STAFF NURSE DECISIONAL INVOLVEMENT IN SOUTH KOREA: THE CONCEPT, MEASUREMENT, AND INFLUENCE OF NURSE DECISIONAL INVOLVEMENT ON NURSE JOB SATISFACTION, ORGANIZATIONAL COMMIMENT, AND TURNOVER INTENTION

Improving nurse work environment is essential to address the issue of increased staff nurse turnover. Staff nurse decisional involvement has been studied in terms of improving nurse work environment and reducing staff nurse turnover. Thus, nursing management’s involving staff nurse in decisions at their working unit level would be a good strategy to improve the nurse work environment and reduce staff nurse turnover. This dissertation is composed of three separate studies: The purpose of chapter two was to define the concept, theoretical framework, and related factors of staff nurse decisional involvement and to identify knowledge gaps in staff nurse decisional involvement in English-speaking, Western versus non-English-speaking, Asian countries. A total of 16 articles were selected from 102 articles originally retrieved to fill the knowledge gaps in staff nurse decisional involvement using the PRISMA method. The conceptual framework of staff nurse decisional involvement based on the content and context of nursing practice framework was defined, and the findings showed that staff nurses actually were less involved in decisions than they preferred in to be both Western and Asian countries. The purpose of chapter three was to translate the English Decisional Involvement Scale (DIS) (Havens & Vasey, 2003) into Korean (K-DIS) for use in South Korea. The DIS was refactored so that K-DIS was a five-factor, 19-item measure: Resources and Support Staff, Collaboration/Liaison Activities, Professional Practice Scope and Workforce for Quality of Care, RN Recruitment, and Leadership. The instrument demonstrated good reliability, but its validity was not strongly supported. Thus, further research on assessing the construct validity of the K-DIS is necessary. The purpose of chapter four was to examine the influence of staff nurse decisional involvement on nurse job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and turnover intention. A descriptive correlational design was used to analyze of the data (n=300) from staff nurses working in two university hospitals (i.e., two urban, academic medical centers) in South Korea. The results show that Korean staff nurses prefer more decisional involvement than they actually experienced. The dissonance between the actual and preferred levels was negatively correlated with nurse job satisfaction (rs= -.33, p<.0001) and organizational commitment (rs= -.24, p<.0001). In addition, it was positively correlated with staff nurse turnover intention (rs= .30, p<.0001). Staff nurses’ low decisional involvement in actuality means that staff nurses’ opinions are not reflected in nursing administration decisions to improve the nurse work environment and nursing policies; this may influence increasing nurse turnover. The clarity of the conceptual framework of the DIS will guide nurse administrators and researchers to apply the results of the K-DIS in nursing administration in South Korea. Further study is necessary to improve the construct validity of the K-DIS and to identify positive outcomes of staff nurse decisional involvement in nursing administration in South Korea.Doctor of Philosoph

Quaternary structures of Vac8 differentially regulate the Cvt and PMN pathways.

Armadillo (ARM) repeat proteins constitute a large protein family with diverse and fundamental functions in all organisms, and armadillo repeat domains share high structural similarity. However, exactly how these structurally similar proteins can mediate diverse functions remains a long-standing question. Vac8 (vacuole related 8) is a multifunctional protein that plays pivotal roles in various autophagic pathways, including piecemeal microautophagy of the nucleus (PMN) and cytoplasm-to-vacuole targeting (Cvt) pathways in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Vac8 comprises an H1 helix at the N terminus, followed by 12 armadillo repeats. Herein, we report the crystal structure of Vac8 bound to Atg13, a key component of autophagic machinery. The 70-angstrom extended loop of Atg13 binds to the ARM domain of Vac8 in an antiparallel manner. Structural, biochemical, and in vivo experiments demonstrated that the H1 helix of Vac8 intramolecularly associates with the first ARM and regulates its self-association, which is crucial for Cvt and PMN pathways. The structure of H1 helix-deleted Vac8 complexed with Atg13 reveals that Vac8[Delta 19-33]-Atg13 forms a heterotetramer and adopts an extended superhelical structure exclusively employed in the Cvt pathway. Most importantly, comparison of Vac8-Nvj1 and Vac8-Atg13 provides a molecular understanding of how a single ARM domain protein adopts different quaternary structures depending on its associated proteins to differentially regulate 2 closely related but distinct cellular pathways

