Interview with Anne Kenyon

An interview with Anne Kenyon regarding her experiences in a one-room school house.https://scholars.fhsu.edu/ors/1024/thumbnail.jp

An audit of acute oncology services: patient experiences of admission procedures and staff utilisation of a new telephone triage system.

OBJECTIVES: In 2010, St. James Institute of Oncology (Leeds, UK) created a new acute oncology service (AOS) consisting of a new admissions unit with a nurse-led telephone triage (TT) system. This audit cycle (March 2011 and June 2013) evaluated patient experiences of the reconfigured AOS and staff use of the TT system. METHODS: Patient views were elicited via a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. The TT forms were analysed descriptively evaluating completion and data quality, reported symptoms and their severity and advice given (including admission rates). RESULTS: Patients (n = 40) reported high satisfaction with the new AOS. However, 56 % of patients delayed 2 days or more before contacting the unit. In 2011, 26 % of all the admitted patients were triaged via the TT system; 133 TT forms were completed. In June 2013, 49 % of the admitted patients were triaged; 264 forms were completed. The most commonly reported symptoms on the TT forms were pain, pyrexia/rigors/infection, diarrhoea, vomiting and dyspnoea. Half of the patients using the TT system were admitted (52 % in 2011, 49 % in 2013). CONCLUSIONS: Our audit provided evidence of successful implementation of the TT system with the number of TT forms doubling from 2011 to 2013. The new AOS was endorsed by patients, with the majority satisfied with the care they received

Reviewer Form Induction, Multiplication, and Acclimatization of Red Betel Plant (Piper Crocatum Ruiz and Pav.) By in Vitro Organogenesis

Animals have many ways of protecting themselves against stress; for example, they can induce animal-wide, stress-protective pathways and they can kill damaged cells via apoptosis. We have discovered an unexpected regulatory relationship between these two types of stress responses. We find that C. elegans mutations blocking the normal course of programmed cell death and clearance confer animal-wide resistance to a specific set of environmental stressors; namely, ER, heat and osmotic stress. Remarkably, this pattern of stress resistance is induced by mutations that affect cell death in different ways, including ced-3 (cell death defective) mutations, which block programmed cell death, ced-1 and ced-2 mutations, which prevent the engulfment of dying cells, and progranulin (pgrn-1) mutations, which accelerate the clearance of apoptotic cells. Stress resistance conferred by ced and pgrn-1 mutations is not additive and these mutants share altered patterns of gene expression, suggesting that they may act within the same pathway to achieve stress resistance. Together, our findings demonstrate that programmed cell death effectors influence the degree to which C. elegans tolerates environmental stress. While the mechanism is not entirely clear, it is intriguing that animals lacking the ability to efficiently and correctly remove dying cells should switch to a more global animal-wide system of stress resistance

Use of fractional exhaled nitric oxide to guide the treatment of asthma an official american thoracic society clinical practice guideline

Background: The fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FENO) test is a point-of-care test that is used in the assessment of asthma.Objective: To provide evidence-based clinical guidance on whether FENO testing is indicated to optimize asthma treatment in patients with asthma in whom treatment is being considered.Methods: An international, multidisciplinary panel of experts was convened to form a consensus document regarding a single question relevant to the use of FENO. The question was selected from three potential questions based on the greatest perceived impact on clinical practice and the unmet need for evidencebased answers related to this question. The panel performed systematic reviews of published randomized controlled trials between 2004 and 2019 and followed the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) evidence-to-decision framework to develop recommendations. All panel members evaluated and approved the recommendations.Main Results: After considering the overall low quality of the evidence, the panel made a conditional recommendation for FENO-based care. In patients with asthma in whom treatment is being considered, we suggest that FENO is beneficial and should be used in addition to usual care. This judgment is based on a balance of effects that probably favors the intervention; the moderate costs and availability of resources, which probably favors the intervention; and the perceived acceptability and feasibility of the intervention in daily practice.Conclusions: Clinicians should consider this recommendation to measure FENO in patients with asthma in whom treatment is being considered based on current best available evidence. </p

