Meeting the support and information needs of women with advanced breast cancer: a randomised controlled trial

Addressing psychosocial and quality of life needs is central to provision of excellent care for people with advanced cancer. This study tested a brief nurse-delivered intervention to address the needs of urban women with advanced breast cancer. This study was conducted at four large urban hospitals in Australia. One hundred and five women with advanced breast cancer were recruited and randomised to receive the intervention or usual care, then asked to complete the European Organisation of Research and Treatment of Quality of life Q-C30 version (2.0) (EORTC Q-C30) (version 2) and Supportive Care Needs Survey (SCNS) at 1 month and 3 months postrecruitment. No significant differences were detected between intervention and usual care groups in the SCNS or the EORTC Q-C30 subscale scores. However, when the groups were divided into high needs (score of above 50) and low baseline needs (score of 50 or below) for each SCNS subscale, a significant difference between intervention and usual care groups was found in the psychological/emotional subscale among women with high baseline needs. In conclusions, this study demonstrated that a face-to-face session and follow-up phone call with a breast care nurse significantly reduced the psychological and emotional needs of those with high initial needs. There was no evidence of the intervention influencing the quality of life; or perceived needs of women with low initial psychological/emotional needs or perceived needs in other domains. Possibly, the intervention was not sufficiently intense to achieve an effect

At clinically relevant concentrations the anaesthetic/amnesic thiopental but not the anticonvulsant phenobarbital interferes with hippocampal sharp wave-ripple complexes

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Many sedative agents, including anesthetics, produce explicit memory impairment by largely unknown mechanisms. Sharp-wave ripple (SPW-R) complexes are network activity thought to represent the neuronal substrate for information transfer from the hippocampal to neocortical circuits, contributing to the explicit memory consolidation. In this study we examined and compared the actions of two barbiturates with distinct amnesic actions, the general anesthetic thiopental and the anticonvulsant phenobarbital, on in vitro SPW-R activity.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Using an in vitro model of SPW-R activity we found that thiopental (50–200 μM) significantly and concentration-dependently reduced the incidence of SPW-R events (it increased the inter-event period by 70–430 %). At the concentration of 25 μM, which clinically produces mild sedation and explicit memory impairment, thiopental significantly reduced the quantity of ripple oscillation (it reduced the number of ripples and the duration of ripple episodes by 20 ± 5%, n = 12, <it>P </it>< 0.01), and suppressed the rhythmicity of SPWs by 43 ± 15% (n = 6, <it>P </it>< 0.05). The drug disrupted the synchrony of SPWs within the CA1 region at 50 μM (by 19 ± 12%; n = 5, <it>P </it>< 0.05). Similar effects of thiopental were observed at higher concentrations. Thiopental did not affect the frequency of ripple oscillation at any of the concentrations tested (10–200 μM). Furthermore, the drug significantly prolonged single SPWs at concentrations ≥50 μM (it increased the half-width and the duration of SPWs by 35–90 %). Thiopental did not affect evoked excitatory synaptic potentials and its results on SPW-R complexes were also observed under blockade of NMDA receptors. Phenobarbital significantly accelerated SPWs at 50 and 100 μM whereas it reduced their rate at 200 and 400 μM. Furthermore, it significantly prolonged SPWs, reduced their synchrony and reduced the quantity of ripples only at the clinically very high concentration of 400 μM, reported to affect memory.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We hypothesize that thiopental, by interfering with SPW-R activity, through enhancement of the GABA_Areceptor-mediated transmission, affects memory processes which involve hippocampal circuit activation. The quantity but not the frequency of ripple oscillation was affected by the drug.</p

mRNA localization, reaction centre biogenesis and thylakoid membrane targeting in cyanobacteria

The thylakoid membranes of cyanobacteria form a complex intracellular membrane system with a distinctive proteome. The sites of biogenesis of thylakoid proteins remain uncertain, as do the signals that direct thylakoid membrane-integral proteins to the thylakoids rather than to the plasma membrane. Here, we address these questions by using fluorescence in situ hybridization to probe the subcellular location of messenger RNA molecules encoding core subunits of the photosystems in two cyanobacterial species. These mRNAs cluster at thylakoid surfaces mainly adjacent to the central cytoplasm and the nucleoid, in contrast to mRNAs encoding proteins with other locations. Ribosome association influences the distribution of the photosynthetic mRNAs on the thylakoid surface, but thylakoid affinity is retained in the absence of ribosome association. However, thylakoid association is disrupted in a mutant lacking two mRNA-binding proteins, which probably play roles in targeting photosynthetic proteins to the thylakoid membrane

An In Vitro System for Studying Murid Herpesvirus-4 Latency and Reactivation

The narrow species tropisms of Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) and the Kaposi's Sarcoma -associated Herpesvirus (KSHV) have made Murid Herpesvirus-4 (MuHV-4) an important tool for understanding how gammaherpesviruses colonize their hosts. However, while MuHV-4 pathogenesis studies can assign a quantitative importance to individual genes, the complexity of in vivo infection can make the underlying mechanisms hard to discern. Furthermore, the lack of good in vitro MuHV-4 latency/reactivation systems with which to dissect mechanisms at the cellular level has made some parallels with EBV and KSHV hard to draw. Here we achieved control of the MuHV-4 lytic/latent switch in vitro by modifying the 5′ untranslated region of its major lytic transactivator gene, ORF50. We terminated normal ORF50 transcripts by inserting a polyadenylation signal and transcribed ORF50 instead from a down-stream, doxycycline-inducible promoter. In this way we could establish fibroblast clones that maintained latent MuHV-4 episomes without detectable lytic replication. Productive virus reactivation was then induced with doxycycline. We used this system to show that the MuHV-4 K3 gene plays a significant role in protecting reactivating cells against CD8+ T cell recognition

