Symptom clusters and quality of life in China patients with lung cancer undergoing chemotherapy

Objective: To explore the symptom clusters and quality of life in patients with lung cancer undergoing chemotherapy. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was completed with 183 patients from three public hospitals in Xi’an, China. Patients completed a demographic questionnaire, the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Lung Cancer (FACT-L) and the M. D. Anderson Symptom Inventory (MDASI-C). Factor analysis was used to identify symptom clusters based on the severity of patients’ symptom experiences. The resulting clusters were correlated with quality-of-life measures. Results: The QOL scores of lung cancer patients on the functioning subscale were the lowest (9.70±5.30), while those of the family subscale were the highest (19.28±3.24). Three symptom clusters were identified: gastrointestinal, emotional and fatigue–related symptoms. There was a negative relationship between the symptom clusters and multiple dimensions of quality of life (r -0.178～-0.805, p< 0. 05). Females, especially those women with low education level /chronic diseases, were experienced greater symptom distress than others. Conclusions: The clusters had a negative relationship with QOL. Identifying symptom clusters helped clarify possible inter-relationships which may lead to the establishment of more effective symptom management interventions for patients with lung cancer in order to improve the quality of life.Keywords: symptom clusters, lung cancer, factor analysis, symptom management, quality of lifeAfrican Health sciences Vol 14 No. 1 March 201

Positive Solutions of Nonlocal Boundary Value Problem for High-Order Nonlinear Fractional -Difference Equations

We study the nonlinear -difference equations of fractional order ( )( ) + ( , ( )) = 0, 0 < < 1, ( where is the fractional -derivative of the Riemann-Liouville type of order , − 1 < ≤ , > 2, 1 ≤ ≤ − 2, and 0 ≤ ≤ 1. We obtain the existence and multiplicity results of positive solutions by using some fixed point theorems. Finally, we give examples to illustrate the results

Cell-Based Assays in High-Throughput Screening for Drug Discovery

Drug screening is a long and costly process confronted with low productivity and challenges in using animals, which limit the discovery of new drugs.  To improve drug screening efficacy and minimize animal testing, recent efforts have been dedicated to developing cell-based high throughput screening (HTS) platforms that can provide more relevant in vivo biological information than biochemical assays and thus reduce the number of animal tests and accelerate the drug discovery process. Today, cell-based assays are used in more than half of all high-throughput drug screenings for target validation and ADMET (absorption, distribution, metabolism, elimination and toxicity) in the early stage of drug discovery. In this review, we discuss the uses of different types of cells and cell culture systems, including 2D, 3D and perfusion cell cultures, in cell-based HTS for drug discovery. Optical and electrochemical methods for online, non-invasive detection and quantification of cells or cellular activities are discussed. Recent progresses and applications of 3D cultures and microfluidic systems for cell-based HTS are also discussed, followed with several successful examples of using cell-based HTS in commercial development of new drugs. Finally, a brief discussion on potential applications of cell-based HTS for screening phytochemicals and herbal medicines is provided in this review

Mechanisms of increased risk of tumorigenesis in Atm and Brca1 double heterozygosity

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Both epidemiological and experimental studies suggest that heterozygosity for a single gene is linked with tumorigenesis and heterozygosity for two genes increases the risk of tumor incidence. Our previous work has demonstrated that <it>Atm/Brca1 </it>double heterozygosity leads to higher cell transformation rate than single heterozygosity. However, the underlying mechanisms have not been fully understood yet. In the present study, a series of pathways were investigated to clarify the possible mechanisms of increased risk of tumorigenesis in <it>Atm </it>and <it>Brca1 </it>heterozygosity.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Wild type cells, <it>Atm </it>or <it>Brca1 </it>single heterozygous cells, and <it>Atm</it>/<it>Brca1 </it>double heterozygous cells were used to investigate DNA damage and repair, cell cycle, micronuclei, and cell transformation after photon irradiation.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Remarkable high transformation frequency was confirmed in <it>Atm</it>/<it>Brca1 </it>double heterozygous cells compared to wild type cells. It was observed that delayed DNA damage recognition, disturbed cell cycle checkpoint, incomplete DNA repair, and increased genomic instability were involved in the biological networks. Haploinsufficiency of either ATM or BRCA1 negatively impacts these pathways.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The quantity of critical proteins such as ATM and BRCA1 plays an important role in determination of the fate of cells exposed to ionizing radiation and double heterozygosity increases the risk of tumorigenesis. These findings also benefit understanding of the individual susceptibility to tumor initiation.</p

Resistance to preservatives and the viable but non-culturable state formation of Asaia lannensis in flavored syrups

