This paper presents the results of a review of studies employing interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) obtained from three of the major databases: web of science, medline and psychinfo. ...Between 1996 and 2008, 293 papers presenting empirical IPA studies were published. Trends over time are presented. This is followed by a categorisation of the content area of that corpus. The biggest specific area of research within IPA is illness experience, it forming the subject of nearly a quarter of the corpus. The paper then describes a guide for evaluating IPA research which is used to assess the illness experience papers. Detailed summaries are provided of the papers rated as good. These summaries describe the substantive findings as well as the markers of high quality. The paper finishes with a summary of core features of high-quality IPA work.
In this article, I present a rebuttal of Max Van Manen’s critique of interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). Unfortunately, Van Manen’s piece contains a series of misrepresentations of IPA ...and its history. Here, I answer these misrepresentations and present IPA as subscribing, and contributing, to a broad and holistic phenomenology concerned with both prereflective and reflective domains of lived experience. I contend that IPA has much to offer to our understanding of the experience of health and illness, where participants are spontaneously and actively engaged in making sense of the significant and unexpected things that happen to them.
Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) is a qualitative approach which aims to provide detailed examinations of personal lived experience. It produces an account of lived experience in its ...own terms rather than one prescribed by pre-existing theoretical preconceptions and it recognises that this is an interpretative endeavour as humans are sense-making organisms. It is explicitly idiographic in its commitment to examining the detailed experience of each case in turn, prior to the move to more general claims. IPA is a particularly useful methodology for examining topics which are complex, ambiguous and emotionally laden. Pain is a prime exemplar of such a phenomenon: elusive, involving complex psycho-somatic interactions and difficult to articulate. In addition to the 1998 article, published in this Special Issue, two further papers are suggested that the interested reader might wish to look out for.
The gut microbiota is a highly complex community which evolves and adapts to its host over a lifetime. It has been described as a virtual organ owing to the myriad of functions it performs, including ...the production of bioactive metabolites, regulation of immunity, energy homeostasis and protection against pathogens. These activities are dependent on the quantity and quality of the microbiota alongside its metabolic potential, which are dictated by a number of factors, including diet and host genetics. In this regard, the gut microbiome is malleable and varies significantly from host to host. These two features render the gut microbiome a candidate 'organ' for the possibility of precision microbiomics - the use of the gut microbiome as a biomarker to predict responsiveness to specific dietary constituents to generate precision diets and interventions for optimal health. With this in mind, this two-part review investigates the current state of the science in terms of the influence of diet and specific dietary components on the gut microbiota and subsequent consequences for health status, along with opportunities to modulate the microbiota for improved health and the potential of the microbiome as a biomarker to predict responsiveness to dietary components. In particular, in Part I, we examine the development of the microbiota from birth and its role in health. We investigate the consequences of poor-quality diet in relation to infection and inflammation and discuss diet-derived microbial metabolites which negatively impact health. We look at the role of diet in shaping the microbiome and the influence of specific dietary components, namely protein, fat and carbohydrates, on gut microbiota composition.
In this article I offer a theoretical account of interpretative phenomenological analysis's (IPA's) position in relation to meaning-making by participant and researcher. In doing this, I draw on a ...range of theoretical writing on meaning. I then apply these ideas to a series of empirical studies on pain which I have been involved in. The intention, therefore, is for the article to contribute a theoretically informed and empirically grounded extension to the literature on IPA.
Existing guidance on evaluating the quality of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) research has provided criteria to assess work as good, acceptable or unacceptable. Given that IPA has ...become a well-established member of the qualitative methods repertoire, we think it is valuable now to focus in much more detail on the particular qualities that are the hallmark of high quality IPA research. Here we present four such qualities which are discussed in detail and illustrated through the use of exemplars from excellent IPA work. The qualities are: constructing a compelling, unfolding narrative; developing a vigorous experiential and/or existential account; close analytic reading of participants' words; attending to convergence and divergence. Finally, the four qualities are briefly considered in relation to the theoretical underpinnings of IPA.
