Support for informal carers of older people in the transition to residential aged care: a scoping review protocol.

OBJECTIVE: This review aims to identify support delivered to informal carers of older people making the transition into residential aged care, and to examine which specific outcome measures were used in the evaluation of the support provided. INTRODUCTION: Little support is provided to informal carers of newly admitted aged care residents, both during the admission process and in the subsequent months. Mapping of the support delivered to informal carers of those admitted to a residential aged care facility is needed. INCLUSION CRITERIA: We will include any form of support (eg, financial, psychological, social) provided to informal carers of people making the transition to residential aged care, from the time a decision is made to proceed with admission, up to 12 months post-admission. METHODS: We will search peer-reviewed literature in English from 2000 to the present from key databases (ie, MEDLINE, CINAHL, Cochrane Library, JBI Evidence Synthesis, PsycINFO, Embase, and Scopus). Additionally, gray literature will be searched through databases (eg, Google, Google Scholar, BASE, OpenGrey, Grey Literature Report, Informit, MedlinePlus, MedNar, Medscape), government websites, and websites of national organizations that provide support for the care of older people. We will use the JBI approach for search strategy, study selection, and data extraction, and will descriptively map the results using a textual narrative synthesis approach.

Induction of serpinb1a by PACAP or NGF is required for PC12 cells survival after serum withdrawal.

PC12 cells are used to study the signaling mechanisms underlying the neurotrophic and neuroprotective activities of pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP) and nerve growth factor (NGF). Previous microarray experiments indicated that serpinb1a was the most induced gene after 6 h of treatment with PACAP or NGF. This study confirmed that serpinb1a is strongly activated by PACAP and NGF in a time-dependent manner with a maximum induction (~ 50-fold over control) observed after 6 h of treatment. Co-incubation with PACAP and NGF resulted in a synergistic up-regulation of serpinb1a expression (200-fold over control), suggesting that PACAP and NGF act through complementary mechanisms. Consistently, PACAP-induced serpinb1a expression was not blocked by TrkA receptor inhibition. Nevertheless, the stimulation of serpinb1a expression by PACAP and NGF was significantly reduced in the presence of extracellular signal-regulated kinase, calcineurin, protein kinase A, p38, and PI3K inhibitors, indicating that the two trophic factors share some common pathways in the regulation of serpinb1a. Finally, functional investigations conducted with siRNA revealed that serpinb1a is not involved in the effects of PACAP and NGF on PC12 cell neuritogenesis, proliferation or body cell volume but mediates their ability to block caspases 3/7 activity and to promote PC12 cell survival.