“
“Background/Purpose(s): We aimed to determine the variations in serum apolipoprotein E E; (ApoE) levels in pediatric patients with a variety of infectious diseases, and to investigate

the potential mechanism of elevated ApoE serum levels during infection.\n\nMethods: A total of 279 pediatric patients with a variety of infections and 58 normal controls were enrolled in this study. Serum ApoE levels were detected using an immunoturbidimetric assay. A mouse sepsis model was established to evaluate Compound Library screening the expression of ApoE and its receptors by real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and Western blotting.\n\nResults: Serum ApoE was markedly increased in cases with bacterial infections including sepsis, bacterial meningitis, and bacterial pneumonia, compared to healthy controls. No significantly elevated serum ApoE levels were observed in aseptic meningitis patients or mycoplasma pneumonia patients. The mice sepsis models showed a similar pattern of increased serum ApoE levels in the early stage of infections. We found reduced

expression of ApoE and its receptors in the liver tissues in these mice models.\n\nConclusion: Serum ApoE may represent a novel indicator for diagnosis of KU-55933 manufacturer bacterial infections, especially sepsis, in pediatric patients. The decreased expression of low-density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR), LDL receptor-related protein (LRP), and heparin sulfate proteoglycan (HSPG) syndecan-1 (SDC1) may contribute to reduced ApoE clearance and accumulation in the blood. Copyright (C) 2013, Taiwan Society of Microbiology. Published by Elsevier Taiwan LLC. All rights reserved.”
“An aging population requires that nurses in all areas of practice Selleck PHA-739358 be knowledgeable about high-quality palliative care. The purpose of this scoping review was to summarize the available evidence for providing palliative care education for nurses. Searches were conducted in the spring of 2012 of 5 electronic databases using controlled vocabulary. English-language articles published between 2001 and 2011 were included in the review, yielding a sample

of 58 studies. Findings reviewed included country and setting of study; palliative knowledge taught; methods, number of hours, and duration of education; study design; and evaluation methods. Eighty-six percent of studies reported positive outcomes. Effect size calculations for 9 outcome measures resulted in large (n = 1), moderate (n = 4), and small (n = 4) effects in a positive direction. However, effect sizes were heterogeneous, suggesting moderator variables. Although there appears to be an overall positive effect of palliative education, findings from this scoping review illustrate the diversity of educational approaches and lack of rigorous study designs, making it difficult to make recommendations for an evidence-based approach to educating nurses in palliative care.