The impact of burn injuries on indigenous populations: A literature review

INTRODUCTION

Ethnic minorities experience disparities in prevention and treatment of burn injury. Research focused on burn injuries in Indigenous populations is limited. This review summarizes literature on burn injuries in Indigenous populations to be considered to inform new research.

METHODS

A search was conducted in CINAHL, Ovid MEDLINE, PSYCinfo and SocINDEX. for "burn OR scars OR scald OR deformity OR disfigurement" and "Aboriginal OR Indigenous OR First Nation OR American Indian OR Maori OR Native OR Torres Strait Islander OR Amerindian OR Inuit OR Metis OR Pacific Islander". Inclusion 1) peer reviewed studies of burns in Indigenous persons 2) in English. Exclusion 1) no data specific to Indigenous burns 2) not peer reviewed 3) not in full text 4) protocol publications.

RESULTS

The search identified 1091 studies with 51 for review. Sixteen were excluded. The 35 included publications were published between 1987 and 2022. Findings indicated higher incidence of injury and poorer outcomes amongst Indigenous people. Indigenous people suffered more flame and inhalation burns, had longer lengths of stay, and more complications including hypertrophic scarring. Australian Indigenous patients struggle with a lack of culturally safe communication and support for aftercare.

CONCLUSION

Racial disparities exist in burn injury incidence and outcome for Indigenous persons. Qualitative research in this area will help providers better understand the experiences of Indigenous burn patients to develop more culturally competent care. We are currently developing a study using qualitative hermeneutic methodology to learn about the experiences of Indigenous burn survivors' injuries, recovery, and social reintegration.

Dialectical Pluralism for Nursing Knowledge Development

The purpose of this paper is to explore the potential of dialectical pluralism (DP) for nursing knowledge development. Nursing scholars have discussed ways of developing nursing knowledge, exploring the fit and relevance of various worldviews for knowledge development and examining the dynamic and perpetual processes of knowledge development. Scholars have argued that knowledge development occurs under a certain worldview to which the researcher adheres. Many nurses employ various worldviews, which can give rise to ontological and epistemological conflicts. DP can help nurses appreciate the diversity of worldviews and recognize the importance of implicit worldviews to generate more practical nursing knowledge. DP as a philosophical approach can enable nurses to communicate between diverse worldviews, become tolerant of conflicting differences, and develop an array of nursing knowledge.

Exploring the intersection of hermeneutics and implementation: a scoping review

BACKGROUND

An enduring challenge remains about how to effectively implement programs, services, or practices. Too often, implementation does not achieve its intended effectiveness, fidelity, and sustainability, even when frameworks or theories determine implementation strategies and actions. A different approach is needed. This scoping review joined two markedly different bodies of literature: implementation and hermeneutics. Implementation is usually depicted as focused, direct, and somewhat linear, while hermeneutics attends to the messiness of everyday experience and human interaction. Both, however, are concerned with practical solutions to real-life problems. The purpose of the scoping review was to summarize existing knowledge on how a hermeneutic approach has informed the process of implementing health programs, services, or practices.

METHODS

We completed a scoping review by taking a Gadamerian hermeneutic approach to the JBI scoping review method. Following a pilot search, we searched eight health-related electronic databases using broadly stated terms such as implementation and hermeneutics. A diverse research team that included a patient and healthcare leader, working in pairs, independently screened titles/abstracts and full-text articles. Through the use of inclusion criteria and full-team dialogue, we selected the final articles and identified their characteristics, hermeneutic features, and implementation components.

RESULTS

Electronic searches resulted in 2871 unique studies. After full-text screening, we retained six articles that addressed both hermeneutics and implementing a program, service, or practice. The studies varied widely in location, topic, implementation strategies, and hermeneutic approach. All addressed assumptions underpinning implementation, the human dimensions of implementing, power differentials, and knowledge creation during implementation. All studies addressed issues foundational to implementing such as cross-cultural communication and surfacing and addressing tensions during processes of change. The studies showed how creating conceptual knowledge was a precursor to concrete, instrumental knowledge for action and behavioral change. Finally, each study demonstrated how the hermeneutic process of the fusion of horizons created new understandings needed for implementation.

CONCLUSIONS

Hermeneutics and implementation have rarely been combined. The studies reveal important features that can contribute to implementation success. Implementers and implementation research may benefit from understanding, articulating, and communicating hermeneutic approaches that foster the relational and contextual foundations necessary for successful implementation.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

The protocol was registered at the Centre for Open Science on September 10, 2019. MacLeod M, Snadden D, McCaffrey G, Zimmer L, Wilson E, Graham I, et al. A hermeneutic approach to advancing implementation science: a scoping review protocol 2019. Accessed at osf.io/eac37.

