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Biomedical subjects

Sara Jones

Publications and source records attributed to Sara Jones.

5 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2024

Translation of culturally and contextually informed diabetes training for Aboriginal primary health care providers on Aboriginal client outcomes: Protocol of a cluster randomized crossover trial of effectiveness.

BACKGROUND: Indigenous populations globally have significantly high rates of type 2 diabetes compared to their non-Indigenous counterparts. This study aims to implement and evaluate the effectiveness of a culturally and contextually informed Aboriginal Diabetes Workforce Training Program on Aboriginal primary health care workforce knowledge, attitude, confidence, skill and practice relating to diabetes care. METHODS: A Cluster Randomised Crossover Control Trial with two arms (Group A and Group B) will be conducted with Aboriginal primary health care services in South Australia. These services primarily provide primary health care to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. All healthcare service sites will be randomised into groups A and B to receive the training program. The training program consists of three components: 1) Peer support network, 2) E-Learning modules and 3) onsite support. Aboriginal Health Workers of participating sites will be invited to participate in the monthly online peer support network and all chronic disease staff are eligible to participate in the E-Learning modules and onsite support. The Peer Support Network runs for the entirety of the study, 17 months. Training components 2 and 3 occur simultaneously and are 2.5 months in length, with a six-month washout period between the two randomised groups undertaking the training. All primary outcomes of the study relate to diabetes management in a primary health care settings and measure participants' knowledge, attitude, confidence, practice and skills. These will be collected at seven time points across the entire study. Secondary outcomes measure satisfaction of the peer support network using a survey, interviews to understand enablers and barriers to participation, health service systems characteristics through focus groups, and medical record review to ascertain diabetes patients' care received and their clinical outcomes up to 12 months post training intervention. DISCUSSION: The findings will explore the effectiveness of the training program on Aboriginal primary health care provider knowledge, attitude, confidence, skill and practice relating to diabetes care. The final findings will be published in 2027. TRIAL REGISTRATION: The study was prospectively registered in The Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ANZCTR), with registration number ACTRN12623000749606 at ANZCTR - Registration. Universal Trial Number (UTN) U1111-1283-5257.

Humans↗
PubMed2005

Age-dependent motor deficits and dopaminergic dysfunction in DJ-1 null mice.

Mutations in the DJ-1 gene were recently identified in an autosomal recessive form of early-onset familial Parkinson disease. Structural biology, biochemistry, and cell biology studies have suggested potential functions of DJ-1 in oxidative stress, protein folding, and degradation pathways. However, animal models are needed to determine whether and how loss of DJ-1 function leads to Parkinson disease. We have generated DJ-1 null mice with a mutation that resembles the large deletion mutation reported in patients. Our behavioral analyses indicated that DJ-1 deficiency led to age-dependent and task-dependent motoric behavioral deficits that are detectable by 5 months of age. Unbiased stereological studies did not find obvious dopamine neuron loss in 6-month- and 11-month-old mice. Neurochemical examination revealed significant changes in striatal dopaminergic function consisting of increased dopamine reuptake rates and elevated tissue dopamine content. These data represent the in vivo evidence that loss of DJ-1 function alters nigrostriatal dopaminergic function and produces motor deficits.

Age Factors↗
PubMed2003

Dynamic gene expression during the onset of myoblast differentiation in vitro.

Skeletal myogenesis is a well-studied differentiation process. However, despite the identification and functional characterization of the myogenic basic HLH transcription factors, molecular details are still lacking. With the advent of microarray technology, it has become possible to look at changes in gene expression profiles in a biological process on an unprecedented scale. In this study, we applied this technology to profile gene expression during the in vitro differentiation of an established myoblast cell line, C2C12. We report over 1500 genes whose expression is altered when these cells differentiate, including 624, or about 40% of the total number of genes, with unknown functions. This analysis reveals the existence of 12 groups of coordinately regulated genes that are expressed in temporal waves of gene expression prior to the transcriptional induction of myogenin. Among these are multiple families of transcription factors that are important for the process of myogenesis. In addition, the induction of the Notch signaling pathway suggests that previously unappreciated intercellular signaling occurs during myogenic differentiation. These results provide a molecular description of the skeletal myogenesis up to the activation of myogenin.

Animals↗