Evaluation and Cultural Influence of Nurses’ Attitudes toward Elderly Care

The eldery population among the 38 countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development; thus, nurses have many opportunities to care for the elderly. The elderly are more likely to suffer from diseases, such as geriatric syndrome and sarcopenia, in addition to frailty. Medical personnel is reported to have a protective attitude, but the problems of nurses’ dialog attitudes include confusion, concern, prejudice, and difficulty in dialog with patients with critical illnesses. Therefore, we had developed the scale to evaluate the negative aspects of nurses’ interactive attitudes toward the elderly. The validity and reliability for the scale of the 15-item and 7-law methods were determined. A comparison of the dialog orientation scales of nurses and nursing students revealed that nurses are more positive as they gain more experience. Additionally, nurses were more negative about age discrimination in dialog and the difficulty of dialog with seriously injured people than caregivers because nurses care for more severely ill elderly. Moreover, we implemented a program to conduct dialog training with the elderly from the stage of nursing students, which revealed a clear effect

c-ABL tyrosine kinase stabilizes RAD51 chromatin association

Division of Molecular Patholog

Role of the Transcription Factor BTB and CNC Homology 1 in a Rat Model of Acute Liver Injury Induced by Experimental Endotoxemia

Hepatic oxidative stress plays an important role in the pathogenesis of several acute liver diseases, and free heme is thought to contribute to endotoxemia-induced acute liver injury. The heme oxygenase 1 (HO-1) gene is upregulated and the δ-aminolevulinate synthase (ALAS1) gene is downregulated in the rat liver following lipopolysaccharide (LPS) treatment. BTB and CNC homology 1 (Bach1) is a heme-responsive transcription factor that normally represses HO-1 expression. In this study, we evaluated the changes in HO-1, ALAS1, and Bach1 expression and nuclear Bach1 expression in rat livers following intravenous LPS administration (10 mg/kg body weight). LPS significantly upregulated HO-1 mRNA and downregulated ALAS1 mRNA in the rat livers, suggesting that hepatic free heme concentrations are increased after LPS treatment. Bach1 mRNA was strongly induced after LPS injection. In contrast, nuclear Bach1 was significantly but transiently decreased after LPS treatment. Rats were also administered hemin (50 mg/kg body weight) intravenously to elevate heme concentrations, which decreased nuclear Bach1 levels. Our results suggest that elevated hepatic free heme may be associated with a decline of nuclear Bach1, and induction of Bach1 mRNA may compensate for the decreased nuclear Bach1 after LPS treatment in the rat liver

Protective effect of tin chloride on rhabdomyolysis-induced acute kidney injury in rats

The heme component of myoglobin plays a crucial role in the pathogenesis of rhabdomyolysis-associated acute kidney injury (RM-AKI). Heme oxiganenase-1 (HO-1) is the rate-limiting enzyme of heme catabolism, and its metabolites, iron, biliverdin, and carbon monoxide, have antioxidant properties. Tin chloride (SnCl2) is a kidney specific HO-1 inducer. In this study, we examined whether the induction of HO-1 in the kidney by SnCl2 pretreatment ameliorates RM-AKI in rats and if the effect is due to the degradation of excess renal free heme. We developed an RM-AKI rat (male Sprague-Dawley rats) model by injecting glycerol (Gly) in the hind limbs. RM-AKI rats were pretreated with saline or SnCl2 or additional SnMP (tin mesoporphyrin, a specific HO inhibitor) followed by Gly treatment. Serum blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and creatinine (Crea) were measured as indicators of renal function. Renal free heme level was assessed based on the levels of delta-aminolevulinate synthase (ALAS1), a heme biosynthetic enzyme, and nuclear BTB and CNC homology 1 (Bach1), an inhibitory transcription factor of HO-1. Elevated free heme levels lead to decreases in ALAS1 and nuclear Bach1. After 24 h of Gly injection, serum BUN and Crea levels in saline-pretreated rats were significantly higher than those in untreated control rats. In contrast, SnCl2-pretreated rats showed no significant increase in the indices. However, additional treatment of SnMP abolished the beneficial effect of SnCl2. Renal ALAS1 mRNA levels and renal nuclear Bach1 protein levels in the saline pretreated rats were significantly lower than those in control rats 3 h after Gly injection. In contrast, the levels in SnCl2-pretreated rats were not altered. The findings indicate that SnCl2 pretreatment confers protection against RM-AKI by virtue of HO-1 induction in the renal system, at least in part through excess free heme degradation

CO2 Looping Cycle for CO2 Separation

A dual fluidized bed process using CaO-based solid sorbent is considered to be a promising technology to separate CO2 from flue gas with low energy penalty. As reactor for CaO-looping cycle, both bubbling fluidized bed and “fast” fluidized bed are available, thus four possible combinations, (bubbling or fast absorber)x(bubbling or fast regenerator), are conceivable for this process. In this work, the authors discuss favorable combination of reactor type from viewpoints of heat removal from carbonation reactor and on energy penalty associated with dilution of pure oxygen by CO2 in the regenerator. As conclusion, suitable combination was found to be bubbling bed absorber and fast regenerator. Design of bench-scale experimental apparatus of the present system was also carried out. Bubbling bed absorber was designed to achieve 86 % CO2 removal efficiency from flue gas. Preliminary operating results of solid circulation at room temperature are also presented