had a favorable neurologic outcome 1 year after ICU admission. Older age and invasive mechanical ventilation were associated with a higher risk of disability and death.
Coping with work-related stress is a key component of several theories that focus on employee well-being and performance. Yet, despite the myriad of ways that employees can cope, little is known ...about the complexities surrounding how employees may deploy multiple coping strategies in conjunction, particularly during unprecedented, uncontrollable, and novel socio-environmental events that disrupt work life, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing from the cybernetic theory of stress, we posit that taking a person-centered approach to coping may uncover the complex ways that employees cope with stress simultaneously, generating distinct profiles of coping. To illustrate this, we focus on employee coping within a context that has served as a significant socio-environmental jolt—working during the COVID-19 pandemic. Across two studies, we first consider distinct profiles of coping that may emerge (Study 1). We then consider antecedents related to the pandemic (i.e., work uncertainty, work location, and work arrangement autonomy) as well as outcomes of profile membership, including somatic complaints, job satisfaction, turnover intentions, and job performance (Study 2). Combined, our research contributes to the coping and stress literatures by adopting a person-centered approach that identifies how profiles of coping—rather than any one particular strategy in isolation—may facilitate employee well-being, work attitudes, and performance during periods of heightened work stress and uncertainty.
Aspirin is the most commonly used analgesic and antiinflammatory agent. In this study, at physiological concentrations, it profoundly inhibited CD40, CD80, CD86, and MHC class II expression on ...murine, GM-CSF + IL-4 stimulated, bone marrow-derived myeloid dendritic cells (DC). CD11c and MHC class I expression were unaffected. The inhibitory action was dose dependent and was evident at concentrations higher than those necessary to inhibit PG synthesis. Experiments with indomethacin revealed that the effects of aspirin on DC maturation were cyclooxygenase independent. Nuclear extracts of purified, aspirin-treated DC revealed a decreased NF-kappaB DNA-binding activity, whereas Ab supershift analysis indicated that aspirin targeted primarily NF-kappaB p50. Unexpectedly, aspirin promoted the generation of CD11c+ DC, due to apparent suppression of granulocyte development. The morphological and ultrastructural appearance of aspirin-treated cells was consistent with immaturity. Aspirin-treated DC were highly efficient at Ag capture, via both mannose receptor-mediated endocytosis and macropinocytosis. By contrast, they were poor stimulators of naive allogeneic T cell proliferation and induced lower levels of IL-2 in responding T cells. They also exhibited impaired IL-12 expression and did not produce IL-10 after LPS stimulation. Assessment of the in vivo function of aspirin-treated DC, pulsed with the hapten trinitrobenzenesulfonic acid, revealed an inability to induce normal cell-mediated contact hypersensitivity, despite the ability of the cells to migrate to T cell areas of draining lymphoid tissue. These data provide new insight into the immunopharmacology of aspirin and suggest a novel approach to the manipulation of DC for therapeutic application.
Automated melanoma recognition Ganster, H.; Pinz, P.; Rohrer, R. ...
IEEE transactions on medical imaging,
03/2001, Letnik:
20, Številka:
3
Journal Article
A system for the computerized analysis of images obtained from epiluminescence microscopy (ELM) has been developed to enhance the early recognition of malignant melanoma. As an initial step, the ...binary mask of the skin lesion is determined by several basic segmentation algorithms together with a fusion strategy. A set of features containing shape and radiometric features as well as local and global parameters is calculated to describe the malignancy of a lesion. Significant features are then selected from this set by application of statistical feature subset selection methods. The final kNN classification delivers a sensitivity of 87% with a specificity of 92%.
Tumor protein p53 (TP53) is the most frequently mutated gene in cancer
. In patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), TP53 mutations are associated with high-risk disease
, rapid transformation ...to acute myeloid leukemia (AML)
, resistance to conventional therapies
and dismal outcomes
. Consistent with the tumor-suppressive role of TP53, patients harbor both mono- and biallelic mutations
. However, the biological and clinical implications of TP53 allelic state have not been fully investigated in MDS or any other cancer type. We analyzed 3,324 patients with MDS for TP53 mutations and allelic imbalances and delineated two subsets of patients with distinct phenotypes and outcomes. One-third of TP53-mutated patients had monoallelic mutations whereas two-thirds had multiple hits (multi-hit) consistent with biallelic targeting. Established associations with complex karyotype, few co-occurring mutations, high-risk presentation and poor outcomes were specific to multi-hit patients only. TP53 multi-hit state predicted risk of death and leukemic transformation independently of the Revised International Prognostic Scoring System (IPSS-R)
. Surprisingly, monoallelic patients did not differ from TP53 wild-type patients in outcomes and response to therapy. This study shows that consideration of TP53 allelic state is critical for diagnostic and prognostic precision in MDS as well as in future correlative studies of treatment response.
Sufficient sleep is essential for well-being. We examined the relationship between work-related social support, work stress, and sleep sufficiency, predicting that workers with higher social support ...would report higher sleep sufficiency across varying levels of work stress.
The data set analyzed in the present study included 2213 workers from approximately 200 small (<500 employees) businesses in high, medium, and low hazard industries across Colorado.
Perceived social support variables moderated the relationship between work stress and sleep sufficiency such that employees reporting higher levels of social support reported higher sleep sufficiency when work stress was low or moderate but not high.
Although preventing work stress is optimal, in cases where employers cannot apply primary interventions to prevent stress (eg, eliminating/reducing night shifts), employers should attempt to increase social support or other more relevant resources for employees.
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