Governments worldwide have implemented countless policies in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. We present an initial public release of a large hand-coded dataset of over 13,000 such policy announcements across more than 195 countries. The dataset is updated daily, with a 5-day lag for validity checking. We document policies across numerous dimensions, including the type of policy, national versus subnational enforcement, the specific human group and geographical region targeted by the policy, and the time frame within which each policy is implemented. We further analyse the dataset using a Bayesian measurement model, which shows the quick acceleration of the adoption of costly policies across countries beginning in mid-March 2020 through 24 May 2020. We believe that these data will be instrumental for helping policymakers and researchers assess, among other objectives, how effective different policies are in addressing the spread and health outcomes of COVID-19.

Some studies have reported that proinflammatory polymorphisms in interleukin-1B (IL-1B) and IL-1 receptor antagonist For each of the examined associations, there was significant heterogeneity among studies; P heterogeneity V 0.001 and I 2 ranged from 0.54 to 0.71. Noncardia cancers showed stronger associations with IL-1B À511 CT or TT and IL1-RN *2/*2 genotypes, but limiting the analysis to intestinal-type cancers, studies conducted in Western countries, or studies in which polymorphisms were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, made no material difference in the results. The overall associations between IL-1B or IL-1RN proinflammatory polymorphisms and gastric cancer were null but several studies showed an association. The sources of this variation are unclear. (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2006;15(10):1920 -8)

The establishment of a strong team climate may help nurses to manage the emotional demands of their role, promote their well-being and retention.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of transformational leadership (TL) in developing social identity and its subsequent impact on team climate, intention to leave, burnout and quality of patient care among nurses. Design/methodology/approach Data for this cross-sectional study were collected from a sample of 201 registered nurses in Australia through questionnaires. Structural equation modelling was used to test the hypotheses. Findings Results illustrate that social identification appears to be the psychological mechanism through which TL impacts important employee outcomes, including perceived quality of patient care. Practical implications This study provides valuable insights into understanding the critical role of human resource management (HRM) practice and policy in healthcare environments. Findings from this study indicate that human resource managers can assist nurse unit managers to deliver their HRM roles effectively when adequate support and relevant HRM infrastructures are put in place. Originality/value This research considers the role of first-line nurse managers in healthcare organisations. It provides evidence-based knowledge about the type of leadership style required to achieve desirable employee outcomes and the essential HRM opportunities to facilitate this.

Conditions under which skeletal myoblasts are cultured in vitro are critical to growth and differentiation of these cells into mature skeletal myofibers. We examined several culture conditions that promoted human skeletal myoblast (HSkM) culture and examined the effect of microRNAs and mechanical stimulation on differentiation. Culture conditions for HSkM are different from those that enable rapid C2C12 myoblast differentiation. Culture on a growth factor-reduced Matrigel (GFR-MG)-coated surface in 2% equine serum-supplemented differentiation medium to promote HSkM differentiation under static conditions was compared with culture conditions used for C2C12 cell differentiation. Such conditions led to a Ͼ20-fold increase in myogenic miR-1, miR-133a, and miR-206 expression, a Ͼ2-fold increase in myogenic transcription factor Mef-2C expression, and an increase in sarcomeric ␣-actinin protein. Imposing Ϯ10% cyclic stretch at 0.5 Hz for 1 h followed by 5 h of rest over 2 wk produced a Ͼ20% increase in miR-1, miR-133a, and miR-206 expression in 8% equine serum and a Ͼ35% decrease in 2% equine serum relative to static conditions. HSkM differentiation was accelerated in vitro by inhibition of proliferationpromoting miR-133a: immunofluorescence for sarcomeric ␣-actinin exhibited accelerated development of striations compared with the corresponding negative control, and Western blotting showed 30% more ␣-actinin at day 6 postdifferentiation. This study showed that 100 g/ml GFR-MG coating and 2% equine serum-supplemented differentiation medium enhanced HSkM differentiation and myogenic miR expression and that addition of antisense miR-133a alone can accelerate primary human skeletal muscle differentiation in vitro. skeletal muscle; microRNA; myogenesis; differentiation; tissue engineering THE DYNAMICS OF PRIMARY HUMAN skeletal myoblast (HSkM) growth and differentiation into mature myofibers are critical to their use for applications in regenerative medicine, such as repair of severe muscle injuries, congenital defects, and muscular dystrophy. Most studies have focused on rodent myoblasts, and the bulk of the research has been carried out with the widely used immortalized murine C2C12 myoblast line, which is used for ease of culture, differentiation potential, and accessibility (7). Culture conditions for these cells have been optimized to ensure rapid growth and effective differentiation in vitro. These cells do not require protein-coated substrates and differentiate well in a range of equine serum-supplemented differentiation media (DM) (14,24,28,29,32). While C2C12 cells have provided invaluable information about key mechanistic steps in differentiation (31), extensive in vitro cultivation may lead to deviations from normal biological processes that are important for differentiation of myoblasts in a normal in vivo environment. Less is known about the dynamics of key differentiation factors in primary human myoblasts and how culture conditions affect the changes in these factors (3).In vitro, rodent myoblast differentiati...