Two sets of innate immune proteins detect pathogens. Pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) bind microbial products, whereas guard proteins detect virulence factor activities by the surveillance of ...homeostatic processes within cells. While PRRs are well known for their roles in many types of infections, the role of guard proteins in most infectious contexts remains less understood. Here, we demonstrated that inhibition of protein synthesis during viral infection is sensed as a virulence strategy and initiates pyroptosis in human keratinocytes. We identified the BCL-2 family members MCL-1 and BCL-xL as sensors of translation shutdown. Virus- or chemical-induced translation inhibition resulted in MCL-1 depletion and inactivation of BCL-xL, leading to mitochondrial damage, caspase-3-dependent cleavage of gasdermin E, and release of interleukin-1α (IL-1α). Blocking this pathway enhanced virus replication in an organoid model of human skin. Thus, MCL-1 and BCL-xL can act as guard proteins within barrier epithelia and contribute to antiviral defense.
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•Viral inhibition of translation drives caspase-3/GSDME-dependent pyroptosis•Bcl-2 family members MCL-1/BCL-xL serve as guards of protein synthesis activity•HSV-1 ICP27 inhibits GSDME-mediated pyroptosis•Inhibition of pyroptosis enhances viral replication in human skin organoids
Pattern recognition receptors are well known for their roles in antiviral defense, but the role of guard proteins in sensing viral infection is less clear. Orzalli et al. reveal that the Bcl-2 family members Mcl-1 and Bcl-xL act as guard proteins of virus-mediated protein synthesis inhibition and trigger pyroptosis upon inactivation.
Abstract
Nuclear architecture influences gene regulation and cell identity by controlling the three-dimensional organization of genes and their distal regulatory sequences, which may be far apart in ...linear space. The genome is functionally and spatially segregated in the eukaryotic nucleus with transcriptionally active regions in the nuclear interior separated from repressive regions, including those at the nuclear periphery. Here, we describe the identification of a novel type of nuclear peripheral chromatin domain that is enriched for tissue-specific transcriptional enhancers. Like other chromatin at the nuclear periphery, these regions are marked by H3K9me2. But unlike the nuclear peripheral Lamina-Associated Domains (LADs), these novel, enhancer-rich domains have limited Lamin B interaction. We therefore refer to them as H3K9me2-Only Domains (KODs). In mouse embryonic stem cells, KODs are found in Hi-C-defined A compartments and feature relatively accessible chromatin. KODs are characterized by low gene expression and enhancers located in these domains bear the histone marks of an inactive or poised state. These results indicate that KODs organize a subset of inactive, tissue-specific enhancers at the nuclear periphery. We hypothesize that KODs may play a role in facilitating and perhaps constraining the enhancer-promoter interactions underlying spatiotemporal regulation of gene expression programs in differentiation and development.
Graphical Abstract
Graphical Abstract
Histone H3K9me2-Only Domains (KODs) represent a subclass of peripheral chromatin with minimal nuclear lamina contact and enrichment for tissue-specific enhancers.
Influenza is often complicated by bacterial pathogens that colonize the nasopharynx and invade the middle ear and/or lung epithelium. Incidence and pathogenicity of influenza-bacterial coinfections ...are multifactorial processes that involve various pathogenic virulence factors and host responses with distinct site- and strain-specific differences. Animal models and kinetic models have improved our understanding of how influenza viruses interact with their bacterial co-pathogens and the accompanying immune responses. Data from these models indicate that considerable alterations in epithelial surfaces and aberrant immune responses lead to severe inflammation, a key driver of bacterial acquisition and infection severity following influenza. However, further experimental and analytical studies are essential to determining the full mechanistic spectrum of different viral and bacterial strains and species and to finding new ways to prevent and treat influenza-associated bacterial coinfections. Here, we review recent advances regarding transmission and disease potential of influenza-associated bacterial infections and discuss the current gaps in knowledge.
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