Naresuan University Journal
Not a member yet
39887 research outputs found
Sort by
A potential role for endogenous proteins as sacrificial sunscreens and antioxidants in human tissues
No full textExcessive ultraviolet radiation (UVR) exposure of the skin is associated with adverse clinical outcomes. Although both exogenous sunscreens and endogenous tissue components (including melanins and tryptophan-derived compounds) reduce UVR penetration, the role of endogenous proteins in absorbing environmental UV wavelengths is poorly defined. Having previously demonstrated that proteins which are rich in UVR-absorbing amino acid residues are readily degraded by broadband UVB-radiation (containing UVA, UVB and UVC wavelengths) here we hypothesised that UV chromophore (Cys, Trp and Tyr) content can predict the susceptibility of structural proteins in skin and the eye to damage by physiologically relevant doses (up to 15.4J/cm(2)) of solar UVR (95% UVA, 5% UVB). We show that: i) purified suspensions of UV-chromophore-rich fibronectin dimers, fibrillin microfibrils and β- and γ-lens crystallins undergo solar simulated radiation (SSR)-induced aggregation and/or decomposition and ii) exposure to identical doses of SSR has minimal effect on the size or ultrastructure of UV chromophore-poor tropoelastin, collagen I, collagen VI microfibrils and α-crystallin. If UV chromophore content is a factor in determining protein stability in vivo, we would expect that the tissue distribution of Cys, Trp and Tyr-rich proteins would correlate with regional UVR exposure. From bioinformatic analysis of 244 key structural proteins we identified several biochemically distinct, yet UV chromophore-rich, protein families. The majority of these putative UV-absorbing proteins (including the late cornified envelope proteins, keratin associated proteins, elastic fibre-associated components and β- and γ-crystallins) are localised and/or particularly abundant in tissues that are exposed to the highest doses of environmental UVR, specifically the stratum corneum, hair, papillary dermis and lens. We therefore propose that UV chromophore-rich proteins are localised in regions of high UVR exposure as a consequence of an evolutionary pressure to express sacrificial protein sunscreens which reduce UVR penetration and hence mitigate tissue damage
Preparing Healthcare Managers on a Global Scale: The Project HOPE Experience
No full textHealth care organizations on a global scale are facing unprecedented change. Whether in the US, Europe, Africa, Latin America, Asia or the Middle East, countries are facing the challenges of health reforms aiming to improve the sustainability and affordability of health care. Rapidly aging population, spiraling costs of care, the advancing biological and computational science and their clinical implications, the focus on value based care and expectations of accountability have brought center stage the importance of infra-structure and the role of management. In an increasingly globalizing world, traditional geographic boundaries are opening up to the flow of concepts, opportunities and challenges across the world.Twenty-three years ago the health care organizations in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) were facing different, but similar issues that were challenging the prevailing infra-structure and managerial capacity. The evolution of nations in the region from client states of the Soviet Union to newly independent states unleashed new thinking about the organization and delivery of health care as well as highlighted the need for change. Issues centered on moving from a highly centralized control and command driven socialist delivery system to decentralization, and institutional accountability of health care organizations within the community setting. Questions of effectiveness and efficiency were being re-evaluated as were approaches by individual organizations to acquiring and adopting new technologies while having to deliver better quality care to people with growing expectations within financial constraints.In 1991, Project HOPE a US based NGO with a long history of engagement in international health development work responded to this challenge in Central and Eastern Europe with the creation of a health care management training program. A program designed to prepare health systems and organizations to address and manage these changes and to bring better health care to the population. The Project HOPE Health Care Management (HCM) program was developed as a corner stone of HOPE’s innovative educational portfolio
Experimental study on nonmonotonicity of capillary desaturation curves in a 2-D pore network
No full textGeneral practitioners' perspectives on primary care consultations for suicidal patients.
No full textLittle is known about general practitioners' (GPs') perspectives, management of and interactions with suicidal patients prior to the patient's suicide. The aims of the study were to explore GPs' interpretations of patient communication and treatment in primary care leading up to suicide and to investigate the relationship between GPs and mental health services prior to a patient's suicide. Thirty-nine semi-structured interviews with GPs of people who had died by suicide were conducted as part of a retrospective study. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed using a thematic approach. The following themes emerged from GP interviews: (i) GP interpretations of suicide attempts or self-harm; (ii) professional isolation; and (iii) GP responsibilities versus patient autonomy. GPs recruited for the study may have different views from GPs who have never experienced a patient suicide or who have experienced the death of a patient by suicide who was not under the care of specialist services. Our findings may not be representative of the rest of the United Kingdom, although many of the issues identified are likely to apply across services. This study highlighted the following recommendations for future suicide prevention in general practice: increasing GP awareness of suicide-related issues and improving training and risk assessment skills; removing barriers to accessing therapies and treatments needed in primary care; improving liaison and collaboration between services to provide better patient outcomes; and increasing awareness in primary care about why patients may not want treatments offered by focusing on each individual's situational context
Measuring overload effects during fatigue crack growth in bainitic steel by synchrotron X-ray diffraction
No full textRace: An Introduction
No full textTaking a comparative approach, this textbook is a concise introduction to race. Illustrated with detailed examples from around the world, it is organised into two parts. Part One explores the historical changes in ideas about race from the ancient world to the present day, in different corners of the globe. Part Two outlines ways in which racial difference and inequality are perceived and enacted in selected regions of the world. Examining how humans have used ideas of physical appearance, heredity and behaviour as criteria for categorising others, the text guides students through provocative questions such as: what is race? Does studying race reinforce racism? Does a colour-blind approach dismantle, or merely mask, racism? How does biology feed into concepts of race? Numerous case studies, photos, figures and tables help students to appreciate the different meanings of race in varied contexts, and end-of-chapter research tasks provide further support for student learning
