Workplace culture in psychiatric nursing described by nurses.

AIM: This study looks to describe the workplace culture from the viewpoints of stress, job satisfaction and practice environment. METHODS: Data were collected from nurses (n = 109) using a web-based survey, The Person-Centred Nursing Index, from two purposefully selected hospital districts in Finland. Data were statistically analysed. RESULTS: Nurses described their workplace culture in slightly positive terms. Nurses only occasionally experienced stress (mean = 2.56, SD = 0.55) and were fairly satisfied with their job (mean = 4.75, SD = 0.66) and their practice environment (mean = 4.42, SD = 0.81). Demographic variables such as the nurses' age, length of time in nursing, time at their present hospital, working shifts and their use of patient restriction were more frequently associated with their perceived workplace culture. CONCLUSION: Older nurses and those with a longer work history in the nursing profession tended to be more satisfied with their workplace culture in psychiatric nursing. Young and/or newly graduated nurses felt more negatively on their workplace culture; this issue should be recognised and addressed with appropriate support and mentoring. Nurses who used restrictive measures were more often less satisfied with their workplace culture. Continuous efforts are needed to reduce the use of coercive measures, which challenge also the managers to support nursing practice to be more person-centred.

The quality of life and social support in significant others of patients with breast cancer--a longitudinal study.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate prospectively the quality of life (QOL) and received social support from the network and nurses in significant others of breast cancer patients and identify factors predicting negative changes in their QOL within 6 months. The quasi-random longitudinal study conducted for the breast cancer patients and their significant others. Patients were quasi-randomised to supportive intervention group (via telephone at baseline and face-to-face at follow-up) and control group. This paper reports results of significant others (N = 165). The QOL data were collected using the Quality of Life Index - Cancer Version (QLI-CV). Support from network in aid increased the risk of negative changes in health and functioning. Retired significant others had a greater risk of more negative changes in their global and in socio-economic QOL than other. Relatives had a smaller risk to negative changes both in their global and in their family QOL than spouses/partners/boyfriends of patients with breast cancer. QOL of the significant others should be supported more intensively and enhanced by the use of individually tailored methods on the basis of significant others and their family needs.

Motives of cancer patients for using the Internet to seek social support.

The purpose of the study was to describe why Finnish cancer patients choose the internet as a source of social support. The data were collected in May 2010, using an online questionnaire with open-ended questions, through four discussion forums on the websites of the non-profit Cancer Society of Finland. Seventy-four adult patients with cancer participated. The data were analysed using inductive content analysis. The mean age of the participants was 53 years and they were predominantly women. The most common cancer was breast cancer and more than three quarters of the participants had suffered from cancer for less than 5 years. The initial stimuli to use the internet as a source of social support were the ease of communication and access to information as well as the need for emotional and informational support. The actual motives that drove the use of the internet as a source of social support were the requirements for information and peer support, internet technology, a lack of support outside the internet and the negative experiences caused by the illness. The fact that there is an enormous need for information as well as for emotional support and that cancer treatment in Finland is concentrated in major hospitals, to which cancer patients may travel a considerable distance, suggests that nurses should learn to make more frequent virtual contact with their patients.

Proliferation marker securin identifies favourable outcome in invasive ductal breast cancer.

We introduce a new proliferation marker, securin (pituitary tumour-transforming 1 (PTTG1)), analysed in invasive ductal breast carcinomas by cDNA microarrays and immunohistochemistry. In cDNA microarray of a total of 4000 probes of genes, securin was revealed with a significant change in expression among the several proliferation-related genes studied. The value of securin as a proliferation marker was verified immunohistochemically (n=44) in invasive ductal breast cancer. In follow-up analyses of the sample of patients, the prognostic value of securin was compared with the established markers of breast cancer proliferation, Ki-67 and mitotic activity index (MAI). Our results of a small sample of patients suggest that low securin expression identifies a distinct subgroup of more favourable outcome among patients with high Ki-67 immunoexpression or high MAI. In univariate analysis of Cox's regression, 10-unit increment of securin immunopositivity was associated with a 2.3-fold overall risk of death due to breast cancer and a 7.1-fold risk of death due to breast cancer in the sample of patients stratified according to the cutoff points of 10 and 20% of securin immunopositivity. We suggest that securin immunostaining is a promising and clinically applicable proliferation marker. The finding urges further prognostic studies with a large sample of patients.

