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| How to cope with conflict at work Bottling up career resentments can double your risk of a heart attack. Here's how you should handle stress insteadChange a word and I'll kill you. The journal of Epidemiology and Community Health has just published new research by scientists at Stockholm University that reveals men who keep things bottled up at work and fail to confront bosses or colleagues about unfair treatment more than double their risk of a heart attack or dying of heart disease.So with thanks to Phillip Hodson, Fellow of the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy, and Dr Luisa Dillner, here's a quick guide to dealing with conflict at work.1 Have a blazing row. Undoubtedly both psychologically and physiologically highly beneficial. Unfortunately not so good for your career prospects. You might get away with it if the person you are rowing with is at the same level as you, but you might also be making a lifelong sworn enemy. Also, be sure to row out of earshot of any other colleagues: you don't want to let them in on the secret that you're completely out of control.2 Say you are angry. It sounds obvious, but many people are scared of admitting to what they feel is a negative emotion. Anger is normal: the whole point of it is to get you through to the other side of something unpleasant. If you don't get angry, you get stuck.3 If you can't say you are angry, use a meta-language. Either request permission to speak – it suggests the other person has stepped over the line – or query what your boss has said to you. Try to avoid being too narky, though. That's regression to passive-aggression.4 Speak ever more quietly. It's a brilliantly controlling tactic as it forces people to make an extra effort to listen to you. It also makes you sound cold and furious so people will respond to you as if you really are being angry. Which you are, of course.5 Don't engage at all. This option should only be taken if your boss is a Malcolm Tucker psychopath – a surprisingly common personality at the head of many large organisations. These people will take you down, any way they can. Keep a record of their behaviour and go to a tribunal.6 Murder. A highly satisfactory outcome for your feelings, though not one society tends to endorse. Your surviving colleagues will probably treasure your memory in perpetuity.Work & careersPsychologyJohn Craceguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Anti-HIV gel hopes dashed by trial results Promising microbicide piloted in British-funded trial turns out to be ineffectiveHopes of a breakthrough that would allow women to protect themselves from HIV have been dashed with today's revelation from a large, British-funded trial that a promising microbicide has turned out to be ineffective.Britain's Medical Research Council (MRC) and the department for international development (DfID) had backed the trial in four African countries, involving 9,385 women. But after four years and significant investment, scientists have been forced to conclude that the PRO 2000 gel does not prevent HIV/Aids.Dr Sheena McCormack of the MRC, chief investigator of the trial known as MDP 301, said they were deeply disappointed, but that the search must go on.A microbicide, in the form of a vaginal cream or gel that kills the virus, would give women in Africa and Asia the power to defend themselves against HIV given the refusal of many men to wear condoms. The trials in Africa showed that both men and women found its use acceptable.Expectations were raised in March when a smaller US-led trial of PRO 2000, involving 3,099 women, found a 30% reduction in infections, but the actual numbers of people who became HIV positive were not large enough to give conclusive results."I have to say then we got quite excited," said McCormack. "But in a big trial you get closer to the truth, and unfortunately the truth is it didn't work. It is bitterly disappointing for us, but it will inform the way we go forward."Half the participants were given PRO 2000 while the other half got an inactive gel. There were 130 infections among those who used the real thing and 123 among those who had the placebo.The hunt for a microbicide was given a big boost when Clare Short, as international development secretary, enthusiastically endorsed it in 2002 as a gender and equity issue. Her department gave £14m to the MRC, Imperial College and five African countries. The final cost to DfID of the PRO 2000 trial has been £40m, with £2m from the MRC – a substantial sum, but tiny compared with the cost of pharmaceutical company trials.Other gains were made, however, despite the results. Professor Gita Ramjee, who enrolled 2,385 women at her centre in Durban, South Africa, said they had received health checks and treatment for conditions from high blood pressure to potential cervical cancer that would not otherwise have been picked up. All the women and their partners had also been counselled on avoiding HIV and given condoms.But Ramjee, who has conducted five separate microbicide trials, said she felt "very despondent" at having to tell her staff and the participants that the gel did not work. "A lot of my staff are HIV positive and do a lot of counselling and they hear the pleas of women who say we desperately need something to prevent HIV infection because our