International Study of Chaplains’ Attitudes About Research

An online survey was conducted by twelve professional chaplain organizations to assess chaplains’ attitudes about and involvement in research. A total of 2,092 chaplains from 23 countries responded to the survey. Over 80% thought research was definitely important and nearly 70% thought chaplains should definitely be research literate. Just over 40% said they regularly read research articles and almost 60% said they occasionally did. The respondents rated their own research literacy as 6.5 on a 0–10 scale. Significant positive inter-correlations were found among all four measures: importance of (a) research and (b) research literacy; (c) frequency of reading articles; and (d) research literacy rating. Approximately 35% were never involved, 37% had been involved, 17% were currently involved, and 11% expected to be involved in research. The last three groups were significantly more likely to think research and research literacy were important and to read research articles than chaplains who were never involved in research. Given chaplains’ interest in research, actions should be undertaken to facilitate further research engagement

Calorimetric Investigation of Copper Binding in the N-Terminal Region of the Prion Protein at Low Copper Loading: Evidence for an Entropically Favorable First Binding Event

Although the Cu²⁺-binding sites of the prion protein have been well studied when the protein is fully saturated by Cu²⁺, the Cu²⁺-loading mechanism is just beginning to come into view. Because the Cu²⁺-binding modes at low and intermediate Cu²⁺ occupancy necessarily represent the highest-affinity binding modes, these are very likely populated under physiological conditions, and it is thus essential to characterize them in order to understand better the biological function of copper–prion interactions. Besides binding-affinity data, almost no other thermodynamic parameters (e.g., Δ<i>H</i> and Δ<i>S</i>) have been measured, thus leaving undetermined the enthalpic and entropic factors that govern the free energy of Cu²⁺ binding to the prion protein. In this study, isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) was used to quantify the thermodynamic parameters (<i>K</i>, Δ<i>G</i>, Δ<i>H</i>, and <i>T</i>Δ<i>S</i>) of Cu²⁺ binding to a peptide, PrP­(23–28, 57–98), that encompasses the majority of the residues implicated in Cu²⁺ binding by full-length PrP. Use of the buffer <i>N</i>-(2-acetomido)-aminoethanesulfonic acid (ACES), which is also a well-characterized Cu²⁺ chelator, allowed for the isolation of the two highest affinity binding events. Circular dichroism spectroscopy was used to characterize the different binding modes as a function of added Cu²⁺. The <i>K</i>_d values determined by ITC, 7 and 380 nM, are well in line with those reported by others. The first binding event benefits significantly from a positive entropy, whereas the second binding event is enthalpically driven. The thermodynamic values associated with Cu²⁺ binding by the Aβ peptide, which is implicated in Alzheimer’s disease, bear striking parallels to those found here for the prion protein

Spiritual Struggle in Parents of Children with Cystic Fibrosis Increases Odds of Depression

Objective. Spiritual struggle (SS) is associated with poorer health outcomes including depression. The study’s main objectives were to characterize change in depression over time, examine longitudinal associations between SS and depression, and determine the extent to which experiencing SS at baseline was predictive of developing depression at follow-up. Methods. A two-site study collected questionnaire responses of parents (N=112; 72% female) of children with cystic fibrosis followed longitudinally. Generalized linear mixed effects modeling examined the association between depression and SS over time and assessed potential mediators, moderators, and confounders. Results. Prevalence of depression increased from baseline to follow-up (OR: 3.6, P<0.0001), regardless of degree of SS. Parents with Moderate/Severe SS were more likely to have depressive symptoms, compared to parents without SS (OR: 15.2, P=0.0003) and parents who had Mild SS (OR: 10.2, P=0.0001). Being female and feeling less “at peace” also significantly predicted increased depression (OR: 2.5, P=0.0397, and OR: 1.15, P=0.0419, resp.). Experiencing SS at baseline was not predictive of having depression subsequently at follow-up. Conclusions. Parents experiencing SS were significantly more likely to report depressive symptoms. Interventions to reduce SS have shown efficacy and may be considered