Identifying potential predictable indicators for the management of tertiary hospitals.

BACKGROUND: The European University Hospitals Alliance (EUHA) recognises the need to move from the classical approach of measuring key performance indicators (KPIs) to an anticipative approach based on predictable indicators to take decisions (Key Decision Indicators, KDIs). It might help managers to anticipate poor results before they occur to prevent or correct them early. OBJECTIVE: This paper aims to identify potential KDIs and to prioritize those most relevant for high complexity hospitals. METHODS: A narrative review was performed to identify KPIs with the potential to become KDIs. Then, two surveys were conducted with EUHA hospital managers (n = 51) to assess potential KDIs according to their relevance for decision-making (Value) and their availability and effort required to be predicted (Feasibility). Potential KDIs are prioritized for testing as predictable indicators and developing in the short term if they were classified as highly Value and Feasible. RESULTS: The narrative review identified 45 potential KDIs out of 153 indicators and 11 were prioritized. Of nine EUHA hospitals, 25 members from seven answered, prioritizing KDIs related to the emergency department (ED), hospitalisation and surgical processes (n = 8), infrastructure and resources (n = 2) and health outcomes and quality (n = 1). The highest scores in this group were for those related to ED. The results were homogeneous among the different hospitals. CONCLUSIONS: Potential KDIs related to care processes and hospital patient flow was the most prioritized ones to test as being predictable. KDIs represent a new approach to decision-making, whose potential to be predicted could impact the planning and management of hospital resources and, therefore, healthcare quality.

Expression of Huntingtin and TDP-43 Derivatives in Fission Yeast Can Cause Both Beneficial and Toxic Effects.

Many neurodegenerative disorders display protein aggregation as a hallmark, Huntingtin and TDP-43 aggregates being characteristic of Huntington disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, respectively. However, whether these aggregates cause the diseases, are secondary by-products, or even have protective effects, is a matter of debate. Mutations in both human proteins can modulate the structure, number and type of aggregates, as well as their toxicity. To study the role of protein aggregates in cellular fitness, we have expressed in a highly tractable unicellular model different variants of Huntingtin and TDP-43. They each display specific patterns of aggregation and toxicity, even though in both cases proteins have to be very highly expressed to affect cell fitness. The aggregation properties of Huntingtin, but not of TDP-43, are affected by chaperones such as Hsp104 and the Hsp40 couple Mas5, suggesting that the TDP-43, but not Huntingtin, derivatives have intrinsic aggregation propensity. Importantly, expression of the aggregating form of Huntingtin causes a significant extension of fission yeast lifespan, probably as a consequence of kidnapping chaperones required for maintaining stress responses off. Our study demonstrates that in general these prion-like proteins do not cause toxicity under normal conditions, and in fact they can protect cells through indirect mechanisms which up-regulate cellular defense pathways.

Chaperone-Facilitated Aggregation of Thermo-Sensitive Proteins Shields Them from Degradation during Heat Stress.

Cells have developed protein quality-control strategies to manage the accumulation of misfolded substrates during heat stress. Using a soluble reporter of misfolding in fission yeast, Rho1.C17R-GFP, we demonstrate that upon mild heat shock, the reporter collapses in protein aggregate centers (PACs). They contain and/or require several chaperones, such as Hsp104, Hsp16, and the Hsp40/70 couple Mas5/Ssa2. Stress granules do not assemble at mild temperatures and, therefore, are not required for PAC formation; on the contrary, PACs may serve as nucleation centers for the assembly of stress granules. In contrast to the general belief, the dominant fate of these PACs is not degradation, and the aggregated reporter can be disassembled by chaperones and recovers native structure and activity. Using mass spectrometry, we show that thermo-unstable endogenous proteins form PACs as well. In conclusion, formation of PACs during heat shock is a chaperone-mediated adaptation strategy.

Identification of ubiquitin-proteasome system components affecting the degradation of the transcription factor Pap1.

Signaling cascades respond to specific inputs, but also require active interventions to be maintained in their basal/inactive levels in the absence of the activating signal(s). In a screen to search for protein quality control components required for wild-type tolerance to oxidative stress in fission yeast, we have isolated eight gene deletions conferring resistance not only to H2O2 but also to caffeine. We show that dual resistance acquisition is totally or partially dependent on the transcription factor Pap1. Some gene products, such as the ribosomal-ubiquitin fusion protein Ubi1, the E2 conjugating enzyme Ubc2 or the E3 ligase Ubr1, participate in basal ubiquitin labeling of Pap1, and others, such as Rpt4, are non-essential constituents of the proteasome. We demonstrate here that basal nucleo-cytoplasmic shuttling of Pap1, occurring even in the absence of stress, is sufficient for the interaction of the transcription factor with nuclear Ubr1, and we identify a 30 amino acids peptide in Pap1 as the degron for this important E3 ligase. The isolated gene deletions increase only moderately the concentration of the transcription factor, but it is sufficient to enhance basal tolerance to stress, probably by disturbing the inactive stage of this signaling cascade.

The Hsp40 Mas5 Connects Protein Quality Control and the General Stress Response through the Thermo-sensitive Pyp1.

Upon heat shock, the fission yeast Hsp40 chaperone Mas5 drives temperature-sensitive proteins toward protein aggregate centers (PACs) to avoid their degradation until lower temperatures favor their refolding. We show here that cells lacking Mas5 are resistant to oxidative stress. Components of the general stress pathways, the MAP kinase Sty1 and the transcription factor Atf1, are suppressors of this phenotype. Strain Δmas5 expresses higher levels of Sty1- and Atf1-dependent stress genes than wild-type cells. Pyp1, the main tyrosine phosphatase maintaining Sty1 inactive in the absence of stress, is a temperature-sensitive protein that aggregates upon temperature up-shifts in a Mas5-dependent manner. In strain Δmas5, Pyp1 is sent to proteasomal degradation even in the absence of stress. We propose that Pyp1 is a thermo-sensitive phosphatase, which during heat stress coalescences into PACs in a Mas5-dependent manner, to promote full activation of the anti-stress Sty1-Atf1 cascade.