The pathogenicity of enteroaggregative <i>Escherichia coli</i>

Strains of enteroaggregative Escherichia coli (EAggEC), characterised by their pattern of adhesion to HEp-2 cells known as the `stacked brick' formation, are a significant cause of chronic diarrhoea in certain under-developed countries. Strains of EAggEC are detected either by a HEp-2 adhesion cell test or by an `aggregative adhesion' gene probe. The pathogenic mechanisms expressed by EAggEC are only poorly understood and the aim of the research described was to obtain a better understanding of how these bacteria cause disease. The adhesion of EAggEC to HEp-2 cells was shown in the majority of strains not to involve fimbriae and was thought to result from physical properties of strains such as charge, since EAggEC adhered to `fixed' HEp-2 cells and readily agglutinated a range of different erythrocytes. Certain strains of EAggEC, which also hybridised with a probe for diffuse adhesion, expressed membrane-associated proteins (MAPs) of 18 or 20 kDa responsible for HEp-2 adhesion. Divalent cations were essential for the expression of the MAPs, which did not contain disulphide bonds or have a quaternary structure. Strains of EAggEC did not express recognised subunit toxins such as Verocytotoxin or E. coli heat-labile toxin, and strains which hybridised with probes for enteroaggregativeh eat-stable toxin-1 did not produce E. coli heat-stable toxin detected by the infant mouse test. Some EAggEC strains (15%) had haemolytic properties. Certain strains expressed type II capsular polysaccharides and approximately 50% of strains expressed an aerobactin-mediated iron uptake system. It was concluded that strains of EAggEC belonged to a very diverse range of serotypes, and it was thought that this heterogeneity resulted from strains of E. coil readily acquiring the genes encoding the EAggEC phenotype. Strains of EAggEC were not associated with a single pathogenic phenotype and the ability of these bacteria to adhere to HEp-2 cells in a `stacked brick'-pattern remains the only common characteristic

Welcome to the Real World Positively Affects Youth Financial Management Skills, Knowledge, and Attitudes

What skills do youth need to succeed in the real world ? This article describes Welcome to the Real World, an active, hands-on program where youth participants explore career opportunities and make lifestyle and budget choices similar to those faced by adults on a daily basis. Participants choose a career, save 10% of their take-home pay, learn skills needed to manage finances, write checks and balance a checkbook, and explore alternatives that would help balance a budget. This program positively influences the financial management skills, knowledge, and attitudes of youth as they prepare for success in the real world

Repurposing of Meropenem and Nadifloxacin for Treatment of Burn Patients?

The escalating number of multidrug resistant pathogens has demanded the swift development of new and potent antibiotics (ref. 2). Metallo-[beta]-lactamases (MBLs) continue to evolve, rendering the latest generation of carbapenem antibiotics useless (ref. 8). SPM-1, a recently discovered MBL, was isolated from a juvenile leukemia patient residing in a hospital in San Palo, Brazil just prior to the patient succumbing to septicemia brought on by Pseudomonas aeruginosa expressing SPM-1 (ref. 8). Screening of the Johns Hopkins Compound library of 1,514 FDA or FAD approved drugs (ref. 1) identified a novel SPM-1 inhibitor that is synergistically compatible with meropenem. Using clinically achievable concentrations, meropenem coupled with nadifloxacin inhibits Pseudomonas aeruginosa expressing SPM-1. This shotgun approach to new drug discovery provided a prompt solution to the grave problem of antibiotic resistant pathogens that are thriving in hospitals today

Is Recess an Achievement Context? An Application of Expectancy-Value Theory to Playground Choices

