Opinion Piece Research Articles

“It’s Not the CEOs, It’s Us”: On the Challenges of CEO Research and a Call for Deeper Engagement

Much of the upper echelons’ literature presumes that CEOs are unlikely and unwilling to participate in research regarding their roles and decision-making processes. In this opinion piece, we argue that the dearth of research utilizing primary data from the CEO population poses a challenge to the diversity and soundness of scholarship in this field, limiting our own capacity to truly know these crucial informants. Furthermore, we assert that the reluctance of organizational scholars to involve CEOs in their research is rooted in several assumptions that warrant re-evaluation. Drawing from a critical assessment of existing literature and our own experiences, we propose suggestions for effective strategies to engage with CEOs in our research endeavors.

Practice pathways, education, and regulation influencing nurse practitioners’ decision to provide primary care: a rapid scoping review

Background/ObjectiveInitially established to improve access to healthcare, particularly for primary care, the full potential of the nurse practitioner role is yet to be realised in most countries. Despite this, most countries are working to meet an ageing population’s increasing healthcare needs and reduce healthcare costs and access disparities. Achieving these outcomes requires reform at multiple levels, including nurse practitioner practice pathways, education and regulation, and identifying the barriers and facilitators to optimising their primary care role.MethodsA rapid scoping review of nurse practitioner practice pathways, education and regulation inclusive of: (1) a systematic search of Medline and CINAHL for peer-reviewed English language articles, including opinion pieces published between January 2015 and February 2022; and (2) a web-based search of nurse practitioner program entry requirements of International Nurse Regulator Collaborative country members with a protected nurse practitioner title and prescribing rights, plus the Netherlands. The individually summarised search data was integrated and synthesised using Popay’s narrative approach.ResultsEmerging evidence from the included nurse practitioner courses (n = 86) and articles (n = 79) suggests nurse practitioners working in primary care provide safe, effective care and improve healthcare efficiencies. However, different regulatory and educational models are required if the primary care nurse practitioner is to meet growing demand.ConclusionsInternational variations in entry criteria, curriculum, and regulation shape the global profile of the nurse practitioner primary care workforce and their practice setting. For countries to grow their primary care nurse practitioner workforce to meet unmet needs, different entry requirements, program content and accredited post-registration transitional programs must be urgently considered.

Combined Brain–Heart Imaging in Takotsubo Syndrome: Towards a Holistic Patient Assessment

Takotsubo syndrome (TTS) is a type of cardiomyopathy usually precipitated by either emotional or physical stress and potentially leading to reversible heart failure. There is emerging evidence indicating an interaction between the brain and the heart in patients with TTS. Nevertheless, these new insights are not reflected in the current clinical approach to TTS. The application of novel and existing imaging modalities for the evaluation of brain–heart interactions is an interesting approach that could potentially augment diagnostic and prognostic yield, as well as improve our pathophysiologic understanding in the context of TTS. In this opinion piece, we discuss the evidence supporting a brain–heart interaction in patients with TTS and discuss how a combined evaluation of brain–heart interactions could potentially be implemented.

Discordant Health Implications and Molecular Mechanisms of Vitamin D in Clinical and Preclinical Studies of Prostate Cancer: A Critical Appraisal of the Literature Data.

Clinical and preclinical studies have provided conflicting data on the postulated beneficial effects of vitamin D in patients with prostate cancer. In this opinion piece, we discuss reasons for discrepancies between preclinical and clinical vitamin D studies. Different criteria have been used as evidence for the key roles of vitamin D. Clinical studies report integrative cancer outcome criteria such as incidence and mortality in relation to vitamin D status over time. In contrast, preclinical vitamin D studies report molecular and cellular changes resulting from treatment with the biologically active vitamin D metabolite, 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 (calcitriol) in tissues. However, these reported changes in preclinical in vitro studies are often the result of treatment with biologically irrelevant high calcitriol concentrations. In typical experiments, the used calcitriol concentrations exceed the calcitriol concentrations in normal and malignant prostate tissue by 100 to 1000 times. This raises reasonable concerns regarding the postulated biological effects and mechanisms of these preclinical vitamin D approaches in relation to clinical relevance. This is not restricted to prostate cancer, as detailed data regarding the tissue-specific concentrations of vitamin D metabolites are currently lacking. The application of unnaturally high concentrations of calcitriol in preclinical studies appears to be a major reason why the results of preclinical in vitro studies hardly match up with outcomes of vitamin D-related clinical studies. Regarding future studies addressing these concerns, we suggest establishing reference ranges of tissue-specific vitamin D metabolites within various cancer entities, carrying out model studies on human cancer cells and patient-derived organoids with biologically relevant calcitriol concentrations, and lastly improving the design of vitamin D clinical trials where results from preclinical studies guide the protocols and endpoints within these trials.

