Cross-Cultural Experiences of Hospice and Palliative Care Services: A Thematic Analysis.

Significant disparity exists among non-Western and minority individuals in hospice and palliative care services. A cross-cultural approach that addresses the needs of these patients would decrease this disparity. This study reviews the literature on the experiences of patients from non-Western and minority cultural backgrounds in hospice and palliative care services to inform clinical practice by Western providers.

Different role of TTX-sensitive voltage-gated sodium channel (Na 1) subtypes in action potential initiation and conduction in vagal airway nociceptors.

Key Points: The action potential initiation in the nerve terminals and its subsequent conduction along the axons of afferent nerves are not necessarily dependent on the same voltage-gated sodium channel (Na 1) subunits. The action potential initiation in jugular C-fibres within airway tissues is not blocked by TTX; nonetheless, conduction of action potentials along the vagal axons of these nerves is often dependent on TTX-sensitive channels. This is not the case for nodose airway Aδ-fibres and C-fibres, where both action potential initiation and conduction is abolished by TTX or selective Na 1.

Mechanisms of pruritogen-induced activation of itch nerves in isolated mouse skin.

Key Points: Chloroquine (CQ) stimulates itch nerves and causes intense scratching in mice by activating the G-protein coupled receptor (GPCR) MrgprA3; it is not known how stimulation of MrgprA3 (or other GPCRs) leads to activation of the itch nerve terminals in the skin, but previous studies have found that transient receptor potential A1 (TRPA1) gene deletion blocks CQ-induced scratching. In the present study we used a novel dorsal skin-nerve preparation to evaluate mechanisms underlying CQ- and histamine-induced action potential discharge in itch nerve terminals. We found that CQ activation of the nerves requires the beta3 isoform of phospholipase C, but TRPA1 or other TRP channel are not required.

Drosophila muller f elements maintain a distinct set of genomic properties over 40 million years of evolution.

The Muller F element (4.2 Mb, ~80 protein-coding genes) is an unusual autosome of Drosophila melanogaster; it is mostly heterochromatic with a low recombination rate. To investigate how these properties impact the evolution of repeats and genes, we manually improved the sequence and annotated the genes on the D.