Gender, gender roles and completion of nursing education:a longitudinal study

The current worldwide nursing shortage and high attrition of nursing students remain a challenge for the nursing profession. The aim of this paper was to investigate how key psychological attributes and constructions differentiate between completers and non-completers of nursing education. A questionnaire including measures of gender role identity and perceived gender appropriateness of careers was administered to 384 students early in the first year of the course. At the end of the programme attrition rates were obtained. The findings indicate that males were more likely to leave the course than females. Furthermore, those who completed the course tended to view nursing as more appropriate for women, in contrast to the non-completers who had less gender typed views. The female-dominated nature of nursing, prevalent stereotypes and gender bias inherent in nursing education seem to make this an uncomfortable place for males and those with less gendered typed views. Whilst it is acknowledged that attrition is undoubtedly a complex issue with many contributing factors, the nursing profession need to take steps to address this bias to ensure their profession is open equally to both female and male recruits.

S100A2 is a BRCA1/p63 coregulated tumour suppressor gene with roles in the regulation of mutant p53 stability

Here, we show for the first time that the familial breast/ovarian cancer susceptibility gene, BRCA1, along with interacting ΔNp63 proteins, transcriptionally upregulate the putative tumour suppressor protein, S100A2. Both BRCA1 and ΔNp63 proteins are required for S100A2 expression. BRCA1 requires ΔNp63 proteins for recruitment to the S100A2 proximal promoter region, while exogenous expression of individual ΔNp63 proteins cannot activate S100A2 transcription in the absence of a functional BRCA1. Consequently, mutation of the ΔNp63/p53 response element within the S100A2 promoter completely abrogates the ability of BRCA1 to upregulate S100A2. S100A2 shows growth control features in a range of cell models. Transient or stable exogenous S100A2 expression inhibits the growth of BRCA1 mutant and basal-like breast cancer cell lines, while short interfering RNA (siRNA) knockdown of S100A2 in non-tumorigenic cells results in enhanced proliferation. S100A2 modulates binding of mutant p53 to HSP90, which is required for efficient folding of mutant p53 proteins, by competing for binding to HSP70/HSP90 organising protein (HOP). HOP is a cochaperone that is required for the efficient transfer of proteins from HSP70 to HSP90. Loss of S100A2 leads to an HSP90-dependent stabilisation of mutant p53 with a concomitant loss of p63. Accordingly, S100A2-deficient cells are more sensitive to the HSP-90 inhibitor, 17-N-allylamino-17-demethoxygeldanamycin, potentially representing a novel therapeutic strategy for S100A2- and BRCA1-deficient cancers. Taken together, these data demonstrate the importance of S100A2 downstream of the BRCA1/ΔNp63 signalling axis in modulating transcriptional responses and enforcing growth control mechanisms through destabilisation of mutant p53.

Farming, identity and well-being: managing changing gender roles within Western European farm families

This article is concerned with how men and women on farms socially construct their gender and work identities through interaction with each other and public representations of themselves. It is argued that identity is a process, and like gender, it is socially constructed through ‘doing’ identity.
Farming has changed tremendously over the last forty years in Europe. The position of women in the labour market and on the family farm has also undergone significant changes. In Western Europe, women in general and women on family farms are more likely to be active in the labour market than they were forty years ago. While it remains the case that all of their labour on the farm is not properly recorded, they now also have visible, paid employment. Scholars have been surprised that farm women’s gender identity has not changed more significantly with this changed labour market presence. This article argues that in order to understand this limited change we need to understand how men and women in family farms verify and reinforce farming work identities and farming gender identities. It is argued that while off-farm work does not ‘look’ like gender deviant work, it is because it questions the male breadwinner role. An analysis of this helps us understand why the discourse of the family farm remains so dominant and so persistent. In 2012 and 2013, a qualitative study was undertaken in Northern Ireland to examine the gender implications of the EU rural development programme on farms and rural areas. Some of the data gathered as part of this study is interpreted to shed light on how and why particular work and gender identities are constructed within the farm family.

