bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Nurses’ Perceptions of Psychosocial Care and Barriers to Its Provision: A Qualitative Study
Authors: Chen Cassandra Siyun , Chan Sally Wai-Chi , Chan Moon Fai , Yap Suk Foon , Wang Wenru , Kowitlawakul Yanika 
Published: August 2017

ABSTRACT

Background:
Psychosocial care is the culturally sensitive provision of psychological, social, and spiritual care through therapeutic communication. Current evidence suggests that effective psychosocial care improves patients’ health outcomes and quality of life.

Purpose:
The aim of this study was to explore nurses’ perceptions and experiences in providing psychosocial care to patients and to identify the related barriers and challenges.

Methods:
An exploratory qualitative design using semistructured, individual, face-to-face interviews was adopted. A purposive sample of 18 registered nurses was recruited from the geriatric, medical, and surgical wards in an acute general hospital in Singapore. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, and analyzed thematically.

Results:
Four major themes emerged: patient-centered care, communication, interprofessional care, and barriers to psychosocial care. Nurses perceived that psychosocial care consists of providing holistic care, spiritual care, support to the patient and family members, and showing empathy. Furthermore, psychosocial care is composed of communication between nurses and the patient and family members as well as communication among nurses. In addition, psychosocial care involves collaboration between healthcare professionals as well as multidisciplinary care. Barriers that are perceived by nurses include lack of time, language barriers, being task-oriented, excessive documentation, lack of family involvement, and fear of complaints.

Conclusions:
This study highlighted the perceptions of nurses regarding psychosocial care and the challenges in providing this care. Future studies are needed to explore ways to overcome these barriers and to enhance nurses’ competencies in providing psychosocial care. The findings indicate a need to plan future interventions to provide nurses with both skill development and support to improve their ability to integrate psychosocial care, which will improve patient outcomes.
Intention to Receive Breast Cancer Screening and Related Factors of Influence Among Vietnamese Women in Transnational Marriages
Authors: Lee* Fang-Hsin 
Published: August 2017

ABSTRACT

Background:
Breast cancer is a major global health issue. Receiving regular breast cancer screenings aids in the early detection and treatment of breast cancer. Numerous factors influence whether a Vietnamese woman receives breast cancer screening.

Purpose:
The aims of this study were to understand current rates of breast cancer screening and explore the factors that influence intention to undergo breast cancer screening among Vietnamese women in transnational marriages.

Methods:
This was a cross-sectional, community-based study. Data were collected via snowball sampling. We enrolled 250 women aged 18 years and over from September to December 2015.

Results:
The percentage of participants who had received a breast self-examination, breast palpation, or breast ultrasound within the past year were 25.6%, 9.6%, and 21.2%, respectively. Moreover, only 6.8% of participants had received a mammography within the past 2 years. Participants with strong perceptions of breast cancer being a serious illness, who had fewer barriers to obtaining a breast cancer screening, or who had been advised by healthcare personnel to undergo screenings were more likely to report an intention to receive periodic breast self-examinations during the subsequent 1-year period. Participants who had lived in Taiwan for a longer period, had higher levels of perceived susceptibility to breast cancer, had prior experience with breast diseases, or had fewer barriers to obtaining a breast cancer screening were more likely to report an intention to receive a breast ultrasound during the subsequent 1-year period. Finally, participants who were older, perceived greater benefits from receiving breast cancer screening, and had not entered menopause were more likely to report an intention to receive a mammography during the following 2 years.

Conclusions/Implications for Practice:
Medical care personnel should promote breast cancer screening among Vietnamese women in transnational marriages. The results may be useful in promoting greater awareness among medical care personnel of breast cancer issues and efficacy in performing breast cancer screening for Vietnamese women in transnational marriages and provide references for the establishment of breast cancer prevention and control policies.
Rural-Urban Differences in Medicare Quality Outcomes and the Impact of Risk Adjustment
Authors: Henning-Smith Carrie , Kozhimannil Katy , Casey Michelle , Prasad Shailendra , Moscovice Ira 
Published: August 2017

Background:
There has been considerable debate in recent years about whether, and how, to risk-adjust quality measures for sociodemographic characteristics. However, geographic location, especially rurality, has been largely absent from the discussion.