POLOR: Leveraging Contrastive Learning to Detect Political Orientation of Opinion in News Media

News articles are naturally influenced by the values, beliefs, and biases of the reporters preparing the stories and the policies of the publishing outlets. Numerous studies and datasets have been proposed to detect the political orientation of news articles. However, most of these studies ignore real textual clues and learn the textual signature of the source (commonly the publisher and rarely the writer) of the article instead. Moreover, a good volume of opinion pieces published by major news outlets do not reflect the political orientation of the publisher but rather reflect the political orientation of a non-professional writer. Existing methods are not built to correct this difference in the training data and, hence, perform poorly on human-annotated data. We propose, POLOR, a fine-tuned BERT model that employs contrastive learning to detect the political orientation of news articles even when the training data is labeled by the source (i.e. the publisher of the news article). Unlike previous work in the literature, the model learns features by employing different contrastive learning objectives where each sentence is contrasted with sentences from various sources simultaneously. POLOR achieves a 15\% increase on our dataset compared to previously proposed baselines. Finally, we release two datasets of opinion news: source-annotated and human-annotated datasets. The full paper including supplementary materials, code, and datasets can be found at https://www.cs.unm.edu/~ajararweh/.

Commentary] Postpartum Depression: An Invisible Distress in the United Kingdom

This opinion piece explores the complexities of Postpartum Depression (PPD), its impact on the mother and child’s mental health, and the societal challenges it presents. PPD extends beyond the commonly experienced “baby blues” and can significantly impact a mother’s functionality due to its potential to evolve into a long-term depressive disorder if not properly addressed. The piece highlights the inadequacy of current maternal mental health support structures within the National Health Service (NHS), pointing out the lack of specialised treatment options tailored to new mothers' unique needs. It discusses the compound effects of social stigma and cultural barriers that limit access to necessary support, underscoring the urgent need for enhanced support systems and policy reforms. The piece highlights the serious long-term effects of PPD on children, such as developmental delays and emotional and behavioural challenges, advocating for early intervention and comprehensive support systems that address the needs of both mothers and their families. It calls for the adoption of thorough PPD management strategies, including the use of effective screening tools such as the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, and extensive educational campaigns to identify early PPD symptoms. The piece further urges for policy changes to provide new mothers with tailored resources and support, promoting a more inclusive and supportive healthcare environment for affected families.

Towards global insect biomonitoring with frugal methods.

None of the global targets for protecting nature are currently met, although humanity is critically dependent on biodiversity. A significant issue is the lack of data for most biodiverse regions of the planet where the use of frugal methods for biomonitoring would be particularly important because the available funding for monitoring is insufficient, especially in low-income countries. We here discuss how three approaches to insect biomonitoring (computer vision, lidar, DNA sequences) could be made more frugal and urge that all biomonitoring techniques should be evaluated for global suitability before becoming the default in high-income countries. This requires that techniques popular in high-income countries should undergo a phase of 'innovation through simplification' before they are implemented more broadly. We predict that techniques that acquire raw data at low cost and are suitable for analysis with AI (e.g. images, lidar-signals) will be particularly suitable for global biomonitoring, while techniques that rely heavily on patented technologies may be less promising (e.g. DNA sequences). We conclude the opinion piece by pointing out that the widespread use of AI for data analysis will require a global strategy for providing the necessary computational resources and training. This article is part of the theme issue 'Towards a toolkit for global insect biodiversity monitoring'.

Addressing the elephant in the room: economic growth and the nation's poor health - changing the economy's goal for a healthier future.

This opinion piece focuses on how in order to improve the nation's poor health, the government needs to place more value on social justice and wellbeing as well as the use of regulation to positively change culture and health behaviour.

Ensuring informed consent in low-income settings: Opinion piece

In low-income healthcare settings, the implementation of informed consent faces significant challenges despite its pivotal role in upholding patient autonomy and dignity. A study conducted in southeastern Nigeria at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital sheds light on these challenges, particularly concerning patient satisfaction and recall of critical information post-consent. While many patients recalled details about their medical condition and planned procedures, there was notably lower recall of associated risks, emphasizing the complexity of conveying risk-related information effectively. Importantly, the study reveals a correlation between patient satisfaction with the consent process and their subsequent recall of information, underlining the intrinsic link between patient engagement, satisfaction, and comprehension. To bridge this gap, tailored communication methods and addressing patient concerns are essential. Systemic deficiencies in the consent process, including generic forms and linguistic barriers, call for interventions such as culturally sensitive consent materials and capacity building for healthcare providers. Looking forward, innovative approaches, including pictorial aids and mobile health applications, should be explored, alongside longitudinal studies to assess their impact. Ultimately, prioritizing patient satisfaction and comprehension in the consent process is crucial for upholding ethical standards in healthcare delivery, even amidst resource constraints.

