DMBT1 expression is down-regulated in breast cancer

Background  

We studied the expression of DMBT1 (deleted in malignant brain tumor 1), a putative tumor suppressor gene, in normal, proliferative, and malignant breast epithelium and its possible relation to cell cycle.     

Learning from lives together: medical and social work students’ experiences of learning from people with disabilities in the community

The study aims to evaluate an interprofessional community‐based learning event, focussing on disability. The learning opportunity was based on the Leicester Model of Interprofessional Education, organised around the experiences and perceptions of service users and their carers. Programme participants were drawn from medicine and social work education in Leicester, UK, bringing together diverse traditions in the care of people with disabilities. Small student groups (3–4 students) worked from one of the eight community rehabilitation hospitals through a programme of contact with people with disabilities in hospital, at home or in other community settings. The evaluation, in March 2005, used a mixed methods approach, incorporating questionnaire surveys, focus group interviews with students and feedback from service users. Responses were collated and analysed using quantitative and qualitative measures. Fifty social work and 100 medical students completed the first combined delivery of the module. The findings indicated that the merging of social work and medical perspectives appear to create some tensions, although overall the student experience was found to be beneficial. Service users (16 responses) valued the process. They were not concerned at the prospect of meeting a number of students at home or elsewhere and were pleased to think of themselves as educators. Problems and obstacles still anticipated include changing the mindset of clinicians and practising social workers to enable them to support students from each other’s disciplines in practice learning. The generally positive outcomes highlight that disability focussed joint learning offers a meaningful platform for interprofessional education in a practice environment.     

Berry anthocyanins and anthocyanidins exhibit distinct affinities for the efflux transporters BCRP and MDR1

Background and purpose:

Dietary anthocyanins hold great promise in the prevention of chronic disease but factors affecting their bioavailability remain poorly defined. Specifically, the role played by transport mechanisms at the intestinal and blood–brain barriers (BBB) is currently unknown.

Experimental approach:

In the present study, 16 anthocyanins and anthocyanidins were exposed to the human efflux transporters multidrug resistance protein 1 (MDR1) and breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP), using dye efflux, ATPase and, for BCRP, vesicular transport assays.

Key results:

All test compounds interacted with the BCRP transporter in vitro. Of these, seven emerged as potential BCRP substrates (malvidin, petunidin, malvidin-3-galactoside, malvidin-3,5-diglucoside, cyanidin-3-galactoside, peonidin-3-glucoside, cyanidin-3-glucoside) and 12 as potential inhibitors of BCRP (cyanidin, peonidin, cyanidin-3,5-diglucoside, malvidin, pelargonidin, delphinidin, petunidin, delphinidin-3-glucoside, cyanidin-3-rutinoside, malvidin-3-glucoside, pelargonidin-3,5-diglucoside, malvidin-3-galactoside). Malvidin, malvidin-3-galactoside and petunidin exhibited bimodal activities serving as BCRP substrates at low concentrations and, at higher concentrations, as BCRP inhibitors. Effects on MDR1, in contrast, were weak. Only aglycones exerted mild inhibitory activity.

Conclusions and implications:

Although the anthocyanidins under study may alter pharmacokinetics of drugs that are BCRP substrates, they are less likely to interfere with activities of MDR1 substrates. The present data suggest that several anthocyanins and anthocyanidins may be actively transported out of intestinal tissues and endothelia, limiting their bioavailability in plasma and brain.     

Patient Advice and Liaison Services: results of an audit survey in England

Objective  To assess the extent national standards for Patient Advice and Liaison Services (PALS) were achieved across England.
Context  PALS are an important element of patient and public involvement strategy in England. Seven national standards for PALS were identified. Previous research has not assessed PALS across all trust types in England.
Design  Audit survey as part of a mixed method 'realistic evaluation' in which regularities of context, mechanism and outcome are hypothesized and tested.
Setting and participants  PALS based in 570 NHS trusts in England between October and December 2005.
Main outcome measures  Self reported achievement against PALS national standards.
Results  Three hundred and thirty-six valid responses were received, a response rate of 65%. However because some PALS serve more than one trust, this represents an estimated 76% of trusts. Overall, PALS rated themselves highly against all the standards, though somewhat less highly against standard 2 (seamlessness across health and social care) and standard 6 (acting as a catalyst for culture change). There was a wide range of responses with regard to PALS budget, staffing and activity levels, and statistically significant associations between levels of funding and staffing and higher levels of performance.
Conclusions  The overall response rate was good so there can be a high degree of confidence in the reliability of the results. The results indicate the challenging context in which PALS are operating. Although the majority of PALS are single trust PALS, there is a high degree of variation in key mechanism factors such as budget and staffing.     

升麻中的三萜类成分

从升麻(Cimiccifuga foetida L.)的根茎中分得五个环菠萝蜜烷型三萜化合物,经光谱解析(IR,MS,¹H及¹³CNMR),分别确定为25-脱水升麻醇-3-O-β-D-吡喃木糖甙(23R,24S)(I),升麻醇-3-O-β-D-吡喃木糖甙(23R,24S)(II),25-乙酰氧基升麻醇-3-O-β-D-吡喃木糖甙(23R,24S)(III),actein(IV)和27-deoxyactein(V),其中I为新化合物,命名为升麻甙E(cimisideE)。     

升麻甙F的分离和结构

升麻甙Ｆ的分离和结构李从军，李英和，肖培根（中国医学科学院，中国协和医科大学药用植物资源开发研究所北京１０００９４）升麻属（Ｃｉｍｉｃｉｆｕｇａ）植物是毛莨科升麻族植物（Ｃｉｍｉｃｉｆｕｇｅａｅ，ｓ．１．）的主要成员，但在化学成分上，以其特征性成分环...     

The spectrum of beta-thalassemia genes in China and Southeast Asia

To make possible prenatal diagnosis of beta-thalassemia in China and Southeast Asia by direct detection of mutant beta-globin genes, we have determined the spectrum of mutations producing the disorder in this region of the world. Seventy-eight beta-thalassemia genes from Chinese and Southeast Asians were randomly obtained, and the relevant mutation was characterized in 76 (98%) of them. Seven different point mutations were found among the 78 genes studied. Of these seven beta-thalassemia alleles, two constitute 62%, and two others account for 29% of the total. Since only four alleles make up 91% of the mutant genes, prenatal diagnosis of beta-thalassemia in China and Southeast Asia should be feasible by simplified techniques for direct detection of point mutations.