Should You Hire [email protected]?

When a person applies for a job online, one of the first things a recruiter learns about the applicant is the applicant’s e-mail address. So what might a recruiter think about an applicant who refers to himself as DemonSeed420@ mail.com or [email protected]? That is, would job applicants with unprofessional e-mail addresses behave less professionally than applicants with more appropriate addresses? Will [email protected] be as unstable as she claims to be? Should an employer take a chance on [email protected]? Managers often make snap judgments about job candidates (Howard & Ferris, 1996) and do so using whatever information is available to them including the candidate’s smile, clothing, handshake, small talk (Barrick, Swider & Stewart, 2010), or name. For instance, Bertrand and Mullainathan (2004) mailed resumés in response to help wanted advertisements in Boston and Chicago. The researchers mailed identical resumés, manipulating only the first name of the applicants to be either a stereotypically “White” name or a stereotypically “African-American” name. Across all industries, occupations, and employer sizes, resumés with “White” names (e.g., Greg, Brad, Kristen, and Allison) received 50% more callbacks than did resumes with “African-American” names (e.g., Darnell, Jermaine, Latoya, and Tanisha). E-mail addresses function like names but e-mail addresses may have a greater potential to shape impressions than a given and/or family name because they can reflect more than gender and ethnicity. For example, e-mail addresses can imply skills ([email protected]), political affiliation (BlueDem@ mail.com), interests ([email protected]), and values ([email protected]). In a study about the relationship between e-mail addresses and personality traits, Back, Schmukle, and Egloff (2008) asked 600 university students to complete the Big Five Inventory. The researchers then gave the students’ e-mail addresses to a group of judges and asked the judges to guess how each student would score on the Big Five. The authors found that the judges were able to guess how the students scored on Openness and Conscientiousness. For example, judges guessed that students with addresses like [email protected] and [email protected] would score low on Conscientiousness, and they were right. Like Back and her colleagues, we tested the relationship between e-mail address and personality, but we also wanted to know if an address could tell us something about an applicant’s job qualifications. More specifically, we asked if candidates with addresses that contained references to sex, antisocial behavior, and deviant interests were less intelligent, conscientious, professional, and experienced than applicants without these types of references. We also asked if candidates with nondeviant but otherwise nonprofessional addresses including cutesy, geeky, and immature addresses were less qualified than candidates with more professional addresses

Dating the Cryptococcus gattii Dispersal to the North American Pacific Northwest.

The emergence of Cryptococcus gattii, previously regarded as a predominantly tropical pathogen, in the temperate climate of the North American Pacific Northwest (PNW) in 1999 prompted several questions. The most prevalent among these was the timing of the introduction of this pathogen to this novel environment. Here, we infer tip-dated timing estimates for the three clonal C. gattii populations observed in the PNW, VGIIa, VGIIb, and VGIIc, based on whole-genome sequencing of 134 C. gattii isolates and using Bayesian evolutionary analysis by sampling trees (BEAST). We estimated the nucleotide substitution rate for each lineage (1.59 × 10-8, 1.59 × 10-8, and 2.70 × 10-8, respectively) to be an order of magnitude higher than common neutral fungal mutation rates (2.0 × 10-9), indicating a microevolutionary rate (e.g., successive clonal generations in a laboratory) in comparison to a species' slower, macroevolutionary rate (e.g., when using fossil records). The clonal nature of the PNW C. gattii emergence over a narrow number of years would therefore possibly explain our higher mutation rates. Our results suggest that the mean time to most recent common ancestor for all three sublineages occurred within the last 60 to 100 years. While the cause of C. gattii dispersal to the PNW is still unclear, our research estimates that the arrival is neither ancient nor very recent (i.e., <25 years ago), making a strong case for an anthropogenic introduction. IMPORTANCE The recent emergence of the pathogenic fungus Cryptococcus gattii in the Pacific Northwest (PNW) resulted in numerous investigations into the epidemiological and enzootic impacts, as well as multiple genomic explorations of the three primary molecular subtypes of the fungus that were discovered. These studies lead to the general conclusion that the subtypes identified likely emerged out of Brazil. Here, we conducted genomic dating analyses to determine the ages of the various lineages seen in the PNW and propose hypothetical causes for the dispersal events. Bayesian evolutionary analysis strongly suggests that these independent fungal populations in the PNW are all 60 to 100 years old, providing a timing that is subsequent to the opening of the Panama Canal, which allowed for more direct shipping between Brazil and the western North American coastline, a possible driving event for these fungal translocation events

Community Analysis of Chronic Wound Bacteria Using 16S rRNA Gene-Based Pyrosequencing: Impact of Diabetes and Antibiotics on Chronic Wound Microbiota