Pragmatism as a philosophical foundation to integrate education, practice, research and policy across the nursing profession

AIM

A discussion of the philosophy of pragmatism and how it can underpin and integrate nursing education, practice, research and policy across the nursing profession.

BACKGROUND

Although the concepts of plurality, truth, fallibilism, subjectivity and meliorism have been discussed across foundational philosophical literature, the relation of these concepts across various facets of the nursing profession have not been thoroughly articulated in the nursing literature.

DESIGN

Critical theoretical reflection.

DATA SOURCES

In this article, we draw from literature written on the philosophy of pragmatism from 1907 through to 2021.

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING

We propose an integrative approach for the nursing profession where education, practice, research and policy speak and contribute to each other through a lens of pragmatism. In this approach, education has a relationship with practice and practice has a direct line to research where nurses on the front lines can engage with pragmatic inquiry. Researchers in return can inform frontline nurses and policymakers of evidence emerging in areas pertinent to practice. These relationships are made possible through integrated knowledge translation by including all stakeholders at every point of knowledge generation. Each facet of the nursing profession is filled with stakeholders of nursing knowledge, who are invested in its utility. Although it requires focused effort to integrate knowledge across the profession, pragmatism calls for action in the face of challenges in hope for a stronger body of nursing knowledge and ultimately profession.

CONCLUSION

Pragmatism is an apt philosophy to underpin and integrate nursing education, practice, research and policy across the nursing profession.

Kasulis' intimacy/integrity heuristic and epistemological pluralism in nursing

Epistemological pluralism is a recognized feature of nursing knowledge, which embraces both objective, scientific knowledge and situated knowledge that include subjective experience, values and affect, and is encountered in relationship. While there is a lively literature about describing and validating the need for pluralism in nursing's knowledge base, there has been less discussion of how to work with and across different kinds of knowing that are used in practice. In this paper, I describe Kasulis' heuristic framework for understanding more clearly what is entailed in different kinds of knowledge, and what some of their advantages and disadvantages might be. The framework was created by Thomas Kasulis, an American scholar of Japanese philosophy who identified broad orientations in Asian and Western philosophies that he characterized as 'intimacy' and 'integrity', respectively. Kasulis emphasized that his framework is a heuristic, a tool for making distinctions more clearly between different styles of thinking, that can manifest not only between cultural traditions from different parts of the world, but also between subcultures within one of the dominant orientations. He breaks his two orientations down by five distinguishing categories of objectivity, relating, affect, embodiment and transparency. In this paper, each category is described and discussed in relation to aspects of nursing knowledge. Looking at different epistemological viewpoints in this way helps to clarify their differences, and to explain the difficulty of reading across them, when they entail basic assumptions that are not commensurable with each other. Kasulis' framework offers a new way of reading across viewpoints commonly seen in the epistemological pluralism of nursing. It is a tool that can sharpen critical discernment about what is at stake, what can be gained, and what might get missed while operating in either the intimacy or integrity orientation.

Communities of practice: acknowledging vulnerability to improve resilience in healthcare teams

The majority of healthcare professionals regularly witness fragility, suffering, pain and death in their professional lives. Such experiences may increase the risk of burnout and compassion fatigue, especially if they are without self-awareness and a healthy work environment. Acquiring a deeper understanding of vulnerability inherent to their professional work will be of crucial importance to face these risks. From a relational ethics perspective, the role of the team is critical in the development of professional values which can help to cope with the inherent vulnerability of healthcare professionals. The focus of this paper is the role of Communities of Practice as a source of resilience, since they can create a reflective space for recognising and sharing their experiences of vulnerability that arises as part of their work. This shared knowledge can be a source of strength while simultaneously increasing the confidence and resilience of the healthcare team.

A humanism for nursing?

Humanism has appeared intermittently in the nursing literature as a concept that can be used in understanding nursing. I return to the concept in response to noticing the term appearing in the context of health humanities, where it is loosely associated both with humanities and being humane. I review the usage and critiques of humanism in both nursing and medical literature and then re-evaluate what the idea of humanism might hold for nursing, trying to avoid the traps of an over-determination of the human subject, or dichotomizing nursing as art or science, technology or caring. I draw on writings on humanism primarily from Emmanuel Levinas and Edward Said to emphasize strands in humanism of obligation towards others and of critical discernment within history and culture directed towards democratic practices. I discuss in passing the strong association in the UK particularly between humanism and scientism as a note of caution about the plurality of the term humanism. I conclude that humanism is a tradition that does offer productive ways of thinking about nursing with the proviso that it ought to be treated carefully as a problematic tradition and not as a new essence for nursing.