C. elegans VANG-1 Modulates Life Span via Insulin/IGF-1-Like Signaling

The planar cell polarity (PCP) pathway is highly conserved from Drosophila to humans and a PCP-like pathway has recently been described in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. The developmental function of this pathway is to coordinate the orientation of cells or structures within the plane of an epithelium or to organize cell-cell intercalation required for correct morphogenesis. Here, we describe a novel role of VANG-1, the only C. elegans ortholog of the conserved PCP component Strabismus/Van Gogh. We show that two alleles of vang-1 and depletion of the protein by RNAi cause an increase of mean life span up to 40%. Consistent with the longevity phenotype vang-1 animals also show enhanced resistance to thermal- and oxidative stress and decreased lipofuscin accumulation. In addition, vang-1 mutants show defects like reduced brood size, decreased ovulation rate and prolonged reproductive span, which are also related to gerontogenes. The germline, but not the intestine or neurons, seems to be the primary site of vang-1 function. Life span extension in vang-1 mutants depends on the insulin/IGF-1-like receptor DAF-2 and DAF-16/FoxO transcription factor. RNAi against the phase II detoxification transcription factor SKN-1/Nrf2 also reduced vang-1 life span that might be explained by gradual inhibition of insulin/IGF-1-like signaling in vang-1. This is the first time that a key player of the PCP pathway is shown to be involved in the insulin/IGF-1-like signaling dependent modulation of life span in C. elegans

Community views about routine HIV testing and antiretroviral treatment in Botswana: signs of progress from a cross sectional study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The Botswana government began providing free antiretroviral therapy (ART) in 2002 and in 2004 introduced routine HIV testing (RHT) in government health facilities, aiming to increase HIV testing and uptake of ART. There have been concerns that the RHT programme might be coercive, lead to increased partner violence, and drive people away from government health services.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We conducted a household survey of 1536 people in a stratified random sample of communities across Botswana, asking about use and experience of government health services, views about RHT, views about ART, and testing for HIV in the last 12 months. Focus groups further discussed issues about ART.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Some 81% of respondents had visited a government clinic within the last 24 months. Of these 92% were satisfied with the service, 96% felt they were treated with respect and 90% were comfortable about confidentiality. Almost all respondents said they would choose a government clinic for treatment of AIDS.</p> <p>Nearly one half (47%) thought they were at risk of HIV. Those who had experienced partner violence within the last 12 months were more likely to think themselves at risk. One half of those who had visited a government facility in the last 24 months were offered HIV tests, and nearly half were tested. A few (8%) of those who were not asked thought they were tested. Most people (79%) had heard of RHT and 94% were in favour of it. Over one half (55%) of the entire sample had been tested for HIV within the last 12 months, one half of these through RHT. Women were more likely to have been tested.</p> <p>Nearly everyone (94%) had heard of ART and thought it could help AIDS. Focus groups identified problems of access to ART due to distance from treatment centres and long queues in the centres.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Public awareness and approval of RHT was very high. The high rate of RHT has contributed to the overall high rate of HIV testing. The government's programme to increase HIV testing and uptake of ART is apparently working well. However, turning the tide of the epidemic will also require further concerted efforts to reduce the rate of new HIV infections.</p

Pparγ2 Is a Key Driver of Longevity in the Mouse

Aging involves a progressive physiological remodeling that is controlled by both genetic and environmental factors. Many of these factors impact also on white adipose tissue (WAT), which has been shown to be a determinant of lifespan. Interrogating a transcriptional network for predicted causal regulatory interactions in a collection of mouse WAT from F2 crosses with a seed set of 60 known longevity genes, we identified a novel transcriptional subnetwork of 742 genes which represent thus-far-unknown longevity genes. Within this subnetwork, one gene was Pparg (Nr1c3), an adipose-enriched nuclear receptor previously not associated with longevity. In silico, both the PPAR signaling pathway and the transcriptional signature of Pparγ agonist rosiglitazone overlapped with the longevity subnetwork, while in vivo, lowered expression of Pparg reduced lifespan in both the lipodystrophic Pparg1/2-hypomorphic and the Pparg2-deficient mice. These results establish Pparγ2 as one of the determinants of longevity and suggest that lifespan may be rather determined by a purposeful genetic program than a random process

Absence of Ataxin-3 Leads to Enhanced Stress Response in C. elegans

Ataxin-3, the protein involved in Machado-Joseph disease, is able to bind ubiquitylated substrates and act as a deubiquitylating enzyme in vitro, and it has been involved in the modulation of protein degradation by the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway. C. elegans and mouse ataxin-3 knockout models are viable and without any obvious phenotype in a basal condition however their phenotype in stress situations has never been described