Ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) has potent survival-promoting effects on motoneurons in vitro and in vivo. We examined knockout mice with null mutations of the gene for either CNTF itself or the alpha-subunit of the CNTF receptor (CNTFRalpha) to assess whether CNTF and/or its receptors are involved in the development of a sexually dimorphic neuromuscular system. Male rodents have many more motoneurons in the spinal nucleus of the bulbocavernosus (SNB) than do females. This sex difference is caused by hormone-regulated death of SNB motoneurons and their target muscles. Sexual dimorphism of SNB motoneuron number developed completely normally in CNTF knockout (CNTF -/-) mice. In contrast, a sex difference in the SNB was absent in CNTFRalpha -/- animals: male mice lacking a functional CNTF alpha-receptor had fewer than half as many SNB motoneurons than did wild-type males and no more than did their female counterparts. Size of the bulbocavernosus and levator ani muscles, the main targets of SNB motoneurons, was not affected in either CNTF or CNTFRalpha knockout males. These observations suggest that signaling through the CNTF receptor is involved in sexually dimorphic development of SNB motoneuron number and that target muscle survival per se is not sufficient to ensure motoneuron survival in this system. In addition, our observations are consistent with the suggestion that CNTF itself is not the only endogenous ligand for the CNTF receptor. A second, as yet unknown, ligand may be important for neural development, including sexually dimorphic motoneuron development.

Este estudo teve por objetivo analisar a relação entre atitudes e percepções dos funcionários e o desempenho organizacional, avaliado em termos de qualidade e produtividade, em empresas de manufatura. Como base teórica, assume-se pressupostos da Visão da Empresa Baseada em Recursos (VBR) e discussões sobre Sistemas de Trabalho de Alta Performance (High Performance Working Systems-HPWS) que investigam como variáveis de gestão de pessoas influenciam o desempenho empresarial. Aplicou-se uma survey a 11 empresas de manufatura do sul do Brasil que possuíam práticas de HPWS, com uma amostra de 294 respondentes. As variáveis de percepção e atitude foram submetidas à análise fatorial, sendo que a percepção foi categorizada em três construtos e a atitude em dois. Foram então construídas hipóteses relacionando os construtos das variáveis atitude e percepção com as variáveis qualidade e produtividade. Os resultados evidenciaram que tanto atitudes quanto percepções dos funcionários afetaram a qualidade e a produtividade organizacionais. A percepção negativa do trabalho em relação ao apoio está inversamente relacionada com a produtividade e a atitude de comprometimento com relação à empresa está diretamente correlacionada com a produtividade. Já a percepção negativa do trabalho em relação à pressão está inversamente proporcional à qualidade e à atitude de orgulho com relação à empresa está diretamente correlacionada com a qualidade. Porém, a variância explicada nas regressões foi baixa, o que sugere que outras variáveis influenciam essa relação. De fato, atitudes e percepções influenciam qualidade e produtividade, porém, há que se levar em conta fatores organizacionais como processos e tecnologias adotados pelas empresas, além do próprio efeito direto das HPWS, o que reforça constatações da VBR, mediante as quais o desempenho resulta da articulação de um conjunto de recursos, e não de recursos isoladamente considerados.

Background: Strike action carried out by healthcare workers raises a range of ethical issues.Most fundamentally, as a strike is designed to disrupt, it has the potential to impact patient outcomes and healthcare delivery. This paper synthesises and analyses the empirical literature that details the impact of strike action on healthcare delivery.Methods: A systematic scoping review was utilised to examine the extent, range and nature of research activity. Embase, Medline, CINAHL, Bioethicsline, EconLit and Web of Science were searched, yielding 5644 results. Papers were included if they examined the impact that strike action had on healthcare delivery (i.e., admissions, presentation). After screening 43 papers met inclusion criteria.Results: Nineteen studies explored presentations to emergency or admissions to hospital. Both dropped dramatically when comparing non-strike to strike periods. Ten studies examined length of stay in hospital and waiting times. No relation to either was found in relation to strike action, with some studies showing that wait times decreased. Nine studies examined the impact of strike action in facilities that were not on strike, but impacted by nearby strike action and the impact that strike action had on treatment seeking. Hospitals dealing with these upstream impacts often saw increase in presentations at hospitals, but results relates to treatment seeking during strike action were mixed. Conclusion: Strike action can have a substantial impact on the delivery of healthcare, but this impact is not felt uniformly across services. While many services are disrupted, a number are not, with several studies reporting increased efficiency.

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