Immunogenicity of antigens from the TbD1 region present in M. africanum and missing from "modern" M. tuberculosis: a cross- sectional study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Currently available tools cannot be used to distinguish between sub-species of the <it>M. tuberculosis </it>complex causing latent tuberculosis (TB) infection. <it>M. africanum </it>causes up to half of TB in West- Africa and its relatively lower progression to disease suggests the presence of a large reservoir of latent infection relative to <it>M. tuberculosis</it>.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We assessed the immunogenicity of the TbD1 region, present in <it>M. africanum </it>and absent from "modern" <it>M. tuberculosis</it>, in an ELISPOT assay using cells from confirmed <it>M. africanum </it>or <it>M. tuberculosis </it>infected TB patients without HIV infection in the Gambia.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Antigens from the TbD1 region induced IFNγ responses in only 35% patients and did not discriminate between patients infected with <it>M. africanum </it>vs. <it>M. tuberculosis</it>, while PPD induced universally high responses.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Further studies will need to assess other antigens unique to <it>M. africanum </it>that may induce discriminatory immune responses.</p

Hybridization between wild and cultivated potato species in the Peruvian Andes and biosafety implications for deployment of GM potatoes

The nature and extent of past and current hybridization between cultivated potato and wild relatives in nature is of interest to crop evolutionists, taxonomists, breeders and recently to molecular biologists because of the possibilities of inverse gene flow in the deployment of genetically-modified (GM) crops. This research proves that natural hybridization occurs in areas of potato diversity in the Andes, the possibilities for survival of these new hybrids, and shows a possible way forward in case of GM potatoes should prove advantageous in such areas

Лингвокультурная специфика представления российско-вьетнамских отношений в русскоязычном новостном интернет-дискурсе

Настоящее исследование посвящено описанию лингвокультурной специфики представления российско-вьетнамских отношений в новостном дискурсе. В работе рассматриваются основные аспекты взаимодействия между странами, отраженные в новостных текстах, и средства их репрезентации. В результате проведенного исследования устанавливаются значимые для формирования образа «своей» и «чужой» страны понятия и способы их объективации в языке СМИ.The present study is devoted to the description of the linguocultural particularities of the presentation of Russian-Vietnamese relations in news discourse. The paper studies the main aspects of cooperation between the two countries, reflected in news texts and its means of representation. As a result of the recent study, significant notions and methods of objectification in media’s language are stated for the formation of images of “our” and “their” country

Student Satisfaction and Quality Improvement for an Alzheimer’s Virtual Interprofessional Training (AVIT) Program

Learning Objectives Identify key areas of focus for addressing student satisfaction in 3-DVW IPE simulations Discuss specific quality improvement strategies targeting student satisfaction and engagement based on the Flexible Learning Model Apply findings of the continuous quality improvement (CQI) strategies used in the AVIT 3-D virtual world simulation to their own approaches to CQI for virtual simulation

Evidence for directional selection at a novel major histocompatibility class I marker in wild common frogs (Rana temporaria) exposed to a viral pathogen (Ranavirus).

(c) 2009 Teacher et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.Whilst the Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) is well characterized in the anuran Xenopus, this region has not previously been studied in another popular model species, the common frog (Rana temporaria). Nor, to date, have there been any studies of MHC in wild amphibian host-pathogen systems. We characterise an MHC class I locus in the common frog, and present primers to amplify both the whole region, and specifically the antigen binding region. As no more than two expressed haplotypes were found in over 400 clones from 66 individuals, it is likely that there is a single class I locus in this species. This finding is consistent with the single class I locus in Xenopus, but contrasts with the multiple loci identified in axolotls, providing evidence that the diversification of MHC class I into multiple loci likely occurred after the Caudata/Anura divergence (approximately 350 million years ago) but before the Ranidae/Pipidae divergence (approximately 230 mya). We use this locus to compare wild populations of common frogs that have been infected with a viral pathogen (Ranavirus) with those that have no history of infection. We demonstrate that certain MHC supertypes are associated with infection status (even after accounting for shared ancestry), and that the diseased populations have more similar supertype frequencies (lower F(ST)) than the uninfected. These patterns were not seen in a suite of putatively neutral microsatellite loci. We interpret this pattern at the MHC locus to indicate that the disease has imposed selection for particular haplotypes, and hence that common frogs may be adapting to the presence of Ranavirus, which currently kills tens of thousands of amphibians in the UK each year

Success Factors of European Syndromic Surveillance Systems: A Worked Example of Applying Qualitative Comparative Analysis

