Spirituality and Hansen’s Disease: Spirituality’ Conceptual Structure and Hansen’s Disease History - Part Two

There have been suicides at the Hansen’s disease sanatoria in the past. What is the level of suffering that makes a person think of suicide? Through the analysis of a Hansen’s disease survivor’s life, we clarified that the nature of sufferings is spiritual pain that is brought by the “loss of autonomy and independence for carving out my life.” The patient was stuck in a negative cycle for about 20 years: All my dreams and hopes cut off → Despair → I want to die but cannot die easily → Lethargy∙Desperation∙Nihilistic → Momentary pleasure by gambling → I do not feel like living → I ask myself why am I alive → Self-criticism → Repeat again. Recovery from spiritual pain was achieved with time and by reflection. The bellwethers led to a turning point that helped to change the flow of his life. He also started using time effectively. Spiritual well-being of aging survivors has a trilaminar structure, comprising the following: (1) establishing the existential foundation of a sustained self; (2) living in the moment while contemplating the future; and (3) dovetailing within the society and transcending space and time. It indicates that they can achieve the developmental tasks related to old age, personal integration containing spirituality, and the wisdom and strength to get over difficulties. This study consists of the first report and the second report

The use of hydrothermal carbonization to recycle nutrients in algal biofuel production

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/100324/1/ep11812.pd

An Amphipathic Structure of a Dipropylglycine-Containing Helical Peptide with Sufficient Length Enables Safe and Effective Intracellular siRNA Delivery

Amphipathic peptides composed of cationic amino acids and hydrophobic amino acids have cell-penetrating ability and are often used as a delivery tool for membrane-impermeable compounds. Small interfering RNA (siRNAs) are one of the delivery targets for such cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs). Cationic CPPs can associate with anionic siRNAs by electrostatic interactions resulting in the formation of nano-sized complexes, which can deliver siRNAs intracellularly. CPPs containing unnatural amino acids offer promising tools to siRNA delivery. However, the detailed structure–activity relationship in siRNA delivery has been rarely studied. In the current study, we designed peptides containing dipropylglycine (Dpg) and explored the cellular uptake and cytotoxicity of peptide/siRNA complexes. The amphipathic structure of the peptides played a key role in complexation with siRNAs and intracellular siRNA delivery. In the amphipathic peptides, cellular uptake of siRNA increased with increasing peptide length, but cytotoxicity was reduced. A peptide containing four Dpg exhibited an effective gene-silencing effect with small amounts of peptides without cytotoxicity in medium containing serum. These findings will be helpful for the design of novel CPPs for siRNA delivery