The effect of Ku on telomere replication time is mediated by telomere length but is independent of histone tail acetylation

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Gender differences in predictors of colorectal cancer screening uptake: A national cross sectional study based on the health belief model

10.1186/1471-2458-13-677BMC Public Health131

Motivations and reasons for women attending a Breast Self-Examination training program: A qualitative study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Breast cancer is a major threat to Taiwanese women's health. Despite the controversy surrounding the effectiveness of breast self-examination (BSE) in reducing mortality, BSE is still advocated by some health departments. The aim of the study is to provide information about how women decide to practice BSE and their experiences through the training process. Sixty-six women aged 27-50 were recruited.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A descriptive study was conducted using small group and individual in-depth interviews to collect data, and using thematic analysis and constant comparison techniques for data analysis.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>It was found that a sense of self-security became an important motivator for entering BSE training. The satisfaction in obtaining a sense of self-security emerged as the central theme. Furthermore, a ladder motivation model was developed to explain the participants' motivations for entering BSE training. The patterns of motivation include opportunity taking, clarifying confusion, maintaining health, and illness monitoring, which were connected with the risk perception for breast cancer.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We recognize that the way women decide to attend BSE training is influenced by personal and social factors. Understanding the different risk assessments women rely on in making their health decisions is essential. This study will assist researchers and health professionals to gain a better understanding of alternative ways to deal with breast health, and not to be limited by the recommendations of the health authorities.</p

Mapping infectious disease hospital surge threats to lessons learnt in Singapore: a systems analysis and development of a framework to inform how to DECIDE on planning and response strategies.

BACKGROUND: Hospital usage and service demand during an Infectious Disease (ID) outbreak can tax the health system in different ways. Herein we conceptualize hospital surge elements, and lessons learnt from such events, to help build appropriately matched responses to future ID surge threats. METHODS: We used the Interpretive Descriptive qualitative approach. Interviews (n = 35) were conducted with governance and public health specialists; hospital based staff; and General Practitioners. Key policy literature in tandem with the interview data were used to iteratively generate a Hospital ID Surge framework. We anchored our narrative account within this framework, which is used to structure our analysis. RESULTS: A spectrum of surge threats from combinations of capacity (for crowding) and capability (for treatment complexity) demands were identified. Starting with the Pyramid scenario, or an influx of high screening rates flooding Emergency Departments, alongside fewer and manageable admissions; the Reverse-Pyramid occurs when few cases are screened and admitted but those that are, are complex; during a 'Black' scenario, the system is overburdened by both crowding and complexity. The Singapore hospital system is highly adapted to crowding, functioning remarkably well at constant near-full capacity in Peacetime and resilient to Endemic surges. We catalogue 26 strategies from lessons learnt relating to staffing, space, supplies and systems, crystalizing institutional memory. The DECIDE model advocates linking these strategies to types of surge threats and offers a step-by-step guide for coordinating outbreak planning and response. CONCLUSIONS: Lack of a shared definition and decision making of surge threats had rendered the procedures somewhat duplicative. This burden was paradoxically exacerbated by a health system that highly prizes planning and forward thinking, but worked largely in silo until an ID crisis hit. Many such lessons can be put into play to further strengthen our current hospital governance and adapted to more diverse settings

Immunogenic Eimeria tenella Glycosylphosphatidylinositol-Anchored Surface Antigens (SAGs) Induce Inflammatory Responses in Avian Macrophages

, but the ability of these proteins to stimulate immune responses in the chicken is unknown. infection. Concomitantly, treatment with rSAGs 4, 5 and 12 suppressed the expression of IL-12 and IFN-γ and elevated that of IL-10, suggesting that during infection these molecules may specifically impair the development of cellular mediated immunity. pathogenicity associated with the endogenous second generation stages

Caenorhabditis elegans Genomic Response to Soil Bacteria Predicts Environment-Specific Genetic Effects on Life History Traits

With the post-genomic era came a dramatic increase in high-throughput technologies, of which transcriptional profiling by microarrays was one of the most popular. One application of this technology is to identify genes that are differentially expressed in response to different environmental conditions. These experiments are constructed under the assumption that the differentially expressed genes are functionally important in the environment where they are induced. However, whether differential expression is predictive of functional importance has yet to be tested. Here we have addressed this expectation by employing Caenorhabditis elegans as a model for the interaction of native soil nematode taxa and soil bacteria. Using transcriptional profiling, we identified candidate genes regulated in response to different bacteria isolated in association with grassland nematodes or from grassland soils. Many of the regulated candidate genes are predicted to affect metabolism and innate immunity suggesting similar genes could influence nematode community dynamics in natural systems. Using mutations that inactivate 21 of the identified genes, we showed that most contribute to lifespan and/or fitness in a given bacterial environment. Although these bacteria may not be natural food sources for C. elegans, we show that changes in food source, as can occur in environmental disturbance, can have a large effect on gene expression, with important consequences for fitness. Moreover, we used regression analysis to demonstrate that for many genes the degree of differential gene expression between two bacterial environments predicted the magnitude of the effect of the loss of gene function on life history traits in those environments