Factors associated with pregnancy-related anxiety in Tanzanian women: a cross sectional study

OBJECTIVE

To identify factors predictive of pregnancy-related anxiety (PRA) among women in Mwanza, Tanzania.

DESIGN

A cross-sectional study was used to explore the relationship between psychosocial health and preterm birth.

SETTING

Antenatal clinics in the Ilemela and Nyamagana districts of Mwanza, Tanzania.

PARTICIPANTS

Pregnant women less than or equal to 32 weeks' gestational age (n=212) attending the two antenatal clinics.

MEASURES

PRA was measured using a revised version of the 10-item PRA Questionnaire (PRA-Q). Predictive factors included social support (Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support), stress (Perceived Stress Scale), depression (Edinburg Postpartum Depression Scale) and sociodemographic data. Bivariate analysis permitted variable selection while multiple linear regression analysis enabled identification of predictive factors of PRA.

RESULTS

Twenty-five per cent of women in our sample scored 13 or higher (out of a possible 30) on the PRA-Q. Perceived stress, active depression and number of people living in the home were the only statistically significant predictors of PRA in our sample.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings were contrary to most current literature which notes socioeconomic status and social support as significant factors in PRA. A greater understanding of the experience of PRA and its predictive factors is needed within the social cultural context of low/middle-income countries to support the development of PRA prevention strategies specific to low/middle income countries.

The suffering of chronic pain patients on a wait list: Are they amenable to narrative therapy?

Background: Chronic pain affects one in five Canadians. People with chronic pain frequently experience loss in their lives related to work, relationships, and their independence. They may be referred to a chronic pain program, which aims to strengthen coping through medical intervention and self-management skills. Data suggest that, even when individuals begin their pain program, many feel overwhelmed and do not continue.

Aims: The aim of this study was to conduct a needs assessment to explore the acceptability and feasibility of developing a psychosocial intervention, narrative therapy (NT), to address loss for chronic pain patients on the wait list of a chronic pain program.

Methods: Two focus groups were conducted with ten patients who had experienced being on a wait list for a provincial chronic pain management program (CPMP). Transcribed interviews were subjected to thematic and interpretive analysis.

Results: Two major themes emerged from the analysis: loss of identity and sharing a story of chronic pain. All patients were enthusiastic toward an NT intervention, although individual preferences differed regarding mode of delivery.

Conclusions: Loss is a significant part of the chronic pain experience. NT seems to be an acceptable intervention to address loss for patients on the wait list for a chronic pain program.

Bringing a novel to practice: An interpretive study of reading a novel in an undergraduate nursing practicum course

Novels are one humanities resource available to educators in health disciplines to support student reflection on their own professional practice and therapeutic relationships with patients. An interdisciplinary team, including nurses, a physician, and an English instructor, carried out an interpretive study of the use of a novel by clinical nursing instructors in an undergraduate practicum course. Students placed in assisted living or long term care facilities for the elderly were expected to read a contemporary work, Exit Lines, by Joan Barfoot, which is set in a comparable facility. The objective was to increase understanding of the meanings that participants ascribed to the novel reading exercise in relation to their development as student nurses. By using a hermeneutic approach, we used dialogue throughout the study to elicit perspectives among participants and the interdisciplinary research team. Major themes that emerged included the students' tacit awareness of epistemological plurality in nursing, and the consequent importance of cultivating a capacity to move thoughtfully between different points of view and ways of knowing.

Examining the Effects of Childhood Cancer on the Parental Subsystem: Implications for Parents and Health Care Professionals-Part 3

This article is the third part of a hermeneutic research study examining the impact of childhood cancer experiences on the parental relationship. In Part 1, we offered an exploration of the phenomenon with background literature; a description of the research question, method, and design; and finally a discussion of relationships that survived, thrived, or demised, with an emphasis on the notions of difference and trading. In Part 2, we furthered the interpretations to look at the complexities of issues such as teams, roles, focus, protection, intimacy, grieving, putting relationships on hold, and reclaiming them. In this article, we discuss the advice that the participants offered us and how that advice might have implications for other parents in similar situations and health care professionals working with families experiencing childhood cancer.

Differences and Trading: Examining the Effects of Childhood Cancer on the Parental Subsystem-Part 1

This article is the first of a three-part report of a research study that used hermeneutic inquiry to examine the effects of childhood cancer on the relationship between the parents of the child. In Part 1, we identity the topic of investigation and the relevant literature; describe the research question, method, and design; and begin our interpretations of the data with a focus on the couples who remained together and those who experienced relationship demise. In this analysis, we discovered that issues of difference and trading played a strong role in how the couples fared in their relationships. In Part 2 of this series, we focus on further interpretations, and in Part 3, we discuss the implications of the study for other parents and for health care professionals.

