Purpose – The role of perceived organizational support (POS) and job satisfaction on the effectiveness of transfer of training in the workplace has begun to receive attention among recent studies. However, there is still limited understanding of how these factors may work together to affect the transfer of training. The purpose of this paper is to address this gap by exploring the relationship between POS, job satisfaction and transfer of training. Design/methodology/approach – The data of this study have been collected from a group of employees, and their supervisors through survey. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Findings – The findings reveal that job satisfaction mediates the relationship between POS and transfer of training. Originality/value – This study suggests that POS can improve employees’ job satisfaction, which in turn increase transfer of training in the workplace. The significant relationship between the factors (POS – job satisfaction – transfer of training) is an important finding that has not been empirically determined previously, particularly in the transfer of training literature. The findings show that job satisfaction plays an essential role as a mediator in the relationship between POS and transfer of training.

BACKGROUND Although emotional stress is associated with ischemic heart disease (IHD) and related clinical events, sex-specific differences in the psychobiological response to mental stress have not been clearly identified. OBJECTIVES We aimed to study the differential psychological and cardiovascular responses to mental stress between male and female patients with stable IHD. METHODS Patients with stable IHD enrolled in the REMIT (Responses of Mental Stress–Induced Myocardial Ischemia to Escitalopram) study underwent psychometric assessments, transthoracic echocardiography, and platelet aggregation studies at baseline and after 3 mental stress tasks. Mental stress–induced myocardial ischemia (MSIMI) was defined as the development or worsening of regional wall motion abnormality, reduction of left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) ≥8% by transthoracic echocardiography, and/or ischemic ST-segment change on electrocardiogram during 1 or more of the 3 mental stress tasks. RESULTS In the 310 participants with known IHD (18% women, 82% men), most baseline characteristics were similar between women and men (including heart rate, blood pressure, and LVEF), although women were more likely to be nonwhite, living alone (p < 0.001), and unmarried (p < 0.001); they also had higher baseline depression and anxiety (p < 0.05). At rest, women had heightened platelet aggregation responses to serotonin (p = 0.007) and epinephrine (p = 0.004) compared with men. Following mental stress, women had more MSIMI (57% vs. 41%, p < 0.04), expressed more negative (p = 0.02) and less positive emotion (p < 0.001), and demonstrated higher collagen-stimulated platelet aggregation responses (p = 0.04) than men. Men were more likely than women to show changes in traditional physiological measures, such as blood pressure (p < 0.05) and double product. CONCLUSIONS In this exploratory analysis, we identified clear, measurable, and differential responses to mental stress in women and men. Further studies should test the association of sex differences in cardiovascular and platelet reactivity in response to mental stress and long-term outcomes. (Responses of Myocardial Ischemia to Escitalopram Treatment [REMIT]; NCT00574847)

Objectives The goal of this study was to evaluate the prevalence and clinical characteristics of mental stress–induced myocardial ischemia. Background Mental stress–induced myocardial ischemia is prevalent and a risk factor for poor prognosis in patients with coronary heart disease, but past studies mainly studied patients with exercise-induced myocardial ischemia. Methods Eligible patients with clinically stable coronary heart disease, regardless of exercise stress testing status, underwent a battery of 3 mental stress tests followed by a treadmill test. Stress-induced ischemia, assessed by echocardiography and electrocardiography, was defined as: 1) development or worsening of regional wall motion abnormality; 2) left ventricular ejection fraction reduction ≥8%; and/or 3) horizontal or downsloping ST-segment depression ≥1 mm in 2 or more leads lasting for ≥3 consecutive beats during at least 1 mental test or during the exercise test. Results Mental stress–induced ischemia occurred in 43.45%, whereas exercise-induced ischemia occurred in 33.79% (p = 0.002) of the study population (N = 310). Women (odds ratio [OR]: 1.88), patients who were not married (OR: 1.99), and patients who lived alone (OR: 2.24) were more likely to have mental stress–induced ischemia (all p < 0.05). Multivariate analysis showed that compared with married men or men living with someone, unmarried men (OR: 2.57) and married women (OR: 3.18), or living alone (male OR: 2.25 and female OR: 2.72, respectively) had higher risk for mental stress-induced ischemia (all p < 0.05). Conclusions Mental stress-induced ischemia is more common than exercise-induced ischemia in patients with clinically stable coronary heart disease. Women, unmarried men, and individuals living alone are at higher risk for mental stress-induced ischemia. (Responses of Myocardial Ischemia to Escitalopram Treatment [REMIT]; NCT00574847)

Antihypertensive drugs are among the most commonly prescribed drugs for chronic disease worldwide. The response to antihypertensive drugs varies substantially between individuals and important factors such as race that contribute to this heterogeneity are poorly understood. In this study we use metabolomics, a global biochemical approach to investigate biochemical changes induced by the beta-adrenergic receptor blocker atenolol in Caucasians and African Americans. Plasma from individuals treated with atenolol was collected at baseline (untreated) and after a 9 week treatment period and analyzed using a GC-TOF metabolomics platform. The metabolomic signature of atenolol exposure included saturated (palmitic), monounsaturated (oleic, palmitoleic) and polyunsaturated (arachidonic, linoleic) free fatty acids, which decreased in Caucasians after treatment but were not different in African Americans (p<0.0005, q<0.03). Similarly, the ketone body 3-hydroxybutyrate was significantly decreased in Caucasians by 33% (p<0.0001, q<0.0001) but was unchanged in African Americans. The contribution of genetic variation in genes that encode lipases to the racial differences in atenolol-induced changes in fatty acids was examined. SNP rs9652472 in LIPC was found to be associated with the change in oleic acid in Caucasians (p<0.0005) but not African Americans, whereas the PLA2G4C SNP rs7250148 associated with oleic acid change in African Americans (p<0.0001) but not Caucasians. Together, these data indicate that atenolol-induced changes in the metabolome are dependent on race and genotype. This study represents a first step of a pharmacometabolomic approach to phenotype patients with hypertension and gain mechanistic insights into racial variability in changes that occur with atenolol treatment, which may influence response to the drug.

Two studies investigated the role of expressive vocal behavior (specifically, speech rate and loudness) in fear and anxiety and in sadness and depression. In the first study, participants spoke about personally experienced fear and anxiety-arousing and neutral events using 3 different voice styles: fast and loud, normal, and slow and soft. In the second study, participants spoke about personally experienced sad or depressing and neutral events using the same 3 voice styles. In both studies, the participants' highest levels of subjective affective and cardiovascular (CV) arousal occurred when they spoke about the emotional events in a mood-congruent voice style: fast and loud in the case of fear and anxiety, and slow and soft in the case of sadness or depression. Mood-incongruent voice styles canceled the heightened levels of CV arousal normally associated with these negative emotions. The voice-style manipulation had no significant effect on the participants' levels of CV arousal during the neutral discussions.