PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

S Tremblay

Publications and source records attributed to S Tremblay.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1996

[Basic nursing education and attitude towards the elderly].

Working with seniors implies a change in outlook from caregiving to a more global psychosocial approach. Nurses' inappropriate attitudes toward seniors can have far-reaching implications for seniors themselves. A negative attitude can accentuate their cognitive problems, while a positive one can promote their autonomy. According to the literature, nurses' educational level has a bearing on whether or not they adopt a positive attitude toward this age group. This Quebec study was conducted to evaluate the effect of nurses' initial training on their attitudes toward seniors in acute care hospitals. A sample of 636 registered nurse members of the Ordre des infirmières et infirmiers du Québec (OIIQ) were randomly selected and stratified into three groups by initial training (hospital, community college and generic baccalaureate in nursing). Kapos' (1972) self-report attitude opinion scale was used for evaluation. A 67 per cent return rate was attained for a total of 425 respondents. The three groups were compared using variance analyses and Scheffé comparisons test. Results indicate that nurses with a bachelor's degree have more positive attitudes toward seniors in comparison to hospital and community college trained nurses. This outcome reinforces the position taken by various North American professional nursing associations and corporations that a bachelor's degree in nursing should be the only recognized entry level to the profession. On an administrative level, this study can be used as a guideline in selecting nursing personnel most qualified and with a positive attitude to provide quality care to seniors.

Aged↗
PubMed1995

A heterogeneous set of FMR1 proteins is widely distributed in mouse tissues and is modulated in cell culture.

The fragile X syndrome is an X-linked inherited disease and is the result of transcriptional inactivation of the FMR1 gene and the absence of its encoded FMR protein (FMRP). Using a specific monoclonal antibody directed against human FMRP, we have studied the steady-state levels of its murine homolog in several tissues and organs of adult and young mice. In immunoblot analyses, the antibody recognizes a heterogeneous subset of proteins with apparent molecular weights ranging from 80 to 70 kDa. These proteins are detected in all the 27 tissues tested; however, the relative proportion of each polypeptide recognized varies between tissues, and a significantly higher expression is observed in young animals. Northern blot analysis of RNA extracted from selected tissues from adult mouse shows that these tissues express the major 4.8 kb mRNA, although at different levels, and contain several additional shorter transcripts, particularly in muscular tissues. We also report that expression of the FMR1 gene is modulated in proliferating and quiescent primary mouse kidney cell cultures with an inverse relationship between levels of FMR1 mRNA and of its encoded proteins. This suggests that FMRPs are highly stable in quiescent cells and that FMR1 expression is likely post-transcriptionally controlled. Our results document the widespread expression of the FMR1 gene, and suggest that it is controlled by different mechanisms implicated in cell growth and differentiation.

Animals↗
PubMed1994

Developmental stage-specific regulation of atrial natriuretic factor gene transcription in cardiac cells.

Cardiac myocytes undergo a major genetic switch within the first week of postnatal development, when cell division ceases terminally and many cardiac genes are either activated or silenced. We have developed stage-specific cardiocyte cultures to analyze transcriptional control of the rat atrial natriuretic factor (ANF) gene to identify the mechanisms underlying tissue-specific and developmental regulation of this gene in the heart. The first 700 bp of ANF flanking sequences was sufficient for cardiac muscle- and stage-specific expression in both atrial and ventricular myocytes, and a cardiac muscle-specific enhancer was localized between -136 and -700 bp. Deletion of this enhancer markedly reduced promoter activity in cardiac myocytes and derepressed ANF promoter activity in nonexpressing cells. Two distinct domains of the enhancer appeared to contribute differentially to cardiac specificity depending on the differentiation stage of the myocytes. DNase I footprinting of the enhancer domain active in differentiated cells revealed four putative regulatory elements including an A+T-rich region and a CArG element. Deletion mutagenesis and promoter reconstitution assays revealed an important role for the CArG-containing element exclusively in cardiac cells, where its activity was switched on in differentiated myocytes. Transcriptional activity of the ANF-CArG box correlated with the presence of a cardiac- and stage-specific DNA-binding complex which was not recognized by the c-fos serum response element. Thus, the use of this in vitro model system representing stage-specific cardiac development unraveled the presence of different regulatory mechanisms for transcription of the ANF gene during cardiac differentiation and may be useful for studying the regulatory pathways of other genes that undergo switching during cardiac myogenesis.

