Receptor Autoratiographic Evidence for Specific 125I-Endothelin-1 Binding Sites in the Rat Eye

Specific 125I-endothelin-1 (125I-ET-1) binding sites were investigated in the rat eye, using receptor autoradiographic techniques. 125I-ET-1 was specifically bound to the rat eye sections, with a slow association rate, as evidenced by kinetic experiments. The radioligand binding reached a maximum at 48hr of incubation and a plateau was maintained for up to 72hr. No degradation of 125I-ET-1 during incubation was observed at 72hr. Specific 125I-ET-1 binding sites were localized in areas corresponding anatomically to the cornea, the iris, the retina, the choroid and the sclera. 125I-ET-1 binding to these sections was monophasically inhibited by unlabeled ET-1 with dissociation constant (Kd) of 128pM, whereas unlabeled ET-3, a member of the ET family peptides, biphasically inhibited binding with low affinity, inhibition constant (Ki) of 7.06nM, and high affinity, Ki of 53pM. This evidence for specific 125I-ET-1 binding sites supports the physiological significance of the ET family peptides in the rat eye

Community Health System Assessment for Noncommunicable Disease Prevention and Health Promotion in Indonesia: A Nursing Perspective

As in many countries, noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) are a significant health problem in Indonesia. This assessment of Indonesia’s community health system identified areas that could be strengthened in order to promote the development and implementation of a community health program for NCD prevention and health promotion in the country. In doing so, key components of a well-functioning community health system were assessed based on information obtained from the websites of the World Health Organization, the Indonesian Ministry of Health, Provincial Health Office, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Research Technology and Higher Education, and Nursing Association. Even though a national strategic health plan for NCD prevention and health promotion has been developed, progress with respect to this initiative at the provincial and district levels has not been adequately documented. However, the Indonesian Ministry of Health has recently commenced national community-based research in the form of a survey that is conducted at the district level. Despite the fact that community health posts provide services such as the measurement of body mass index, blood pressure, and blood glucose, in addition to education concerning smoking, exercise, and one’s diet, the extent to which such services are implemented differs among provinces. Factors that hinder provision of community health services for NCD prevention and health promotion include regional disparities with respect to nursing personnel, a limited understanding of what NCD prevention and control entails in relation to community health nursing, and sparse coverage of adult nursing in nursing curricula. Therefore, in order to strengthen the development and implementation of a community health program for NCD prevention and health promotion, it is essential to use the results obtained from the survey to develop and implement health policies for NCD prevention and health promotion that meet the specific needs of each district. It is also necessary to integrate NCD prevention and health promotion into the national standard for community health nursing. Likewise, it is important for basic nursing education to place greater emphasis on life-course perspectives, prevention, and promotion

Urban Diabetic Women\u27s Perception of Healthy Eating Lifestyles From West Java

This study aimed to explore perceptions about a healthy-eating lifestyle and reasons to practice a healthy-eating lifestyle of women with type 2 diabetes in a city of West Java by using a case study design. Six female patients, with type 2 diabetes, ages 47–63 from a hospital were interviewed guided by the health promotion model. Their healthy-eating lifestyle included currently practicing or not practicing a healthy-eating lifestyle. Reasons to practice were: beliefs for health and for physical energy to work for family, definition of multidimensional health and self-efficacy increased by: support from God, support from family, support from health professionals and improved or deteriorated health status by prior experience. Reasons not to practice were: difficulty in arranging diet, rejecting eating, controlling appetite, and accessing health care services. Related difficulties were interpersonal relations with family and social situation such as social events, expensive medical fee, and distance to the hospital. These findings suggest that women with type 2 diabetes in Indonesia need to be supported with the reasons to practice a healthy-eating lifestyle

