Evaluating the Epidemic Risk Posed by Marek's Disease Virus in Russia

Background: The highly oncogenic avian alpha herpes virus known as Marek's disease virus (MDV) raises concerns about its potential oncogenicity in humans. In this article, authors examine the potential epidemic risks associated with MDV, taking into account the current epidemic and epizootic situation in the Russian Federation, with a particular focus on the modern practices of pig and poultry farming. Given its oncogenic properties, MDV remains a cause for concern in the field of avian herpesviruses.Methods: The study was conducted in 2010-2022 in poultry farms Russian Federation, Republic of Belarus and the Republic of Kazakhstan where authors monitored the rate of vesicular enteritis and MDV. In total, 155 epizootics were examined, including the analysis of 62 epizootics of vesicular enteritis and the population of the studied area exceeded 1 million people.Results: The authors of the study found that vesicular enteritis, distributed over poultry farms in the Russia since 2011, and its safety for the population remains unknown. The increasing incidence of vesicular enteritis was also accompanied by various health issues in contact persons and veterinary personnel, as well as abnormal and in sync increases in infectious laryngotracheitis and MDV in young birds.Conclusion: Authors come to the conclusion that the consequences of COVID-19 are accompanied by a deficiency of folic acid, which in turn leads to a risk of developing diseases associated with DNA viruses.It is concluded that MDV may contribute to the development of reproductive and breast cancers, highlighting the need for increased awareness and attention to the health risks associated with poultry farming and further research in this area.Keywords: Marek's disease virus; Vesicular enteritis; Herpesvirus infection; COVID 19   

The revised Approved Instructional Resources score:An improved quality evaluation tool for online educational resources

BACKGROUND: Free Open-Access Medical education (FOAM) use among residents continues to rise. However, it often lacks quality assurance processes and residents receive little guidance on quality assessment. The Academic Life in Emergency Medicine Approved Instructional Resources tool (AAT) was created for FOAM appraisal by and for expert educators and has demonstrated validity in this context. It has yet to be evaluated in other populations.OBJECTIVES: We assessed the AAT's usability in a diverse population of practicing emergency medicine (EM) physicians, residents, and medical students; solicited feedback; and developed a revised tool.METHODS: As part of the Medical Education Translational Resources: Impact and Quality (METRIQ) study, we recruited medical students, EM residents, and EM attendings to evaluate five FOAM posts with the AAT and provide quantitative and qualitative feedback via an online survey. Two independent analysts performed a qualitative thematic analysis with discrepancies resolved through discussion and negotiated consensus. This analysis informed development of an initial revised AAT, which was then further refined after pilot testing among the author group. The final tool was reassessed for reliability.RESULTS: Of 330 recruited international participants, 309 completed all ratings. The Best Evidence in Emergency Medicine (BEEM) score was the component most frequently reported as difficult to use. Several themes emerged from the qualitative analysis: for ease of use-understandable, logically structured, concise, and aligned with educational value. Limitations include deviation from questionnaire best practices, validity concerns, and challenges assessing evidence-based medicine. Themes supporting its use include evaluative utility and usability. The author group pilot tested the initial revised AAT, revealing a total score average measure intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) of moderate reliability (ICC = 0.68, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0 to 0.962). The final AAT's average measure ICC was 0.88 (95% CI = 0.77 to 0.95).CONCLUSIONS: We developed the final revised AAT from usability feedback. The new score has significantly increased usability, but will need to be reassessed for reliability in a broad population.</p

The Social Media Index as an Indicator of Quality for Emergency Medicine Blogs: A METRIQ Study

Study objective: Online educational resources such as blogs are increasingly used for education by emergency medicine clinicians. The Social Media Index was developed to quantify their relative impact. The Medical Education Translational Resources: Indicators of Quality (METRIQ) study was conducted in part to determine the association between the Social Media Index score and quality as measured by gestalt and previously derived quality instruments. Methods: Ten blogs were randomly selected from a list of emergency medicine and critical care Web sites. The 2 most recent clinically oriented blog posts published on these blogs were evaluated with gestalt, the Academic Life in Emergency Medicine Approved Instructional Resources (ALiEM AIR) score, and the METRIQ-8 score. Volunteer raters (including medical students, emergency medicine residents, and emergency medicine attending physicians) were identified with a multimodal recruitment methodology. The Social Media Index was calculated in February 2016, November 2016, April 2017, and December 2017. Pearson's correlations were calculated between the Social Media Index and the average rater gestalt, ALiEM AIR score, and METRIQ-8 score. Results: A total of 309 of 330 raters completed all ratings (93.6%). The Social Media Index correlated moderately to strongly with the mean rater gestalt ratings (range 0.69 to 0.76) and moderately with the mean rater ALiEM AIR score (range 0.55 to 0.61) and METRIQ-8 score (range 0.53 to 0.57) during the month of the blog post's selection and for 2 years after. Conclusion: The Social Media Index's correlation with multiple quality evaluation instruments over time supports the hypothesis that it is associated with overall Web site quality. It can play a role in guiding individuals to high-quality resources that can be reviewed with critical appraisal techniques