Animals↗
PubMed1993

fos/jun repression of cardiac-specific transcription in quiescent and growth-stimulated myocytes is targeted at a tissue-specific cis element.

Unlike that of skeletal muscle cells in which growth and differentiation appear mutually exclusive, growth stimulation of cardiac cells is characterized by transient expression of early response nuclear proto-oncogenes as well as induction of several cardiac-specific markers. This observation led to the speculation that these proto-oncogenes, particularly c-fos and c-jun, might act as positive regulators of cardiac transcription. We have examined the role of c-jun and c-fos in basal and growth-stimulated cardiac transcription, using the cardiac-specific atrial natriuretic factor (ANF) gene as a marker. The results indicate that c-jun and c-fos are negative regulators of ANF transcription. Inducers of jun and fos activity, such as mitogens and growth factors, inhibited endogenous ANF transcripts. In transient cotransfection assays, jun and fos were able to trans-repress the ANF promoter in both quiescent and alpha 1-adrenergic stimulated myocytes. This repression was specific to myocyte cultures and was not observed in nonmuscle cells. Deletion analysis indicated that repression does not require typical AP-1-binding sites (tetradecanoyl phorbol acetate response elements) or serum response elements but is targeted at a cardiac-specific element within the ANF promoter. Various Fos-related proteins, including Fra-1, Fos B, and v-Fos, were able to trans-repress ANF transcription. In addition, C-terminal c-fos mutants which no longer repress transcription of such early growth response genes as c-fos and EGR-1 retained the ability to repress ANF transcription. Repression by c-jun occurs via the N-terminal activation domain and does not require the DNA-binding domain, suggesting that proto-oncogene repression involves interaction with one or more limiting cardiac-specific coactivators.

Animals↗
PubMed1992

Fibronectin gene expression in proliferating, quiescent, and SV40-infected mouse kidney cells.

To study alterations in cellular gene expression in mouse kidney cell cultures infected with simian virus 40 (SV40) or polyomavirus, we performed a differential screening of a mouse kidney cDNA library with probes prepared from mRNAs of virus-infected and mock-infected cells. We isolated and characterized cDNA recombinant pKT13 which detected increased mRNA levels in infected cells. Sequence analysis of pKT13 revealed close to 100% homology with the 3'-end of mouse fibronectin (FN) mRNA. Since primary cultures of baby mouse kidney cells have been extensively characterized in our laboratories, we studied FN gene expression at different stages of uninfected and virus-infected cultures. High levels of FN and of its mRNA were found in the kidneys of suckling mice, while in primary cultures of proliferating epithelial kidney cells the expression of FN was very low until the cultures became confluent. Thereafter FN increased and reached high levels in cells which were irreversibly arrested in phase Go and which had apparently exhausted their finite division potential. Infection of confluent cultures with polyomavirus or SV40 resulted in a further stimulation of FN gene expression. However, during abortive infection with SV40, FN mRNA and FN levels decreased with emergence of transformed cells and were low in an established SV40-transformed mouse kidney cell line. These changes in FN gene expression suggest that high levels of FN might be indicative in vivo for terminal differentiation and in vitro for cellular senescence.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1992

Repression of a G0-associated 65-kilodalton protein in actively proliferating and SV40-transformed mouse kidney cells.

The pattern of [35S]methionine-labeled proteins from primary cultures of mouse kidney epithelial cells arrested in G0 phase was analyzed by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and compared with that observed from cultures of actively proliferating and SV40-transformed mouse kidney cells. A major polypeptide (p65) migrating with a molecular mass of 65,000 daltons and a pI of 5.8 was detected in quiescent cultures of cells which had exhausted their finite division potential. Under the experimental conditions used, these cells had lost sensitivity to growth factors and were irreversibly blocked in G0 phase of the cell cycle. In cultures of actively proliferating mouse kidney cells, the expression of p65 was not observed until just prior to arrest. Moreover, proliferating cultures of immortalized mouse kidney cells that had been reactivated from their quiescent state by infection with SV40 did not express p65. Subcellular localization studies suggest that p65 is associated with the crude nuclear fraction. In addition, p65 is glycosylated and binds the lectin concanavalin A. Pulse-chase experiments demonstrated that p65 was short lived with an estimated half life of 10 min. Thus, p65 appears to be a growth-arrest specific gene product whose expression is repressed during the proliferative state of mitotically active mouse kidney cells.