Media Framing of Government Crisis Communication During Covid-19

During the early phase of the Covid-19 crisis, televised speeches and press conferences were one of the preferred means of government communication. They emphasized the urgency and severity of the situation and allowed actors to lead news coverage. While in the immediate phase of the crisis these press conferences were also directed at the general public, their original function was, of course, to inform and influence media coverage. The article investigates how government press conferences were received in newspapers in the first phase of Covid-19, answering two research questions: Did a rally-around-the-flag effect occur among journalists during Covid-19? And how did government press conferences influence salience and sentiment in newspaper opinion pieces? To answer these questions, I draw on a unique dataset, including transcripts of all Covid-19 press conferences in five European countries between January and July 2020, as well as opinion pieces from tabloid and broadsheet newspapers. Based on a mix of automated and manual content analysis, the results reveal how factors such as country context, newspaper type, and the progress of a pandemic can influence how the government agenda is reflected in the media in times of crisis.

Practice Briefing: A comprehensive negotiation framework for real estate professionals (Part I)

PurposeThe purpose of this briefing is to highlight the critical importance of negotiation skills in the everyday lives of real estate professionals. It delves into how negotiators must improve their negotiations skills given the negotiation-intensive nature of real estate. It also helps to handle common pitfalls and challenges in negotiations, particularly in the increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) reality of the real estate industry. The briefing offers strategic insights for preparation and negotiation aimed at improving any real estate negotiator’s average performance.Design/methodology/approachThe expert opinion piece combines a literature review on negotiation strategies with practical insights. It addresses the observed under appreciation of negotiation theory and skill, reflecting on real-world real estate negotiations. The goal is to enhance the use and recognition of negotiation theory in the real estate industry. The approach merges theoretical analysis with practical application, offering actionable recommendations to improve negotiation outcomes.FindingsThe negotiation-intensive real estate industry and the transformative impact of VUCA challenges on real estate professionals’ ability to adapt and continuously negotiate successful deals clashes with many real estate’s professional or fixed mind-set over negotiation historically being an art or a talent and mostly being stuck with win-lose strategies. Instead, negotiation is a science that can be learned and deliberately improved to counter stress-induced or fear-based responses that lead negotiators toward suboptimal negotiation strategies, such as win-lose or naive win-win. However, these dynamics are preventable. Well-equipped and well-prepared value win-win negotiators can adopt a growth mind-set, study modern negotiation advice and frameworks to thrive in the negotiation-rich real estate industry and convert even VUCA challenges into an amazing source of value.Practical implicationsReal estate professionals can become more aware of which and how current obstacles and poor choices negatively contribute to their negotiation performance. It contrasts win-lose and win-win strategic frameworks to enable real estate professionals to become more sophisticated when choosing their negotiation strategies. The briefing also helps real estate professionals expand their negotiation repertoire towards improved strategic flexibility when managing the evolving real estate profession reality and challenges.Originality/valueThe originality and value of the briefing lie in its comprehensive approach to addressing the negotiation challenges faced by real estate professionals. It offers a holistic view of real estate negotiation, advocating for a paradigm shift from traditional win-lose tactics to a collaborative, value win-win approach. The briefing integrates modern negotiation theory and emphasises ethical practices, providing practical strategies and best practices for professionals to improve their skills and adapt to industry changes. By empowering real estate professionals with knowledge and tools to navigate negotiations effectively, the briefing contributes to the overall success and professionalism of the industry.

Decolonization of health care in Tanzania

Geographical location of residence and socioeconomic status are two primary factors determining one’s access to health care, which often derail the common goal of affording equal accessibility of health-care resources to all individuals. The authors, comprising three physicians from Tanzania and two from the United Kingdom (UK), share a common commitment to understanding and addressing the consequences of colonization on health-care provision. Drawing on extensive experience in both clinical and academic capacities in East Africa, we define decolonization from the perspective of building sustainable and independent clinical and academic services in Tanzania, supported by experienced UK clinicians. In this opinion piece, we describe and discuss workforce and political issues that have shaped the historical and present influences of the UK in Tanzanian health care. In addition, we highlight certain successful initiatives that are already improving outcomes in Africa and offer further examples of practices that might improve clinical and academic outcomes for marginalized populations in the future.

