Background: Underlying diseases and aggressive procedures, such as different types of surgery and care, for patients with critical conditions in intensive care units (ICU) may be associated with physiological disorders. Objectives: This study intended to determine the effect of therapeutic touch on physiological variables of patients undergoing mechanical ventilation in ICU. Methods: This...

Telomerase and telomeres are attractive targets for anticancer therapy. This is supported by the fact that the majority of human cancers express the enzyme telomerase which is essential to maintain their telomere length and thus, to ensure indefinite cell proliferation--a hallmark of cancer. Tumours have relatively shorter telomeres compared to normal cell types, opening the possibility that hu...

The potassium channel superfamily presents a rich source of targets for therapeutic intervention. Indeed, the development of specific potassium channel modulators could lead to the effective treatment of various diseases for which current therapies are clearly suboptimal. Numerous factors play a role in determining whether the successful clinical development of such drugs can ever be achieved. ...

Prion diseases are fatal neurodegenerative disorders. Pathology is closely linked to the misfolding of native cellular PrP(C) into the disease-associated form PrP(Sc) that accumulates in the brain as disease progresses. Although treatments have yet to be developed, strategies aimed at stimulating the degradation of PrP(Sc) have shown efficacy in experimental models of prion disease. Here, we de...

Clostridium botulinum neurotoxins (BoNTs) are effective therapeutics for a variety of neurological disorders, such as strabismus, blepharospam, hemificial spasm, and cervical dystonia, because of the toxin's tropism for neurons and specific cleavage of neuronal soluble N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive fusion protein-attachment protein receptors (SNARE) proteins. Modifying BoNT to bind nonneuronal cel...

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are important modulators of eukaryotic gene expression. By targeting protein coding transcripts, miRNAs influence the cellular transcriptome and proteome, thus helping to determine cell fate. MiRNAs have emerged as crucial molecules in cancer research, in which recent studies have linked erratic expression of miRNAs to carcinogenesis and have provided solid evidence for their...

Galectins are a family of small, highly conserved, molecular effectors that mediate various biological processes, including chemotaxis and angiogenesis, and that function by interacting with various cell surface glycoconjugates, usually targeting β-galactoside epitopes. Because of their significant involvement in various biological functions and pathologies, galectins have become a focus of the...

This article was accepted/or publication January ]2, ]988. Children with multiple disabilities miss opportunities to participate in the "primary activity of the young child"-play (Mack, Lindquist, & Parham, 1982, p, 366), These children are not free to immerse themselves in the simple joy of playing with toys, a process that helps them discover themselves, probe their surroundings, and relate t...

Nanoparticles have the potential to contribute to new modalities in molecular imaging and sensing as well as in therapeutic interventions. In this Nano Focus article, we identify some of the current challenges and knowledge gaps that need to be confronted to accelerate the developments of various applications. Using specific examples, we journey from the characterization of these complex hybrid...

Human papillomaviruses (HPV) are the aetiological agents of several types of anogenital tumours, particularly cervical carcinoma. Recent evidence also suggests a role for HPV in the development of squamous cell carcinomas of the skin, especially in immunocompromised individuals. HPV infection also produces a number of non-malignant, but nonetheless cosmetically unpleasant lesions. Therefore, an...