A novel isoxazole compound CM2-II-173 inhibits the invasivephenotype of triple-negative breast cancer cells

Invasion and metastasis are important hallmarks of breast cancer and are the leading cause of patient mortality.Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is an aggressive type of breast cancer characterized by a poor prognosis and a lackof effective targeted therapies. The present study investigated the inhibitory effect of a novel FTY720 derivative on theinvasive phenotype of TNBC cells. Here, we showed that a novel compound with an isoxazole ring, 4-(3-Decylisoxazol-5-yl)-1-hydroxy-2-(hydroxymethyl)butan-2-aminium chloride (CM2-II-173), significantly inhibitedinvasiveness of MDA-MB-231 TNBC cells. Expression of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-9 and invasiveness ofMCF10A normal breast cells induced by sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) were reduced by CM2-II-173 treatment.Activations of pMEK1, pAkt, pERK, and p38 MAPK by S1P were inhibited by treatment with CM2-II-173.Proliferation and anchorage-independent growth of MDA-MB-231 TNBC cells were significantly decreased by CM2-II-173. CM2-II-173 efficiently induced apoptosis in MDA-MB-231 TNBC cells. CM2-II-173 significantly inhibitedinvasive phenotypes of breast, liver, prostate, and ovarian cancer cells. CM2-II-173 exhibited a more potent effect onthe invasiveness of MDA-MB-231 TNBC cells compared to FTY720. Taken together, this study demonstrated thatCM2-II-173 has the potential to be a lead compound that can inhibit cancer progression of not only TNBC cells, butalso of liver, prostate, and ovarian cancer cells.

Development and Evaluation of Korean Nurses’ Core Competency Scale (KNCCS)

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to develop and evaluate a Korean Nurses’ Core Competency Scale (KNCCS). Methods: This methodological research was conducted over two major steps. The first step involved developing a preliminary 70-item KNCCS based on an extensive literature review and the standards and criteria proposed by the Korean Accreditation of Nursing. The second step involved evaluating validity and reliability of the KNCCS. 528 newly graduated nurses recently employed in nine major hospitals were participated in this research for validation. Results: The final KNCCS consisted of 70 items. The exploratory factor analysis identified five subscales under which each item could be categorized: 1) human understanding and communication skills;2) professional attitudes;3) critical thinking and evaluation;4) general clinical performance;and 5) specific clinical performance. Conclusion: The KNCCS shows good reliability and validity. However, the test of both criterion and construct validity were recommended further.

Stroke Management Awareness and Behavior among Nursing Students in Bangladesh

Background: Stroke is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality throughout the world. In Bangladesh, stroke accounts for 27% of deaths, making it the third leading cause of death and disability [1]. Nurses have a critical role to play in reducing death and disability among stroke victims, but many nursing students are not being educated to meet the challenges of this complex condition. Objectives: This study examined undergraduate nursing students’ awareness of strokes and their stroke patient management behaviors. Method: This was a descriptive study that surveyed undergraduate nursing students about their awareness of strokes and stroke patient management behaviors. One hundred and forty-four students were recruited from Dhaka University’s and Rajshahi University’s nursing colleges in Bangladesh. The students completed and returned the Awareness of Stroke Risk Factors, Awareness of Stroke Warning Signs, and Behavior of First Responses to Strokes and Behaviors of Special Managements of Stroke questionnaires between December, 2014 and February, 2015. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and the Pearson’s Product-Moment Correlation-Coefficient. Results: The results showed that nursing students had a moderate awareness level of stroke risk factors (M = 74.24, SD = 12.30) and a very low awareness of stroke warning signs (M = 55, SD = 10.72). In addition, all of the students had a low to very low level of behaviors of special stroke patient management (M = 62.11, SD = 9.75) and a very low level of behaviors of first responses to strokes (M = 0.24, SD = 0.43). There was a significant positive correlation between nursing students’ awareness of stroke risk factors and stroke warning signs (r = 0.247**, p 0.05). In addition, their awareness of stroke warning signs was not correlated with their behaviors of special stroke patient management (r = 0.031, p > 0.05). These findings suggested that nursing students need to increase their awareness level to develop stroke management behaviors in order to improve practicum preparedness. Conclusion: Work-based education must be a part of nursing students’ curricula to increase their awareness of strokes and improve their stroke management behaviors to improve practicum preparedness.

Redesign of Clinical Practicum for End of Life Care with Integrated Perspectives

With the cycling of nursing research, theory, practice, education, and policy making, nursing knowledge has been developed and disseminated. A clinical practicum is a good way to deliver nursing knowledge. Also an area of end-of-life (EOL) care is a good field to integrate nursing knowledge with different perspectives and multiple ways of knowing. The purposes of this paper were 1) to describe nursing knowledge and EOL with an integrated view, 2) to critique the current phenomenon of the field of EOL, and 3) to propose a redesign of the clinical practicum in EOL care. An integrative review was performed as the method of the study. The results showed that the reflection of nursing knowledge from different perspectives regarding EOL may help the nursing discipline develop various nursing knowledge, practice, education, and research. However, this paper shows that recent education is more focused on empirical knowledge, problem-solving approaches with a totality paradigm, and didactic teaching-learning methods. For redesigning the clinical practicum, it is necessary to reestablish a caring relationship between nursing instructors and nursing students. In terms of the teaching-learning process, the human-becoming teaching-learning process is recommended over the nurse-becoming process.