MicroRNA-142 Critically Regulates Group 2 Innate Lymphoid Cell Homeostasis and Function.

Innate lymphoid cells are central to the regulation of immunity at mucosal barrier sites, with group 2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC2s) being particularly important in type 2 immunity. In this study, we demonstrate that microRNA(miR)-142 plays a critical, cell-intrinsic role in the homeostasis and function of ILC2s. Mice deficient for miR-142 expression demonstrate an ILC2 progenitor-biased development in the bone marrow, and along with peripheral ILC2s at mucosal sites, these cells display a greatly altered phenotype based on surface marker expression. ILC2 proliferative and effector functions are severely dysfunctional following Nippostrongylus brasiliensis infection, revealing a critical role for miR-142 isoforms in ILC2-mediated immune responses. Mechanistically, Socs1 and Gfi1 expression are regulated by miR-142 isoforms in ILC2s, impacting ILC2 phenotypes as well as the proliferative and effector capacity of these cells. The identification of these novel pathways opens potential new avenues to modulate ILC2-dependent immune functions.

Long-term care residents' acceptance of a standing intervention: A qualitative intrinsic case study.

Older adults in long-term care are sedentary. Standing is recommended to reduce sedentary time, but there is limited research on long-term care residents' acceptability of standing interventions. The acceptability of the Stand If You Can (SIYC) randomized clinical trial among long-term care residents was explored using a single intrinsic qualitative case study design. The five month intervention consisted of supervised 100 min standing sessions per week. Participants completed post-intervention interviews, which were analyzed using the Thematic Framework Analysis through the lens of an acceptability framework. The 10 participants (7 female), age 73 to 102 years, stood a median of 53% of the intervention offered time (range 20%-94%). The participants reported acceptability in many aspects of the Theoretical Framework of Acceptability. Standing is a simple intervention to decrease sedentary time and seems to be accepted among long-term care residents when burden is not perceived as too high.

ILC1 drive intestinal epithelial and matrix remodelling.

Organoids can shed light on the dynamic interplay between complex tissues and rare cell types within a controlled microenvironment. Here, we develop gut organoid cocultures with type-1 innate lymphoid cells (ILC1) to dissect the impact of their accumulation in inflamed intestines. We demonstrate that murine and human ILC1 secrete transforming growth factor ß1, driving expansion of CD44v6+ epithelial crypts. ILC1 additionally express MMP9 and drive gene signatures indicative of extracellular matrix remodelling. We therefore encapsulated human epithelial-mesenchymal intestinal organoids in MMP-sensitive, synthetic hydrogels designed to form efficient networks at low polymer concentrations. Harnessing this defined system, we demonstrate that ILC1 drive matrix softening and stiffening, which we suggest occurs through balanced matrix degradation and deposition. Our platform enabled us to elucidate previously undescribed interactions between ILC1 and their microenvironment, which suggest that they may exacerbate fibrosis and tumour growth when enriched in inflamed patient tissues.

Iterative near-term ecological forecasting: Needs, opportunities, and challenges.

Two foundational questions about sustainability are "How are ecosystems and the services they provide going to change in the future?" and "How do human decisions affect these trajectories?" Answering these questions requires an ability to forecast ecological processes. Unfortunately, most ecological forecasts focus on centennial-scale climate responses, therefore neither meeting the needs of near-term (daily to decadal) environmental decision-making nor allowing comparison of specific, quantitative predictions to new observational data, one of the strongest tests of scientific theory. Near-term forecasts provide the opportunity to iteratively cycle between performing analyses and updating predictions in light of new evidence. This iterative process of gaining feedback, building experience, and correcting models and methods is critical for improving forecasts. Iterative, near-term forecasting will accelerate ecological research, make it more relevant to society, and inform sustainable decision-making under high uncertainty and adaptive management. Here, we identify the immediate scientific and societal needs, opportunities, and challenges for iterative near-term ecological forecasting. Over the past decade, data volume, variety, and accessibility have greatly increased, but challenges remain in interoperability, latency, and uncertainty quantification. Similarly, ecologists have made considerable advances in applying computational, informatic, and statistical methods, but opportunities exist for improving forecast-specific theory, methods, and cyberinfrastructure. Effective forecasting will also require changes in scientific training, culture, and institutions. The need to start forecasting is now; the time for making ecology more predictive is here, and learning by doing is the fastest route to drive the science forward.

