Factors Relating to Managerial Stereotypes: The Role of Gender of the Employee and the Manager and Management Gender Ratio

Several studies have shown that the traditional stereotype of a "good" manager being masculine and male still exists. The recent changes in the proportion of women and female managers in organizations could affect these two managerial stereotypes, leading to a stronger preference for feminine characteristics and female leaders. This study examines if the gender of an employee, the gender of the manager, and the management gender ratio in an organization are related to employees' managerial stereotypes. 3229 respondents working in various organizations completed an electronic questionnaire. The results confirm our hypotheses that, although the general stereotype of a manager is masculine and although most prefer a man as a manager, female employees, employees with a female manager, and employees working in an organization with a high percentage of female managers, have a stronger preference for feminine characteristics of managers and for female managers. Moreover, we find that proximal variables are much stronger predictors of these preferences than more distal variables. Our study suggests that managerial stereotypes could change as a result of personal experiences and changes in the organizational context. The results imply that increasing the proportion of female managers is an effective way to overcome managerial stereotyping. This study examines the influence on managerial stereotypes of various proximal and distal factors derived from theory among a large group of employees (in contrast to students)

Mammalian production of an isotopically enriched outer domain of the HIV-1 gp120 glycoprotein for NMR spectroscopy

NMR spectroscopic characterization of the structure or the dynamics of proteins generally requires the production of samples isotopically enriched in 15N, 13C, or 2H. The bacterial expression systems currently in use to obtain isotopic enrichment, however, cannot produce a number of eukaryotic proteins, especially those that require post-translational modifications such as N-linked glycosylation for proper folding or activity. Here, we report the use of an adenovirus vector-based mammalian expression system to produce isotopically enriched 15N or 15N/13C samples of an outer domain variant of the HIV-1 gp120 envelope glycoprotein with 15 sites of N-linked glycosylation. Yields for the 15N- and 15N/13C-labeled gp120s after affinity chromatography were 45 and 44 mg/l, respectively, with an average of over 80% isotope incorporation. Recognition of the labeled gp120 by cognate antibodies that recognize complex epitopes showed affinities comparable to the unlabeled protein. NMR spectra, including 1H-15N and 1H-13C HSQCs, 15N-edited NOESY-HSQC, and 3D HNCO, were of high quality, with signal-to-noise consistent with an efficient level of isotope incorporation, and with chemical shift dispersion indicative of a well-folded protein. The exceptional protein yields, good isotope incorporation, and ability to obtain well-folded post-translationally modified proteins make this mammalian system attractive for the production of isotopically enriched eukaryotic proteins for NMR spectroscopy

siRNA-Like Double-Stranded RNAs Are Specifically Protected Against Degradation in Human Cell Extract

RNA interference (RNAi) is a set of intracellular pathways in eukaryotes that controls both exogenous and endogenous gene expression. The power of RNAi to knock down (silence) any gene of interest by the introduction of synthetic small-interfering (si)RNAs has afforded powerful insight into biological function through reverse genetic approaches and has borne a new field of gene therapeutics. A number of questions are outstanding concerning the potency of siRNAs, necessitating an understanding of how short double-stranded RNAs are processed by the cell. Recent work suggests unmodified siRNAs are protected in the intracellular environment, although the mechanism of protection still remains unclear. We have developed a set of doubly-fluorophore labeled RNAs (more precisely, RNA/DNA chimeras) to probe in real-time the stability of siRNAs and related molecules by fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET). We find that these RNA probes are substrates for relevant cellular degradative processes, including the RNase H1 mediated degradation of an DNA/RNA hybrid and Dicer-mediated cleavage of a 24-nucleotide (per strand) double-stranded RNA. In addition, we find that 21- and 24-nucleotide double-stranded RNAs are relatively protected in human cytosolic cell extract, but less so in blood serum, whereas an 18-nucleotide double-stranded RNA is less protected in both fluids. These results suggest that RNAi effector RNAs are specifically protected in the cellular environment and may provide an explanation for recent results showing that unmodified siRNAs in cells persist intact for extended periods of time

Meibum Lipid Composition in Asians with Dry Eye Disease

10.1371/journal.pone.0024339PLoS ONE610

Testing the leadership and organizational change for implementation (LOCI) intervention in substance abuse treatment: A cluster randomized trial study protocol

