Educational Needs of Rural Students Interested in the Nursing Profession.

ABSTRACT: This study aimed to uncover the educational requirements of minority rural students who aspire to pursue a career in nursing. To achieve this goal, focus groups and interviews were organized for middle school students (seventh to ninth grade) and community members with a stake in education. The outcomes of these discussions revealed crucial themes: limited knowledge of educational pathways, constraints posed by limited community resources, and a strong yearning for a mentorship program that is both informative and interactive. The findings served as the cornerstone for the creation and development of a mentorship initiative tailored specifically for minority rural students.

Heart Health in Teachers-Do We Need to Know More?

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the relationship between the prevalence and risk factors for cardiovascular disease and hypertension, physical activity, and mental health in teachers. METHODS: Data were drawn from the 2011-2012 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. A series of analyses were conducted utilizing exploratory data analysis, nominal logistic regression, and multivariate regression analysis. RESULTS: The study sample included 148 participants. The results showed that an increase in age and BMI contributed to an increase in high blood pressure. Significance was not seen between physical activity, anxiety, and mental well-being as they related to cardiovascular disease and teaching. CONCLUSIONS: Our results showed that the prevalence of cardiovascular disease and hypertension could be related to the occupation of teaching; however, additional research should be done to assess the relationship between the occupation of teaching and cardiovascular disease.

Sphingolipids and the link between alcohol and cancer.

Epidemiological evidence underscores alcohol consumption as a strong risk factor for multiple cancer types, with liver cancer being most commonly associated with alcohol intake. While mechanisms linking alcohol consumption to malignant tumor development are not fully understood, the likely players in ethanol-induced carcinogenesis are genotoxic stress caused by formation of acetaldehyde, increased oxidative stress, and altered nutrient metabolism, including the impairment of methyl transfer reactions. Alterations of sphingolipid metabolism and associated signaling pathways are another potential link between ethanol and cancer development. In particular, ceramides are involved in the regulation of cellular proliferation, differentiation, senescence, and apoptosis and are known to function as important regulators of malignant transformation as well as tumor progression. However, to date, the cross-talk between ceramides and alcohol in cancer disease is largely an open question and only limited data are available on this subject. Most studies linking ceramide to cancer considered liver steatosis as the underlying mechanism, which is not surprising taking into consideration that ceramide pathways are an integral part of the overall lipid metabolism. This review summarizes the latest studies pointing to ceramide as an important mediator of cancer-promoting effects of chronic alcohol consumption and underscores the necessity of understanding the role of sphingolipids and lipid signaling in response to alcohol in order to prevent and/or successfully manage diseases caused by alcohol.

Ceramide Synthase 6: Comparative Analysis, Phylogeny and Evolution.

Ceramide synthase 6 (CerS6, also known as LASS6) is one of the six members of ceramide synthase gene family in humans. Comparisons of CerS6 amino acid sequences and structures as well as of CerS6 gene structures/locations were conducted using data from several vertebrate genome projects. A specific role for the CerS6 gene and protein has been identified as the endoplasmic reticulum C14- and C16-ceramide synthase. Mammalian CerS6 proteins share 90⁻100% similarity among different species, but are only 22⁻63% similar to other CerS family members, suggesting that CerS6 is a distinct gene family. Sequence alignments, predicted transmembrane, lumenal and cytoplasmic segments and N-glycosylation sites were also investigated, resulting in identification of the key conserved residues, including the active site as well as C-terminus acidic and serine residues. Mammalian CerS6 genes contain ten exons, are primarily located on the positive strands and transcribed as two major isoforms. The human CERS6 gene promoter harbors a large CpG island (94 CpGs) and multiple transcription factor binding sites (TFBS), which support precise transcriptional regulation and signaling functions. Additional regulation is conferred by 15 microRNA (miRNA) target sites identified in the CERS6 3'-UTR region. Phylogenetic analysis of the vertebrate CerS1⁻6 gene families relationships supports a major role for the CerS6 enzyme that is strongly conserved throughout vertebrate evolution.