Mortality following Campylobacter infection: a registry-based linkage study

BACKGROUND: Campylobacteriosis is one of the most commonly identified causes of bacterial diarrheal disease and a common cause of gastroenteritis in travellers from developed nations. Despite the widespread occurrence, there is little information on Campylobacter mortality. METHODS: Mortality among a cohort of Campylobacter cases were compared with the general population 0–1, 1–3, 3–12 and more than 12 month after the onset of the illness. The cases were sub-grouped according to if they had been infected domestically or abroad. RESULTS: The standardized mortality ratio for cases infected domestically was 2.9 (95% CI: 1.9–4.0) within the first month following the illness. The risk then gradually diminished and approached 1.0 after one year or more have passed since the illness. This initial excess risk was not attributable to any particular age group (such as the oldest). In contrast, for those infected abroad, a lower standardized mortality ratio 0.3 (95% CI: 0.04–0.8) was shown for the first month after diagnosis compared to what would be expected in the general population. CONCLUSION: Infection with Campylobacter is associated with an increased short-term risk of death among those who were infected domestically. On the contrary, for those infected abroad a lower than expected risk of death was evident. We suggest that the explanation behind this is a "healthy traveler effect" among imported cases, and effects of a more frail than average population among domestic cases

Identifying work ability promoting factors for home care aides and assistant nurses

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In workplace health promotion, all potential resources needs to be taken into consideration, not only factors relating to the absence of injury and the physical health of the workers, but also psychological aspects. A dynamic balance between the resources of the individual employees and the demands of work is an important prerequisite. In the home care services, there is a noticeable trend towards increased psychosocial strain on employees at work. There are a high frequency of work-related musculoskeletal disorders and injuries, and a low prevalence of sustainable work ability. The aim of this research was to identify factors promoting work ability and self-efficacy in care aides and assistant nurses within home care services.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This study is based on cross-sectional data collected in a municipality in northern Sweden. Care aides (n = 58) and assistant nurses (n = 79) replied to a self-administered questionnaire (response rate 46%). Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were performed to assess the influence of several independent variables on self-efficacy (model 1) and work ability (model 2) for care aides and assistant nurses separately.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Perceptions of personal safety, self-efficacy and musculoskeletal wellbeing contributed to work ability for assistant nurses (R²adj of 0.36, <it>p </it>< 0.001), while for care aides, the safety climate, seniority and age contributed to work ability (R²adj of 0.29, <it>p </it>= 0.001). Self-efficacy was associated with the safety climate and the physical demands of the job in both professions (R²adj of 0.24, <it>p </it>= 0.003 for care aides), and also by sex and age for the assistant nurses (R²adj of 0.31, <it>p </it>< 0.001).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The intermediate factors contributed differently to work ability in the two professions. Self-efficacy, personal safety and musculoskeletal wellbeing were important for the assistant nurses, while the work ability of the care aides was associated with the safety climate, but also with the non-changeable factors age and seniority. All these factors are important to acknowledge in practice and in further research. Proactive workplace interventions need to focus on potentially modifiable factors such as self-efficacy, safety climate, physical job demands and musculoskeletal wellbeing.</p

Teaching and Learning of Calculus

This survey focuses on the main trends in the field of calculus education. Despite their variety, the findings reveal a cornerstone issue that is strongly linked to the formalism of calculus concepts and to the difficulties it generates in the learning and teaching process. As a complement to the main text, an extended bibliography with some of the most important references on this topic is included. Since the diversity of the research in the field makes it difficult to produce an exhaustive state-of-the-art summary, the authors discuss recent developments that go beyond this survey and put forward new research questions

Small Molecule Inhibitors of the Programmed Cell Death 1 Programmed Death Ligand 1 PD 1 PD L1 Interaction via Transiently Induced Protein States and Dimerization of PD L1

