Concurrent Outbreak of Norovirus Genotype I and Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli on a U.S. Navy Ship following a Visit to Lima, Peru

An outbreak of norovirus (NoV) genotype I and Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) occurred among US Navy Ship personnel following a visit to Lima, Peru, in June 2008. Visiting a specific area in Lima was significantly associated with illness. While ETEC and NoV are commonly recognized as causative agents of outbreaks, co-circulation of both pathogens has been rarely observed in shipboard outbreaks

Towards a Pathogenic Escherichia coli Detection Platform Using Multiplex SYBR®Green Real-Time PCR Methods and High Resolution Melting Analysis

Escherichia coli is a group of bacteria which has raised a lot of safety concerns in recent years. Five major intestinal pathogenic groups have been recognized amongst which the verocytotoxin or shiga-toxin (stx1 and/or stx2) producing E. coli (VTEC or STEC respectively) have received a lot of attention recently. Indeed, due to the high number of outbreaks related to VTEC strains, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has requested the monitoring of the “top-five” serogroups (O26, O103, O111, O145 and O157) most often encountered in food borne diseases and addressed the need for validated VTEC detection methods. Here we report the development of a set of intercalating dye Real-time PCR methods capable of rapidly detecting the presence of the toxin genes together with intimin (eae) in the case of VTEC, or aggregative protein (aggR), in the case of the O104:H4 strain responsible for the outbreak in Germany in 2011. All reactions were optimized to perform at the same annealing temperature permitting the multiplex application in order to minimize the need of material and to allow for high-throughput analysis. In addition, High Resolution Melting (HRM) analysis allowing the discrimination among strains possessing similar virulence traits was established. The development, application to food samples and the flexibility in use of the methods are thoroughly discussed. Together, these Real-time PCR methods facilitate the detection of VTEC in a new highly efficient way and could represent the basis for developing a simple pathogenic E. coli platform

Placing peer ratings in context: Systematic influences beyond ratee performance

Performance evaluation research indicates that variance in ratings may be attributable to systematic sources beyond the actual performance of the ratee. However, the majority of prior work compares ratings across sources and uses ratings from a single rating event. Using confirmatory factor analysis and multivariate latent growth modeling (MLGM), we specifically examine peer ratings from 740 participants on 5 performance dimensions across 3 distinct performance situations for systematic sources of variance beyond ratee performance. Results demonstrate that both ratee performance and the performance context have systematic effects, with contextual effects varying by how “strong” or “weak” the situation is for a given performance dimension. Furthermore, MLGMresults suggest that the influence of performance dynamism is only meaningfully interpreted when contextual effects are modeled