Sexual Knowledge, attitudes and behaviors among unmarried migrant female workers in China: a comparative analysis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In recent years, many studies have focused on adolescent's sex-related issues in China. However, there have been few studies of unmarried migrant females' sexual knowledge, attitudes and behaviors, which is important for sexual health education and promotion.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A sample of 5156 unmarried migrant female workers was selected from three manufacturing factories, two located in Shenzhen and one in Guangzhou, China. Demographic data, sexual knowledge, attitudes and behaviors were assessed by self-administered questionnaires. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was conducted to examine the factors associated with premarital sexual intercourse.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The average age of the unmarried female workers included in the sample was 20.2 years, and majority of them showed a low level of sex-related knowledge. Females from the west of China demonstrated a significant lower level of sex-related knowledge than those from the eastern or central provinces (<it>p </it>< 0.05). Approximately 13% of participants held a favorable attitude towards premarital sexual intercourse, and youths from the east/central were more likely to have favorable attitudes compared with those from the west (<it>p </it>< 0.05). About 17.0% of the unmarried female workers reported having engaged in premarital sexual intercourse, and females from the east/central were more likely to have experienced premarital sexual intercourse than those from the west (<it>p </it>< 0.05). Multivariate analysis revealed that age, education, current residential type, dating, sexual knowledge, attitudes, and pattern of communication were significantly associated with premarital sexual intercourse.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The unmarried migrant female workers lack sexual knowledge and a substantial proportion of them are engaged in premarital sexual behaviors. Interventions aimed at improving their sexual knowledge and related skills are needed.</p

Serum 25-Hydroxyvitamin D Concentrations and Season-Specific Correlates in Japanese Adults

Background: Several lines of evidence indicate an important role for vitamin D in the prevention of a range of diseases. Blood vitamin D levels show clear seasonal variation; however, data on the determinants of vitamin D status for each season are limited. We investigated the association between lifestyle and serum vitamin D concentration by season in Japanese workers. Methods: Subjects were 312 men and 217 women aged 21 to 67 years who worked in municipal offices in Northern Kyushu, Japan and participated in a periodic checkup in July or November. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to examine the association between serum 25-hydroxivitamin D concentrations and lifestyle factors for each season. Results: Mean serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentration was 27.4 ng/ml (68.4 nmol/L) and 21.4 ng/ml (53.4 nmol/L) for workers surveyed in July and November, respectively (P \u3c 0.001); the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency ( both sexes) and nonsmoking and physical activity (in men) were significantly associated with higher concentrations of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D. In summer, fish/shellfish intake was associated with higher serum 25- hydroxyvitamin D concentrations in women. Conclusions: Vitamin D deficiency is common in Japanese workers during seasons with limited sunlight. The lifestyle correlates of favorable vitamin D status in November were physical activity, dietary vitamin D intake, and nonsmoking

Mutant K-ras oncogene regulates steroidogenesis of normal human adrenocortical cells by the RAF-MEK-MAPK pathway

The result of our previous study has shown that the K-ras mutant (pK568MRSV) transfected human adrenocortical cells can significantly increase cortisol production and independently cause cell transformation. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of the active K-ras oncogene on the cortisol production in normal human adrenocortical cells. First we used isopropyl thiogalactoside to induce the inducible mutant K-ras expression plasmid, pK568MRSV, in the stable transfected human adrenocortical cells. The result showed that the increase of RasGTP levels in transfected cells was time-dependent after isopropyl thiogalactoside induction. Additionally, results from Western blot analysis revealed significant elevation in phosphorylation of c-Raf-1 and Mitogen-activated protein kinase. We also detected the levels of mRNA encoding Cholesterol side-chain cleavage enzyme (P450SCC), 17α-Hydroxylase/17,20-lyase (P450c17) and 3β-Hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (3βHSD) were increased in human adrenocortical cells transfected with mutant K-ras after IPTG treatment. The increase of mRNA amount in P450scc P450c17 and 3βHSD and the elevation of cortisol level were inhibited with a pretreatment of PD098059, a specific extracellular signal-regulated kinase inhibitor. In our previous report, we proved that lovastatin, a pharmacological inhibitor of p21ras function, also reversed the increase of cortisol level in mutant K-ras stably transfected human adrenocortical cells. Taken together, these findings proved that the active mutant Ras enhanced not only cell proliferation but also steroidogenesis in steroidogenic phenotype cells by activating Raf-MEK-MAPK related signal transduction pathway. Therefore, we believe that K-ras mutants influence regulation of steroidogenesis in adrenocortical cells through RAF-MEK-MAPK pathway

Identification of InuR, a new Zn(II)2Cys6 transcriptional activator involved in the regulation of inulinolytic genes in Aspergillus niger

The expression of inulinolytic genes in Aspergillus niger is co-regulated and induced by inulin and sucrose. We have identified a positive acting transcription factor InuR, which is required for the induced expression of inulinolytic genes. InuR is a member of the fungal specific class of transcription factors of the Zn(II)2Cys6 type. Involvement of InuR in inulin and sucrose metabolism was suspected because of the clustering of inuR gene with sucB, which encodes an intracellular invertase with transfructosylation activity and a putative sugar transporter encoding gene (An15g00310). Deletion of the inuR gene resulted in a strain displaying a severe reduction in growth on inulin and sucrose medium. Northern analysis revealed that expression of inulinolytic and sucrolytic genes, e.g., inuE, inuA, sucA, as well as the putative sugar transporter gene (An15g00310) is dependent on InuR. Genome-wide expression analysis revealed, three additional putative sugar transporters encoding genes (An15g04060, An15g03940 and An17g01710), which were strongly induced by sucrose in an InuR dependent way. In silico analysis of the promoter sequences of strongly InuR regulated genes suggests that InuR might bind as dimer to two CGG triplets, which are separated by eight nucleotides