This study investigated the application of an expectancy-value model to children’s activity choices on the playground at recess. The purpose was to test the prediction that expectancies for success and subjective task values are related to decisions to engage in specific recess activities such as climbing, playing soccer, or skipping rope. Participants included 242 children in grades 1-4 from five schools. Participation in playground activities was assessed using the Activities for Daily Living in Physical Play (ADL-PP) (Watkinson et al., 2001). Task-specific expectancies and values were measured on the playground activities contained in the ADL-PP. The results indicated that children’s perceptions of competence were significantly higher on playground skills that they had identified as most important compared with least important (pCe projet de recherche porte sur l’application d’un modèle de la perception de la valeur sur le choix d’activités que font les enfants dans le parc de jeux à la récréation. L’objectif de la recherche était de tester la prédiction selon laquelle les perceptions relativement à la réussite et les valeurs subjectives sont liées aux décisions de participer à des activités spécifiques pendant la récréation telles que grimper, jouer au soccer, ou sauter à la corde. À l’étude ont participé 242 élèves de la 1re à la 4e année provenant de cinq écoles. La participation aux activités du terrain de jeux a été évaluée selon le Activities for Daily Living in Physical Play (ADLPP) de Watkinson et al., 2001 (Activités pour le quotidien dans les jeux actifs). On a mesuré les perceptions de la valeur qu’attribuaient les enfants aux activités nommées dans la liste de Watkinson et al. Les résultats indiquent que les enfants percevaient que leur compétence quant aux habiletés sur le terrain de jeux étaient bien plus élevée pour celles qu’ils avaient identifiées comme étant plus importantes par rapport à celles auxquelles ils attribuaient moins d’importance (

Development of a Comprehensive Hospital-Based Elder Abuse Intervention: An Initial Systematic Scoping Review

Introduction Elder abuse, a universal human rights problem, is associated with many negative consequences. In most jurisdictions, however, there are no comprehensive hospital-based interventions for elder abuse that address the totality of needs of abused older adults: psychological, physical, legal, and social. As the first step towards the development of such an intervention, we undertook a systematic scoping review. Objectives Our primary objective was to systematically extract and synthesize actionable and applicable recommendations for components of a multidisciplinary intersectoral hospital-based elder abuse intervention. A secondary objective was to summarize the characteristics of the responses reviewed, including methods of development and validation. Methods The grey and scholarly literatures were systematically searched, with two independent reviewers conducting the title, abstract and full text screening. Documents were considered eligible for inclusion if they: 1) addressed a response (e.g., an intervention) to elder abuse, 2) contained recommendations for responding to abused older adults with potential relevance to a multidisciplinary and intersectoral hospital-based elder abuse intervention; and 3) were available in English. Analysis The extracted recommendations for care were collated, coded, categorized into themes, and further reviewed for relevancy to a comprehensive hospital-based response. Characteristics of the responses were summarized using descriptive statistics. Results 649 recommendations were extracted from 68 distinct elder abuse responses, 149 of which were deemed relevant and were categorized into 5 themes: Initial contact; Capacity and consent; Interview with older adult, caregiver, collateral contacts, and/or suspected abuser; Assessment: physical/forensic, mental, psychosocial, and environmental/functional; and care plan. Only 6 responses had been evaluated, suggesting a significant gap between development and implementation of recommendations. Discussion To address the lack of evidence to support the recommendations extracted in this review, in a future study, a group of experts will formally evaluate each recommendation for its inclusion in a comprehensive hospital-based response

Fostering Self Efficacy as an Ethical Mandate in Health Promotion Practice and Research

Self-efficacy, a social psychology concept, is defined as the likelihood of an individual engaging in health behaviors. Correctly understood, authors posit that health care providers and researchers have an ethical mandate to foster self-efficacy in patients. Further, self-efficacy promotes the commonly ascribed moral principles of respect for the person as a being of worth and fosters autonomy. This paper provides an overview of the concept of self-efficacy, provides a brief discussion on the difference between self-esteem and self-efficacy, and discusses its relationship to health promotion and selected moral principles. Health care providers and researchers are challenged to foster self-efficacy among patients and others as a means to facilitate health promotion. The continuous ethical challenge for health care providers, health promotion advocates and researchers is to remain mindful of the complexity of the opportunity to empower others, the privilege to improve the quality of life for others and the responsibility to remain true to the ethical principles at all times. Consideration of self-efficacy as an ethical mandate remains a vital element within health promotion practice and research