Infidelity, Trust, Commitment, and Marital Satisfaction Among Military Wives During Husbands\u27 Deployment

Over 1.5 million U.S. soldiers have deployed oversees since the beginning of the War on Terror in 2001; consequently, spouses are faced with new physical, emotional, and psychological challenges. Many researchers have documented the effects of deployment on marriages and families. However, few researchers have explored the correlates of trust, marital commitment, and marital satisfaction for wives during deployment. This quantitative study, grounded in risk and resilience theory and interdependence theory, used a web-based survey to investigate the relationship between perceived likelihood of spousal infidelity, trust, marital commitment, and marital satisfaction in a sample of 127 military wives whose husbands were deployed oversees. The \u27Events with Others\u27 questionnaire, Dyadic Trust Scale, Commitment Inventory Revised, Kansas Marital Satisfaction Scale, and Revised Dyadic Adjustment Scale were used. Results indicated that length of deployment did not have a statistically significant impact on marital satisfaction. Bivariate correlation analysis indicated statistically significant relationships among wives\u27 perceived likelihood of spousal infidelity, trust, marital commitment, and marital satisfaction. After controlling for wives\u27 attachment style, marital commitment and trust were significant explanatory variables of marital satisfaction. The findings from this study can inform establishing effective programs to support military marriages during deployment. Such programs will promote social change by improving satisfaction, decreasing relationship conflicts, and reducing the rate of divorce. The Armed Forces may benefit from the results of this study by addressing marital commitment and trust issues prior to deployment, thereby supporting wives, husbands, and children during deployment

Comparative genomics of isolates of a pseudomonas aeruginosa epidemic strain associated with chronic lung infections of cystic fibrosis patients

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is the main cause of fatal chronic lung infections among individuals suffering from cystic fibrosis (CF). During the past 15 years, particularly aggressive strains transmitted among CF patients have been identified, initially in Europe and more recently in Canada. The aim of this study was to generate high-quality genome sequences for 7 isolates of the Liverpool epidemic strain (LES) from the United Kingdom and Canada representing different virulence characteristics in order to: (1) associate comparative genomics results with virulence factor variability and (2) identify genomic and/or phenotypic divergence between the two geographical locations. We performed phenotypic characterization of pyoverdine, pyocyanin, motility, biofilm formation, and proteolytic activity. We also assessed the degree of virulence using the Dictyostelium discoideum amoeba model. Comparative genomics analysis revealed at least one large deletion (40-50 kb) in 6 out of the 7 isolates compared to the reference genome of LESB58. These deletions correspond to prophages, which are known to increase the competitiveness of LESB58 in chronic lung infection. We also identified 308 non-synonymous polymorphisms, of which 28 were associated with virulence determinants and 52 with regulatory proteins. At the phenotypic level, isolates showed extensive variability in production of pyocyanin, pyoverdine, proteases and biofilm as well as in swimming motility, while being predominantly avirulent in the amoeba model. Isolates from the two continents were phylogenetically and phenotypically undistinguishable. Most regulatory mutations were isolate-specific and 29% of them were predicted to have high functional impact. Therefore, polymorphism in regulatory genes is likely to be an important basis for phenotypic diversity among LES isolates, which in turn might contribute to this strain's adaptability to varying conditions in the CF lung

Défis liés à la mise en place des recommandations de la Commission Charbonneau

Huit mois après le dépôt du rapport de la Commission Charbonneau, nous avons souhaité explorer les défis liés à la mise en place des recommandations. Avec un regard constructif, nous nous questionnons sur le fait de savoir à qui incombe le suivi d’un rapport de cette envergure ainsi que les obligations légales liées à cette question et nous nous permettons d’émettre certaines idées liées à une vision globale en matière de reddition de comptes. Tout en partageant nos réflexions inspirées des bonnes pratiques en matière de gestion du risque de fraude, nous présentons la complexité de la mise en place d’une recommandation tels le soutien et la protection des lanceurs d’alerte.Eight months after the tabling of the Charbonneau Commission’s report, we wanted to explore the challenges associated with the implementation of the recommendations. With a constructive look, we question who is responsible for monitoring a report of this size as well as the legal obligations related to this issue and we venture to issue certain ideas in connection with a global vision in terms of accountability. While sharing our thoughts based on best practices in managing fraud risk, we present the complexity of the implementation of a recommendation such as the support and protection of whistleblowers

Assembled genomes for 7 <i>P. aeruginosa</i> isolates of the Liverpool epidemic strain.

1<p>Shotgun libraries of the first 3 strains (UK) were sequenced individually on a quarter (LES400, LESB65) or a half (LES431) 454 plate. Shotgun libraries of the last 4 strains (Ontario, Canada) were barcoded and sequenced on a full 454 plate.</p>2<p><i>De novo</i> assembly was performed with GS De Novo Assembler (Roche); genome finishing was done with Consed <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0087611#pone.0087611-Gordon1" target="_blank">[20]</a>.</p

Non-synonymous SNPs and DIPs among <i>P. aeruginosa</i> LES isolates found in regulatory genes.

<p>*indicates that the polymorphism introduces a stop codon or a frame shift in the protein sequence.</p>1<p>Genes selected have a PseudoCAP annotation that includes terms “Transcriptional regulators” and/or “Two-component regulatory systems” (pseudomonas.com).</p>2<p>Virulence factor database annotation is indicated between parentheses when applicable.</p>3<p>LESL: LESlike.</p

Summary of SNPs and DIPs among <i>P. aeruginosa</i> LES isolates and between LES and laboratory strain PAO1.

1<p>Polymorphisms were identified with CLC Genomics Workbench (CLCbio) with the following criteria: default parameters for base quality, minimum coverage = 6, minimum frequency  = 0.8 for each new genome against reference LESB58 and 0.95 for all LES or LESlike against reference PAO1.</p

Circular genome map of <i>P. aeruginosa</i> LESB58 compared to 7 LES isolates and strain PAO1.

<p>Map and underlying analysis were performed with the CGView Comparison Tool <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0087611#pone.0087611-Grant1" target="_blank">[23]</a>. Rings from the outside inward: LESB58 plus-strand, LESB58 minus-strand, 308 unique non-synonymous polymorphisms among LES isolates, LES400, LES431, LESB65, LESlike1, LESlike4, LESlike5, LESlike7, PAO1 and GC content plot. LES prophages (Pro), genomic islands (GI) and LES specific mini island (MI) are indicated on the outside of the map <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0087611#pone.0087611-Winstanley1" target="_blank">[10]</a>. Orange colored BLAST hits: 90–98% identity, blue colored BLAST hits: 0–90% identity.</p

<i>P. aeruginosa</i> LES accessory genome dendrogram and heatmap.

<p>Strain PAO1 was included as an outgroup. Using Panseq <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0087611#pone.0087611-Laing1" target="_blank">[24]</a>, genomes were fragmented in 500 bp segments (default parameters), which were considered as accessory genome if absent from at least 1 of the 9 genomes analysed. Shades of grey represent percent identity, with white = 0% and black = 100%. The dendrogram is based on a hierarchical cluster analysis (Euclidean distance, method = average, r-project version 2.15.1). * Position 1,720,917 in LESB58 (15 kb gap), adjacent to LES prophage 4; ** Position 3,607,181 in LESB58 (32 kb gap).</p

Swimming, swarming and biofilm formation.

<p>Swimming and swarming: the isolate was considered non-motile when bacterial growth could be observed only at the site of inoculation. Biofilm: mean and standard deviation from 8 wells in a single 96-well microplate assay. Results shown are from 1 of 3 replicate experiments.</p