Animals↗
PubMed1992

Homodimer formation is rate-limiting for high affinity DNA binding by glucocorticoid receptor.

The glucocorticoid receptor (GR) is a hormone-inducible transcription factor which activates transcription of specific genes by binding to a DNA sequence present in the promoters of inducible genes. These glucocorticoid response elements (GREs) have a conserved palindromic sequence. Each half-GRE palindrome binds one subunit of GR. We have assessed the relative affinity of GR monomers and homodimers for GRE and determined whether homodimer formation is rate-limiting for high affinity GRE binding. The in vitro affinity of GRE binding by GR homodimers was approximately 2 x 10(-10) M, whereas it was approximately 1 nM for GR monomers. While homodimer:GRE complexes were very stable, monomer:GRE complexes appeared less stable in vitro. At low receptor concentration, GR preferentially bound GRE as a homodimer. Prior dilution of GR (equilibrium shifted to monomers) before addition to a GRE binding reaction resulted in slower kinetics of binding by comparison to parallel reactions in which concentrated (largely homodimeric) GR was added first. Taken together, these experiments suggest that homodimer formation is rate-limiting for high affinity GRE binding. A GRE mutant which contained only a half-binding site and which was unable to bind GR homodimers was also unable to confer glucocorticoid-inducible transcription. Taken together with previous work, these experiments support the model that GR homodimers are required for hormone-dependent activation of transcription and that receptor homodimer formation is rate-limiting for GRE binding.

Base Sequence↗
PubMed1992

Phosphorylation of the retinoblastoma protein is modulated in mouse kidney cells infected with polyomavirus.

Lytic infection with polyomavirus, an oncogenic DNA-containing virus, leads in G0-arrested primary baby mouse kidney (BMK) cell cultures to a mitotic host reaction. In the present work, we examined the expression of the retinoblastoma gene (RB) and of its product (Rb) in virus-infected BMK with the aim of correlating its modulation with the sequential activation of cellular processes leading to the induction of S phase by virus. In contrast to cell cycle-regulated genes whose expression is induced by viral infection, expression of RB is not altered during the transition from G0/G1 to S phase. In BMK cell cultures irreversibly arrested in the G0 phase of the cell cycle, an unphosphorylated species is the only detectable form of the RB protein (Rb). Time course analysis showed that in polyoma-infected cells induced to re-enter the S phase of the cell cycle the appearance of the phosphorylated forms of Rb coincided in time with the accumulation of large T antigen and preceded DNA synthesis. During the late phase of infection, the majority of Rb was present as phosphorylated forms. Ongoing DNA synthesis was not required for the cells to phosphorylate Rb, indicating that this post-translational modification takes place during the activation of the cellular DNA-synthesizing apparatus. Using hamster anti-polyoma tumor serum, it was observed that the underphosphorylated form of Rb co-precipitated with polyoma large T antigen extracted from infected cells late during infection. Our data add more evidence to the proposal that interactions between viral early proteins encoded by DNA tumor viruses and the product of RB may play a pivotal role in the mitogenic effect induced by viral infection.

Animals↗
PubMed1991

[The newborn and the couple: adversaries or partners?].

