• Title/Summary/Keyword: Life and Death

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Selective and Random Patterning of Programmed Cell Death in Zebrafish Embryonic Development

  • Hwang, Chang-Nam;Kim, Joon;Lee, Sang-Ho
    • Proceedings of the Korean Society of Embryo Transfer Conference
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    • 2002.11a
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    • pp.118-118
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    • 2002
  • Programmed cell death (PCD) is thought as a well-controlled process by which unwanted cells are selectively eliminated. During the last decade many researches have elucidated molecules and their interactions involved in cell death by using largely in vitro induction of cell death or survival signals in a more defined manner, While these critical information and novel findings provide us with clearer understanding of mechanisms underlying cell death, it does by no means explain how PCD occurs and which cells or tissues are affected during normal embryonic development in vivo. In this study, we used zebrafish to examine whether the PCD is occurring selectively or randomly in developing embryos by whole mount in situ TUNEL analysis with specific markers for neural cells. The result revealed that the degree and distribution of TUNEL staining varied considerably throughout gastrulation stage, and there was also a number of TUNEL-negative embryos. Most of TUNEL-positive cells were scattered randomly throughout the blastoderm. During the gastrulation stage about 75 % of the embryos analyzed exhibited more than 5 TUNEL-positive cells. As the dorsal epiblast begins to thicken rather abruptly near the end of gastrulation, TUNEL-positive cells were mainly located along the dorsal side. Although there were some variations in TUNEL staining during segmentation and pharyngeal stages, TUNEL staining continued to be localized to the central nervous system, and was also detected in the sensory organs, trigeminal ganglions, and the primary sensory neurons. High levels of the cell death in developing brain between 20-somite and prim-6 stages are thought to play a role in the morphogenesis and organization of the brain. At prim-16 stage, cell death is considerably reduced in the brain region. Dying cells are mainly localized to the prospective brain region where ectodermal cells are about to initiate neurogenesis. As development progressed, high levels and more reproducible patterns of cell death were observed in the developing nervous system. Intensive TUNEL staining was restricted to the trigeminal ganglions, the primary sensory neurons, and sensory organs, such as olfactory pits and otic vesicles. Thus, PCD patterning in zebrafish embryos occurs randomly at early stages and becomes restricted to certain region of the embryos. The spatio-temporal pattern of PCD during the early embryonic development in zebrafish will provide basic information for further studies to elucidate genes involved in. regulation of PCD largely unknown in vivo during vertebrate embryogenesis.

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Understanding Pediatric Cancer Patients and Their Families (소아암 환아와 가족에 대한 이해)

  • Sin, Min-Seon
    • Korean Journal of Hospice Care
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    • v.6 no.2
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    • pp.1-9
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    • 2006
  • In this thesis, Chapter I Introduction suggested the necessity of this research and defined related terms, and Chapter II defined hospice for children and examined the symptoms of pediatric cancers as well as the general characteristics of pediatric cancer patients. In particular, we surveyed the physical condition, psychological and emotional condition, financial condition, environmental aspect, educational aspect and spiritual aspect of pediatric cancer patients’ families, investigated pediatric cancer patients’ parents and siblings with regard to their understanding of the pediatric cancer patients’ death, and lastly considered spiritual care. Chapter III presented summaries and conclusions. In their developmental stage, pediatric cancer patients lack abilities to express themselves and are highly dependent on their parents, so parents who take care of cancer children have to make hard decisions and cancer children’s families are heavily burdened by the situation of preparing their children’s death and sending them away while denying their death, and for this reason they need help from specialists. That is, for pediatric cancer patients, we need highly experienced pediatricians or nurses skilful in managing young terminal patients as well as hospice counseling and family counselors for consulting on family crises. In particular, there is a keen need of child life support specialists. In addition, clergymen’s help is critical for spiritual care to ease the fear and terror of the unknown world, fear of death, etc. Moreover, in order to prevent cancer children from failing to adjust themselves to school life or peer relation after recovery, hospice service should provide cancer children with opportunities to learn school curriculums and associate with friends.

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The Legal Framework of the Death with Dignity in U.S.A. (존엄사에 대한 미국의 법제)

  • Kim, Jang-Han
    • The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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    • v.9 no.2
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    • pp.53-75
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    • 2008
  • The end of life problem in the United States has been evolved from the development of concept of brain death over last 50 yr. The invention of ventilator and the development of emergency medicine also played a key role to elongate the end stage of life and which caused the American people to ask a question about the patients self determination and refusing the unwarranted medical treatment in the view of the death with dignity. With regard to the patient unable to self determination, surrogate decision was also considered. To guarantee the self determination, The patient self determination act also enacted on the level of Federal regulation in 1990s. But no law has effectively dealt with the situation when medical treatment became futile. Along with the significant debates on literature and court cases. The American Medical Association's Council on Medical and Judical Affairs presented formal opinion and the Texas was the first states to regulate the medical futile situation in 1999. Even though that definition was in controversy, the concept of medical futility mainly focused on the doctors' right to refuse the treatment.

