Barriers in access to substance use treatment for rural adolescents

The increasing prevalence of substance use disorder (SUD) is a major public health crisis in the Unites States. Adolescence is an ideal period for early intervention to reduce the risk of SUDs in adulthood, as research has shown that up to 60% of adult SUD could have been avoided by early intervention in youth. Prior research has typically focused on urban metropolitan areas when describing adolescent substance use. However while the data is varied, several studies have shown that the prevalence of rural adolescent substance use is equal or greater than that of their urban peers, particularly alcohol, tobacco, and prescription drug use, and begin use at an earlier age. There are several methods of treatment for adolescent substance use and SUD, centered on evidence-based practices, which have been shown to be moderately effective at reducing substance use. Despite the existence of these treatment strategies, substantial disparities exists with respect to the number of adolescents who could potentially benefit and the number who actually enroll in treatment. It has been estimated that 90% of adolescents in need of treatment are not able to succeed in receiving it. This highlights the importance of understanding the circumstances in which youth initiate drug use and the unique barriers they must overcome to receive treatment when these behaviors develop into a pattern that impacts daily life. With this information, interventions can be targeted to reduce the magnitude of the most significant barriers in order to increase treatment utilization, especially in rural areas where adolescents face unique challenges to treatment access as a consequence of their remote locations. A literature review was conducted and found the major barriers in access to substance use treatment for adolescents to be a lack of available treatment programs, lack of treatment options including medication treatment, lack of perceived need or motivation for treatment, social stigma, socioeconomic status (SES), familial relationships, and referral services. These studies were all conducted in the United States and published from 2011-2020. The aim of this thesis is to propose a protocol for the completion of a systematic review to determine which barriers exist to adolescents receiving substance use treatment and to examine them in the context of rurality. Healthcare decisions and policy are informed by the best available evidence from systematic research and incorporated into evidence-based practices. A systematic review will summarize the findings of all relevant studies thereby making the key information more accessible to decision makers, including clinicians and policy makers, in order for substance use treatment to become more accessible to adolescents

Partial characterization of Agrobacterium vitis strains

Seventeen strains of Agrobacterium vitis (formerly classified A. tumefaciens biovar 3) were characterized using part of the T-DNA and virA regions of the Ti plasmid as probes. All strains except one were of the wide host range (WHR) strains and were classified into two groups depending on their ability to utilize octopine or nopaline. These WHR type oncogenic strains had homology with the limited host range type (LHR) virA gen of A. vitis but not with the WHR virA gene of A. tumefaciens. The frequency of T-DNA excision in some Agrobacterium strains was estimated with the plasmid pTMA which mimics T-DNA excision from Ti plasmid DNA. In an A. vitis strain isolated from grapevine, T-DNA excision occurred after co-cultivation with grapevine tissues, but not with acetosyringone. In contrast, in A. tumefaciens, T-DNA excision occurred after co-cultivation with acetosyringone, but not with grapevine tissue

The Coping Mechanisms of First-Year Students in the Online Classes

The study aimed to determine the coping mechanisms of first-year college students taking Bachelor of Special Needs Education in a state university in the online class setting. It utilized Colaizzi’s (1978) descriptive phenomenological method which followed his seven-step method. Three emergent themes were revealed (1) coping mechanisms, (2) adjustment of 1st-year students to online classes, (3) perception of the effects of coping mechanisms. Most participants applied three coping mechanisms, and these were (1) meditation and (2) spirituality which are considered adaptive coping mechanisms, and (3) late-night internet usage, a maladaptive coping mechanism. The participants expressed their vulnerability as a 1st-year student in terms of unfamiliarity due to the absence of face-to-face interaction, being unaccustomed to the new college environment, pressure due to unfamiliar teacher-student dynamic, and pressure in studying at a state university

Engineering pan–HIV-1 neutralization potency through multispecific antibody avidity

