"Emotional" role-playing and changes in smoking attitudes and behavior.
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OBJECTIVES: To determine the existing state of oral healthcare advice, products and information provided by community pharmacies in Durham Dales Primary Care Trust area, and determine their potential role in the provision of oral healthcare services. METHODS: A semi-structured questionnaire was devised to examine the current role of community pharmacies in oral healthcare. An interview was arranged with each of the pharmacies. RESULTS: Ninety per cent of pharmacies participated from the Trust area. Common presenting complaints were ulcers and toothache/pain relief. Pharmacists advised customers to see a dentist in 94.1% of cases, 23.5% to see a doctor, 41.2% gave oral hygiene advice and 100% gave short-term pain relief. Pharmacists were keen to improve oral health knowledge. Most were aware of the nearest dental practices but few knew arrangements for emergencies/appointments. There were 14 pharmacists wanting active roles in promotional activities and national campaigns. Issues raised were lack of known key contacts for referrals/advice and lack of support on integration into primary healthcare teams. CONCLUSION: Through new pharmacy contracts and support/education, pharmacists could perform an increased role in oral healthcare provision.
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The authors report their data on 344 cases of small-cell lung cancer treated according to indications with combined chemoradiotherapy and in selected cases with surgical intervention. In patients with limited disease, the results of pharmacologic therapy significantly improve the prognosis only in association with surgery. The role of surgery has been reappraised in the treatment of small-cell lung cancer which appears, nowadays, multidisciplinary.
Type 2 diabetes markedly increases cardiovascular risk, and patients often present with advanced and asymptomatic disease. The fact that diabetes is associated with an increased risk of acute coronary events and poor long-term survival makes a strong case for detecting coronary artery disease early, perhaps before clinical manifestation in this patient population. This article examines the role of myocardial perfusion scintigraphy in the diagnostic and prognostic evaluation of diabetic patients with suspected coronary artery disease and in screening high-risk asymptomatic diabetic patients.
Examination of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill) root mRNA profiles by differential display-polymerase chain reaction (DD-PCR) revealed that a salt treatment induced, promoted or repressed the expression of a number of genes. The majority of the observed changes were indicative of a rapid and transient salt-induced alteration in gene expression. Twenty partial cDNAs corresponding primarily to salt-induced or up-regulated mRNAs were subsequently cloned and sequenced. The role of abscisic acid (ABA) in regulating salt-responsive gene expression in roots was explored. The DD-PCR data indicate that the majority of the salt-induced changes in the root mRNA profile occurred in an ABA-independent manner. The expression of genes corresponding to six cDNAs was shown unequivocally to be responsive to a salt treatment by RNA blot hybridization. Just two of these were responsive to exogenous ABA and, in salt-treated roots of the ABA-deficient mutant flacca, all were expressed to a level comparable to that in the wild-type. The identity of two of the salt-responsive partial cDNAs is known. The deduced amino acid sequence of one was similar to that of laccases that polymerize a variety of substrates to form resilient structures within the cell wall. One other shared amino acid sequence similarity with the C-terminus of a tobacco pathogen-induced oxygenase (PIOX). It is possible that the PIOX is involved in generating signaling molecules that mediate a general stress response.
Faced with increasing competition, hospitals in New York City are developing programs to become more user friendly and, like hotels, to treat patients more as "guests" than as "customers." These programs, which have particular applications for security personnel, are also seeking to improve communications and relationships among the hospital's medical staff and other employees. In this report, we'll describe some of these efforts in which hospitals are turning to hoteliers, consultants, and others for advice in the area of customer service, and the role seen for hospital security.
