Healthcare professionals' perspectives on environmental sustainability.

Background: Human health is dependent upon environmental sustainability. Many have argued that environmental sustainability advocacy and environmentally responsible healthcare practice are imperative healthcare actions.

Research Questions: What are the key obstacles to healthcare professionals supporting environmental sustainability? How may these obstacles be overcome?

Research Design: Data-driven thematic qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews identified common and pertinent themes, and differences between specific healthcare disciplines.

Enhancing the Australian healthcare sector's responsiveness to environmental sustainability issues: suggestions from Australian healthcare professionals.

Objective: Identify strategies to implement change across the Australian healthcare sector to better support social and natural environments. Methods. Qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews with Australian healthcare professionals.

Functional characterization of an eosinophil-specific galectin, ovine galectin-14.

Across mammalian species, human galectin-10 and ovine galectin-14 are unique in their expression in eosinophils and their release into lung and gastrointestinal tissues following allergen or parasite challenge. Recombinant galectin-14 is active in carbohydrate binding assays and has been used in this study to unravel the function of this major eosinophil constituent. In vitro cultures revealed that galectin-14 is spontaneously released by eosinophils isolated from allergen-stimulated mammary gland lavage, but not by resting peripheral blood eosinophils.

Nuclear functions of the Arf guanine nucleotide exchange factor BRAG2.

BRAG2 is a guanine nucleotide exchange factor for the GTPase Arf6 that cycles between the cytoplasm and nucleus in a CRM1/exportin1-dependent manner. Despite its presence in the nucleus, nuclear functions have not previously been described. Here, we show that depletion of endogenous BRAG2 by RNAi leads to an increased number of Cajal bodies (CBs), and altered structure of nucleoli, as indicated by less focal fibrillarin staining.

The Arf6 GEF GEP100/BRAG2 regulates cell adhesion by controlling endocytosis of beta1 integrins.

The small GTPase Arf6 has been shown to regulate the post-endocytic trafficking of a subset of membrane proteins, including beta1 integrins, and inhibition of Arf6 function impairs both cell adhesion and motility. The activity of Arf GTPases is regulated by a large family of guanine nucleotide exchange factors (GEFs). Arf-GEP100/BRAG2 is a GEF with reported specificity for Arf6 in vitro, but it is otherwise poorly characterized.

Isolation and characterization of a novel eosinophil-specific galectin released into the lungs in response to allergen challenge.

A novel galectin cDNA (galectin-14) was cloned from ovine eosinophil-rich leukocytes by low stringency reverse transcriptase-PCR and cDNA library screening. Data base searches indicate that this gene encodes a novel prototype galectin that contains one putative carbohydrate recognition domain and exhibits most identity to galectin-9/ecalectin, a potent eosinophil chemoattractant. The sugar binding properties of the recombinant molecule were confirmed by a hemagglutination assay and lactose inhibition.