Objective:
To examine differences by rurality in quality outcomes, and the impact of adjustment for individual and community-level sociodemographic characteristics on quality outcomes.

Data Sources:
The 2012 Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey, Access to Care module, combined with the 2012 County Health Rankings. All data used were publicly available, secondary data. We merged the 2012 Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey data with the 2012 County Health Rankings data using county of residence.

Research Design:
We compared 6 unadjusted quality of care measures for Medicare beneficiaries (satisfaction with care, blood pressure checked, cholesterol checked, flu shot receipt, change in health status, and all-cause annual readmission) by rurality (rural noncore, micropolitan, and metropolitan). We then ran nested multivariable logistic regression models to assess the impact of adjusting for community and individual-level sociodemographic characteristics to determine whether these mediate the rurality difference in quality of care.

Results:
The relationship between rurality and change in health status was mediated by the inclusion of community-level characteristics; however, adjusting for community and individual-level characteristics caused differences by rurality to emerge in 2 of the measures: blood pressure checked and cholesterol checked. For all quality scores, model fit improved after adding community and individual characteristics.

Conclusions:
Quality is multifaceted and is impacted by individual and community-level socio-demographic characteristics, as well as by geographic location. Current debates about risk-adjustment procedures should take rurality into account.
A National Analysis of Long-term Survival Following Thoracoscopic Versus Open Lobectomy for Stage I Non-small-cell Lung Cancer
Authors: Yang Chi-Fu Jeffrey , Kumar Arvind , Klapper Jacob A. , Hartwig Matthew G. , Tong Betty C. , Harpole David H. , Berry Mark F. , D’Amico Thomas A. 
Published: August 2017

Objective:
The objective of this study was to compare the long-term survival of open versus thoracoscopic (VATS) lobectomy for early stage non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Background:
Data from national studies on long-term survival for VATS versus open lobectomy are limited.

Methods:
Outcomes of patients who underwent open versus VATS lobectomy for clinical T1–2, N0, M0 NSCLC in the National Cancer Data Base were evaluated using propensity score matching.

Results:
The median follow-up of 7114 lobectomies (5566 open and 1548 VATS) was 52.0 months. The VATS approach was associated with a better 5-year survival when compared to the open approach (66.0% vs. 62.5%, P = 0.026). Propensity score matching resulted in 1464 open and 1464 VATS patients who were well matched by 14 common prognostic covariates including tumor size and comorbidities. After propensity score matching, the VATS approach was associated with a shorter median length of stay (5 vs. 6 days, P < 0.001). The VATS approach was not significantly different compared with the open approach with regard to nodal upstaging (11.6% vs 12.3%, P = 0.53), 30-day mortality (1.7% vs 2.3%, P = 0.50) and 5-year survival (66.3% vs 65.8%, P = 0.92).

Conclusions:
In this national analysis, VATS lobectomy was used in the minority of patients with stage I NSCLC. VATS lobectomy was associated with shorter length of stay and noninferior long-term survival when compared with open lobectomy. These results support previous findings from smaller single- and multi-institutional studies that suggest that VATS does not compromise oncologic outcomes when used for early-stage lung cancer and suggest the need for broader implementation of VATS techniques.
A dual sgRNA approach for functional genomics inArabidopsis thaliana[OPEN]
Authors: Pauwels Laurens , Clercq Rebecca De , Goossens Jonas , Iñigo Sabrina , Williams Clara , Ron Mily , Britt Anne , Goossens Alain 
Published: August 2017