Early Exposure of Infants to GI Nematodes Induces Th2 Dominant Immune Responses Which Are Unaffected by Periodic Anthelminthic Treatment

We have previously shown a reduction in anaemia and wasting malnutrition in infants <3 years old in Pemba Island, Zanzibar, following repeated anthelminthic treatment for the endemic gastrointestinal (GI) nematodes Ascaris lumbricoides, hookworm and Trichuris trichiura. In view of the low intensity of worm infections in this age group, this was unexpected, and it was proposed that immune responses to the worms rather than their direct effects may play a significant role in morbidity in infants and that anthelminthic treatment may alleviate such effects. Therefore, the primary aims of this study were to characterise the immune response to initial/early GI nematode infections in infants and the effects of anthelminthic treatment on such immune responses. The frequency and levels of Th1/Th2 cytokines (IL-5, IL-13, IFN-γ and IL-10) induced by the worms were evaluated in 666 infants aged 6–24 months using the Whole Blood Assay. Ascaris and hookworm antigens induced predominantly Th2 cytokine responses, and levels of IL-5 and IL-13 were significantly correlated. The frequencies and levels of responses were higher for both Ascaris positive and hookworm positive infants compared with worm negative individuals, but very few infants made Trichuris-specific cytokine responses. Infants treated every 3 months with mebendazole showed a significantly lower prevalence of infection compared with placebo-treated controls at one year following baseline. At follow-up, cytokine responses to Ascaris and hookworm antigens, which remained Th2 biased, were increased compared with baseline but were not significantly affected by treatment. However, blood eosinophil levels, which were elevated in worm-infected children, were significantly lower in treated children. Thus the effect of deworming in this age group on anaemia and wasting malnutrition, which were replicated in this study, could not be explained by modification of cytokine responses but may be related to eosinophil function

Binary and Millisecond Pulsars

We review the main properties, demographics and applications of binary and millisecond radio pulsars. Our knowledge of these exciting objects has greatly increased in recent years, mainly due to successful surveys which have brought the known pulsar population to over 1700. There are now 80 binary and millisecond pulsars associated with the disk of our Galaxy, and a further 103 pulsars in 24 of the Galactic globular clusters. Recent highlights have been the discovery of the first ever double pulsar system and a recent flurry of discoveries in globular clusters, in particular Terzan 5.Comment: 77 pages, 30 figures, available on-line at http://www.livingreviews.org/lrr-2005-

Nuclear effects on the transverse momentum spectra of charged particles in pPb collisions at √SNN = 5.02 TeV

Transverse momentum spectra of charged particles are measured by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC in pPb collisions at [Formula: see text][Formula: see text], in the range [Formula: see text][Formula: see text] and pseudorapidity [Formula: see text] in the proton-nucleon center-of-mass frame. For [Formula: see text][Formula: see text], the charged-particle production is asymmetric about [Formula: see text], with smaller yield observed in the direction of the proton beam, qualitatively consistent with expectations from shadowing in nuclear parton distribution functions (nPDF). A pp reference spectrum at [Formula: see text][Formula: see text] is obtained by interpolation from previous measurements at higher and lower center-of-mass energies. The [Formula: see text] distribution measured in pPb collisions shows an enhancement of charged particles with [Formula: see text][Formula: see text] compared to expectations from the pp reference. The enhancement is larger than predicted by perturbative quantum chromodynamics calculations that include antishadowing modifications of nPDFs

Role of the lesion scar in the response to damage and repair of the central nervous system

Traumatic damage to the central nervous system (CNS) destroys the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and provokes the invasion of hematogenous cells into the neural tissue. Invading leukocytes, macrophages and lymphocytes secrete various cytokines that induce an inflammatory reaction in the injured CNS and result in local neural degeneration, formation of a cystic cavity and activation of glial cells around the lesion site. As a consequence of these processes, two types of scarring tissue are formed in the lesion site. One is a glial scar that consists in reactive astrocytes, reactive microglia and glial precursor cells. The other is a fibrotic scar formed by fibroblasts, which have invaded the lesion site from adjacent meningeal and perivascular cells. At the interface, the reactive astrocytes and the fibroblasts interact to form an organized tissue, the glia limitans. The astrocytic reaction has a protective role by reconstituting the BBB, preventing neuronal degeneration and limiting the spread of damage. While much attention has been paid to the inhibitory effects of the astrocytic component of the scars on axon regeneration, this review will cover a number of recent studies in which manipulations of the fibroblastic component of the scar by reagents, such as blockers of collagen synthesis have been found to be beneficial for axon regeneration. To what extent these changes in the fibroblasts act via subsequent downstream actions on the astrocytes remains for future investigation

Sports Participation and Juvenile Delinquency: A Meta-Analytic Review

Participation in sports activities is very popular among adolescents, and is frequently encouraged among youth. Many psychosocial health benefits in youth are attributed to sports participation, but to what extent this positive influence holds for juvenile delinquency is still not clear on both the theoretical and empirical level. There is much controversy on whether sports participation should be perceived as a protective or a risk factor for the development of juvenile delinquency. A multilevel meta-analysis of 51 published and unpublished studies, with 48 independent samples containing 431 effect sizes and N = 132,366 adolescents, was conducted to examine the relationship between sports participation and juvenile delinquency and possible moderating factors of this association. The results showed that there is no overall significant association between sports participation and juvenile delinquency, indicating that adolescent athletes are neither more nor less delinquent than non-athletes. Some study, sample and sports characteristics significantly moderated the relationship between sports participation and juvenile delinquency. However, this moderating influence was modest. Implications for theory and practice concerning the use of sports to prevent juvenile delinquency are discussed. Keywords Sports participation Juvenile delinquency Multilevel meta-analysis Revie