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The article discusses a study which examined the effectiveness of haptic vibrotactile trigger technology (VTT) in reducing pain severity and interference. Topics discussed include Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine received by Davis Julius and Ardem Patapoutian in 2021 for their discovery of thermal and mechanical sensors within the skin, the use of a non-pharmacological pain patch in patients with musculoskeletal, arthritic and neurological pain, and the neuromatrix of pain.

AbstractEncountering disability can produce an experience of the uncanny in non-disabled people. ‘Uncanny’ refers to a psychological experience which is frightening, arousing a sense of uncertainty, dread, and horror; yet the observer is also left with a sense of familiarity. This article explores the phenomenon of the uncanny for mothers of children who are visibly physically disabled. It is argued that the gaze of others provokes a particular maternal response. Mothers see their own children through the eyes of the other, others who experience a disabled child as unfamiliar. Accordingly, maternal ambivalence is amplified. Maternal attempts to manage these various feelings and complex experiences so as to maintain love for their children are explored. The mothers’ continuing process of psychic development vacillates between integration and unraveling, as they sit on the boundary of their own sense of the uncanny. The article includes a discussion of how the women used the disabled author, at times also perceived as uncanny by the mothers, in an attempt to cope with their discomfort.

The concept of the 'wicked problem' is useful in coming to terms with any studies, which involve people, organisations and information technology. It helps to define the shortcomings of traditional […]

THERE are several Albanians present when I meet the Mayor of Tirana, but I'm immediately aware, even before introductions, which one he is. This large figure with thick silver hair [...]

DESPITE a wealth of wildlife and a swathe of gorgeous tropical coastline, tourists do not rush to visit Tanzania the way they do its northern cousin Kenya. With its lack [...]

Supplemental Digital Content is Available in the Text.This article examines nurses' commentaries from a survey conducted in New Zealand that studied contradictions between quality assurance and work intensification in nursing care. Nurse managers were blamed for either avoiding or not recognizing work intensification affecting quality care delivery. However, the data illustrate key structural issues resulting in missed care that impact on patient safety, rather than a problem directly attributable to managers. Until these structural issues are addressed, missed care and adverse events will continue to affect the quality of care.

Individual realities and perceptions are embedded in a web of dominant social and cultural views which shape the individual. Mothers of deaf children therefore cannot be understood in isolation, and neither can their experiences, perceptions, and well-being. The present research investigated the construction of deafness through the experiences of mothers raising a deaf child and considered the manner in which these constructions impacted their well-being and relationship with the child. The study explored the experiences of six Black South African hearing mothers of a deaf child between the ages of 3 and 8 years. Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted. Through an interpretive theoretical framework, this qualitative study noted seven main themes, namely, deafness is foreign and unknown, increased awareness and normalising of deafness, religious and Traditional African beliefs about disability/deafness, external pity and the mother’s rejection of it, the discourse of the ‘superiority’ of speech and encouragement of speech and hearing, barriers to communicating with her child, and ‘Why me?’ attribution of cause and the emergence of blame. Extrapolation of the data suggests that there is a lack of awareness regarding the deaf individual, and this creates misinformed perceptions about deafness which impact negatively both mother and child.

Budgetary restrictions and shorter hospital admission times have increased demands upon nursing time leading to nurses missing or rationing care. Previous research studies involving perceptions of missed care have predominantly occurred outside of Australia. This paper reports findings from the first South Australian study to explore missed nursing care.

This article explores a model of teaching Latin at several state-funded secondary schools within the same geographical location. This model could work for Latin teachers who wish to reintroduce Latin to parts of the country where there are few ready-made jobs in Classics teaching. It will work best in an area where there are a number of secondary schools within easy travelling distance of one another. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information about the flower essences used in treating various diseases. Flower remedies are most commonly known for their emotional and physical applications. They constitute an important part in the healing system. Essence of the flower has therapeutic qualities and curative powers to treat the ailments. In hospitals in Brazil and Switzerland, She Oak and Woman Essence are being used as an alternative to Hormone Replacement Therapy without the increased risk of breast and cervical cancer.

