What does the word healing mean to you? Perceptions of patients with life-limiting illness.

Introduction: There is a growing consensus that patient-centered care is more effective in treating patients than a strictly biomedical model, where there are known challenges to involving the patient in assessments, treatment goals, and determining preferred outcomes.

Objectives: The current study seeks to integrate patient values and perspectives by exploring how people diagnosed with a life-limiting disease define healing in their own words.

Methods: As a part of a larger study that included cognitive interviewing, we asked the question "what does the word healing mean to you?" Data were collected during face-to-face interviews with patients from three metropolitan healthcare facilities.

Soluble Human Leukocyte Antigen-G in the Bronchoalveolar Lavage of Lung Cancer Patients.

Background: The main function of the HLA-G molecule in its membrane-bound and soluble forms is to inhibit the immune response by acting on CD4+ T cells, cytotoxic T cells, NK cells and dendritic cells. Lung cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide, and annual incidence is high in both women and men. Some studies have reported an increase of HLA-G serum levels in lung cancer, probably generated by tumor cells escaping the antitumor immune response.

Effect of some ent-kaurenes on the viability of human peripheral blood mononuclear cells.

The possible cytotoxic activity of some ent-kaurenes on human mononuclear cells, obtained from peripheral blood, was studied having in mind future studies on their antitumor activity. The cells were obtained using the Ficoll-Hypaque method, adjusted to 2 x 10(6) cells/mL, and incubated with kaurenes for 48 hours at 3 x 10(-5), 30 x 10(-5), 300 x 10(-1) and 3000 x 10(-5) micromol/well. Ent-kaurenic acid showed no toxicity at all concentrations studied.

Uncoupling activation-induced modulation of CD16 and CD69 in CD56+ cells during AIDS.

The immune system of HIV+ patients is chronically activated, which has been associated with a detrimental effect on both innate and acquired immunity during AIDS. We analyzed the expression and modulation of the triggering markers CD69 and CD16 in CD56+ cells from 18 asymptomatic HIV+ individuals and 8 AIDS patients, compared with 21 seronegative subjects. We observed a diminished PMA-induced CD16 downregulation in AIDS patients (p<0.

Effect of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 on intracellular activation and superoxide production by neutrophils.

The immunopathogenesis of AIDS is associated with the development of opportunistic infections by intracellular pathogens that can invade and reproduce freely because of impaired cellular functions. Neutrophils from asymptomatic human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) type 1-infected persons and from symptomatic patients with AIDS were found to retain normal phagocytosis activity while producing significantly less superoxide than neutrophils from HIV-1-negative subjects, when stimulated through Fc receptors or protein kinase C. After priming with a synthetic HIV-1 envelope peptide and stimulation via the Fc receptor, the neutrophils from HIV-1-negative controls had suppressed superoxide production, reduced phosphorylation of two unidentified cellular proteins, and increased expression of a third phosphoprotein.