Mobilisation des organismes communautaires pour la refonte du programme de formation médicale prédoctorale

Implication Statement As part of its social accountability mission, the University of Ottawa Faculty of Medicine invited community service learning (CSL) partner organizations to a guided, virtual conversation on April 12, 2021 to contribute to the future strategic directions for our curriculum. Representatives of 15 organizations participated and provided insights into how they perceive CSL students, the Faculty of Medicine, and the process of assessment. This workshop forged stronger bonds between the university and these community organizations and led to recommendations for their greater involvement going forward, an approach that could be considered by other Faculties of Medicine.Énoncé des implications de la recherche Dans le cadre de sa mission de responsabilité sociale, la Faculté de médecine de l’Université d’Ottawa a invité les organismes partenaires de l’apprentissage par le service communautaire (ASC) à contribuer aux futures orientations stratégiques de notre programme d’études par le biais d’une discussion virtuelle guidée, tenue le 12 avril 2021. Les représentants des 15 organismes qui y ont participé ont donné leur avis sur la façon dont ils perçoivent les étudiants en ASC, la Faculté de médecine et le processus d’évaluation. Cet atelier a permis de resserrer les liens entre l’université et ces organismes communautaires et a débouché sur des recommandations visant à renforcer leur participation à l’avenir, une approche qui pourrait être envisagée par d’autres facultés de médecine

Carbohydrate scaffolds as glycosyltransferase inhibitors with in vivo antibacterial activity

The rapid rise of multi-drug-resistant bacteria is a global healthcare crisis, and new antibiotics are urgently required, especially those with modes of action that have low-resistance potential. One promising lead is the liposaccharide antibiotic moenomycin that inhibits bacterial glycosyltransferases, which are essential for peptidoglycan polymerization, while displaying a low rate of resistance. Unfortunately, the lipophilicity of moenomycin leads to unfavourable pharmacokinetic properties that render it unsuitable for systemic administration. In this study, we show that using moenomycin and other glycosyltransferase inhibitors as templates, we were able to synthesize compound libraries based on novel pyranose scaffold chemistry, with moenomycin-like activity, but with improved drug-like properties. The novel compounds exhibit in vitro inhibition comparable to moenomycin, with low toxicity and good efficacy in several in vivo models of infection. This approach based on non-planar carbohydrate scaffolds provides a new opportunity to develop new antibiotics with low propensity for resistance induction

Engaging community organizations for undergraduate medical education curriculum renewal

Implication StatementAs part of its social accountability mission, the University of Ottawa Faculty of Medicine invited community service learning (CSL) partner organizations to a guided, virtual conversation on April 12, 2021 to contribute to the future strategic directions for our curriculum. Representatives of 15 organizations participated and provided insights into how they perceive CSL students, the Faculty of Medicine, and the process of assessment. This workshop forged stronger bonds between the university and these community organizations and led to recommendations for their greater involvement going forward, an approach that could be considered by other Faculties of Medicine.Énoncé des implications de la rechercheDans le cadre de sa mission de responsabilité sociale, la Faculté de médecine de l’Université d’Ottawa a invité les organismes partenaires de l’apprentissage par le service communautaire (ASC) à contribuer aux futures orientations stratégiques de notre programme d’études par le biais d’une discussion virtuelle guidée, tenue le 12 avril 2021. Les représentants des 15 organismes qui y ont participé ont donné leur avis sur la façon dont ils perçoivent les étudiants en ASC, la Faculté de médecine et le processus d’évaluation. Cet atelier a permis de resserrer les liens entre l’université et ces organismes communautaires et a débouché sur des recommandations visant à renforcer leur participation à l’avenir, une approche qui pourrait être envisagée par d’autres facultés de médecine

Targeting the forgotten transglycosylases

Forty years ago, moenomycin was reported as a representative of a novel natural product class with strong antibacterial activity against Gram-positive organisms. Moenomycin was developed as an antimicrobial growth promoter in animal feeds. Mechanistically, moenomycin acts via inhibition of the transglycosylation process at the final stage of the peptidoglycan biosynthesis, in particular through binding directly to the transglycosylase enzymes, thereby preventing polymerisation of lipid II into linear peptidoglycan. Despite moenomycin's success, no developments of direct transglycosylase enzyme inhibitors were reported for over 30 years, probably due to the complexities and uncertainties surrounding the transglycosylation process, in particular the number of enzymes involved in the process and their specific roles. The development of better research tools and an improved understanding of the transglycosylation process, together with the increasing threat presented by multidrug-resistant bacteria, have led to a resurfacing of interest in targeting the forgotten transglycosylases. In addition, several new generation glycopeptides in clinical development inhibit the transglycosylation process, adding further value to the approach. In this paper, we summarise some of the developments in the area of transglycosylase inhibitors over the last 10 years

Economic inequality and the rise of far-right populism : a social psychological analysis

It is argued that far-right (FR) populism in the West is fuelled by inequality. In this paper, we argue that three social psychological processes are central to explaining these phenomena. We suggest that these processes are recursive although we do not specify their temporal order. Drawing on the social identity tradition, we first examine how inequality is linked to reduced social trust and cohesion, which has consequences for both low- and high-income groups. We examine the known effects of perceived threat in amplifying tensions between groups and consolidating identity positions. Second, we argue that national identity consolidation is a particularly likely response to inequality, which, in turn, reduces tolerance of cultural diversity as an associated consequence. Finally, we consider the value of these strengthened national identities to those who harness them effectively to gain political ground. In this way, those who offer FR populist rhetoric aligned with nationalism can blame immigrants, “foreign” powers, and mainstream politics for both the lack of social cohesion and reduced economic circumstances of many. We conclude that FR populist leaders not only tap into the negative social consequences of inequality, their policy positions also fail to address and may even compound the situation

Selective inhibitors

A method of identifying biologically active compounds with defined selectivity profile comprises: (c) designing a library of compounds of formula (1) to scan molecular diversity; and (d) assaying the library of compounds in at least two different biological assays