scholarly journals A Qualitative Study of Women’s Decisions Not to Have a Hysterectomy

Author(s):  
Erin Fredericks

In focusing on individual and physician demographics and system characteristics that lead to hysterectomy rate variations, researchers overlook the impact of culturally mediated meanings women assign to their bodies, hysterectomy, and other treatments. In this study I sought to provide a fuller description of this decision - making process by examining the role of meaning making in women’s decision not to have a hysterectomy. Using a descriptive qualitative approach, nine women diagnosed with menstrual disorders in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada each took part in a semi - structured interview. Factors deemed “irrational” in bio medical understandings of informed choice played a significant role in participants’ decisions not to have a hysterectomy. When these factors are hidden, they cannot be properly addressed during the treatment selection process. By shifting the approach to informed choice to incorporate a holistic view of the body and knowledge, requirements for informed choice may be more likely to be met.

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (11) ◽  
pp. 5843
Author(s):  
Chloé Turpin ◽  
Aurélie Catan ◽  
Olivier Meilhac ◽  
Emmanuel Bourdon ◽  
François Canonne-Hergaux ◽  
...  

The development and progression of atherosclerosis (ATH) involves lipid accumulation, oxidative stress and both vascular and blood cell dysfunction. Erythrocytes, the main circulating cells in the body, exert determinant roles in the gas transport between tissues. Erythrocytes have long been considered as simple bystanders in cardiovascular diseases, including ATH. This review highlights recent knowledge concerning the role of erythrocytes being more than just passive gas carriers, as potent contributors to atherosclerotic plaque progression. Erythrocyte physiology and ATH pathology is first described. Then, a specific chapter delineates the numerous links between erythrocytes and atherogenesis. In particular, we discuss the impact of extravasated erythrocytes in plaque iron homeostasis with potential pathological consequences. Hyperglycaemia is recognised as a significant aggravating contributor to the development of ATH. Then, a special focus is made on glycoxidative modifications of erythrocytes and their role in ATH. This chapter includes recent data proposing glycoxidised erythrocytes as putative contributors to enhanced atherothrombosis in diabetic patients.


2018 ◽  
Vol 55 (4) ◽  
pp. 383-398
Author(s):  
David S Scott

Although sport is widely utilised as a tool for personal development, capacity building, and fostering peace, there are still numerous theoretical gaps in our knowledge about how sport influences individuals’ identities, and how this translates into their everyday lives. Within the academic literature there has been seemingly little focus placed upon participants’ emotional and embodied accounts of their sport-for-development (SfD) experiences. This paper uses phenomenologically-inspired theory to explore individuals’ lived experiences of a SfD course, and their descriptions of the social interactions and feelings of confidence they encountered, in order to address this lack of experiential data. An ethnographic methodology was used to collect data through four sports leadership course observations, and cyclical interviews over 4–10 months with eleven course attendees, plus individual interviews with five tutors. Participants’ understandings of their course experiences and the subsequent influence these understandings had on their lives were described through their use of the term confidence. A further phenomenological and sociological interrogation of this term enabled confidence to be seen as being experienced as a ‘frame’ and ‘through the body’ by participants. This study provides original conceptualisations of confidence in relation to participants’ SfD experiences, as well as important discussions regarding the role of emotions and embodiment in understanding the impact of SfD on participants’ everyday lives.


2021 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-28
Author(s):  
Endre Szabó ◽  
Katinka Bajkai-Tóth ◽  
Ildikó Rudnák ◽  
Róbert Magda

In the course of the research, we examined the impact of the selection and training system of a Hungarian automotive company on organizational performance, which together ensure the future development of the company. It contributes to the optimization of sales, purchasing and logistics processes, ensures customer satisfaction and the success of the company. In this fast-paced and globalized world, it is essential for companies to be aware that one of the most important factors of production is human resources themselves, whose proper selection and training are a key element in maintaining and developing economic competitiveness. Human resources play the biggest role in the operation of an economic organization. Process quality and process orientation reduce costs, increase profitability, and improve processes to always meet growing requirements. This is the basis of the quality strategy. Therefore, it consistently applies preventive quality assurance methods, learns from failures, eliminates the causes of mistakes without delays and transfers its experience to all areas of the company for preventive action. It is customer-oriented and strives for excellence in all areas, and thus makes it an obligation for everyone to aim for the highest level of customer service. Due to the special peculiarities and characteristics of the labor force, it cannot be compared to any of the production resources. Taking this as a basis, the human resource management used to be more of a functional purpose, while in recent decades human factors have become an essential source of competitiveness. The market operation and performance of an organization depends significantly on how we can select the most suitable workforce. We need to see what the strategic points that determine the role of HR are, and we are also looking for the answer in which direction the needs, expectations and professionalism given by the generational difference move the activities of human resources. The aim of the research is to get an answer to how the employees of one of the leading Hungarian players in the automotive industry perceive the importance of the selection and training of the workforce in maintaining and improving competitiveness. To this end, we used a semi-structured interview, with the help of which we evaluated the current selection and training processes in the light of competitiveness and made suggestions for the improvement and refinement of these processes.


