Ripple of Hope: Understanding the Lived Experience and Academic Achievement of Latinx Students at Arrupe College and Dougherty Family College: A Case Study

One of the most common and important entry points into higher education for Latinx and other underrepresented students is through community college. However, national completion rates for Latinx community college students have been trailing their white peers. This gap in academic achievement has prevailed since the 1990s. The trailing rates of degree completion for Latinx students can lead to lower lifetime salary earnings, lack of career advancement, greater risk of losing employment, and an increased chance of living in poverty. However, a successful community college model may be seen as a disruptor in the educational sector due to its much higher completion rate for Latinx students: the model at Arrupe College of Loyola University Chicago and Dougherty Family College at the University of St. Thomas. The purpose of this study was to understand the lived experiences of Latinx students and explore what contributed to their academic success at Arrupe College and Dougherty Family College. A qualitative study was undertaken using foundational texts and frameworks on critical race theory and Latino critical theory to discover insights into the academic success of Latinx students at the two institutions. Factors such as community cultural wealth and critically relevant pedagogy were also reviewed to see if they contributed to student success. Findings of the study revealed a significant correlation of community cultural wealth, culturally relevant pedagogy, and Garcia’s six practices for Hispanic-serving institutions, which provided the theoretical framework for Latinx academic achievement at Arrupe College and Dougherty Family College

Latent gammaherpesvirus 68 infection induces distinct transcriptional changes in different organs

Previous studies identified a role for latent herpesvirus infection in cross-protection against infection and exacerbation of chronic inflammatory diseases. Here, we identified more than 500 genes differentially expressed in spleens, livers, or brains of mice latently infected with gammaherpesvirus 68 and found that distinct sets of genes linked to different pathways were altered in the spleen compared to those in the liver. Several of the most differentially expressed latency-specific genes (e.g., the gamma interferon [IFN-γ], Cxcl9, and Ccl5 genes) are associated with known latency-specific phenotypes. Chronic herpesvirus infection, therefore, significantly alters the transcriptional status of host organs. We speculate that such changes may influence host physiology, the status of the immune system, and disease susceptibility

Continuing Professional Development: Needs, Facilitators and Barriers of Registered Nurses in India in Rural and Remote Settings: Findings from a Cross Sectional Survey

Background: Nurses constitute a major portion of the health care workforce in India. A priority to develop pre and post registration nurse education in India has increasingly been highlighted in nursing and health policy imperatives in recent years. Nurses are often the only health care professionals in primary and secondary care within rural and remote healthcare settings in India. They are confronted with the dual challenge of resource constraints and rapidly changing disease profile with little or no access to continuing professional development.  Objectives: 1) To identify key continuing professional development priorities of registered nurses working in remote and rural health care settings in India. 2) To identify barriers and facilitators to continuing professional development as perceived by registered nurses working in these settings. 3) To identify preferred modes of continuing professional development by registered nurses working in remote and rural health care settings in India.  Design: Quantitative Design.  Setting: Two large health care facilities in remote and rural parts of India.  Participants: Registered Nurses working in two large not for profit health care organisations participated in the study. Nursing assistants and student nurses were excluded from the study. 368 participants consented to participate in the survey and 271 (73.6%) participants completed the survey.  Methods: A questionnaire based cross sectional survey was undertaken as part of the Continuing Professional Development needs assessment among registered nurses working in rural and remote settings.  Results: Continuing Professional Development priorities included training on clinical competencies focussed on managing emergency situations related to non-communicable diseases [50%], managerial competencies related to ethical dilemmas [60%] such as support for families with financial difficulties accessing health care [17.8%], women undergoing abortions [14.6%], or those with HIV infection [12.9%]. Preferred modes for Continuing Professional Development included conference attendance [54%], skills training [48%] and in-house training [32%]. Key facilitators for Continuing Professional Development included, professional development [77%], personal interest [42%], opportunities for professional engagement with colleagues [39%], the need to reduce knowledge and skill gap [36%] and career progression [28%]. Geographic distance [59%], low staffing levels [51%], cost [43%], domestic responsibilities [40%], and work commitments [39%] were reported as key barriers to Continuing Professional Development.  Conclusions: The findings from this survey, the first of its kind in India, provides evidence on priorities, barriers and facilitators for continuing professional development of registered nurses working in rural and remote settings in India

DNA Sequence-Mediated, Evolutionarily Rapid Redistribution of Meiotic Recombination Hotspots: Commentary on Genetics 182: 459–469 and Genetics 187: 385–396

Hotspots regulate the position and frequency of Spo11 (Rec12)-initiated meiotic recombination, but paradoxically they are suicidal and are somehow resurrected elsewhere in the genome. After the DNA sequence-dependent activation of hotspots was discovered in fission yeast, nearly two decades elapsed before the key realizations that (A) DNA site-dependent regulation is broadly conserved and (B) individual eukaryotes have multiple different DNA sequence motifs that activate hotspots. From our perspective, such findings provide a conceptually straightforward solution to the hotspot paradox and can explain other, seemingly complex features of meiotic recombination. We describe how a small number of single-base-pair substitutions can generate hotspots de novo and dramatically alter their distribution in the genome. This model also shows how equilibrium rate kinetics could maintain the presence of hotspots over evolutionary timescales, without strong selective pressures invoked previously, and explains why hotspots localize preferentially to intergenic regions and introns. The model is robust enough to account for all hotspots of humans and chimpanzees repositioned since their divergence from the latest common ancestor

