Effect of enriched oxygen inhalation on lower limb skin temperatures in diabetic and healthy humans: a pilot study.

INTRODUCTION: Measurement of skin temperature with infrared thermometry has been utilised for assessing metabolic activity and may be useful in identifying patients with ulcers suitable for hyperbaric oxygen treatment and monitoring their treatment progress. Since oxygen promotes vasoconstriction in the peripheral circulation, we hypothesised that oxygen administration may lower skin temperature and complicate the interpretation of temperatures obtained. This pilot study investigated the effect of oxygen administration on lower limb skin temperature in healthy subjects and diabetic patients. METHODS: Volunteers were recruited from healthy staff members (n = 10) and from patients with diabetic foot ulcers (n = 10) at our facility. Foot skin surface temperatures were measured by infra-red thermometry while breathing three different concentrations of oxygen (21%, 50% and 100%). RESULTS: Skin temperature changes were observed with increasing partial pressure of oxygen in both groups. The mean (SD) foot temperatures of diabetic patients and healthy controls at air-breathing baseline were 30.1°C (3.6) versus 29.0°C (3.7) respectively, at FiO2 0.5 were 30.1°C (3.6) versus 28.5°C (4.1) and at FiO2 1.0 were 28.3°C (3.2) versus 29.2°C (4.3). None of these differences between groups were statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: Data from this small study may indicate a difference in thermal responses between healthy subjects and diabetic patients when inhaling oxygen; however, none of the results were statistically significant. Further investigations on a larger scale are warranted in order to draw firm conclusions.

Development and Validation of a Pioneer Scale on Service Leadership Behavior in the Service Economies.

In response to the severe lack of leadership assessment tools in the Chinese context, the Service Leadership Behavior Scale was developed based on the Service Leadership Model proposed by Po Chung, the co-founder of DHL International. Utilizing responses from 4,486 Hong Kong undergraduates, this paper reports the findings of a validation study on the Short-Form Service Leadership Behavior Scale (SLB-SF-65). Previous findings based on exploratory factor analysis supported a six-factor 48-item solution (SLB-SF-48). With the removal of ten items, confirmatory factor analysis showed that the final 38-item scale (SLB-SF-38) possessed excellent internal consistency, concurrent validity, and factorial validity based on multigroup invariance analyses. Overall speaking, the present study underscores the utility of the SLB-SF-38 as an objective assessment instrument of service leadership behavior in the education, research and personnel training contexts.

Does gratitude enhance prosociality?: A meta-analytic review.

Theoretical models suggest that gratitude is linked to increased prosociality. To date, however, there is a lack of a comprehensive quantitative synthesis of results to support this claim. In this review we aimed to (a) examine the overall strength of the association between gratitude and prosociality, and (b) identify the theoretical and methodological variables that moderate this link. We identified 252 effect sizes from 91 studies across 65 papers-(Total N = 18,342 participants). The present meta-analysis revealed a statistically significant, and moderate positive correlation between gratitude and prosociality (r = .374). This association was significantly larger among studies that assessed reciprocal outcomes relative to nonreciprocal outcomes, and in particular among studies that examined direct-compared with indirect-reciprocity. Studies that examined gratitude as an affective state reported significantly larger effect size studies assessing gratitude as a trait. Studies that examined benefit-triggered gratitude (in response to other's kindness) had a stronger effect that generalized gratitude that focuses on the appreciation of what is valued and cherished in life. Finally, studies that manipulated gratitude in vivo (e.g., economic games) had larger effect sizes compared with those based on recalled incidents when the person felt grateful. We describe the theoretical and practical significance of the results. (PsycINFO Database Record

Gratefully received, gratefully repaid: the role of perceived fairness in cooperative interactions.

It is well documented that people would remunerate fair behaviours and penalize unfair behaviours. It is argued that individuals' reactions following the receipt of a gift depend on the perceived intentions of the donors. Fair intentions should prompt positive affect, like gratitude, triggering cooperative behaviours; while intended unfairness should trigger negative affect, like anger, fostering anti-social actions. It is, however, contended that when people lack information to infer others' intention they may use 'normative' beliefs about fairness - what a typical fair individual 'should' do in these circumstances - to guide their behaviour. In this experiment we examined this assertion. We had 122 participants play a one-shot, double-anonymous game with half playing as potential helpers (P1s) and half as recipients (P2s). Whether a participant was a P1 or P2 was chance-determined and all participants knew this. P1s decided whether to help P2s and whether to make their help unconditional (no repayment needed) or conditional (full or 'taxed' repayment). P2s decided whether to accept the offer and whatever conditions attached but were blind to the list of helping options available to P1s. We anticipated that recipients would refer to the 'injunctive norm' that 'fair people should help "for free" when it is only by chance that they are in a position to help'. Therefore, without knowing P1s' different helping options, unconditional offers should be rated by recipients as fairer than conditional offers, and this should be linked to greater gratitude with greater gratitude linked to greater reciprocation. Path analyses confirmed this serial mediation. The results showed that recipients of unconditional offers, compared to conditional ones, interpreted the helpers' motives as more helpful, experienced greater gratitude and were more eager to reciprocate. The behavioural data further revealed that, when given a latter option to default, 38% of recipients of conditional offers did so.