Search

In developed countries, population aging due to advances in living standards and healthcare infrastructure means that the care associated with chronic and degenerative diseases is becoming more prevalent across all facets of society-including the labour market. Informal caregiving, that is, care provision performed by friends and family, is expected to increase in the near future in Canada, with implications for workplaces. Absenteeism, presenteeism, work satisfaction and retention are known to be worse in employees who juggle the dual role of caregiving and paid employment, representing losses to workplaces' bottom line. Recent discourse on addressing the needs of carer-employees (CEs) in the workplace have been centred around carer-friendly workplace policies. This paper aims to assess the potential cost implication of a carer-friendly workplace intervention implemented within a large-sized Canadian workplace. The goal of the intervention was to induce carer-friendly workplace culture change. A workplace-wide survey was circulated twice, prior to and after the intervention, capturing demographic variables, as well as absenteeism, presenteeism, turnover and impact on coworkers. Utilizing the pre-intervention timepoint as a baseline, we employed a cost implication analysis to quantify the immediate impact of the intervention from the employer's perspective. We found that the intervention overall was not cost-saving, although there were some mixed effects regarding some costs, such as absenteeism. Non-tangible benefits, such as changes to employee morale, satisfaction with supervisor, job satisfaction and work culture, were not monetarily quantified within this analysis; hence, we consider it to be a conservative analysis.

Background: In the process of pig breeding, the average daily gain (ADG), days to 100 kg (AGE), and backfat thickness (BFT) are directly related to growth rate and fatness. However, the genetic mechanisms involved are not well understood. Copy number variation (CNV), an important source of genetic diversity, can affect a variety of complex traits and diseases and has gradually been thrust into the limelight. In this study, we reported the genome-wide CNVs of Duroc pigs using SNP genotyping data from 6627 animals. We also performed a copy number variation region (CNVR)-based genome-wide association studies (GWAS) for growth and fatness traits in two Duroc populations., Results: Our study identified 953 nonredundant CNVRs in U.S. and Canadian Duroc pigs, covering 246.89 Mb (~ 10.90%) of the pig autosomal genome. Of these, 802 CNVRs were in U.S. Duroc pigs with 499 CNVRs were in Canadian Duroc pigs, indicating 348 CNVRs were shared by the two populations. Experimentally, 77.8% of nine randomly selected CNVRs were validated through quantitative PCR (qPCR). We also identified 35 CNVRs with significant association with growth and fatness traits using CNVR-based GWAS. Ten of these CNVRs were associated with both ADG and AGE traits in U.S. Duroc pigs. Notably, four CNVRs showed significant associations with ADG, AGE, and BFT, indicating that these CNVRs may play a pleiotropic role in regulating pig growth and fat deposition. In Canadian Duroc pigs, nine CNVRs were significantly associated with both ADG and AGE traits. Further bioinformatic analysis identified a subset of potential candidate genes, including PDGFA, GPER1, PNPLA2 and BSCL2., Conclusions: The present study provides a necessary supplement to the CNV map of the Duroc genome through large-scale population genotyping. In addition, the CNVR-based GWAS results provide a meaningful way to elucidate the genetic mechanisms underlying complex traits. The identified CNVRs can be used as molecular markers for genetic improvement in the molecular-guided breeding of modern commercial pigs.

Background: Average daily gain (ADG) and lean meat percentage (LMP) are the main production performance indicators of pigs. Nevertheless, the genetic architecture of ADG and LMP is still elusive. Here, we conducted genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and meta-analysis for ADG and LMP in 3770 American and 2090 Canadian Duroc pigs., Results: In the American Duroc pigs, one novel pleiotropic quantitative trait locus (QTL) on Sus scrofa chromosome 1 (SSC1) was identified to be associated with ADG and LMP, which spans 2.53 Mb (from 159.66 to 162.19 Mb). In the Canadian Duroc pigs, two novel QTLs on SSC1 were detected for LMP, which were situated in 3.86 Mb (from 157.99 to 161.85 Mb) and 555 kb (from 37.63 to 38.19 Mb) regions. The meta-analysis identified ten and 20 additional SNPs for ADG and LMP, respectively. Finally, four genes (PHLPP1, STC1, DYRK1B, and PIK3C2A) were detected to be associated with ADG and/or LMP. Further bioinformatics analysis showed that the candidate genes for ADG are mainly involved in bone growth and development, whereas the candidate genes for LMP mainly participated in adipose tissue and muscle tissue growth and development., Conclusions: We performed GWAS and meta-analysis for ADG and LMP based on a large sample size consisting of two Duroc pig populations. One pleiotropic QTL that shared a 2.19 Mb haplotype block from 159.66 to 161.85 Mb on SSC1 was found to affect ADG and LMP in the two Duroc pig populations. Furthermore, the combination of single-population and meta-analysis of GWAS improved the efficiency of detecting additional SNPs for the analyzed traits. Our results provide new insights into the genetic architecture of ADG and LMP traits in pigs. Moreover, some significant SNPs associated with ADG and/or LMP in this study may be useful for marker-assisted selection in pig breeding.

Objective: To describe the credentialing systems of North American emergency department systems (EDS) with emergency ultrasound (EUS) fellowship programmes., Methods: This is a prospective, cross-sectional, survey-based study of North American EUS fellowships using a 62-item, pilot-tested, web-based survey instrument assessing credentialing and training systems. The American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) distributed the surveys using SNAP survey (Snap Surveys Ltd, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, USA)., Results: Over 6 months, 75 eligible programmes were surveyed, 55 responded (73% response rate); 1 declined to participate leaving 54 participating programmes. Less than 20% of EDS credential nurses, physician assistants, nurse practitioners and students in EUS. Respondent EDS reported having an average of 4.2 ± 3.3 ultrasound faculty members (faculty identifying their career focus as EUS). The median number of annual point-of-care ultrasounds reported was 5000 (IQR 3000-8000). 30 EDS (56%) credential each examination individually and 48 EDS (89%) use ACEP credentialing criteria. 61% of fellowship leadership believe their credentialing system is either satisfactory or very satisfactory (Cronbach's coefficient α=0.84)., Conclusions: The data show heterogeneity among North American EDS with EUS fellowship programmes with regard to credentialing systems despite published guidelines from the ACEP and Canadian Emergency Ultrasound Society., (Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.)