235 Do you have questions on how to improve your leadership skills? Do you have a management or administrative problem that stumps you? Have you developed unique insights that helped you improve your leadership skills? If so, consider writing for this column dedicated to improvement of leadership skills at all levels. For more information, e-mail Associate Editor Colleen L. Corish, RN, MN, OCN®...

21 Carmen Jacobs, RN, OCN®, is a research nurse supervisor in the Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology Department at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. Editorial assistance was provided by Meniscus Health Care Communications through an educational grant from Novartis Pharmaceuticals. Digital Object Identifier: 10.1188/09.CJON.21-23 Neuroendocrine Tumors A Rare Finding:...

Tracy K. Gosselin, RN, MSN, AOCN®, is the administrative director in the Department of Radiation Oncology at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, NC. Beatrice Mautner, RN, MSN, OCN®, is a clinical practice coordinator for Valley Radiotherapy Associates Medical Group, Inc., in Chatsworth, CA. (Mention of specific products and opinions related to those products do not indicate or imply endor...

Clinical Challenges provides readers with a forum to discuss creative clinical solutions to challenging patient care problems. Case studies or problem descriptions may be submitted with or without discussion or solutions. References, tables, fi gures, and illustrations can be included. Materials or inquiries should be directed to Oncology Nursing Forum Associate Editor Lori A. Williams, RN, DSN...

Background and Objectives Morinda citrifolia (Noni), an important traditional medicinal plant still used in patients with bone fractures or dislocation to promote connective tissue repair and to reduce inflammation. However, the effects of Noni on bone metabolism and whether it influences the osteogenic differentiation is yet to be clarified. In this study, we investigated the effect of Morinda...

To investigate whether the systematic administration of icariin (ICA) promotes tendon-bone healing after rotator cuff reconstruction in vivo, a total of 64 male Sprague Dawley rats were used in a rotator cuff injury model and underwent rotator cuff reconstruction (bone tunnel suture fixation). Rats from the ICA group (n = 32) were gavage-fed daily with ICA at 0.125 mg/g, while rats in the contr...

Ectopic expression of recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein 2 (rhBMP2) induces osteogenesis, while ectopic expression of rhBMP12 and rhBMP13 induces the formation of tendon-like tissue. Despite their different in vivo activities, all three ligands bound to the type I bone morphogenic protein receptors (BMPRs), activin receptor-like kinase (ALK)-3 and ALK6, and to the type II BMPRs, activ...

BACKGROUND INFORMATION NF-κB signaling pathway plays a complicated role in the biological functions of mesenchymal stem cells. However, the effects of NF-κB pathway on the odonto/osteogenic differentiation of stem cells from apical papilla (SCAPs) remain unclear. The present study was designed to evaluate the effects of canonical NF-κB pathway on the osteo/odontogenic capacity of SCAPs in vitro...

Periodontitis is a kind of chronic inflammatory disease that affects the tooth-supporting tissues. ET-1 is related to periodontitis and involved in the regulation of cytokines, but the mechanisms remain unclear. The aim of this study is to investigate how ET-1 affects proinflammatory cytokine expression and differentiation in human periodontal ligament stem cells (PDLSCs). PDLSCs were isolated ...