Relationship between Leadership and Emotional Intelligence in Teachers in Universities and Other Educational Centres: A Structural Equation Model

This study uses an explanatory model of the dimensions of leadership and emotional intelligence according to the methods used in particular teaching environments (universities and other educational institutions). The effect of different kinds of leadership on emotional intelligence dimensions is also established using an explanatory model. A total of 954 teachers participated in this cross-sectional study, teaching in 137 different schools/universities. The instruments used for the data collection were the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ-5) and the Trait Meta Mood Scale (TMMS-24). Data analysis was performed with the software IBM AMOS 23.0. (International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, USA) using multi-group analysis and structural equations. Results showed that the structural equation model had a good fit. Transformational leadership depends mainly on intellectual stimulation in university teachers, whereas intrinsic motivation is more relevant at the lower educational levels. In relation to transactional leadership, contingency reward has a greater regression weight in non-university education, whereas passive leadership is governed more by passive exception in university teachers. There was a positive and direct relationship between levels of emotional intelligence and transformational leadership in non-university teachers, which reveals the need for effective understanding and management of both one’s own and students’ emotions in order to act effectively as a leader. Transactional leadership was negatively related to some emotional intelligence dimensions, given the relevance of obtaining power in this dimension.

Hydra: A web-based system for cardiovascular analysis, diagnosis and treatment

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE

Cardiovascular (CV) risk stratification is a highly complex process involving an extensive set of clinical trials to support the clinical decision-making process. There are many clinical conditions (e.g. diabetes, obesity, stress, etc.) that can lead to the early diagnosis or establishment of cardiovascular disease. In order to determine all these clinical conditions, a complete set of clinical patient analyses is typically performed, including a physical examination, blood analysis, electrocardiogram, blood pressure (BP) analysis, etc. This article presents a web-based system, called Hydra, which integrates a full and detailed set of services and functionalities for clinical decision support in order to help and improve the work of clinicians in cardiovascular patient diagnosis, risk assessment, treatment and monitoring over time.

METHODS

Hydra integrates a number of different services: a service for inputting all the information gathered by specialists (physical examination, habits, BP, blood analysis, electrocardiogram, etc.); a tool to automatically determine the CV risk stratification, including well-known standard risk stratification tables; and, finally, various tools to incorporate, analyze and graphically present the records of the ambulatory BP monitoring that provides BP analysis over a given period of time (24 or 48 hours). In addition, the platform presents a set of reports derived from all the information gathered from the patient in order to support physicians in their clinical decisions.

RESULTS

Hydra was tested and validated in a real domain. In particular, internal medicine specialists at the Hypertension Unit of the Santiago de Compostela University Hospital (CHUS) validated the platform and used it in different clinical studies to demonstrate its utility. It was observed that the platform increased productivity and accuracy in the assessment of patient data yielding a cost reduction in clinical practice.

CONCLUSIONS

This paper proposes a complete platform that includes different services for cardiovascular clinical decision support. It was also run as a web-based application to facilitate its use by clinicians, who can access the platform from any remote computer with Internet access. Hydra also includes different automated methods to facilitate the physicians' work and avoid potential errors in the analysis of patient data.

Cardiac fibroblasts arrest at the G1/S restriction point in response to interleukin (IL)-1beta. Evidence for IL-1beta-induced hypophosphorylation of the retinoblastoma protein

Although responsible for only approximately one-third of the overall myocardial mass, the interstitial fibroblasts of the heart serve a fundamental role in establishing the functional integrity of myocardium and are the major source of myocardial extracellular matrix production. Their importance in clinical medicine is underscored by the observation that fibroblast numbers increase in response to several pathologic circumstances that are associated with an increase in extracellular matrix production, such as long standing hypertension and myocardial injury/infarction. Up to the present time, however, there has been little information available on either the kinetics of the cardiac fibroblast cell cycle, or the fundamental mechanisms that regulate its entry into and exit from the cell cycle. Previous work from our laboratory examining the effects of interleukin (IL)-1beta on myocardial growth and gene expression in culture indicated that cardiac fibroblasts have a diminished capacity to synthesize DNA in response to mitogen in the presence of this cytokine. The mechanism of IL-1beta action was not clear, however, and could have resulted from action at several different points in the cell cycle. The investigations described in this report indicate that IL-1beta exerts its effect on the fibroblast cell cycle at multiple levels through altering the expression of cardiac fibroblast cyclins, cyclin-dependent kinases, and their inhibitors, which ultimately affect the phosphorylation of the retinoblastoma gene product.