Microbial contributions to phosphorus cycling in eutrophic lakes and wastewater.

Phosphorus is a key element controlling the productivity of freshwater ecosystems, and microbes drive most of its relevant biogeochemistry. Eutrophic lakes are generally dominated by cyanobacteria that compete fiercely with algae and heterotrophs for the element. In wastewater treatment, engineers select for specialized bacteria capable of sequestering phosphorus from the water, to protect surface waters from further loading. The intracellular storage molecule polyphosphate plays an important role in both systems, allowing key taxa to control phosphorus availability. The importance of dissolved organic phosphorus in eutrophic lakes and mineralization mechanisms is still underappreciated and understudied. The need for functional redundancy through biological diversity in wastewater treatment plants is also clear. In both systems, a holistic ecosystems biology approach is needed to understand the molecular mechanisms controlling phosphorus metabolism and the ecological interactions and factors controlling ecosystem-level process rates.

Factors influencing new graduate nurse burnout development, job satisfaction and patient care quality: a time-lagged study.

AIM: To test a hypothesized model linking new graduate nurses' perceptions of their manager's authentic leadership behaviours to structural empowerment, short-staffing and work-life interference and subsequent burnout, job satisfaction and patient care quality. BACKGROUND: Authentic leadership and structural empowerment have been shown to reduce early career burnout among nurses. Short-staffing and work-life interference are also linked to burnout and may help explain the impact of positive, empowering leadership on burnout, which in turn influences job satisfaction and patient care quality. DESIGN: A time-lagged study of Canadian new graduate nurses was conducted. METHODS: At Time 1, surveys were sent to 3,743 nurses (November 2012-March 2013) and 1,020 were returned (27·3% response rate). At Time 2 (May-July 2014), 406 nurses who responded at Time 1 completed surveys (39·8% response rate). Descriptive analysis was conducted in SPSS. Structural equation modelling in Mplus was used to test the hypothesized model. RESULTS: The hypothesized model was supported. Authentic leadership had a significant positive effect on structural empowerment, which in turn decreased both short-staffing and work-life interference. Short-staffing and work-life imbalance subsequently resulted in nurse burnout, lower job satisfaction and lower patient care quality 1 year later. CONCLUSION: The findings suggest that short-staffing and work-life interference are important factors influencing new graduate nurse burnout. Developing nurse managers' authentic leadership behaviours and working with them to create and sustain empowering work environments may help reduce burnout, increase nurse job satisfaction and improve patient care quality.

The effects of authentic leadership, organizational identification, and occupational coping self-efficacy on new graduate nurses' job turnover intentions in Canada.

BACKGROUND: Nurses' turnover has a costly impact on organizations, patients, and nurses. Numerous studies have highlighted the critical role of nursing leadership in enhancing new nurses' retention. PURPOSE: To examine the influence of authentic leadership on new nurses' job turnover intentions through their personal identification with the leader, organizational identification, and occupational coping self-efficacy. METHODS: Secondary data analysis of a cross-sectional national study of Canadian new graduate nurses was conducted using structural equation modeling. FINDINGS: Authentic leadership had a significant positive effect on nurses' personal identification with their leader and their organization. Personal identification mediated the relationship between authentic leadership and organizational identification. Organizational identification had a significant positive effect on occupational coping self-efficacy, which, in turn, had a negative effect on new graduate nurses' job turnover intentions. DISCUSSION: The findings demonstrate the vital role authentic leadership plays in retaining new graduate nurses. Authentic leaders foster personal and organizational identification among new graduate nurses, leading to increase in the confidence in their ability to manage work-related challenges, which subsequently results in positive outcomes in both new graduate nurses and the organization.

Starting Out: qualitative perspectives of new graduate nurses and nurse leaders on transition to practice.

