Alkaloid escholidine and its interaction with DNA structures

Berberine, the most known quaternary protoberberine alkaloid (QPA), has been reported to inhibit the SIK3 protein connected with breast cancer. Berberine also appears to reduce the bcl-2 and XIAP expression-proteins responsible for the inhibition of apoptosis. As some problems in the therapy with berberine arose, we studied the DNA binding properties of escholidine, another QPA alkaloid. CD, fluorescence, and NMR examined models of i-motif and G-quadruplex sequences present in the n-myc gene and the c-kit gene. We provide evidence that escholidine does not induce stabilization of the i-motif sequences, while the interaction with G-quadruplex structures appears to be more significant

Rationed nursing care – conclusions from focus groups

Aim. The focus groups aimed to outline the main areas of missed care and identify how the causes, effects and potential solution proposals are perceived

Patient satisfaction with nursing care in surgical departments

Aim: The aim of the study was to assess patients' satisfaction with the nursing care provided in surgical departments, to determine relationships between demographic and clinical characteristics of patients and their satisfaction, and to compare patients' satisfaction according to the medical facilities where they were hospitalized. Methods: A descriptive correlation study. The research sample consisted of 279 patients from the surgical departments of four hospitals in Ostrava and its surroundings. Data were collected in the autumn of 2009 using the standardized instrument Patient Satisfaction Scale (PSS). Results: Patients rated the items, which are grouped into three factors: -technical/rational, - information, - interaction and support on the four-point Likert scale. In all of the hospitals, the patients were most satisfied with the technical aspects of the nursing care, but less satisfied with the information provided to them. Patients valued the professionalism of nurses the most. Only two demographic characteristics influenced patients' satisfaction: - education, and - length of hospitalization. Patients with higher professional education were more satisfied than patients with secondary education. Patients hospitalized for more than a week expressed greater satisfaction in all assessed areas of the questionnaire. There were no significant differences in the evaluation of patients' satisfaction among the hospitals. Conclusion: The results of the study did not demonstrate any statistical differences in patients' satisfaction according to hospital, nor were there demonstrated any significant effects of demographic factors on their satisfaction. The Patient Satisfaction Scale is an example of a quality instrument with proven psychometric parameters, which is suitable for measuring patient satisfaction with nursing care in the Czech environment

Naturally occurring quaternary benzo[c]phenanthridine alkaloids selectively stabilize G quadruplexes

In this work, the interaction of six natural benzo[c]phenanthridine alkaloids (macarpine, sanguilutine, sanguirubine, chelerythrine, sanguinarine and chelirubine) with parallel and antiparallel G-quadruplex DNA structures was studied. HT22 corresponding to the end of human telomere and the modified promoter oncogenes c-kit21 and Pu22 sequences have been used. Spectroscopically-monitored melting experiments and fluorescence titrations, competitive dialysis and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy were used with this purpose. The results showed that these alkaloids stabilized G-quadruplex structures in terms of increments of Tm values (from 15 to 25 oC) with high selectivity over duplexes and unfolded DNA. The mode of binding was mainly by stacking on the terminal G-tetrads with stoichiometries 1:2 (DNA:ligand). The presence of non-specific electrostatics interaction was also observed. Overall, the results pointed to a strong stabilization of G-quadruplex structures by these alkaloids