Comparison of Human and Soil Candida tropicalis Isolates with Reduced Susceptibility to Fluconazole

Infections caused by treatment-resistant non-albicans Candida species, such as C. tropicalis, has increased, which is an emerging challenge in the management of fungal infections. Genetically related diploid sequence type (DST) strains of C. tropicalis exhibiting reduced susceptibility to fluconazole circulated widely in Taiwan. To identify the potential source of these wildly distributed DST strains, we investigated the possibility of the presence in soil of such C. tropicalis strains by pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and DST typing methods. A total of 56 C. tropicalis isolates were recovered from 26 out of 477 soil samples. Among the 18 isolates with reduced susceptibility to fluconazole, 9 belonged to DST149 and 3 belonged to DST140. Both DSTs have been recovered from our previous studies on clinical isolates from the Taiwan Surveillance of Antimicrobial Resistance of Yeasts (TSARY) program. Furthermore, these isolates were more resistant to agricultural azoles. We have found genetically related C. tropicalis exhibiting reduced susceptibility to fluconazole from the human hosts and environmental samples. Therefore, to prevent patients from acquiring C. tropicalis with reduced susceptibility to azoles, prudent use of azoles in both clinical and agricultural settings is advocated

Monascus-Fermented Dioscorea Enhances Oxidative Stress Resistance via DAF-16/FOXO in Caenorhabditis elegans

BACKGROUND: Monascus-fermented products are mentioned in an ancient Chinese pharmacopoeia of medicinal food and herbs. Monascus-fermented products offer valuable therapeutic benefits and have been extensively used in East Asia for several centuries. Several biological activities of Monascus-fermented products were recently described, and the extract of Monascus-fermented products showed strong antioxidant activity of scavenging DPPH radicals. To evaluate whether Monascus-fermented dioscorea products have potential as nutritional supplements, Monascus-fermented dioscorea's modulation of oxidative-stress resistance and associated regulatory mechanisms in Caenorhabditis elegans were investigated. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We examined oxidative stress resistance of the ethanol extract of red mold dioscorea (RMDE) in C. elegans, and found that RMDE-treated wild-type C. elegans showed an increased survival during juglone-induced oxidative stress compared to untreated controls, whereas the antioxidant phenotype was absent from a daf-16 mutant. In addition, the RMDE reduced the level of intracellular reactive oxygen species in C. elegans. Finally, the RMDE affected the subcellular distribution of the FOXO transcription factor, DAF-16, in C. elegans and induced the expression of the sod-3 antioxidative gene. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that the RMDE acts as an antioxidative stress agent and thus may have potential as a nutritional supplement. Further studies in C. elegans suggest that the antioxidant effect of RMDE is mediated via regulation of the DAF-16/FOXO-dependent pathway

Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density

Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data

Hospital nurses’ attitudes, negative perceptions, and negative acts regarding workplace bullying

Abstract Background Workplace bullying is a prevalent problem in today’s work places that has adverse effects on both bullying victims and organizations. To investigate the predictors of workplace bullying is an important task to prevent bullying victims of nurses in hospitals. Objective This study aims to explore the relationships among nurses’ attitudes, negative perceptions, and negative acts regarding workplace bullying under the framework of the theory of planned behavior (TPB). Methods A total of 811 nurses from three hospitals in Taiwan were surveyed. Nurses’ responses to the 201 items of 10 scales were calibrated using Rasch analysis and then subjected to path analysis with partial least-squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). Results The instrumental attitude was significant predictors of nurses’ negative perceptions to be bullied in the workplace. Instead, the other TPB components of subjective norm and perceived behavioral control were not effective predictors of nurses’ negative acts regarding workplace bullying. Conclusions The findings provided hospital nurse management with important implications for prevention of bullying, particularly to them who are tasked with providing safer and more productive workplaces to hospital nurses. Awareness of workplace bullying was recommended to other kinds of workplaces for further studies in future

The mediating role of self-efficacy in the relationship between workplace bullying, mental health and an intention to leave among nurses in Taiwan

Objectives The aim of the study was to examine the relationship between workplace bullying, mental health and an intention to leave among nurses, and the mediating role of self-efficacy. Material and Methods This cross-sectional study was conducted among 385 nurses in Taiwan. Data were collected by means of self-report questionnaires, including the Negative Acts Questionnaire-Revised, the General Self-Efficacy Scale, the Chinese Health Questionnaire, and the Employee’s Turnover Intentions and Job Destination Choices Scale. Descriptive statistics, Pearson’s correlation and hierarchical regression analyses were used. Results Bullying was found to negatively correlate with self-efficacy and mental health, and positively with an intention to leave. Self-efficacy positively correlated with mental health, and negatively with an intention to leave. Hierarchical regression showed that bullying and self-efficacy were significant predictors of both mental health and an intention to leave. Self-efficacy partially mediated the relationship between bullying and mental health, as well as an intention to leave. Conclusions Self-efficacy acted as a mediator of workplace bullying, mental health and an intention to leave among nurses. It could protect victims from the devastating effects of bullying behaviors. Int J Occup Med Environ Health. 2019;32(2):245–5

