Using focus group interviews to identify salient issues concerning college students' alcohol abuse

Despite extensive efforts to decrease alcohol abuse among college students, prevention approaches have had limited success. This study attempted to clarify reasons for this limited success and to identify directions for future interventions by directly interviewing college students on this topic. Five issues were discussed in the focus group interviews: (1) reasons for drinking alcohol, (2) reasons for not drinking alcohol, (3) circumstances surrounding overconsumption of alcohol, (4) topics and methods for prevention, and (5) gender differences in drinking patterns. The focus group interviews were found to be a valid tool for elucidating sensitive aspects of these issues and the relative importance of these issues to each other. The students revealed how susceptible they are to societal pressures to drink alcohol and how the limitations of their intrapersonal skills affect their alcohol consumption, most notably regarding sexuality issues. The authors contend that improving intrapersonal skills should be a major focus of programs to prevent alcohol abuse.     

Inhibition of neutrophil oxidative burst and granule secretion by wortmannin: potential role of MAP kinase and renaturable kinases

Exposure of neutrophils to a variety of agonists including soluble chemoattractant peptides and cytokines results in degranulation and activation of the oxidative burst (effector functions) that are required for bacterial killing. At present, the signaling pathways regulating these important functions are incompletely characterized. Mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinases (MAPK) as well as members of a family of "renaturable kinases" are rapidly activated in neutrophils in response to diverse physiological agonists, suggesting that they may regulate cell activation. Antagonists of phosphatidyl inositol-3-(OH) kinase (PI3-kinase) such as wortmannin (Wtmn) inhibit these effector responses as well as certain of the above-mentioned kinases, leading to the suggestion that these enzymes lie downstream of PI3-kinase in the pathway regulating the oxidative burst and granule secretion. However, an apparent discrepancy exists in that, while virtually obliterating activity of PI3-kinase and the oxidase at low concentrations (ID50 < 20 nM), Wtmn has only variable inhibitory effects on MAPK even at substantially higher concentrations (75-100 nM). This raises the possibility that the inhibitory effects of Wtmn are mediated via other enzyme systems. The purpose of the current study was therefore to compare the effects of Wtmn on PI3-kinase activity and on the chemoattractant-activated kinases, and to determine the potential relationship of these pathways to microbicidal responses. In human neutrophils, both the oxidative burst and granule secretion induced by fMLP were inhibited by Wtmn but at markedly different concentrations: the oxidative burst was inhibited with an ID50 of < 5 nM while granule secretion was only partially inhibited at concentrations exceeding 75 nM. Activation of both MEK-1 and MAPK in response to fMLP was only partially inhibited by high doses of Wtmn (ID50 of > 100 nM and approximately 75 nM, respectively). In contrast, Wtmn potently inhibited fMLP-induced activation of the 63 and 69 kDa renaturable kinases (ID50 approximately 5-10 nM). We speculate that the renaturable kinases may be involved in the regulation of the oxidative burst, whereas the MAPK pathway may play a role in other neutrophil functions such as granule secretion.     

Alpha-L-fucose: a potentially critical molecule in pathologic processes including neoplasia

Alpha-L-fucose is a 6-carbon deoxyhexose that is commonly incorporated into human glycoproteins and glycolipids. It is found at the terminal or preterminal positions of many cell-surface oligosaccharide ligands that mediate cell-recognition and adhesion-signaling pathways. These include such normal events as early embryologic development and blood group recognition and pathologic processes including inflammation, infectious disease recognition, and neoplastic progression. Fucosylated oligosaccharide ligands mediate cell-cell adhesion through binding to cell-surface selectins (calcium-dependent binding proteins) and calcium-dependent interactions with other cell-surface carbohydrate counterligands. A number of fucose-containing "natural ligands" are common to inflammatory and malignant cell processes. We review evidence that alpha-L-fucose is critically important for cell-cell and cell-matrix adhesion in a variety of normal and pathologic processes, particularly neoplasia. Current results suggest that alpha-L-fucose provides the essential structure that enables carbohydrate ligands to bind to selectins and to carbohydrate counterligands and thereby alter cellular homeostasis.     

Vasoactive properties of various fragments of human alpha-calcitonin gene-related peptide

Effects of some fragments of alpha-calcitonine gene-related peptide (alpha-CGRP) on the collector lymphatic vessels of the rat small intestine mesenterium, were studied. All the fragments excepting alpha-CGRP (21-24) and (21-31) activate motility of the lymphatic vessels enhancing phasic contractions of the walls. Presence of aminoacid residuals in the 20-29 area is "critical" for realising vasoactive properties by these fragments.