Communication Matters: Exploring the Intersection of Family and Practitioner End of Life Communication.

After establishing a baseline understanding of some of the factors that influence and shape family end of life communication, empirical research centered on the communication tendencies of nationally-recognized palliative care clinicians is presented. Because death is no longer confined to the bedroom and individuals are increasingly turning to hospitals and health care institutes to assist with end of life, the role of palliative care practitioners is vital. To that end, common communication-rooted issues that may transpire among various medical personnel are explored.

The Grim Reaper, Hounds of Hell, and Dr. Death: The Role of Storytelling for Palliative Care in Competing Medical Meaning Systems.

Palliative care (PC) is a medical specialty that strives to fulfill the physical, psychosocial, emotional, practical, and spiritual needs of individuals at end of life or in tandem with curative treatment. Although exponentially rising in use and beneficial to patient well-being at end of life, the purpose of PC is often misunderstood and those providing its services frequently report resistance from organizational members. Such resistance can be attributed to tensions between traditional biomedical models of medicine that privilege curative treatment and biosocial models of medicine that holistically care for patients.

Communication that heals: mindful communication practices from palliative care leaders.

Though research has begun to highlight the centrality of communication in palliative care, studies have yet to focus on the use of mindful communication. Mindful communication is associated with increases in patient care and decreases in physician burnout. Through in-depth, semi-structured interviews the authors sought mindful communication practices from palliative care leaders in American Hospital Association Circle of Life® award-wining units.

Bone marrow accessory cells regulate human bone precursor cell development.

Objective: Much remains to be learned about the intimate relationship between bone marrow and its surrounding tissue: the bone. We hypothesized that bone marrow accessory cell populations might regulate the development of human bone precursor cells.

Materials And Methods: We used immunologic phenotyping, and isolation methods to fractionate subpopulations of nonadherent, low-density (NALD) human bone marrow cells.

Osteonectin in matrix remodeling. A plasminogen-osteonectin-collagen complex.

Osteonectin is an adhesive glycoprotein synthesized constitutively by osteoblasts, endothelial cells, and megakaryocytes. Bone-derived and platelet-derived osteonectins differ in their electrophoretic mobility and carbohydrate content, and each displays different affinities for collagen matrices. Both types of osteonectin bind to plasminogen (Kd(app), of 4.

Intact platelet membranes, not platelet-released microvesicles, support the procoagulant activity of adherent platelets.

The possibility that platelets release microvesicles on adherence to either von Willebrand factor (vWf) or collagen was examined by flow cytometry analysis of the supernatant above layers of adherent platelets. No microvesicle release was detected as a result of adherence to vWf or to collagen, a known platelet agonist. Approximately 8% of the total platelet mass was released as microvesicles after thrombin stimulation of the vWf- or collagen-adherent platelets.

The assembly of the prothrombinase complex on adherent platelets.

Prothrombinase complex assembly, in real time, on platelets adherent to immobilized von Willebrand Factor (vWf) was examined by total internal reflection fluorescence spectroscopy (TIRFS). Electron microscopy showed that the platelets adhered to vWf in a largely unactivated state and could be activated by thrombin. Antibody binding to glycoprotein (GP) Ib and functional GPIIb-IIIa receptor molecules on adherent platelet membranes monitored by TIRFS also indicated that platelets adhered in a largely unactivated state.

Circular-dichroism analyses of membrane proteins: examination of environmental effects on bacteriorhodopsin spectra.

The secondary structure of bacteriorhodopsin is known from electron-diffraction studies, making bacteriorhodopsin a useful test system for analysing environmental influences on membrane proteins using c.d. spectroscopy.

Protein-chromophore interactions in bacteriorhodopsin: the effects of a change in surface potential.

The chromophore retinal is bound to bacteriorhodopsin via a protonated Schiff base linkage. The retinal binding site is reported to be buried in the transmembrane portion of the protein, distant from the membrane surfaces. When bound to bacteriorhodopsin, the absorption maximum of retinal is red-shifted from 366 nm to 568 nm producing a purple color.