Costa Rican Friendships

Since the time when she first struggled with Spanish verbs in high school, Linda Nelson, home economics education graduate of 1950, had hoped she would someday be able to put her Spanish to work. Upon graduation from Iowa State she realized that goal by enrolling for graduate study in the Inter-American Institute of Agricultural Sciences in Turrialba, Costa Rica

I Didn\u27t Feel Doctoral Worthy : Motivating Factors for Black Female, First-Generation Doctoral Students

I Didn\u27t Feel Doctoral Worthy : Motivating Factors for Black Female, First-Generation Doctoral Student

Tissue specific expression of serum amyloid A

The human serum amyloid A family of proteins is comprised of two acute phase proteins (SAA1 and SAA2) and one constitutively expressed protein (SAA4). The SAAs are predominantly produced by the liver although, some extra hepatic expresion has been reported. Liver specific of other proteins, such α-1 antitrypsin, is due to the presence of multiple binding sites for transcription factors which are predominantly but not exclusively expressed in the liver known as liver enriched transcription factor. C/EBP, which is known to transcriptionally regulate SAA expression, is one such Factors. Luciferase reporter constructs containing varying lengths of the 5' flanking regions of SAA2 were transfected into hepatic and non-hepatic cell lines. The results indicated that in addition to the C/EBP site a tissue specific element was also present between -2213bp and -2355bp. This fragment was subsequently shown to bind both a ubiquitously expressed nuclear factor and a liver specific factor. Sequence analysis identified consensuus binding sequences for a number of transcription factors including the factor YY1 which is involved in the transcriptional regulation of the rat SAA1 gene. Mutation of the YY1 consensus sequence caused a shift in the protein binding pattern observed in electrophoretic mobility shift assays. Preliminary analysis of the 5' flanking region of SAA4 has identified a C/EBP site at position -57bp. These results indicate that as with other liver specific proteins tissues specific expression of SAA is due to multiple elements incuding C/EBP an, in SAA2, an as of yet unidentified element of which the ubiquitously expressed transcription factor YY1 may be a component

How can we best chart children’s growth in the paperless age? The UK experience

Growth charts have played an integral part in the monitoring and assessment of children’s health for the past 50 years, but their use is now under threat as paperless electronic systems become more widely used. While the obvious solution is to adopt electronic charting systems, this can prove challenging in practice. This article describes the key issues to consider in planning this transition and the charting options available, ranging from bespoke local systems to commercial packages and a new initiative by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health

Do practitioners and friends support patients with coronary heart disease in lifestyle change? a qualitative study.

BACKGROUND: Healthy lifestyles help to prevent coronary heart disease (CHD) but outcomes from secondary prevention interventions which support lifestyle change have been disappointing. This study is a novel, in-depth exploration of patient factors affecting lifestyle behaviour change within an intervention designed to improve secondary prevention for patients with CHD in primary care using personalised tailored support. We aimed to explore patients\u27 perceptions of factors affecting lifestyle change within a trial of this intervention (the SPHERE Study), using semi-structured, one-to-one interviews, with patients in general practice. METHODS: Interviews (45) were conducted in purposively selected general practices (15) which had participated in the SPHERE Study. Individuals, with CHD, were selected to include those who succeeded in improving physical activity levels and dietary fibre intake and those who did not. We explored motivations, barriers to lifestyle change and information utilised by patients. Data collection and analysis, using a thematic framework and the constant comparative method, were iterative, continuing until data saturation was achieved. RESULTS: We identified novel barriers to lifestyle change: such disincentives included strong negative influences of social networks, linked to cultural norms which encouraged consumption of \u27delicious\u27 but unhealthy food and discouraged engagement in physical activity. Findings illustrated how personalised support within an ongoing trusted patient-professional relationship was valued. Previously known barriers and facilitators relating to support, beliefs and information were confirmed. CONCLUSIONS: Intervention development in supporting lifestyle change in secondary prevention needs to more effectively address patients\u27 difficulties in overcoming negative social influences and maintaining interest in living healthily

Investigation of protein induction in vascular-targeted strategies.

The aims of the study reported in this thesis were to develop and utilise mass spectrometry imaging techniques (MALDI-MSI), in combination with conventional proteomic methodologies, to investigate protein induction in vascular-targeted strategies. Proteins thought to be involved in tumourigenesis and drug treatment resistance were observed along with the responses from proteins identified via the techniques used, in this global analysis study. MALDI-MSI, LC-ESI-MS/MS, LC-MALDI-MS/MS with iTRAQ labelling and immunohistochemistry intended to provide cross validation of the effects post administration of vascular disrupting agent CA-4-P. Two mouse fibrosarcoma models (expressing VEGF120/ VEGF188 isoforms only) following treatment with the tubulin-binding tumour vascular disrupting agent, combretastatin A-4-phosphate (CA-4-P) have been studied. The gross haemorrhagic pharmacological response elicited by CA-4-P was visible by MALDI-MSI throughout the fibrosarcoma 120 time course. The latter encouraged the prospect that other proteins could potentially be observed induced via a dose response relationship. The haemoglobin time course using the resistant 188 tumour model gave quite different results to those previously seen in the MALDI-MSI of the fibrosarcoma 120 data set. The first indication of the 'switch back to tissue viability' concept was revealed. The experimental work using LC-ESI-MS/MS revealed many proteins connected with necrosis, apoptosis, cell structural reorganisation, polymerisation, tumour survival and stress induced molecular chaperones. The inverse correlation of structural proteins, haemoglobin and heat shock molecular chaperones gave the required validation and identification to relate these responses to those seen in MALDI-MSI. The relationship pathways generated by using STRING 9.0 proteomic network software gave an invaluable insight into the activity of the active tumour milieu and provided a means of linking the identified proteins to their functional partners. Protein-protein interactions could be observed to help interpretation of the MALDI-MSI, LC-ESI-MS/MS and iTRAQ LC-ESI-MS/MS response graphs. Overall, the dose relationships observed in the iTRAQ data by the proteins involved in haemorrhaging, structural remodelling, were in good agreement with the other techniques employed here.It could be said that MALDI-MSI could potentially forge a place in the workflow of clinical diagnostics. Targeted approaches for the observation of disease biomarkers could be visualised using MALDI-MSI and serve as a complimentary technique to standard clinical imaging. A novel method reported here using a multi-peptide recombinant standard could prove an important diagnostic tool for the analysis of patient biopsies and tissue micro-arrays. The exciting prospect is the diversity of a multi-peptide recombinant standard, an artificial construct that can be engineered to include any prospective biomarkers for both research and diagnostic screening applications