100 research outputs found
Scholarly Impact of Law School Faculties in 2015: Updating the Leiter Score Ranking for the Top Third
CTCs-derived xenograft development in a Triple Negative breast cancer case
Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is characterized by high rates of metastasis and no available molecular targets. CTCs derived xenografts (CDX) have demonstrated to be a promising tool for understanding cancer biology. In our study, a CDX from a TNBC patient was developed for the first time. After CDX characterization, WNT signaling was found as the main mechanism related with this tumor biology and potential CTCs markers were identified and subsequently validated in TNBC patients. In this cohort high levels of MELK expression were associated with poorer survival rates. Overall, our study demonstrates that CTCs from TNBC are tumorigenic and CDXs are a useful model to obtain valuable information about the tumor
Reducing the health disparities of Indigenous Australians: time to change focus
Background: Indigenous peoples have worse health than non-Indigenous, are over-represented amongst the poor and disadvantaged, have lower life expectancies, and success in improving disparities is limited. To address this, research usually focuses on disadvantaged and marginalised groups, offering only partial understanding of influences underpinning slow progress. Critical analysis is also required of those with the power to perpetuate or improve health inequities. In this paper, using Australia as a case example, we explore the effects of ‘White’, Anglo-Australian cultural dominance in health service delivery to Indigenous Australians. We address the issue using race as an organising principle, underpinned by relations of power.Methods: Interviews with non-Indigenous medical practitioners in Western Australia with extensive experience in Indigenous health encouraged reflection and articulation of their insights into factors promoting or impeding quality health care to Indigenous Australians. Interviews were audio-taped and transcribed. An inductive, exploratory analysis identified key themes that were reviewed and interrogated in light of existing literature on health care to Indigenous people, race and disadvantage. The researchers’ past experience, knowledge and understanding of health care and Indigenous health assisted with data interpretation. Informal discussions were also held with colleagues working professionally in Indigenous policy, practice and community settings.Results: Racism emerged as a key issue, leading us to more deeply interrogate the role ‘Whiteness’ plays in Indigenous health care. While Whiteness can refer to skin colour, it also represents a racialized social structure where Indigenous knowledge, beliefs and values are subjugated to the dominant western biomedical model in policy and practice. Racism towards Indigenous patients in health services was institutional and interpersonal. Internalised racism was manifest when Indigenous patients incorporated racist attitudes and beliefs into their lived experience, lowering expectations and their sense of self-worth.Conclusions: Current health policies and practices favour standardised care where the voice of those who are marginalised is often absent. Examining the effectiveness of such models in reducing health disparities requires health providers to critically reflect on whether policies and practices promote or compromise Indigenous health and wellbeing - an important step in changing the discourse that places Indigenous people at the centre of the problem
Aboriginal Health Worker perceptions of oral health: a qualitative study in Perth, Western Australia
Background: Improving oral health for Aboriginal Australians has been slow. Despite dental disease being largely preventable, Aboriginal Australians have worse periodontal disease, more decayed teeth and untreated dental caries than other Australians. Reasons for this are complex and risk factors include broader social and historic determinants such as marginalisation and discrimination that impact on Aboriginal people making optimum choices about oral health. This paper presents findings from a qualitative study conducted in the Perth metropolitan area investigating Aboriginal Health Workers’ (AHWs) perceptions of barriers and enablers to oral health for Aboriginal people.
Methods: Following extensive consultation with Aboriginal stakeholders, researchers conducted semi-structured interviews and focus groups across 13 sites to investigate AHWs’ perceptions of barriers and enablers to oral health based on professional and personal experience. Responses from 35 AHWs were analysed independently by two researchers to identify themes that they compared, discussed, revised and organised under key themes. These were summarised and interrogated for similarities and differences with evidence in the literature.
Results: Key findings indicated that broader structural and social factors informed oral health choices. Perceptions of barriers included cost of services and healthy diets on limited budgets, attending services for pain not prevention, insufficient education about oral health and preventing disease, public dental services not meeting demand, and blame and discrimination from some health providers. Suggested improvements included oral health education, delivering flexible services respectful of Aboriginal people, oral health services for 0–4 year olds and role modelling of oral health across generations.
Conclusion: Reviewing current models of oral health education and service delivery is needed to reduce oral health disparities between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians. Shifting the discourse from blaming Aboriginal people for their poor oral health to addressing structural factors impacting on optimum oral health choices is important. This includes Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal stakeholders working together to develop and implement policies and practices that are respectful, well-resourced and improve oral health outcomes
Regulation of Bacterial Gene Expression by Protease-Alleviated Spatial Sequestration (PASS)
In
natural microbial systems, conditional spatial sequestration of transcription
factors enables cells to respond rapidly to changes in their environment
or intracellular state by releasing presynthesized regulatory proteins.
