What do general practitioners think about an online self-regulation programme for health promotion?: focus group interviews

Background: Chronic diseases may be prevented through programmes that promote physical activity and healthy nutrition. Computer-tailoring programmes are effective in changing behaviour in the short- and long-term. An important issue is the implementation of these programmes in general practice. However, there are several barriers that hinder the adoption of eHealth programmes in general practice. This study explored the feasibility of an eHealth programme that was designed, using self-regulation principles. Methods: Seven focus group interviews (a total of 62 GPs) were organized to explore GPs¿ opinions about the feasibility of the eHealth programme for prevention in general practice. At the beginning of each focus group, GPs were informed about the principles of the self-regulation programme `My Plan¿. Open-ended questions were used to assess the opinion of GPs about the content and the use of the programme. The focus groups discussions were audio-taped, transcribed and thematically analysed via NVivo software. Results: The majority of the GPs was positive about the use of self-regulation strategies and about the use of computer-tailored programmes in general practice. There were contradictory results about the delivery mode of the programme. GPs also indicated that the programme might be less suited for patients with a low educational level or for old patients. Conclusions: Overall, GPs are positive about the adoption of self-regulation techniques for health promotion in their practice. However, they raised doubts about the adoption in general practice. This barrier may be addressed (1) by offering various ways to deliver the programme, and (2) by allowing flexibility to match different work flow systems. GPs also believed that the acceptability and usability of the programmes was low for patients who are old or with low education. The issues raised by GPs will need to be taken into account when developing and implementing an eHealth programme in general practice

Glucocorticoid receptor-mediated transactivation is hampered by Striatin-3, a novel interaction partner of the receptor

The transcriptional activity of the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) is co-determined by its ability to recruit a vast and varying number of cofactors. We here identify Striatin-3 ( STRN3) as a novel interaction partner of GR that interferes with GR's ligand-dependent transactivation capacity. Remarkably, STRN3 selectively affects only GR-dependent transactivation and leaves GR-dependent transrepression mechanisms unhampered. We found that STRN3 down-regulates GR transactivation by an additional recruitment of the catalytic subunit of protein phosphatase 2A (PPP2CA) to GR. We hypothesize the existence of a functional trimeric complex in the nucleus, able to dephosphorylate GR at serine 211, a known marker for GR transactivation in a target gene-dependent manner. The presence of STRN3 appears an absolute prerequisite for PPP2CA to engage in a complex with GR. Herein, the C-terminal domain of GR is essential, reflecting ligand-dependency, yet other receptor parts are also needed to create additional contacts with STRN3

Building mutational bridges between carbohydrate-active enzymes

The commercial value of specialty carbohydrates and glycosylated compounds has sparked considerable interest in the synthetic potential of carbohydrate-active enzymes (CAZymes). Protein engineering methods have proven to be highly successful in expanding the range of glycosylation reactions that these enzymes can perform efficiently and costeffectively. The past few years have witnessed meaningful progress in this area, largely due to a sharper focus on the understanding of structure-function relationships and mechanistic intricacies. Here, we summarize recent studies that demonstrate how protein engineers have become much better at traversing the fitness landscape of CAZymes through mutational bridges that connect the different activity types

Evolution of phosphorylases from N-acetylglucosaminide hydrolases in family GH3

Glycoside phosphorylases hold great potential as catalysts for the synthesis of valuable sugars, glycosides, and glycans or for the development of energy-efficient microbial cell factories. However, the number of available phosphorylase specificities is rather limited. Here, we show that it is possible to establish significant phosphorylase activity in GH3 glycoside hydrolases from Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Bacillus subtilis. Single-site substitutions could introduce the ability to produce glycosyl phosphates, and a combinatorial saturation study demonstrated that this promiscuous side activity can be further optimized through various mutational paths. These findings suggest that future endeavors for the development of phosphorylases could start from hydrolases as engineering templates. In addition, we provide further insights into the elusive determinants of phosphorylase activity in natural GH3 phosphorylases

Error adaptation in mental arithmetic

Until now, error and conflict adaptation have been studied extensively using simple laboratory tasks. A common finding is that responses slow down after errors. According to the conflict monitoring theory, performance should also improve after an error. However, this is usually not observed. In this study, we investigated if the characteristics of the experimental paradigms normally used could explain this absence. More precisely, these paradigms have in common that behavioral adaptation has little room to be expressed. We therefore studied error and conflict adaptation effects in a task that encounters the richness of everyday life’s behavioral adaptation, namely mental arithmetic, where multiple solution strategies are available. In accordance with our hypothesis, we observed post error accuracy increases after errors in mental arithmetic. No support for conflict adaptation in mental arithmetic was found. Implications for current theories of conflict and error monitoring are discussed