Introduction: Syndromic surveillance aims at augmenting traditional public health surveillance with timely information. To gain a head start, it mainly analyses existing data such as from web searches or patient records. Despite the setup of many syndromic surveillance systems, there is still much doubt about the benefit of the approach. There are diverse interactions between performance indicators such as timeliness and various system characteristics. This makes the performance assessment of syndromic surveillance systems a complex endeavour. We assessed if the comparison of several syndromic surveillance systems through Qualitative Comparative Analysis helps to evaluate performance and identify key success factors. Materials and Methods: We compiled case-based, mixed data on performance and characteristics of 19 syndromic surveillance systems in Europe from scientific and grey literature and from site visits. We identified success factors by applying crisp-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis. We focused on two main areas of syndromic surveillance application: seasonal influenza surveillance and situational awareness during different types of potentially health threatening events. Results: We found that syndromic surveillance systems might detect the onset or peak of seasonal influenza earlier if they analyse non-clinical data sources. Timely situational awareness during different types of events is supported by an automated syndromic surveillance system capable of analysing multiple syndromes. To our surprise, the analysis of multiple data sources was no key success factor for situational awareness. Conclusions: We suggest to consider these key success factors when designing or further developing syndromic surveillance systems. Qualitative Comparative Analysis helped interpreting complex, mixed data on small-N cases and resulted in concrete and practically relevant findings

A preliminary report of an educational intervention in practice management

BACKGROUND: Practice management education continues to evolve, and little information exists regarding its curriculum design and effectiveness for resident education. We report the results of an exploratory study of a practice management curriculum for primary care residents. METHODS: After performing a needs assessment with a group of primary care residents at Wright State University, we designed a monthly seminar series covering twelve practice management topics. The curriculum consisted of interactive lectures and practice-based application, whenever possible. We descriptively evaluated two cognitive components (practice management knowledge and skills) and the residents' evaluation of the curriculum. RESULTS: The mean correct on the knowledge test for this group of residents was 74% (n = 12) and 91% (n = 12) before and after the curriculum, respectively. The mean scores for the practice management skill assessments were 2.62 before (n = 12), and 3.65 after (n = 12) the curriculum (modified Likert, 1 = strongly disagree, 5 = strongly agree). The residents rated the curriculum consistently high. CONCLUSIONS: This exploratory study suggests that this curriculum may be useful in developing knowledge and skills in practice management for primary care residents. This study suggests further research into evaluation of this curriculum may be informative for practice-based education

Groups without cultured representatives dominate eukaryotic picophytoplankton in the oligotrophic South East Pacific Ocean

Background: Photosynthetic picoeukaryotes (PPE) with a cell size less than 3 µm play a critical role in oceanic primary production. In recent years, the composition of marine picoeukaryote communities has been intensively investigated by molecular approaches, but their photosynthetic fraction remains poorly characterized. This is largely because the classical approach that relies on constructing 18S rRNA gene clone libraries from filtered seawater samples using universal eukaryotic primers is heavily biased toward heterotrophs, especially alveolates and stramenopiles, despite the fact that autotrophic cells in general outnumber heterotrophic ones in the euphotic zone. Methodology/Principal Findings: In order to better assess the composition of the eukaryotic picophytoplankton in the South East Pacific Ocean, encompassing the most oligotrophic oceanic regions on earth, we used a novel approach based on flow cytometry sorting followed by construction of 18S rRNA gene clone libraries. This strategy dramatically increased the recovery of sequences from putative autotrophic groups. The composition of the PPE community appeared highly variable both vertically down the water column and horizontally across the South East Pacific Ocean. In the central gyre, uncultivated lineages dominated: a recently discovered clade of Prasinophyceae (IX), clades of marine Chrysophyceae and Haptophyta, the latter division containing a potentially new class besides Prymnesiophyceae and Pavlophyceae. In contrast, on the edge of the gyre and in the coastal Chilean upwelling, groups with cultivated representatives (Prasinophyceae clade VII and Mamiellales) dominated. Conclusions/Significance: Our data demonstrate that a very large fraction of the eukaryotic picophytoplankton still escapes cultivation. The use of flow cytometry sorting should prove very useful to better characterize specific plankton populations by molecular approaches such as gene cloning or metagenomics, and also to obtain into culture strains representative of these novel groups

Monensin Improves the Effectiveness of meso-Dimercaptosuccinate when Used to Treat Lead Intoxication in Rats

Among divalent cations, the ionophore monensin shows high activity and selectivity for the transport of lead ions (Pb(2+)) across phospholipid membranes. When coadministered to rats that were receiving meso-dimercaptosuccinate for treatment of Pb intoxication, monensin significantly increased the amount of Pb removed from femur, brain, and heart. It showed a tendency to increase Pb removal from liver and kidney but had no effect of this type in skeletal muscle. Tissue levels of several physiologic (calcium, cobalt, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, molybdenum, zinc) and nonphysiologic (arsenic, cadmium, chromium, nickel, strontium) elements were also determined after the application of these compounds. Among the physiologic elements, a number of significant changes were seen, including both rising and falling values. The size of these changes was typically around 20% compared with control values, with the largest examples seen in femur. These changes often tended to reverse those of similar size that had occurred during Pb administration. Among the nonphysiologic elements, which were present in trace amounts, the changes were smaller in number but larger in size. None of these changes appears likely to be significant in terms of toxicity, and there were no signs of overt toxicity under any of the conditions employed. Monensin may act by cotransporting Pb(2+) and OH(–) ions out of cells, in exchange for external sodium ions. The net effect would be to shuttle intracellular Pb(2+) to extracellular dimercaptosuccinic acid thereby enhancing its effectiveness. Thus, monensin may be useful for the treatment of Pb intoxication when applied in combination with hydrophilic Pb(2+) chelators