AIM: To describe new graduate nurses' transition experiences in Canadian healthcare settings by exploring the perspectives of new graduate nurses and nurse leaders in unit level roles. BACKGROUND: Supporting successful transition to practice is key to retaining new graduate nurses in the workforce and meeting future demand for healthcare services. METHOD: A descriptive qualitative study using inductive content analysis of focus group and interview data from 42 new graduate nurses and 28 nurse leaders from seven Canadian provinces. RESULTS: New graduate nurses and nurse leaders identified similar factors that facilitate the transition to practice including formal orientation programmes, unit cultures that encourage constructive feedback and supportive mentors. Impediments including unanticipated changes to orientation length, inadequate staffing, uncivil unit cultures and heavy workloads. CONCLUSIONS: The results show that new graduate nurses need access to transition support and resources and that nurse leaders often face organisational constraints in being able to support new graduate nurses. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT: Organisations should ensure that nurse leaders have the resources they need to support the positive transition of new graduate nurses including adequate staffing and realistic workloads for both experienced and new nurses. Nurse leaders should work to create unit cultures that foster learning by encouraging new graduate nurses to ask questions and seek feedback without fear of criticism or incivility.

The Effect of Authentic Leadership, Person-Job Fit, and Civility Norms on New Graduate Nurses' Experiences of Coworker Incivility and Burnout.

OBJECTIVE: This study examined the influence of authentic leadership, person-job fit with 6 areas of worklife, and civility norms on coworker incivility and burnout among new graduate nurses. BACKGROUND: New graduate nurses report experiencing high levels of workplace incivility from coworkers, which has been found to negatively impact their job and career satisfaction and increase their intention to leave. The role of civility norms in preventing burnout and subsequent exposure to incivility from coworkers has yet to be examined among new graduate nurses. METHODS: A cross-sectional mail survey of 993 new graduate nurses across Canada was conducted. RESULTS: The results supported the hypothesized relationships between study variables. CONCLUSIONS: Civility norms play a key role in preventing early career burnout and coworker incivility experienced by new graduate nurses. Leaders can influence civility norms by engaging in authentic leadership behaviors and optimizing person-job fit.

New nurses' perceptions of professional practice behaviours, quality of care, job satisfaction and career retention.

AIM: To test a model examining the effects of structural empowerment and support for professional practice on new graduate nurses' perceived professional practice behaviours, perceptions of care quality and subsequent job satisfaction and career turnover intentions. BACKGROUND: The nursing worklife model describes relationships between supportive nursing work environments and nurse and patient outcomes. The influence of support for professional practice on new nurses' perceptions of professional nursing behaviours within this model has not been tested. METHODS: Structural equation modelling in Mplus was used to analyse data from a national survey of new nurses across Canada (n = 393). FINDINGS: The hypothesised model was supported: χ²(122) = 346.726, P = 0.000; CFI = 0.917; TLI = 0.896; RMSEA = 0.069. Professional practice behaviour was an important mechanism through which empowerment and supportive professional practice environments influenced nurse-assessed quality of care, which was related to job satisfaction and lower intentions to leave nursing. CONCLUSION: Job satisfaction and career retention of new nurses are related to perceptions of work environment factors that support their professional practice behaviours and high-quality patient care. IMPLICATIONS: Nurse managers can support new graduate nurses' professional practice behaviour by providing empowering supportive professional practice environments.

The importance of lake-specific characteristics for water quality across the continental United States.

