Secrecy within adoptive families and its impact on adult adoptees

As part of a larger study, 144 adult adoptees completed a survey that included a number of background items and standardised questionnaires. Of most relevance to this article was an item that tapped the adoptive family’s attitude towards discussing the topic of adoption, with responses ranging from open and honest discussion through to secrecy. Attachment and parental bonding were also assessed

Enhancing academic self-efficacy and performance among fourth year psychology students: Findings from a short educational intervention

Academic self-efficacy is the degree to which students believe they are capable of learning or accomplishing an academic task within a specific area of education. High academic self-efficacy has been associated with positive education outcomes such as enhanced learning, motivation, self-determination, and ultimately academic performance. The current study designed, implemented and evaluated an educational intervention to enhance the academic self-efficacy and performance of 21 psychology students enrolled in a group supervised Honours course, the outcome being a thesis dissertation. Students completed pre-intervention surveys in class half way through the course and then another survey after the 8-week intervention. Measures of self-efficacy (based on student responses) were similar over the two assessments. Furthermore, self-efficacy did not predict academic outcomes as determined by two independent examiners’ final marks on their thesis. Findings are discussed in relation to limitations of the data and challenges faced when implementing interventions aimed to enhance academic self-efficacy

Assessment of the performance of an ATP based rapid bacterial indicator test on potable water samples.

Introduction: There is an increasing need for more rapid detection methods for drinking water supplies; especially in developing areas. Hygiena International Ltd are a research and development company which have developed an ATP based technology called the MicroSnap (MS) system. MS is currently used in the food industries for the enumeration of bacteria in food samples. The purpose of this study was to determine whether this system could be applicable to the drinking water sector, by investigating the sensitivity and specificity of the product. Methods and Results: There are four MicroSnap devices, MS Total count, Enterobacteriaceae (EB), Coliform, and E. coli. All four systems were analysed using pure bacterial cultures, as positive and negative control strains, to determine if the systems produced accurate and consistent results. Throughout initial testing, MS E. coli consistently produced relative light units (RLU) which were an underestimation of the bacterial load in the presented samples. These results formed the hypothesis that the lytic agent (extractant) in the detection devices was only allowing for a low percentage of bacterial cell lysis. The poor cell lysis meant that the detectable biomarker; β-Glucuronidase, was unlikely to be freed from cells in high enough numbers to be correctly quantifiable by the MS E. coli detection system. Therefore, the original extractant was compared to one altered by Hygiena using plate count methods, and within the MS system. The results gained through these tests showed that the new extractant increased the percentage of cell lysis occurring and thus when analysed within the system, produced higher RLU results. Conclusion: MS E. coli demonstrated that it is not yet applicable in the water sector as the WHO guidelines state that detection method must detect down to 1 CFU per 100ml of water. This investigation found that the lower detection limit for the MS system was around 101 and 102 CFU per ml of water. In order to increase the sensitivity two alterations to the system have been proposed to Hygiena International Ltd. With these suggestions, the system could reduce the current time taken to detect bacteria using traditional methods, down to 7 hours

Regulation of protein kinase B and glycogen synthase kinase-3 by insulin and beta-adrenergic agonists in rat epididymal fat cells - Activation of protein kinase B by wortmannin-sensitive and -insensittve mechanisms

Previous studies using L6 myotubes have suggested that glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK-3) is phosphoryl ated and inactivated in response to insulin by protein kinase B (PKB, also known as Akt or RAG) (Cross, D, A, E., Alessi, D, R., Cohen, P., Andjelkovic, M., and Hemmings, B, A. (1995) Nature 378, 785-789), In the present study, marked increases in the activity of PKB have been shown to occur in insulin-treated rat epididymal fat cells with a time course compatible with the observed decrease in GSK-3 activity, Isoproterenol, acting primarily through beta(3)-adrenoreceptors, was found to decrease GSK-3 activity to a similar extent (approximately 50%) to insulin, However, unlike the effect of insulin, the inhibition of GSK by isoproterenol was not found to be sensitive to inhibition by the phosphatidylinositol 3'-kinase inhibitors, wortmannin or LY 294002, The change in GSK-3 activity brought about by isoproterenol could not be mimicked by the addition of permeant cyclic AMP analogues or forskolin to the cells, although at the concentrations used, these agents were able to stimulate lipolysis. Isoproterenol, but again not the cyclic AMP analogues, was found to increase the activity of PKB, although to a lesser extent than insulin. While wortmannin abolished the stimulation of PKB activity by insulin, it was without effect on the activation seen in response to isoproterenol, The activation of PKB by isoproterenol was not accompanied by any detectable change in the electrophoretic mobility of the protein on SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. It would therefore appear that distinct mechanisms exist for the stimulation of PKB by insulin and isoproterenol in rat fat cells