We generally accept that the planned arrival of a first child is a source of joy for the new parents and that it provides them with a sense of accomplishment. Traditionally, society welcomes the formation of a family unit and looks forward to this passage into the new role of parenthood. However, not only has research on marital relations set aside the popular imagery of romanticism, but it has increasingly given negative connotations to this crisis-prone transition phase. The objective of this article is therefore to review literature concerning the impact of a newborn child on the marital experience, and to nuance the idea that childbirth can lead to crisis situations within the couple. In conclusion, the authors argue that the concept of marital satisfaction needs to be reformulated. Judging from their brief overview of literature, the authors believe the concept to be too narrowly defined and slightly ambiguous. Indeed, researchers have not yet reached a consensus on the definition of marital satisfaction. Furthermore, they tend to operationalize the concept in very different ways. As a result, there is a lot of conclusion and the fact that many researchers use different terms as a synonym of satisfaction is no help. What's more, the assessment of quality in a relationship should not be limited to measuring the level of satisfaction of the two partners. Other dimensions (e.g. adjustment, commitment, cohesion, etc.) deserve consideration in order to give a more complete image of the changes that occur over the years within the couple.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1989

Design and preliminary evaluation of a portable instrument for assisting physiotherapists and occupational therapists in the rehabilitation of the hand.

This paper describes a portable instrument designed to monitor progress accomplished by patients participating in a hand rehabilitation program. The instrument is driven by a microcontroller and features signal conditioning circuits to measure and record the strength and duration of hand contractions. An alphanumeric display provides the patient with performance indications to allow biofeedback reinforcement, and clear instructions on how to perform the prescribed exercises. Exercise data acquired by the portable instrument can be transferred to a host computer for analysis and archival storage. Results of a preliminary clinical evaluation in 14 patients are presented.

Biofeedback, Psychology↗
PubMed1988

Progesterone receptors regulate gallbladder motility.

The increased incidence of gallstones in multiparous women may be related to hormonal effects on the gallbladder and its contractility. The occurrence of estrogen and progesterone receptors were studied in the gallbladders of three groups of female guinea pigs (normals, oophorectomized, and oophorectomized treated with estrogen + progesterone for 14 days). Gallbladder contractile response in vivo to cholecystokinin (CCK) was related to the presence of these receptors. The gallbladders from normal females showed low progesterone and estrogen binding activity (4.9 +/- 2.0 and 2.4 +/- 0.8 fmoles/mg cytosol protein). Oophorectomized females had no detectable progesterone or estrogen receptors, but after treating oophorectomized females for 14 days with estrogen + progesterone, gallbladder concentrations of progesterone receptors increased significantly to 14.7 +/- 5.9 fmoles/mg and estrogen binding activity was minimally detectable at 1.4 +/- 0.8 fmoles/mg. The gallbladder contractile response to CCK was inversely related to the concentration of progesterone receptors in the gallbladder wall. These data suggest that the gallbladder contains progesterone receptors which are susceptible to circulating hormonal conditions and which have a regulatory effect on gallbladder contractility.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The impact of broadband noise on serial memory: changes in band-pass frequency increase disruption.

Irrelevant sound consisting of bursts of broadband noise, in which centre frequency changes with each burst, markedly impaired short-term memory for order. In contrast, a sequence of irrelevant sound in which the same band-pass noise burst was repeated did not produce significant disruption. Serial recall for both visual-verbal (Experiment 1) and visual-spatial items (Experiment 2) was sensitive to the increased disruption produced by changing irrelevant noise. The results provide evidence that sounds that are largely aperiodic can produce marked disruption of serial recall in a similar manner to periodic sounds (e.g., speech, musical streams, and tones), and thus show a changing-state effect.

Female↗
PubMedDate not supplied

A 56- to 54-kilodalton non grata signal in immunoblot analysis using the horseradish peroxidase chemiluminescence system.

The major advantages of the horseradish peroxidase chemiluminescence (HRP-CL) immunodetection method in Western blot analysis are its high sensitivity, nonradioactive detection, economy of the primary antibody, and speed of detecting the signal. However, we observed a strong and reproducible signal that was detected regardless of the primary antibody and of the cell type used. This signal, present at 56-54 kilodaltons (kDa), is generated in absence of any primary antibody and seems to be an intrinsic reaction of the HRP-labeled second antibody anti-immunoglobulin with an unidentified cellular protein. The use of dry milk throughout all the steps of the procedure abolishes this signal. For those interested in one of the numerous proteins migrating at or close to 56-54 kDa, the question therefore arises as to which signals generated by the HRP-CL in this region are bona fide and which are non grata pseudo signals.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Intravenous therapy].

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Catheters, Indwelling↗