Capturing grief: Photovoice as a tool for learning and researching.

This article explores the application of photovoice as both an educational and research tool, examining its use to facilitate discussions on loss and grief with fifth- and sixth-grade students, as well as teachers undergoing in-service training in grief education within the Greek-Cypriot school system. Photovoice enabled participants to visually express personal stories related to loss and grief by responding to the question "What do loss and grief mean to you?." Through group discussions, participants shared insights, feelings, and narratives connected to their photographs, deepening the understanding of grief as both a shared and individual experience.

Ridge dimensional changes and implant stability utilizing the osseodensification protocol: A randomized clinical trial.

Background: There is limited evidence on the effect of osseodensification drilling (OD) on alveolar ridge dimension changes and implant stability compared to standard drilling (SD). The purpose of this study was to compare the effect of both drilling protocols on ridge dimensional changes and implant stability.

Methods: Fifteen patients were recruited for a total of 20 pairs of implants.

Defining the mechanism of galectin-3-mediated TGF-β1 activation and its role in lung fibrosis.

Integrin-mediated activation of the profibrotic mediator transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1), plays a critical role in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) pathogenesis. Galectin-3 is believed to contribute to the pathological wound healing seen in IPF, although its mechanism of action is not precisely defined. We hypothesized that galectin-3 potentiates TGF-β1 activation and/or signaling in the lung to promote fibrogenesis.

Improving the integrity and reproducibility of research that uses antibodies: a technical, data sharing, behavioral and policy challenge.

Antibodies are one of the most important reagents used in biomedical and fundamental research, used to identify, and quantify proteins, contribute to knowledge of disease mechanisms, and validate drug targets. Yet many antibodies used in research do not recognize their intended target, or recognize additional molecules, compromising the integrity of research findings and leading to waste of resources, lack of reproducibility, failure of research projects, and delays in drug development. Researchers frequently use antibodies without confirming that they perform as intended in their application of interest.

Early Creeping Attachment Noted after Mandibular Labial Frenuloplasty.

Recession of the mandibular central incisors is frequently associated with high frenum insertion. Often times, this recession is accompanied by a lack of sufficient amount of keratinized tissue and absence of attached gingiva. In this case report, an ASA I patient presented with Cairo Recession Type 2 (RT2) and a minimal amount of keratinized tissue on the mandibular central incisors and underwent frenuloplasty in the anterior mandible with the use of a conventional scalpel technique due to high frenum attachment.

Tensin1 expression and function in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) constitutes a major cause of morbidity and mortality. Genome wide association studies have shown significant associations between airflow obstruction or COPD with a non-synonymous SNP in the TNS1 gene, which encodes tensin1. However, the expression, cellular distribution and function of tensin1 in human airway tissue and cells are unknown.

A Novel Conjugate of Bis[((4-bromophenyl)amino)quinazoline], a EGFR-TK Ligand, with a Fluorescent Ru(II)-Bipyridine Complex Exhibits Specific Subcellular Localization in Mitochondria.

The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is a key target in anticancer research, whose aberrant function in malignancies has been linked to severe irregularities in critical cellular processes, including cell cycle progression, proliferation, differentiation, and survival. EGFR mutant variants, either transmembrane or translocated to the mitochondria and/or the nucleus, often exhibit resistance to EGFR inhibitors. The ability to noninvasively image and quantify EGFR provides novel approaches in the detection, monitoring, and treatment of EGFR-related malignancies.

Survival of Dental Implants Replacing Previously Failed Implants: A Retrospective Study in a University Setting.

Purpose: The rate of dental implant failures ranges from 3% to 8%, with that number increasing as the number of implants placed increases. When an implant fails, the survival rate drops significantly when a second or third attempt is performed. The aim of this study was to evaluate the survival rate of an implant placed in a previously failed implant site and to explore the risk factors that might affect the outcome of the second procedure.

Dealing With the Concepts of "Grief" and "Grieving" in the Classroom: Children's Perceptions, Emotions, and Behavior.

This article presents an action research study that explores how a fifth-grade classroom of 10- to 11-year-old children in Cyprus perceive the concepts of grief and grieving, after an educational intervention provided space for discussing such issues. It also explores the impact that the intervention program had on children's emotions while exploring these concepts and illustrates how it affected their behavior. The findings suggest that the intervention had a constructive impact on children's understandings of grief and grieving along two important dimensions.

Peer support for bereaved children: Setting eyes on children's views through an educational action research project.

This article investigates children's views on providing peer support to bereaved children. The data (pre- and postinterviews and written documents) come from an action research study of a teacher-researcher and her 16 children aged 10-11 years old. Analysis of the data shows children's ideas on supporting a bereaved child and how this support should be provided, taking into consideration various factors such as the relationship with the bereaved and the role of memories.

Addressing the Functional Determinants of FAK during Ciliogenesis in Multiciliated Cells.

We previously identified focal adhesion kinase (FAK) as an important regulator of ciliogenesis in multiciliated cells. FAK and other focal adhesion (FA) proteins associate with the basal bodies and their striated rootlets and form complexes named ciliary adhesions (CAs). CAs display similarities with FAs but are established in an integrin independent fashion and are responsible for anchoring basal bodies to the actin cytoskeleton during ciliogenesis as well as in mature multiciliated cells.

Limitations and options using resorbable versus nonresorbable membranes for successful guided bone regeneration.

Objective: Deficient bony ridges often complicate the implant treatment plan. Several treatment modalities are used to regenerate bone, including guided bone regeneration (GBR). The purpose of this study was to summarize the knowledge on different types of membranes available and currently used in GBR procedures in a staged approach or with simultaneous implant placement.

Cervical Spine Surgery: Approach-Related Complications.

