2 resultados para Obstructive Pulmonary-Disease
Resumo:
Aim: The aim of this study was to determine care home managers' knowledge of palliative care using the palliative care quiz for nursing (PCQN). Background: Palliative care is strongly advocated for all people living with advancing incurable illness. Within acare home setting there should be a particular emphasis on the importance of palliative care, particularly for those residents who, because of their advancing age, are likely to live with non-malignant diseases such as dementia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or heart failure to name a few. Methods: Before the beginning of a workshop on optimising palliative care for people living in care homes, 56 care home managers (all nurses) completed the PCQN, a validated questionnaire that is used to assess a nurse's knowledge of palliative care, as part of a learning exercise. Results: The quiz consisted of 20 questions for which participants could answer true, false or don't know. The average score was 12.89 correct answers out of a possible 20 (64.45%). Conclusion: This study highlights the need to develop the knowledge and competence of care home managers in relation to palliative care. This is particularly important given the increasing number of people who are living with non-malignant disease within a care home setting.
Resumo:
Background Neutrophils play a role in the pathogenesis of asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and pulmonary infection. Impaired neutrophil phagocytosis predicts hospital-acquired infection. Despite this, remarkably few neutrophil-specific treatments exist.
Objectives We sought to identify novel pathways for the restoration of effective neutrophil phagocytosis and to activate such pathways effectively in neutrophils from patients with impaired neutrophil phagocytosis.
Methods Blood neutrophils were isolated from healthy volunteers and patients with impaired neutrophil function. In healthy neutrophils phagocytic impairment was induced experimentally by using β2-agonists. Inhibitors and activators of cyclic AMP (cAMP)-dependent pathways were used to assess the influence on neutrophil phagocytosis in vitro.
Results β2-Agonists and corticosteroids inhibited neutrophil phagocytosis. Impairment of neutrophil phagocytosis by β2-agonists was associated with significantly reduced RhoA activity. Inhibition of protein kinase A (PKA) restored phagocytosis and RhoA activity, suggesting that cAMP signals through PKA to drive phagocytic impairment. However, cAMP can signal through effectors other than PKA, such as exchange protein directly activated by cyclic AMP (EPAC). An EPAC-activating analog of cAMP (8CPT-2Me-cAMP) reversed neutrophil dysfunction induced by β2-agonists or corticosteroids but did not increase RhoA activity. 8CPT-2Me-cAMP reversed phagocytic impairment induced by Rho kinase inhibition but was ineffective in the presence of Rap-1 GTPase inhibitors. 8CPT-2Me-cAMP restored function to neutrophils from patients with known acquired impairment of neutrophil phagocytosis.
Conclusions EPAC activation consistently reverses clinical and experimental impairment of neutrophil phagocytosis. EPAC signals through Rap-1 and bypasses RhoA. EPAC activation represents a novel potential means by which to reverse impaired neutrophil phagocytosis.