Author(s):  
Margherita Pagani

This chapter analyses the impact of digitalization on TV marketing strategies focusing on the role of brand as a loyalty-based resource, available to digital television networks to create a sustainable competitive advantage. We analyze the cognitive process adopted by a viewer in the selection process of a TV channel and provide managerial implications for branding strategy and the tools that a television network and an iTV portal need to adopt to communicate values connected with their brand. The goal of this analysis is to offer insights on how a digital television network may create a channel experience leveraging on brand to increase viewers’ loyalty and competitive advantage.


2001 ◽  
Vol 7 (5) ◽  
pp. 343-349 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dinesh Bhugra ◽  
Oyedeji Ayonrinde

The association of life events with the onset of various psychiatric disorders is well-known. The body of evidence has highlighted the impact of negative or positive life events on the genesis of common mental disorders, especially depression. These findings have been replicated across different cultures, although the impact of different life events varies between cultures. In addition, the roles of chronic difficulties (defined in Life events and psychiatric disorders, below) and resulting ongoing chronic stress have been shown to contribute to vulnerability to certain mental illnesses. However, data on the impact of life events, especially those perceived as racial, on members of minority ethnic groups are rather sparse. The questions that need to be addressed concern the perception of life events as racial, the role of pervasive and perceived institutional and individual racism, and chronic difficulties.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 4635 ◽  
Author(s):  
Małgorzata Dzimińska ◽  
Justyna Fijałkowska ◽  
Łukasz Sułkowski

This paper aims to propose a conceptual model that synthesizes the existing findings concerning universities as culture change agents for sustainable development. The model could serve as a guidance on how universities might get involved in the pro-SD activities. It also underlines the prerequisite of the quality culture that should be introduced within all the activities of universities to successfully act as culture change agents for SD. This paper builds upon the holistic and inter-disciplinary approach to demonstrate that SD does not happen in isolation and that the role of universities in its creation is significant. This study includes a literature review to contextualize the impact of universities on culture and their potential role in SD. The conclusions stemming from the literature review materialize in the proposal of the conceptual model of the university as the culture change agent for SD. The elaborated framework responds to the need for greater clarity, ordering and systematization of the role of universities in the processes of initiating, promoting and modelling the SD-oriented changes while appreciating the role of culture as an enabler, means of social change and a result of SD-focused interventions. The paper contributes to the body of knowledge by offering a novel perspective on the assumed interrelations between university, its quality culture, university main operations such as education, research and engagement with the society as well as the culture and the agency of stakeholders in the context of meeting the world’s current demands without compromising the needs of future generations.


2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 672-694 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irem Demirkan

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to propose that the resources that a firm owns and has full control (firm-level resources) and resources that a firm access through direct connection with other firms (network-level resources) will impact firm innovation when effectively deployed by the firm. While previous research examined these factors separately, the author takes a holistic view and looks into their effects on innovation simultaneously. The author also introduces the moderating effects, i.e. the variables that can enhance firm innovation through their interaction with internal and external resources.Design/methodology/approachThe author tested the role of financial resources and slack resources in the form of cash slack and human slack at the firm level, and network size, network tie strength, and network diversity at the network level on the firm innovation. Using generalized negative binomial model with Huber-White procedure, the author analyzed 306 firms from the biotechnology industry over a span of 17 years.FindingsThe analysis suggests that cash slack impact innovation negatively. However, this link is moderated by firm size such that for large firms cash slack affects innovation positively. Network-level resources all positively impact innovation and have more economic impact on firm innovation than firm-level resources. Furthermore, although human slack negatively affects innovation, its interaction with network size enhances innovation.Originality/valueThe research makes important contributions to both strategic management and innovation literatures especially when, the author considers the role of firm-level slack in driving firm innovation. Previous research reported conflicting findings about the availability of slack resources and firm performance. The results showed that the relationship between slack resources and firm innovation is negative and significant, both for available slack and human slack. This finding parallels with previous research which reported that constraints such as lack of slack resources can actually facilitate innovation. The author also contributes to the literature by introducing boundary conditions which can enhance firm innovation through their interaction with firm-level internal and network-level external resources. In this respect, to the author’s knowledge, this is among the first studies to combine the slack literature focusing on firm-level resources with the literature on network-level resources.