AbstractReverse genetics uses loss-of-function alleles to interrogate gene function. The advent of CRISPR/Cas9-based gene editing now allows to generate knock-out alleles for any gene and entire gene families. Even in the model plantArabidopsis thaliana, gene editing is welcomed as T-DNA insertion lines do not always generate null alleles. Here, we show efficient generation of heritable mutations in Arabidopsis using CRISPR/Cas9 with a workload similar to generating overexpression lines. We obtain Cas9 null-segregants with bi-allelic mutations in the T2 generation. Out of seven new mutant alleles we report here, one allele forGRXS17, the ortholog of human GRX3/PICOT, did not phenocopy previously characterized nulls. Notwithstanding, the mutation caused a frameshift and triggered nonsense-mediated decay. We demonstrate that our workflow is also compatible with a dual sgRNA approach in which a gene is targeted by two sgRNAs simultaneously. This paired nuclease method can result in a more reliable loss-of-function alleles that lack a large essential part of the gene. The ease in the CRISPR/Cas9 workflow should help in the eventual generation of true null alleles of every gene in the Arabidopsis genome, which will advance both basic and applied plant research.One-sentence summaryWe present a dual sgRNA approach to delete Arabidopsis gene 34 fragments in order to obtain reliable functional knock-outs.
Systematic analysis ofatx-2 suppressors reveals a novel regulator of PAR-5/14-3-3sigma function during mitosis inCaenorhabditis elegans
Authors: Gnazzo Megan M. , Villarreal Alex R. , Skop Ahna R. 
Published: August 2017

AbstractRNA regulation plays a critical role in mitosis, yet the mechanisms remain unclear. Our lab recently identified that the conserved RNA-Binding Protein (RBP), ATX-2, regulates cytokinesis by regulating the targeting of ZEN-4 to the spindle midzone through a conserved translation regulator, PAR-5/14-3-3sigma (Gnazzo et al., 2016). While co-depletion of ATX-2 and PAR-5 restored ZEN-4 targeting to the spindle midzone, it did not rescue cell division. To identify factors that may work in concert with ATX-2 to regulate cell division, we conducted a two-part, candidate RNAi suppressor and visual screen to identify factors that are important for cell division and also mediate the targeting of ATX-2 to the centrosomes and the spindle midzone. Using this approach, we identified ten genes that suppress the embryonic lethality defect observed inatx-2mutant embryos. These ten genes, includingact-2,cgh-1,cki-1,hum-6,par-2,rnp-4,vab-3,vhl-1,vps-24, andwve-1, all have some role regulating RNA or the cell cycle. Five of these genes (cgh-1,cki-1,vab-3,vhl-1,vps-24) fail to target ATX-2 to the centrosomes and midzone when depleted. The strongest suppressor of theatx-2phenotype is the DEAD-box RNA helicase CGH-1/DDX6, which has been implicated in cell division, RNA processing and translation, and neuronal function. Loss of CGH-1 rescued the cytokinesis defect and also restored ZEN-4 localization to the spindle midzone. ATX-2 and CGH-1 are mutually required for their localization to centrosomes and the spindle midzone. Our findings provide the first functional evidence that CGH-1/DDX6 regulates ATX-2 function during mitosis to target ZEN-4 to the spindle midzone via PAR-5/14-3-3sigma. We suggest that RNA machinery is necessary for the completion of cytokinesis.
Labeling RNAs in live cells using malachite green aptamer scaffolds as fluorescent probes
Authors: Yerramilli V. Siddartha , Kim Kyung Hyuk 
Published: August 2017

AbstractRNAs mediate many different processes that are central to cellular function. The ability to quantify or image RNAs in live cells is very useful in elucidating such functions of RNA. RNA aptamerfluorogen systems have been increasingly used in labeling RNAs in live cells. Here, we use the malachite green aptamer (MGA), an RNA aptamer that can specifically bind to malachite green (MG) dye and induces it to emit far-red fluorescence signals. Previous studies on MGA showed a potential for the use of MGA for genetically tagging other RNA molecules in live cells. However, these studies also exhibited low fluorescence signals and high background noise. Here we constructed and tested RNA scaffolds containing multiple tandem repeats of MGA as a strategy to increase the brightness of the MGA aptamer-fluorogen system as well as to make the system fluoresce when tagging various RNA molecules, in live cells. We demonstrate that our MGA scaffolds can induce fluorescence signals by up to ~20 fold compared to the basal level as a genetic tag for other RNA molecules. We also show that our scaffolds function reliably as genetically-encoded fluorescent tags for mRNAs of fluorescent proteins and other RNA aptamers.
A strain-specific multiplex RT-PCR for Australian rabbit haemorrhagic disease viruses uncovers a new recombinant virus variant in rabbits and hares
Authors: Hall Robyn N , Mahar Jackie E. , Read Andrew J. , Mourant R , Piper M , Huang N , Strive Tanja 
Published: August 2017