Lake water quality is affected by local and regional drivers, including lake physical characteristics, hydrology, landscape position, land cover, land use, geology, and climate. Here, we demonstrate the utility of hypothesis testing within the landscape limnology framework using a random forest algorithm on a national-scale, spatially explicit data set, the United States Environmental Protection Agency's 2007 National Lakes Assessment. For 1026 lakes, we tested the relative importance of water quality drivers across spatial scales, the importance of hydrologic connectivity in mediating water quality drivers, and how the importance of both spatial scale and connectivity differ across response variables for five important in-lake water quality metrics (total phosphorus, total nitrogen, dissolved organic carbon, turbidity, and conductivity). By modeling the effect of water quality predictors at different spatial scales, we found that lake-specific characteristics (e.g., depth, sediment area-to-volume ratio) were important for explaining water quality (54-60% variance explained), and that regionalization schemes were much less effective than lake specific metrics (28-39% variance explained). Basin-scale land use and land cover explained between 45-62% of variance, and forest cover and agricultural land uses were among the most important basin-scale predictors. Water quality drivers did not operate independently; in some cases, hydrologic connectivity (the presence of upstream surface water features) mediated the effect of regional-scale drivers. For example, for water quality in lakes with upstream lakes, regional classification schemes were much less effective predictors than lake-specific variables, in contrast to lakes with no upstream lakes or with no surface inflows. At the scale of the continental United States, conductivity was explained by drivers operating at larger spatial scales than for other water quality responses. The current regulatory practice of using regionalization schemes to guide water quality criteria could be improved by consideration of lake-specific characteristics, which were the most important predictors of water quality at the scale of the continental United States. The spatial extent and high quality of contextual data available for this analysis makes this work an unprecedented application of landscape limnology theory to water quality data. Further, the demonstrated importance of lake morphology over other controls on water quality is relevant to both aquatic scientists and managers.

Correlates of New Graduate Nurses' Experiences of Workplace Mistreatment.

OBJECTIVE: This study explores correlates of new graduate nurses' experiences of workplace mistreatment. BACKGROUND: New graduate nurses' experiences of workplace mistreatment, such as bullying, coworker incivility, and supervisor incivility, negatively influence nurses' work and health. It is unclear whether these forms of workplace mistreatment have similar precipitating factors and outcomes. METHODS: We surveyed 342 new graduate nurses in Ontario to explore correlates of 3 forms of workplace mistreatment. RESULTS: Workplace incivility and bullying were significantly related to authentic leadership, structural empowerment, worklife fit, and psychological capital. Bullying was more strongly related to job satisfaction, emotional exhaustion, and mental and physical health outcomes than supervisor and coworker incivility. CONCLUSIONS: New graduate nurses' experiences of 3 types of workplace mistreatment are related to organizational and health factors, although bullying appears to have stronger negative effects.

The influence of authentic leadership and empowerment on nurses' relational social capital, mental health and job satisfaction over the first year of practice.

AIMS: To examine a theoretical model testing the effects of authentic leadership, structural empowerment and relational social capital on the mental health and job satisfaction of new graduate nurses over the first year of practice. BACKGROUND: Relational social capital is an important interpersonal organizational resource that may foster new graduate nurses' workplace well-being and promote retention. Evidence shows that authentic leadership and structural empowerment are key aspects of the work environment that support new graduate nurses; however, the mediating role of relational social capital has yet to be explored. DESIGN: A longitudinal survey design was used to test the hypothesized model. METHODS: One hundred ninety-one new graduate nurses in Ontario with <2 years of experience completed mail surveys in January-March 2010 and 1 year later in 2011. Path analysis using structural equation modelling was used to test the theoretical model. RESULTS: Participants were mostly female, working full time in medicine/surgery or critical care. All measures demonstrated acceptable reliability and validity. Path analysis results supported our hypothesized model; structural empowerment mediated the relationship between authentic leadership and nurses' relational social capital, which in turn had a negative effect on mental health symptoms and a positive effect on job satisfaction. All indirect paths in the model were significant. CONCLUSION: By creating structurally empowering work environments, authentic leaders foster relational social capital among new graduate nurses leading to positive health and retention outcomes.

Workplace social capital in nursing: an evolutionary concept analysis.