Blockade of the PD-1/PD-L1 immune checkpoint pathway with monoclonal antibodies has provided significant advances in cancer treatment. The antibody-based immunotherapies carry a number of disadvantages such as the high cost of the antibodies, their limited half-life, and immunogenicity. Development of small-molecule PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors that could overcome these drawbacks is slow because of the incomplete structural information for this pathway. The first chemical PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors have been recently disclosed by Bristol-Myers Squibb. Here we present NMR and X-ray characterization for the two classes of these inhibitors. The X-ray structures of the PD-L1/inhibitor complexes reveal one inhibitor molecule located at the center of the PD-L1 homodimer, filling a deep hydrophobic channel-like pocket between two PD-L1 molecules. Derivatives of (2-methyl-3-biphenylyl)methanol exhibit the structures capped on one side of the channel, whereas the compounds based on [3-(2,3-dihydro-1,4-benzodioxin-6-yl)-2-methylphenyl]methanol induce an enlarged interaction interface that results in the open "face-back" tunnel through the PD-L1 dimer

The potential of a task for professional development across national contexts

One of the challenges for professional development is to connect the learning of new teaching strategies or pedagogies with teachers’ practices within the classroom. Teachers should feel the need and have the resources to adopt new ideas and to implement them in their daily practice. Classroom materials, like tasks for students, can play a crucial role in this implementation process. Tasks have the potential to reflect innovative aims, like inquiry-based learning (IBL) or using workplace contexts, and to inspire and support teachers in implementing these aims. However, whether a teacher recognizes and exploits this potential of a task and how she/he transforms it into her/his teaching is a complex process and highly depends on the adaptability of the task to his or her practice (Remillard, 2005). This seems especially the case when a task is developed for use across various European countries. We will present one task that is used for investigating the possibilities for implementing IBL in workplace contexts (the aim of the Mascil project) in four countries, Greece, Spain, the Netherlands and Romania. In Greece the adaptation and use of this task in the classroom took place in a master’s course in Mathematics Education with prospective teachers. In Spain a group of researchers and one teacher worked together for optimizing and implementing the task. In the Netherlands an experienced teacher implemented the task to experiment with inquiry based-learning in connection with the world of work. In Romania the task was first introduced at a professional development course, where teachers had to solve the problem and then discuss the solutions and possible teaching strategies. Next, these teachers took the task and implemented it on levels varying from primary school to a master's course in Mathematics Education. We sketch these national contexts and provide rich descriptions of the cycle of designing, implementing and reflecting on the task and its use in actual lessons. With these experiences we reflect on possibilities and limitations of using one task across countries for in-service and pre-service professional development on a European level

The potential of a task for professional development across national contexts

One of the challenges for professional development is to connect the learning of new teaching strategies or pedagogies with teachers’ practices within the classroom. Teachers should feel the need and have the resources to adopt new ideas and to implement them in their daily practice. Classroom materials, like tasks for students, can play a crucial role in this implementation process. Tasks have the potential to reflect innovative aims, like inquiry-based learning (IBL) or using workplace contexts, and to inspire and support teachers in implementing these aims. However, whether a teacher recognizes and exploits this potential of a task and how she/he transforms it into her/his teaching is a complex process and highly depends on the adaptability of the task to his or her practice (Remillard, 2005). This seems especially the case when a task is developed for use across various European countries. We will present one task that is used for investigating the possibilities for implementing IBL in workplace contexts (the aim of the Mascil project) in four countries, Greece, Spain, the Netherlands and Romania. In Greece the adaptation and use of this task in the classroom took place in a master’s course in Mathematics Education with prospective teachers. In Spain a group of researchers and one teacher worked together for optimizing and implementing the task. In the Netherlands an experienced teacher implemented the task to experiment with inquiry based-learning in connection with the world of work. In Romania the task was first introduced at a professional development course, where teachers had to solve the problem and then discuss the solutions and possible teaching strategies. Next, these teachers took the task and implemented it on levels varying from primary school to a master's course in Mathematics Education. We sketch these national contexts and provide rich descriptions of the cycle of designing, implementing and reflecting on the task and its use in actual lessons. With these experiences we reflect on possibilities and limitations of using one task across countries for in-service and pre-service professional development on a European level