Thyroid hormone (triiodothyronine [T3]) regulates gene expression by binding to high-affinity nuclear receptors. Thyroid hormone receptors (TRs) recognize specific response element sequences in the promoters of T3-target genes and activate or repress transcription in response to hormone. In this paper, we review the TR proteins and thyroid hormone response elements (TREs) to which they bind, the mechanisms of action of TRs bound to the TRE in basal and liganded conformations, and the interacting proteins implicated in these complexes. We then briefly consider the cross-talk with other signaling pathways and introduce the idea that T3may also act rapidly via nongenomic actions located on membranes. We discuss patterns of gene expression and specific actions of the various TR isoforms and consider the novel TR isoform specific ligands.

ABSTRACTThyroid hormone receptors are encoded by the TRα(NR1A1) and TRβ(NR1A2) loci. These genes are transcribed into multiple variants whose functions are unclear. Analysis by gene inactivation in mice has provided new insights into the functional complexity of these products. Different strategies designed to modify the TRαlocus have led to strikingly different phenotypes. In order to analyze the molecular basis for these alterations, we generated mice devoid of all known isoforms produced from the TRαlocus (TRα0/0). These mice are viable and exhibit reduced linear growth, bone maturation delay, moderate hypothermia, and reduced thickness of the intestinal mucosa. Compounding TRα0and TRβ−mutations produces viable TRα0/0β−/−mice, which display a more severe linear growth reduction and a more profound hypothermia as well as impaired hearing. A striking phenotypic difference is observed between TRα0/0and the previously described TRα−/−mice, which retain truncated TRΔα isoforms arising from a newly described promoter in intron 7. The lethality and severe impairment of the intestinal maturation in TRα−/−mice are rescued in TRα0/0animals. We demonstrate that the TRΔα protein isoforms, which are natural products of the TRαlocus, are the key determinants of these phenotypical differences. These data reveal the functional importance of the non-T3-binding variants encoded by theTRαlocus in vertebrate postnatal development and homeostasis.

To study the relative expression of lactase, sucrase-isomaltase, dipeptidyl peptidase IV, and the Na +-dependent glucose transporter mRNA transcripts in small samples of human tissue, we have developed and validated a very simple semiquantitative RNA polymerase chain reaction method that can be used on as little as 5–10 mg of tissue. Here we report the use of this method to study the expression of these genes at different stages of development, in different tissues and in different parts of the intestine, in comparison with another intestinal marker, the colon-specific transcript of carbonic anhydrase 1. Lactase, sucrase-isomaltase, and the Na+-dependent glucose transporter mRNA are expressed predominantly in the small intestine, although lactase mRNA is expressed at a very low level in fetuses. Dipeptidyl peptidase IV mRNA shows a much wider tissue distribution. Sucrase-isomaltase and dipeptidyl peptidase IV mRNA are present at high levels in fetal colon and also at surprisingly high levels in adult colon. Lactase mRNA, on the other hand, is present at very low levels in fetal colon and is not detectable at all in adult colon. The Na +-dependent glucose transporter mRNA in contrast is expressed at higher levels in the adult colon than in the fetal colon. This is also the case for the carbonic anhydrase 1 transcript, although this transcript is not expressed in the small intestine. Thus, each of these genes shows different developmental and cell-specific regulation.

