Evaluation of healthier at home/nurse line : a cost-benefit analysis

A vendor is currently under contract with the Employee Insurance Program to provide a printed self-healthcare guide (a handbook) and a toll-free Nurse Line service to State Health Plan Savings Plan subscribers. The handbook and Nurse Line are provided at no additional charge to those enrolled in the Savings Plan, but are part of the overall costs associated with this health plan and paid by EIP to the contracted provider each month, based on the number of subscribers enrolled in the plan. This paper answers the question : Are this product and service worth the cost

Ministerial Entrepreneurship: Reenvisioning Entrepreneurship and Revitalizing the Church

This article considers the marketplace from a Christian perspective, then surveys the nature of an alternative approach to traditional bi-vocational ministry: the ministerial entrepreneur. It then suggests points of future reflection for supervisors as they guide those working as ministerial entrepreneurs as compared to those in bi-vocational ministry

Teachers' and children's personal epistemologies for moral education: Case studies in early years elementary education

While there is strong interest in teaching values in Australia and internationally there is little focus on young children’s moral values learning in the classroom. Research shows that personal epistemology influences teaching and learning in a range of education contexts, including moral education. This study examines relationships between personal epistemologies (children’s and teachers’), pedagogies, and school contexts for moral learning in two early years classrooms. Interviews with teachers and children and analysis of school policy revealed clear patterns of personal epistemologies and pedagogies within each school. A whole school approach to understanding personal epistemologies and practice for moral values learning is suggested

A survey of stroke nurses’ knowledge of secondary prevention lifestyle issues

Nurses have an important role to play in providing information and advice on lifestyle risk factors for recurrent stroke. However, patients report receiving little or no lifestyle information. Aim: This study aimed to explore stroke nurses' knowledge and practice in relation to the provision of secondary prevention lifestyle information following stroke. Design: Cross-sectional survey methods were used. Participants were members of the Scottish Stroke Nurse Forum (n=97). Methods: A self-completed questionnaire was used to collect the data, with descriptive statistics summarizing the results. Results: Respondents stated that they assessed lifestyle risk factors following stroke; however, they focused on some but not all risk factors. While written and verbal information and advice was provided, knowledge of guidelines and health-related recommendations was limited. Conclusions: Stroke nurses require improved access to continuing professional development with regard to secondary prevention of stroke. They also require easy access to information resources which support evidence-based practice. </jats:p

Sowing seeds in the digital garden

PARADISEC (Pacific And Regional Archive for Digital Sources in Endangered Cultures), Australian Partnership for Sustainable Repositories, Ethnographic E-Research Project and Sydney Object Repositories for Research and Teaching

Nonenzymatic glycation of mesangial matrix and prolonged exposure of mesangial matrix to elevated glucose reduces collagen synthesis and proteoglycan charge

Nonenzymatic glycation of mesangial matrix and prolonged exposure of mesangial matrix to elevated glucose reduces collagen synthesis and proteoglycan charge. Expansion of the mesangial matrix in diabetes occurs after prolonged exposure to the diabetic milieu. To mimic the long-term hyperglycemia of diabetes mellitus we developed tissue culture systems that might approximate the chronic state. This was accomplished in two ways: (1) by growing mesangial cells on extracellular matrix glycated and crosslinked in vitro and (2) by continuously growing cells on their own matrix on filters in elevated glucose medium (500 mg/dl) for up to eight weeks without passage. Synthesis of collagen and proteoglycans was evaluated in cells grown under these conditions. In both these situations, 3H-proline incorporation into collagenase sensitive protein and 35S incorporation into sulfated proteins were reduced compared to control cultures. Despite reduction in 35S incorporation into proteoglycans in the high glucose cultures, total glycosaminoglycan content was unchanged. However, proteoglycans generated by mesangial cells grown in elevated glucose media were of a lower negative charge than controls. In mesangial cells continuously grown on filters, the levels of messenger RNA for collagen types I and IV, biglycan and TGF-β were not different in cells grown at elevated or standard glucose concentrations for two and four weeks. We conclude that crosslinking of mesangial matrix or continuous culture of cells for prolonged periods of time in high glucose medium, which may also crosslink matrix, suppresses collagen synthesis and reduces the negative charges on matrix proteoglycans without altering mRNA levels