Mammals express multiple isoforms of acyl-CoA synthetase (ACSL1 and ACSL3-6) in various tissues. These enzymes are essential for fatty acid metabolism providing activated intermediates for complex lipid synthesis, protein modification, and beta-oxidation. Yeast in contrast express four major ACSLs, which have well-defined functions. Two, Faa1p and Faa4p, are specifically required for fatty acid transport by vectorial acylation. Four ACSLs from the rat were expressed in a yeast faa1delta faa4delta strain and their roles in fatty acid transport and trafficking characterized. All four restored ACS activity yet varied in substrate preference. ACSL1, 4, and 6 were able to rescue fatty acid transport activity and triglyceride synthesis. ACSL5, however, was unable to facilitate fatty acid transport despite conferring robust oleoyl-CoA synthetase activity. This is the first study evaluating the role of the mammalian ACSLs in fatty acid transport and supports a role for ACSL1, 4, and 6 in transport by vectorial acylation.
We report the generation of stable transfectant cell lines by DNA-mediated transfection that overexpress viral and/or cellular oncogenes. Expression of heterologous genes (FBJ- and FBR-v-fos, polyoma large and middle T) was confirmed by Northern hybridization, immunofluorescence and immunoprecipitation. We also describe the isolation of two retinoblastoma cell lines from human tumors. Neuronal and glial markers were used to confirm the origin of these cell lines. Oncogene transfectant and retinoblastoma cell lines will be used to assess Rb expression and the possible role of its gene product in cell proliferation control and neoplasia.
On starvation, the cellular slime mold Dictyostelium discoideum initiates a program of development leading to formation of multicellular structures. The initial cell aggregation requires chemotaxis to cyclic AMP (cAMP) and relay of the cAMP signal by the activation of adenylyl cyclase (ACA), and it has been shown previously that the Ras protein RasC is involved in both processes. Insertional inactivation of the rasG gene resulted in delayed aggregation and a partial inhibition of early gene expression, suggesting that RasG also has a role in early development. Both chemotaxis and ACA activation were reduced in the rasG- cells, but the effect on chemotaxis was more pronounced. When the responses of rasG- cells to cAMP were compared with the responses of rasC- and rasC- rasG- strains, generated in otherwise isogenic backgrounds, these studies revealed that signal transduction through RasG is more important in chemotaxis and early gene expression, but that signal transduction through RasC is more important in ACA activation. Because the loss of either of the two Ras proteins alone did not result in a total loss of signal output down either of the branches of the cAMP signal-response pathway, there appears to be some overlap of function.
Viruses are often considered as fragments of cellular RNA or DNA that escaped a long time ago from cellular chromosomes and that evolved later on by capturing additional genes from the genomes of their hosts. However, this view has now been challenged by the discovery of surprising homology between viruses with very distantly related hosts, and by phylogenetic analyses suggesting that genes might also have flown from viruses to cells. We present here phylogenetic analyses of four proteins involved in DNA replication and synthesis of DNA precursors (DNA polymerases delta, ribonucleotide reductases, thymidylate synthases and replicative helicases) and we discuss the reciprocal roles of cells and viruses during the evolutionary history of these enzymes. These analyses revealed numerous lateral gene transfer events between cells and viruses, in both directions. We suggest that lateral gene transfers from viruses to cells and nonorthologous gene replacements of cellular genes by viral ones are an important source of "genetic novelties" in the evolution of cellular lineages. Thus, viruses have definitively to be considered as major players in the evolution of cellular genomes.
OBJECTIVES: The study's objective was to better understand alcohol abuse and impaired driving behaviors in a First Nations community as it reflects systemic issues linked to historical, family and community experiences. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: Fifteen 18- to 29-year-old drivers participated in an exploratory eight-hour Talking Circle held according to traditional cultural practice. Four First Nations researchers, trained in Talking Circle protocol, and a Band Elder facilitated the data collection, data analysis according to emerging themes, and data verification. RESULTS: Federal government residential schools contribute to intergenerational effects which impact impaired driving in a northern First Nations community. Traditional parental role modeling has changed dramatically. Rather than guide children through a communally shared development process, many parents now expect their children to assume adult roles by expecting them to take care of their guardians when they drink excessive amounts of alcohol. Because a wall of silence exists between the young and old, many young people seek refuge with friends and peers, who subsequently influence them to abuse alcohol and engage in impaired driving. Many older Band members no longer serve as leaders for young people. Instead, they behave like peers and engage in activities that facilitate alcohol abuse and impaired driving. CONCLUSIONS: Historical institutions like federal government residential schools have contributed to systemic socio cultural problems which influence alcohol abuse and impaired driving. Hence there is a need for community-based intervention strategies that promote cultural healing. The healing journey can start with First Nations communities providing their people opportunities to share their stresses and traumas in supporting and nurturing environments.
