Obstetrics knowledge and skills training as a catalyst for change

Background. Poor emergency obstetric care has been shown by national confidential enquiries into maternal deaths to contribute to a number of maternal deaths in South Africa.Objectives. To assess whether a structured training course can improve knowledge and skills and whether this can influence the capacity of a healthcare facility to provide basic and comprehensive emergency obstetric care signal functions.Methods. A baseline survey was conducted to assess the seven basic emergency obstetric and neonatal care signal functions in 51 community health centres (CHCs) and the nine comprehensive emergency care signal functions in 62 district hospitals (DHs). A re­assessment was conducted 1 year after saturation training had been provided in each district. The delegates were trained using a structured training programme (Essential Steps in Managing Obstetric Emergencies, ESMOE) and their knowledge and skills were tested before and after the training. Saturation training was considered to have been achieved once 80% of the healthcare professionals involved in maternity care had been trained.Results. There was a significant improvement in the knowledge and skills of doctors, namely by 16.8% and 32.8%, respectively, of advanced midwives by 13.7% and 29.0%, and of professional nurses with midwifery by 16.1% and 31.2%. The seven basic emergency care functions improved from 60.8% to 67.8% in the CHCs and from 90.7% to 92.5% in the DHs before and after training. If the two signal functions that are not within the scope of practice of professional nurses with midwifery are excluded (viz. assisted delivery and manual vacuum aspiration), the functionality of CHCs increased from 85.1% to 94.9%.Conclusions. The ESMOE training programme improved knowledge and skills, but there was a modest improvement in the functionality of the facilities. Improvement in functionality requires changes in the structure of the health system, including changing the scope of practice of professional nurses with midwifery and employing more advanced midwives in CHCs.

An osteocalcin-deficient mouse strain without endocrine abnormalities

Osteocalcin (OCN), the most abundant noncollagenous protein in the bone matrix, is reported to be a bone-derived endocrine hormone with wide-ranging effects on many aspects of physiology, including glucose metabolism and male fertility. Many of these observations were made using an OCN-deficient mouse allele (Osc– ) in which the 2 OCN-encoding genes in mice, Bglap and Bglap2, were deleted in ES cells by homologous recombination. Here we describe mice with a new Bglap and Bglap2 double-knockout (dko) allele (Bglap/2p.Pro25fs17Ter) that was generated by CRISPR/Cas9-mediated gene editing. Mice homozygous for this new allele do not express full-length Bglap or Bglap2 mRNA and have no immunodetectable OCN in their serum. FTIR imaging of cortical bone in these homozygous knockout animals finds alterations in the collagen maturity and carbonate to phosphate ratio in the cortical bone, compared with wild-type littermates. However, μCT and 3-point bending tests do not find differences from wild-type littermates with respect to bone mass and strength. In contrast to the previously reported OCN-deficient mice with the Osc− allele, serum glucose levels and male fertility in the OCN-deficient mice with the Bglap/ 2pPro25fs17Ter allele did not have significant differences from wild-type littermates. We cannot explain the absence of endocrine effects in mice with this new knockout allele. Possible explanations include the effects of each mutated allele on the transcription of neighboring genes, or differences in genetic background and environment. So that our findings can be confirmed and extended by other interested investigators, we are donating this new Bglap and Bglap2 double-knockout strain to the Jackson Laboratories for academic distribution

XLIV Konferencja Komitetu Nauk o Żywności i Żywieniu PAN: nauka, technologia i innowacje w żywności i żywieniu

Streszczenia w jęz. angielskimWydarzenie: XLIV Konferencja Komitetu Nauk o Żywności i Żywieniu PAN; Łódź, 3-4 lipca 2019 r.; http://pan.binoz.p.lodz.plOrganizator konferencji: Wydział Biotechnologii i Nauk o Żywności PŁ; Komitet Nauk o Żywności i Żywieniu PAN; Polskie Towarzystwo Technologów ŻywnościProjekt graficzny okładki: Grzelczyk, J.Projekt graficzny okładki: Klewicki, R.Skład: Oracz, J.Za treść zamieszczonych materiałów odpowiadają ich autorzy.Sesje Naukowe Komitetu Nauk o Żywności i Żywieniu Polskiej Akademii Nauk (KNoŻiŻ PAN) są organizowane przez krajowe ośrodki akademickie związane z naukami o żywności i żywieniu w dwuletnich cyklach. Sesje te stanowią największe w skali kraju forum prezentacji najnowszych osiągnięć naukowych i technologicznych w dziedzinie technologii żywności i żywienia człowieka, jak również wymiany poglądów oraz doświadczeń pracowników jednostek naukowych i przedstawicieli przemysłu spożywczego. Tematyka XLIV Sesji dotyczyć będzie szeroko pojętej problematyki związanej z oddziaływaniem żywności i odżywiania na zdrowie człowieka