A new technique to measure online bullying: online computerized adaptive testing

Abstract Background Workplace bullying has been measured in many studies to investigate mental health issues. None uses online computerized adaptive testing (CAT) with cutting points to report bully prevalence at workplace. Objective To develop an online CAT to examine person being bullied and verify whether item response theory-based CAT can be applied online for nurses to measure exposure to workplace bullying. Methods A total of 963 nurses were recruited and responded to the 22-item Negative Acts Questionnaire-Revised (NAQ-R). All non-adaptive testing (NAT) items were calibrated with the Rasch rating scale model. Three scenarios (i.e., NAT, CAT, and the randomly selected method to NAT) were manipulated to compare their response efficiency and precision by comparing (i) item length for answering questions, person measure, (ii) correlation coefficients, (iii) paired t tests, and (iv) estimated standard errors (SE) between CAT and the random to its counterpart of NAT. Results The NAQ-R is a unidimensional construct that can be applied for nurses to measure exposure to workplace bullying on CAT. CAT required fewer items (=8.9) than NAT (=22, an efficient gain of 60% =1–8.9/22). Nursing measures derived from both tests (CAT and the random to NAT) were highly correlated (r = 0.93 and 0.96) and their measurement precisions were not statistically different (the percentage of significant count number less than 5%) as expected, but CAT earns smaller person measure SE than the random scenario. The prevalence rate for nurses was 1.5% (=15/963) when cutting points set at −0.7 and 0.7 logits. Conclusion The CAT-based NAQ-R reduces respondents’ burden without compromising measurement precision and increases endorsement efficiency. The online CAT is recommended for assessing nurses using the criteria at −0.7 and 0.7 (or <30 and <60 in summed score) to identify bully grade as one of the three levels (high, moderate, and low). The bullied nurse can get help from a psychiatrist or a mental health expert at an earlier stage

Relations between Stress and Depressive Symptoms in Psychiatric Nurses: The Mediating Effects of Sleep Quality and Occupational Burnout

This study examines the parallel multiple mediators of quality of sleep and occupational burnout between perceived stress and depressive symptoms in psychiatric nurses. Nurses are more likely to experience depression, anxiety, decreased job satisfaction, and reduced organizational loyalty as a result of the stressful work environment and heavy workload. A total of 248 psychiatric ward (PW) nurses participated in this cross-sectional survey study. Structural equation modelling was used for data analysis. In the model of parallel multiple mediators for depressive symptoms, quality of sleep and occupational burnout played mediating roles, and these two mediators strengthened the effect of stress on depressive symptoms, with the final model showing a good fit. Stress, occupational burnout, and quality of sleep explained 46.0% of the variance in psychiatric nurses’ depressive symptoms. Stress had no significantly direct effect on psychiatric nurses’ depressive symptoms, but it had a completed mediation effect on their depressive symptoms through occupational burnout and quality of sleep. This study showed that reduction of occupational burnout and improvement of quality of sleep play important roles against depressive symptoms among PW nurses. Healthcare managers should provide PW nurses with a better environment for improving quality of sleep and reducing occupational burnout

Non-volatile taste components of several speciality mushrooms

Four speciality mushrooms are commercially available in Taiwan, including Dictyophora indusiata (basket stinkhorn), Grifola frondosa (maitake), Hericium erinaceus (lion's mane), and Tricholoma giganteum (white matsutake). Protein contents ranged from 14.6 to 22.3%. Carbohydrate contents were high in basket stinkhorn and white matsutake (67.0 and 70.1%) and low in maitake and lion's mane (58.8 and 57.2%, respectively). Contents of total soluble sugars showed two distinct levels, white matsutake (349 mg g−1) and other mushrooms (153–188 mg g−1). Total free amino acid contents ranged from 7.41 to 12.3 mg g−1. Contents of monosodium glutamate-like components ranged from 0.68 to 1.09 mg g−1. Contents of flavor 5′-nucleotides were high in white matsutake, moderate in basket stinkhorn, and low in lion's mane and maitake. In this study, the four speciality mushrooms, in addition to their characteristic appearances, were distinctly different in both their proximate compositions and their taste components