Objective: Cervical spine surgery is a common procedure for treatment of wide variety of pathologies. In this paper we report approach-related complication rates experienced by our patients.

Methods: We retrospectively evaluated data from patients who were treated surgically for cervical pathologies from February 2011 to October 2013.

Neuroimaging for patient selection for medial temporal lobe epilepsy surgery: Part 2 functional neuroimaging.

We evaluate and discuss the various functional imaging techniques that are currently in use to assess the eligibility of a refractory temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) patient for treatment with medial temporal lobe surgery. The assessment of eligibility for treatment is challenging and relies heavily on functional imaging modalities that provide physiological information, in addition to structural data acquired by different imaging techniques. This review is the final segment of a two part study, the first of which focused on the structural and anatomical imaging modalities that are in use for the surgical treatment of TLE.

Neuroimaging for patient selection for medial temporal lobe epilepsy surgery: Part 1 Structural neuroimaging.

The objective of part one of this review is to present the structural neuroimaging techniques that are currently used to evaluate patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), and to discuss their potential to define patient eligibility for medial temporal lobe surgery. A PubMed query, using Medline and Embase, and subsequent review, was performed for all English language studies published after 1990, reporting neuroimaging methods for the evaluation of patients with TLE. The extracted data included demographic variables, population and study design, imaging methods, gold standard methods, imaging findings, surgical outcomes and conclusions.

Blood pressure and LDL-cholesterol targets for prevention of recurrent strokes and cognitive decline in the hypertensive patient: design of the European Society of Hypertension-Chinese Hypertension League Stroke in Hypertension Optimal Treatment randomized trial.

Background And Objectives: The SBP values to be achieved by antihypertensive therapy in order to maximize reduction of cardiovascular outcomes are unknown; neither is it clear whether in patients with a previous cardiovascular event, the optimal values are lower than in the low-to-moderate risk hypertensive patients, or a more cautious blood pressure (BP) reduction should be obtained. Because of the uncertainty whether 'the lower the better' or the 'J-curve' hypothesis is correct, the European Society of Hypertension and the Chinese Hypertension League have promoted a randomized trial comparing antihypertensive treatment strategies aiming at three different SBP targets in hypertensive patients with a recent stroke or transient ischaemic attack. As the optimal level of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) level is also unknown in these patients, LDL-C-lowering has been included in the design.

Blood pressure and low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol lowering for prevention of strokes and cognitive decline: a review of available trial evidence.

Background And Objectives: It is well established by a large number of randomized controlled trials that lowering blood pressure (BP) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) by drugs are powerful means to reduce stroke incidence, but the optimal BP and LDL-C levels to be achieved are largely uncertain. Concerning BP targets, two hypotheses are being confronted: first, the lower the BP, the better the treatment outcome, and second, the hypothesis that too low BP values are accompanied by a lower benefit and even higher risk. It is also unknown whether BP lowering and LDL-C lowering have additive beneficial effects for the primary and secondary prevention of stroke, and whether these treatments can prevent cognitive decline after stroke.

Making the connection: ciliary adhesion complexes anchor basal bodies to the actin cytoskeleton.

Cilia have been associated with diverse developmental and physiological processes, and defects in cilia underlie a number of genetic conditions. Several lines of evidence support a critical role of the actin cytoskeleton in ciliogenesis and ciliary function. Here, we show that well-characterized focal adhesion (FA) proteins, including FAK, Paxillin, and Vinculin, associate with the basal bodies of multiciliated cells and form complexes (CAs) that interact with the actin cytoskeleton.

A dominant-negative provides new insights into FAK regulation and function in early embryonic morphogenesis.

FAK is a non-receptor tyrosine kinase involved in a wide variety of biological processes and crucial for embryonic development. In this manuscript, we report the generation of a new FAK dominant negative (FF), composed of the C terminus (FRNK) and the FERM domain of the protein. FF, unlike FRNK and FERM, mimics the localization of active FAK in the embryo, demonstrating that both domains are necessary to target FAK to its complexes in vivo.

Activation of endogenous FAK via expression of its amino terminal domain in Xenopus embryos.

Background: The Focal Adhesion Kinase is a well studied tyrosine kinase involved in a wide number of cellular processes including cell adhesion and migration. It has also been shown to play important roles during embryonic development and targeted disruption of the FAK gene in mice results in embryonic lethality by day 8.5.

Imaging morphogenesis, in Xenopus with Quantum Dot nanocrystals.

Mesoderm migration is a well studied morphogenetic movement that takes place during Xenopus gastrulation. The study of mesoderm migration and other morphogenetic movements has been primarily based on in vitro assays due to the inability to image deep tissue movements in the opaque embryo. We are the first to report the use of Near Infra Red Quantum Dots (NIR QD's) to image mesoderm migration in vivo with single cell resolution and provide quantitative in vivo data regarding migration rates.

Spatially and temporally regulated alpha6 integrin cleavage during Xenopus laevis development.

The alpha6 integrin is essential for early nervous system development in Xenopus laevis. We have previously reported a uPA cleaved form of integrin alpha6 (alpha6p), in invasive human prostate cancer tissue, whose presence correlates with increased migration and invasive capacity. We now report that alpha6 is cleaved during the normal development of Xenopus in a spatially and temporally controlled manner.

A skeletochronological study of age, growth and longevity in a population of the frog Rana ridibunda from southern Europe.

Age at sexual maturity and longevity in a population of Rana ridibunda from north-eastern Greece were studied by skeletochronology performed on the phalanges. Analysis of the age structure was based on counting the lines of arrested growth (LAGs). Sexual maturity for both sexes arises during the first year or after the first hibernation.