Nanomedicine ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (10) ◽  
pp. 1037-1061
Author(s):  
Muhammad Ovais ◽  
Susheel Kumar Nethi ◽  
Saleem Ullah ◽  
Irshad Ahmad ◽  
Sudip Mukherjee ◽  
...  

In spite of radical advances in nanobiotechnology, the clinical translation of nanoparticle (NP)-based agents is still a major challenge due to various physiological factors that influence their interactions with biological systems. Recent decade witnessed meticulous investigation on protein corona (PC) that is the first surrounds NPs once administered into the body. Formation of PC around NP surface exhibits resilient effects on their circulation, distribution, therapeutic activity, toxicity and other factors. Although enormous literature is available on the role of PC in altering pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of NPs, understanding on its analytical characterization methods still remains shallow. Therefore, the current review summarizes the impact of PC on biological fate of NPs and stressing on analytical methods employed for studying the NP-PC.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon V. Reichel ◽  
Susanna Labisch ◽  
Jan-Henning Dirks

AbstractMany insects are able to precisely control their jumping movements. Previous studies have shown that many falling insects have some degree of control of their landing-orientation, indicating a possible significant biomechanical role of the exoskeleton in air righting mechanisms. Once in the air, the properties of the actual landing site are almost impossible to predict. Falling insects thus have to cope mostly with the situation at impact. What exactly happens at the impact? Do locusts actively ‘prepare for landing’ while falling, or do they just ‘crash’ into the substrate?Detailed impact analyses of free falling Schistocerca gregaria locusts show that most insects typically crashed onto the substrate. There was no notable impact-reducing behaviour (protrusion of legs, etc.). Independent of dropping angle, both warm and cooled locusts mostly fell onto head and thorax first. Our results also show that alive warm locusts fell significantly faster than inactive or dead locusts. This indicates a possible tradeoff between active control vs. reduced speed. Looking at the morphology of the head-thorax connection in locusts, we propose that the anterior margin of the pronotum might function as a ‘toby collar’ structure, reducing the risk of impact damage to the neck joint. Interestingly, at impact alive insects also tended to perform a bending movement of the body.This biomechanical adaptation might reduce the rebound and shorten the time to recover. The adhesive pads also play an important role to reduce the time to recover by anchoring the insect to the substrate.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhou-Tong Dai ◽  
Yuan Xiang ◽  
Xing-Hua Liao

Abstract Background Uterine Corpus Endometrial Cancer (UCEC) is one of the three common malignant tumors of the female reproductive tract. According to reports, the cure rate of early UCEC can reach 95%. Therefore, the development of prognostic markers will help UCEC patients to find the disease earlier and develop treatment earlier. The ALDH family was first discovered to be the essential gene of the ethanol metabolism pathway in the body. Recent studies have shown that ALDH can participate in the regulation of cancer. Methods We used the gene profile data of 33 cancers in the TCGA database to analyze the expression and survival of the ALDH family. GO, KEGG, PPI multiple functional analysis was used to predict the regulatory role of ALDH family in cancer. In addition, using CCK-8, colony formation, nude mouse tumor formation and other methods, the in vitro function of UCEC cancer cell lines was tested to further confirm the key role of ALDH2 expression in the proliferation of UCEC cell lines. Finally, Lasso and Cox regression methods were used to establish an overall survival prognosis model based on ALDH2 expression. Result In our research, we explored the expression of ALDH family in 33 cancers. It was found that ALDH2 was abnormally expressed in UCEC. Besides, in vivo and in vitro experiments were conducted to explore the effect of ALDH2 expression on the proliferation of UCEC cell lines. Meanwhile, the change of its expression is not due to gene mutations, but is regulated by miR-135-3p. At the same time, the impact of ALDH2 changes on the survival of UCEC patients is deeply discussed. Finally, a nomogram for predicting survival was constructed, with a C-index of 0.798 and AUC of 0.764. Conclusion This study suggests that ALDH2 may play a crucial role in UCEC progression and has the potential as a prognostic biomarker of UCEC.


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