Taking One for the Team: Examining the Effects of Childhood Cancer on the Parental Subsystem-Part 2

In this Part 2 of a three-part research paper, we further our interpretations from our hermeneutic study examining how having a child who has experienced cancer had an impact on the relationship between the parents. In Part 1, we identified the focus of the study and provided background to the topic. We also described the research question, method, and design before offering an interpretive analysis of couples whose relationships survived, thrived, or demised. In this article, we extend the interpretations under an overarching theme of "taking one for the team." Here, we discuss issues of changes in focus and roles, and the notions of tag teaming, protection, intimacy, and grieving. We examine the phenomenon of putting relationships on hold, then finding reclamation later. In Part 3, we offer implications of these findings for other parents in similar situations and for health care professionals working with these families.

Compassion: a critical review of peer-reviewed nursing literature

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

To provide a critical review of nursing literature about compassion, identifying major themes, questions arising and directions for future investigation of the topic.

BACKGROUND

Compassion has emerged as a topic of broad social concern in recent years and is particularly pertinent to nurses.

DESIGN

Critical review was selected as the most appropriate way of analysing literature from both qualitative research studies and conceptual articles.

METHODS

An electronic database search was conducted, discovering articles published between 1952 and 2013. The search was then limited to publications since 2000 to capture recent development of the concept. The search was limited to peer-reviewed literature, excluding a large body of editorial material, resulting in 20 relevant articles. Two books were also added that contributed important perspective to the analysis. Critical analysis of the resulting material was undertaken to identify themes, tensions and implications in the literature.

RESULTS

Major themes were compassion as practice and compassion as a moral virtue, holding implications for how nurses can demonstrate compassion in relation to contemporary healthcare values. A third major theme was the influence of institutional environments in facilitating or limiting the expression of compassion.

CONCLUSIONS

Compassion is a human experience of deep significance to nursing and needs understanding in the context of healthcare environments dominated by discourses of efficiency and rationalisation. There is an emergent literature about how compassion may be understood, taught and sustained among nurses but it is a topic that requires continued attention.

RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE

More precise understanding of compassion will support nurses in advocating for compassionate care, participating in interdisciplinary dialogue, and contributing to the design of healthcare environments that are conducive to compassionate care.

Host and guest: an applied hermeneutic study of mental health nurses' practices on inpatient units

The metaphor of host and guest has value for exploring the practice and role identity of nurses on inpatient mental health units. Two complementary texts, one from the ancient Zen record of Lin-chi, and the other from the contemporary hermeneutic philosopher Richard Kearney, are used to elaborate meanings of host and guest that can be applied to the situation of mental health nurses. In a doctoral study with a hermeneutic design, I addressed the topic of nurse-patient relationship using an interpretive framework that included sources from Buddhist thought. The positions of host and guest emerged from interviews with nurses as one interpretive theme to open up new understanding of the topic. The two texts, originally distant in era and culture, both employ the host and guest metaphor. They are applied to extracts from interviews to open up discussions of hierarchy, status, patients' perspectives, otherness and resistances as features of nurses' complex experience. These provide insights into understanding practice and suggest implications for how institutional environments shape practice. An intercultural reading of texts can provide a source of new understanding of nurse-patient relationships.

Buddhist thought and nursing: a hermeneutic exploration

In this paper I lay out the ground for a creative dialogue between Buddhist thought and contemporary nursing. I start from the observation that in tracing an arc from the existential human experience of suffering to finding compassionate responses to suffering in everyday practice Buddhist thought already appears to present significant affinities with nursing as a practice discipline. I discuss some of the complexities of entering into a cross-cultural dialogue, which is already well under way in the working out of Western forms of Buddhism, and which is beginning to be reflected in nursing literature. I introduce philosophical hermeneutics as a useful framework for elaborating an open and constructive exchange. I then discuss key Mahayana Buddhist concepts of emptiness and two truths that lead to a dynamic and open way of understanding reality and responding in the world. I turn to examples of original texts to give a flavour of the varied and distinctive forms of literature in the Buddhist tradition. This is intended partly to keep the reader alert to cultural difference (from a Western standpoint, that is) while exploring the creative potential of Buddhist thought. Hermeneutics again provides a framework for interpretation. This paper establishes a philosophical ground for a critical and creative dialogue between Buddhist thought and nursing.

