Short communication: Extended shifts in ambulance work: influences on health

Shiftwork is a major source of stress for many worker's. This study highlights the role that organizational and psychosocial variables play in alleviating the negative health effects of 10 and 14-h shifts. It examines the direct and mediated effects of coping strategies, social support and control of shifts on work/non-work conflict and subjective health. Participants are 60 ambulance workers, aged 22 to SS years. A structural equation model with good fit demonstrates complex effects of social support from various sources (supervisors, co-workers and family), coping and control on work/non-work conflict and subjective health., Conceptually, the research contributes to the development of a theoretical framework that can assist in explaining how key psychosocial and organizational variables influence the psychological and physical symptoms experienced by shiftworkers. Copyright (C) 2002 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.

Myelin proteolipid protein - the first 50 years

Myelin proteolipid protein (PLP), the most abundant protein of central nervous system (CNS) myelin, is a hydrophobic integral membrane protein. Because of its physical properties, which make it difficult to work with, progress towards determining the exact function(s) and disease associations of myelin PLP has been slow. However, recent molecular biology advances have given new life to investigations of PLP, and suggest that it has multiple functions within myelin and is of importance in several neurological disorders. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Magic happens: Revisiting the spirituality and social work debate

The social work profession is currently undergoing a resurgence of interest regarding the issue of spirituality in social work. This article attempts to summarise and explore the debate so far and to discuss the implications of this in a practice context. Current issues including definitions of spirituality and the key concerns in the areas of both practice and education are addressed. The article concludes with an overview of a model of spiritually sensitive social work practice, and poses options for further professional reflection on the place of spirituality in social work practice.

Recent work on gaseous detonations

The paper reviews recent progress in the field of gaseous detonations, with sections on shock diffraction and reflection, the transition to detonation, hybrid, spherically-imploding, and galloping and stuttering fronts, their structure, their transmission and quenching by additives, the critical energy for initiation and detonation of more unusual fuels. The final section points out areas where our understanding is still far from being complete and contains some suggestions of ways in which progress might be made.