Background: Bacterial colonization is hypothesized to play a pathogenic role in the non-healing state of chronic wounds. We characterized wound bacteria from a cohort of chronic wound patients using a 16S rRNA gene-based pyrosequencing approach and assessed the impact of diabetes and antibiotics on chronic wound microbiota. Methodology/Principal Findings: We prospectively enrolled 24 patients at a referral wound center in Baltimore, MD; sampled patients' wounds by curette; cultured samples under aerobic and anaerobic conditions; and pyrosequenced the 16S rRNA V3 hypervariable region. The 16S rRNA gene-based analyses revealed an average of 10 different bacterial families in wounds-approximately 4 times more than estimated by culture-based analyses. Fastidious anaerobic bacteria belonging to the Clostridiales family XI were among the most prevalent bacteria identified exclusively by 16S rRNA gene-based analyses. Community-scale analyses showed that wound microbiota from antibiotic treated patients were significantly different from untreated patients (p = 0.007) and were characterized by increased Pseudomonadaceae abundance. These analyses also revealed that antibiotic use was associated with decreased Streptococcaceae among diabetics and that Streptococcaceae was more abundant among diabetics as compared to non-diabetics. Conclusions/Significance: The 16S rRNA gene-based analyses revealed complex bacterial communities including anaerobic bacteria that may play causative roles in the non-healing state of some chronic wounds. Our data suggest that antimicrobial therapy alters community structure-reducing some bacteria while selecting for others

Nuclear lamina strain states revealed by intermolecular force biosensor

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Molecular type distribution and fluconazole susceptibility of clinical Cryptococcus gattii isolates from South African laboratory-based surveillance, 2005–2013

Como es el caso a nivel mundial, Cryptococcus gattii es una causa menos frecuente de criptococosis que Cryptococcus neoformans en Sudáfrica. Realizamos tipificación de secuencias multilocus (MLST) y pruebas de susceptibilidad a fluconazol de 146 aislamientos seleccionados al azar de 750 Pacientes sudafricanos con enfermedad por C. gattii identificados mediante vigilancia de laboratorio mejorada, de 2005 a 2013. El tipo molecular dominante fue VGIV (101/146, 70 %), seguido de VGI (40/146, 27%), VGII (3/146, 2%) y VGIII (2/146, 1%). Entre los 146 aislamientos de C. gattii, se identificaron 99 tipos de secuencia (ST) diferentes, con ST294 (14/146, 10 %) y ST155 (10/146, 7%) siendo el más comúnmente observado. Los valores de CIM50 y CIM90 de fluconazol de 105 (de 146) aislados de C. gattii seleccionados al azar fueron de 4 μg/ml y 16 μg/ml, respectivamente. Los aislamientos VGIV tenían un valor MIC50 más bajo en comparación con los aislamientos no VGIV, pero estos los valores estaban dentro de una dilución doble uno del otro. Los pacientes seropositivos para el VIH tenían una probabilidad ajustada diez veces mayor de una infección por VGIV en comparación con los pacientes seronegativos para el VIH. aunque con números pequeños (99/136; 73% vs. 2/10; 20%), el intervalo de confianza (IC) fue ancho (IC 95%: 1,93-55,31, p = 0,006). La filogenia del genoma completo de 98 aislamientos del tipo molecular más prevalente de Sudáfrica, VGIV, identificó que este tipo molecular es altamente diversos, con dos grupos interesantes de diez y seis aislamientos estrechamente relacionados identificados respectivamente. Uno de estos grupos consistía únicamente en pacientes de la provincia de Mpumalanga en Sudáfrica, lo que sugiere una fuente ambiental similar. Este estudio aportó nuevos conocimientos sobre la estructura de la población mundial de este importante patógeno humano.As is the case globally, Cryptococcus gattii is a less frequent cause of cryptococcosis than Cryptococcus neoformans in South Africa. We performed multilocus sequence typing (MLST) and fluconazole susceptibility testing of 146 isolates randomly selected from 750 South African patients with C. gattii disease identified through enhanced laboratory surveil lance, 2005 to 2013. The dominant molecular type was VGIV (101/146, 70%), followed by VGI (40/146, 27%), VGII (3/146, 2%) and VGIII (2/146, 1%). Among the 146 C. gattii iso lates, 99 different sequence types (STs) were identified, with ST294 (14/146, 10%) and ST155 (10/146, 7%) being most commonly observed. The fluconazole MIC50 and MIC90 val ues of 105 (of 146) randomly selected C. gattii isolates were 4 μg/ml and 16 μg/ml, respec tively. VGIV isolates had a lower MIC50 value compared to non-VGIV isolates, but these values were within one double-dilution of each other. HIV-seropositive patients had a ten fold increased adjusted odds of a VGIV infection compared to HIV-seronegative patients, though with small numbers (99/136; 73% vs. 2/10; 20%), the confidence interval (CI) was wide (95% CI: 1.93–55.31, p = 0.006). Whole genome phylogeny of 98 isolates of South Afri ca’s most prevalent molecular type, VGIV, identified that this molecular type is highly diverse, with two interesting clusters of ten and six closely related isolates being identified respectively. One of these clusters consisted only of patients from the Mpumalanga Prov ince in South Africa, suggesting a similar environmental source. This study contributed new insights into the global population structure of this important human pathogen