Grandparents’ Experiences of Childhood Cancer, Part 1

In this study, the authors examined the experiences of grandparents who have had, or have, a grandchild with childhood cancer. Sixteen grandparents were interviewed using unstructured interviews, and the data were analyzed according to hermeneutic–phenomenological tradition, as guided by the philosophical hermeneutics of Hans-Georg Gadamer. Interpretive findings indicate that grandparents suffer and worry in many complex ways that include a doubled worry for their own children as well as their grandchildren. According to the grandparents in this study, this worry was, at times, silenced in efforts to protect the parents of the grandchild from the burden of concern for the grandparent. Other interpretations include the nature of having one’s universe shaken, of having lives put on hold, and a sense of helplessness. The grandparents in this study offer advice to other grandparents as well as to the health care system regarding what kinds of things might have been more helpful to them as one level of the family system, who, like other subsystems of the family, are also profoundly affected by the event of childhood cancer.

Grandparents’ Experiences of Childhood Cancer, Part 2

In this study, the authors examined the experiences of grandparents who have had, or have, a grandchild with childhood cancer. Sixteen grandparents were interviewed using unstructured interviews, and the data were analyzed according to a hermeneutic–phenomenological tradition, as guided by the philosophical hermeneutics of Hans-Georg Gadamer. In Part 1 of this report, interpretive findings around worry, burden, silence, the nature of having one’s universe shaken, of having lives put on hold, and a sense of helplessness were addressed. In Part 2, the authors discuss interpretations related to the notions of support, burden, protection, energy, standing by, buffering, financial shouldering, and relationship. The study concludes with implications that the grandparents in the study bring to pediatric nurses in their practices with families in pediatric oncology.

Use of sevoflurane inhalation sedation for outpatient third molar surgery

This study attempted to determine if sevoflurane in oxygen inhaled via a nasal hood as a sole sedative agent would provide an appropriate level of deep sedation for outpatient third molar surgery. Twenty-four patients scheduled for third molar removal were randomly assigned to receive either nasal hood inhalation sevoflurane or an intravenous deep sedation using midazolam and fentanyl followed by a propofol infusion. In addition to measuring patient, surgeon, and dentist anesthesiologist subjective satisfaction with the technique, physiological parameters, amnesia, and psychomotor recovery were also assessed. No statistically significant difference was found between the sevoflurane and midazolam-fentanyl-propofol sedative groups in physiological parameters, degree of amnesia, reported quality of sedation, or patient willingness to again undergo a similar deep sedation. A trend toward earlier recovery in the sevoflurane group was identified. Sevoflurane can be successfully employed as a deep sedative rather than a general anesthetic for extraction of third molars in healthy subjects.

A developmentally regulated kinesin-related motor protein from Dictyostelium discoideum

The cellular slime mold Dictyostelium discoideum is an attractive system for studying the roles of microtubule-based motility in cell development and differentiation. In this work, we report the first molecular characterization of kinesin-related proteins (KRPs) in Dictyostelium. A PCR-based strategy was used to isolate DNA fragments encoding six KRPs, several of which are induced during the developmental program that is initiated by starvation. The complete sequence of one such developmentally regulated KRP (designated K7) was determined and found to be a novel member of the kinesin superfamily. The motor domain of K7 is most similar to that of conventional kinesin, but unlike conventional kinesin, K7 is not predicted to have an extensive alpha-helical coiled-coil domain. The nonmotor domain is unusual and is rich in Asn, Gln, and Thr residues; similar sequences are found in other developmentally regulated genes in Dictyostelium. K7, expressed in Escherichia coli, supports plus end-directed microtubule motility in vitro at a speed of 0.14 micron/s, indicating that it is a bona fide motor protein. The K7 motor is found only in developing cells and reaches a peak level of expression between 12 and 16 h after starvation. By immunofluorescence microscopy, K7 localizes to a membranous perinuclear structure. To examine K7 function, we prepared a null cell line but found that these cells show no gross developmental abnormalities. However, when cultivated in the presence of wild-type cells, the K7-null cells are mostly absent from the prestalk zone of the slug. This result suggests that in a population composed largely of wild-type cells, the absence of the K7 motor protein interferes either with the ability of the cells to localize to the prestalk zone or to differentiate into prestalk cells.

The use of leisure activities in a therapeutic community

This paper is concerned with the use of social and leisure activities as part of nursing work in a therapeutic community. It describes this element in the therapeutic programme of the Cassel Hospital. There is a brief introduction to the general principles of the therapeutic community and then to the nurses' role at the Cassel Hospital. The work in the sphere of social and leisure activities is seen as consistent with these principles. The structures enabling social and leisure activities to be integrated into the work of the hospital are described. Therapeutic opportunities are outlined, which arise when nurses work alongside patients in the course of such activities. This also serves to illustrate therapeutic community practice. There follows a discussion of the clinical significance of the voluntary element in this area of practice and of the related problems. Jacques' conceptualization of work and resistance to work are used at a number of points to link issues raised in the paper to existing psychodynamic theory.

