A Comparison Of An Individually Tailored And A Standardized Asthma Self-Management Education Program

Asthma is one of the most prevalent chronic diseases in the United States (Centers for Disease Control [CDC], 2003). According to the CDC (2003), prevalence of asthma continues to rise in epidemic proportions and is very costly. While asthma cannot be prevented or cured, it can be controlled to improve quality of life. Self-management is key to controlling asthma (CDC, 2003; National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute [NHLBI], 2002). State of the science for asthma self-management establishes that health care costs decrease for self-management intervention groups (Lindberg et al, 2002; Thoonen et al, 2003). Education is essential to support asthma self-management, but state of the science does not indicate the type of education intervention or how intense an education intervention should be. Education literature supports meeting learner needs as an essential component for successful adult learning. The purpose of this study is to examine and compare the effects of two asthma self-management programs on adult asthma control, the individually tailored and the standardized. It is a comparative, pretest-posttest design to examine and compare the effects of the standardized education (n = 44) and the individually tailored education (n = 44) on asthma control. The education curriculum for both groups is based on National Asthma Education Prevention Program guidelines. The individually tailored education utilizes an andragogical framework. The Asthma Control Test (ACT) and Peak Expiratory Flow (PEF) readings were utilized as pre and post-test measures (American Lung Association, 2002). An independent t-test, chi-square, and repeated measure general linear model technique were utilized to compare groups. There was a significant difference in ACT scores between pre and post-test, regardless of asthma teaching methods, as indicated by multivariate tests of within subject effects (F = 4.43, p = .038). There was a statistically significant decrease in mean number episodes of shortness of breath (F =6.22, p = .015) regardless of asthma teaching methods. The current study supports a standardized and an individually tailored education program as being effective in improving asthma control and decreasing episodes of shortness of breath and supports a growing need for nurses to become involved in adult asthma education

Epstein-Barr Virus Associated Modulation of Wnt Pathway Is Not Dependent on Latent Membrane Protein-1

Previous studies have indicated that Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) can modulate the Wnt pathway in virus-infected cells and this effect is mediated by EBV-encoded oncogene latent membrane protein 1 (LMP1). Here we have reassessed the role of LMP1 in regulating the expression of various mediators of the canonical Wnt cascade. Contradicting the previous finding, we found that the levels of E-cadherin, β-catenin, Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3ß (GSK3β), axin and α-catenin were not affected by the expression of LMP1 sequences from normal B cells or nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Moreover, we also show that LMP1 expression had no detectable effect on the E-cadherin and β-catenin interaction and did not induce transcriptional activation of β-catenin. Taken together these studies demonstrate that EBV-mediated activation of Wnt pathway is not dependent on the expression of LMP1

Soft computing methods for the prediction of protein tertiary structures: A survey

The problem of protein structure prediction (PSP) represents one of the most important challenges in computational biology. Determining the three dimensional structure of proteins is necessary to under stand their functions at molecular level. The most representative soft computing approaches for solving the protein tertiary structure prediction problem are summarized in this paper. These approaches have been categorized following the type of methodology. A total of 90 relevant works published in last 15 years in the field of protein structure prediction have been reported, including the best competitors in last CASP editions. However, despite large research effort in last decades, a considerable scope for further improvement still remains in this area.Junta de Andalucía P07-TIC-02611Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia TIN2011-28956-C02-0