Local public knowledge of blood donation systems in Trinidad and Tobago and in other places

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the Trinidad and Tobago (TRT) public’s knowledge of donation procedures locally and in the United States (USA) and United Kingdom (UK) and its effect on willingness to donate blood locally. DESIGN AND METHODS: A cross sectional study was conducted on a convenience sample from adults in TRT concerning knowledge and attitudes towards blood donation. Data was collected using an interviewer-administered questionnaire. 529 responses were received. Analysis was performed using SPSS Statistics 21. Chi-squared testing was done to determine statistical significance. RESULTS: Of 529 respondents, 141 (26.7%) had donated previously, 34 (6.4%) had been excluded and 354 (66.9%) had never donated. 76.8% of those who had donated did so for a friend or family member. 53.6% of respondents rated their knowledge of TRT’s system, and 86.2% rated that of the US and UK, as ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’. Knowledge of the local system was directly correlated to willingness to donate blood in TRT (p<0.001). No relation was found concerning knowledge of the foreign systems and local willingness to donate (p=0.423). Factors deemed most ‘likely’ or ‘very likely’ to influence people to donate included: if donation was for an ill family member (87.7%) or friend (77.9%); if the blood donation system in place was a replacement system (70.9%) and if more information was given to the public about blood donation (67.3%). CONCLUSION: Public knowledge of the blood donation system of TRT affected willingness to donate while knowledge of the US and UK systems had no effect.

hTID-1 defines a novel regulator of c-Met Receptor signaling in renal cell carcinomas.

The c-Met receptor tyrosine kinase (MetR) is frequently overexpressed and constitutively phosphorylated in a number of human malignancies. Activation of the receptor by its ligand, hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), leads to increased cell proliferation, motility, survival and disruption of adherens junctions. In this study, we show that hTid-1, a DNAJ/Hsp40 chaperone, represents a novel modulator of the MetR signaling pathway. hTid-1 is a co-chaperone of the Hsp70 family of proteins, and has been shown to regulate a number of cellular signaling proteins including several involved in tumorigenic and apoptotic pathways. In this study we demonstrate that hTid-1 binds to unphosphorylated MetR and becomes dissociated from the receptor upon HGF stimulation. Overexpression of the short form of hTid-1 (hTid-1(S)) in 786-0 renal clear cell carcinomas (RCCs) enhances MetR kinase activity leading to an increase in HGF-mediated cell migration with no discernible effect on cell proliferation. By contrast, knockdown of hTid-1 markedly impairs both the onset and amplitude of MetR phosphorylation in response to HGF without altering receptor protein levels. hTid-1-depleted cells display defective migratory properties, coincident with inhibition of ERK/MAP kinase and STAT3 pathways. Taken together, our findings denote hTid-1(S) as an essential regulatory component of MetR signaling. We propose that the binding of hTid-1(S) to MetR may stabilize the receptor in a ligand-competent state and this stabilizing function may influence conformational changes that take place during the catalytic cycle that promote kinase activation. Given the prevalence of HGF/MetR pathway activation in human cancers, targeted inhibition of hTid-1 may be a useful therapeutic in the management of MetR-dependent malignancies.