The role of the carbohydrate chains of Gal beta-1,4-GlcNAc alpha 2,6-sialyltransferase for enzyme activity

Gal beta-1,4-GlcNAc alpha 2,6-sialyltransferase (CMP-N-acetylneuraminate:beta-galactoside alpha 2,6 sialyltransferase, EC 2.4.99.1) is a glycoprotein containing carbohydrate chains of the complex type (Jamieson, J.C. (1989) Life Sci. 43, 691-697). The carbohydrate chains may be important for controlling the expression of sialyltransferase catalytic activity during transit of the enzyme from the rough endoplasmic reticulum to the Golgi complex where it is active as a membrane bound enzyme anchored to the luminal face. To study the role of the carbohydrate chains of sialyltransferase for enzyme activity, conditions were established in which the native enzyme was deglycosylated with N-Glycanase and endo F. It was found that Glycanase removed the carbohydrate chains from native sialyltransferase, but methanol or ethanol had to be present for rapid and complete deglycosylation. Presence of methanol or ethanol were not essential for removal of carbohydrate chains with endo F. There was a correlation between the loss of catalytic activity of sialyltransferase with increased deglycosylation. After deglycosylation with Glycanase for 18 h catalytic activity was largely eliminated and there was a reduction in molecular mass of about 5 kDa compared to the untreated enzyme when examined by immunoblot analysis; this reduction was identical to that found when the denatured enzyme was deglycosylated with Glycanase. At shorter times of incubation partially deglycosylated forms of the enzyme were detected. Complete deglycosylation of native or denatured sialyltransferase with endo F could not be achieved. However, incubation with endo F for 24 h resulted in a loss of catalytic activity of about 60%. Immunoblot analysis showed the presence of three forms of the enzyme corresponding in molecular mass to the native and deglycosylated enzyme and a third form corresponding to a partially deglycosylated enzyme. Sialyltransferase was also subjected to sequential treatment with exoglycosidases. Removal of NeuAc and Gal had little effect on catalytic activity, but subsequent removal of GlcNAc resulted in a significant loss in catalytic activity suggesting that the presence of the trimannose core with GlcNAc attached is important for the expression of catalytic activity. The presence of organic solvents during deglycosylation with Glycanase may be a useful method that can be applied to other glycoproteins.

Sialyltransferase: a novel acute-phase reactant

1. Proteins that are released into the circulation in elevated amounts in injured mammals are referred to as acute-phase reactants. Most are liver synthesized glycoproteins of the secretable type. However, Gal-beta(1-->4)-GlcNAc-alpha(2-->6)-sialyltransferase (EC 2.4.99.1) is a novel acute-phase reactant since it is a Golgi membrane-bound enzyme rather than a secretable glycoprotein. 2. The role of glucocorticoids and cytokines in the control of synthesis and expression of acute-phase glycoproteins, including sialyltransferase, is discussed. 3. The acute-phase behaviour of Gal-beta(1-->4)-GlcNAc-alpha(2-->6)-sialyltransferase is dependent on the release of the enzyme from the Golgi in the acute-phase state. The mechanism of release of a catalytically active form of the enzyme is described.

Evidence for the role of a cathepsin D-like activity in the release of Gal beta 1-4GlcNAc alpha 2-6sialyltransferase from rat and mouse liver in whole-cell systems

1. Sialyltransferase is a liver Golgi membrane-bound enzyme that is released from the liver under conditions of experimental inflammation. Previous work showed that the action of a cathepsin D-like proteinase was responsible for release of the enzyme from isolated Golgi membranes. This study shows that the same enzyme is responsible for release of sialyltransferase in whole-cell systems. 2. Gal beta 1-4GlcNAc alpha 2-6sialyltransferase (EC 2.4.99.1) was secreted from slices of rat and mouse liver into the incubation medium with larger amounts of activity being secreted from slices of liver from animals suffering from experimental inflammation. 3. The presence in the incubation medium of the cathepsin D proteinase inhibitor, pepstatin A, at 10(-4) M was sufficient to inhibit the release of sialyltransferase into the medium by about 60% after a 6 hr incubation. 4. The release of albumin and alpha 1 acid glycoprotein from rat liver slices, was not affected by the presence of pepstatin A, indicating that the proteinase inhibitor did not affect the synthesis and secretion of typical secretable proteins by the liver. 5. Intraperitoneal injections of pepstatin A into mice prior to preparation of liver slices also resulted in a significant reduction of the secretion of sialyltransferase into the incubation medium. 6. The results from these studies support the idea that a cathepsin D-like proteinase is responsible for the release of sialyltransferase into the extracellular space in whole cells in the rat and the mouse.