Food security is a crucial issue that has caused extensive concern, and the use of food flavors has become prevalent over time. we used the molecular biological techniques, preservative susceptibility testing, viable but non-culturable (VBNC) state induction testing, and a transcriptome analysis to examine the bacterial contamination of favored syrup and identify the causes and develop effective control measures. The results showed that Asaia lannensis WLS1-1 is a microorganism that can spoil food and is a member of the acetic acid bacteria families. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) tests showed that WLS1-1 was susceptible to potassium sorbate (PS), sodium benzoate (SB), and sodium sulffte (SS) at pH 4.0. It revealed a progressive increase in resistance to these preservatives at increasing pH values. WLS1-1 was resistant to PS, SB and SS with an MIC of 4.0, 2.0 and 0.5  g/L at pH 5.0, respectively. The MIC values exceed the maximum permissible concentrations that can be added. The induction test of the VBNC state demonstrated that WLS1-1 lost its ability to grow after 321 days of PS induction, 229  days of SB induction and 52  days of SS induction combined with low temperature at 4°C. Additionally, laser confocal microscopy and a propidium monoazide-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PMA-qPCR) assay showed that WLS1-1 was still alive after VBNC formation. There were 7.192 ± 0.081 (PS), 5.416 ± 0.149 (SB) and 2.837 ± 0.134 (SS) log10(CFU/mL) of viable bacteria. An analysis of the transcriptome data suggests that Asaia lannensis can enter the VBNC state by regulating oxidative stress and decreasing protein synthesis and metabolic activity in response to low temperature and preservatives. The relative resistance of Asaia lannensis to preservatives and the induction of the VBNC state by preservatives are the primary factors that contribute to the contamination of favored syrup by this bacterium. To our knowledge, this study represents the first evidence of the ability of Asaia lannensis to enter the VBNC state and provides a theoretical foundation for the control of organisms with similar types of activity

Phospholemman: a novel cardiac stress protein.

Phospholemman (PLM), a member of the FXYD family of regulators of ion transport, is a major sarcolemmal substrate for protein kinases A and C in cardiac and skeletal muscle. In the heart, PLM co-localizes and co-immunoprecipitates with Na(+)-K(+)-ATPase, Na(+)/Ca(2+) exchanger, and L-type Ca(2+) channel. Functionally, when phosphorylated at serine(68), PLM stimulates Na(+)-K(+)-ATPase but inhibits Na(+)/Ca(2+) exchanger in cardiac myocytes. In heterologous expression systems, PLM modulates the gating of cardiac L-type Ca(2+) channel. Therefore, PLM occupies a key modulatory role in intracellular Na(+) and Ca(2+) homeostasis and is intimately involved in regulation of excitation-contraction (EC) coupling. Genetic ablation of PLM results in a slight increase in baseline cardiac contractility and prolongation of action potential duration. When hearts are subjected to catecholamine stress, PLM minimizes the risks of arrhythmogenesis by reducing Na(+) overload and simultaneously preserves inotropy by inhibiting Na(+)/Ca(2+) exchanger. In heart failure, both expression and phosphorylation state of PLM are altered and may partly account for abnormalities in EC coupling. The unique role of PLM in regulation of Na(+)-K(+)-ATPase, Na(+)/Ca(2+) exchanger, and potentially L-type Ca(2+) channel in the heart, together with the changes in its expression and phosphorylation in heart failure, make PLM a rational and novel target for development of drugs in our armamentarium against heart failure. Clin Trans Sci 2010; Volume 3: 189-196

Quality of life in rectal cancer patients with permanent colostomy in Xi’an

Purposes: The aim of this study was to observe the quality of life (QOL) in rectal cancer patients with permanent colostomy in different periods after operation. Methods: A 1-,3-,6-month prospective study of QOL in 51 rectal cancer patients with permanent colostomy and 50 ones without permanent colostomy was assessed by using European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) QOL-30 and CR38 questionnaires. Results: The variation of QOL in different periods was “v” type. In the 1st postoperative month, these patients had the lowest quality of life scores, accompanied significantly varied functions and severe symptoms. Almost of all indexes of these patients had improved consistently in postoperative periods. The scores of global QOL even better than pre-operative level at 6th months post-operation, but the social function, body image, chemotherapy side effects and financial difficulties had not restored to the baseline level. Patients without permanent colostomy had a better score in most of categories of QOL-30 and CR38. Conclusions: The 1st postoperative month was crucial for patients’ recovery, in which we should pay great attention to these problems which relate to the recovery of rectal cancer patients with permanent colostomy.Keywords: Quality of life, Rectal cancer, Permanent colostomy, EORTC QOL-30 and CR38 questionnairesAfrican Health sciences Vol 14 No. 1 March 201

Highly Efficient Production of Soluble Proteins from Insoluble Inclusion Bodies by a Two-Step-Denaturing and Refolding Method

The production of recombinant proteins in a large scale is important for protein functional and structural studies, particularly by using Escherichia coli over-expression systems; however, approximate 70% of recombinant proteins are over-expressed as insoluble inclusion bodies. Here we presented an efficient method for generating soluble proteins from inclusion bodies by using two steps of denaturation and one step of refolding. We first demonstrated the advantages of this method over a conventional procedure with one denaturation step and one refolding step using three proteins with different folding properties. The refolded proteins were found to be active using in vitro tests and a bioassay. We then tested the general applicability of this method by analyzing 88 proteins from human and other organisms, all of which were expressed as inclusion bodies. We found that about 76% of these proteins were refolded with an average of >75% yield of soluble proteins. This “two-step-denaturing and refolding” (2DR) method is simple, highly efficient and generally applicable; it can be utilized to obtain active recombinant proteins for both basic research and industrial purposes