AIM: To report an analysis of the concept of nurses' workplace social capital. BACKGROUND: Workplace social capital is an emerging concept in nursing with potential to illuminate the value of social relationships at work. A common definition is needed. DESIGN: Concept analysis. DATA SOURCES: The Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, PubMed, PsychINFO and ProQuest Nursing. REVIEW METHODS: Databases were systematically searched using the keywords: workplace social capital, employee social capital, work environment, social capital and nursing. Sources published between January 1937-November 2012 in English that described or studied social capital of nurses at work were included. A total of 668 resources were found. After removing 241 duplicates, literature was screened in two phases: (1) titles and abstracts were reviewed (n = 427); and (2) remaining data sources were retrieved and read (n = 70). Eight sources were included in the final analysis. RESULTS: Attributes of nurses' workplace social capital included networks of social relationships at work, shared assets and shared ways of knowing and being. Antecedents were communication, trust and positive leadership practices. Nurses' workplace social capital was associated with positive consequences for nurses, their patients and healthcare organizations. CONCLUSION: Nurses' workplace social capital is defined as nurses' shared assets and ways of being and knowing that are evident in, and available through, nurses' networks of social relationships at work. Future studies should examine and test relationships between antecedents and consequences of nurses' workplace social capital to understand this important aspect of healthy professional practice environments better.

The influence of nursing unit empowerment and social capital on unit effectiveness and nurse perceptions of patient care quality.

OBJECTIVE: This study tested a multilevel model examining the effects of work-unit structural empowerment and social capital on perceptions of unit effectiveness and nurses' ratings of patient care quality. BACKGROUND: Structural empowerment and social capital are valuable resources for staff nurses that promote work effectiveness and high-quality patient care. No studies have examined social capital in nursing at the group level. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey of 525 nurses in 49 nursing units in 25 acute care hospitals in Ontario was conducted to test the hypothesized multilevel model using structural equation modeling. RESULTS: Both unit-level structural empowerment and social capital had significant effects on unit effectiveness (ß = .05 and ß = .29, P < .05, respectively). Unit-level predictors explained 87.5% of level 2 variance in individual nurses' ratings of patient care quality. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides a better understanding of how unit-level structural empowerment and social capital affect both unit- and individual-level outcomes.

Long-term outcomes of a postbaccalaureate nurse residency program: a pilot study.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this pilot study was to determine what influence a nurse residency program (NRP) has on long-term outcomes including turnover rates, career satisfaction, and leadership development. BACKGROUND: Studies examining short-term outcomes of NRPs have shown positive effects. Long-term studies of NRPs have not been reported. METHODS: This descriptive study surveyed former nurse residents, still employed at the facility. Data were collected by means of a demographic tool and the McCloskey/Mueller Satisfaction Scale, a job satisfaction tool. RESULTS: Although nursing turnover increased past the yearlong residency program, it remained well below the national average. All components of satisfaction were ranked relatively high, but coworker/peer support was most important to job satisfaction. Leadership development in the areas of certification and pursuing an advanced degree increased with longer employment, but hospital committee involvement decreased with successive cohorts. CONCLUSION: Overall, the long-term outcomes of an NRP appear to have benefits to both the organization and the individual.

A novel locomotion-based prepulse inhibition assay in zebrafish larvae.

Sensory gating, measured using prepulse inhibition (PPI), is an endophenotype of neuropsychiatric disorders that can be assessed in larval zebrafish models. However, current PPI assays require high-speed cameras to capture rapid c-bend startle behaviours of the larvae. In this study, we designed and employed a PPI paradigm that uses locomotion as a read-out of zebrafish larval startle responses. PPI percentage was measured at a maximum of 87% and strongly reduced upon administration of the NMDA receptor antagonist, MK-801. This work provides the foundation for simpler and more accessible PPI assays using larval zebrafish to model key endophenotypes of neurodevelopmental disorders.

Areas of work-life, psychological capital and emotional intelligence on compassion fatigue and compassion satisfaction among nurses: A cross-sectional study.

