Interdisciplinary collaboration and discharge planning communication for elders

The effects of personal characteristics and perceptions of interdisciplinary collaboration on discharge planning communication were examined for nurses, physicians, and social workers in two hospitals. The model for the study explained 61.7% of the variance in discharge planning communication for nurses. For all 142 health professionals, communication openness with social workers, problem solving between nurses and physicians, and collaboration with social workers were important to discharge planning communication. For nurses, communication satisfaction with patients and families also was important.     

Quantitation of adsorption and conjugation of plasma proteins by residual glutaraldehyde in fixed collagenous tissue with radioiodinated plasma proteins

Residual glutaraldehyde (GA) in collagenous cardiovascular tissue prostheses after multiple saline rinses remains in the prostheses and accounts for adsorption and conjugation of a variety of plasma proteins. This may account for later beneficial or adverse effects. Human serum albumin (SA), gamma globulin (GG), and fibrinogen (FB) were iodinated with 125I using the iodogen-transfer technique. Bovine pericardium (PC) was fixed with 0.5% GA for 24 hr and rinsed to remove excess GA. Fresh and GA-fixed PC (FRPC, GAPC: 1 x 1 cm2), in triplicate, were incubated with 0.5-1.0 microCi of tracers in human, porcine, or bovine blood (2 ml) for a period of 0.5, 1, 2, and 3 hr and washed (5x) with saline. Maximum adsorbed proteins per unit weight of collagen (pmol/mg of PC, mean +/- SD) at 3 hr on FRPC and GAPC were quantified with a gamma counter. Fixed PC absorbed significantly more plasma proteins from blood than fresh PC. These conjugated plasma proteins are tightly bound to fixed PC. The adsorbed and conjugated plasma proteins for GAPC and FRPC have the same sequence: SA > GG > FB vs SA > GG > FB. Protein conjugation may affect the remodeling of collagenous cardiovascular tissue prostheses post implantation.     

Infection and stage conversion during murine pulmonary toxoplasmosis: a study with three different strains of Toxoplasma gondii

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether intravenously administered liposomal alpha-tocopherol can protect the lung from the injurious action of Escherichia coli lipopolysaccharide (LPS). DESIGN: Prospective, randomized animal study. SETTING: Government research laboratory. SUBJECTS: Twenty adult male Sprague-Dawley rats. INTERVENTIONS: Animals were intravenously pretreated with alpha-tocopherol liposomes (20 mg alpha-tocopherol/kg body weight), plain liposomes, or saline. Twenty-four hours later, pretreated animals were challenged with an intravenous injection of LPS (E. coli 0111:B4, 1 mg/kg body weight), and killed 2 hrs after LPS challenge. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Challenge of saline-pretreated animals with LPS resulted in lung injuries as evidenced by an increase in wet lung weight and a reduction in pulmonary angiotensin converting enzyme (25%) and alkaline phosphatase (28%), injury markers of lung endothelial and epithelial type II cells, respectively. Also, LPS administration resulted in an increase in pulmonary myeloperoxidase and protease activities, indicative of a neutrophilic inflammatory response. Pretreatment of animals with liposomal alpha-tocopherol significantly attenuated the LPS-induced edematous lung weight response, and reduced the extent of injuries to the pulmonary endothelial and epithelial cells, demonstrated by a significantly smaller reduction in the corresponding enzyme marker activities. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that augmentation of the pulmonary antioxidant status can ameliorate LPS-induced lung injuries mediated by oxidative stress mechanisms.     

Evidence that the RdeA protein is a component of a multistep phosphorelay modulating rate of development in Dictyostelium

We have isolated an insertional mutant of Dictyostelium discoideum that aggregated rapidly and formed spores and stalk cells within 14 h of development instead of the normal 24 h. We have shown by parasexual genetics that the insertion is in the rdeA locus and have cloned the gene. It encodes a predicted 28 kDa protein (RdeA) that is enriched in charged residues and is very hydrophilic. Constructs with the DNA for the c-Myc epitope or for the green fluorescent protein indicate that RdeA is not compartmentalized. RdeA displays homology around a histidine residue at amino acid 65 with members of the H2 module family of phosphotransferases that participate in multistep phosphoryl relays. Replacement of this histidine rendered the protein inactive. The mutant is complemented by transformation with the Ypd1 gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, itself an H2 module protein. We propose that RdeA is part of a multistep phosphorelay system that modulates the rate of development.     

Iterative multi-party agreement negotiation for establishing collaborations

Inter-domain collaborations suffer not only from technological obstacles that hinder interoperability, but also from diverting business objectives of the involved domains. Today, hand-crafted contracts define the terms and conditions for service interactions. Electronic negotiation can serve as the enabler of dynamic interdomain collaborations by providing a large degree of freedom for the automation of agreement formation and electronic contracting. Negotiation by electronic means has been an area of intensive research for many years now. However, most effort was put on the determination of prices and neglected that real-world agreements also consist of complex dependencies of interdependent obligations. In this paper we present agreement negotiation as a tool to establish ad hoc services collaborations. Our novel protocol allows for the discovery of complex agreement options and for the formation of multi-party agreements. The protocol works through an iterative exchange of requirements and offers. A major benefit over existing bilateral negotiation protocols is that our protocol is capable of discovering potential collaborations between different parties. It will leave each negotiating party with a complete agreement document after a successful negotiation. This comprehensive agreement document defines the interdependent obligations between all parties and is well suited for E-Contracting.     

Functional and Molecular Properties of DYT-SGCE Myoclonus-Dystonia Patient-Derived Striatal Medium Spiny Neurons

Myoclonus-dystonia (DYT-SGCE, formerly DYT11) is characterized by alcohol-sensitive, myoclonic-like appearance of fast dystonic movements. It is caused by mutations in the SGCE gene encoding ε-sarcoglycan leading to a dysfunction of this transmembrane protein, alterations in the cerebello-thalamic pathway and impaired striatal plasticity. To elucidate underlying pathogenic mechanisms, we investigated induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived striatal medium spiny neurons (MSNs) from two myoclonus-dystonia patients carrying a heterozygous mutation in the SGCE gene (c.298T>G and c.304C>T with protein changes W100G and R102X) in comparison to two matched healthy control lines. Calcium imaging showed significantly elevated basal intracellular Ca²⁺ content and lower frequency of spontaneous Ca²⁺ signals in SGCE MSNs. Blocking of voltage-gated Ca²⁺ channels by verapamil was less efficient in suppressing KCl-induced Ca²⁺ peaks of SGCE MSNs. Ca²⁺ amplitudes upon glycine and acetylcholine applications were increased in SGCE MSNs, but not after GABA or glutamate applications. Expression of voltage-gated Ca²⁺ channels and most ionotropic receptor subunits was not altered. SGCE MSNs showed significantly reduced GABAergic synaptic density. Whole-cell patch-clamp recordings displayed elevated amplitudes of miniature postsynaptic currents and action potentials in SGCE MSNs. Our data contribute to a better understanding of the pathophysiology and the development of novel therapeutic strategies for myoclonus-dystonia.