Summary Foxp3+ CD4+ regulatory T cells (Tregs) are an immune cell lineage endowed with immunosuppressive functionality in a wide array of contexts, including both anti‐pathogenic and anti‐self responses. In the past decades, our understanding of the functional diversity of circulating or lymphoid Tregs has grown exponentially. Only recently, the importance of Tregs residing within non‐lymphoid tissues, such as visceral adipose tissue, muscle, skin and intestine, has been recognized. Not only are Tregs critical for influencing the kinetics and strength of immune responses, but the regulation of non‐immune or parenchymal cells, also fall within the purview of tissue‐resident or infiltrating Tregs. This review focuses on providing a systematic and comprehensive comparison of the molecular maintenance, local adaptation and functional specializations of Treg populations operating within different tissues.

Adler et al. (2016) raise some controversial issues about whether performance rating systems should be eliminated or not. We strongly believe that the decision to do away with performance ratings is premature because more research needs to be done, as suggested by “the better questions” that Adler et al. listed at the end of the focal article. We propose that those questions can be extended further by testing them in other cultures and supplemented with these questions: When, how, and why do cultural values influence performance management? Given the nature of our increasingly diverse workforce in which employees with different cultural values work together within the same organization, it is crucial to identify and document the influence of culture on performance appraisal practices. In this commentary, we briefly summarize research to date on the influence of cultural values on performance management and identify some important future research directions.

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Solar ultraviolet radiation (UVR) is a major source of skin damage, resulting in inflammation, premature ageing and cancer. While several UVR-induced changes, including extracellular matrix reorganisation and epidermal DNA damage, have been documented, the role of different fibroblast lineages and their communication with immune cells has not been explored. We show that acute and chronic UVR exposure led to selective loss of fibroblasts from the upper dermis in human and mouse skin. Lineage tracing and in vivo live imaging revealed that repair following acute UVR is predominantly mediated by papillary fibroblast proliferation and fibroblast reorganisation occurs with minimal migration. In contrast, chronic UVR exposure led to a permanent loss of papillary fibroblasts, with expansion of fibroblast membrane protrusions partially compensating for the reduction in cell number. Although UVR strongly activated Wnt-signalling in skin, stimulation of fibroblast proliferation by epidermal b-catenin stabilisation did not enhance papillary dermis repair. Acute UVR triggered an infiltrate of neutrophils and T cell subpopulations and increased pro-inflammatory prostaglandin signalling in skin. Depletion of CD4 and CD8 positive cells resulted in increased papillary fibroblast depletion, which correlated with an increase in DNA damage, pro-inflammatory prostaglandins and reduction in fibroblast proliferation. Conversely, topical COX-2 inhibition prevented fibroblast depletion and neutrophil infiltration after UVR. We conclude that loss of papillary fibroblasts is primarily induced by a deregulated inflammatory response, with infiltrating T cells supporting fibroblast survival upon UVR-induced environmental stress.

Organelles allow specialized functions within cells to be localized, contained and independently regulated. This separation is oftentimes achieved by selectively permeable membranes, which enable control of molecular transport, signaling between compartments and containment of stress-inducing factors. Here we consider the role of a number of membrane systems within the cell: the plasma membrane, that of the endoplasmic reticulum, and then focusing on the nucleus, depository for chromatin and regulatory centre of the cell. Nuclear pores allow shuttling of ions, metabolites, proteins and mRNA to and from the nucleus. The activity of transcription factors and signaling molecules is also modulated by translocation across the nuclear envelope. Many of these processes require ‘active transportation’ against a concentration gradient and may be regulated by the nuclear pores, Ran-GTP activity and the nuclear lamina. Cells must respond to a combination of biochemical and physical inputs and we discuss too how mechanical signals are carried from outside the cell into the nucleus through integrins, the cytoskeleton and the ‘linker of nucleo- and cyto-skeletal’ (LINC) complex which spans the nuclear envelope. Regulation and response to signals and stresses, both internal and external, allow cells to maintain homeostasis within functional tissue.

We examined the so-called "red effect" in the context of higher education summative exams under the premise that unlike the conditions or situations where this effect typically has been obtained, the totality of factors, such as higher motivation, familiarity with exam material, and more reliance on domain knowledge that characterize high-stakes testing such as those in operational educational settings, are likely to mitigate any color effects. Using three naturally occurring archival data sets in which students took exams on either red or green exam booklets, the results indicated that booklet color (red vs. green) did not affect exam performance. From a scientific perspective, the results suggest that color effects may be attenuated by factors that characterize high-stakes assessments, and from an applied perspective, they suggest that the choice of red vs. green exam booklets in higher education summative evaluations is likely not a concern.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to posit and empirically demonstrate that positive and negative leader behaviors have a linear relationship with subordinate outcomes. The authors challenge this notion, and test a model where leader positive and negative behaviors have a curvilinear relationship (inverse-U shaped) with subordinate job satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach Cross-sectional design, based on a sample of 131 employees working across organizations and industries in the USA. Subordinates provided information on all study measures. Findings The authors show that higher levels of positive and negative behaviors from the leader will not generate a corresponding linear increase in employees’ satisfaction. Instead, the relationship is non-linear, with diminishing returns in subordinate job satisfaction for positive leader behaviors and higher ones for negative leader behaviors. In addition, subordinates with high levels of hardiness are more satisfied with positive leader behaviors, and report less dissatisfaction with negative leader behaviors. Research limitations/implications Limitations are cross-sectional design, self-reported data, measurement of a limited number of leader behaviors as representative of leader positive and negative behaviors, and focus on only one dependent construct (subordinate job satisfaction). Practical implications Above a certain point, leaders’ positive behaviors have limited effect on increasing subordinates’ job satisfaction. Likewise, leaders’ negative behaviors decrease subordinates’ job satisfaction only above specific levels of leader behaviors. Originality/value The authors challenge this notion of linearity by theorizing and demonstrating that subordinates’ job satisfaction is influenced by leader positive and negative behaviors in non-linear relationship characterized by an inverse-U-shaped and a specific increase and decrease pattern.

Using a bare-bones meta-analysis, the present study examined the effectiveness of the use of commonly considered alternative predictor methods as a means to reduce subgroup differences (i.e., the method-change approach), taking into account the constructs assessed. With a focus on assessment centers, interviews, situational judgment tests, and work samples as alternative methods, the results indicated that consonant with the construct/method distinction, the effectiveness of a method in reducing subgroup differences is a function of the constructs assessed. Specifically, there are larger White-African American subgroup differences that favor Whites for cognitive constructs on paper-and-pencil tests compared to the alternative methods; and most notably, the opposite result was obtained for noncognitive constructs such that, compared to paper-and-pencil assessments, substantially larger White-African American subgroup differences were observed for alternative methods. A similar pattern of results was obtained for White-Hispanic comparisons, albeit based on a smaller number of data points. In summary, the study's results indicate that the ubiquitously asserted effectiveness of the method-change approach for reducing subgroup differences is overstated, with said effectiveness depending on the construct assessed.