Search

Desk-based workers are highly sedentary; this has been identified as an emerging work health and safety issue. To reduce workplace sitting time and promote physical activity it is important to understand what factors are already present within workplaces to inform future interventions. This cross-sectional study examined the prevalence of supportive environmental factors, prior to workplaces taking part in a ‘sit less, move more’ initiative (BeUpstanding). Participants were 291 Australian-based workplace champions (representing 230 organisations) who unlocked the BeUpstanding program’s online toolkit between September 2017 and mid-November 2020, and who completed surveys relating to champion characteristics, organisation and workplace characteristics, and the availability of environmental factors to support sitting less and moving more. Factors were characterized using descriptive statistics and compared across key sectors and factor categories (spatial; resources/initiatives; policy/cultural) using mixed logistic regression models. Of the 42 factors measured, only 11 were present in > 50% of workplaces. Spatial design factors were more likely to be present than resources/initiatives or policy/cultural factors. Centralised printers were the most commonly reported attribute (94%), while prompts to encourage stair use were the least common (4%). Most workplace factors with

Emotional arousal can have a profound impact on various learning and memory processes. For example, unconditioned emotional stimuli (e.g., predator odor or anxiogenic drugs) enhance dorsolateral striatum (DLS)-dependent habit memory. These effects critically depend on a modulatory role of the basolateral complex of the amygdala (BLA). Recent work indicates that, like unconditioned emotional stimuli, exposure to an aversive conditioned stimulus (CS) (i.e., a tone previously paired with shock) can also enhance consolidation of DLS-dependent habit memory. The present experiments examined whether noradrenergic activity, particularly within the BLA, is required for a fear CS to enhance habit memory consolidation. First, rats underwent a fear conditioning procedure in which a tone CS was paired with an aversive unconditioned stimulus. Over the course of the next five days, rats received training in a DLS-dependent water plus-maze task, in which rats were reinforced to make a consistent body-turn response to reach a hidden escape platform. Immediately after training on days 1–3, rats received post-training systemic (Experiment 1) or intra-BLA (Experiment 2) administration of the β-adrenoreceptor antagonist, propranolol. Immediately after drug administration, half of the rats were re-exposed to the tone CS in the conditioning context (without shock). Post-training CS exposure enhanced consolidation of habit memory in vehicle-treated rats, and this effect was blocked by peripheral (Experiment 1) or intra-BLA (Experiment 2) propranolol administration. The present findings reveal that noradrenergic activity within the BLA is critical for the enhancement of DLS-dependent habit memory as a result of exposure to conditioned emotional stimuli.

Objectives: Sleep deprivation within intensive care units (ICU) remains a recurring norm despite the extensive research highlighting a crucial need for sleep promotion. However, the degree to which sleep deprivation can be associated with the nurses' provision of care remains unclear. Therefore, this critical literature review aims to explore the nurses' knowledge and prioritisation of sleep whilst examining the nurses' use of sleep assessment skills and tools. The nurses' awareness and prioritisation of sleep promoting interventions and complimentary therapies will also be analysed., Methods: The online databases Cochrane, CINAHL and Science Direct were searched for English language articles, published between 2003 and 2013 which were downloadable in full text format. A total of 378 articles were identified and 25 papers met all the inclusion criteria., Conclusions: It appears that ICU nurses lack a complex understanding of the importance of sleep and the interventions needed to promote it. Indeed, studies suggest that inattention to sufficient training and a lack of structured protocol within practice makes the provision of sleep for the ICU patient impossible. Therefore, whilst further empirical research is required it may be noted that evidence informed education programmes and sleep assessment tools require development within the ICU environment., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Aberrant transcriptional programs in combination with abnormal proliferative signaling drive leukemic transformation. These programs operate in normal hematopoiesis where they are involved in hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) proliferation and maintenance. Ets Related Gene (ERG) is a component of normal and leukemic stem cell signatures and high ERG expression is a risk factor for poor prognosis in acute myeloid leukemia (AML). However, mechanisms that underlie ERG expression in AML and how its expression relates to leukemic stemness are unknown. We report that ERG expression in AML is associated with activity of the ERG promoters and +85 stem cell enhancer and a heptad of transcription factors that combinatorially regulate genes in HSCs. Gene expression signatures derived from ERG promoter-stem cell enhancer and heptad activity are associated with clinical outcome when ERG expression alone fails. We also show that the heptad signature is associated with AMLs that lack somatic mutations in NPM1 and confers an adverse prognosis when associated with FLT3 mutations. Taken together, these results suggest that transcriptional regulators cooperate to establish or maintain primitive stem cell-like signatures in leukemic cells and that the underlying pattern of somatic mutations contributes to the development of these signatures and modulate their influence on clinical outcome.

