Attitudes and values expected of public health nursing students at graduation: A delphi study.

BACKGROUND: The skills and knowledge of the competencies expected of public health nursing (PHN) students at graduation have been clarified; however, the attitudes and values have not yet been studied in Japan. OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to identify and reach a consensus among experts on the attitudes and values expected of PHN students at graduation. DESIGN: This survey was conducted as a two-stage Delphi study. PARTICIPANTS: We selected the following experts: 248 teachers in the faculty of public health nursing at a university as academic experts, and 250 public health nurses who were also experienced clinical instructors as clinical experts. METHODS: The round 1 mailed survey was conducted using a questionnaire about the necessity and importance of attitudes and values, and 211 experts responded (42.4%, clinical; n = 124, academic; n = 87). In the Round 2 survey, the experts consisted of 60.2% of the round 1 participants (clinical; n = 73, academic; n = 54). Descriptive statistics were used for multiple imputation. RESULTS: We identified a total of 13 attitudes and values expected of PHN students, and reached ≥90% consensus for most items (except for one). Regarding the expected achievement level at graduation, there was no difference between clinical and academic experts except for one item. CONCLUSIONS: Consensus was clearly achieved for 13 attitudes and values expected of PHN students, as well as importance and expected achievement level at graduation. In the future, it is important to examine strategies that can effectively develop these attitudes and values through basic and continuous education.

Multiple forms of mouse antizyme inhibitor 1 mRNA differentially regulated by polyamines.

Antizyme inhibitor 1 (Azin1), a positive regulator of cellular polyamines, is induced by various proliferative stimuli and repressed by polyamines. It has been reported that the translational repression of Azin1 by polyamines involves an upstream open reading frame on the mRNA, but little has been known about polyamine effect on its transcription or splicing. We found multiple forms of Azin1 transcripts formed by alternative splicing and initiation of transcription from putative alternative start sites. One of the novel splice variants, Azin1-X, has a premature termination codon on 5' extension of exon 7, encodes a C-terminal truncated form of protein (Azin1ΔC), and is subject to nonsense-mediated mRNA decay. 2-Difluoromethylornithine (DFMO), an inhibitor of polyamine synthesis, increased both transcription from the canonical transcription start site and the ratio of the full-length mRNA to Azin1-X mRNA, whereas polyamines show the opposite effect. Thus, polyamines regulate two novel steps of Azin1 expression, namely the transcription and a particular splicing pattern, both of which may affect the level of mRNA encoding the full-length active Azin1 protein.

A comprehensive gene expression analysis of human hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines as components of a bioartificial liver using a radial flow bioreactor.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: The cells constituting a bioartificial liver are crucial for an effective liver support system. We compared global gene expression profiles in a radial flow bioreactor or a monolayer culture of three functional liver cell lines previously established from human hepatocellular carcinoma. METHODS: The expressions of 60,000 genes of the FLC-4, FLC-5, and FLC-7 cell lines were analyzed by the microarray technique with the Affymetrix GeneChip system. Global gene expression profiles were compared with two-way cluster analysis. Several liver function-related genes were compared between the bioreactor and culture conditions. RESULTS: Cluster analysis revealed that gene expression profiles of bioreactor-grown cells resembled those of the normal liver. Genes related to cellular structure were highly expressed in the bioreactor-grown cells, while genes involved in proliferation or carcinogenesis were suppressed. In the bioreactor-grown cells, some genes for liver functions were expressed at a level similar to that in normal liver, although none of the cell lines expressed the complete set of genes encoding ammonium metabolism or cytochrome P450 species. CONCLUSION: The high-density three-dimensional culture in the radial flow bioreactor prompted differentiation of the cells. These data may be useful for improving the cells by genetic or pharmacological reinforcement and for monitoring bioartificial livers.