The structure of an unconventional HD-GYP protein from Bdellovibrio reveals the roles of conserved residues in this class of cyclic-di-GMP phosphodiesterases

UNLABELLED: Cyclic-di-GMP is a near-ubiquitous bacterial second messenger that is important in localized signal transmission during the control of various processes, including virulence and switching between planktonic and biofilm-based lifestyles. Cyclic-di-GMP is synthesized by GGDEF diguanylate cyclases and hydrolyzed by EAL or HD-GYP phosphodiesterases, with each functional domain often appended to distinct sensory modules. HD-GYP domain proteins have resisted structural analysis, but here we present the first structural representative of this family (1.28 Å), obtained using the unusual Bd1817 HD-GYP protein from the predatory bacterium Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus. Bd1817 lacks the active-site tyrosine present in most HD-GYP family members yet remains an excellent model of their features, sharing 48% sequence similarity with the archetype RpfG. The protein structure is highly modular and thus provides a basis for delineating domain boundaries in other stimulus-dependent homologues. Conserved residues in the HD-GYP family cluster around a binuclear metal center, which is observed complexed to a molecule of phosphate, providing information on the mode of hydroxide ion attack on substrate. The fold and active site of the HD-GYP domain are different from those of EAL proteins, and restricted access to the active-site cleft is indicative of a different mode of activity regulation. The region encompassing the GYP motif has a novel conformation and is surface exposed and available for complexation with binding partners, including GGDEF proteins.

IMPORTANCE: It is becoming apparent that many bacteria use the signaling molecule cyclic-di-GMP to regulate a variety of processes, most notably, transitions between motility and sessility. Importantly, this regulation is central to several traits implicated in chronic disease (adhesion, biofilm formation, and virulence gene expression). The mechanisms of cyclic-di-GMP synthesis via GGDEF enzymes and hydrolysis via EAL enzymes have been suggested by the analysis of several crystal structures, but no information has been available to date for the unrelated HD-GYP class of hydrolases. Here we present the multidomain structure of an unusual member of the HD-GYP family from the predatory bacterium Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus and detail the features that distinguish it from the wider structural family of general HD fold hydrolases. The structure reveals how a binuclear iron center is formed from several conserved residues and provides a basis for understanding HD-GYP family sequence requirements for c-di-GMP hydrolysis.

The Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus twin-arginine transport system has roles in predatory and prey-independent growth

Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus grows in one of two ways: either (i) predatorily [in a host-dependent (HD) manner], when it invades the periplasm of another Gram-negative bacterium, exporting into the prey co-ordinated waves of soluble enzymes using the prey cell contents for growth; or (ii) in a host-independent (HI) manner, when it grows (slowly) axenically in rich media. Periplasmic invasion potentially exposes B. bacteriovorus to extremes of pH and exposes the need to scavenge electron donors from prey electron transport components by synthesis of metalloenzymes. The twin-arginine transport system (Tat) in other bacteria transports folded metalloenzymes and the B. bacteriovorus genome encodes 21 potential Tat-transported substrates and Tat transporter proteins TatA1, TatA2 and TatBC. GFP tagging of the Tat signal peptide from Bd1802, a high-potential iron-sulfur protein (HiPIP), revealed it to be exported into the prey bacterium during predatory growth. Mutagenesis showed that the B. bacteriovorus tatA2 and tatC gene products are essential for both HI and HD growth, despite the fact that they partially complement (in SDS resistance assays) the corresponding mutations in Escherichia coli where neither TatA nor TatC are essential for life. The essentiality of B. bacteriovorus TatA2 was surprising given that the B. bacteriovorus genome encodes a second tatA homologue, tatA1. Transcription of tatA1 was found to be induced upon entry to the bdelloplast, and insertional inactivation of tatA1 showed that it significantly slowed the rates of both HI and HD growth. B. bacteriovorus is one of a few bacterial species that are reliant on a functional Tat system and where deletion of a single tatA1 gene causes a significant growth defect(s), despite the presence of its tatA2 homologue.

