Page 41 - College of Health Sciences Magazine AY 22-23

40 41

Scientific Corner

Overcoming Career Challenges after Covid-19 Immunotherapies for neurodegenerative disease
Dr. Afaf Kamal Hassan، Assistant Professor of Environmental Health and Safety، Dr. Joanne Sadier، Associate Professor of Genetics and Biomedical Sciences،

The COVID-19 pandemic has been widely considered as a health and economic crisis, as it led to
significant losses of lives and jobs. Some of the lost jobs might never return, which could have short- Inflammation of nervous tissue, termed neuroinflammation, occurs in response to diverse cues, such
and long-term consequences related to the future of work and the economic security of employees. In as infection, traumatic brain injury, toxic metabolites, or autoimmunity. Neuroinflammation, which is an
turn, this requires organization not only to understand the possible challenges that could occur after the important process for maintaining healthy central nervous system (CNS) function following injuries such
pandemic but also adapt to changes. as physical trauma and infections, is a highly regulated process. It also constitutes a major component
of many neurodegenerative (Gordon & Woodruff, 2017) and psychiatric disorders (Prinz & Priller, 2014).
COVID-19 has proven to be different from any other health-related issues in recent memories. It has Neurodegenerative diseases are characterized by a progressive loss of neurons in several areas of the
brought some workplaces to a standstill while leading others to exceed the limits of their capacity, it has CNS; and are associated with cognitive, psychiatric, and motor deficits due to atrophy of the affected
expressively altered numerous work settings and affected people in multiple fields. After the pandemic, regions (Jeffrey L. Cummings & Pillai, 2017). Together, neurodegenerative diseases exert a major global
many practices and concepts have changed. For instance, nowadays, individuals prefer to meet online, as disease burden, with dementia being a public health challenge in many developed countries. As aging is
it is safer and more cost-effective than traveling to another part of the country or the world. On the other a strong risk factor for the most common neurodegenerative conditions, the global economic and social
side, other challenges caused by the pandemic could be job insecurity, precarious work, intensification impact of these diseases on healthcare systems will likely continue to surge significantly in the coming
of work, excessive use of technology, new techniques for work completion, blurring work boundaries, or decades due to increasingly aging populations and longer life spans (Ward, Zucca, Duyn, Crichton, &
work-life conflicts would have significant impacts on employees and organizations. Hence, this has led Zecca, 2014). It has been projected that by the year 2050, the population of individuals over the age of 60
to creating a career shock, which an extraordinary event that could be a result of some factors outside will rise from 901 million in 2015 to 2.1 billion people worldwide (United Nations, 2015). The increased life
people’s control and that could trigger inadequate thought processes about individuals’ careers. The expectancy will be accompanied by higher age-related diseases, with the elderly expected to spend most
career shock has recently appeared due to the great uncertainty in a rapidly changing career culture and of their later years in ill-health. . In fact, a main cause of disability in the elderly is dementia, affecting 44
environment. Accordingly, some jobs and career plans are expected to disappear and others would be million people globally, and expected to surpass 135 million people by the year 2050 (Prince, 2014). Over
altered to satisfy the new needs and demands of various workplaces. 36 million people worldwide are diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) or Parkinson’s disease (PD), the
two most common neurodegenerative disorders. The absence of effective disease-modifying treatments
In recent years, career resilience has been introduced to be very effective to overcome majority of the and the failure of most clinical trials for new therapies highlight the need to identify new therapeutic
challenges caused by this pandemic. In specific, career resilience refers to the ability to adapt and persist targets to halt disease progression. An important challenge in the developing treatment strategies for
when confronted with disruptions and acknowledging the importance of current careers in a turbulent most progressive neurodegenerative diseases is their multi-factorial etiology and diverse disease course
economic environment. In this concern, there are many stories about individuals’ resilience during the (M. T. Heneka, M. P. Kummer, & E. Latz, 2014; Obeso et al., 2010; Sulzer, 2007). Most articles in the
pandemic. For example, some people have worked remotely, front-line employees have risked their literature describing immunotherapies for neurodegenerative diseases have typically focused on auto-
lives by doing their work in close contact with others, or those who had to limit their lifestyles due to immune neurodegenerative disorders such as multiple sclerosis (Liang et al., 2017). Until recently, little
unemployment. Ultimately, it is important to focus on encouraging individuals’ resilience, rather than was known about immunotherapeutic interventions targeting aging-associated as well as other non-
focusing on changing the environment which might often be the root cause of the problem. auto-immune neurodegenerative diseases.

Dr. Joanne Sadier, Associate Professor in Biomedical Sciences at our college, has summarized in her
recently published article in Frontiers in Neurology on June 7th, 2020, all recent immunotherapeutic
strategies being developed to treat neuroinflammation-induced neurodegeneration, with a focus on
immunotherapies.

References:
• Akkermans, J., Richardson, J., & Kraimer, M. L. (2020). The Covid-19 crisis as a career shock: Implications for careers and
vocational behavior. Journal of vocational behavior, 119, 103434. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2020.103434
• Hite, L. M., & McDonald, K. S. (2020). Careers after COVID-19: Challenges and changes. Human Resource Development
International, 23(4), 427-437. https://doi.org/10.1080/13678868.2020.1779576
• Kossek, E. E., & Perrigino, M. B. (2016). Resilience: A review using a grounded integrated occupational approach. Academy of
Management Annals, 10(1), 729–797. https://doi.org/10.5465/19416520.2016.1159878

Abu Dhabi University | The College of Health Sciences E-Magazine | Issue 3 2022-2023 Academic Year Abu Dhabi University | The College of Health Sciences E-Magazine | Issue 3 2022-2023 Academic Year