Co-operative and Alternative Finance for Agricultural/Food Communities : European Developments

Publisher PD

The Co-operative Model in Practice : International Perspectives

Published with the support of the Scottish Government and the Economic & Social Research CouncilPublisher PD

Democratic Enterprise : Ethical Business for the 21st Century

Published with the support of the Scottish Government and the Economic and Social Research CouncilPublisher PD

Co-operative Entrepreneurship : Co-operate for growth

Published with the support of the Scottish Government and the Economic & Social Research CouncilPublisher PD

Using Patient Stories to Enhance Physiology Learning

Clinical cases can be used to stimulate student interest and facilitate learning of basic biomedical sciences. For a variety of reasons, these cases are usually paper-based and, therefore, are lacking in reality for the students. An alternative, to provide video clips of actual patients discussing their conditions and illustrating symptoms and signs, is discussed in this presentation.Keywords: Physiology learning, Problem-based Patient-base

The interaction between ceramide-1-phosphate and Group IVA cytosolic phospholipase A2 and its role in wound healing

The sphingolipid, ceramide-1-phosphate (C1P), directly binds and activates Group IVA cytosolic phospholipase A2 (cPLA2a) to generate eicosanoids. Due to the role of eicosanoids in wound healing, we choose to use our novel genetic mouse model expressing cPLA2a with an ablated C1P interaction site (KI) to examine the cPLA2a/C1P interaction in wound healing. Wound closure rate was not affected, but wound maturation was dramatically enhanced by loss of the C1P/cPLA2α interaction based on the following findings. Wounds in KI mice displayed: i) increased infiltration of dermal fibroblasts into the wound environment; ii) increased wound tensile strength; and iii) higher Type I/Type III collagen ratios. These findings were recapitulated in vitro as primary dermal fibroblasts (pDFs) from KI mice showed significantly increased collagen deposition and migration velocity compared to WT and KO pDFs. Additionally, the KI showed an altered eicosanoid profile of reduced pro-inflammatory prostaglandins (e.g., PGE2) and increased levels of specific HETE species (e.g., 5-HETE). Elevated 5-HETE levels promoted increased dermal fibroblast migration and collagen deposition. This “gain of function” role for the mutant cPLA2a was also linked to differential cellular localization of cPLA2α and 5-HETE biosynthetic factors. These studies demonstrate regulation of key in vivo biological mechanisms by a defined protein:lipid interaction and provide new insights into cPLA2a function

Cultural Heritages and their Transmission

Peer reviewedPostprin