With the introduction of the Patient's Charter, greater emphasis has been placed on 'named nursing' (Department of Health 1991). While there is much literature extolling the benefits of this method of delivering care to patients (Reed 1988; Manley 1989; Macguire 1991); there is a dearth of empirical studies exploring primary nursing in an adult intensive care unit (ICU). In addition, little is known about how nurses feel about being a 'primary nurse'. The aim of this study was to determine qualified nurses' perceptions and experiences of the effect of primary nursing on patient care in an intensive care environment (ICU) and to explore nurses' experiences of being a primary nurse. This study was carried out in an ICU in Northern Ireland. Primary team nursing was the system of organizing care within this unit. This system consisted of teams of 'primary' and 'associate' nurses. A total of 65 qualified nurses were surveyed. Sixteen nurses took part in focus group interviews. A combined methods approach comprising a questionnaire and focus group interviews was employed for the study. Part one of the questionnaire provided data on professional and demographic details. Part two facilitated nurses to elaborate on their feelings and perceptions of the concept of primary nursing. The focus groups facilitated in-depth exploration of the respondents' personal feelings and experiences about their role as a primary nurse. The data obtained from the two-part questionnaire were analysed using descriptive statistic and content analysis. The data obtained from the focus groups were analysed using content analysis and the development of emerging themes. Analysis of the data revealed that the nurses' views were similar to those highlighted in the existing literature. Nurses perceived primary nursing to relate to the responsibility for the care of one patient, from admission to discharge with the primary nurse assessing, planning, implementing and evaluating care and the associate nurse assisting in the delivery of this care. Thus, continuity of care was seen as the major advantage of primary nursing. The findings, however, suggested that further teaching on the concept of primary nursing was required. In addition, many of the nurses admitted they experienced considerable stress, particularly in relation to their close proximity over a long period of time, with patients and their relatives. This is an important finding and highlights the need for primary nurses in ICU to have the opportunity (in some instances), to be relieved of their responsibility for a named patient, thereby reducing some of the potential for stress. It is acknowledged that the findings of this study may not be generalized beyond the identified sample. Further empirical studies exploring nurses' perceptions and experiences of primary nursing in an ICU are therefore needed.

Expression of complete rat gamma E-crystallin cDNA in Saccheromyces cerevisiae and in Escherichia coli at 25 degrees C produced soluble proteins similar to rat gamma E-crystallin but with an altered tertiary structure as judged by tryptophan fluorescence. Expression of rat gamma E-crystallin cDNA in E. coli at 37 degrees C produced insoluble inclusion bodies. Refolding of denatured rat gamma E-crystallin from these inclusion bodies produced a protein similar to rat gamma E-crystallin but with altered secondary and tertiary structure, judged by tryptophan fluorescence and circular dichroism. The secondary structure of the refolded gamma-crystallin was similar in beta-sheet content to the native gamma-crystallin structure but was somewhat shifted from the native spectrum, suggesting some alteration in the relative position of the beta-sheets in the refolded structure. These results have implications for crystallin folding, in particular the importance of lens-specific factors (alpha-crystallin, low water content, redox potential) and crystallin hydration.

1. Electrophoretic mobility of brain-type creatine phosphokinase (CPK) from rabbit, rat and human decreased after incubation in human plasma for 3 h or 17 h but did not change after incubation in isotonic saline solution. The presence of the reducing agent mercaptoethanol during incubation in human plasma tended to reduce the rate of change of electrophoretic mobility of BB-CPK. 2. The activity of brain CPK was almost completely lost after incubation for 17 h in human plasma. The addition of mercaptoethanol after incubation of brain CPK in human plasma could only partially restore the enzyme activity. 3. The decrease in electrophoretic mobility of rat brain CPK occurred after incubation in an ultra-filtrate of human plasma which contained molecules whose molecular weight did not exceed 1000. 4. Gel chromatography indicated that incubation of brain CPK in human plasma did not markedly change the molecular size of the enzyme.