Cited2 is a transcriptional modulator involved in various biologic processes including fetal liver hematopoiesis. In the present study, the function of Cited2 in adult hematopoiesis was investigated in conditional knockout mice. Deletion of Cited2 using Mx1-Cre resulted in increased hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) apoptosis, loss of quiescence, and increased cycling, leading to a severely impaired reconstitution capacity as assessed by 5-fluorouracil treatment and long-term transplantation. Transcriptional profiling revealed that multiple HSC quiescence-and hypoxia-related genes such as Egr1, p57, and Hes1 were affected in Cited2-deficient HSCs. Because Cited2 is a negative regulator of HIF-1, which is essential for maintaining HSC quiescence, and because we demonstrated previously that decreased HIF-1␣ gene dosage partially rescues both cardiac and lens defects caused by Cited2 deficiency, we generated Cited2 and HIF-1␣ doubleknockout mice. Additional deletion of HIF-1␣ in Cited2-knockout BM partially rescued impaired HSC quiescence and reconstitution capacity. At the transcriptional level, deletion of HIF-1␣ restored expression of p57 and Hes1 but not Egr1 to normal levels. Our results suggest that Cited2 regulates HSC quiescence through both HIF-1-dependent and HIF-1-independent pathways. (Blood. 2012;119(12):2789-2798) IntroductionHematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) are thought to be localized in the hypoxic microenvironment of the BM and remain quiescent or differentiate into multiple blood cell lineages. Several factors have been found to regulate HSC quiescence in either a cell-intrinsic (eg, p21, p57, Bmi1, Egr1, GATA2, Gfi1, Pbx1, and others) or a cell-extrinsic (eg, Tie2/Angpt1, c-Mpl/Tpo, CXCR4/CXCL12, and others) manner.CBP/p300-interacting transactivator with glutamic acid (E) and aspartic acid (D)-rich tail 2 (Cited2), a member of the Cited family of transcriptional modulators, is a cytokine-inducible gene 1 that plays various roles during mouse development. [2][3][4][5][6] In particular, Cited2 plays an important role in fetal liver hematopoiesis, which is supported by severely impaired fetal liver HSC function and decreased expression of genes known to be essential for hematopoiesis in Cited2-deficient fetal liver HSC/progenitors. 7 Cited2 has also been implicated in tumor cell invasion and progression. 8,9 Cited2 is a negative regulator of hypoxia-inducible factor 1 (HIF-1). Bhattacharya et al first demonstrated in vitro that Cited2 competes with HIF-1␣ for binding to p300-CH1 and inhibits HIF-1-mediated transactivation. 10 Bakker et al also showed that FOXO3a inhibits HIF-1-induced apoptosis by stimulating the transcription of Cited2, which reduces the expression of the pro-apoptotic HIF-1 target genes NIX (also called "Bnip3l") and RTP801 (also called "Ddit4"). 11 In our previous studies, we showed that deletion of HIF-1␣ partially rescues defects in heart and lens caused by Cited2 deficiency. 4,12 In addition, at the structural level, Freedman et al revealed that Cited2 and HIF-1␣ share a conserved...

Emotional intelligence has long been associated with lower levels of stress and enhanced well-being. This paper contributes empirically by examining the direct and moderating effects of emotional intelligence on the presenteeism and well-being relationship. A sample of 312 registered nurses who provide home-based care in an Australian community nursing service were recruited to take part in the study. Results from structural equation modelling revealed that emotional intelligence has direct and moderating effects on well-being. Stress-related presenteeism significantly predicted nurses' well-being. These findings provide further support for the positive effects that emotional intelligence can have on the effective management of job stress and the enhancement of nurse well-being. We advocate more nursing training on emotional intelligence, and examine the potential benefits of emotional intelligence training and other related HR initiatives.Keywords: emotional intelligence, HRM, job stress, nurses, presenteeism, well-beingThe healthcare sector is facing a critical shortage of nurses due in part to increasing patronage and poor use and implementation of human resource management (HRM), which have led to job stress, burnout and high rates of turnover Correspondence: Dr Leila Karimi, School of Public Health, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Vic. 3083, Australia; e-mail: l.karimi@latrobe.edu.au Accepted for publication 5 May 2014. Key points1 Findings from this research study demonstrate the importance of emotional intelligence and presenteeism effects on nurses' well-being. 2 Emotional intelligence is a critical skill which enables nurses to meet their work demands and allows them to cope with job-related stress. 3 Emotional intelligence training at the workplace requires significant human resource management infrastructure. 4 We call for more nursing training and development to be done in relation to emotional intelligence. the ability to engage in sophisticated information processing about one's own and others' emotions and the ability to use this information as a guide to thinking and behavior. That is, individuals high in emotional intelligence pay attention to, use, understand, and manage emotions, and these skills serve adaptive functions that potentially benefit themselves and others. (Mayer, Salovey and Caruso 2008, 503) It has now been well documented in the literature that emotional intelligence is negatively related to job stress -that is individuals who possess higher emotional intelligence are more likely to experience less stress (Nikolaou and Tsaousis 2002;Por et al. 2011;Slaski and Cartwright 2002). Moreover, empirical evidence indicates that emotional intelligence is also predictive of health outcomes and individual well-being Por et al. 2011;Schutte et al. 2002Schutte et al. , 2007Slaski and Cartwright 2003;Tsaousis and Nikolaou 2005).Many theories concerning the association between stress and health have postulated that an individual's appraisal of 'stressful' events can act as a potential m...

Skeletal muscle is a major target for tissue engineering, given its relative size in the body, fraction of cardiac output that passes through muscle beds, as well as its key role in energy metabolism and diabetes, and the need for therapies for muscle diseases such as muscular dystrophy and sarcopenia. To date, most studies with tissue-engineered skeletal muscle have utilized murine and rat cell sources. On the other hand, successful engineering of functional human muscle would enable different applications including improved methods for preclinical testing of drugs and therapies. Some of the requirements for engineering functional skeletal muscle include expression of adult forms of muscle proteins, comparable contractile forces to those produced by native muscle, and physiological force-length and force-frequency relations. This review discusses the various strategies and challenges associated with these requirements, specific applications with cultured human myoblasts, and future directions.