Workforce nurturing: an approach to improving wellbeing, burnout and professional fulfilment among Australian doctors.

Objective: To assess the workplace drivers of professional fulfilment, burnout and perceived impact of workplace issues on wellbeing in doctors working in a regional Australian hospital, following a 6-month period of comprehensive workforce nurturing strategies.

Methods: An online cross-sectional survey combined both qualitative feedback and quantitative measures of wellbeing including the Stanford Professional Fulfillment Index to assess professional fulfillment and burnout and a workplace issues inventory to assess the relative perceived influence on work-related wellbeing.

Results: Survey responses from 124 doctors comprised approximately 60% (n=74) prevocational doctors, 12% (n=15) registrars and 28% (n=35) specialist doctors.

Association of single nucleotide polymorphisms in the F2RL1 gene with clinical and inflammatory characteristics of patients with asthma.

Background: Proteinase-activated receptor 2 (PAR-2) is a G-protein coupled receptor associated with many inflammatory diseases, including asthma. We have shown an association between PAR-2 expression in peripheral blood monocytes and asthma severity as well as blood PAR-2 mRNA level and lung function. Since F2RL1 (the gene encoding PAR-2) polymorphisms affect PAR-2 expression, we hypothesize they may affect asthma severity.

Not the norm: Face likeness is not the same as similarity to familiar face prototypes.

Face images depicting the same individual can differ substantially from one another. Ecological variation in pose, expression, lighting, and other sources of appearance variability complicates the recognition and matching of unfamiliar faces, but acquired familiarity leads to the ability to cope with these challenges. Among the many ways that face of the same individual can vary, some images are judged to be better of familiar individuals than others.

Corticosteroids for the management of cancer-related fatigue in adults with advanced cancer.

Background: Fatigue is the most commonly reported symptom in people with advanced cancer. Cancer-related fatigue (CRF) is pervasive and debilitating, and can greatly impact quality of life (QoL). CRF has a highly variable clinical presentation, likely due to a complex interaction of multiple factors.