Mucosal Atrophy Predicts Poorer Outcomes in Pediatric Ulcerative Colitis-A National Inception Cohort Study.

Background: Outcomes in pediatric ulcerative colitis (UC) are heterogeneous and predictors of disease course eagerly sought. Mucosal atrophy (MA) is characterized by histological abnormalities of colonic intestinal glands.

Objective: To determine the prevalence of MA in a national inception cohort of pediatric UC and its impact on outcomes.

Dietitians’ Attitudes and Experiences of Blended Tube Feeding in Paediatrics.

Aims To examine; (a) the number of registered dietitians (RDs) with blended tube fed (BTF) patients, work setting and caseload; (b) attitudes and experiences towards BTF; (c) current BTF supports and future resources required. Methods An online survey collected information from Irish RDs over one month. Data was examined using cross-tabulations and Mann-Whitney U tests.

Outcomes of exclusive enteral nutrition in paediatric Crohn's disease.

Background/objectives: Exclusive enteral nutrition (EEN) is a safe and effective treatment modality for inducing remission in paediatric Crohn's disease (CD). The primary aim of this study was to compare the outcomes of EEN to corticosteroid (CS) therapy in newly diagnosed, treatment-naïve patients with CD. A secondary aim was to describe the outcomes of EEN in a national cohort of paediatric CD patients over a 10-year period.

RNA-seq analysis of impact of PNN on gene expression and alternative splicing in corneal epithelial cells.

Purpose: The specialized corneal epithelium requires differentiated properties, specific for its role at the anterior surface of the eye. Thus, tight maintenance of the differentiated qualities of the corneal epithelial is essential. Pinin (PNN) is an exon junction component (EJC) that has dramatic implications for corneal epithelial cell differentiation and may act as a stabilizer of the corneal epithelial cell phenotype.

Pinin interacts with C-terminal binding proteins for RNA alternative splicing and epithelial cell identity of human ovarian cancer cells.

Unlike many other human solid tumors, ovarian tumors express many epithelial markers at a high level for cell growth and local invasion. The phosphoprotein Pinin plays a key role in epithelial cell identity. We showed that clinical ovarian tumors and ovarian cancer cell lines express a high level of Pinin when compared with normal ovarian tissues and immortalized normal ovarian surface epithelial cell lines.

Role of Pnn in alternative splicing of a specific subset of lncRNAs of the corneal epithelium.

Purpose: GG-H whole transcriptome array analysis suggested involvement of PININ (PNN) in the alternative splicing of multiple long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs). To further investigate PNN's role in regulating the alternative splicing of lncRNAs in a corneal epithelial context, we performed detailed analyses for detecting and identifying alternatively spliced lncRNAs.

Methods: Total RNA was isolated from PNN knockdown human corneal epithelial (HCET) cells or Pnn-deficient mouse corneas, and subjected to real-time-PCR (RT-PCR) assays, and the alternatively spliced lncRNAs were counted.

Transcriptomic analysis of PNN- and ESRP1-regulated alternative pre-mRNA splicing in human corneal epithelial cells.

Purpose: We investigated the impact of PININ (PNN) and epithelial splicing regulatory protein 1 (ESRP1) on alternative pre-mRNA splicing in the corneal epithelial context.

Methods: Isoform-specific RT-PCR assays were performed on wild-type and Pnn knockout mouse cornea. Protein interactions were examined by deconvolution microscopy and co-immunoprecipitation.

Tet3 CXXC domain and dioxygenase activity cooperatively regulate key genes for Xenopus eye and neural development.

Ten-Eleven Translocation (Tet) family of dioxygenases dynamically regulates DNA methylation and has been implicated in cell lineage differentiation and oncogenesis. Yet their functions and mechanisms of action in gene regulation and embryonic development are largely unknown. Here, we report that Xenopus Tet3 plays an essential role in early eye and neural development by directly regulating a set of key developmental genes.

Sustained benefits of a community dietetics intervention designed to improve oral nutritional supplement prescribing practices.

Background: Healthcare professionals working in the community do not always prescribe oral nutritional supplements (ONS) according to best practice guidelines for the management of malnutrition. The present study aimed to determine the impact of a community dietetics intervention on ONS prescribing practices and expenditure 1 year later.

Methods: The intervention involved general practitioners (GPs), practice nurses, nurses in local nursing homes and community nurses.

The body composition, nutritional knowledge, attitudes, behaviors, and future education needs of senior schoolboy rugby players in Ireland.

Purpose: This study examined the body composition, nutritional knowledge, behaviors, attitudes, and educational needs of senior schoolboy rugby players in Ireland.

Methods: Participants included 203 male rugby players age 15-18 yr competing at Senior School's Cup level in Leinster, Ireland. Estimation of body composition included measurement of height, weight, and percentage body fat (PBF; using bioelectrical impedance analysis, Tanita BC-418).

An evaluation of a community dietetics intervention on the management of malnutrition for healthcare professionals.