© 2017 The Author(s). Background: Evidence-based practice (EBP) implementation represents a strategic change in organizations that requires effective leadership and alignment of leadership and organizational support across organizational levels. As such, there is a need for combining leadership development with organizational strategies to support organizational climate conducive to EBP implementation. The leadership and organizational change for implementation (LOCI) intervention includes leadership training for workgroup leaders, ongoing implementation leadership coaching, 360° assessment, and strategic planning with top and middle management regarding how they can support workgroup leaders in developing a positive EBP implementation climate. Methods: This test of the LOCI intervention will take place in conjunction with the implementation of motivational interviewing (MI) in 60 substance use disorder treatment programs in California, USA. Participants will include agency executives, 60 program leaders, and approximately 360 treatment staff. LOCI will be tested using a multiple cohort, cluster randomized trial that randomizes workgroups (i.e., programs) within agency to either LOCI or a webinar leadership training control condition in three consecutive cohorts. The LOCI intervention is 12months, and the webinar control intervention takes place in months 1, 5, and 8, for each cohort. Web-based surveys of staff and supervisors will be used to collect data on leadership, implementation climate, provider attitudes, and citizenship. Audio recordings of counseling sessions will be coded for MI fidelity. The unit of analysis will be the workgroup, randomized by site within agency and with care taken that co-located workgroups are assigned to the same condition to avoid contamination. Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) will be used to analyze the data to account for the nested data structure. Discussion: LOCI has been developed to be a feasible and effective approach for organizations to create a positive climate and fertile context for EBP implementation. The approach seeks to cultivate and sustain both effective general and implementation leadership as well as organizational strategies and support that will remain after the study has ended. Development of a positive implementation climate for MI should result in more positive service provider attitudes and behaviors related to the use of MI and, ultimately, higher fidelity in the use of MI. Trial registration: This study is registered with Clinicaltrials.gov ( NCT03042832 ), 2 February 2017, retrospectively registered

Gene Expression Profiling of Embryonic Human Neural Stem Cells and Dopaminergic Neurons from Adult Human Substantia Nigra

Neural stem cells (NSC) with self-renewal and multipotent properties serve as an ideal cell source for transplantation to treat neurodegenerative insults such as Parkinson's disease. We used Agilent's and Illumina Whole Human Genome Oligonucleotide Microarray to compare the genomic profiles of human embryonic NSC at a single time point in culture, and a multicellular tissue from postmortem adult substantia nigra (SN) which are rich in dopaminergic (DA) neurons. We identified 13525 up-regulated genes in both cell types of which 3737 (27.6%) genes were up-regulated in the hENSC, 4116 (30.4%) genes were up-regulated in the human substantia nigra dopaminergic cells, and 5672 (41.93%) were significantly up-regulated in both cell population. Careful analysis of the data that emerged using DAVID has permitted us to distinguish several genes and pathways that are involved in dopaminergic (DA) differentiation, and to identify the crucial signaling pathways that direct the process of differentiation. The set of genes expressed more highly at hENSC is enriched in molecules known or predicted to be involved in the M phase of the mitotic cell cycle. On the other hand, the genes enriched in SN cells include a different set of functional categories, namely synaptic transmission, central nervous system development, structural constituents of the myelin sheath, the internode region of axons, myelination, cell projection, cell somata, ion transport, and the voltage-gated ion channel complex. Our results were also compared with data from various databases, and between different types of arrays, Agilent versus Illumina. This approach has allowed us to confirm the consistency of our obtained results for a large number of genes that delineate the phenotypical differences of embryonic NSCs, and SN cells

Mapping the Relationship Among Political Ideology, CSR Mindset, and CSR Strategy: A Contingency Perspective Applied to Chinese Managers

The literature on antecedents of corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies of firms has been predominately content driven. Informed by the managerial sense-making process perspective, we develop a contingency theoretical framework explaining how political ideology of managers affects the choice of CSR strategy for their firms through their CSR mindset. We also explain to what extent the outcome of this process is shaped by the firm’s internal institutional arrangements and external factors impacting on the firm. We develop and test several hypotheses using data collected from 129 Chinese managers. The results show that managers with a stronger socialist ideology are likely to develop a mindset favouring CSR, which induces the adoption of a proactive CSR strategy. The CSR mindset mediates the link between socialist ideology and CSR strategy. The strength of the relationship between the CSR mindset and the choice of CSR strategy is moderated by customer response to CSR, industry competition, the role of government, and CSR-related managerial incentives

Advancing a Conceptual Model of Evidence-Based Practice Implementation in Public Service Sectors

Implementation science is a quickly growing discipline. Lessons learned from business and medical settings are being applied but it is unclear how well they translate to settings with different historical origins and customs (e.g., public mental health, social service, alcohol/drug sectors). The purpose of this paper is to propose a multi-level, four phase model of the implementation process (i.e., Exploration, Adoption/Preparation, Implementation, Sustainment), derived from extant literature, and apply it to public sector services. We highlight features of the model likely to be particularly important in each phase, while considering the outer and inner contexts (i.e., levels) of public sector service systems