Supporting Spiritual Care With the Saline Process™.

Living one's Christian faith and providing appropriate spiritual care in professional nursing practice can seem challenging. The IHS Global® Saline Process™ course equips Christian healthcare workers with knowledge and tools to provide appropriate spiritual support and consider how God is calling them to share his truth and love. After participating in a Saline Process™ course, ongoing engagement helps clinicians grow in practicing what they have learned.

Increased brain microvascular hemoglobin concentrations in children with cerebral malaria.

Brain swelling is associated with death from cerebral malaria, but it is unclear whether brain swelling is caused by cerebral edema or vascular congestion-two pathological conditions with distinct effects on tissue hemoglobin concentrations. We used near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) to noninvasively study cerebral microvascular hemoglobin concentrations in 46 Malawian children with cerebral malaria. Cerebral malaria was defined by the presence of the malaria parasite on a blood smear, a Blantyre coma score of 2 or less, and retinopathy.

The Ethanolamine-Sensing Transcription Factor EutR Promotes Virulence and Transmission during Citrobacter rodentium Intestinal Infection.

Enteric pathogens exploit chemical and nutrient signaling to gauge their location within a host and control expression of traits important for infection. Ethanolamine-containing molecules are essential in host physiology and play important roles in intestinal processes. The transcription factor EutR is conserved in the and is required for ethanolamine sensing and metabolism.

Ethanolamine Influences Human Commensal Escherichia coli Growth, Gene Expression, and Competition with Enterohemorrhagic E. coli O157:H7.

A core principle of bacterial pathogenesis is that pathogens preferentially utilize metabolites that commensal bacteria do not in order to sidestep nutritional competition. The metabolite ethanolamine (EA) is well recognized to play a central role in host adaptation for diverse pathogens. EA promotes growth and influences virulence during host infection.

Pannexin channel and connexin hemichannel expression in vascular function and inflammation.

Control of blood flow distribution and tissue homeostasis depend on the tight regulation of and coordination between the microvascular network and circulating blood cells. Channels formed by connexins or pannexins that connect the intra- and extracellular compartments allow the release of paracrine signals, such as ATP and prostaglandins, and thus play a central role in achieving fine regulation and coordination of vascular function. This review focuses on vascular connexin hemichannels and pannexin channels.

Decreased Rate of Plasma Arginine Appearance in Murine Malaria May Explain Hypoargininemia in Children With Cerebral Malaria.

Background:  Plasmodium infection depletes arginine, the substrate for nitric oxide synthesis, and impairs endothelium-dependent vasodilation. Increased conversion of arginine to ornithine by parasites or host arginase is a proposed mechanism of arginine depletion.

Methods:  We used high-performance liquid chromatography to measure plasma arginine, ornithine, and citrulline levels in Malawian children with cerebral malaria and in mice infected with Plasmodium berghei ANKA with or without the arginase gene.

Microvascular oxygen consumption during sickle cell pain crisis.

Sickle cell disease is an inherited blood disorder characterized by chronic hemolytic anemia and episodic vaso-occlusive pain crises. Vaso-occlusion occurs when deoxygenated hemoglobin S polymerizes and erythrocytes sickle and adhere in the microvasculature, a process dependent on the concentration of hemoglobin S and the rate of deoxygenation, among other factors. We measured oxygen consumption in the thenar eminence during brachial artery occlusion in sickle cell patients and healthy individuals.

Integrins α4 and αM, collagen1A1, and matrix metalloproteinase 7 are upregulated in acute Kawasaki disease vasculopathy.

Background: Kawasaki disease (KD) can result in fatal coronary artery (CA) aneurysms, especially if left untreated. Our recent studies of its vascular pathology revealed subacute/chronic vasculitis that begins early in the illness with the proliferation of smooth muscle cell-derived myofibroblasts in a complex extracellular matrix (ECM). We hypothesized that a dysregulation of specific ECM and adhesion molecules occurs in KD CAs.