Lifestyle Redesign with independent living older adults in countries other than the USA.

Background: Health promotion services need to be developed to respond to the needs of an ageing population. Lifestyle Redesign (LR) is an occupational therapy intervention that has been addressed as cost-effective in the USA.

Aims/objectives: This scoping review aimed to identify how the LR has been implemented and what the results have been with older adults living independently in countries other than the USA.

Feasibility of a Web-Based Psychoeducation Course and Experiences of Caregivers Living With a Person With Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorder: Mixed Methods Study.

Background: Schizophrenia is a severe mental illness that burdens both patients and caregivers.

Objective: The aim of this study is to examine the feasibility of a web-based psychoeducation course targeted at caregivers of persons with schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSDs) and to describe their experiences of living with a person with SSD based on the material caregivers produced during the web-based course.

Methods: A convergent, parallel, mixed methods study design was used.

A qualitative exploration of the role of leadership in service transformation in child and adolescent mental health services.

Background: Recent policy in England has called on services for children and young people's mental health and well-being to develop and deliver local transformation plans to increase the provision of evidence-based, outcomes-informed and service user-informed treatments. The role of local leadership in service transformation is poorly understood, despite evidence suggesting it is key to enacting change.

Purpose: To understand the role of local leaders and frontline practitioners in service transformation in child and adolescent mental health services.

The effect of cryotherapy on total antioxidative capacity in patients with active seropositive rheumatoid arthritis.

Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) have increased oxidative stress, decreased antioxidant levels, and impaired antioxidant capacity. Cold treatments are used to relieve joint inflammation and pain. Therefore, we measured the effect of cold treatments on the antioxidative capacity of RA patients with active disease.

Effectiveness and Drug Survival of TNF Inhibitors in the Treatment of Ankylosing Spondylitis: A Prospective Cohort Study.

Objective: The aim of this research was to describe the effectiveness and drug survival of tumor necrosis factor (TNF) inhibitors in the treatment of ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and to analyze the effect of concomitant treatment with conventional disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs.

Methods: Patients with AS identified from the National Register for Biologic Treatment in Finland starting their first TNF inhibitor treatment between July 2004 and December 2011 were included. Treatment response was measured as an improvement of 50% (or 20 mm) after 6 months of treatment onset compared to the baseline Bath AS Disease Activity Index (BASDAI) score.

Acute cold stress in rheumatoid arthritis inadequately activates stress responses and induces an increase of interleukin 6.

Objective: Acute stress in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) should stimulate a strong stress response. After cryotherapy, we expected to observe an increase of hormones of the adrenal gland and the sympathetic nervous system.

Methods: A total of 55 patients with RA were recruited for whole-body cryotherapy at -110 degrees C and -60 degrees C, and local cold therapy between -20 degrees C and -30 degrees C for 7 days.

Identification of amino acid residues at the active site of endosialidase that dissociate the polysialic acid binding and cleaving activities in Escherichia coli K1 bacteriophages.

Endosialidase (endo-N-acetylneuraminidase) is a tailspike enzyme of bacteriophages specific for human pathogenic Escherichia coli K1, which specifically recognizes and degrades polySia (polysialic acid). polySia is also a polysaccharide of the capsules of other meningitis- and sepsis-causing bacteria, and a post-translational modification of the NCAM (neural cell-adhesion molecule). We have cloned and sequenced three spontaneously mutated endosialidases of the PK1A bacteriophage and one of the PK1E bacteriophage which display lost or residual enzyme activity but retain the binding activity to polySia.

Effectiveness of different cryotherapies on pain and disease activity in active rheumatoid arthritis. A randomised single blinded controlled trial.

Objective: Local cryotherapy is used to relieve pain and inflammation in injuries and inflammatory conditions. Whole-body cryotherapy is an extreme method administered at -110 degrees C for 2 to 3 minutes. The aim of the study was to compare the effect of cryotherapies on pain and inflammation in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Predatory insects as bioindicators of heavy metal pollution.

Heavy metal concentrations of different predatory insects were studied near by a steel factory and from control sites. Waterstriders (Gerridae), dragon fly larvae (Odonata), antlion larvae (Myrmeleontidae) and ants (Formicidae) were analyzed by AAS. In most cases the metal concentrations were higher near the factory, but e.

Construction of antibody mimics from a noncatalytic enzyme-detection of polysialic acid.

We have used a conceptually novel way to construct antibody mimics based on the binding of a noncatalytic enzyme to its substrate. Bacteriophage-derived endosialidase cleaves polysialic acid (polySia), an important oncofetal and bacterial antigen, which is poorly immunogenic. We fused to green fluorescent protein (GFP) a catalytically inactive endosialidase known to bind but not degrade polysialic acid.

The benefits of increasing the number of microsatellites utilized in genetic population studies: an empirical perspective.

One of the key issues concerning the application of microsatellite DNA data in evolutionary studies is how the number of loci applied may influence the stability of genetic distances and corresponding phylograms. While computer simulations have suggested that over 30 microsatellites are required for accurate evolutionary inference, we show that a median of only six loci have been generally applied in studies of wild populations. Factors contributing to this contrast include: i) uncertainty regarding the potential benefits that can be gained from a realistic increase in the number of loci used; and ii) the lack of empirical studies assessing the influence of the number of microsatellites on the reliability of genetic distance estimation and phylogeny construction.

Phenotypic variation in growth trajectories in the Arctic charr Salvelinus alpinus.

