RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Survivin is an anti-apoptotic protein that has been recently suggested as a predictive marker of joint destruction in adult rheumatoid arthritis. We assessed the presence of extracellular survivin in patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). METHODS: Survivin levels were assessed in the circulation of 46 patients with JIA and in the age- and gender-matched controls (n=46) having no inflammatory disease, by ELISA. Survivin levels were analyzed with respect to the onset type and the activity of the joint disease. The intensity of inflammation and cartilage turnover was measured as levels of IL-6, serum amyloid A protein (SAA), and cartilage oligomeric matrix protein (COMP), respectively. RESULTS: The levels of extracellular survivin were significantly higher in JIA compared to the controls (p=0.0002). High levels of survivin (above mean + 2SD of the controls) were detected in 8/46 (17% JIA patients. High survivin expression was associated with polyarticular onset, active phase of arthritis. In contrast, survivin was neither related to the levels of IL-6, SAA, nor to COMP. CONCLUSION: Circulating survivin is expressed in a significant group of patients with JIA being associated to a severe course of the disease. It may be potentially used to select children with unfavorable prognosis of JIA who are in need of active pharmacologic treatment.
Asunto(s)
Artritis Juvenil/diagnóstico , Artritis Juvenil/metabolismo , Biomarcadores/sangre , Proteínas Asociadas a Microtúbulos/sangre , Proteínas de Neoplasias/sangre , Adolescente , Proteína de la Matriz Oligomérica del Cartílago , Niño , Proteínas de la Matriz Extracelular/sangre , Espacio Extracelular/metabolismo , Femenino , Glicoproteínas/sangre , Humanos , Proteínas Inhibidoras de la Apoptosis , Interleucina-6/sangre , Masculino , Proteínas Matrilinas , Valor Predictivo de las Pruebas , Pronóstico , Proteína Amiloide A Sérica/metabolismo , Índice de Severidad de la Enfermedad , SurvivinRESUMEN
In 1985 the Division of Mental Health, World Health Organization, Geneva, convened a group of investigators from centers in four countries--Australia, Chile, Norway, Swaziland--to participate in a pilot study on the efficacy of school-based alcohol education. The goal of the educational program was to delay onset and minimize involvement of alcohol use among 13- to 14-year-old adolescents. Twenty-five schools in the four countries, representing middle- and lower-class populations, were randomly assigned to peer-led education, teacher-led education, or a control condition. The educational program was derived from social-psychological theory and etiological research on adolescent alcohol use. The program focused on the social and environmental influences to drink alcohol and skills to resist those influences. It consisted of five lessons over 2 months. Baseline and posttest data measured alcohol use knowledge, attitudes, skills, and friends' drinking patterns. Data were collected immediately prior to and 2 months following the educational program. The data converge on the finding that peer-led education appears to be efficacious in reducing alcohol use across a variety of settings and cultures.
Asunto(s)
Alcoholismo/prevención & control , Comparación Transcultural , Educación en Salud/métodos , Adolescente , Consumo de Bebidas Alcohólicas/psicología , Alcoholismo/psicología , Australia , Terapia Conductista/métodos , Chile , Esuatini , Femenino , Estudios de Seguimiento , Humanos , Masculino , Noruega , Grupo Paritario , Proyectos Piloto , Medio Social , Facilitación Social , Organización Mundial de la SaludRESUMEN
When detergent-derived photosystem II (PSII) membranes are treated with CaCl2 to remove the three extrinsic proteins associated with the O2-evolving complex, the resulting membranes (CaPSII) can still catalyze water oxidation if sufficient Ca(2+) and Cl(-) are present. When CaPSII membranes are exposed to single turnover flashes on an O2 rate electrode, anomalous O2 is produced by the first two flashes. The addition of catalase to the membrane suspension completely inhibits O2 produced by the first two flashes, but not by subsequent flashes. Exogenous H2O2 stimulates anomalous O2 production by the first few flashes in CaPSII membranes, but not in control PSII membranes. Diuron (DCMU) does not inhibit H2O2-stimulated O2 production by the first flash. However, it does inhibit the O2 yield of all subsequent flashes, indicating that all flash-induced O2 signals in CaPSII membranes are dependent on photosystem II electron transport. H2O2 stimulation of O2 yields is inhibited in Tris-, heat-, and EDTA-(ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid)-treated CaPSII. In the presence of high salt, H2O2 (but not EDTA) treatment of CaPSII, extracts Mn functional in normal photosynthetic O2 evolution. The addition of exogenous Mn(2+) reconstitutes anomalous O2 production in Tris-and H2O2/EDTA-treated CaPSII preparations but only in the presence of H2O2. Anomalous H2O2-stimulated O2 production can be observed both with a Clark electrode (steady state) and an O2 rate electrode (flash sequence). The mechanism involves electron donation from H2O2, mediated by free Mn(2+), to PSII, and the 33-kDa extrinsic protein under some conditions can block this process. Since H2O2 can remove functional Mn from CaPSII membranes, its presence can convert functional Mn to the Mn(2+) mediator state required for anomalous O2 production. EDTA binds Mn in CaPSII disrupted by H2O2 and prevents anomalous O2 evolution.