Objective To observe the effect of the health education and skills training for caregivers on health status of stroke patients and their family caregivers. Methods Hospitalized stroke patients were divided into the intervention group (n=38) and the control group (n= 36). Both groups received rehabilitation training for 1 month in hospital. The family caregivers of intervention group received Timing It Right education and skills training in addition. All the patients were assessed with the European Stroke Scale (ESS), Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), simple Fugl-Meyer Assessment (FMA), modified Barthel Index (MBI), and the caregivers were assessed with the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) before and 3 months after intervention. Results The scores of ESS, FMA, MBI improved more in intervention group than in the control group after intervention (P<0.05), as well as their caregivers in the items of playing a useful part, under stress, overcoming difficulties, enjoying normal activities, facing up to problems, feeling unhappy and depressed, lossing confidence, thinking of self as worth of GHQ-12 (P<0.05). Conclusion Health education and skills training for family caregivers can improve the health of caregivers, and further improve the function outcome of stroke patients.

G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are a family of cell-surface proteins that play critical roles in regulating a variety of pathophysiological processes and thus are targeted by almost a third of currently available therapeutics. It was originally thought that GPCRs convert extracellular stimuli into intracellular signals through activating G proteins, whereas β-arrestins have important roles in internalization and desensitization of the receptor. Over the past decade, several novel functional aspects of β-arrestins in regulating GPCR signaling have been discovered. These previously unanticipated roles of β-arrestins to act as signal transducers and mediators of G protein-independent signaling have led to the concept of biased agonism. Biased GPCR ligands are able to engage with their target receptors in a manner that preferentially activates only G protein- or β-arrestin-mediated downstream signaling. This offers the potential for next generation drugs with high selectivity to therapeutically relevant GPCR signaling pathways. In this review, we provide a summary of the recent studies highlighting G protein- or β-arrestin-biased GPCR signaling and the effects of biased ligands on disease pathogenesis and regulation.
Bias (Epidemiology)* ; Felodipine ; GTP-Binding Proteins ; Humans ; Ligands ; Pathology* ; Physiology* ; Transducers