Medical services of a mulicultural summer camp event: experiences from the 22nd World Scout Jamboree, Sweden 2011

Background: Prevention and treatment of medical issues are the main task of a health service at a youth camp. However, only few reports about organisation and implementation of camp health care are available. This makes it difficult for future camp directors to plan and estimate the health care needed for a certain camp size. We summarize the experience in planning and running health care for the 22nd World Scout Jamboree (WSJ) 2011 in Sweden. Methods: During the WSJ, 40,061 participants from 146 nations were gathered in southern Sweden to a 12 day summer camp. Another 31,645 people were visitors. Members for the medical service were 153 volunteering medical professionals with different language and cultural backgrounds from 18 different countries. Results: Of 40,061 participants 2,893 (7.3%) needed medical assistance. We found an equal distribution of cases to approximately one third surgical, one third medical and one third unspecified cases. Much energy was spent on health prevention, hygiene measures and organizing of psychological support. Conclusions: A youth camp with a multicultural population and a size of a small city demands flexible staff with high communication skills. Special attention should be paid in prevention of contagious diseases and taking care of psychological issues

Emerging knowledge of regulatory roles of D-amino acids in bacteria

The D-enantiomers of amino acids have been thought to have relatively minor functions in biological processes. While L-amino acids clearly predominate in nature, D-amino acids are sometimes found in proteins that are not synthesized by ribosomes, and D-Ala and D-Glu are routinely found in the peptidoglycan cell wall of bacteria. Here, we review recent findings showing that D-amino acids have previously unappreciated regulatory roles in the bacterial kingdom. Many diverse bacterial phyla synthesize and release D-amino acids, including D-Met and D-Leu, which were not previously known to be made. These noncanonical D-amino acids regulate cell wall remodeling in stationary phase and cause biofilm dispersal in aging bacterial communities. Elucidating the mechanisms by which D-amino acids govern cell wall remodeling and biofilm disassembly will undoubtedly reveal new paradigms for understanding how extracytoplasmic processes are regulated as well as lead to development of novel therapeutics