80 research outputs found
Evaluation of the Bonapace Method: a specific educational intervention to reduce pain during childbirth
No full textJulie Bonapace,1 Nils Chaillet,2 Isabelle Gaumond,3,4 Émilie Paul-Savoie,5 Serge Marchand3,41Département des Sciences de l'Éducation, Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Rouyn-Noranda, Québec, 2Centre de Recherche de l'Hôpital Sainte-Justine, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Québec, 3Département de chirurgie, Faculté de Médecine et des Sciences de la Santé, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Québec, 4Département des Sciences de la Santé, Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Rouyn-Noranda, Québec, 5École des sciences infirmières, Faculté de médecine et des sciences de la santé, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Québec, CanadaObjective: As pain during childbirth is very intense, several educational programs exist to help women prepare for the event. This study evaluates the efficacy of a specific pain management program, the Bonapace Method (BM), to reduce the perception of pain during childbirth. The BM involves the father, or a significant partner, in the use of several pain control techniques based on three neurophysiological pain modulation models: (1) controlling the central nervous system through breathing, relaxation, and cognitive structuring; (2) using non-painful stimuli as described in the Gate Control Theory; and (3) recruiting descending inhibition by hyperstimulation of acupressure trigger points.Methods: A multicenter case control study in Quebec on pain perception during labor and delivery compared traditional childbirth training programs (TCTPs) and the BM. Visual analog scales were used to measure pain perception during labor. In all, 25 women (TCTP: n = 12; BM: n = 13) successfully reported their perceptions of pain intensity and unpleasantness every 15 minutes.Results: A positive correlation between the progression of labor and pain was found (pain intensity: P < 0.01; pain unpleasantness: P < 0.01). When compared to TCTP, the BM showed an overall significant lower pain perception for both intensity (45%; P < 0.01) and unpleasantness (46%; P < 0.01).Conclusion: These significant differences in pain perception between TCTP and the BM suggest that the emphasis on pain modulation models and techniques during labor combined with the active participation of a partner in BM are important variables to be added to the traditional childbirth training programs for childbirth pain management.Keywords: labor pain, yoga, perinatal care, DNIC, gate control theory, cognitive structuring, massage, fathe
The multi-functionality of UHRF1: epigenome maintenance and preservation of genome integrity
No full textDuring S phase, the cooperation between the macromolecular complexes regulating DNA synthesis, epigenetic information maintenance and DNA repair is advantageous for cells, as they can rapidly detect DNA damage and initiate the DNA damage response (DDR). UHRF1 is a fundamental epigenetic regulator; its ability to coordinate DNA methylation and histone code is unique across proteomes of different species. Recently, UHRF1's role in DNA damage repair has been explored and recognized to be as important as its role in maintaining the epigenome. UHRF1 is a sensor for interstrand crosslinks and a determinant for the switch towards homologous recombination in the repair of double-strand breaks; its loss results in enhanced sensitivity to DNA damage. These functions are finely regulated by specific post-translational modifications and are mediated by the SRA domain, which binds to damaged DNA, and the RING domain. Here, we review recent studies on the role of UHRF1 in DDR focusing on how it recognizes DNA damage and cooperates with other proteins in its repair. We then discuss how UHRF1's epigenetic abilities in reading and writing histone modifications, or its interactions with ncRNAs, could interlace with its role in DDR
Loss of Uhrf1 in neural stem cells leads to activation of retroviral elements and delayed neurodegeneration
No full textIn order to understand whether early epigenetic mechanisms instruct the long-term behavior of neural stem cells (NSCs) and their progeny, we examined Uhrf1 (ubiquitin-like PHD ring finger-1; also known as Np95), as it is highly expressed in NSCs of the developing brain and rapidly down-regulated upon differentiation. Conditional deletion of Uhrf1 in the developing cerebral cortex resulted in rather normal proliferation and neurogenesis but severe postnatal neurodegeneration. During development, deletion of Uhrf1 lead to global DNA hypomethylation with a strong activation of the intracisternal A particle (IAP) family of endogenous retroviral elements, accompanied by an increase in 5-hydroxymethylcytosine. Down-regulation of Tet enzymes rescued the IAP activation in Uhrf1 conditional knockout (cKO) cells, suggesting an antagonistic interplay between Uhrf1 and Tet on IAP regulation. As IAP up-regulation persists into postnatal stages in the Uhrf1 cKO mice, our data show the lack of means to repress IAPs in differentiating neurons that normally never express Uhrf1. The high load of viral proteins and other transcriptional deregulation ultimately led to postnatal neurodegeneration. Taken together, these data show that early developmental NSC factors can have long-term effects in neuronal differentiation and survival. Moreover, they highlight how specific the consequences of widespread changes in DNA methylation are for certain classes of retroviral elements
Comparison Process of Blood Heavy Metals Absorption Linked to Measured Air Quality Data in Areas with High and Low Environmental Impact