Roles of multiple flagellins in flagellar formation and flagellar growth post bdelloplast lysis in Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus

Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus cells have a single polar flagellum whose helical pitch and diameter characteristically change near the midpoint, resulting in a tapered wave. There are six flagellin genes in the genome: fliC1 to fliC6. Accordingly, the flagellar filament is composed of several similar flagellin species. We have used knockout mutants of each gene and analyzed the mutational effects on the filament length and on the composition and localization of each flagellin species in the filament by electron microscopy and one- and two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The location and amounts of flagellins in a filament were determined to be as follows: a small amount of FliC3 at the proximal end, followed by a large amount of FliC5, a large amount of FliC1, a small amount of FliC2 in this order, and a large amount of FliC6 at the distal end. FliC4 was present at a low level, but the location was not determined. Filament lengths of newly born progeny cells increased during prolonged incubation in nutrient-deficient buffer. The newly formed part of the elongated filament was composed of mainly FliC6. Reverse transcription PCR analysis of flagellar gene expression over 5 days in buffer showed that fliC gene expression tailed off over 5 days in the wild-type cells, but in the fliC5 mutant, expression of the fliC2, fliC4, and fliC6 genes was elevated on day 5, suggesting that they may be expressed to compensate for the absence of a major component, FliC5.

Combining and integrating life /social sciences and citizen trainers in Nurse Education - a N. Ireland initiative

Before commencement of the academic year 2012/2013 the social sciences, public health and the biomedical sciences were taught to separate modules. This reinforced the idea off separate disciplines certainly for some of the younger students and a failure to appreciate the interconnectedness (whole person) perspective on health; separately modules taught and assessed in separate silos. There was limited understanding by the lecturers of the other areas that they were not teaching to -reflecting perhaps a dis-coordinated approach to health sciences (Mason and Whitehead 2003). As a result of significant discussion and interdisciplinary negotiation the life, social sciences public health/ health education were drawn together in the one module for the academic year 2012/13. The module provides the undergraduate students with an introduction to an understanding of Life Sciences, psychology, sociology and public health and their contribution within the context of nursing and midwifery. Each week’s teaching seeks to reflect against the other module delivered in first year - addressing clinical skills. The teaching is developing innovative e-learning approaches, including the use of a virtual community. The intention is to provide the student with a more integrated understanding and teaching to the individual’s health and to health within a social context (Lin 2001; Iles- Shih 2011). The focus is on health promotion rather than disease management. The module runs in three phases across the student’s first-year and teachers to the field of adult mental health, learning disability, children’s nursing and the midwifery students -progressively building on the student’s clinical experience. The predominant focus of the module remains on health and reflecting aspects of life and social life within N. Ireland. One of the particular areas of interest and an area of particular sensitivity is engaging the students to the context of the Northern Ireland civil unrest (the Troubles); this involves a co-educational initiative with service users, only previously attempted with social work students (Duffy 2012). The service users are represented by WAVE an organisation offering care and support to bereaved, traumatised or injured as a result of the violent civil conflict `the Troubles’. The `Troubles’ had ranged over an extended period and apart from the more evident and visual impact of death and injury, the community is marked by a disproportionate level of civil unrest, the extremes of bereavement, imprisonment, displacement antisocial behaviour and family dysfunction (Coulter et al. 2012). As co-educators with the School of Nursing and Midwifery, WAVE deliver a core lecture (augmented by online material), then followed by tutorials. The tutorials are substantially led by those who had been involved with and experienced loss and trauma as a result of the conflict (Health Service users) as `citizen trainers’ and provide an opportunity for them to share their experience and their recollection of personal interaction with nursing and midwifery students; in improving their understanding of the impact of `The Troubles’ on patients and clients affected by the events (Coulter et al. 2012) and to help better provide a quality of care cognisant of the particular needs of those affected by `the Troubles’ in N.Ireland. This approach is relatively unique to nursing in N. Ireland in that it involves many of those directly involved with and injured by the `Troubles’ as `citizen trainers’ and clearly reflects the School’s policy of progressively engaging with users and carers of nursing and midwifery services as co-educators to students (Repper & Breeze 2006). Only now could perhaps such a sensitive level of training to student nurses and midwives be delivered across communities with potential educative lessons for other communities experiencing significant civil unrest and sectarian conflict.