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Cognitive-behavioral, spiritual, and integral approaches to management each describe a leader's way of being as a matter of congruence between presence and purpose. This article introduces Ways of Being Theory (WBT), which bridges these approaches by comparatively analyzing assumptions and empirical observations. WBT defines presence as an individual's dispositional level of awareness and purpose as the typical level of meaning they assign to work. By connecting these tensions, WBT reveals four different ways of being that have critical implications for leaders and organizations facing unprecedented challenges in the wake of COVID. This article also presents findings from a preliminary study on psychometric and comparative characteristics of a Way of Being Inventory (WBI), which partially supports a two-factor structure.

Purpose The purpose of this study was to determine whether the indices of the meaning of work (MOW) change over time. The study sample included mid-level managers, with measurements taken twice, in 2006/2007 and in 2017/2018. Design/methodology/approach This survey-based study was conducted in Poland, a country that went through significant socio-economic transformations in the past decade. The MOW instrument, developed by the MOW international research group, was used to measure absolute and relative work centrality, societal norms regarding work, valued work outcomes and the importance of various work goals. The hierarchical regression analysis method was used for hypotheses testing. Findings The study results show that there were no statistically significant changes in either absolute or relative work centrality over the studied decade. The family remained the highest-ranked value, ahead of work and leisure held the third place. The role of religion and community has remained largely unchanged, with these domains ranked significantly lower compared to work, family and leisure. An important finding was that the preference for job stability has significantly increased in the studied decade. At the same time, there was a marked growth in preference for flexible and convenient work hours. The study concludes with implications for future research and for human resource development (HRD) practice. Originality/value The study makes an important contribution to the MOW and HRD literature by demonstrating that the main indices of MOW, as measured by the MOW instrument, tend to remain unchanged despite socio-economic changes in the society.

Zinc oxide (ZnO)-based nanocomposites have shown promising potential for various biomedical applications, including vaccine development, owing to their multifunctionality and biocompatibility. Here, we synthesized radially grown ZnO nanowires (NWs) on poly-l-lactic acid (PLLA) microfibers with unique 3-dimensional structure and applied them as therapeutic cancer vaccines. This inorganic-organic hybrid nanocomposite has mild cellular toxicity but efficiently delivers a tumor antigen into dendritic cells, cellular bridges between innate and adaptive immunity, to stimulate them to express inflammatory cytokines and activation surface markers. We also demonstrated that the hybrid nanocomposites successfully induce tumor antigen-specific cellular immunity and significantly inhibit tumor growth in vivo. ZnO NWs on PLLA fibers systemically reduced immune suppressive TReg cells and enhanced the infiltration of T cells into tumor tissues, compared to mice immunized with PLLA fibers coated with the antigen. Our current findings open a new avenue in extending the biomedical application of inorganic metal oxide-inert organic hybrid nanocomposites as a novel vaccine platform.

Chronic Helicobacter pylori infection is associated with the decreased expression of the gastric tumour suppressor protein p27. Because transcription of the gene p27 may be regulated epigenetically through histone acetylation, which is mediated by G-protein coupled delta opioid receptor (DOR) stimulation, we examined whether H. pylori regulates the DOR/histone acetylation/p27 promoter pathway. The levels of acetylated histone and p300, a gene-specific histone acetyltransferase within the p27 promoter, were measured using ChIP assays. The expression of phospho-DOR was evaluated by Western blot and immunohistochemical analyses. Growth curves were constructed, and cell proliferation was assessed after BrdU incorporation. Low p27 expression in acutely H. pylori-infected AGS gastric epithelial cells and in chronically H. pylori-infected AGS-derived HS3C cells was associated with approximate 20% and 40% decreases in p27 mRNA expression, respectively, when compared to p27 mRNA levels in uninfected AGS parental cells. The low p27 mRNA levels following H. pylori infection were associated with a 15%–60% reduction in p27 promoter histone H4 acetylation. The recruitment of p300 to the p27 promoter was also markedly decreased by H. pylori infection. The expression of phospho-DOR was decreased by H. pylori infection in cell lines in vitro and in H. pylori-infected human gastric mucosa in vivo. The level of cellular p27 inversely correlated with cell proliferation in HS3C cells. These results demonstrate that H. pylori decreases p27 expression by modulating the DOR and thereby inhibiting histone acetylation of the p27 promoter. These findings link low gastric p27 expression levels with increased instances of gastric carcinogenesis associated with H. pylori infection.

