The trefoil factor family (TFF) peptides are important in gastro-intestinal mucosal protection and repair. Their mechanism of action remains unclear and receptors are sought. We aimed to identify and characterise proteins binding to TFF2. A fusion protein of mouse TFF2 with alkaline phosphatase was generated and used to probe 2-D protein blots of mouse stomach. The resulting spots were analysed by MS. The protein identified was characterised by bioinformatics, rapid amplification of cDNA ends, in situ hybridisation (ISH) and immunohistochemistry (IHC). Functional assays were performed in gastrointestinal cell lines. A single major murine protein was identified and named blottin. It was previously unknown as a translated product. Blottin is also present in rat and human; the latter gene is also known as GDDR. The predicted full-length proteins are 184 amino acids long (20 kDa), reducing to 164 amino acids (18 kDa) after signal peptide cleavage. ISH of gastrointestinal tissues shows abundant blottin mRNA in gastric surface and foveolar epithelium. IHC shows cytoplasmic staining for blottin protein, and by immunoelectron microscopy in mucus granules and Golgi stacks. Previous work showed that blottin is down-regulated in gastric cancers. Blottin contains a BRICHOS domain, and has 56% similarity with gastrokine-1. Cultured HT-29 cells express blottin and show increased DNA synthesis with antiblottin antibody; however, this effect is reversed by the immunising peptide. We have identified and characterised a TFF2-binding protein produced by gastric epithelium. Blottin may play a role in gastrointestinal mucosal protection and modulate gut epithelial cell proliferation.

BackgroundThis study assessed the symptom severity of patients with advanced cancer in a palliative care unit and explored the factors associated with symptom improvement.MethodsThis study was conducted in a palliative care unit in Taiwan between October 2004 and December 2009. Symptom intensity was measured by the “Symptom Reporting Form”, and graded on a scale of 0 to 4 (0 = none, and 4 = extreme). These measures were assessed on the 1st, 3rd, 5th, and 7th Day in the palliative care unit. The study data comprised routine clinical records and patients’ demographic data. Generalized estimating equation (GEE) was used to assess the symptom improvement, and investigate the factors associated with the symptom reporting form scores.ResultsAmong the 824 recruited patients with advanced cancer, pain (78.4 %), anorexia (64.4 %) and constipation (63.5 %)were the most common and severe symptom. After controlling for other factors in the multivariate GEE model, the day of palliative care administration was a significant factor associated with all of the scales, except Days 7 on the dyspnoea and oedema scales and Day 5 on the anxiety scale. In addition, patients aged ≥ 65 years exhibited significantly lower scores on the pain, sleep disturbance, depression, and anxiety scales than did those aged < 65 years. Moreover, female patients exhibited higher scores on the vomiting, anorexia, oedema, depression, and anxiety scales than did male patients. Furthermore, patients with gastrointestinal tract cancer exhibited higher scores on the constipation, vomiting, anorexia, oedema, depression, and anxiety scales and lower scores on the dyspnoea scale than did those with lung cancer. Patients with breast cancer exhibited higher scores on the oedema scale and lower scores on the anxiety scale. Patients with genitourinary cancer exhibited higher scores on the vomiting and oedema scales and lower scores on the dyspnoea scale. Patients with head, neck, and oral cancer exhibited lower scores on the oedema scale alone.ConclusionThe symptom severity declined during the first week in the palliative care unit. In addition, differences in sex and primary cancer sites may contribute to varying degrees of symptom improvement.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12904-016-0105-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

No abstract

This study aims to assess the interactive effect of marital status and shift work on family function. A population-based sample of 1,438 nurses between the ages of 20–45 yr was recruited from Taiwan during the period from July 2005 to April 2006 using a mailed questionnaire. The self-administered questionnaire contained information about demographic data, work status, shift work schedule, and the Family APGAR (Adaptation, Partnership, Growth, Affection, and Resolve) Scale, to evaluate family function. Compared to day shift nurses, non-night and rotation shift nurses had 1.53- and 1.38-fold (95% CI=1.09–2.14 and 1.01–1.88) risk to have poor family function after adjusting for other covariates. Married nurses, by contrast, had a 0.44-fold (95% CI=0.29–0.66) risk to have poor family function compared to single nurses. In addition, married nurses who worked non-night or rotation shifts had a significantly higher percent of poor family function than those married nurses working day shifts; however, similar results were not replicated in single nurses. We concluded that shift work and marital status could influence family function.