Various Factors Affecting Students Performances In A Saudi Medical School

Objective: There are various demographic and educational factors that affect the academic performance of undergraduate medical students. The objective of this study is to identify these factors and correlate them to the GPA of the students. Methods: A cross-sectional study design utilizing grade point averages (GPAs) of two cohorts of students in both levels of the pre-clinical phase. In addition, self-administered questionnaire was used to evaluate the effect of these factors on students with poor and good cumulative GPA. Results: Among the various factors studied, gender, marital status, and the transportation used to reach the faculty significantly affected academic performance of students. Students with a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or greater significantly differed than those with a GPA of less than 3.0 being higher in female students, in married students, and type of transportation used to reach the college. Factors including age, educational factors, and type of transportation used have shown to create a significant difference in GPA between male and females. Conclusion: Factors such as age, gender, marital status, learning resources, study time, and the transportation used have been shown to significantly affect medical student GPA as a whole batch as well as when they are tested for gender

Ovine pedomics : the first study of the ovine foot 16S rRNA-based microbiome

We report the first study of the bacterial microbiome of ovine interdigital skin based on 16S rRNA by pyrosequencing and conventional cloning with Sanger-sequencing. Three flocks were selected, one a flock with no signs of footrot or interdigital dermatitis, a second flock with interdigital dermatitis alone and a third flock with both interdigital dermatitis and footrot. The sheep were classified as having either healthy interdigital skin (H), interdigital dermatitis (ID) or virulent footrot (VFR). The ovine interdigital skin bacterial community varied significantly by flock and clinical condition. The diversity and richness of operational taxonomic units was greater in tissue from sheep with ID than H or VFR affected sheep. Actinobacteria, Bacteriodetes, Firmicutes and Proteobacteria were the most abundant phyla comprising 25 genera. Peptostreptococcus, Corynebacterium and Staphylococcus were associated with H, ID and VFR respectively. Sequences of Dichelobacter nodosus, the causal agent of ovine footrot, were not amplified due to mismatches in the 16S rRNA universal forward primer (27F). A specific real time PCR assay was used to demonstrate the presence of D. nodosus which was detected in all samples including the flock with no signs of ID or VFR. Sheep with ID had significantly higher numbers of D. nodosus (104-109 cells/g tissue) than those with H or VFR feet

Towards Better Grafting: SCoT and CDDP Analyses for Prediction of the Tomato Rootstocks Performance under Drought Stress

This study aims to predict the behavior of different tomato rootstocks under drought stress conditions. SCoT and CDDP analyses were employed to characterize the genetic relatedness among a commercial drought-sensitive tomato hybrid (cv. Bark) and four wild tomato accessions (LA2711, LA1995, LA3845, and LA4285) known for their tolerance to adverse conditions. The Bark plants were grafted onto the aforementioned wild accessions and self-grafted as control, and then the behavior of all graft unions was followed under normal and drought stress conditions. Our results showed a general genotype-dependent better growth and yield of heterografts than autografts under all growth conditions. Furthermore, clustering analysis based on growth, yield quantity and quality traits, and the leaf content of minerals, ABA, GA3, and proline, in addition to the activity of APX, POD, and DHAR reflected the same grouping pattern of the studied rootstocks exhibited by SCoT and CDDP. The identical grouping pattern supports the utilization of SCoT and CDDP as a robust screening tool helpful to predict the physiological and agronomical behavior of grafting on different tomato rootstocks. Furthermore, grafting could be a cost-efficient alternative method to improve drought tolerance in sensitive tomato genotypes