Manuela Gast

Background: Mental illnesses have received increasing attention in the work context in recent years, yet they are still often accompanied by stigma. One starting point for stigma reduction is interventions in the workplace. The present study evaluated a one-day workshop for managers in a large company. Method: Enrolled managers (n = 70) were randomly assigned to the intervention group and the waiting control group. The training included a theoretical section on mental and stress-related diseases as well as the interplay between work and health, group work on personal stress experience, theoretical input on dealing with mentally ill employees, and a group discussion on this topic along with case studies. Both groups completed the following questionnaires at baseline and three months after training: Effort–Reward Imbalance Questionnaire, Patient Health Questionnaire, Mental Health Knowledge Schedule, Social Distance Scale, and the Irritation Scale. Results: Compared to the waiting group, the intervention group showed a significant improvement in the Mental Health Knowledge Schedule (U = 417.00, p = 0.040) and an increase in the Irritation Scale (U = 371.50 p = 0.011). All other scales remained unchanged. Conclusion: The content and duration of the training were adequate to reduce cognitive stigma towards mental illness. However, the present approach was not sufficient for an improvement in the subjective stress level of the participating managers.

Background: Leaders in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are exposed to increased stress as a result of a range of challenges. Moreover, they rarely have the opportunity to participate in stress management trainings. Therefore, KMU-GO (ger: Kleine und mittlere Unternehmen – Gesundheitsoffensive; en: small and medium-sized enterprises – health campaign) aims at conducting and evaluating such a stress management training. The focus of evaluation does not only lie on the effects on leaders participating but also on their employees. Methods: The study is planned as a 2 × 3 mixed design with two groups (intervention and waiting control group) as a between factor and point in time (at baseline, 6 and 12 months later) as a within factor. We aim at collecting data from N = 200 leaders. Based on the results of a preceding assessment, an already successfully implemented stress management training was adapted to SME needs and now serves as the framework of this intervention. The stress management training comprises one and a half days and is followed by two booster sessions (each 180 min) about 3 and 6 months after the training. The main focus of this intervention lies on specifying leaders stress reactivity while at the same time investigating its effects on employees’ mental health. Further dependent variables are leaders´ depression and anxiety scores, effort-reward imbalance, sick days and psychophysiological measures of heart rate variability, hair cortisol, and salivary alpha-amylase. Cost-effectiveness analyses will be conducted from a societal and employers’ point of view. Discussion: Stress management is a highly relevant issue for leaders in SMEs. By providing an adequate occupational stress management training, we expect to improve leaders´ and also employees` mental health, thereby preventing economic losses for SMEs and the national economy. However, collecting data from employees about the success of a stress management training of their leader is a highly sensitive topic. It requires a carefully planned proceeding ensuring for example a high degree of transparency, anonymity, and providing team incentives. Trial registration: The KMU-GO trial is registered at the German Clinical Trial Register (DRKS): DRKS00023457 (05.11.2020)

Polymer particles with antibody-like affinity, i.e. molecularly imprinted polymers, offer an ideal platform for biopharmaceu-tical virus purification. In recent years, attempts combining molecular imprinting technology with a variety of visualization and detection techniques have been reported for directly confirming the localized presence of the template. Direct target visu-alization is crucial for the characterization of molecularly imprinted polymers, especially if biological templates such as vi-ruses are used. In the present study, for the first time the viral binding behavior at virus-imprinted polymers (VIPs) via stimulated emission depletion (STED) microscopy is shown by imaging individual, fluorescently labeled virus particles. STED microscopy achieves among various other super-resolution techniques the best temporal resolution at high spatial res-olution. An innovative virus purification material selective for human Adenovirus type 5 (AdV5) offered highly purified virus for the subsequent fluorescent labeling procedure, and thus enabling STED imaging. Excellent binding affinities (150-fold higher vs. control particles) and high selectivity towards the target virus (AdV5) were observed at those VIPs, even in competitive binding experiments with Minute virus of Mice using dual-label STED microscopy.

Inspired by the recognition processes found in biology such as enzyme–substrate and antibody–antigen interactions, synthetic systems with comparable molecular recognition properties have been investigated during recent years based on molecular imprinting strategies. While materials with recognition capabilities for small molecules (i.e., with low molecular weight) have achieved substantial advancements, the synthesis of molecularly imprinted materials with virus recognition properties remains challenging to date. Likewise, protein–surface and protein–protein interactions are essential for a wide variety of biological applications in biotechnology. In biological sensor technology the coating of surfaces to prevent nonspecific adsorption interactions plays an important role. Particularly, polyethylene glycol (PEG) stands out for its high performance in preventing proteins from nonspecifically interactions. However, blocking agents such as the protein bovine serum albumin (BSA) can also be useful as unspecific binding prevention agents for passivation, without modification of the surface. Herein the influence of blocking agents as unspecific reaction components is investigated on the enhancements of selectivity from adenovirus-imprinted particles, whereas adenovirus was used as target species in molecular imprinting. Furthermore, quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) was used for the first time as virus quantification approach in this context.