Identifying environmental barriers to participation: Usability of a health-literacy informed problem-identification approach for parents of young children with developmental disabilities.

BACKGROUND: Parents of very young children recently diagnosed with developmental disabilities (DD) need to identify environmental barriers to their children's participation and adopt an adaptive orientation to solving these problems. Given the health service disparities for diverse families, parents may benefit from easy to use problem-identification approaches that address environmental barriers stemming from community and policy contexts. This feasibility study evaluated the usability of a health literacy-informed, structured, environment-focused problem-identification approach for parents of young children with DD. METHODS: We used purposeful, convenience sampling to enrol 9 mothers of children ages 1-3 with DD (4 racial/ethnic minorities, 3 high school education, 4 annual household income <$20,000). We developed a structured problem-identification approach guided by a social ecological model featuring home, community, and policy contexts. The approach was applied to 3 short stories during a narrative elicitation interview. Two researchers independently coded parent responses for the type of barrier and solution identified with and without the approach. RESULTS: Parents identified 121 environmental barriers without the approach. When using the approach and prompted to consider home, community, and policy barriers, parents identified an additional 222 environmental barriers; the greatest number of barriers were aligned with International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health-Children and Youth environment Chapter 5 "Services, systems, and policies." Using the approach, parents with a postgraduate education and annual household income >$80,000 identified the most environmental barriers, and parents reporting the lowest annual household incomes identified the fewest environmental barriers. When parents attributed participation challenges to an environmental barrier, ~57% of solutions required parents to interact with individuals at the community or policy level. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that parents with a range of background characteristics can use a structured, environment-focused problem-identification approach. With the approach, parents are more likely to attribute participation challenges to environmental barriers and adopt a problem-solving orientation focused on changes to the community and policy context.

Serum periostin levels correlate with airway hyper-responsiveness to methacholine and mannitol in children with asthma.

BACKGROUND: Periostin is a matricellular protein, and its synthesis in airway epithelial cells and lung fibroblasts is induced by interleukin (IL)-4 and IL-13. The significance of periostin as a biomarker of TH 2-induced airway inflammation, and (importantly) as a measure of the response to TH 2-targeted therapy, has recently been emphasized. We explored the relationship between periostin and airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR) in asthmatic children. METHODS: The study included 83 children aged 6-15 years in an asthmatic group (n = 54) and healthy controls (n = 29). We measured the periostin levels in serum and performed methacholine and mannitol provocation challenges. The responses to mannitol were expressed as the provocative dose causing a 15% fall in the FEV1 (the PD15 dose). RESULTS: Of the 54 subjects with asthma, all had positive methacholine bronchial provocation test (BPT) results and 38 had positive mannitol BPT results. Children with asthma had significantly higher periostin levels than controls [76.0 (65.0-91.8) vs 71.0 (57.5-80.0) ng/mL; P = 0.017]. Periostin levels were significantly correlated with both the methacholine PC20 and mannitol PD15 values. CONCLUSION: Serum levels of periostin, a new biomarker induced by IL-13, were higher in asthmatic children, and were associated with AHR to methacholine and mannitol.

Structure and expression of the Arabidopsis thaliana homeobox gene Athb-12.

We have isolated the Arabidopsis thaliana homeobox gene Athb-12, determined its structure and activation domain, demonstrated that its promoter is inducible in response to abscisic acid (ABA) treatment, and characterized the cellular distribution of its transcripts. The single intron of the gene interrupted the leucine-zipper domain region. The 5' regulatory region of Athb-12 can drive beta-glucuronidase (GUS) expression in tobacco transgenic plants. Athb-12 gene expression was further examined using in situ hybridization to determine the cellular distribution of Athb-12 transcripts during ABA induction. A complex pattern of Athb-12 expression was observed, often associated with regions of developing vascular tissues. Analysis of chimeras constructed from Athb-12 and the DNA-binding domain of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae transcription factor GAL4 revealed that the activation domain of Athb-12 lies in the C-terminal region (amino acids 180 to 235). Taken together, our data suggest that Athb-12 is a transcriptional activator important in regulating certain developmental processes as well as in the plant's response to water stress involving ABA-mediated gene expression.