SummaryRabbit haemorrhagic disease virus(RHDV, or GI.1), is a calicivirus in the genusLagovirusthat has been widely utilised in Australia as a biological control agent for the management of overabundant wild European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) populations since 1996. Recently, two exotic incursions of pathogenic lagoviruses have been reported in Australia; GI.1a-Aus, previously called RHDVa-Aus, is a GI.1a virus detected in January 2014, and the novel lagovirus GI.2 (previously known as RHDV2). Furthermore, an additional GI.1a strain, GI.1a-K5 (also known as 08Q712), was released nationwide in March 2017 as a supplementary tool for wild rabbit management. To discriminate between these lagoviruses, a highly sensitive strain-specific multiplex RT-PCR assay was developed, which allows fast, cost-effective, and sensitive detection of the four pathogenic lagoviruses currently known to be circulating in Australia. In addition, we developed a universal qRT-PCR assay to be used in conjunction with the multiplex assay that broadly detects all four viruses and facilitates quantification of viral RNA load in samples. These assays enable rapid detection, identification, and quantification of pathogenic lagoviruses in the Australian context. Using these assays, a novel recombinant lagovirus was detected in rabbit tissues samples, which contained the non-structural genes of GI.1a-Aus and the structural genes of GI.2. This variant was also recovered from the liver of a European brown hare (Lepus europaeus). The impact of this novel recombinant on Australian wild lagomorph populations and its competitiveness in relation to circulating field strains, particularly GI.2, requires further studies.
Asymmetry of an intracellular scaffold at vertebrate electrical synapses
Authors: Marsh Audrey J , Michel Jennifer Carlisle , Adke Anisha P , Heckman Emily L , Miller Adam C 
Published: August 2017

AbstractNeuronal synaptic connections are electrical or chemical and together are essential to dynamically defining neural circuit function. While chemical synapses are well known for their biochemical complexity, electrical synapses are often viewed as comprised solely of neuronal gap junction channels that allow direct ionic and metabolic communication. However, associated with the gap junction channels are structures observed by electron microscopy called the Electrical Synapse Density (ESD). The ESD has been suggested to be critical for the formation and function of the electrical synapse, yet the biochemical makeup of these structures is poorly understood. Here we find that electrical synapse formationin vivorequires an intracellular scaffold called Tight Junction Protein 1b (Tjp1b). Tjp1b is localized to electrical synapses where it is required for the stabilization of the gap junction channels and for electrical synapse function. Strikingly, we find that Tjp1b protein localizes and functions asymmetrically, exclusively on the postsynaptic side of the synapse. Our findings support a novel model in which there is molecular asymmetry at the level of the intracellular scaffold that is required for building the electrical synapse. ESD molecular asymmetries may be a fundamental motif of all nervous systems and could support functional asymmetry at the electrical synapse.
Cortical processing of breathing perceptions in the athletic brain
Authors: Faull Olivia K. , Cox Pete J. , Pattinson Kyle T. S. 
Published: August 2017

AbstractAthletes regularly endure large increases in ventilation, and accompanying perceptions of breathlessness. While breathing perceptions often correlate poorly with objective measures of lung function in both health and clinical populations, we have previously demonstrated closer matching between subjective breathlessness and changes in ventilation in endurance athletes, suggesting that athletes may be more accurate during respiratory interoception. To better understand the link between exercise and breathlessness, we sought to identify the mechanisms by which the brain processing of respiratory perception might be optimised in athletes.Twenty endurance athletes and 20 sedentary controls underwent 7 Tesla functional magnetic resonance imaging. Inspiratory resistive loading induced conscious breathing perceptions (breathlessness), and a delay-conditioning paradigm was employed to evoke preceding periods of anticipation. Athletes demonstrated anticipatory brain activity that positively correlated with resulting breathing perceptions within key interoceptive areas, such as the thalamus, insula and primary sensorimotor cortices, which was negatively correlated in sedentary controls. Athletes also exhibited greater connectivity between interoceptive attention networks and primary sensorimotor cortex. These functional differences in athletic brains suggest that exercise may optimise processing of respiratory sensations. Future work may probe whether these brain mechanisms are harnessed when exercise is employed to treat breathlessness within chronic respiratory disease.
Nitric oxide-dependent inflammation underlies Notch and PI3K/Akt oncogene cooperation
Authors: Villegas Santiago Nahuel , Gombos Rita , Pérez Irene Gutiérrez , López Lucia García , García-Castillo Jesús , Vallejos Diana Marcela , Ros Vanina Da , Mihály József , Dominguez Maria 
Published: August 2017