Background: Healthcare professionals working in the community setting have limited knowledge of the evidence-based management of malnutrition. The present study aimed to evaluate a community dietetics intervention, which included an education programme for healthcare professionals in conjunction with the introduction of a community dietetics service for patients 'at risk' of malnutrition. Changes in nutritional knowledge and the reported management of malnourished patients were investigated and the acceptability of the intervention was explored.

Pinin modulates expression of an intestinal homeobox gene, Cdx2, and plays an essential role for small intestinal morphogenesis.

Pinin (Pnn), a nuclear speckle-associated protein, has been shown to function in maintenance of epithelial integrity through altering expression of several key adhesion molecules. Here we demonstrate that Pnn plays a crucial role in small intestinal development by influencing expression of an intestinal homeobox gene, Cdx2. Conditional inactivation of Pnn within intestinal epithelia resulted in significant downregulation of a caudal type homeobox gene, Cdx2, leading to obvious villus dysmorphogenesis and severely disrupted epithelial differentiation.

Disruption of mouse corneal epithelial differentiation by conditional inactivation of pnn.

Purpose. To investigate the specific role of Pinin (Pnn) in the development of anterior eye segment in mice. Methods.

The use of oral nutritional supplements in an Irish community setting.

Background: The frequency of oral nutritional supplement (ONS) prescribing has been increasing steadily in the Republic of Ireland (ROI). Available evidence indicates that health professionals in the community setting in the ROI have a poor level of knowledge about ONS. The objectives of the present study were to investigate ONS prescribing practices and to identify the types of patient who were prescribed these products.

Role of Pinin in neural crest, dorsal dermis, and axial skeleton development and its involvement in the regulation of Tcf/Lef activity in mice.

Previous in vitro studies have indicated multiple and varied roles of Pinin (PNN); however, its in vivo role has remained unclear. Here, we report generation of null, hypomorphic, and conditional Pnn alleles in mice. We found that insertion of neomycin-resistance cassette into intron 8 of Pnn resulted in knockdown of Pnn, which allowed Pnn hypomorphic embryos to pass peri-implantation lethality.

Reduction of Pnn by RNAi induces loss of cell-cell adhesion between human corneal epithelial cells.

Purpose: Pinin (Pnn/DRS/memA) plays an important role in regulating cell-cell adhesion of corneal epithelial cells. In the nucleus, Pnn interacts with both transcriptional repressor and pre-mRNA processing machinery. Here we investigated the consequences of "knocking down" Pnn expression with short hairpin RNAi (shRNAi) on the corneal epithelial cell phenotype.

Change in gene expression subsequent to induction of Pnn/DRS/memA: increase in p21(cip1/waf1).

Pnn (PNN) is a nuclear and cell adhesion-related protein. Previous work has suggested that Pnn/DRS/memA is a potential tumor suppressor involved in the regulation of cell adhesion and cell migration. Using the ecdysone-inducible mammalian expression system, a stable inducible GFP-tagged human Pnn gene (PNNGFP) expressing 293 cell line was created (EcR293-PNNGFP).

An organizational climate intervention associated with increased handwashing and decreased nosocomial infections.

Handwashing practices are persistently suboptimal among healthcare professionals and are also stubbornly resistant to change. The purpose of this quasi-experimental intervention trial was to assess the impact of an intervention to change organizational culture on frequency of staff handwashing (as measured by counting devices inserted into soap dispensers on four critical care units) and nosocomial infections associated with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE). All staff in one of two hospitals in the mid-Atlantic region received an intervention with multiple components designed to change organizational culture; the second hospital served as a comparison.

Dissection of protein linkage between keratins and pinin, a protein with dual location at desmosome-intermediate filament complex and in the nucleus.

Pinin is a cell adhesion-associated and nuclear protein that has been shown to localize in the vicinity of intermediate filament (IF) convergence upon the cytoplasmic face of the desmosomal plaque as well as in the nucleus. The localization of pinin to the desmosomes has been correlated with the reinforcement of intercellular adhesion and increased IF organization. In this study, keratins 18, 8, and 19 were identified to interact with the amino end domain of pinin in a two-hybrid screening.

Role of cell adhesion-associated protein, pinin (DRS/memA), in corneal epithelial migration.

Purpose: To determine whether the cellular distribution of cell adhesion-associated protein, pinin, is altered during corneal epithelial migration in response to debridement wounding and to determine the effect of overexpression of pinin in cultured epithelial cells.

Methods: Corneas from guinea pig and embryonic (day 17) chickens were excised, wounded, and placed on organ-culture rafts. At time points from 0 to 24 hours, corneas were cryosectioned and subsequently analyzed by immunofluorescence or immunoelectron microscopy for the presence and distribution of pinin.

Characterization of the gene encoding pinin/DRS/memA and evidence for its potential tumor suppressor function.

Several cell adhesion-related proteins have been shown to act as tumor-suppressors (TS) in the neoplastic progression of epithelial-derived tumors. Pinin/DRS/memA was first identified in our laboratory and it was shown to be a cell adhesion-related molecule. Our previous study demonstrated that restoration of pinin expression in transformed cells not only positively influenced cellular adhesive properties but also reversed the transformed phenotype to more epithelial-like.