Hybrid Work from Home Clinical Academic Environment: A One-Year Follow-Up Survey of Attitudes and Beliefs of Members of a Department of Palliative Care, Rehabilitation, and Integrative Medicine.

Context: Palliative, Rehabilitation, and Integrative Medicine (PRIM) department members anonymously reported a positive experience with work from home (WFH) two months after its rapid pandemic transition in March 2020. Data are limited on the stability of such preferences and experiences over time. Objectives: The objectives of this study were to survey the attitudes and beliefs of PRIM employees toward remote work 16 months after the start of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic since vaccines and to determine changes in perceptions of WFH. Methods: All 138 PRIM employees were invited to participate in an anonymous survey from mid-July to mid-August 2021. The 30-question survey included demographics, perceptions toward WFH, and the pandemic. Results: One hundred fifteen (83%) employees completed the survey: 29 (74%) research, 62 (83%) clinicians, and 24 (100%) administrative personnel. Most were female (76%), 30-59 years old (88%), PRIM employees before May 2020 (89%), shared office space (52%), and had received either first or second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine (88%). Overall experience (86%) and emotional response (74%) with WFH were positive and not significantly different from 2020 (p = 0.128 and 0.782, respectively). Positive experience was associated with having adequate equipment (p = 0.002), perception of productivity (p = 0.002), financial advantage (p = 0.002), and time demands caring for dependents (p = 0.038). Clinicians reported less positive response (78%, p = 0.002) and less productivity (49%, p = 0.002) with WFH and higher level of stress (54%, p = 0.026) since COVID-19. Employees continued to support WFH permanently (79%) for two or more days/week (82%). There was continued increased emotional exhaustion (71%) similar to 2020 (p = 0.868), and being asked to work partially or completely from home permanently was favored by 64% versus 97% and 96% of clinicians, research, and administrative, respectively (p = 0.002). Conclusions: Support for WFH was sustained a year later and after three pandemic waves. These findings serve as a model for future rapid work transitions and can help elucidate factors associated with stress and emotional exhaustion in a new post-COVID-19 work environment.

[Effect of acupuncture on serum MIP-2 and MIP-2 mRNA expressions in isolated Fei and Dachang of severe acute pancreatitis induced acute lung injury rats in the acute phase].

OBJECTIVE: To observe effect of acupuncture on serum macrophage inflammatory protein-2 (MIP-2) and MIP-2 mRNA expressions in isolated Fei and Dachang of severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) induced acute lung injury (ALI) rats in the acute phase. METHODS: Forty male Wistar rats were randomly divided into four groups, i.e., the sham-operation group, the SAP group, the acupuncture treatment group, and the acupuncture control group, 10 in each group. The SAP model was induced by retrograde infusion of 3.5% sodium taurocholate into the pancreatobiliary duct. Under the guidance of "Fei and Dachang exterior-inferiorly related", points were acupunctured along Fei, Dachang, and Pi channels, as well as those points on the back of rats in the acupuncture treatment group 0.5 h after modeling. Besides, points were acupunctured along Fei and Pi channels, as well as those points on the back of rats in the acupuncture control group 0.5 h after modeling. Serum levels of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) and nitric oxide (NO), and MIP-2 expressions were examined 6 h after modeling. Expressions of MIP-2 mRNA in isolated lung and large intestine tissues were detected by reverse transcription PCR. RESULTS: Compared with the sham-operation group, serum levels of TNF-alpha and NO, and expressions of MIP-2 and MIP-2 mRNA in isolated lung and large intestine tissues were significantly higher in the SAP group (P < 0.05). Each index was lower in the acupuncture treatment group than in the SAP group and the acupuncture control group (P < 0.05). Besides, the serum level of MIP-2 and the MIP-2 mRNA expression in isolated lung and large intestine tissues were positively correlated in all groups except the sham-operation group (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Under the guidance of "Fei and Dachang exterior-inferiorly related", acupuncture could remarkably reduce the severity of SAP induced ALI rats in the acute phase. Its mechanism might be related to suppressing over-expressions of MIP-2 mRNA in isolated lung and large intestine tissues, and lowering the serum MIP-2 expression level.

cDNA cloning, gene organization and expression analysis of human peptidylarginine deiminase type VI.

Peptidylarginine deiminase (PAD) catalyzes the post-translational modification of protein through the conversion of arginine to citrulline in the presence of calcium ions. Human, similar to rodents, has four isoforms of PAD (type I, II, III and IV/V), each of which is distinct in substrate specificity and tissue specific expression. In our large-scale sequencing project, we identified a new human PAD cDNA from a human fetal brain cDNA library. The putative protein encoded by this cDNA is designated hPADVI. Expression analysis of hPADVI showed that it is mainly expressed in adult human ovary and peripheral blood leukocytes. We conclude that hPADVI may be orthologous to mouse ePAD, basing on sequence comparison, chromosome localization and exon-intron structure analysis. PAD-mediated deimination of epithelial cell keratin resulting in cytoskeletal remodeling suggests a possible role for hPADVI in cytoskeletal reorganization in the egg and in early embryo development. This study describes a new important member of the human PAD family.