Identification and characterization of a new member of the placental prolactin-like protein-C (PLP-C) subfamily, PLP-Cbeta.

We have isolated a complementary DNA (cDNA) clone that encodes a new member of the PRL-like protein-C (PLP-C) subfamily of the PRL gene family. The clone was amplified from a 13.5-day-old mouse conceptus cDNA library by PCR using primers based on conserved regions of PLP-C sequences. The full-length cDNA encodes a predicted protein of 241 residues, which contains a putative signal sequence and 2 putative N-linked glycosylation sites. The predicted protein shares 55-66% amino acid identity with mouse PLP-Calpha and rat PLP-D, PLP-H, PLP-Cv, and PLP-C and also contains 6 homologously positioned cysteine residues. Thus, we named this protein PLP-Cbeta for consistency. We have also isolated rat PLP-Cbeta from rat placenta cDNA library. Surprisingly, two messenger RNA (mRNA) isoforms of rat PLP-Cbeta were isolated: one mRNA (rPLP-Cbeta) encodes a 241-amino acid product, but another mRNA (rPLP-Cbetadelta39) lacks 39 bases that encode for a region rich in aromatic amino acids. The 39-bp region corresponds to exon 3 of other PLP-C subfamily members, such as PLP-Calpha, PLP-Cv, and d/tPRP. It suggests that the two isoforms are probably generated by an alternative splicing from a single gene. RT-PCR analysis revealed that the rPLP-Cbeta form was dominantly expressed in placenta, although both isoforms are coexpressed during placentation. The mouse PLP-Cbeta mRNA expression, which was specific to the placenta, was first detected by Northern analysis on embryonic day 11.5 (E 11.5) and persisted until birth. However, in situ hybridization analysis revealed mPLP-Cbeta expression on E 10.5 in specific trophoblast subsets, such as giant cells and spongiotrophoblast cells. mPLP-Cbeta mRNA was detected in the labyrinthine zone on E 18.5, suggesting that spongiotrophoblast cells had penetrated the labyrinthotrophoblast zone. Consistent with the observed expression in trophoblast giant cells, PLP-Cbeta expression was also detected in in vitro differentiated Rcho-1 cells, which express the trophoblast giant cell phenotype. In summary, overall high amino acid identity (79%), the locations of cysteine residues, and consensus sites for N-linked glycosylation between mouse and rat PLP-Cbeta clearly indicate that PLP-Cbeta is a bona fide member of the PLP-C subfamily. The conservation between mouse and rat, the presence of alternative isoforms, and the pattern of expression during gestation suggest the biological significance of PLP-Cbeta during pregnancy.

Reconstituted basement membrane induces glandular-like morphogenesis but no difference in ACTH synthesis of anterior pituitary cells.

Basement membrane, a thin extracellular matrix, promotes tissue integrity and differentiated phenotype. This study was performed in order to investigate the effect of basement membrane components on adrenocorticotropin (ACTH) synthesis and to observe its relationship with cell morphology. Rat anterior pituitary cells were cultured on plastic culture plate coated with either Matrigel or poly-D-lysine. Phase-contrast microscopy and scanning electron microscopy showed that cells cultured on Matrigel appeared as a three-dimensional glandular-like cell aggregate, while those cultured on plastic showed a flat, confluent monolayer. Reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and Northern blot analysis revealed that ACTH synthesis in the Matrigel culture was not significantly different from that in the plastic culture. Our results suggest that the relationship between the morphological changes caused by cell-substrate interaction and pituitary hormone synthesis does not exist in all pituitary cell types and that other factors associated with cell-substrate interaction influence the hormone synthesis of some pituitary cells.