Urban Diabetic Women’s Perception of Healthy Eating Lifestyles from West Java

This study aimed to explore perceptions about a healthy-eating lifestyle and reasons to practice a healthy-eating lifestyle of women with type 2 diabetes in a city of West Java by using a case study design. Six female patients, with type 2 diabetes, ages 47–63 from a hospital were interviewed guided by the health promotion model. Their healthy-eating lifestyle included currently practicing or not practicing a healthy-eating lifestyle. Reasons to practice were: beliefs for health and for physical energy to work for family, definition of multidimensional health and self-efficacy increased by: support from God, support from family, support from health professionals and improved or deteriorated health status by prior experience. Reasons not to practice were: difficulty in arranging diet, rejecting eating, controlling appetite, and accessing health care services. Related difficulties were interpersonal relations with family and social situation such as social events, expensive medical fee, and distance to the hospital. These findings suggest that women with type 2 diabetes in Indonesia need to be supported with the reasons to practice a healthy-eating lifestyle

Identifying important aspects of quality of life among Muslims with hypertension in rural West Java, Indonesia

Hypertension almost invariably impacts people’s quality of life (QOL). The WHO Quality of Life-BREF instrument (WHOQOL-BREF) is used widely in high-income countries and is comprised of physical, psychological, social and environmental domains. Few studies have measured QOL of people with hypertension in rural areas in low- and middleincome countries, including Indonesia. Our study aims were: 1) to assess whether WHOQOL-BREF is suitable for studying QOL among rural Muslim Indonesians with hypertension, and 2) to describe the characteristics of rural Muslim Indonesians’ QOL. In 2014, we conducted a cross-sectional survey of QOL among 447 residents of an economically stressed rural district in West Java. To assess WHOQOL-BREF’s goodness of fit, we performed structural equation modeling. We calculated Cronbach’s alpha to assess internal consistency reliability. Independent t-tests and one-way ANOVAs were used to compare differences between socio-demographic groups. Participants were mostly women (77%). Mean age was 54 and 24% were widows/widowers. Most (62%) had less than primary level education. Regarding measures of goodness of fit, only root mean square error of approximation reached a marginally acceptable level. Cronbach’s alpha for the overall scale was fairly high (0.893). Psychological QOL received the highest mean domain score (13.8). Environmental QOL received the lowest (12.6). The highest mean item score was for mobility. Financial status, access to information, and leisure received the lowest mean item scores. Domain scores differed by socioeconomic status. Low QOL on one or more domains was associated with lower education, being a widow/widower, and living in a remote area. Since the model showed that WHOQOL-BREF did not achieve desired levels on two of three goodness-of-fit indexes, other aspects of the participants’ QOL may have gone unmeasured. When providing healthcare services to Muslim patients with hypertension in rural Indonesia, planners and providers should attend to aspects of QOL identified in this study

Toward Advanced Nursing Practice along with People-Centered Care Partnership Model for Sustainable Universal Health Coverage and Universal Access to Health

