'Meaning in life? Make it as bearable , enjoyable and good as possible!' A qualitative study among community-dwelling aged adults who receive home nursing in the Netherlands

The population of adults ageing in place and using home‐care services is growing rapidly worldwide. Meaning in life (MiL) of this group of clients is relevant for healthcare and social workers. MiL is associated with many positive outcomes, but can be challenging for aged persons. Objective of this study was to explore MiL in daily life of community‐dwelling aged persons who receive homecare. A hermeneutic phenomenological approach was followed. Three waves of semi‐structured interviews took place among 24 clients of a home‐care organisation in the Netherlands between November 2015 and July 2018. Photo‐elicitation was part of the interview procedure. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis and dialogues enhanced understanding. Findings show that participants derived meaning from self, others, environment and living. The process of retaining MiL involved maintaining, adapting and discovering. We conclude that community‐dwelling aged adults can draw MiL from many sources. Retaining MiL is interwoven in everyday life and requires continuous adaptation to ever‐changing life conditions during later life. Although relevant general themes were sketched in this paper, the importance of each, and the connections between them, vary and come to light at the individual level. The themes in this paper and the cases in the appendices provide insights that may help professionals recognise MiL in their work. Besides listening to the stories of aged adults, person‐centred interventions should support aged adult's strategy to retain MiL

Developing cardiac and skeletal muscle share fast-skeletal myosin heavy chain and cardiac troponin-I expression

Skeletal muscle derived stem cells (MDSCs) transplanted into injured myocardium can differentiate into fast skeletal muscle specific myosin heavy chain (sk-fMHC) and cardiac specific troponin-I (cTn-I) positive cells sustaining recipient myocardial function. We have recently found that MDSCs differentiate into a cardiomyocyte phenotype within a three-dimensional gel bioreactor. It is generally accepted that terminally differentiated myocardium or skeletal muscle only express cTn-I or sk-fMHC, respectively. Studies have shown the presence of non-cardiac muscle proteins in the developing myocardium or cardiac proteins in pathological skeletal muscle. In the current study, we tested the hypothesis that normal developing myocardium and skeletal muscle transiently share both sk-fMHC and cTn-I proteins. Immunohistochemistry, western blot, and RT-PCR analyses were carried out in embryonic day 13 (ED13) and 20 (ED20), neonatal day 0 (ND0) and 4 (ND4), postnatal day 10 (PND10), and 8 week-old adult female Lewis rat ventricular myocardium and gastrocnemius muscle. Confocal laser microscopy revealed that sk-fMHC was expressed as a typical striated muscle pattern within ED13 ventricular myocardium, and the striated sk-fMHC expression was lost by ND4 and became negative in adult myocardium. cTn-I was not expressed as a typical striated muscle pattern throughout the myocardium until PND10. Western blot and RT-PCR analyses revealed that gene and protein expression patterns of cardiac and skeletal muscle transcription factors and sk-fMHC within ventricular myocardium and skeletal muscle were similar at ED20, and the expression patterns became cardiac or skeletal muscle specific during postnatal development. These findings provide new insight into cardiac muscle development and highlight previously unknown common developmental features of cardiac and skeletal muscle. © 2012 Clause et al

MicroRNAs in pulmonary arterial remodeling

Pulmonary arterial remodeling is a presently irreversible pathologic hallmark of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). This complex disease involves pathogenic dysregulation of all cell types within the small pulmonary arteries contributing to vascular remodeling leading to intimal lesions, resulting in elevated pulmonary vascular resistance and right heart dysfunction. Mutations within the bone morphogenetic protein receptor 2 gene, leading to dysregulated proliferation of pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells, have been identified as being responsible for heritable PAH. Indeed, the disease is characterized by excessive cellular proliferation and resistance to apoptosis of smooth muscle and endothelial cells. Significant gene dysregulation at the transcriptional and signaling level has been identified. MicroRNAs are small non-coding RNA molecules that negatively regulate gene expression and have the ability to target numerous genes, therefore potentially controlling a host of gene regulatory and signaling pathways. The major role of miRNAs in pulmonary arterial remodeling is still relatively unknown although research data is emerging apace. Modulation of miRNAs represents a possible therapeutic target for altering the remodeling phenotype in the pulmonary vasculature. This review will focus on the role of miRNAs in regulating smooth muscle and endothelial cell phenotypes and their influence on pulmonary remodeling in the setting of PAH

Maternal xNorrin, a Canonical Wnt Signaling Agonist and TGF-β Antagonist, Controls Early Neuroectoderm Specification in Xenopus

Xenopus maternal Norrin, which activates Wnt signaling but inhibits TGF-β family molecules, is essential for neuroectoderm formation. Loss of TGF-β inhibition in Norrin may contribute to the development of Norrie disease

BAMBI Regulates Angiogenesis and Endothelial Homeostasis through Modulation of Alternative TGFβ Signaling

