The association between commuting and cardiovascular disease: A biomarker-based analysis of cross-sectional cohort data from the UK Biobank.

This study used cross-sectional UK Biobank data to estimate the influence of active and passive commuting modes and commuting distance on cardiovascular disease (CVD) -related biomarkers as measures of health outcomes. The analysis applied logistic regression to assess the risk of exhibiting individual biomarker values outside a predefined reference interval and standard linear regression to estimate the relation between commuting practices and a composite CVD index. The study sample comprised 208,893 UK Biobank baseline survey participants aged 40 to 69 who use various modes of transport to commute to work at least once a week. Participants were recruited and interviewed between 2006 and 2010 at 22 centers geographically dispersed across England, Scotland, and Wales. The data set included these participants' sociodemographic and health-related information, including lifestyle indicators and biological measures. The primary outcome was a shift from low to high-risk blood serum levels in eight cardiovascular biomarkers: total cholesterol, low density lipoprotein, high density lipoprotein, triglycerides, apolipoprotein A and B, C-reactive protein, and lipoprotein (a). Our results indicated a small negative association between the composite risk index for CVD biomarkers and weekly commuting distance. Although estimates for active commuting modes (cycling, walking) may admittedly be sensitive to different covariate adjustments, our specifications show them to be positively associated with select CVD biomarkers. Commuting long distances by car is negatively associated with CVD-related biomarkers, while cycling and walking might be positively associated. This biomarker-based evidence, although limited, is less susceptible to residual confounding than that from distant outcomes like CVD mortality.

How do Gambling Providers Use the Social Network Twitter in Germany? An Explorative Mixed-Methods Topic Modeling Approach.

This study examines the social media activities of gambling providers in Germany, focusing on the platform Twitter. A collection of 34.151 tweets from 13 Twitter accounts was made, representing casinos, sports betting, state lotteries, social lotteries and lottery brokers. We apply an explorative mixed-methods approach, integrating a summative content analysis together with a semi-supervised guided topic modeling approach, to analyse frequency, number of followers, interaction and content of Twitter messages, and work out differences among the individual providers. The results show that Twitter does not seem to be particularly important for gambling providers who are active in Germany. Regarding outreach, frequency of tweets and interaction, Twitter plays a much smaller role than, for example, in the UK. The potential for Twitter to be an advertising, marketing and interaction channel has not yet been fully exploited, which would make it a perfect moment for developing an appropriate regulatory framework. Overall, the results of semi-supervised topic modeling show that providers most often use informative content (news) and combine it with other, usually less neutral content. It is alarming that many providers make little or no use of Responsible Gambling messages. Even though the activities are presently on a low level, they contribute to the normalization of gambling, setting incentives for increasing gambling participation. Children and youth form a large segment of Twitter users. Potential harm can arise especially for this group because of the lack of enforcement of any age limit.

Using machine learning to uncover the relation between age and life satisfaction.

This study applies a machine learning (ML) approach to around 400,000 observations from the German Socio-Economic Panel to assess the relation between life satisfaction and age. We show that with our ML-based approach it is possible to isolate the effect of age on life satisfaction across the lifecycle without explicitly parameterizing the complex relationship between age and other covariates-this complex relation is taken into account by a feedforward neural network. Our results show a clear U-shape relation between age and life satisfaction across the lifespan, with a minimum at around 50 years of age.

Sources of anxiety among health care workers in Tehran during the COVID-19 pandemic.

By applying multivariate regression to 2020 survey data from four Tehran hospitals, we measure eight recognized sources of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic-related anxiety among 723 healthcare workers (HCWs) with diverse sociodemographic characteristics employed across different hospital areas and positions. The most prominent anxiety source identified is the risk of workplace COVID-19 contraction and transmission to family, followed by uncertainty about organizational support for personal and family needs in the event of worker infection. A supplemental qualitative analysis of 68 respondents in the largest hospital identifies four additional anxiety sources, namely, health, finances, workload, and leadership. This evidence of the multifaceted nature of anxiety sources among HCWs highlights the differentiated approaches that hospital policymakers must take to combat anxiety.

Expanded Cyclotetrabenzoins.

