Type II diabetes and oral health: perceptions among adults with diabetes and oral/health care providers in Ghana.

OBJECTIVE: This study sought to examine oral health beliefs and attitudes, and utilisation of oral health care services among individuals with diabetes and health professionals who serve them in Ghana. BASIC RESEARCH DESIGN: A qualitative study using grounded theory was conducted. CLINICAL SETTING: University of Ghana Dental School at Korle Bu, University of Ghana School of Public Health, National Diabetes Research and Management Centre at Korle Bu, and New York University College of Dentistry. PARTICIPANTS: A convenience sample of 59 patients comprised 7 focus groups conducted in either Twi or English. Seven key informant interviews with healthcare professionals and one spiritual leader were completed. RESULTS: Data from the focus groups and interviews reveal: 1, half of the participants with diabetes have oral manifestations (e.g., bleeding gums) and participants are generally unaware of interrelationship between diabetes and oral health; 2, dental treatment utilisation is minimal and associated almost exclusively with reparative and emergency care; and 3, medical health providers do not acknowledge the interrelationship between oral health and diabetes nor do they incorporate oral health issues into diabetes screening/treatment. CONCLUSION: Oral health knowledge and practices are limited among patients with diabetes in Accra, Ghana. Collaborative efforts for in-service education and training for oral health and medical professionals may be beneficial in serving the oral and general health care needs as well as improving the oral health-related quality of life of Ghanaians with diabetes.

Overexpression and activation of the RON receptor tyrosine kinase in a panel of human colorectal carcinoma cell lines.

RON is a receptor tyrosine kinase belonging to the MET proto-oncogene family. The purposes of this study are to determine the expression and activation of RON in a panel of human colon carcinoma cell lines. Western blotting showed that RON is barely detectable in normal and SV-40-transformed colon epithelial cells, but highly expressed and constitutively activated in several colon carcinoma cell lines including Colo201, HT-29, HCT116, and SW837. Moreover, a novel RON variant with a molecular mass of 160 kDa (RONDelta160) was identified from HT-29 cells. The cDNA encoding RONDelta160 has an in-frame deletion of 109 amino acids in the extracellular domain of the RON beta chain, which is caused by splicing out of two exons in the RON mRNA. No mutations were found in the kinase domain of the RON gene in five carcinoma cell lines screened. By expressing RON in colon epithelial cells, we found that RON activation increases cell motile-invasive activities and protects cells against apoptotic death. These data suggest that RON expression and activation are deregulated in colon carcinoma cell lines. By abnormal activation of RON, this receptor and its variant may regulate motile-invasive phenotypes of certain colon carcinoma cells in vivo.

Identification of a novel splicing product of the RON receptor tyrosine kinase in human colorectal carcinoma cells.

The RON receptor tyrosine kinase is a 180 kDa heterodimeric protein composed of a 40 kDa alpha chain and a 145 kDa beta chain with intrinsic tyrosine kinase activity. Activation of RON causes cell dissociation, motility and invasion of extracellular matrices, suggesting that RON might be involved in tumor metastasis. We report here the cloning of a novel splice variant of RON in human colorectal carcinoma cell line HT-29. This RON variant is first produced as a single chain precursor with a molecular mass of 160 kDa. Proteolytic cleavage results in a 40 kDa alpha chain and a short form of the beta chain with a molecular mass of 125 kDa. The altered receptor is synthesized from a transcript differing from the full-length RON mRNA by an in-frame deletion of 109 amino acids in the extracellular domain of the RON beta chain. The consequence of the deletion is constitutive activation of the protein with autophosphorylation. Expression of the RON variant in colon epithelial CoTr cells results in increased cell migration and invasion of extracellular matrices. These data suggest that generation of the activated splice variant of RON may contribute to the invasive phenotype of human colorectal carcinomas in vivo.

Teaching deception skills in a game-play context to three adolescents with autism.

Baron-Cohen (1992) found that students with autism are impaired in their ability to deceive. A multiple-baseline across-subjects design was conceptualized to test the hypothesis that such students could be taught to deceive. Two conditions were presented in baseline and treatment phases. In Condition 1, the student guessed in which hand a small object was hidden when the experimenter presented two closed fists. In Condition 2, the student hid the object and presented two closed fists to the experimenter for a guess. Reinforcement was delivered contingently upon independent guessing during Condition 1 in both baseline and treatment phases. Under Condition 2, reinforcement was delivered noncontingently during the baseline phase and contingently upon successive approximations to the target behavior of deception during the treatment phase. All students displayed the acquisition of at least three of the responses included in the deception response during the baseline phase, and two students showed an erratic acquisition of the total skill during the baseline phase. Results indicate that students with autism can learn to deceive, even without formal intensive training.

Why be moral: Humanist and behavioral perspectives.

Students of philosophy have struggled with the question, "Why should I be moral?" Many diverse theorists have constructed elaborate logical arguments that explain why people in general should behave morally, but have had difficulty explaining why any given individual, safe from detection or retribution, should behave in a moral fashion. To avoid this problem, the notion of a supernatural deity (one who is always watching and thus removes the notion of nondetection and nonretribution) has been introduced by numerous thinkers. Philosophical systems that pride themselves on being based only on natural phenomena, however, can make no such recourse (leading to the charge, particularly from the religious, that without a god concept there can be no morality). Naturalistic humanists and behavior analysts are two groups who have found themselves unable to invoke a deity and thus face the question "Why should I behave morally?" Parallel attempts from both camps will be described and analyzed, with the conclusion being drawn that although such naturalists may not be better off than their more religious friends, they are certainly no worse off.