BACKGROUND: BAMBI is a type I TGFβ receptor antagonist, whose in vivo function remains unclear, as BAMBI(-/-) mice lack an obvious phenotype. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Identifying BAMBI's functions requires identification of cell-specific expression of BAMBI. By immunohistology we found BAMBI expression restricted to endothelial cells and by electron microscopy BAMBI(-/-) mice showed prominent and swollen endothelial cells in myocardial and glomerular capillaries. In endothelial cells over-expression of BAMBI reduced, whereas knock-down enhanced capillary growth and migration in response to TGFβ. In vivo angiogenesis was enhanced in matrigel implants and in glomerular hypertrophy after unilateral nephrectomy in BAMBI(-/-) compared to BAMBI(+/+) mice consistent with an endothelial phenotype for BAMBI(-/-) mice. BAMBI's mechanism of action in endothelial cells was examined by canonical and alternative TGFβ signaling in HUVEC with over-expression or knock-down of BAMBI. BAMBI knockdown enhanced basal and TGFβ stimulated SMAD1/5 and ERK1/2 phosphorylation, while over-expression prevented both. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Thus we provide a first description of a vascular phenotype for BAMBI(-/-) mice, and provide in vitro and in vivo evidence that BAMBI contributes to endothelial and vascular homeostasis. Further, we demonstrate that in endothelial cells BAMBI interferes with alternative TGFβ signaling, most likely through the ALK 1 receptor, which may explain the phenotype observed in BAMBI(-/-) mice. This newly described role for BAMBI in regulating endothelial function has potential implications for understanding and treating vascular disease and tumor neo-angiogenesis

Grain Surface Models and Data for Astrochemistry

AbstractThe cross-disciplinary field of astrochemistry exists to understand the formation, destruction, and survival of molecules in astrophysical environments. Molecules in space are synthesized via a large variety of gas-phase reactions, and reactions on dust-grain surfaces, where the surface acts as a catalyst. A broad consensus has been reached in the astrochemistry community on how to suitably treat gas-phase processes in models, and also on how to present the necessary reaction data in databases; however, no such consensus has yet been reached for grain-surface processes. A team of ∼25 experts covering observational, laboratory and theoretical (astro)chemistry met in summer of 2014 at the Lorentz Center in Leiden with the aim to provide solutions for this problem and to review the current state-of-the-art of grain surface models, both in terms of technical implementation into models as well as the most up-to-date information available from experiments and chemical computations. This review builds on the results of this workshop and gives an outlook for future directions

Direct targets of Klf5 transcription factor contribute to the maintenance of mouse embryonic stem cell undifferentiated state

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>A growing body of evidence has shown that Krüppel-like transcription factors play a crucial role in maintaining embryonic stem cell (ESC) pluripotency and in governing ESC fate decisions. Krüppel-like factor 5 (Klf5) appears to play a critical role in these processes, but detailed knowledge of the molecular mechanisms of this function is still not completely addressed.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>By combining genome-wide chromatin immunoprecipitation and microarray analysis, we have identified 161 putative primary targets of Klf5 in ESCs. We address three main points: (1) the relevance of the pathways governed by Klf5, demonstrating that suppression or constitutive expression of single Klf5 targets robustly affect the ESC undifferentiated phenotype; (2) the specificity of Klf5 compared to factors belonging to the same family, demonstrating that many Klf5 targets are not regulated by Klf2 and Klf4; and (3) the specificity of Klf5 function in ESCs, demonstrated by the significant differences between Klf5 targets in ESCs compared to adult cells, such as keratinocytes.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Taken together, these results, through the definition of a detailed list of Klf5 transcriptional targets in mouse ESCs, support the important and specific functional role of Klf5 in the maintenance of the undifferentiated ESC phenotype.</p> <p>See: <url>http://www.biomedcental.com/1741-7007/8/125</url></p

Retinoic Acid Mediates Regulation of Network Formation by COUP-TFII and VE-Cadherin Expression by TGFβ Receptor Kinase in Breast Cancer Cells

Tumor development, growth, and metastasis depend on the provision of an adequate vascular supply. This can be due to regulated angiogenesis, recruitment of circulating endothelial progenitors, and/or vascular transdifferentiation. Our previous studies showed that retinoic acid (RA) treatment converts a subset of breast cancer cells into cells with significant endothelial genotypic and phenotypic elements including marked induction of VE-cadherin, which was responsible for some but not all morphological changes. The present study demonstrates that of the endothelial-related genes induced by RA treatment, only a few were affected by knockdown of VE-cadherin, ruling it out as a regulator of the RA-induced endothelial genotypic switch. In contrast, knockdown of the RA-induced gene COUP-TFII prevented the formation of networks in Matrigel but had no effect on VE-cadherin induction or cell fusion. Two pan-kinase inhibitors markedly blocked RA-induced VE-cadherin expression and cell fusion. However, RA treatment resulted in a marked and broad reduction in tyrosine kinase activity. Several genes in the TGFβ signaling pathway were induced by RA, and specific inhibition of the TGFβ type I receptor blocked both RA-induced VE-cadherin expression and cell fusion. Together these data indicate a role for the TGFβ pathway and COUP-TFII in mediating the endothelial transdifferentiating properties of RA