ABSTRACTBy means of differential RNA display, we have isolated a cDNA corresponding to transcripts that are down-regulated upon differentiation of the goblet cell-like HT-29-M6 human colon carcinoma cell line. These transcripts encode proteins originally identified as CROC-1 on the basis of their capacity to activate transcription of c-fos. We show that these proteins are similar in sequence, and in predicted secondary and tertiary structure, to the ubiquitin-conjugating enzymes, also known as E2. Despite the similarities, these proteins lack a critical cysteine residue essential for the catalytic activity of E2 enzymes and, in vitro, they do not conjugate or transfer ubiquitin to protein substrates. These proteins constitute a distinct subfamily within the E2 protein family and are highly conserved in phylogeny from yeasts to mammals. Therefore, we have designated them UEV (ubiquitin-conjugating E2 enzyme variant) proteins, defined as proteins similar in sequence and structure to the E2 ubiquitin-conjugating enzymes but lacking their enzymatic activity (HW/GDB-approved gene symbol, UBE2V). At least two human genes code for UEV proteins, and one of them, located on chromosome 20q13.2, is expressed as at least four isoforms, generated by alternative splicing. All human cell types analyzed expressed at least one of these isoforms. Constitutive expression of exogenous human UEV in HT-29-M6 cells inhibited their capacity to differentiate upon confluence and caused both the entry of a larger proportion of cells in the division cycle and an accumulation in G2-M. This was accompanied with a profound inhibition of the mitotic kinase, cdk1. These results suggest that UEV proteins are involved in the control of differentiation and could exert their effects by altering cell cycle distribution.

The Internet and Intranet provide the potential for people to access a great deal more information from databases which were not previously available to them. They can also facilitate connections between people who previously did not know one another. These links to other people are valuable, as they help the individual to filter and interpret the plethora of information to which s/he now has access. This is because an important part of information-seeking behaviour is interpersonal. The existence of user profiles within a system has the potential to allow interpersonal information retrieval in information systems. This paper proposes a novel approach for future Intranet communication. A software system, InfoVine, which has been developed by the authors and is based on this approach, shows how user models can help in performing interpersonal information retrieval and in viewing people as an index to information. The benefits of the InfoVine approach are discussed in the context of user profiling for information retrieval.

Four exons of a human homologue of a yeast cell division cycle gene (MCM6/mis5, which is thought to encode a DNA replication licensing factor) have been identified 3.3 kb upstream from the start of transcription of the intestinal lactase gene on human chromosome 2q21, initially by similarity to a rat ‘intestinal crypt‐cell replication factor’. RT‐PCR analysis shows, that unlike lactase, MCM6 is not restricted in its tissue distribution and does not show person‐to‐person variation in the level of expression in adult intestine.

A panel of microcell hybrids containing fragments of chromosome 2 was analyzed for the presence of humanDPP4, the gene that codes for dipeptidyl peptidase IV (or CD26), by specific PCR amplification of a fragment of the 3′ untranslated region of the gene. This analysis placedDPP4 betweenLCT andGAD in bands q21 to q31. The localization was confirmed by in situ hybridization using two genomic probes that each revealed a hybridization signal in band q24. We also use the recent identification of the ADA binding protein as DPPIV to propose that the geneADCP2 should be renamedDPP4.

The consistency index of cervical mucus has been studied throughout the menstrual cycle in a group of 125 women. An attempt has been made to correlate consistency with other cyclical changes in mucus such as recoil, palm leaf reaction and tests for glucose content.The limits of consistency within which spermatozoa will move freely in mucus have been established from post-coital samples and invasion tests in vitro.The characteristics of twenty-four mucus samples obtained on the day when conception is known to have taken place are discussed.

A method is described for measuring the speed of human spermatozoa.Dilution with seminal plasma, buffered glucose solution and normal saline cause a fall in the average velocity of spermatozoa. During incubation the speed falls more rapidly in seminal plasma than in artificial diluents.The speed of the spermatozoa is sensitive to changes in pH of the suspending fluid which produce no measurable drop in motility.Seminal plasma from other semen samples may have a stimulating or depressing effect on speed when added to semen, but in most cases produces no change.Semen judged as satisfactory on other counts has a higher average speed, and a greater number of relatively fast spermatozoa, than semen of poorer quality.The speed of spermatozoa in cervical mucus, and in semen, indicates that it would be possible for them to enter the Fallopian tubes by their own activity within half an hour of insemination.