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Involvement of macrophages in germ cell death in the rattestis with acute experimental testicular torsion

  • Moon, Changjong;Shin, Taekyun
    • Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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    • v.44 no.3
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    • pp.329-334
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    • 2004
  • Ischemia/reperfusion(I/R) injury of the rat testis causes germ cell death and infiltration of inflammatory cells. To investigate the mechanism of germ cell death in torsion of the rat testis, apoptosis and macrophage activation were studied using the terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick end-labeling(TUNEL) method and immunohistochemistry in the testes of Sprague-Dawley rats subjected to 1.5 h of ischemia, followed by 0, 1, 3, 6, 12, 24, 48 and 96 h of reperfusion. Apoptotic, TUNEL-positive cells were found at the base of the seminiferous epithelia after I/R. TUNEL-positive cells were significantly increased 6 h after repair of the torsion, and there was a significant peak in apoptosis 24 h after reperfusion, as compared with normal or sham-operated controls. In contrast, histological evidence of germ cell necrosis in the seminiferous tubules was first visible 24 h after reperfusion. In the testis of sham-operated rats, ED2-positive resident macrophages were found diffusely in the interstitial space, while ED1-positive monocyte-like macrophages were rarely found. After I/R, ED1-positive cells were significantly increased beginning 12 h after reperfusion, while ED2-positive immunoreactivity did not change during the experimental period. Together, the results of this study confirmed that increased numbers of ED1-positive macrophages, but not resident ED2-positive macrophages, infiltrated the interstitial space surrounding damaged tubules and induced germcell death.

Reactive Oxygen Species Depletion by Silibinin Stimulates Apoptosis-Like Death in Escherichia coli

  • Lee, Bin;Lee, Dong Gun
    • Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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    • v.27 no.12
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    • pp.2129-2140
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    • 2017
  • Silibinin is the major active component of silymarin, extracted from the medicinal plant Silybum marianum. Silibinin has potent antibacterial activity; however, the exact mechanism underlying its activity has not been elucidated. Here, we investigated the novel mechanism of silibinin against Escherichia coli. Time-kill kinetic assay showed that silibinin possess a bactericidal effect at minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) and higher concentrations (2-and 4-fold MIC). At the membrane, depolarization and increased intracellular $Ca^{2+}$ levels were observed, considered as characteristics of bacterial apoptosis. Additionally, cells treated with MIC and higher concentrations showed apoptotic features like DNA fragmentation, phosphatidylserine exposure, and caspase-like protein expression. Generally, apoptotic death is closely related with ROS generation; however, silibinin did not induce ROS generation but acted as a scavenger of intracellular ROS. These results indicate that silibinin dose-dependently induces bacterial apoptosis-like death, which was affected by ROS depletion, suggesting that silibinin is a potential candidate for controlling bacteria.

Development and Effects of a Community-Based Death Education Program for Older Adults (노년층을 위한 마을단위 죽음준비 교육 프로그램 개발 및 효과)

  • Kim, Sook Nam;Kim, So Young
    • Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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    • v.32 no.4
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    • pp.445-456
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    • 2021
  • Purpose: This study was conducted to investigate the effects of a community-based death education program for older adults. Methods: The study was conducted as a quasi-experimental study with a non-equivalent control group and pretest-posttest design. The subjects were community elders aged over 65 registered at a community health center and were convenience sampled. The experimental group consisted of 33 participants and the control group consisted of 32 participants. Experiments are conducted from June 18 to July 24, 2020. We tested our hypothesis using an independent t-test, and paired t-test. Results: The experimental group had significantly higher scores for psychological well-being than the control group after treatment (t=2.24, p=.028). In general attitude toward the use of life-sustaining technology, however, only the experimental group had a significant difference before and after the experiment with lower scores compared to the control group (t=-5.41, p<.001). Conclusion: We found that the community-based death education program developed in this study was partially effective in improving older adults' psychological well-being and general attitude toward the use of life-sustaining technology.

Bacterial Apoptosis-Like Death through Accumulation of Reactive Oxygen Species by Quercetin in Escherichia coli

  • Min Seok Kwun;Dong Gun Lee
    • Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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    • v.34 no.7
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    • pp.1395-1400
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    • 2024
  • The antimicrobial activity of the natural compounds from plant and food have well discovered since the interest on the beneficial effect of the natural compounds was risen. Quercetin, a flavonoid derived from vegetables, including onions, red leaf lettuces and cherries has been studied for diverse biological characteristics as anti-cancer and anti-microbial activities. The aim of current study is to investigate the specific antibacterial modes of action of quercetin against Escherichia coli. Quercetin decreased the E. coli cell viability and induced the severe damages (oxidative stress, DNA fragmentation) leading to cell death. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation was observed during the process, which we confirmed that oxidative stress was the key action of antibacterial activity of quercetin exerting its influence potently. Based on the results of Annexin V and Caspace FITC-VAD-FMK assay, the oxidative damage in E. coli has led to the bacterial apoptosis-like death in E. coli. To sum up, the contribution of ROS generation exerts crucial impact in antibacterial activity of quercetin.

On the Traditional Dance and Costume in the Toraja

  • Hwang, Oak-Soh
    • International Journal of Costume and Fashion
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    • v.8 no.2
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    • pp.32-49
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    • 2008
  • The Torajan people who started to receive increased attention from the 1990 are one of the many ethnic groups of Indonesia. This paper intends to examine Torajan Ceremonies practied today in the modern world, driven by the Torajan people's age-old perspective of life and death (and the world after) that comes from their background on traditional lifestyle and (animated) folk religion/belief. It focuses on the ceremonial Dances, which is one of the most important element in Torajan Ceremonies, and gain deeper insight through its costumes and ornaments which traditionally revealed the social status of hosts and performers. In ceremony, the most important division is the classification of ritual into Aluk rampe matallo(life facing ritual ) and Aluk rampe matampu? death ritual). So Traditional Toraja dances may be classified into two genres: life related ritual dances and death ritual dances. Especially the funeral ceremonies in Toraja has been rather more famous on its spectacle aspect to outsiders however its relationships to the broader theme of Torajan Ceremonies and ceremonial dances are very less known and sources on this topic are also very scarce. Fortunately, I was able to witness one of such an ritual event. I did see one kind of the funeral rituals which is the most dramatic and symbolically rich performances in Toraja. Here, a brief account of its will highlight some dimension of ceremony, personfood, and potency in Torajan thought and action.