Factors associated with nursing home placement of all patients admitted for inpatient rehabilitation in Singapore community hospitals from 1996 to 2005: A disease stratified analysis

10.1371/journal.pone.0082697PLoS ONE812-POLN

Geographic and temporal trends in the molecular epidemiology and genetic mechanisms of transmitted HIV-1 drug resistance:an individual-patient- and sequence-level meta-analysis

Regional and subtype-specific mutational patterns of HIV-1 transmitted drug resistance (TDR) are essential for informing first-line antiretroviral (ARV) therapy guidelines and designing diagnostic assays for use in regions where standard genotypic resistance testing is not affordable. We sought to understand the molecular epidemiology of TDR and to identify the HIV-1 drug-resistance mutations responsible for TDR in different regions and virus subtypes.status: publishe

The impact of sunk cost effects on decision making.

Prior research has shown that when making decisions to carry on a project, decision-makers tend to be influenced by their prior investments. Since prior investments are irrelevant to current investment decisions (Horngren, Foster and Data, 1994), this implies that consideration of sunk cost is non-normative. This sunk cost phenomenon is the subject of our study.ACCOUNTANC

Streptomyces humi sp. nov., an actinobacterium isolated from soil of a mangrove forest

A novel Streptomyces strain, MUSC 119T, was isolated from a soil collected from a mangrove forest. Cells of MUSC 119T stained Gram-positive and formed light brownish grey aerial mycelium and grayish yellowish brown substrate mycelium on ISP 2 medium. A polyphasic approach was used to determine the taxonomic status of strain MUSC 119T, which shows a range of phylogenetic and chemotaxonomic properties consistent with those of the genus Streptomyces. The cell wall peptidoglycan consisted of ll-diaminopimelic acid. The predominant menaquinones were identified as MK-9(H8), MK-9(H6) and MK-9(H4). The polar lipid profile consisted of phosphatidylinositol, phosphatidylethanolamine, glycolipids, diphosphatidylglycerol and four phospholipids. The predominant cellular fatty acids were anteiso-C15:0, iso-C16:0, and anteiso-C17:0. The cell wall sugars were glucose, mannose, ribose and rhamnose. The phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity showed that strain MUSC119T to be closely related to Streptomyces rhizophilus JR-41T (99.0 % sequence similarity), S. panaciradicis 1MR-8T (98.9 %), S. gramineus JR-43T (98.8 %) and S. graminisoli JR-19T (98.7 %). These results suggest that MUSC 119T should be placed within the genus Streptomyces. DNA–DNA relatedness values between MUSC 119T to closely related strains ranged from 14.5 ± 1.3 to 27.5 ± 0.7 %. The G+C content was determined to be 72.6 mol %. The polyphasic study of MUSC 119T showed that this strain represents a novel species, for which the name Streptomyces humi sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain of S. humi is MUSC 119T (=DSM 42174T = MCCC 1K00505T)

Increased Coffee Intake Reduces Circulating HBV DNA and HBsAg Levels in HBeAg-Negative Infection: A Cohort Study

Coffee is hepatoprotective and potentially antiviral; however, its anti-hepatitis B virus (anti-HBV) property is not known in humans. This study investigated the influence of coffee drinking behaviour as well as clinical and biochemical profiles of hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) negative participants on circulating HBV DNA and hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) levels at a 24-week interval. Exactly 114 chronically HBV-infected adult participants were enrolled from the University of Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC), Malaysia. A significant reduction of HBV DNA level was observed in those drinking three or more cups of coffee per day, with a median reduction of 523 IU/mL (P = 0.003). Reduction of HBsAg level was observed in those drinking two cups per day, with a median reduction of 37 IU/mL (P < 0.001). Multivariate analysis showed that increased coffee intake (P = 0.015) and lower ALT level (P = 0.033) were the significant predictors for a lower HBV DNA level, whereas increased coffee intake (P = 0.002) and having a family history of HBV infection (P = 0.021) were the significant predictors for a lower HBsAg level. These data suggest that drinking three cups or more coffee per day reduces circulating HBV DNA and HBsAg levels

Adoption of sustainable agricultural practices among smallholder dairy farmers in Malaysia: contributing factors and smart farming prospects

Adoption of Sustainable Agricultural Practices (SAP) among smallholder dairy farmers in developing countries, especially within the Asia Pacific region remains low. This is probably attributable to the fact that psycho-social factors are not considered during the adoption process. The current study was carried out in order to increase the adoption of SAP in Malaysia, by investigating psycho-social factors among dairy farmers. It adopted the enhanced Theory of Planned Behaviour to investigate smallholder dairy farmers’ intention to uptake SAP in Malaysia. This study applied the Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) to model how psycho-social factors influence farmers’ SAP adoption decisions. A key finding of this study was that farmers who are equipped with the right attitude and belief have the ability to adopt SAP and are inclined to adopt SAP in their farms. Hence, it was proposed that a holistic approach is recommended towards formulating policies and drawing intervention strategies that focus on the farmers’ needs and abilities. This would motivate farmers to make choices that would lead to a change of behaviour towards adopting SAP. Additionally, the producer-led approach adopted in this study provided insights into smallholder dairy farmers’ beliefs and behaviour

Impact of the talent development environment on achievement goals and life aspirations in Singapore

Producing successful athletes in Singapore is a high priority, and the financial rewards for those that make it are great. In light of such an extrinsically motivated structure, the purpose of the current study was to examine the impact of the talent development environment on the goal pursuits and life aspirations of young athletes. Intrinsic goal striving was predicted by a mastery approach and an environment that prioritized long-term development and fundamentals, and provided a good support network. On the contrary, a lack of quality preparation and understanding of athletes promoted extrinsic goal-striving, as did both performance-approach and performance-avoidance goals