Experiences of an Online Palliative Rehabilitation Programme for Spousal Caregivers of People With Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and Cognitive and/or Behavioural Impairments: A Qualitative Interpretive Study.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to understand how spousal caregivers of people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and cognitive and/or behavioural impairments felt about the EMBRACE intervention.

Materials And Methods: A qualitative interpretive study, using individual semi-structured interviews pre- and post-participation in a palliative rehabilitation blended learning programme, was applied. In total, 13 spousal caregivers were interviewed pre-intervention and 10 of them post-intervention.

Perceived benefits from peer-support among family caregivers of people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and cognitive impairments in a palliative rehabilitation blended online learning programme.

Rationale: Family caregivers of persons with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and cognitive and/or behavioural impairments (PALS/CIs) experience various challenges and needs, including emotional and practical support from peers. Various forms of peer-support have shown different strengths and weaknesses; however, little is known about how family caregivers of PALS/CIs interact with and perceive virtual face-to-face peer-support.

Aims And Objectives: The aim of this study was to understand how caregivers of PALS/CIs interact with and perceive virtual face-to-face peer-support in a palliative rehabilitation programme designed to promote targeted palliative rehabilitation initiatives for caregivers of PALS/CIs.

A cross-sectional evaluation of acceptability of an online palliative rehabilitation program for family caregivers of people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and cognitive and behavioral impairments.

Background: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive fatal neurodegenerative disease. Around half of the population with ALS develop cognitive and/or behavioral impairment. Behavioral changes in persons with ALS are perceived as the strongest predictor of psychosocial distress among family caregivers.

Reflections of family caregivers and health professionals on the everyday challenges of caring for persons with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and cognitive impairments: a qualitative study.

Aims And Objectives: To explore reflections of family caregivers and health professionals regarding the challenges involved in caring for persons with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and cognitive and/or behavioral impairments (PALS/CIs).

Background: Family caregivers of PALS/CIs are highly burdened and at great risk of psychological sequela. Professionals working with these families can be negatively affected on their well-being and are at risk of burnout.

Equal efficacy of gastric and jejunal tube feeding in liver cirrhosis and/or alcoholic hepatitis: a randomised controlled study.

Background And Aim: Malnutrition and muscle mass loss are complications in liver cirrhosis and alcoholic hepatitis (AH). Hospitalised patients who do not meet nutritional requirements are recommended to be fed enterally or parenterally, but no guidelines recommend a specific type of tube. This study aimed to compare the efficacy of jejunal versus gastric feeding.

Gene expression profiling of Polycomb, Hox and Meis genes in patients with acute myeloid leukaemia.

The Polycomb group (PcG) of genes is important for differentiation and cell-cycle regulation and is aberrantly expressed in several cancers. To analyse the role of deregulated PcG genes in acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), we determined by RQ-PCR the expression of the PcG genes BMI-1, MEL18, SCML2, YY1 and EZH2, and the downstream PcG targets HOXA4, HOXA9 and MEIS1 in diagnostic bone marrow samples from 126 AML patients. There was a general overexpression of the genes in AML patients compared to 20 healthy donors, except of HOXA4 and MEL18, which both displayed a wide range of expression levels within the AML subgroups.

Solitary and repetitive binding motifs for the AP2 complex alpha-appendage in amphiphysin and other accessory proteins.

Adaptor protein (AP) complexes bind to transmembrane proteins destined for internalization and to membrane lipids, so linking cargo to the accessory internalization machinery. This machinery interacts with the appendage domains of APs, which have platform and beta-sandwich subdomains, forming the binding surfaces for interacting proteins. Proteins that interact with the subdomains do so via short motifs, usually found in regions of low structural complexity of the interacting proteins.

Promoter hypermethylation of the retinoic acid receptor beta2 gene is frequent in acute myeloid leukaemia and associated with the presence of CBFbeta-MYH11 fusion transcripts.

Silencing of the putative tumour suppressor gene retinoic acid receptor beta2 (RARbeta2) caused by aberrant promoter hypermethylation has been identified in several solid tumours. In order to evaluate the extent of RARbeta2 hypermethylation and transcription in acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) at diagnosis, 320 patients were investigated by bisulphite-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis and mRNA transcription levels were analysed in 61 of these by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. The results were compared with demographic- and molecular data from the patients.