Xavatar: A Web3 Metaverse Application as a support for Patients with Mobility Disorders

Xavatar is a media, educational, and therapeutic platform specializing in immersive virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) content, as well as seamless interconnectivity across various devices such as mobiles, tablets, and computers. It is aimed at improving the lives of patients with chronic mobility and communication disorders, including dementia, Alzheimer's, autism, chronic immobility, isolation, and long-term hospitalization. The project represents a fusion of digital technologies including the Metaverse, artificial intelligence (AI), and Web3, all designed to enhance healthcare interactions and patient support. This opinion piece explores the transformative potential of Xavatar, highlighting its role in shaping future healthcare landscapes through innovative, empathetic, and engaging digital solutions.

Embodied Geopolitics: The Discursive Construction of Refugee Men and Masculinities in Turkey

ABSTRACT A new wave of displaced people from Afghanistan arriving in Turkey in August-September 2021 generated public debates about how the country would protect its borders while continuing to face the ‘problem’ posed by more than 3 million displaced Syrians. Much of these debates centred on refugee men and scrutinised their bodies and bodily acts to produce them as Other. This article analyses how the racialised and gendered depictions of refugee men in Turkey discursively produce geopolitical spatial hierarchies. Our analysis includes political leaders’ speeches, news articles, and opinion pieces published in mainstream media outlets and social media about displaced people from Syria and Afghanistan since 2016. We build on and contribute to feminist geopolitics and refugee studies by focusing on refugee men and masculinities, teasing out the contradictions in the geopolitical narratives centred on refugee men’s bodies, and analysing their implications for representing civilisational hierarchies. Using the concept of embodied geopolitics, we show how the dominant anti-refugee discourse in Turkey operates through a series of contradictory -but eventually complementary- geopolitical depictions of refugee men’s bodies, appearance, and behaviour that simultaneously masculinise and feminise them. These portrayals present refugee men either as fighters or cowards, as modern or backward. We argue that gendered and racialised refugee bodies animate geopolitical narratives and demonstrate that bodies are not simply territories with fixed meanings. Instead, they are constantly and simultaneously inscribed with multiple meanings that operate together and, ultimately, produce international hierarchies, ethnic boundaries, and the modern/backward dualism.

Emerging issues in fisheries science by fisheries scientists.

The current epoch in fisheries science has been driven by continual advances in laboratory techniques and increasingly sophisticated approaches to analysing datasets. We now have the scientific knowledge and tools to proactively identify obstaclesto the sustainable management of marine resources. However, in addition to technological advances, there are predicted global environmentalchanges, each with inherent implications for fisheries. The 2023 symposium of the Fisheries Society of the British Isles called for "open and constructive knowledge exchange between scientists, stakeholders, managers and policymakers" (https://fsbi.org.uk/symposium-2023/), a nexus of collaborative groups best placed to identify issues and solutions. Arguably, the Centre of Environment, Aquaculture and Fisheries Science (Cefas) and their Scientific Advice for Fisheries Management (SAFM) Team sit at the centre of such a network. SAFM regularly engages with managers and stakeholders, undertakes scientific research, provides fisheries advice to the UK government, and are leading experts within the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES). As such, this paper is an opinion piece, linked to individual authors specialisms,that aims to highlight emergingissues affecting fisheries and suggest where research efforts could be focused that contribute to sustainable fisheries.

Neuroimmunophysiology of the gastrointestinal tract.

Gut physiology is the epicenter of a web of internal communication systems (i.e., neural, immune, hormonal) mediated by cell-cell contacts, soluble factors, and external influences, such as the microbiome, diet, and the physical environment. Together these provide the signals that shape enteric homeostasis and, when they go awry, lead to disease. Faced with the seemingly paradoxical tasks of nutrient uptake (digestion) and retarding pathogen invasion (host defense), the gut integrates interactions between a variety of cells and signaling molecules to keep the host nourished and protected from pathogens. When the system fails, the outcome can be acute or chronic disease, often labeled as "idiopathic" in nature (e.g., irritable bowel syndrome, inflammatory bowel disease). Here we underscore the importance of a holistic approach to gut physiology, placing an emphasis on intercellular connectedness, using enteric neuroimmunophysiology as the paradigm. The goal of this opinion piece is to acknowledge the pace of change brought to our field via single-cell and -omic methodologies and other techniques such as cell lineage tracing, transgenic animal models, methods for culturing patient tissue, and advanced imaging. We identify gaps in the field and hope to inspire and challenge colleagues to take up the mantle and advance awareness of the subtleties, intricacies, and nuances of intestinal physiology in health and disease by defining communication pathways between gut resident cells, those recruited from the circulation, and "external" influences such as the central nervous system and the gut microbiota.