Objective: this study developed a people-centered care (PCC) partnership model for the aging society to address the challenges of social changes affecting people’s health and the new role of advanced practice nurses to sustain universal health coverage. Method: a people-centered care partnership model was developed on the basis of qualitative meta-synthesis of the literature and assessment of 14 related projects. The ongoing projects resulted in individual and social transformation by improving community health literacy and behaviors using people-centered care and enhancing partnership between healthcare providers and community members through advanced practice nurses. Results: people-centered care starts when community members and healthcare providers foreground health and social issues among community members and families. This model tackles these issues, creating new values concerning health and forming a social system that improves quality of life and social support to sustain universal health care through the process of building partnership with communities. Conclusion: a PCC partnership model addresses the challenges of social changes affecting general health and the new role of advanced practice nurses in sustaining UHC.Objetivo: este estudio desarrolló un modelo de alianza para el cuidado centrado en las personas (CCP) para una sociedad envejecida, que haga frente a los retos de los cambios sociales que afectan a la salud de las personas y el nuevo papel de las enfermeras de práctica avanzada para apoyar la cobertura universal de salud. Método: un modelo de alianza para el cuidado centrado en las personas fue desarrollado sobre la base de la meta-síntesis cualitativa de la literatura y la evaluación de 14 proyectos relacionados. Los proyectos en curso dieron lugar a la transformación individual y social mejorando la “alfabetización sanitaria” de la comunidad y los comportamientos, utilizando los cuidados centrados en las personas y aumentando la colaboración entre los profesionales sanitarios y miembros de la comunidad a través de las enfermeras de práctica avanzada. Resultados: el cuidado centrado en las personas comienza cuando los miembros de la comunidad y los profesionales sanitarios ponen en primer plano a la salud y las cuestiones sociales entre los miembros de la comunidad y las familias. Este modelo aborda estas cuestiones, creando nuevos valores relativos a la salud y formando un sistema social que mejora la calidad de vida y el apoyo social para hacer sostenible la atención sanitaria universal a través del proceso de construcción de alianzas con las comunidades. Conclusión: un modelo de alianza para CCP responde a los desafíos de los cambios sociales que afectan a la salud en general y al nuevo papel de las enfermeras de práctica avanzada en el sostenimiento de la Cobertura Universal en Salud (CUS).Objetivo: o estudo desenvolveu um modelo de parceria de cuidados centrados nas pessoas (CCP) para uma sociedade que está envelhecendo, com o fim de enfrentar os desafios das mudanças sociais que afetam a saúde das pessoas e o novo papel da prática avançada de enfermagem para sustentar a cobertura universal de saúde. Método: um modelo de parceria de cuidados centrados nas pessoas foi desenvolvido com base na meta-síntese qualitativa da literatura e a avaliação de 14 projetos relacionados. Os projetos em curso resultaram na transformação individual e social, melhorando a alfabetização de saúde da comunidade e comportamentos que usam o cuidado centrado nas pessoas e aumentando a parceria entre os profissionais de saúde e membros da comunidade por meio da prática avançada de enfermagem. Resultados: o cuidado centrado nas pessoas começa quando os membros da comunidade e os profissionais de saúde colocam em primeiro plano as questões sociais entre os membros da comunidade e das famílias. Esse modelo aborda essas questões, a criação de novos valores relativos à saúde e forma um sistema social que melhora a qualidade de vida e dá apoio social para sustentar o sistema de saúde universal por meio da construção de parcerias com as comunidades. Conclusão: um modelo de parceria CCP aborda os desafios das mudanças sociais que afetam a saúde geral e o novo papel das enfermeiras de prática avançada em sustentar a UHC

Rescue from Stx2-Producing E. coli-Associated Encephalopathy by Intravenous Injection of Muse Cells in NOD-SCID Mice

Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) causes hemorrhagic colitis, hemolytic uremic syndrome, and acute encephalopathies that may lead to sudden death or severe neurologic sequelae. Current treatments, including immunoglobulin G (IgG) immunoadsorption, plasma exchange, steroid pulse therapy, and the monoclonal antibody eculizumab, have limited effects against the severe neurologic sequelae. Multilineage-differentiating stress-enduring (Muse) cells are endogenous reparative non-tumorigenic stem cells that naturally reside in the body and are currently under clinical trials for regenerative medicine. When administered intravenously, Musecells accumulate to the damaged tissue, where they exert anti-inflammatory, anti-apoptotic, anti-fibrotic, and immunomodulatory effects, and replace damaged cells by differentiating into tissue-constituent cells. Here, severely immunocompromised non-obese diabetic/severe combined immunodeficiency (NOD-SCID) mice orally inoculated with 9 × 109 colony-forming units of STEC O111 and treated 48 h later with intravenous injection of 5 × 104 Muse cells exhibited 100% survival and no severe after-effects of infection. Suppression of granulocyte-colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) by RNAi abolished the beneficial effects of Muse cells, leading to a 40% death and significant body weight loss, suggesting the involvement of G-CSF in the beneficial effects of Muse cells in STEC-infected mice. Thus, intravenous administration of Muse cells could be a candidate therapeutic approach for preventing fatal encephalopathy after STEC infection

Rescue from Stx2-Producing E. coli-Associated Encephalopathy by Intravenous Injection of Muse Cells in NOD-SCID Mice

Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) causes hemorrhagic colitis, hemolytic uremic syndrome, and acute encephalopathies that may lead to sudden death or severe neurologic sequelae. Current treatments, including immunoglobulin G (IgG) immunoadsorption, plasma exchange, steroid pulse therapy, and the monoclonal antibody eculizumab, have limited effects against the severe neurologic sequelae. Multilineage-differentiating stress-enduring (Muse) cells are endogenous reparative non-tumorigenic stem cells that naturally reside in the body and are currently under clinical trials for regenerative medicine. When administered intravenously, Musecells accumulate to the damaged tissue, where they exert anti-inflammatory, anti-apoptotic, anti-fibrotic, and immunomodulatory effects, and replace damaged cells by differentiating into tissue-constituent cells. Here, severely immunocompromised non-obese diabetic/severe combined immunodeficiency (NOD-SCID) mice orally inoculated with 9 × 109 colony-forming units of STEC O111 and treated 48 h later with intravenous injection of 5 × 104 Muse cells exhibited 100% survival and no severe after-effects of infection. Suppression of granulocyte-colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) by RNAi abolished the beneficial effects of Muse cells, leading to a 40% death and significant body weight loss, suggesting the involvement of G-CSF in the beneficial effects of Muse cells in STEC-infected mice. Thus, intravenous administration of Muse cells could be a candidate therapeutic approach for preventing fatal encephalopathy after STEC infection

The ASTRO-H X-ray Observatory

The joint JAXA/NASA ASTRO-H mission is the sixth in a series of highly successful X-ray missions initiated by the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS). ASTRO-H will investigate the physics of the high-energy universe via a suite of four instruments, covering a very wide energy range, from 0.3 keV to 600 keV. These instruments include a high-resolution, high-throughput spectrometer sensitive over 0.3-2 keV with high spectral resolution of Delta E < 7 eV, enabled by a micro-calorimeter array located in the focal plane of thin-foil X-ray optics; hard X-ray imaging spectrometers covering 5-80 keV, located in the focal plane of multilayer-coated, focusing hard X-ray mirrors; a wide-field imaging spectrometer sensitive over 0.4-12 keV, with an X-ray CCD camera in the focal plane of a soft X-ray telescope; and a non-focusing Compton-camera type soft gamma-ray detector, sensitive in the 40-600 keV band. The simultaneous broad bandpass, coupled with high spectral resolution, will enable the pursuit of a wide variety of important science themes.Comment: 22 pages, 17 figures, Proceedings of the SPIE Astronomical Instrumentation "Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2012: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray

The Quiescent Intracluster Medium in the Core of the Perseus Cluster

Clusters of galaxies are the most massive gravitationally-bound objects in the Universe and are still forming. They are thus important probes of cosmological parameters and a host of astrophysical processes. Knowledge of the dynamics of the pervasive hot gas, which dominates in mass over stars in a cluster, is a crucial missing ingredient. It can enable new insights into mechanical energy injection by the central supermassive black hole and the use of hydrostatic equilibrium for the determination of cluster masses. X-rays from the core of the Perseus cluster are emitted by the 50 million K diffuse hot plasma filling its gravitational potential well. The Active Galactic Nucleus of the central galaxy NGC1275 is pumping jetted energy into the surrounding intracluster medium, creating buoyant bubbles filled with relativistic plasma. These likely induce motions in the intracluster medium and heat the inner gas preventing runaway radiative cooling; a process known as Active Galactic Nucleus Feedback. Here we report on Hitomi X-ray observations of the Perseus cluster core, which reveal a remarkably quiescent atmosphere where the gas has a line-of-sight velocity dispersion of 164+/-10 km/s in a region 30-60 kpc from the central nucleus. A gradient in the line-of-sight velocity of 150+/-70 km/s is found across the 60 kpc image of the cluster core. Turbulent pressure support in the gas is 4% or less of the thermodynamic pressure, with large scale shear at most doubling that estimate. We infer that total cluster masses determined from hydrostatic equilibrium in the central regions need little correction for turbulent pressure.Comment: 31 pages, 11 Figs, published in Nature July