No full textAir pollution is a problem shared by the entire world population, and researchers have highlighted its adverse effects on human health in recent years. The object of this paper was the relationship between the pollutants' concentrations measured in the air and the quantity of pollutant itself inhaled by the human body. The area chosen for the study has a high environmental impact given the significant presence on the territory of polluting activities. The Acerra area (HI) has a waste-to-energy plant and numerous industries to which polluting emissions are attributed. This area has always been the subject of study as the numbers of cancer patients are high. A survey on male patients to evaluate the heavy metals concentrations in the blood was conducted in the two areas and then linked to its values aero-dispersed. Using the air quality data measured by the monitoring networks in two zones, one with high environmental impact (HI) and one with low environmental impact (LI), the chronicle daily intake (CDI) of pollutants inhaled by a single person was calculated. The pollutants considered in this study are PM10 and four heavy metals (As, Cd, Ni, Pb) constituting the typical particulates of the areas concerned. The CDI values calculated for the two zones are significantly higher in the HI zone following the seasonal pollution trend
Semen quality as a potential susceptibility indicator to SARS-CoV-2 insults in polluted areas
No full textThe epidemic of the new severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has impacted worldwide with its infectious spread and mortality rate. Thousands of articles have been published to tackle this crisis and many of these have indicated that high air pollution levels may be a contributing factor to high outbreak rates of COVID-19. Atmospheric pollutants, indeed, producing oxidative stress, inflammation, immuno-unbalance, and systemic coagulation, may be a possible significant co-factor of further damage, rendering the body prone to infections by a variety of pathogens, including viruses. Spermatozoa are extremely responsive to prooxidative effects produced by environmental pollutants and may serve as a powerful alert that signals the extent that environmental pressure, in a specific area, is doing damage to humans. In order to improve our current knowledge on this topic, this review article summarizes the relevant current observations emphasizing the weight that environmental pollution has on the sensitivity of a given population to several diseases and how semen quality, may be a potential indicator of sensitivity for virus insults (including SARS-CoV-2) in high polluted areas, and help to predict the risk for harmful effects of the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic. In addition, this review focused on the potential routes of virus transmission that may represent a population health risk and also identified the areas of critical importance that require urgent research to assess and manage the COVID-19 outbreak
'Immediate-early' gene activation induced by estrogen in rat uterine cells during G0-G1 transition
No full textInteraction between the Inner Nuclear Membrane Lamin B Receptor and the Heterochromatic Methyl Binding Protein, MeCP2.
No full textThe nuclear membrane has an important role for the dynamic regulation of the genome, besides the well-established cytoskeletal function. The nuclear lamina is emerging as an important player in the organization of the position and functional state of interphase chromosomes. Epigenetic modifications such as DNA methylation and histone modifications are required for genome reprogramming during development, tissue-specific gene expression and global gene silencing. The Methyl-CpG binding protein MeCP2 binds methyl-CpG dinucleotides in the mammalian genome and functions as a transcriptional repressor in vivo by interacting with Sin3A, thereby recruiting histone deacetylases (HDAC). MeCP2 also mediates the formation of higher-order chromatin structures contributing to determine the architectural organization of the nucleus. In this paper, we show that MeCP2 interacts in vitro and in vivo with the inner nuclear membrane protein LBR and that the unstructured aminoacidic sequence linking the MBD and TRD domains of MeCP2 is responsible for this association. The formation of an LBR-MeCP2 protein complex might help providing a molecular explanation to the distribution of part of the heterochromatin at the nuclear periphery linked to inner membrane
Extinction and activation of the thyroglobulin promoter in hybrids of differentiated and transformed thyroid cells
No full textNp95 is regulated by E1A during mitotic reactivation of terminally differentiated cells and is essential for S phase entry
No full textTerminal differentiation exerts a remarkably tight control on cell proliferation. However, the oncogenic products of DNA tumor viruses, such as adenovirus E1A, can force postmitotic cells to proliferate, thus representing a powerful tool to study progression into S phase. In this study, we identified the gene encoding Np95, a murine nuclear phosphoprotein, as an early target of E1A-induced transcriptional events. In terminally differentiated (TD) cells, the activation of Np95 was specifically induced by E1A, but not by overexpression of E2F-1 or of the cyclin E (cycE)-cyclin-dependent kinase 2 (cdk2) complex. In addition, the concomitant expression of Np95 and of cycE-cdk2 was alone sufficient to induce S phase in TD cells. In NIH-3T3 cells, the expression of Np95 was tightly regulated during the cell cycle, and its functional ablation resulted in abrogation of DNA synthesis. Thus, expression of Np95 is essential for S phase entry. Previous evidence suggested that E1A, in addition to its well characterized effects on the pRb/E2F-1 pathway, activates a parallel and complementary pathway that is also required for the reentry in S phase of TD cells (Tiainen, M., D. Spitkousky, P. Jansen-Dürr, A. Sacchi, and M. Crescenzi. 1996. Mol. Cell. Biol. 16:5302-5312). From our results, Np95 appears to possess all the characteristics to represent the first molecular determinant identified in this pathwa
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