Peptidoglycan : structure, biological activity and chemical synthesis

The most important component of bacterial cell walls especially Gram-positive bacteria is peptidoglycan, called also murein, PGN. The first time this synonym was used in 1964 by Weidel and Pelzer [1]. Peptidoglycan is present in the outer layer of the cytoplasmic membrane and its structure. The structure of peptidoglycan depends on the bacteria strain. It is estimated that in Gram-negative bacteria, it occupies only about 10–20% of the total area of the cell wall, when in Gram-positive bacteria it is 50 and up to 90% of all space. Problems with isolation with high purity of biological material shows the need for developing techniques for chemical synthesis of peptidoglycan fragments and their analogs. In past few years there has been a growing interest within the synthesis of compounds glycoprotein (glycopeptides, peptidoglycan, etc.). As a basis for the construction of cell walls of many bacteria. Despite intensive research and gain significant knowledge of the physical and biological, chemical synthesis or biosynthesis (Fig. 5 and 6) of peptidoglycan, not so far failed to unambiguously determine its three-dimensional structure. The works of Kelman and Rogers [15] and Dimitriev [20] nearer picture of its structure. However, the time to develop in vivo visualization of cell structure it will be difficult to identify correctly peptidoglycan three-dimensional structure. Due to the important biological roles of murein, many research centers have taken to attempt their chemical synthesis. For biological research began to use chemically synthesized peptidoglycan fragments which guaranteed both uniform and a certain structure. An important roles in the development of methods of chemical synthesis of peptidoglycan had H. Chowdhury work, Fig. 8 [35], Hesek, Fig. 9 and 10 [36, 37], Dziarskiego [38] and Boneca [39] and Inamury [34, 40]

Selected nucleoside antibiotics

Every year there has been a growing increase in infections caused by strains of bacteria resistant to multiple drugs. This prompts scientists to search for new antibiotics that would be able to fight these infections. New therapeutics used in medicine, which offer greater hopes are nucleoside antibiotics. They represent a large family of natural compounds exhibiting a variety of biological functions [1]. These include antifungal, antiviral, antibacterial, insecticides, immunosuppressants or anticancer properties. These broad-spectrum antibiotics can be divided into three main groups: • antibacterial nucleoside antibiotics, responsible for the inhibition of bacterial translocation of phospho-N-acetylpentapeptides, involved in the biosynthesis of peptidoglycan cell wall of bacteria; • antifungal nucleoside antibiotics, which role is to inhibit chitin synthase, or stopping construction of the cell wall of fungi; • antiviral antibiotics nucleoside, their mechanism of action is mainly based on blocking the biosynthesis of proteins by peptide inhibition transferase. In recent years much attention has been focused on the construction, mechanism of action and biosynthesis of antibiotics [1–3]. The development of genetic engineering has opened the way for combinatorial biosynthesis and obtaining new or hybrid compounds. In this work we would like to discuss some of bioactive naturally occurring nucleoside antibiotics, such as tunicamycin (Fig. 6) [19–22], mureidomycin (Fig. 8) [31–34], muramycin (Fig. 9) [36] or capuramycin (Fig. 10) [38]

D-Ribono-1,4-lactone. Part 1, Preparation and seleced derivatives

Sugars are extremely important chiral substrates in organic synthesis. Thanks to the possibility of obtaining them from natural sources, their prices are relatively low which increases their attractiveness. d-Ribono-1,4-lactone is included in these compounds. For years it has enjoyed great interest as a substrate. In the early 1980’s two review articles were published in reputable journals [4, 5]. It has been a long time since these articles were published so we have decided to prepare a more up- -to-date review article in Polish. d-Ribono-1,4-lactone can be synthesized in many ways. The most interesting way seems to be the oxidation with KMnO4 [9] or molecular Br2 [10]. The use of bromine may appear to be harmful to the environment. That is why the search for more environmentally friendly methods is ongoing. However, the new methods are not as sufficiently satisfactory and often more expensive than the conventional, previously named methods. Therefore, the most commonly used method is the oxidation of D-ribose with molecular bromine. Very important derivatives of d-ribonolactone are acetal derivatives: 2,3-O-isopropylidene [10, 16] and 3,4-O-benzylidene derivatives [17]. They are often the starting materials for further synthesis. In the case of the latter compound the proper structure was determined by crystallography many years after its synthesis [18]. Very important group of derivatives are derivatives modificated at C-5: sulphonic [21], fluorine [22], chlorine [23], bromine [16, 24], azide [25] and phosphate [27]. Especially important are 5-bromo-5-deoxy derivatives. Examples of their use for the synthesis of thioalditols and thiosugars are described in the literature. It is also worth mentioning the possibility of synthesis of 1,2-unsaturated [28–30] and 2,3-unsaturated [31] derivatives. Presented examples of derivatives prove that using a d-ribono-1,4-lactone a whole range of derivatives extremely useful for further synthesis of more complex compounds can be obtained

D-Ribono-1,4-lactone. Part 2, Use in organic synthesis – selected reactions

There are many examples of syntheses with d-ribono-1,4-lactone as a substrate. Among all, its biggest advantage is undoubtedly its accessibility. It can be synthesized on a large scale from naturally available raw materials. Its characteristic feature is the stable configuration of individual carbon atoms in multiple reaction conditions. Very important is the presence of a carbonyl moiety, allowing for a variety of additions which is crucial for carbon-carbon bond formation, the most difficult synthesis in organic chemistry. In this article we present selected examples of articles that were published after 1984. In this year, the second article describing the Use of d-Ribonolactone in Organic Synthesis [36] was published. After this time many articles describing the use of the entitled lactone as a substrate in organic synthesis were published. We thought it would be worthwhile to present in Polish a selection of them. C-Glycosides and nucleoside analogs are a particularly important type of synthesized products. Examples of their synthesis are presented in this work, namely, neplanocin A [5], B [31] and F [24], citreovirdin [14], 2-bromopyridin α- and β-d-ribofuranosides [10], 4-deazaformicin A [27] and varitriol [ 33]