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The current study aimed to evaluate pictorial health information (HI) in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patient self-management. Each of 14 literal examples of COPD HI was transformed into three pictorials. The preliminary pictorial COPD HI was validated by 10 experts. In total, 60 patients with COPD and 50 health care professionals (HCPs) were selected to perceive the intended meanings in the pictorial HI. All 42 pictures scored ≥0.8 on the content validity index. Patients chose pictorial HI with descriptions of subjective expressions or those that reflected a patient's actual life, whereas HCPs selected HI that was described in simple, direct, and abstract expressions. Results indicate that HCPs are better suited to provide real life–friendly pictorial HI to patients with COPD. Therefore, it is expected that developing pictograms with patients with COPD could help convey intended meanings. [ Journal of Gerontological Nursing, 48 (10), 41–46.]

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BackgroundIt is well documented that the Blood–Brain barrier (BBB) can be damaged by matrix metalloproteases (MMPs) after intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), but little is known about the mechanism of this effect.Material/MethodsWe established an ICH model in rats by injecting collagenase VII into the striatum. Afterwards, intraperitoneal injection of these rats with 40 mg/kg GM6001 (a MMPs inhibitor). The effects of GM6001 on ICH were investigated by neurological severity score, brain water content, Evans blue staining, hematoxylin-eosin staining, immunohistochemical staining, and Western blot assays.ResultsWe demonstrated that the neurological damage caused by ICH was relieved at 5 and 7 days following administration of GM6001. The impaired BBB induced by ICH was improved in response to GM6001 treatment at around 3 days, as evidenced by alleviated cerebral edema, decreased Evans blue extravasation, and a reduction in inflammatory cellular infiltration. Mechanism analysis revealed that ICH induced the generation of β-dystroglycan cleavage, which could be suppressed by GM6001 treatment. Furthermore, we found that recombinant MMP2 and MMP9 triggered the cleavage of β-dystroglycan in vitro, and this action could be inhibited by GM6001 administration.ConclusionsTaken together, our results suggest that MMPs-mediated cleavage on β-dystroglycan may play an important role in BBB after ICH.