Promoter hypermethylation of p15INK4B, HIC1, CDH1, and ER is frequent in myelodysplastic syndrome and predicts poor prognosis in early-stage patients.

The propensity of myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) to transform into acute myeloid leukemia (AML) suggests the existence of common pathogenic components for these malignancies. Here, four genes implicated in the development of AML were examined for promoter CpG island hypermethylation in cells from 37 patients with different stages of MDS. Aberrant methylation was detected by polymerase chain reaction amplification of bisulfite-treated DNA followed by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis.

Molecular typing of adult acute myeloid leukaemia: significance of translocations, tandem duplications, methylation, and selective gene expression profiling.

Although a number of molecular aberrations have been described in acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), no study has yet determined their relative prognostic importance. We have analysed blast cells from 250 adult patients treated at the same institution during a 15-year period. Balanced translocations were detected by multiplex polymerase chain reaction in 13% of the cases.

Delineation and molecular characterization of acute myeloid leukemia patients with coduplication of FLT3 and MLL.

Partial tandem (PTD) and internal tandem duplications (ITD) of the MLL or FLT3 genes respectively, have been demonstrated in acute myeloid leukemia (AML). While occurrence of each of these PTD/ITD seem to confer an unfavorable prognosis, the literature contains only sparse information of the occurrence and the prognosis of simultaneous PTD/ITD of these genes. We have therefore attempted to determine the presence and its consequence in AML and with the further aim of characterizing such patients with respect to other genetic aberrations and to prototype variables in this disease.

Prospective application of a multiplex reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction assay for the detection of balanced translocations in leukaemia: a single-laboratory study of 390 paediatric and adult patients.

The upfront application of molecular methods for identifying the fusion transcripts arising from balanced translocations in haematopoietic malignancies has several advantages: sensitivity is independent of its frequency, i.e. rare ones are not missed, cytogenetically cryptic aberrations are identified and it provides a platform for minimal residual disease (MRD) detection.

WT1 gene expression: an excellent tool for monitoring minimal residual disease in 70% of acute myeloid leukaemia patients - results from a single-centre study.

Following induction chemotherapy for acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), sensitive determination of minimal residual disease (MRD) in patients achieving complete remission (CR) should enable the detection of early relapse and allow intervention at a more favourable stage than at overt relapse. We have determined the expression levels of the Wilms' tumour gene (WT1) by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RQ-PCR) in peripheral blood and bone marrow in 133 newly diagnosed AML patients and compared them with those in healthy volunteers. At diagnosis, the WT1 level exceeded normal expression in 118 of 133 (89%) patients, and was high enough to allow for detection of a WT1 decrease of least 1000-fold in 98 of 133 (74%) patients following induction therapy.

Changing picture of cellular drug resistance in human leukemia.

A relatively well documented and seemingly firm overall picture of mechanisms involved in leukemia-cell drug resistance has evolved since the 1970s, where mechanisms involved in multidrug resistance towards anti-leukemia chemotherapeutic compounds were first described. At that time, based on available data, resistance associated with overexpression of the cell-surface transmembrane ATPase P-glycoprotein (P-170, P-gp, the product of the MDR1 gene) was described as "the" cause of multidrug resistance in cancer cells. However, during the 1980s and later on other mechanisms were described as candidate causes of multidrug resistance in human leukemia.

EpsinR: an AP1/clathrin interacting protein involved in vesicle trafficking.

EpsinR is a clathrin-coated vesicle (CCV) enriched 70-kD protein that binds to phosphatidylinositol-4-phosphate, clathrin, and the gamma appendage domain of the adaptor protein complex 1 (AP1). In cells, its distribution overlaps with the perinuclear pool of clathrin and AP1 adaptors. Overexpression disrupts the CCV-dependent trafficking of cathepsin D from the trans-Golgi network to lysosomes and the incorporation of mannose-6-phosphate receptors into CCVs.