Effectiveness of a Volunteer Training Program on the Learning Support of Children in Hospice Palliative Care.

Background: Volunteers are expected to play a key role in children's hospice. However, there is a lack of information about how to cultivate effective volunteer training programs.

Objective: To verify the effect of a training program on volunteers' confidence in providing learning support and sharing experiences with children with life-threatening conditions and their families in a children's hospice.

Expression of myostatin and follistatin in Mdx mice, an animal model for muscular dystrophy.

Follistatin is a functional antagonist of several members of the TGF-beta family of secreted signaling factors, including myostatin, the most powerful inhibitor of muscle growth characterized to date. Myostatin inhibition offers a novel therapeutic strategy for muscular dystrophy by restoring skeletal muscle mass and suppressing the progression of muscle degeneration. To assess the potential benefits of follistatin in treating muscle degenerative diseases, we examined the expression of myostatin and follistatin in Mdx mice, a model for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, and in B10 mice as a control.

Relationship between large tubules and dentin caries in human deciduous tooth.

The purpose of this study was to elucidate the relationship between large tubules and dentin caries by using human deciduous incisors that showed various levels of attrition but no macroscopical lesions resulting from caries. The teeth were cut longitudinally in the mesio-distal direction and the exposed surfaces observed with a high-resolution field emission scanning electron microscope. The inside of each large tubule showed dense collagen fibers running parallel to its long axis and small spherical bodies of aggregated crystals, but no marked attrition.