Proteomic analysis of pregnancy-related proteins from pig uterus endometrium during pregnancy

Many important molecular events associated with implantation and development occur within the female reproductive tract, especially within the uterus endometrium, during pregnancy periods. The endometrium includes the mucosal lining of the uterus, which provides a suitable site for implantation and development of a fertilized egg and fetus. To date, the molecular cascades in the uterus endometrium during pregnancy periods in pigs have not been elucidated fully. In this study, we compared the functional regulated proteins in the endometrium during pregnancy periods with those in non-pregnant conditions and investigated changes in expression patterns during pregnancy (days 40, 70, and 93) using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE) and western blotting. The functional regulated proteins were identified and discovered from differentially expressed proteins in the uterus endometrium during pregnancy. We discovered 820 protein spots in a proteomic analysis of uterus endometrium tissues with 2-DE gels. We identified 63 of the 98 proteins regulated differentially among non-pregnant and pregnant tissues (matched and unmatched spots). Interestingly, 10 of these 63 proteins are development-, cytoskeleton- and chaperon-related proteins such as transferrin, protein DJ-1, transgelin, galectin-1, septin 2, stathmin 1, cofilin 1, fascin 1, heat shock protein (HSP) 90β and HSP 27. The specific expression patterns of these proteins in the endometrium during pregnancy were confirmed by western blotting. Our results suggest that the expressions of these genes involved in endometrium function and endometrium development from early to late gestation are associated with the regulation of endometrium development for maintaining pregnancy

The structure of human EXD2 reveals a chimeric 3' to 5' exonuclease domain that discriminates substrates via metal coordination.

EXD2 (3'-5' exonuclease domain-containing protein 2) is an essential protein with a conserved DEDDy superfamily 3'-5' exonuclease domain. Recent research suggests that EXD2 has two potential functions: as a component of the DNA double-strand break repair machinery and as a ribonuclease for the regulation of mitochondrial translation. Herein, electron microscope imaging analysis and proximity labeling revealed that EXD2 is anchored to the mitochondrial outer membrane through a conserved N-terminal transmembrane domain, while the C-terminal region is cytosolic. Crystal structures of the exonuclease domain in complex with Mn2+/Mg2+ revealed a domain-swapped dimer in which the central α5-α7 helices are mutually crossed over, resulting in chimeric active sites. Additionally, the C-terminal segments absent in other DnaQ family exonucleases enclose the central chimeric active sites. Combined structural and biochemical analyses demonstrated that the unusual dimeric organization stabilizes the active site, facilitates discrimination between DNA and RNA substrates based on divalent cation coordination and generates a positively charged groove that binds substrates.Cell Logistics Research Center [2016R1A5A1007318]; Basic Research Program, National Research Foundation of Korea [NRF-2019R1A2C3008463]; Korea Health Technology R&D Project through the Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI), funded by the Ministry of Health & Welfare, Republic of Korea [HI18C1395]; Institute for Basic Science [IBS-R022-D1]. Funding for open access charge: Cell Logistics Research Center, National Research Foundation of Korea [2016R1A5A1007318]

Improvement of postnatal neovascularization by human embryonic stem cell derived endothelial-like cell transplantation in a mouse model of hindlimb ischemia