Downregulation of Tfam and mtDNA copy number during mammalian spermatogenesis.

Mitochondrial transcription factor A (Tfam) is required for mtDNA maintenance, and mitochondrial Tfam protein levels directly affect mtDNA copy number. Previous studies have shown significant reduction of Tfam protein levels in mitochondria together with the appearance of abundant testis-specific Tfam mRNA isoforms as spermatogenesis proceeds in both mouse and man. Interestingly, an abundant testis-specific nuclear Tfam protein isoform of unknown function is found in the mouse, but not in humans. We have now characterized Tfam expression in rat testis to identify conserved features in mammalian spermatogenesis. The nuclear Tfam protein isoform is absent in the rat and is thus dispensable for mammalian spermatogenesis. Similar to mice and humans, we found expression of alternate Tfam transcripts, downregulation of mitochondrial Tfam protein levels, and downregulation of mtDNA copy number during rat spermatogenesis. These features are thus common to all mammals and may provide one of several mechanisms preventing paternal mtDNA transmission.

3'-untranslated regions of oxidative phosphorylation mRNAs function in vivo as enhancers of translation.

Recent findings have indicated that the 3'-untranslated region (3'-UTR) of the mRNA encoding the beta-catalytic subunit of the mitochondrial H(+)-ATP synthase has an in vitro translation-enhancing activity (TEA) [Izquierdo and Cuezva, Mol. Cell. Biol. (1997) 17, 5255-5268; Izquierdo and Cuezva, Biochem. J. (2000) 346, 849-855]. In the present work, we have expressed chimaeric plasmids that encode mRNA variants of green fluorescent protein in normal rat kidney and liver clone 9 cells to determine whether the 3'-UTRs of nuclear-encoded mRNAs involved in the biogenesis of mitochondria have an intrinsic TEA. TEA is found in the 3'-UTR of the mRNAs encoding the alpha- and beta-subunits of the rat H(+)-ATP synthase complex, as well as in subunit IV of cytochrome c oxidase. No TEA is present in the 3'-UTR of the somatic mRNA encoding rat mitochondrial transcription factor A. Interestingly, the TEA of the 3'-UTR of mRNAs of oxidative phosphorylation is different, depending upon the cell type analysed. These data provide the first in vivo evidence of a novel cell-specific mechanism for the control of the translation of mRNAs required in mitochondrial function.

Regulation of mitochondrial DNA copy number during spermatogenesis.

The nuclear genome is physically compacted during spermatogenesis by replacing histones with protamines and transition proteins. This altered nuclear protein context may make gene regulation at the transcriptional level less efficient and could explain why post-transcriptional regulation is prominent in haploid male germ cells. Mitochondria and mitochondrial (mt) DNA are maternally inherited, whereas the transmission of paternal mtDNA is blocked in mammals. The paternal mtDNA enters the oocyte but is no longer detectable in the preimplantation embryo. Several mechanisms could be responsible for preventing the transmission of paternal mtDNA, including the down-regulation of mtDNA copy number during spermatogenesis, specific elimination of paternal mitochondria in fertilized oocytes, and the suspension of mtDNA replication in the fertilized oocyte. It is the first of these that is the subject of the present review. Mitochondrial transcription factor A (mtTFA, or Tfam) is a key regulator of mtDNA copy number in mammals. Germ cell-specific Tfam transcript isoforms are expressed during spermatogenesis in mice and humans. These alternative Tfam transcript isoforms have a structure that could prevent protein translation; their expression coincides with down-regulation of the mitochondrial Tfam protein values. We propose that this down-regulation of mitochondrial Tfam protein levels in turn down-regulates mtDNA copy number during mammalian spermatogenesis.