Human Skeletal Muscle Possesses an Epigenetic Memory of Hypertrophy

It is unknown if adult human skeletal muscle has an epigenetic memory of earlier encounters with growth. We report, for the first time in humans, genome-wide DNA methylation (850,000 CpGs) and gene expression analysis after muscle hypertrophy (loading), return of muscle mass to baseline (unloading), followed by later hypertrophy (reloading). We discovered increased frequency of hypomethylation across the genome after reloading (18,816 CpGs) versus earlier loading (9,153 CpG sites). We also identified AXIN1, GRIK2, CAMK4, TRAF1 as hypomethylated genes with enhanced expression after loading that maintained their hypomethylated status even during unloading where muscle mass returned to control levels, indicating a memory of these genes methylation signatures following earlier hypertrophy. Further, UBR5, RPL35a, HEG1, PLA2G16, SETD3 displayed hypomethylation and enhanced gene expression following loading, and demonstrated the largest increases in hypomethylation, gene expression and muscle mass after later reloading, indicating an epigenetic memory in these genes. Finally, genes; GRIK2, TRAF1, BICC1, STAG1 were epigenetically sensitive to acute exercise demonstrating hypomethylation after a single bout of resistance exercise that was maintained 22 weeks later with the largest increase in gene expression and muscle mass after reloading. Overall, we identify an important epigenetic role for a number of largely unstudied genes in muscle hypertrophy/memory

Myoblast models of skeletal muscle hypertrophy and atrophy

Purpose of review: To highlight recent breakthroughs and controversies in the use of myoblast models to uncover cellular and molecular mechanisms regulating skeletal muscle hypertrophy and atrophy. Recent findings: Myoblast cultures provide key mechanistic models of the signalling and molecular pathways potentially employed by skeletal muscle in-vivo to regulate hypertrophy and atrophy. Recently the controversy as to whether insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-I is important in hypertrophy following mechanical stimuli vs. alternative pathways has been hotly debated and is discussed. The role of myostatin in myoblast models of atrophy and interactions between protein synthetic pathways including Akt/mTOR and the ‘atrogenes’ are explored. Summary: Targeted in-vivo experimentation directed by skeletal muscle cell culture and bioengineering (three-dimensional skeletal muscle cell culture models) will provide key biomimetic and mechanistic data regarding hypertrophy and atrophy and thus enable the development of important strategies for tackling muscle wasting associated with ageing and disease processes

Purification and characterization of native human insulin-like growth factor binding protein-6

Insulin-like growth factor binding proteins (IGFBPs) are key regulators of insulin-like growth factor (IGF) mediated signal transduction and thereby can profoundly influence cellular phenotypes and cell fate. Whereas IGFBPs are extracellular proteins, intracellular activities were described for several IGFBP family members, such as IGFBP-3, which can be reinternalized by endocytosis and reaches the nucleus through routes that remain to be fully established. Within the family of IGFBPs, IGFBP-6 is unique for its specific binding to IGF-II. IGFBP-6 was described to possess additional IGF-independent activities, which have in part been attributed to its translocation to the nucleus; however, cellular uptake of IGFBP-6 was not described. To further explore IGFBP-6 functions, we developed a new method for the purification of native human IGFBP-6 from cell culture supernatants, involving a four-step affinity purification procedure, which yields highly enriched IGFBP-6. Whereas protein purified in this way retained the capacity to interact with IGF-II and modulate IGF-dependent signal transduction, our data suggest that, unlike IGFBP-3, human IGFBP-6 is not readily internalized by human tumor cells. To summarize, this work describes a novel and efficient method for the purification of native human insulin-like growth factor binding protein 6 (IGFBP-6) from human cell culture supernatants, applying a four-step chromatography procedure. Intactness of purified IGFBP-6 was confirmed by IGF ligand Western blot and ability to modulate IGF-dependent signal transduction. Cellular uptake studies were performed to further characterize the purified protein, showing no short-term uptake of IGFBP-6, in contrast to IGFBP-3