Cloning and expression of a human kinesin heavy chain gene: interaction of the COOH-terminal domain with cytoplasmic microtubules in transfected CV-1 cells

To understand the interactions between the microtubule-based motor protein kinesin and intracellular components, we have expressed the kinesin heavy chain and its different domains in CV-1 monkey kidney epithelial cells and examined their distributions by immunofluorescence microscopy. For this study, we cloned and sequenced cDNAs encoding a kinesin heavy chain from a human placental library. The human kinesin heavy chain exhibits a high level of sequence identity to the previously cloned invertebrate kinesin heavy chains; homologies between the COOH-terminal domain of human and invertebrate kinesins and the nonmotor domain of the Aspergillus kinesin-like protein bimC were also found. The gene encoding the human kinesin heavy chain also contains a small upstream open reading frame in a G-C rich 5' untranslated region, features that are associated with translational regulation in certain mRNAs. After transient expression in CV-1 cells, the kinesin heavy chain showed both a diffuse distribution and a filamentous staining pattern that coaligned with microtubules but not vimentin intermediate filaments. Altering the number and distribution of microtubules with taxol or nocodazole produced corresponding changes in the localization of the expressed kinesin heavy chain. The expressed NH2-terminal motor and the COOH-terminal tail domains, but not the alpha-helical coiled coil rod domain, also colocalized with microtubules. The finding that both the kinesin motor and tail domains can interact with cytoplasmic microtubules raises the possibility that kinesin could crossbridge and induce sliding between microtubules under certain circumstances.

Pheromone response elements are necessary and sufficient for basal and pheromone-induced transcription of the FUS1 gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae

The FUS1 gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae is transcribed in a and alpha cells, not in a/alpha diploids, and its transcription increases dramatically when haploid cells are exposed to the appropriate mating pheromone. In addition, FUS1 transcription is absolutely dependent on STE4, STE5, STE7, STE11, and STE12, genes thought to encode components of the pheromone response pathway. We now have determined that the pheromone response element (PRE), which occurs in four copies within the FUS1 upstream region, functions as the FUS1 upstream activation sequence (UAS) and is responsible for all known aspects of FUS1 regulation. In particular, deletion of 55 bp that includes the PREs abolished all transcription, and a 139-bp fragment that includes the PREs conferred FUS1-like expression to a CYC1-lacZ reporter gene. Moreover, three or four copies of a synthetic PRE closely mimicked the activity conferred by the 139-bp fragment, and even a single copy of PRE conferred a trace of activity that was haploid specific and pheromone inducible. In the FUS1 promoter context, four copies of the synthetic PRE inserted at the site of the 55-bp deletion restored full FUS1 transcription. Sequences upstream and downstream from the PRE cluster were important for maximal PRE-directed expression but, by themselves, did not have UAS activity. Other yeast genes with PREs, e.g., STE2 and BAR1, are more modestly inducible and have additional UAS elements contributing to the overall activity. In the FUS1 promoter, the PREs apparently act alone to confer activity that is highly stimulated by pheromone.

The virB operon of Agrobacterium tumefaciens pTiC58 encodes 11 open reading frames

Agrobacterium tumefaciens genetically transforms plant cells by transferring a copy of its T-DNA to the plant where it is integrated and stably maintained. In the presence of wounded plant cells this process is activated and mediated by the products of the vir genes which are grouped into six distinct loci. The largest is the virB locus spanning 9.5 kb. Transposon mutagenesis studies have shown that virB gene products are required for virulence but their functions remain largely unknown. To provide information relevant to understanding the function of VirB polypeptides, the nucleotide sequence of the virB operon from a nopaline plasmid, pTiC58, is presented here. Eleven open reading frames (ORFs) are predicted from this sequence. The predicted sizes of 10 of the 11 VirB polypeptides are verified by specific expression in Escherichia coli. Only the product of the smallest ORF potentially encoding a 5.8 kDa polypeptide has not been detected. The initiation of translation of five virB ORFs occurs at codons that overlap the termination codons of the ORF immediately upstream; thus, translational coupling may be an important mechanism for efficient translation of the large virB polycistronic mRNA. Based on hydropathy plot analysis nine of the virB ORFs encode proteins that may interact with membranes; these data support the earlier hypothesis that virB gene products may form a membrane pore or channel to mediate exit of the T-DNA copy (T-strands) from Agrobacterium into the plant cell. A comparison of the two published octopine virB sequences with the nopaline sequence presented here is made.