Animals with determinate growth have shown little variation in individual growth patterns, but similar analyses for animals with indeterminate growth have been lacking. We analysed the amount of phenotypic variation in growth patterns across ages among individuals of a hatchery-based population of Arctic charr, Salvelinus alpinus, Salmonidae, using the infinite-dimensional model and including the effects of group size structure. There was little phenotypic variation in growth trajectories: individuals that were small (in relation to the mean) early in life were among the smallest 2.

CCR3, CCR5, interleukin 4, and interferon-gamma expression on synovial and peripheral T cells and monocytes in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Objective: To characterize cytokine and chemokine receptor profiles of T cells and monocytes in inflamed synovium and peripheral blood (PB) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and other arthritides.

Methods: We studied PB and synovial fluid (SF) samples taken from 20 patients with RA and 9 patients with other arthritides. PB cells from 8 healthy adults were used as controls.

Developmental regulation of NF1 tumor suppressor gene in human peripheral nerve.

Mutations of the NF1 tumor suppressor gene cause type 1 neurofibromatosis, characterized by multiple tumors of the peripheral nerves, as well as other tumor types. The NF1 protein, neurofibromin, is intricately linked to the cell growth regulatory signalling pathways, e.g.

Effects of paclitaxel with or without cremophor EL on cellular clonogenic survival and apoptosis.

Paclitaxel is currently formulated in a vehicle of 50% ethanol and 50% polyethoxylated surfactant cremophor EL. Cremophor EL has been reported to reverse P-glycoprotein-mediated multidrug resistance (MDR) at doses which are clinically achievable. It has also been reported to have a cytotoxic effect per se.

Producers, scroungers and the price of a free meal.

In social foraging, scroungers take a disproportionately large share of the food found relative to their own food-searching efforts, while producers find more food than they manage to monopolize. We present a model of social foraging acknowledging the finder's advantage and foraging role asymmetries among individuals but incorporating the possibility that producers and scroungers differ in vigilance level and in vulnerability to predators. This allows simultaneous examination of both foraging benefits and anti-predatory aspects of grouping behaviour.

Tie endothelial cell-specific receptor tyrosine kinase is upregulated in the vasculature of arteriovenous malformations.

Arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) are congenital lesions composed of abnormal vasculature, with no capillary component, and are clinically significant due to their tendency to spontaneously hemorrhage. The mechanisms regulating the genesis and progression of these lesions are unknown. In order to study the role of angiogenesis in AVMs, we have analyzed the expression of the endothelial cell mitogen vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and a novel endothelial cell-specific receptor tyrosine kinase, Tie, by in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry in these malformations and surrounding brain tissue.

Prey to predator size ratio influences foraging efficiency of larval Aeshna juncea dragonflies.

We investigated foraging behaviour of larval dragonflies Aeshna juncea in order to examine the significance of prey density and body size in predator-prey dynamics. A. juncea were offered separately three size-classes of Daphnia magna at low and high densities.

Expression of laminin and collagen genes by cells cultured from developing human sciatic nerves.

The expression of laminin alpha1, alpha2, beta1, beta2 and gamma1 subunits and proalpha1(I), proalpha1(III), alpha1(IV), alpha1(VI), alpha2(VI) and alpha3(VI) collagen chains was studied by Northern hybridizations, RNase protection assays and indirect immunofluorescence (IIF) labellings in cell cultures initiated from sciatic nerves of 14-27-wk-old human fetuses. The cultures represented mixed populations of Schwann cells, perineurial cells and fibroblasts, as estimated by morphology and S 100 protein immunolabellings. The mRNAs for certain basement membrane (BM) components, laminin beta1 and gamma1 chains and collagen alpha1(IV) chain, were readily detectable by Northern analyses in all cultures.

The rearranged L-myc fusion gene (RLF) encodes a Zn-15 related zinc finger protein.

We have previously characterized intrachromosomal rearrangements at 1p32 fusing the first exon of the RLF gene with L-myc. Here we present the full-length cDNA sequence of the 6251 bp RLF mRNA. The predicted 1914 amino acid Rlf protein contains sixteen widely spaced zinc finger motifs, and is related to the Zn-15 transcription factor.

Human laminin M chain (merosin): complete primary structure, chromosomal assignment, and expression of the M and A chain in human fetal tissues.

The primary structure of the human laminin M chain was determined from cDNA clones isolated from human placental libraries. The clones covered a total of 6,942 bp, with 49-bp encoding a 5' end untranslated region and 6,893-bp coding for a translated sequence. The complete human laminin M chain contains a 22-residue signal peptide and 3,088 residues of the mature M chain.

Differential expression of myc, max and RB1 genes in human gliomas and glioma cell lines.

Deregulated expression of myc proto-oncogenes is implicated in several human neoplasias. We analysed the expression of c-myc, N-myc, L-myc, max and RB1 mRNAs in a panel of human gliomas and glioma cell lines and compared the findings with normal neural cells. The max and RB1 genes were included in the study because their protein products can interact with the Myc proteins, being thus putative modulators of Myc activity.

L-myc and N-myc in hematopoietic malignancies.

The myc proto-oncogenes encode nuclear DNA-binding phosphoproteins which regulate cell proliferation and differentiation. The c-myc gene is implicated in hematopoietic malignancies on the basis of its frequent deregulation in naturally occurring leukemias and lymphomas. Recent evidence suggests that also the N-myc and L-myc genes may have a role in normal and malignant hematopoiesis.