Digital Health Solutions for Indigenous Mental Well-Being.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: This review summarizes digital health solutions being used for Indigenous mental well-being, with emphasis on available evidence and examples reported in the literature. We also describe our own local experience with a rural telemental health service for Indigenous youth and discuss the unique opportunities and challenges. RECENT FINDINGS: Digital health solutions can be grouped into three main categories: (1) remote access to specialists, (2) building and supporting local capacity, and (3) patient-directed interventions. Limited evidence exists for the majority of digital solutions specifically in Indigenous contexts, although examples and pilot projects have been described. Telemental health has the strongest evidence, along with a growing evidence for web-based applications, largely led by Australia. Other digital approaches remain areas of promise requiring additional study. Co-design and service integration and respect for Indigenous history and ideologies are essential for success. While the use of digital health solutions for Indigenous mental well-being holds promise, there is a limited evidence base for most of them. Future efforts to expand the use of digital solutions in this population should adhere to best practices for the delivery of Indigenous health services.

Vertebrate nucleoplasmin and NASP: egg histone storage proteins with multiple chaperone activities.

Recent reviews have focused on the structure and function of histone chaperones involved in different aspects of somatic cell chromatin metabolism. One of the most dramatic chromatin remodeling processes takes place immediately after fertilization and is mediated by egg histone storage chaperones. These include members of the nucleoplasmin (NPM2/NPM3), which are preferentially associated with histones H2A-H2B in the egg and the nuclear autoantigenic sperm protein (NASP) families. Interestingly, in addition to binding and providing storage to H3/H4 in the egg and in somatic cells, NASP has been shown to be a unique genuine chaperone for histone H1. This review revolves around the structural and functional roles of these two families of chaperones whose activity is modulated by their own post-translational modifications (PTMs), particularly phosphorylation. Beyond their important role in the remodeling of paternal chromatin in the early stages of embryogenesis, NPM and NASP members can interact with a plethora of proteins in addition to histones in somatic cells and play a critical role in processes of functional cell alteration, such as in cancer. Despite their common presence in the egg, these two histone chaperones appear to be evolutionarily unrelated. In contrast to members of the NPM family, which share a common monophyletic evolutionary origin, the different types of NASP appear to have evolved recurrently within different taxa.

Expression and purification of the full murine NPM2 and study of its interaction with protamines and histones.

Mouse nucleoplasmin M.NPM2 was recombinantly expressed and the protein consisting of the complete sequence was purified and characterized. Similar to its Xenopus laevis X.NPM2 counterpart, the protein forms stable pentameric complexes and exhibits an almost undistinguishable hydrodynamic ionic strength-dependent unfolding behavior. The interaction of N.PM2 with histones and mouse P1/P2 protamines revealed that these chromosomal proteins bind preferentially to the distal part of the nucleoplasmin pentamer. Moreover, the present work highlights the critical role played by histones H2B and H4 in the association of the histone H2A-H2B dimers and histone octamer with nucleoplasmin.