Integrins can intercommunicate with cadherins. Here, we examined their possible relationship by use of small interfering RNA-mediated protein knockdown in HeLa cells. We found that a subset of integrin signaling molecules, namely Fak and paxillin, but not p130 Crk-associated substrate or proline-rich tyrosine kinase 2, participate in processes regulating N-cadherin-based cell-cell adhesion. Paxillin was found to be required primarily for the recruitment of Fak to robust focal adhesions. Our results suggest that at least some signals involving Fak are linked to a mechanism down-regulating Rac1 activity at the cell periphery, which appears to be important for the formation of N-cadherin-based adhesions in motile cells. Our analyses simultaneously exemplified the essential role of Fak in the maintenance of cell-cell adhesions in collective cell migration, a type of migration occurring in embryonic development and carcinoma invasion.
During nuclear elongation in spermatids of Gambusia affinis, a deep fossa is formed at the base of the nucleus in which the centriolar complex and proximal portion of the flagellum reside. To stabilize the positional relationship between the nucleus and centriolar complex, while nuclear morphogenesis is taking place, a series of microtubules develop which emanate from the centriolar complex and extend to the nuclear envelope lining the fossa. Buttressing microtubules also develop within the nuclear fossa which both originate and insert along the nuclear envelope. These appear to stabilize nuclear shape prior to the time when chromatin condensation has proceeded to the stage where it could lend structural stability to nuclear form. Microtubules develop only after specific nuclear morphogenic events have taken place. It is therefore concluded that the spermatid nucleus is capable of "self-assembly" involving microtubules in a supportive role in addition to stabilizing the nuclear-flagellar relationship in G. affinis. The pattern of nuclear fossa-associated microtubules in G. affinis is significantly different from that observed in other poeciliid teleosts indicating a degree of species specificity with regard to both the timing of appearance and total number of microtubules.
The aim of this study was to measure and compare the profile of rapid delayed rectifier potassium current (IKr) elicited by action potential (AP) waveforms applied to isolated rabbit atrioventricular nodal (AVN) and ventricular myocytes. All measurements were made using whole-cell patch-clamp recordings at 37 degrees C. In AVN myocytes, IKr during voltage steps and slow ramp depolarisations showed "inward rectification" (characteristic for this channel) at positive potentials. The E-4031-sensitive current showed half-maximal activation at -10.8 +/- 0.86 mV, with a slope factor for the activation relation of 6.5 +/- 0.77 mV (n = 7). During AVN APs, IKr rapidly reached a peak after the AP upstroke and remained at similar amplitude until late in AP repolarisation. At the maximum diastolic potential following the AVN AP, a component of IKr remained which decayed during the pacemaker depolarisation, consistent with a role for the current in generating AVN pacemaker activity. In ventricular myocytes IKr was small at the beginning of the AP, and increased slowly during the AP plateau. Measurement of Ba-sensitive-inward rectifier K current (IK1) in ventricular myocytes revealed that IK1 rapidly increased during the final AP repolarisation phase, whilst IKr declined. It is concluded that IKr may participate in both AP repolarisation and the pacemaker depolarisation in AVN cells, whilst in ventricular myocytes, IKr and IK1 participate in controlling early and final AP repolarisation respectively.