partners don't want to wear condoms," she said.About 2.7 million people were infected with HIV last year. A number of African countries have run out of money to put newly diagnosed people on drugs to keep them alive and will struggle to continue to treat those already taking them if donations fall because of the economic crisis. There is a danger, said McCormack, that it is "going to go wrong again for Africa".If PRO 2000 had worked, it could have been made available cheaply over the counter to any woman who wanted it.Scientists have turned their attention to the possibility of adapting anti-retroviral drugs given to stop HIV becoming Aids. One of the possibilities is a gel form of Tenofovir, a drug that could also be taken daily in tablet form to prevent HIV infection. But such gels or tablets would have to be given out through clinics with supervision, and there are fears that the virus could become resistant to them.Aids and HIVInternational aid and developmentHIV infectionMedical researchHealthSarah Boseleyguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Doctor and Patient: Holding Doctors Accountable for Medical Errors To improve patient safety, physicians must begin acknowledging their roles in medical mistakes, a medicine professor said. feeds.nytimes.com |
Decision Promised Soon on Cape Cod Wind Farm Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said that he intended to decide whether to approve the wind turbine project no later than April. feeds.nytimes.com |
Keeping the Midlands bling | Stephen Deuchar This massive hoard of Anglo-Saxon has put Mercia back on the archeological map. We must do all we can to keep it thereYesterday, David Starkey coined the phrase "gangland bling" to describe the vast hoard of Anglo-Saxon gold, mostly of a military nature, that was unearthed in a field in Staffordshire in July last year. He was speaking at the launch this week of The Art Fund's campaign to raise £3.3m to save these bejewelled and glistening items of gold and silver by 17 April, so that the story of the ancient region of Mercia can begin to be told. It is vital that the hoard can be assured a permanent home in the West Midlands, where it was found.As soon as the news of the find broke in September, it instantly seemed to capture the imagination of the nation. Queues around the block were reported on a daily basis during the 19 days that items were displayed at the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, prior to the hoard's valuation, and over 40,000 people were able to see the astonishing treasure that had lain underground for 1,500 years.There is no doubt about it – the Staffordshire hoard is a unique discovery. No hoard of gold and silver objects from this period has ever emerged before. The earlier, notable discoveries have been grave burials such as the find at Sutton Hoo of 1939. The actual objects found in the hoard are most unusual as there is virtually no trace of anything that would have been used by women; it is almost exclusively what might be termed "war-gear". The treasure includes numerous precious fittings from the hilts of swords and other trophies from the battleground, as well as crosses and religious artefacts. Bling indeed, but distinguished and deeply evocative too.Who did it belong to and how did it come to be buried in that field? At present we can only speculate. Perhaps the treasure belonged to an invading army who were defeated by the Mercians, or perhaps it was part of an armoury built up over a longer period of time. We just don't know, but what we now have is a golden opportunity to find out – and to deepen radically our understanding of Anglo-Saxon history. Before, much of what we knew about this period was focused on Kent and East Anglia, but now Mercia is centre stage – and the study and conservation of the hoard will begin to unlock the region's history in wholly new dimensions.One thing is for certain, though: this is great news for the West Midlands. With so many people having pressed to see the hoard in the few days it was shown in Birmingham, no one doubts that the West Midlands is the region that should own and treasure the hoard for good. Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery and the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery in Stoke-on-Trent are bidding jointly to acquire it.The collection, which is so deeply rooted in local history, must remain in context in the West Midlands. Regional museums are of incomparable importance – economically, culturally, educationally and socially. They provide regions with a wealth of history and heritage, and are integral to telling the story of a region's identity. This is why we must seize the opportunity to save the hoard for the West Midlands.However, the success of the campaign is by no means a foregone conclusion. If the £3.3m cannot be raised, ultimately the landowner and finder of the hoard would be free to split it up and sell it on the open market. The Art Fund has kick-started the campaign with an initial grant of £300,000 towards the acquisition, and Birmingham and Stoke-on-Trent city councils have each given £100,000 – bringing the total raised so far to £500,000. But there is a very long way to go before the hoard can be considered saved for the nation.ArchaeologyHeritageStephen Deucharguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |