Community attitudes to institutional care of the aged in Hong Kong

The objective of the study was to assess community attitudes to institutional care of the aged in Hong Kong. A random sample of 1,023 adult residents were telephone-interviewed. 22.7% and 57.5% of the respondents agreed or strongly agreed that non-disabled and disabled elderly be accommodated in institutions respectively. Social factors of the respondents and physical and behavioural factors of the elderly had significant effects on these attitudes. Furthermore, age, gender, educational level and experience in living or looking after elderly also had significant effects. This study provides important information on the community attitudes to institutionalization of the elderly in Hong Kong. These attitudes will have significant effects on the demand for institutional care for the elderly in the next decade. The findings should also help health care workers identify elderly at-risk of institutionalization. Hence, early intervention may help reduce some of these placements.published_or_final_versio

Ontogeny of synaptophysin and synaptoporin in the central nervous system

The expression of the synaptic vesicle antigens synaptophysin (SY) and synaptoporin (SO) was studied in the rat striatum, which contains a nearly homogeneous population of GABAergic neurons. In situ hybridization revealed high levels of SY transcripts in the striatal anlage from embryonic day (E) 14 until birth. In contrast. SO hybridization signals were low, and no immunoreactive cell bodies were detected at these stages of development. At E 14, SY-immunoreactivity was restricted to perikarya. In later prenatal stages of development SY-immunoreactivity appeared in puncta (identified as terminals containing immunostained synaptic vesicles), fibers, thick fiber bundles and ‘patches’. In postnatal and adult animals, perikarya of striatal neurons exhibited immunoreaction for SO; ultrastructurally SO antigen was found in the Golgi apparatus and in multivesicular bodies. SO-positive boutons were rare in the striatum. In the neuropil, numerous presynaptic terminals positive for SY were observed. Our data indicate that the expression of synaptic vesicle proteins in GABAergic neurons of the striatum is developmentally regulated. Whereas SY is prevalent during embryonic development, SO is the major synaptic vesicle antigen expressed postnatally by striatal neurons which project to the globus pallidus and the substantia nigra. In contrast synapses of striatal afferents (predominantly from cortex, thalamus and substantia nigra) contain SY

Globalisation, neo-liberalism and vocational learning: the case of English further education colleges

Further education (FE) has traditionally been a rather unspectacular activity. Lacking the visibility of schools or the prestige of universities, for the vast majority of its existence FE has had a relatively low profile on the margins of English education. Over recent years this situation has altered significantly and further education has undergone profound change. This paper argues that a combination of related factors – neo-liberalism, globalisation, and dominant discourses of the knowledge economy – has acted in synergy to transform FE into a highly performative and marketised sector. Against this backdrop, further education has been assigned a particular role based upon certain narrow and instrumental understandings of skill, employment and economic competitiveness. The paper argues that, although it has always been predominantly working class in nature, FE is now, more than ever, positioned firmly at the lower end of the institutional hierarchy in the highly class-stratified terrain of English education

Insights into GABA receptor signalling in TM3 Leydig cells

gamma-Aminobutyric acid (GABA) is an emerging signalling molecule in endocrine organs, since it is produced by endocrine cells and acts via GABA(A) receptors in a paracrine/autocrine fashion. Testicular Leydig cells are producers and targets for GABA. These cells express GABA(A) receptor subunits and in the murine Leydig cell line TM3 pharmacological activation leads to increased proliferation. The signalling pathway of GABA in these cells is not known in this study. We therefore attempted to elucidate details of GABA(A) signalling in TM3 and adult mouse Leydig cells using several experimental approaches. TM3 cells not only express GABA(A) receptor subunits, but also bind the GABA agonist {[}H-3] muscimol with a binding affinity in the range reported for other endocrine cells (K-d = 2.740 +/- 0.721 nM). However, they exhibit a low B-max value of 28.08 fmol/mg protein. Typical GABA(A) receptor-associated events, including Cl- currents, changes in resting membrane potential, intracellular Ca2+ or cAMP, were not measurable with the methods employed in TM3 cells, or, as studied in part, in primary mouse Leydig cells. GABA or GABA(A) agonist isoguvacine treatment resulted in increased or decreased levels of several mRNAs, including transcription factors (c-fos, hsf-1, egr-1) and cell cycle-associated genes (Cdk2, cyclin D1). In an attempt to verify the cDNA array results and because egr-1 was recently implied in Leydig cell development, we further studied this factor. RT-PCR and Western blotting confirmed a time-dependent regulation of egr-1 in TM3. In the postnatal testis egr-1 was seen in cytoplasmic and nuclear locations of developing Leydig cells, which bear GABA(A) receptors and correspond well to TM3 cells. Thus, GABA acts via an untypical novel signalling pathway in TM3 cells. Further details of this pathway remain to be elucidated. Copyright (c) 2005 S. Karger AG, Base

Ontogeny of serotonin and serotonin2A receptors in rat auditory cortex

Maturation of the mammalian cerebral cortex is, in part, dependent upon multiple coordinated afferent neurotransmitter systems and receptor-mediated cellular linkages during early postnatal development. Given that serotonin (5-HT) is one such system, the present study was designed to specifically evaluate 5-HT tissue content as well as 5-HT2A receptor protein levels within the developing auditory cortex (AC). Using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), 5-HT and the metabolite, 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA), was measured in isolated AC, which demonstrated a developmental dynamic, reaching young adult levels early during the second week of postnatal development. Radioligand binding of 5-HT2A receptors with the 5-HT2A/2C receptor agonist, 125I-DOI ((+/−)-1-(2,5- dimethoxy-4-iodophenyl)-2-aminopropane HCl; in the presence of SB206553, a selective 5-HT2C receptor antagonist, also demonstrated a developmental trend, whereby receptor protein levels reached young adult levels at the end of the first postnatal week (P8), significantly increased at P10 and at P17, and decreased back to levels not significantly different from P8 thereafter. Immunocytochemical labeling of 5-HT2A receptors and confocal microscopy revealed that 5-HT2A receptors are largely localized on layer II/III pyramidal cell bodies and apical dendrites within AC. When considered together, the results of the present study suggest that 5-HT, likely through 5-HT2A receptors, may play an important role in early postnatal AC development

Microwave Current Imaging in Passive HTS Components by Low-Temperature Laser Scanning Microscopy (LTLSM)

We have used the LTLSM technique for a spatially resolved investigation of the microwave transport properties, nonlinearities and material inhomogeneities in an operating coplanar waveguide YBa_2Cu_3O_{7-\delta} (YBCO) microwave resonator on an LaAlO_3 (LAO) substrate. The influence of twin-domain blocks, in-plane rotated grains, and micro-cracks in the YBCO film on the nonuniform rf current distribution were measured with a micrometer-scale spatial resolution. The impact of the peaked edge currents and rf field penetration into weak links on the linear device performance were studied as well. The LTLSM capabilities and its future potential for non-destructive characterization of the microwave properties of superconducting circuits are discussed.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figures, 2-column format, presented at High Temperature Superconductors in High Frequency Fields 2004, Journal of Superconductivity (in press