The direct and indirect effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of confined youth

The COVID-19 pandemic posed an unprecedented threat to the mental health of youth due to its attendant, drastic changes in everyday life brought about by restrictions such as social distancing and the cancelation of in-person classes. Although numerous articles have discussed the impact of the pandemic on youths’ mental health, most of them have been opinion pieces. This study used state-wide empirical data to quantify the direct and indirect effect of the pandemic on the mental health of confined youth, a vulnerable social group that is rarely represented in school survey data. Group comparisons of youth who entered juvenile justice facilities during pandemic and non-pandemic times were also conducted. Findings revealed that youth who entered residential facilities during the pandemic due to criminal offenses had higher rates of prior mental health problems and victimization. With major confounders controlled, multivariate regression results showed that the impact of the pandemic on confined youths’ mental health is indirect: it conditioned the effect of underage drinking on the youths’ mental health. Youth who were admitted into facilities during the pandemic were more likely to experience mental health problems than their peers who entered facilities during non-pandemic times. Implications for policymaking are discussed.

Metaphors for multiculturalism in the Canadian context

Abstract Although Canada is reputed for being a multicultural society, Canadians’ opinions vary regarding the extent to which multiculturalism should be promoted. Examining metaphorical language in discourse about multiculturalism may reveal which metaphors are typically used to endorse it and which ones are typically used to express a more skeptical stance. This study analyzed 646 opinion pieces regarding multiculturalism published in Canadian newspapers. Linguistic metaphors were identified and then grouped under themes. The texts were categorized according to the authors’ stance, and instantiations of the metaphor themes were tallied to determine if some occur more frequently in discourse that promotes multiculturalism compared to discourse that expresses reservations. Some metaphor themes were instantiated more often either in texts painting a positive picture of multicultural society (e.g., a multicultural society is a varied, multi-component work of art or craft) or in ones expressing reservations (e.g., multiculturalism is a destabilizing or divisive force). Such contrasts were nonetheless attenuated by the way a single metaphor theme can be used to serve different rhetorical purposes. It also appears that writers are not always aware of the entailments of the metaphors they use, especially if these are conventionalized phrases.

Medicine communication between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and health professionals: a scoping review protocol.

This scoping review will describe strategies to support communication between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and health professionals about medicines. Poor communication is a well-established risk factor contributing to adverse medicine events. Communication challenges are exacerbated for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples due to their poorer health status, greater use of medicines, a first language that may not be English, cultural bias and systemic racism in health services, and lower health literacy resulting from ongoing colonization. A scoping review will assist in summarizing strategies to support the communication process. The review will consider studies describing strategies related to medicine communication between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and health professionals. The proposed review will follow the JBI methodology for scoping reviews. The review will include all published and unpublished literature in English since 2000, including qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods study designs, systematic reviews, text and opinion pieces, and gray literature. Databases to be searched will include CINAHL, PsycINFO, Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, Web of Science, Scopus, Informit, Indigenous HealthInfoNet, ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, and Google Scholar. Two researchers will screen titles and abstracts independently and assess the full text of selected citations against inclusion criteria. Extracted data will be presented in narrative format accompanied by tables that reflect the objective of the review.

The role of occupational therapy serving LGBTQIA+ people: Retrospective perceptions of an occupational therapist

Introduction and aim: LGBTQIA+ people constitute a minority group that navigate their occupational engagement within a historically entrenched system of oppression. This opinion piece addresses a subject matter that is increasingly garnering attention from the international health science community, yet it remains insufficiently explored in South African occupational therapy dialogues. The aim of this paper is to stimulate critical reflection among occupational therapists on the discourses that underpin our daily practice. By utilising the person- environment-occupation model, we seek to demonstrate the unique and essential role of occupational therapy in serving LGBTQIA+ people within the South African context.
 Conclusion: Although occupational therapists are trained to consider all aspects of a person, discussions around gender are rarely emphasised in undergraduate training or clinical practice. This opinion piece demonstrates the roles that occupational therapists may play when working with LGBTQIA+ people to provide services that are holistic and relevant to their needs and contexts. Recognizing the impact of everyday occupational therapy practices on LGBTQIA+ individuals is crucial, requiring a commitment to inclusivity and continuous reflection within the field of occupational therapy.
 Implications for practice
 Occupational therapists can play an important role in serving LGBTQIA+ individuals when they are committed to recognizing how dominant discourses about this group can be sustained through the everyday practices of delivering occupational therapy.