A Novel Single-Domain Na+-Selective Voltage-Gated Channel in Photosynthetic Eukaryotes

The evolution of Na+-selective four-domain voltage-gated channels (4D-Navs) in animals allowed rapid Na+-dependent electrical excitability, and enabled the development of sophisticated systems for rapid and long-range signaling. While bacteria encode single-domain Na+-selective voltage-gated channels (BacNav), they typically exhibit much slower kinetics than 4D-Navs, and are not thought to have crossed the prokaryote–eukaryote boundary. As such, the capacity for rapid Na+-selective signaling is considered to be confined to certain animal taxa, and absent from photosynthetic eukaryotes. Certainly, in land plants, such as the Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula) where fast electrical excitability has been described, this is most likely based on fast anion channels. Here, we report a unique class of eukaryotic Na+-selective, single-domain channels (EukCatBs) that are present primarily in haptophyte algae, including the ecologically important calcifying coccolithophores, Emiliania huxleyi and Scyphosphaera apsteinii. The EukCatB channels exhibit very rapid voltage-dependent activation and inactivation kinetics, and isoform-specific sensitivity to the highly selective 4D-Nav blocker tetrodotoxin. The results demonstrate that the capacity for rapid Na+-based signaling in eukaryotes is not restricted to animals or to the presence of 4D-Navs. The EukCatB channels therefore represent an independent evolution of fast Na+-based electrical signaling in eukaryotes that likely contribute to sophisticated cellular control mechanisms operating on very short time scales in unicellular algae

Alternative Mechanisms for Fast Na+/Ca2+ Signaling in Eukaryotes via a Novel Class of Single-Domain Voltage-Gated Channels

This is the final version. Available from Elsevier via the DOI in this record.Rapid Na+/Ca2+-based action potentials govern essential cellular functions in eukaryotes, from the motile responses of unicellular protists, such as Paramecium [1, 2], to complex animal neuromuscular activity [3]. A key innovation underpinning this fundamental signaling process has been the evolution of four-domain voltage-gated Na+/Ca2+ channels (4D-Cavs/Navs). These channels are widely distributed across eukaryote diversity [4], albeit several eukaryotes, including land plants and fungi, have lost voltage-sensitive 4D-Cav/Navs [5, 6, 7]. Because these lineages appear to lack rapid Na+/Ca2+-based action potentials, 4D-Cav/Navs are generally considered necessary for fast Na+/Ca2+-based signaling [7]. However, the cellular mechanisms underpinning the membrane physiology of many eukaryotes remain unexamined. Eukaryotic phytoplankton critically influence our climate as major primary producers. Several taxa, including the globally abundant diatoms, exhibit membrane excitability [8, 9, 10]. We previously demonstrated that certain diatom genomes encode 4D-Cav/Navs [4] but also proteins of unknown function, resembling prokaryote single-domain, voltage-gated Na+ channels (BacNavs) [4]. Here, we show that single-domain channels are actually broadly distributed across major eukaryote phytoplankton lineages and represent three novel classes of single-domain channels, which we refer collectively to as EukCats. Functional characterization of diatom EukCatAs indicates that they are voltage-gated Na+- and Ca2+-permeable channels, with rapid kinetics resembling metazoan 4D-Cavs/Navs. In Phaeodactylum tricornutum, which lacks 4D-Cav/Navs, EukCatAs underpin voltage-activated Ca2+ signaling important for membrane excitability, and mutants exhibit impaired motility. EukCatAs therefore provide alternative mechanisms for rapid Na+/Ca2+ signaling in eukaryotes and may functionally replace 4D-Cavs/Navs in pennate diatoms. Marine phytoplankton thus possess unique signaling mechanisms that may be key to environmental sensing in the oceans.European Research CouncilNS