Mineralization of bone and tooth extracellular matrix (ECM) is a physiologic process, while soft tissue mineralization, also known as ectopic mineralization (calcification), is a pathologic condition. Vascular calcification is common in aging and also in a number of genetic and metabolic disorders. The calcific deposits in arteries complicate the prognosis and increase the morbidity in diseases such as atherosclerosis, diabetes and chronic kidney disease (CKD). To completely understand the pathophysiology of these lifethreatening diseases, it is critical to elucidate the molecular mechanisms underlying vascular calcification. Unveiling these mechanisms will eventually identify new therapeutic targets and also improve the management of the associated complications. In the current review, we discussed the common determinants of ECM mineralization, the mechanism of vascular calcification associated with several human diseases and outlined the most common therapeutic approaches to prevent its progression.

This study aims to explore the relationships between school climate constructs and teachers' organizational silence (OS) and to analyze how school climate predicts teachers' OS. The study population comprised all teachers (2,237) working in private primary schools in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The sample consisted of 329 responses, which represented 14.7% of the original population. Structural equation modeling for path analysis between the main constructs (teacher behavior, principal behavior) and teachers' organizational silence revealed the influence of principal behavior on teachers' silence was significant. However, the influence of teachers' behavior on teachers' silence was found to be nonsignificant. The relationships between teachers' OS and four school climate constructs (supportive principal behavior, directive principal behavior, collegial teacher behavior, intimate teacher behavior) were negative, while the relationships between teachers' organizational silence and two school climate scales (restrictive principal behavior, disengaged teacher behavior) were positive. It is recommended that top educational management officials develop relevant policy procedures, such as legislating necessary regulations to protect whistle-blowers in the school environment. Given the increased popularity of the Organizational Climate Description Questionnaire for Elementary Schools (OCDQ-RE) in measuring school typology, we encourage the use of this questionnaire to predict other teachers' behaviors in the school environment.

No abstract

No abstract

This study aimed to assess organizational health (OH) in secondary schools in Jeddah district in Saudi Arabia. A second aim of the study was to compare the organizational health of these schools according to their rankings on student achievement tests, school type and the nature of the respondents' work. The Organizational Health Inventory (OHI), developed by Hoy and Feldman (1987), was used to examine OH in the subject schools. The (138) secondary schools in Jeddah district were classified into three main categories (high, average, low) based on their students' results on the achievement test for science colleges, which is given annually across the nation by the National Center for Assessment in Higher Education (NCAHE). With the school and not the respondent selected as the unit of research, 20 random schools from each category were compared using the ratings of "high"-achieving, "average"achieving and "low"-achieving schools, as measured by the NCAHE, on the 7 dimensions of the OHI. All the principals and teachers working in the three selected representative school categories were approached in the process of data collection. The secondary schools' OH scores were found relatively high. The high-achieving schools had higher OH scores than the schools in other two categories. Moreover, the average-achieving schools outperformed the low-achieving schools on overall OH scores. Findings also showed that the private schools had healthier climates than the public schools. Schools can help improve their student learning process and academic attainment by improving the health of their organizational environment.