The characteristics of heat transfer and pressure drop for fully developed turbulent flow in a tube with circumferential fins and circular disks were experimentally studied. The various spacing and sizes of circumferential fins and circular disks were selected as design parameters, while the effects of these parameters on heat transfer enhancement and pressure drop were investigated. In order to quantify the effect of heat transfer enhancement and the increase of pressure drop due to the fins and disks in a tube, the Nusselt numbers and the friction factors for various configurations and operating conditions were compared to those for a corresponding smooth tube. The results showed that the heat transfer rate was significantly enhanced by increasing the height of circumferential fins and decreasing the pitch of circumferential fins. On the other hand, the influence of the disk size and the fin-disk spacing were not significant. Based on the experimental results, a correlation for estimating the Nusselt number was suggested.

BACKGROUND/AIMS DNA double strand breaks (DSB) is one of the critical types of DNA damage. If unrepaired, DSB is accumulated in the nucleus of cells, the cells become apoptotic or transform to tumor by way of genomic instability. Some of malignant cancers and its premalignant lesions were proven to have DSB in their nuclei. There was no report that Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori), the gastric carcinogen, induce DNA DSB in gastric epithelium in vivo. The aim of this study was to investigate whether H. pylori induce DSB in the gastric epithelial cells of chronic gastritis. METHODS Immunohistochemical stains were performed for the DSB markers, phospho-53BP1 and gH2AX, in the gastric epithelium derived from 44 peptic ulcer disease patients before and after H. pylori eradication. DNA fragmentation assay was performed in the cell line to investigate the DNA damage by H. pylori infection. RESULTS The mean expression score of gH2AX was significantly higher in the H. pylori infected gastric epithelium as compared to the H. pylori eradicated gastric epithelium (8.8±5.5 vs. 6.2±5.3 respectively; p=0.008). The expression score of phospho-53BP1 between before and after eradication of H. pylori was not statistically different, but tended to be higher in H. pylori infection. DNA fragmentation was developed significantly more in the cell lines after infection with H. pylori. CONCLUSIONS DSB of DNA damage was typical feature of H. pylori infection in the gastric epithelium.

BACKGROUND/AIMS DNA double strand break (DSB) is one of the critical types of DNA damage. When unrepaired DSB is accumulated in the nucleus of the cells having mutations in such genes as p53, it will lead to chromosomal instability and further more to mutation of tumor-activating genes resulting in tumorogenesis. Some of malignant cancers and its premalignant lesions were proven to have DSB in their nuclei. The aim of this study was to define the differences in expression of 53BP1 and gamma-H2AX, the markers of DSB, among normal, gastric adenoma, and gastric adenocarcinoma tissues. METHODS Tissue microarray was made with the tissues taken from 121 patients who underwent gastrectomy for gastric adenocarcinoma, and 51 patients who underwent endoscopic mucosal resection for gastric adenoma. Immunochemical stain was performed for the marker of DSB, 53BP1 and gamma-H2AX in the tissue microarray. The normal tissues were collected from histologically confirmed tissues with no cellular atypia obtained from the patients with gastric adenocarcinoma. RESULTS In gastric carcinoma cells, 53BP1 and gamma-H2AX were highly expressed as compared to normal epithelial cells and gastric adenoma (p

Background/Aims: Induction of human beta-defensin-2 (hBD2), an innate antimicrobial peptide in the intestinal mucosa, occurs after bacterial infections. The aim of this study is to evaluate the relationship between the expression of hBD2 and Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection in the gastric epithelia. Materials and Methods: Gastric mucosa was sampled from the patients with chronic gastritis and peptic ulcers before and after H. pylori eradication and the expression of hBD2 was assessed with immunohistochemistry. The antimicrobial effect was assayed as the number of colony forming units of H. pylori incubated with the various concentrations of hBD2. Results: Thirty six patients were included in this study and 30 patients (83%) revealed expression of the hBD2 in their gastric epithelia. The hBD2 was not expressed in 22 patients after successful H. pylori eradication, but did expressed in 8 patients after H. pylori eradication failure. The expression of hBD2 was well correlated with the density of H. pylori, acute and chronic inflammation, and the degree of atrophy of gastric mucosa. Conclusions: The hBD2 is induced in the gastric epithelia in response to the H. pylori infection, and its expression is well correlated with the severity of gastric inflammation. (Korean J Helicobacter Upper Gastrointest Res 2011;11:112-116)