The spermicidal activities against human spermatozoa of a range of non-ionic, anionic and cationic surface-active agents have been determined with the method of Baker, Ransom & Tynen (1937).Although it has been concluded that surface-tension-lowering properties do not directly influence spermicidal power, the surfacetension/concentration curves of a number of the compounds were studied.Solubilities in water, hexane, and ethyl oleate were also determined in an attempt to find out whether there was any relationship between spermicidal action and solubilities in these solvents.The results obtained on the compounds studied showed broadly that appreciable oil solubility and good surface-tension-lowering properties were desirable for spermicidal activity in non-ionic and anionic surface-active agents. The cationic compounds studied were active in spite of low fat solubility.The lack of precision of the spermicidal results made definite activity/ solubility or activity/surface-tension relationships difficult to formulate.

A new method of comparison of spermicidal activities of compounds is presented. The method depends on the fact that spermatozoa, when suspended in a sub-lethal concentration of a spermicidal compound, show a reduction in speed of movement. This speed when expressed as a percentage of the speed of the untreated spermatozoa varies with the concentration of spermicidal compound; comparisons of spermicidal activity are made by including a standard material in each test series. The spermicidal activities of a number of substances were compared and the protective effect of seminal plasma on spermatozoa was demonstrated quantitatively.

The article offers information on nutrigenomics, an area in medical research pioneered by Joe McCord. Topics discussed include the negative effects of free radicals and oxidative stress on the body, the function of Nrf2 pathway, and the patented product called Protandin, which has been proven to clear free radicals and oxidative stress in the body.

The article discusses the use flower essences as natural remedy in the management of shock and stress in patients with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Dr. Edward Bach, a Harley Street physician in the 1920s offered a remedy based on the mixture of essences of Star of Bethlehem, Cherry, Plum, Rock Rose, Impatiens and Clematis. The history of using flower essences in Australia, Egypt and other countries is chronicled.

The article discusses Laminine, a natural synergistic superfood that contains 22 amino acids, trace minerals, vitamins and Fibroblast Growth Factor (FGF). Topics discussed include Laminine being extracted from fertile eggs on the 9th day of life, the ProtoEmbryonic Stage Extract (PESE) nutritional fluid and how FGF are helpful to humans. Also mentioned are Laminine and PESE's roles in memory enhancement, mood enhancement and depression and cardiovascular health and libido enhancement.

This section reviews several health-related books and offers information on various products including Flavon Max Products, Abundance & Health Ltd.'s LivOn Labs Altrient Liposomal formulations, and Himalayan Salt and Seaweed Shaker. An article on parasites that cause common health disorders is also presented.

In the article, the author discusses developments in health and fitness as of April 2014, particularly the use of harmonious sound and flower essences in maintaining good health. She cites the opinion of American astronomer and astrophysicist Carl Sagan that around 97% of human's genetic data is unused DNA. She also tackles such topics as the Solfeggio Scale, the Ancient Gregorian Chant, and the study of wave phenomena called Cymatics.

ESTIMATIONS of fructose content, by the method described by Mann1, have been carried out on 150 specimens of human semen, obtained from 123 individuals. Of these, 41 ejaculates were obtained from 31 men of proved fertility, the remainder from men whose marriages had been involuntarily childless.

Interviews Albert Brojka, mayor of Tirana, Albania, about his responsibilities to the refugees from Kosovo, Serbia. Career in politics; Help extended by residents of Tirana to the refugees; Job opportunities brought into the city by the refugee crisis; Hope to get help from the West for Albania's transition to democracy.

Profiles Tanzania, a country with a wealth of wildlife and a rich tropical coastline. Influence of Julius Nyerere on the international reputation of Tanzania; Delivery of universal health care and education; System of local decision-making.

Zondek, Bromberg and Polishuk have suggested1that oligospermia in men can be divided into two types, constant and periodic; and that it is only men in the latter group who are likely to produce pregnancies. While agreeing that individuals differ in the range of variation of their sperm counts, we do not think this is either a clear-cut or a useful distinction.

IN view of the absence of any satisfactory method for the quantitative estimation of the motility of spermatozoa, it is believed that the following method, evolved in relation to work on human semen, may prove of interest.