Identification of a kinesin-like microtubule-based motor protein in Dictyostelium discoideum

Dictyostelium discoideum, a unicellular eukaryote amenable to both biochemical and genetic dissection, provides an attractive system for studying microtubule-based transport. In this work, we have identified microtubule-based motor activities in Dictyostelium cell extracts and have partially purified a protein that induces microtubule translocation along glass surfaces. This protein, which sediments at approximately 9S in sucrose density gradients and is composed of a 105 kd polypeptide, generates anterograde movement along microtubules that is insensitive to 5 mM NEM (N-ethyl-maleimide) but sensitive to 200 microM vanadate, and has similar nucleotide-dependent microtubule binding properties to those of kinesins purified from mammals, sea urchin and Drosophila. This kinesin-like molecule from Dictyostelium, however, is immunologically distinct from bovine and squid neuronal kinesins and supports microtubule movement on glass at four-fold greater velocities (2.0 versus 0.5 microns/sec). Furthermore, AMP-PNP (adenylyl imidodiphosphate), which promotes attachment of previously characterized kinesins to microtubules, decreases the affinity of the Dictyostelium kinesin homolog for microtubules. Thus, an AMP-PNP-induced rigor binding may not be a characteristic of kinesins from lower eukaryotes.

Identification and regulation of a gene required for cell fusion during mating of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae

We have devised a screen for genes from the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae whose expression is affected by cell type or by the mating pheromones. From this screen we identified a gene, FUS1, whose pattern of expression revealed interesting regulatory strategies and whose product was required for efficient cell fusion during mating. Transcription of FUS1 occurred only in a and alpha cells, not in a/alpha cells, where it was repressed by a1 X alpha 2, a regulatory activity present uniquely in a/alpha cells. Transcription of FUS1 showed an absolute requirement for the products of five STE genes, STE4, STE5, STE7, STE11, and STE12. Since the activators STE4, STE5, and STE12 are themselves repressed by a1 X alpha 2, the failure to express FUS1 in a/alpha cells is probably the result of a cascade of regulatory activities; repression of the activators by a1 X alpha 2 in turn precludes transcription of FUS1. In addition to regulation of FUS1 by cell type, transcription from the locus increased 10-fold or more when a or alpha cells were exposed to the opposing mating pheromone. To investigate the function of the Fus1 protein, we created fus1 null mutants. In fus1 X fus1 matings, the cells of a mating pair adhered tightly and appeared to form zygotes. However, the zygotes were abnormal. Within the conjugation bridge the contained a partition that prevented nuclear fusion and mixing of organelles. The predicted sequence of the Fus1 protein (deduced from the FUS1 DNA sequence) and subcellular fractionation studies with Fus1-beta-galactosidase hybrid proteins suggest that Fus1 is a membrane or secreted protein. Thus, Fus1 may be located at a position within the cell where it is poised to catalyze cell wall or plasma membrane fusion.

Evidence the yeast STE3 gene encodes a receptor for the peptide pheromone a factor: gene sequence and implications for the structure of the presumed receptor

Haploid yeast cells of the a mating type secrete a peptide pheromone, a factor, which acts on cells of the alpha mating type to prepare them for conjugation. We show that the STE3 gene, which is required for mating only by alpha cells and is transcribed only in alpha cells, likely encodes a cell-surface receptor for a factor. This view is based on three findings. First, wild-type Ste3 product is required for response to the pheromone: mutants with any one of five different ste3 mutations are unresponsive to a factor. Second, a hybrid Ste3-beta-galactosidase protein encoded by a STE3-lacZ gene fusion fractionates to the particulate fraction of yeast cell extracts, suggesting that Ste3 is a membrane protein. Finally, the DNA sequence of STE3, which we report here, encodes a protein of 470 amino acid residues that contains seven distinct hydrophobic segments of sufficient length to span a lipid bilayer.

Programmed aging or error catastrophe? An examination by two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis

We have examined newly synthesized proteins in the young adult and in older populations of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans using two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (2D PAGE). A temperature-sensitive mutant strain, DH26, with a mean life span of about 15 days, under our conditions, was used to block progeny development. Nematodes of several different ages were pulse-labeled for 5 h, in vivo, with 35S-labeled E. coli, A subsequent 30-min chase with unlabeled E. coli served to rid the worms of endogenous labeled E. coli proteins. We resolve 700 or more proteins by 2D PAGE polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of extracts of young nematodes. The patterns of these proteins are highly reproducible in comparisons of independent repeats of identical experiments. No new major proteins are synthesized at any time during the adult phase (4-22 days) nor are any of the most abundant proteins not made during this period. At our level of detectability (estimated as a satellite spot containing 4% of the amount of label in a major spot) we see no misincorporation of radioactive amino acids into newly synthesized proteins. These data are inconsistent with predictions by any one of several, so called, "error catastrophe" models of senescence and also show that modulation of the highest abundancy classes of proteins are also not involved in senescence.