Cyclobenzoins are shape-persistent macrocycles of interest in the preparation of optoelectronic and porous materials. New cyclotetrabenzoins derived from biphenyl, naphthalene, and tolane skeletons were synthesized using N-heterocyclic carbene-catalyzed benzoin condensation. Their preparation proceeded with different regioselectivity than that observed in the cyanide-catalyzed preparation of the parent cyclotetrabenzoin. Crystal structures of two new cyclotetrabenzoin acetic esters have been obtained. Alkyne groups of the tolane-based cyclotetrabenzoin were postsynthetically functionalized with Co2(CO)6 moieties.

Experimental Evidence for the Incorporation of Two Metals at Equivalent Lattice Positions in Mixed-Metal Metal-Organic Frameworks.

Metal-organic frameworks containing multiple metals distributed over crystallographically equivalent framework positions (mixed-metal MOFs) represent an interesting class of materials, since the close vicinity of isolated metal centers often gives rise to synergistic effects. However, appropriate characterization techniques for detailed investigations of these mixed-metal metal-organic framework materials, particularly addressing the distribution of metals within the lattice, are rarely available. The synthesis of mixed-metal FeCuBTC materials in direct syntheses proved to be difficult and only a thorough characterization using various techniques, like powder X-ray diffraction, X-ray absorption spectroscopy and electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy, unambiguously evidenced the formation of a mixed-metal FeCuBTC material with HKUST-1 structure, which contained bimetallic Fe-Cu paddlewheels as well as monometallic Cu-Cu and Fe-Fe units under optimized synthesis conditions. The in-depth characterization showed that other synthetic procedures led to impurities, which contained the majority of the applied iron and were impossible or difficult to identify using solely standard characterization techniques. Therefore, this study shows the necessity to characterize mixed-metal MOFs extensively to unambiguously prove the incorporation of both metals at the desired positions. The controlled positioning of metal centers in mixed-metal metal-organic framework materials and the thorough characterization thereof is particularly important to derive structure-property or structure-activity correlations.

Work hour constraints in the German nursing workforce: A quarter of a century in review.

BACKGROUND: Work hour constraints (WHC), or the mismatch between desired and actual worktime, can negatively affect work productivity, job satisfaction, worker health and job fluctuations. OBJECTIVES: This study analyzes the WHC trends in the German nursing market between 1990 and 2015. METHODS: Using data from 25 waves (1990-1995 and 1997-2015) of the German Socio-Economic Panel, the contractual, actual, and desired worktime among a representative sample of German nurses (N = 6493) were analyzed. The trends in over/underemployment for full and part-time nurses and the modalities/trends in overtime compensation were analyzed. A Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition was used to explain changes in worktime. RESULTS: Although German nurses' actual and contractual work hours decreased substantially between 1990 and 2015, their desired work hours remained stable (31 h/week), precipitating a persistent gap between actual and desired work hours and an ongoing reliance on overtime. For full-time nurses, the actual work hours consistently exceeded the contracted ones by 3-6 hours. For part-time nurses, the actual and desired work hours have remained very similar, indicating ability to control workforce participation. CONCLUSIONS: WHC remained persistently high over the quarter century studied, with overemployment affecting nearly half of the nursing workforce. Overemployment, resulting primarily from overtime, was high among full-time nurses. Study findings could guide the formulation of programs to optimize German nursing workforce participation.

The effect of motherhood and work on women's time pressure: A cohort analysis using the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to analyze the prevalence and determinants of time pressure among younger Australian women born between 1973 and 1978 over a 17-year period. METHODS: Using six surveys (N=14 247 at baseline in 1996) from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women`s Health (ALSWH), we estimated fixed-effects ordered logistic regression models. RESULTS: More than two thirds of women felt rushed, pressured, too busy every day or a few times a week, and time pressure substantially increased over the observed 17-year period. Baseline estimates show that time pressure is significantly (P<0.001) associated with being employed and being a mother with coefficients ranging from 0.255 [95% confidence interval (95% CI) 0.188-0.322] for being employed to 0.273 (95% CI 0.168-0.377) for having children. The multivariate analysis further indicates that time pressure is significantly related to a number of personal, family, and work characteristics such as number and age of children, economic insecurity such as having financial difficulties, concern about employment stability, or the length of the working week. CONCLUSIONS: Understanding the sources of time pressure and identification of certain groups which are particularly vulnerable to it is important if policy-makers aim to design and successfully implement health policies, and family-friendly parental leave and child-care policies.