Deep mining of B cell repertoires of HIV-1-infected individuals has resulted in the isolation of dozens of HIV-1 broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs). Yet, it remains uncertain whether any such bNAbs alone are sufficiently broad and potent to deploy therapeutically. Here, we engineered HIV-1 bNAbs for their combination on a single multispecific and avid molecule via direct genetic fusion of their Fab fragments to the human apoferritin light chain. The resulting molecule demonstrated a remarkable median IC50 value of 0.0009 g/mL and 100% neutralization coverage of a broad HIV-1 pseudovirus panel (118 isolates) at a 4 g/mL cutoff-a 32-fold enhancement in viral neutralization potency compared to a mixture of the corresponding HIV-1 bNAbs. Importantly, Fc incorporation on the molecule and engineering to modulate Fc receptor binding resulted in IgG-like bioavailability invivo. This robust plug-and-play antibody design is relevant against indications where multispecificity and avidity are leveraged simultaneously to mediate optimal biological activity.The following reagents were obtained through the NIH AIDS Reagent Program, Division of AIDS, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases: TZM-bl cells (ARP-8129; contributed by Dr. John C. Kappes and Dr. Xiaoyun Wu); anti–HIV-1 gp160 monoclonal antibody (N6/ PGDM1400x10E8v4) (ARP-13390; contributed by Drs. Ling Xu and Gary Nabel); HIV-1 NL4-3 ΔEnv Vpr luciferase reporter vector (pNL4-3.Luc.R-E-) (ARP-3418; contributed by Dr. Nathaniel Landau and Aaron Diamond); plasmids pcDNA3.1 D/V5-His TOPO-expressing HIV-1 Env/Rev (ARP-11017, ARP-11018, ARP-11024, and ARP-11022; contributed by Drs. David Montefiori, Feng Gao, and Ming Li); plasmid pcDNA3.1(+)-expressing HIV-1 Env/Rev (ARP-11037; contributed by Drs. B. H. Hahn and D. L. Kothe); plasmid pcDNA3.1 D/V5-His TOPO-expressing HIV-1 Env/Rev (ARP-11308; contributed by Drs. D. Montefiori, F. Gao, C. Wil- liamson, and S. Abdool Karim); plasmid pcDNA3.1 V5-His TOPO-expressing HIV-1 Env/Rev (ARP-11309; contributed by Drs. B. H. Hahn, Y. Li, and J. F. Sala- zar-Gonzalez); HIV-1 BG505 Env expression vector (BG505.W6M.ENV.C2) (ARP- 11518; contributed by Dr. Julie Overbaugh); HIV-1 Env expression vector (CRF02_AG clone 257) (ARP-11599; contributed by Drs. D. Ellenberger, B. Li, M. Callahan, and S. Butera); plasmid pcDNA3.1 V5-His TOPO-expressing HIV-1 CNE8 Env (ARP-12653; contributed by Drs. Linqi Zhang, Hong Shang, David Montefiori, Tsinghua University (Beijing, China), China Medical University (Bei- jing, China), and Duke University (Durham, NC); HIV-1 SF162 gp160 expression vector (ARP-10463; contributed by Drs. Leonidas Stamatatos and Cecilia Cheng- Mayer); plasmid pcDNA3.1 V5-His TOPO-expressing HIV-1 Env/Rev (ARP-11034; contributed by Drs. B. H. Hahn, X. Wei, and G. M. Shaw); plasmid pcDNA3.1/V5- His TOPO-expressing HIV Env/Rev (ARP-11038; contributed by Drs. B. H. Hahn and D. L. Kothe); plasmid pcDNA3.1 V5-His TOPO-expressing HIV-1 Env/Rev (ARP-11310; contributed by Drs. B. H. Hahn, Y. Li, and J. F. Salazar-Gonzalez); HIV-1 Env expression vector (p16845 env) (ARP-11503; contributed by Drs. R. Paranjape, S. Kulkarni, and D. Montefiori); HIV-1 1054 Env expression vector (p1054.TC4.1499) (ARP-11561) and 6244 Env expression vector (p6244_13.B5.4576) (ARP-11566; contributed by Drs. Beatrice H. Hahn, Brandon F. Keele, and George M. Shaw); HIV-1 ZM246F Env expression vector (pZM246F_C1G) (ARP-11830; contributed by Dr. Beatrice Hahn); HIV-1 Env expression vector (CRF02_AG clone 278) (ARP-11605; contributed by Drs. Michael Thomson, Ana Revilla, Elena Delgado, David Montefiori, Sonia P erez Castro, Centro Nacional de Microbiologia, Instituto de Salud Carlos III (Majada- honda, Madrid, Spain), Complejo Hospitalario Santa Mar ıa Madre (Orense, Spain), Duke University (Durham, NC), and the CAVD; and NL4-3 Env expression vector (pDOLHIVenv) (from Dr. Eric Freed and Dr. Rex Risser). The following reagents were kindly provided by CAVD: X2988, ZM106.9, and 3817. We thank S. Tabruyn and F. Arbogast for their assistance with in vivo studies. We thank the SickKids-University Health Network Flow Cytometry Facility. This work wassupported by Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Discovery Grant 6280100058 (J.-P.J.) and by Operating Grant PJ4- 169662 from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR; B.T. and J.-P.J.). This research was also supported by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under Marie Sklodowska-Curie Grant 790012 (E.R.), a Hospital for Sick Children Restracomp Postdoctoral Fellowship (C.B.A.), an NSERC postgraduate doctoral scholarship (T.Z.), a predoctoral fel- lowship from the Basque Government (PRE_2019_2_0046) (S.I.), the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) Azrieli Global Scholar program (J.-P.J.), the Ontario Early Researcher Awards program (J.-P.J.), and the CanadaResearch Chairs program (B.T. and J.-P.J.). This work was supported, in part, by NSERC Discovery Grant RGPIN-2019-06442 and CIHR Project Grant–Priority Announcement PJH-175379 to C.G., and a CIHR Canada Graduate Scholarship (CGS-M) to J.B. Further support was obtained from the Spanish Ministry of Sci- ence, Innovation and Universities (MCIU) with the support of the Spanish Research Agency/The European Regional Development Fund (AEI/FEDER) (RTI2018-095624-B-C21) (J.L.N.) and the Basque Government (IT1196-19) (J.L.N.). Biophysical data were collected at the Structural & Biophysical Core facility supported by the Canada Foundation for Innovation and Ontario Research Fun