AbstractConcurrent activating mutations of the Notch and PI3K/Akt signalling pathways cooperate in the induction of aggressive cancers. Unfortunately, direct targeting of any of these aberrant pathways can result in severe side effects due to their broad physiological roles in multiple organs. Here, using an unbiased chemicalin vivoscreen inDrosophilawe identified compounds that suppress the activity of the pro-inflammatory enzymes, nitric oxide synthase (NOS) and lipoxygenase (LOX), capable to block oncogenic Notch-PI3K/Akt cooperation without unwanted side effects. Genetic inactivation of NOS and LOX signalling components mirrors the anti-tumorigenic effect of the hit compounds. We show that NOS activity and immunosuppression associated to inflammation facilitates Notch-mediated tumorigenesis. Our study reveals an unnoticed immune inflammatory process underlying Notch-PI3K/Akt tumours and exposes NOS as a druggable target for anti-cancer therapeutic development.
Divergence estimation in the presence of incomplete lineage sorting and migration
Authors: Jones Graham 
Published: August 2017

AbstractThis paper focuses on the problem of estimating a species tree from multilocus data in the presence of incomplete lineage sorting and migration. We develop a mathematical model similar to IMa2 (Hey 2010) for the relevant evolutionary processes which allows both the the population size parameters and the migration rates between pairs of species tree branches to be integrated out. We then describe a BEAST2 package DENIM which based on this model, and which uses an approximation to sample from the posterior. The approximation is based on the assumption that migrations are rare, and it only samples from certain regions of the posterior which seem likely given this assumption. The method breaks down if there is a lot of migration. Using simulations, Leaché et al 2014 showed migration causes problems for species tree inference using the multispecies coalescent when migration is present but ignored. We re-analyze this simulated data to explore DENIM’s performance, and demonstrate substantial improvements over *BEAST. We also re-analyze an empirical data set. [isolation-with-migration; incomplete lineage sorting; multispecies coalescent; species tree; phylogenetic analysis; Bayesian; Markov chain Monte Carlo]
Population genomics ofWolbachiaand mtDNA inDrosophila simulansfrom California
Authors: Signor Sarah 
Published: August 2017

ABSTRACTWolbachia pipientisis an intracellular endosymbiont in fecting many arthropods and filarial nematodes. Little is known about the short-term evolution ofWolbachiaor its interaction with its host.Wolbachiais maternally inherited, resulting in co-inheritance of mitochondrial organelles such as mtDNA. Here I explore the short-term evolution ofWolbachia, and the relationship betweenWolbachiaand mtDNA, using a large inbred panel ofDrosophila simulansinfected with theWolbachiastrainwRi. I find reduced diversity relative to expectation in bothWolbachiaand mtDNA, but only mtDNA shows evidence of a recent selective sweep or population bottleneck. I estimateWolbachiaand mtDNA titre in each genotype, and I find considerable variation in both phenotypes, despite low genetic diversity inWolbachiaand mtDNA. A phylogeny ofWolbachiaand of mtDNA show that both trees are largely unresolved, suggesting a recent origin of the infection and a single origin. Using Wolbachia and mtDNA titre as a phenotype, we perform an association analysis with the nuclear genome and find several regions implicated in the phenotype, including one which contains four CAAX-box protein processing genes. CAAX-box protein processing can be an important part of host-pathogen interactions in other systems, suggesting interesting directions for future research.