BACKGROUND: We established an efficient preparation method to obtain endothelial-like cells (ECs) from human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) and tested whether these hESC-ECs would show therapeutic potential for treatment of hindlimb ischemia. METHODS AND RESULTS: ECs differentiated from hESCs were obtained by mechanical isolation and cell sorting for von Willebrand factor. The isolated hESC-ECs maintained endothelial cell-specific characteristics such as endothelial marker expression and capillary formation. One day after surgical induction of hindlimb ischemia in athymic mice, hESC-ECs were injected intramuscularly into ischemic limbs. Four weeks after treatment, hESC-EC treatment significantly increased limb salvage (36%) compared with treatment with medium (0%). In addition, laser Doppler imaging showed that the ratio of blood perfusion (ischemic to normal limb) was increased significantly (P<0.01) by hESC-EC treatment (0.511+/-0.167) compared with medium injection (0.073+/-0.061). Capillary and arteriole densities were 658+/-190/mm2 and 30+/-11/mm2 in the hESC-EC group, respectively, whereas those in the medium group were 392+/-118/mm2 and 16+/-8/mm2, respectively (P<0.01). Reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction with human-specific primers revealed mRNA expression of human endothelial markers and human angiogenic factors in ischemic mouse tissues. The transplanted hESC-ECs were localized as capillaries near muscle tissues in ischemic regions or incorporated in the vessels between muscle tissues, as confirmed by human nuclear antigen staining with platelet/endothelial cell adhesion molecule or von Willebrand factor. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates that hESC-EC transplantation improves blood perfusion and limb salvage by facilitating postnatal neovascularization in a mouse model of hindlimb ischemia. Thus, hESC-ECs might be useful as an alternative cell source for angiogenic therapy

Hybrids of the bHLH and bZIP Protein Motifs Display Different DNA-Binding Activities In Vivo vs. In Vitro

Minimalist hybrids comprising the DNA-binding domain of bHLH/PAS (basic-helix-loop-helix/Per-Arnt-Sim) protein Arnt fused to the leucine zipper (LZ) dimerization domain from bZIP (basic region-leucine zipper) protein C/EBP were designed to bind the E-box DNA site, CACGTG, targeted by bHLHZ (basic-helix-loop-helix-zipper) proteins Myc and Max, as well as the Arnt homodimer. The bHLHZ-like structure of ArntbHLH-C/EBP comprises the Arnt bHLH domain fused to the C/EBP LZ: i.e. swap of the 330 aa PAS domain for the 29 aa LZ. In the yeast one-hybrid assay (Y1H), transcriptional activation from the E-box was strong by ArntbHLH-C/EBP, and undetectable for the truncated ArntbHLH (PAS removed), as detected via readout from the HIS3 and lacZ reporters. In contrast, fluorescence anisotropy titrations showed affinities for the E-box with ArntbHLH-C/EBP and ArntbHLH comparable to other transcription factors (Kd 148.9 nM and 40.2 nM, respectively), but only under select conditions that maintained folded protein. Although in vivo yeast results and in vitro spectroscopic studies for ArntbHLH-C/EBP targeting the E-box correlate well, the same does not hold for ArntbHLH. As circular dichroism confirms that ArntbHLH-C/EBP is a much more strongly α-helical structure than ArntbHLH, we conclude that the nonfunctional ArntbHLH in the Y1H must be due to misfolding, leading to the false negative that this protein is incapable of targeting the E-box. Many experiments, including protein design and selections from large libraries, depend on protein domains remaining well-behaved in the nonnative experimental environment, especially small motifs like the bHLH (60–70 aa). Interestingly, a short helical LZ can serve as a folding- and/or solubility-enhancing tag, an important device given the focus of current research on exploration of vast networks of biomolecular interactions

Topological entropy for positively weak measure expansive shadowable maps

In this paper, we consider positively weak measure expansive homeomorphisms and flows with the shadowing property on a compact metric space X. Moreover, we prove that if a homeomorphism (or flow) has a positively weak expansive measure and the shadowing property on its nonwandering set, then its topological entropy is positive