Evidence that wheat cultivars differ in their ability to build up inoculum of the take-all fungus, Gaeumannomyces graminis var. tritici, under a first wheat crop

The effect of wheat cultivar on the build-up of take-all inoculum during a first wheat crop was measured after harvest using a soil core bioassay in field experiments over five growing seasons (2003-2008). Cultivar differences in individual years were explored by analysis of variance and a cross-season Residual Maximum Likelihood (REML) variance components analysis was used to compare differences in those cultivars present in all years. Differences between cultivars in the build-up of inoculum were close to or at significance in two of the five trial years (2004 P < 0 center dot 05; 2006 P < 0 center dot 07), and current commercially listed cultivars were represented at both extremes of the range. In 2007 and 2008, when environmental conditions were most favourable for inoculum build-up, differences were not significant (P < 0 center dot 3). In 2005 the presence of Phialophora spp. at the trial site restricted the build-up of take-all inoculum under all cultivars. The cross season REML variance components analysis detected significant differences (range: 3 center dot 4-47 center dot 8% roots infected in the soil core bioassay; P < 0 center dot 01) between the nine cultivars present in all years (excluding 2005). This is the first evidence of relatively consistent differences between hexaploid wheat cultivars in their interactions with the take-all fungus, and this could give an indication of those cultivars that could be grown as a first wheat crop, in order to reduce the risk of damaging take-all in a second wheat crop. This phenomenon has been named the take-all inoculum build-up (TAB) trait

Genomic Species Are Ecological Species as Revealed by Comparative Genomics in Agrobacterium tumefaciens

The definition of bacterial species is based on genomic similarities, giving rise to the operational concept of genomic species, but the reasons of the occurrence of differentiated genomic species remain largely unknown. We used the Agrobacterium tumefaciens species complex and particularly the genomic species presently called genomovar G8, which includes the sequenced strain C58, to test the hypothesis of genomic species having specific ecological adaptations possibly involved in the speciation process. We analyzed the gene repertoire specific to G8 to identify potential adaptive genes. By hybridizing 25 strains of A. tumefaciens on DNA microarrays spanning the C58 genome, we highlighted the presence and absence of genes homologous to C58 in the taxon. We found 196 genes specific to genomovar G8 that were mostly clustered into seven genomic islands on the C58 genome—one on the circular chromosome and six on the linear chromosome—suggesting higher plasticity and a major adaptive role of the latter. Clusters encoded putative functional units, four of which had been verified experimentally. The combination of G8-specific functions defines a hypothetical species primary niche for G8 related to commensal interaction with a host plant. This supports that the G8 ancestor was able to exploit a new ecological niche, maybe initiating ecological isolation and thus speciation. Searching genomic data for synapomorphic traits is a powerful way to describe bacterial species. This procedure allowed us to find such phenotypic traits specific to genomovar G8 and thus propose a Latin binomial, Agrobacterium fabrum, for this bona fide genomic species

Molecular techniques for pathogen identification and fungus detection in the environment

Many species of fungi can cause disease in plants, animals and humans. Accurate and robust detection and quantification of fungi is essential for diagnosis, modeling and surveillance. Also direct detection of fungi enables a deeper understanding of natural microbial communities, particularly as a great many fungi are difficult or impossible to cultivate. In the last decade, effective amplification platforms, probe development and various quantitative PCR technologies have revolutionized research on fungal detection and identification. Examples of the latest technology in fungal detection and differentiation are discussed here

A TaqMan real-time PCR assay for Rhizoctonia cerealis and its use in wheat and soil

Rhizoctonia cerealis causes sharp eyespot in cereals and the pathogen survives as mycelia or sclerotia in soil. Real-time Polymerase Chain Reaction (qPCR) assays based on TaqMan chemistry are highly suitable for use on DNA extracted from soil. We report here the first qPCR assay for R. cerealis using TaqMan primers and a probe based on a unique Sequence Characterised Amplified Region (SCAR). The assay is highly specific and did not amplify DNA from a range of other binucleate Rhizoctonia species or isolates of anastomosis groups of Rhizoctonia solani. The high sensitivity of the assay was demonstrated in soils using a bulk DNA extraction method where 200 μg sclerotia in 50 g of soil were detected. DNA of the pathogen could also be amplified from asymptomatic wheat plants. Using the assay on soil samples from fields under different crop rotations, R. cerealis was most frequently detected in soils where wheat was grown or soil under pasture. It was detected least frequently in fields where potatoes were grown. This study demonstrates that assays derived from SCAR sequences can produce specific and sensitive qPCR assays