AIM: To examine the impact of six areas of work-life, emotional intelligence and psychological capital on compassion fatigue and compassion satisfaction among Canadian Registered Nurses and licensed practical nurses. DESIGN: A cross-sectional survey study. METHODS: A convenience sample of 296 Registered Nurses and 110 licensed practical nurses answered a self-administered questionnaire measuring areas of work-life, psychological capital, emotional intelligence, compassion satisfaction and compassion fatigue in September 2019. The association between variables were analysed with descriptive and correlational analyses, while the hypothesized models were tested using multiple regression analyses. RESULTS: This study identified several areas of work-life and intrapersonal resources that impacted compassion satisfaction and compassion fatigue. Among Registered Nurses, compassion satisfaction was predicted by psychological capital, rewards, values and workload. Compassion fatigue was predicted by psychological capital, workload, control and community. Among licensed practical nurses, compassion satisfaction was predicted by psychological capital and emotional intelligence. Compassion fatigue was predicted by workload and psychological capital. Study results also revealed significant differences in Registered Nurses' and licensed practical nurses' perceptions of workload, rewards and fairness at work, and both compassion satisfaction and compassion fatigue. Registered Nurses perceived their workload to be more manageable and perceived greater rewards and greater fairness at work than licensed practical nurses. Compassion fatigue was higher for Registered Nurses than licensed practical nurses, while compassion satisfaction was higher for licensed practical nurses than Registered Nurses. Future studies should investigate the nature and span of these differences to suggest relevant strategies to mitigate compassion fatigue and promote compassion satisfaction for each of these nursing roles. CONCLUSION: The results of this study underscore the need to create nursing work environments that foster a manageable workload and positive social relationships, where nurses have professional autonomy, decision-making capacities and access to adequate resources to do their job effectively. The nursing work environment should also provide recognition of nurses' contributions and an alignment between personal and organizational values. Investments in the development and improvement of nurses' psychological capital and emotional intelligence should be prioritized since they are malleable and impactful intrapersonal resources on compassion satisfaction and compassion fatigue. REPORTING METHOD: This study adhered to the STROBE guidelines. PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION: A total of 406 nurses were involved in this study by answering a self-administered study survey.

Bi-directional signaling between the intestinal epithelium and type-3 innate lymphoid cells regulates secretory dynamics and interleukin-22.

Type-3 innate lymphoid cells (ILC3) respond to localized environmental cues to regulate homeostasis and orchestrate immunity in the intestine. The intestinal epithelium is an important upstream regulator and downstream target of ILC3 signaling, however, the complexity of mucosal tissues can hinder efforts to define specific interactions between these two compartments. Here, we employ a reductionist co-culture system of murine epithelial small intestinal organoids (SIO) with ILC3 to uncover bi-directional signaling mechanisms that underlie intestinal homeostasis. We report that ILC3 induce global transcriptional changes in intestinal epithelial cells, driving the enrichment of secretory goblet cell signatures. We find that SIO enriched for goblet cells promote NKp46+ ILC3 and interleukin (IL)-22 expression, which can feedback to induce IL-22-mediated epithelial transcriptional signatures. However, we show that epithelial regulation of ILC3 in this system is contact-dependent and demonstrate a role for epithelial Delta-Like-Canonical-Notch-Ligand (Dll) in driving IL-22 production by ILC3, via subset-specific Notch1-mediated activation of T-bet+ ILC3. Finally, by interfering with Notch ligand-receptor dynamics, ILC3 appear to upregulate epithelial Atoh1 to skew secretory lineage determination in SIO-ILC3 co-cultures. This research outlines two complimentary bi-directional signaling modules between the intestinal epithelium and ILC3, which may be relevant in intestinal homeostasis and disease.

Correlates of new graduate nurses' experiences of workplace mistreatment.

OBJECTIVE: This study explores correlates of new graduate nurses' experiences of workplace mistreatment. BACKGROUND: New graduate nurses' experiences of workplace mistreatment, such as bullying, coworker incivility, and supervisor incivility, negatively influence nurses' work and health. It is unclear whether these forms of workplace mistreatment have similar precipitating factors and outcomes. METHODS: We surveyed 342 new graduate nurses in Ontario to explore correlates of 3 forms of workplace mistreatment. RESULTS: Workplace incivility and bullying were significantly related to authentic leadership, structural empowerment, worklife fit, and psychological capital. Bullying was more strongly related to job satisfaction, emotional exhaustion, and mental and physical health outcomes than supervisor and coworker incivility. CONCLUSIONS: New graduate nurses' experiences of 3 types of workplace mistreatment are related to organizational and health factors, although bullying appears to have stronger negative effects.