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Abstract In the context of the increased use of digital technologies at work and the various reported positive and negative outcomes for workers, this paper deals with the effects of internal corporate social responsibility (ICSR) and the digitalisation of work. The findings are based on a structured literature review identifying and synthesizing extant knowledge. A total of 57 papers are analysed regarding their contributions to the literature on digital transformation and ICSR. The results indicate that ICSR is partly implemented in a reactive way to mitigate negative effects of digitalisation at work, and partly in a proactive way to prevent them. The contributions relate (a) to the conceptualisation of digital work and its effects related to ICSR; (b) to the development of the concept of ICSR with a specific focus on digitalisation; and (c) to the derivation of a future research agenda. Finally, implications for research and practice are discussed to investigate further ICSR’s essential role in the interrelation between digitalisation and sustainability at work.

Across the diverse domains of social work in the United States, new digital tools are altering the worker experience. This paper offers the example of one case in which technology has been transforming social work practice, documenting how clinical social workers who contract with for-profit tele-mental health platforms describe their experience of providing therapy to clients. Privately owned, technology driven, direct to consumer tele-mental health platforms have become a new actor in the fragmented American mental health landscape. This qualitative study presents findings from a sample of 22 professional social workers to observe how this novel context changes the experience of providing therapy. Participants described being drawn to contract with platforms by promised freedoms: flexible hours and remote work, and the opportunity to develop skills or to cultivate their own private practices. Simultaneously, they observed how working on platforms constrains the provision of therapy that they offer to their clients. In particular, participants shared that they were required to cultivate new skills of creating digital intimacy within new two dimensional and asynchronous spaces. They also noted that they engaged in invisible and unpaid forms of labor in order to maintain clients and to provide services that aligned with their professional values. As technological tools and systems continue to shape the future of social work practice, professionals will need to be alert to how these forces shape their own professional potentials and to the ethical implications of a changing service landscape. Descriptive outcomes of this study offer intersect with research literature on ghost work, platform labor, and the commercialization of care.

Abstract Background Isolated transient vertigo can be the only symptom of posterior circulation ischemia. Thus, it is important to differentiate isolated vertigo of a cerebrovascular origin from that of more benign origins, as patients with cerebral ischemia have a much higher risk for future stroke than do those with ‘peripheral’ vertigo. The current study aims to identify risk factors for cerebrovascular origin of isolated transient vertigo, and for future cerebrovascular events. Methods From the files of 339 outpatients with isolated transient vertigo we extracted history, clinical and technical findings, diagnosis, and follow-up information on subsequent stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA). Risk factors were analyzed using multivariate regression models (logistic or Cox) and reconfirmed in univariate analyses. Results On first presentation, 48 (14.2%) patients received the diagnosis ‘probable or definite cerebrovascular vertigo’. During follow-up, 41 patients suffered stroke or TIA (event rate 7.9 per 100 person years, 95% confidence interval (CI) 5.5–10.4), 26 in the posterior circulation (event rate 4.8 per 100 person years, 95% CI 3.0–6.7). The diagnosis was not associated with follow-up cerebrovascular events. In multivariate models testing multiple potential determinants, only the presentation mode was consistently associated with the diagnosis and stroke risk: patients who presented because of vertigo (rather than reporting vertigo when they presented for other reasons) had a significantly higher risk for future stroke or TIA (p = 0.028, event rate 13.4 vs. 5.4 per 100 person years) and for future posterior circulation stroke or TIA (p = 0.044, event rate 7.8 vs. 3.5 per 100 person years). Conclusions We here report for the first time follow-up stroke rates in patients with transient isolated vertigo. In such patients, the identification of those with cerebrovascular origin remains difficult, and presentation mode was found to be the only consistent risk factor. Confirmation in an independent prospective sample is needed.

Significant innovations in the management of acute ischemic stroke have led to an increased incidence in the long-term complications of stroke. Therefore, there is an urgent need for improvements in and refinement of rehabilitation interventions that can lead to functional and neuropsychological recovery. The goal of this review is to summarize the current progress and challenges involved with preclinical stroke recovery research. Moving forward, stroke recovery research should be placing an increased emphasis on the incorporation of comorbid diseases and biological variables in preclinical models in order to overcome translational roadblocks to establishing successful clinical rehabilitation interventions.

Abstract Polycomb Repressive Complexes (PRCs) control gene expression through the incorporation of H2Aub and H3K27me3. In recent years, there is increasing evidence of the complexity of PRCs’ interaction networks and the interplay of these interactors with PRCs in epigenome reshaping, which is fundamental to understand gene regulatory mechanisms. Here, we identified UBIQUITIN SPECIFIC PROTEASE 5 (UBP5) as a chromatin player able to counteract the deposition of the two PRCs’ epigenetic hallmarks in Arabidopsis thaliana. We demonstrated that UBP5 is a plant developmental regulator based on functional analyses of ubp5-CRISPR Cas9 mutant plants. UBP5 promotes H2A monoubiquitination erasure, leading to transcriptional de-repression. Furthermore, preferential association of UBP5 at PRC2 recruiting motifs and local H3K27me3 gaining in ubp5 mutant plants suggest the existence of functional interplays between UBP5 and PRC2 in regulating epigenome dynamics. In summary, acting as an antagonist of the pivotal epigenetic repressive marks H2Aub and H3K27me3, UBP5 provides novel insights to disentangle the complex regulation of PRCs’ activities.

Summary: While the pivotal role of linker histone H1 in shaping nucleosome organization is well established, its functional interplays with chromatin factors along the epigenome are just starting to emerge. Here we show that, in Arabidopsis, as in mammals, H1 occupies Polycomb Repressive Complex 2 (PRC2) target genes where it favors chromatin condensation and H3K27me3 deposition. We further show that, contrasting with its conserved function in PRC2 activation at genes, H1 selectively prevents H3K27me3 accumulation at telomeres and large pericentromeric interstitial telomeric repeat (ITR) domains by restricting DNA accessibility to Telomere Repeat Binding (TRB) proteins, a group of H1-related Myb factors mediating PRC2 cis recruitment. This study provides a mechanistic framework by which H1 avoids the formation of gigantic H3K27me3-rich domains at telomeric sequences and contributes to safeguard nucleus architecture.