Objectives: To describe Chinese nursing home residents' knowledge of advance directive (AD) and end-oflife care preferences and to explore the predictors of their preference for AD. Design: Population-based cross-sectional survey. Settings: Nursing homes (n ¼ 31) in Wuhan, Mainland Southern China. Participants: Cognitively intact nursing home residents (n ¼ 467) older than 60 years. Measures: Face-to-face questionnaire interviews were used to collect information on demographics, chronic diseases, life-sustaining treatment, AD, and other end-of-life care preferences. Results: Most (95.3%) had never heard of AD, and fewer than one-third (31.5%) preferred to make an AD. More than half (52.5%) would receive life-sustaining treatment if they sustained a life-threatening condition. Fewer than one-half (43.3%) chose doctors as the surrogate decision maker about lifesustaining treatment, whereas most (78.8%) nominated their eldest son or daughter as their proxy. More than half (58.2%) wanted to live and die in their present nursing homes. The significant independent predictors of AD preference included having heard of AD before (odds ratio [OR] 9.323), having definite answers of receiving (OR 3.433) or rejecting (OR 2.530) life-sustaining treatment, and higher Cumulative Illness Rating Scale score (OR 1.098). Conclusions: Most nursing home residents did not know about AD, and nearly one-third showed positive attitudes toward it. AD should be promoted in mainland China. Education of residents, the proxy decision maker, and nursing home staff on AD is very important. Necessary policy support, legislation, or practice guidelines about AD should be made with flexibility to respect nursing home residents' rights in mainland China.With the aging of China's population, the demand for nursing home care is increasing.1 In Wuhan, a southern city in Hubei province, Mainland China, there are approximately 9.79 million people.
Mycoplasmas are a group of microbes that can cause human diseases. The mycoplasmal lipoprotein p37 promotes cancer metastasis, at least in part, by interacting with EGFR. In this study, we show that the p37 lipoprotein binds another member of the EGFR family, HER2, through the HER2 extracellular domain. The binding of p37-HER2 promotes phosphorylation of HER2 and activates the downstream signaling molecule Erk1/2. Because the HER2 signaling pathway contributes to breast tumor metastasis, our results imply that the mycoplasmal lipoprotein p37 may also be involved in breast cancer metastasis. This study contributes to our understanding of mycoplasmal lipoprotein p37 function and its potential involvement in tumorigenesis.
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