Antiplasmodial Activities of Homogentisic Acid Derivative Protein Kinase Inhibitors Isolated from a Vanuatu Marine Sponge Pseudoceratina sp.

As part of our search for new antimalarial drugs in South Pacific marine sponges, we have looked for inhibitors of Pfnek-1, a specific protein kinase of Plasmodium falciparum. On the basis of promising activity in a preliminary screening, the ethanolic crude extract of a new species of Pseudoceratina collected in Vanuatu was selected for further investigation. A bioassay-guided fractionation led to the isolation of a derivative of homogentisic acid [methyl (2,4-dibromo-3,6-dihydroxyphenyl)acetate, 4a] which inhibited Pfnek-1 with an IC50 around 1.8 μM. This product was moderately active in vitro against a FcB1 P. falciparum strain (IC50 = 12 μM). From the same sponge, we isolated three known compounds [11,19-dideoxyfistularin-3 (1), 11-deoxyfistularin-3 (2) and dibromo-verongiaquinol (3)] which were inactive against Pfnek-1. Synthesis and biological evaluation of some derivatives of 4a are reported

Distress Reduction in Long-Term Care Residents: A Comparison of the Effects of Mindful Breathing and Visualization

Long-term care (LTC) residents experience distress as a result of the physical and emotional difficulties that confront them compounded by various losses at this stage of their lives. In an effort to provide relief, complementary interventions such as mindfulness have been utilized with older adults. While the research in this field has involved primarily community-dwelling older adults, the current study explored mindfulness with the nursing home population. The purpose of this study was to assess the feasibility of the five-minute mindful breathing and five-minute visualization practices with LTC residents. It also examined whether LTC residents used the practices on their own as self-help strategies, and the relation of mindful breathing and visualization to different types of distress and quality of life. Cognitively intact and cognitively impaired participants were guided in either an individual five-minute mindful breathing (treatment 1) or five-minute visualization (treatment 2) practice. There were one-week and four-week follow-up sessions to determine whether LTC residents remembered doing the practice and how to do it, and also when they did it. The study employed the National Comprehensive Cancer Network Distress Thermometer to measure distress levels, the McGill Quality of Life – Expanded Questionnaire to compare quality of life indicators, and semi-structured interviews to discover subjective experience and additional benefits and challenges. These investigations revealed that both practices were feasible for LTC residents. Cognitively intact LTC residents who both thought about the practice and remembered how to do it were more likely to practice it when distressed. The participants in the mindful breathing group showed only slightly more positive results than those in the visualization group when comparing pre- and post- distress and quality of life. Those in the former who practiced showed a change from short-term to long-term effects, and a trend of decline in distress level scores. Findings from this study revealed that more research is needed with refinements in the procedure (e.g., number of weekly sessions and follow-up time points), along with ensuring that instruments used in measures are simplified

Best practices in emergent literacy

This file was last viewed in Adobe Reader 10.1.1A unique aspect of kindergarten is that it is often a child's first experience with formal education. Because of this, students come to kindergarten with a huge range of experiences and abilities. Teachers of other grade levels have the benefit of knowing what instruction students have been exposed to, but the kindergarten teacher has the difficult task of differentiating instruction to meet the needs of children with vastly different home lives and educational experiences. I have written a yearlong kindergarten literacy curriculum to use in my school district. There is a real need in my district for a literacy curriculum at the kindergarten level. The district kindergarten teachers have very different expectations for what their students should know by the end of the year. These inconsistent expectations lead to very inconsistent kindergarten programs from one classroom to the next. I found myself wondering - If there are such inconsistencies within a small district, how different are kindergarten programs within the region, state, and country as a whole? As I read professional literature, I found a wide variation of expectations for what children should know and be able to accomplish in the areas of reading and writin

An Introduction to digital imaging with photoshop 7/ Krejcarek

xviii, 292 hal.: ill, tab.; 24 cm

The Interaction Of Reactive Functional Groups Along Peptide Chains; A Model For Alkaloid Biogenesis.

PhDOrganic chemistryUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/188173/2/7004122.pd