Mycobacterium tuberculosis lineage 4 comprises globally distributed and geographically restricted sublineages

Generalist and specialist species differ in the breadth of their ecological niches. Little is known about the niche width of obligate human pathogens. Here we analyzed a global collection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis lineage 4 clinical isolates, the most geographically widespread cause of human tuberculosis. We show that lineage 4 comprises globally distributed and geographically restricted sublineages, suggesting a distinction between generalists and specialists. Population genomic analyses showed that, whereas the majority of human T cell epitopes were conserved in all sublineages, the proportion of variable epitopes was higher in generalists. Our data further support a European origin for the most common generalist sublineage. Hence, the global success of lineage 4 reflects distinct strategies adopted by different sublineages and the influence of human migration.We thank S. Lecher, S. Li and J. Zallet for technical support. Calculations were performed at the sciCORE scientific computing core facility at the University of Basel. This work was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (grants 310030_166687 (S.G.) and 320030_153442 (M.E.) and Swiss HIV Cohort Study grant 740 to L.F.), the European Research Council (309540-EVODRTB to S.G.), TB-PAN-NET (FP7-223681 to S.N.), PathoNgenTrace projects (FP7-278864-2 to S.N.), SystemsX.ch (S.G.), the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF; S.N.), the Novartis Foundation (S.G.), the Natural Science Foundation of China (91631301 to Q.G.), and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (5U01-AI069924-05) of the US National Institutes of Health (M.E.)

Medical student changes in self-regulated learning during the transition to the clinical environment

BACKGROUND: Self-regulated learning (SRL), which is learners’ ability to proactively select and use different strategies to reach learning goals, is associated with academic and clinical success and life-long learning. SRL does not develop automatically in the clinical environment and its development during the preclinical to clinical learning transition has not been quantitatively studied. Our study aims to fill this gap by measuring SRL in medical students during the transitional period and examining its contributing factors. METHODS: Medical students were invited to complete a questionnaire at the commencement of their first clinical year (T0), and 10 weeks later (T1). The questionnaire included the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) and asked about previous clinical experience. Information about the student’s background, demographic characteristics and first clinical rotation were also gathered. RESULTS: Of 118 students invited to participate, complete paired responses were obtained from 72 medical students (response rate 61%). At T1, extrinsic goal orientation increased and was associated with gender (males were more likely to increase extrinsic goal orientation) and type of first attachment (critical care and community based attachments, compared to hospital ward based attachments). Metacognitive self-regulation decreased at T1 and was negatively associated with previous clinical experience. CONCLUSIONS: Measurable changes in self-regulated learning occur during the transition from preclinical learning to clinical immersion, particularly in the domains of extrinsic goal orientation and metacognitive self–regulation. Self–determination theory offers possible explanations for this finding which have practical implications and point the way to future research. In addition, interventions to promote metacognition before the clinical immersion may assist in preserving SRL during the transition and thus promote life-long learning skills in preparation for real-world practice. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12909-017-0902-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Postcolonial internationality of Algerian Social Academics

International audienceAlgerian research in literature and sociology continues to remain very marginalized in the international scientific arena. Globalisation has not made it possible to move from colonial dependency to global equal opportunity. To the contrary, dependency on France and the French language has re-emerged as a way of gaining access to Europe and the English-speaking world, and while the “international” has become a buzz-world and a model in Algerian research, in fact internationalisation has lost in quality what it has gained in quantity. Nevertheless, the inegalitarian structure of the international scientific space is not immutable. Activists’ desires to reduce international scientific inequalities have borne fruit, particularly in the Arabophone international space, but also in the Francophone one. Moreover, not all researchers view internationalisation as a desideratum: while the discourse of de-Westernizing science seems to have got lost, some researchers, volens nolens, believe that the national political role of their research is more important than their international visibility

The impact of class position on women's experience of receiving health education information whilst in hospital

Objective: To explore the impact of class position on women's experience of receiving health education information whilst in hospital for elective surgery. Design: A qualitative methodology taking a feminist standpoint. Setting: Gynaecological units of three hospitals in divergent locations. Method In-depth interviews with a quota sample of 36 women who had undergone hysterectomy, drawn in equal numbers from each class position from three different centres. Results: Emerging themes indicate that women from differing class backgrounds have varied informational needs. Working class women accepted a passive role as patients and were satisfied with minimal information. In contrast, middle class women expected to take an active role and expressed a desire for more information. Neither group of women were entirely satisfied with the information provided for recovery. Conclusion: Women have demonstrated they are not a homogeneous group and have different informational needs. Health educators need to take a more differentiated approach, beginning with taking felt needs into account. Patient empowerment also needs to be addressed, as the notion of a free choice may be curtailed by unequal power relationships between patients and health professionals. Patient education should be viewed by both nurses and doctors as a necessity rather than a luxury