An update to the Milk Allergy in Primary Care guideline

Abstract The Milk Allergy in Primary (MAP) Care guideline was first published in 2013 in this journal. MAP aimed to provide simple and accessible algorithms for UK clinicians in primary care, detailing all the steps between initial presentation, through diagnosis, management and tolerance development. Despite its UK focus, it soon became clear that MAP was being accessed internationally and thus an updated International Milk Allergy in Primary Care (iMAP) guideline was published in 2017. Both guidelines used existing international consensus guidelines to develop accessible algorithms accompanied by patient information leaflets. In 2018, the guidelines were criticised for 3 distinct reasons: promoting the overdiagnosis of cow’s milk allergy (CMA), negatively impacting breastfeeding and the possibility of industry influence on the guidelines. The authors address these criticisms using available evidence and, in the context of this and in consultation with patient groups, members of the General Practice Infant Feeding Network and other infant feeding healthcare leads, have collaboratively produced updated algorithms and an information leaflet to support breastfeeding. We believe iMAP is now closer to its original aim of facilitating early and accurate diagnosis of CMA, whilst minimising, as far as possible, any concerns around overdiagnosis or a risk to breastfeeding rates. We continue to welcome open and constructive engagement about how best to achieve these aims to provide evidence-based, practical guidelines for the primary care practitioner

Genotype, Antifungal Susceptibility, and Virulence of Clinical South African Cryptococcus neoformans Strains from National Surveillance, 2005–2009

In South Africa, Cryptococcus neoformans is the most common cause of adult meningitis. We performed multi locus sequence typing and fluconazole susceptibility testing of clinical C. neoformans isolates collected from 251 South African patients with cryptococcosis through national surveillance from 2005 to 2009. We examined the association between clinical characteristics of patients and genotype, and the effect of genotype on in-hospital mortality. We performed whole genome phylogenetic analysis of fifteen C. neoformans isolates with the molecular type VNB and tested their virulence in a Galleria mellonella model. Most isolates had the molecular type VNI (206/251, 82%), followed by VNII (25/251, 10%), VNB (15/251, 6%), and VNIV (5/251, 2%); 67 sequence types were identified. There were no differences in fluconazole minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values among molecular types and the majority of strains had low MIC values (MIC50 of 1 µg/mL and MIC90 of 4 µg/mL). Males were almost twice as likely of being infected with a non-VNI genotype (adjusted odds ratio [OR]: 1.65, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.25–10.99; p = 0.61). Compared to patients infected with a VNI genotype, those with a non-VNI genotype had a 50% reduced adjusted odds of dying in hospital (95% CI: 0.03–7.57; p = 0.62). However, for both these analyses, our estimates had wide confidence intervals spanning 1 with large p-values. Fifteen VNB strains were not as virulent in a G. mellonella larval model as the H99 reference strain. A majority of these VNB strains belonged to the VNBII clade and were very closely related by phylogenetic analysis

Molecular type distribution and fluconazole susceptibility of clinical Cryptococcus gattii isolates from South African laboratory-based surveillance, 2005-2013.

As is the case globally, Cryptococcus gattii is a less frequent cause of cryptococcosis than Cryptococcus neoformans in South Africa. We performed multilocus sequence typing (MLST) and fluconazole susceptibility testing of 146 isolates randomly selected from 750 South African patients with C. gattii disease identified through enhanced laboratory surveillance, 2005 to 2013. The dominant molecular type was VGIV (101/146, 70%), followed by VGI (40/146, 27%), VGII (3/146, 2%) and VGIII (2/146, 1%). Among the 146 C. gattii isolates, 99 different sequence types (STs) were identified, with ST294 (14/146, 10%) and ST155 (10/146, 7%) being most commonly observed. The fluconazole MIC50 and MIC90 values of 105 (of 146) randomly selected C. gattii isolates were 4 μg/ml and 16 μg/ml, respectively. VGIV isolates had a lower MIC50 value compared to non-VGIV isolates, but these values were within one double-dilution of each other. HIV-seropositive patients had a ten-fold increased adjusted odds of a VGIV infection compared to HIV-seronegative patients, though with small numbers (99/136; 73% vs. 2/10; 20%), the confidence interval (CI) was wide (95% CI: 1.93-55.31, p = 0.006). Whole genome phylogeny of 98 isolates of South Africa's most prevalent molecular type, VGIV, identified that this molecular type is highly diverse, with two interesting clusters of ten and six closely related isolates being identified, respectively. One of these clusters consisted only of patients from the Mpumalanga Province in South Africa, suggesting a similar environmental source. This study contributed new insights into the global population structure of this important human pathogen