Although such a mechanism may be useful for engineering synthetic
biology technologies ranging from cell-based biosensors to biosynthetic
platforms, to date it remains unknown how or whether such conditional
spatial sequestration may be engineered. In particular, based upon
seemingly contradictory reports in the literature, it is not clear
whether subcellular spatial localization of a transcription factor
within the cytoplasm is sufficient to preclude regulation of cognate
promoters on plasmid-borne or chromosomal loci. Here, we describe
a modular, orthogonal platform for investigating and implementing
this mechanism using protease-alleviated spatial sequestration (PASS).
In this system, expression of an exogenous protease mediates the proteolytic
release of engineered transcriptional regulators from the inner face
of the <i>Escherichia coli</i> cytoplasmic membrane. We demonstrate that PASS mediates robust,
conditional regulation of either transcriptional repression, <i>via</i> tetR, or transcriptional activation, by the λ
phage CI protein. This work provides new insights into a biologically
important facet of microbial gene expression and establishes a new
strategy for engineering conditional transcriptional regulation for
the microbial synthetic biology toolbox
Effects of different progesterone levels on reproductive outcomes in assisted reproductive technologies: from molecular basis to treatment strategies
Purpose: The aim of this narrative review is to offer an overview about the role of progesterone levels on pregnancy outcome in patients undergoing assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs). Methods: A detailed computerized search of the literature was performed in the main electronic databases (MEDLINE, EMBASE, Web of Science) to determine the importance of elevated progesterone levels at different stages of the cycle for pregnancy rates in the in vitro fertilization (IVF) cycle. Our review also provides information on the differences between elevated progesterone levels and their interpretation in normal and in poorly responding women. Results: After careful evaluation, our search strategy yielded a total of 15 included articles, showing the possible factors that may have had an impact on the increased progesterone level before human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) injection and the different thresholds above which the pregnancy rate was lower. Furthermore, increased progesterone on cycle day 2 or 3 could serve as a marker for increased progesterone in the late follicular phase, which is associated with a lower pregnancy rate. Conclusion: Despite the literature data that support the negative effect of elevated progesterone on fresh cycles, due to lack of randomized controlled trials, the value of measuring progesterone in daily practice is questionable. Available evidence supports the detrimental effect of elevated progesterone in different subgroups of women, although there is still the need for defining different thresholds and durations of high progesterone exposure. The need for various thresholds for different cohorts of women, the inter-assay variability is making this decision harder
A rare case of life-threatening penetrating oropharyngeal trauma caused by toothbrush in a child
Congenic mice reveal sex-specific genetic regulation of femoral structure and strength.
Genetic linkage studies in C3H/HeJ (C3H) and C57BL/6J (B6) mice identified several chromosomal locations or quantitative trait loci (QTL) linked to femoral volumetric bone mineral density (vBMD). From QTL identified on chromosomes (chr) 1, 4, 6, 13, and 18, five congenic mouse strains were developed. In each of these mice, genomic DNA from the QTL region of the donor C3H strain was transferred into the recipient B6 strain. Here we report the effects of donated C3H QTL on femoral structure, cortical vBMD and bending strength. Femoral structure was quantified by the polar moment of inertia (Ip) at the mid-diaphysis, which reflects the bending or torsional rigidity of the femur. Although the C3H progenitor mice have a smaller Ip than B6 progenitor mice, the congenic mice carrying the C3H segment at Chr 4 had significantly increased Ip in both males and females, giving these mice stronger femora. In female mice from the congenic Chr 1 strain, Ip was increased whereas male mice from the Chr 1 strain had smaller femoral cross-sections and significantly reduced Ip. This sex-specific effect on femoral structure was seen to a lesser extent in Chr 18 congenic mice. In addition, cortical vBMD was measured using peripheral quantitative computed tomography. Cortical vBMD was similar among most congenic strains except in Chr 6 congenic mice, where cortical vBMD was significantly less in females, but not in males. We conclude that (1) chromosomal QTL from C3H mice, which are genetically linked to total femoral vBMD, also regulate femoral structure; (2) the QTL on Chr 4 improves femoral structure and strength; (3) QTL on Chr 1 and 18 impart sex-specific effects on femoral structure; and (4) the QTL on Chr 6 imparts a sex-specific effect on cortical vBMD and femoral strength
Conformational analysis of the polypeptide antibiotic telomycin by nuclear magnetic resonance
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