Antibiotic efficacy patterns in the critically ill

Background: Knowledge of antibiotic sensitivity patterns in the critically ill would lead to better outcomes by refinement of empirical therapy. The aim of the study was to analyze the antibiotic sensitivity patterns of pathogens in the critically ill.Methods: Retrospective analytical study of 267 culture samples from critically ill patients was done. Data was collected from hospital medical records department and analyzed.Results: In case of community-acquired infections, carbapenems and piperacillin-tazobactam had high efficacy for UTI; carbapenems, aminoglycosides and levofloxacin had intermediate efficacy for pneumonia; aminoglycosides, piperacillin-tazobactam, carbapenems and quinolones had intermediate efficacy for soft tissue infections; and linezolid and vancomycin had high efficacy for blood borne sepsis of unknown source. In case of hospital acquired infections, carbapenems and aztreonam had intermediate efficacy for UTI; aminoglycosides had intermediate efficacy for blood borne sepsis of unknown source and aminoglycosides had high efficacy for CLABSI. Only colistin and tigecycline demonstrated high efficacy for VAP. Colistin and tigecycline showed high efficacy for community and hospital acquired UTI, pneumonia and soft tissue infections as well as gram negative CLABSI and hospital acquired blood borne sepsis of unknown source.Conclusions: The study shows that in critically ill, in general, carbapenems are fast losing their efficacy. Colistin and tigecycline are effective even against MDR pathogens in their spectrum. Fluoroquinolones and cephalosporins have poor efficacy overall to be recommended for empirical therapy. Piperacillin-tazobactam is not satisfactory for many critical infections. Amikacin has variable efficacy. Linezolid, vancomycin and teicoplanin are highly active against MRSA and Enterococcus infections

A study on the utility of preventive health check-up in early detection of disease states

Background: Because of the current lifestyle and food habits, people are becoming more vulnerable to many diseases like diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia and coronary artery disease. Early detection of disease in its latent phase helps in timely therapeutic interventions, thereby significantly reducing the morbidity and mortality. Preventive health check-up is widely adopted by many hospitals towards this goal. The aim of the study was to analyze the utility of master health check-up in early detection of disease states.Methods: Retrospective study of 262 asymptomatic individuals attending Master Health Checkup section was done. Patients with significant symptoms were excluded. Descriptive analysis was used in the processing and analysis of data.Results: In the study population, 12.8% had diabetic range of blood sugar values and 21.7% had BP in the hypertensive range. Dyslipidemia was detected in 89.2% of asymptomatic individuals. Thyroid function abnormalities were detected in 10.7% of the population. Among other newly detected diseases, detection rates were 40.9% for NAFLD, 4.2% for renal impairment and 26.7% for anemia.Conclusions: The study results are encouraging to educate the society to utilize preventive health services, as significant number of disease states were newly detected in the preventive health check-up

Imprinted antibody responses against SARS-CoV-2 Omicron sublineages

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Omicron sublineages carry distinct spike mutations resulting in escape from antibodies induced by previous infection or vaccination. We show that hybrid immunity or vaccine boosters elicit plasma-neutralizing antibodies against Omicron BA.1, BA.2, BA.2.12.1, and BA.4/5, and that breakthrough infections, but not vaccination alone, induce neutralizing antibodies in the nasal mucosa. Consistent with immunological imprinting, most antibodies derived from memory B cells or plasma cells of Omicron breakthrough cases cross-react with the Wuhan-Hu-1, BA.1, BA.2, and BA.4/5 receptor-binding domains, whereas Omicron primary infections elicit B cells of narrow specificity up to 6 months after infection. Although most clinical antibodies have reduced neutralization of Omicron, we identified an ultrapotent pan-variant-neutralizing antibody that is a strong candidate for clinical development

Pervasive transcription of a herpesvirus genome generates functionally important RNAs

ABSTRACT Pervasive transcription is observed in a wide range of organisms, including humans, mice, and viruses, but the functional significance of the resulting transcripts remains uncertain. Current genetic approaches are often limited by their emphasis on protein-coding open reading frames (ORFs). We previously identified extensive pervasive transcription from the murine gammaherpesvirus 68 (MHV68) genome outside known ORFs and antisense to known genes (termed expressed genomic regions [EGRs]). Similar antisense transcripts have been identified in many other herpesviruses, including Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus and human and murine cytomegalovirus. Despite their prevalence, whether these RNAs have any functional importance in the viral life cycle is unknown, and one interpretation is that these are merely “noise” generated by functionally unimportant transcriptional events. To determine whether pervasive transcription of a herpesvirus genome generates RNA molecules that are functionally important, we used a strand-specific functional approach to target transcripts from thirteen EGRs in MHV68. We found that targeting transcripts from six EGRs reduced viral protein expression, proving that pervasive transcription can generate functionally important RNAs. We characterized transcripts emanating from EGRs 26 and 27 in detail using several methods, including RNA sequencing, and identified several novel polyadenylated transcripts that were enriched in the nuclei of infected cells. These data provide the first evidence of the functional importance of regions of pervasive transcription emanating from MHV68 EGRs. Therefore, studies utilizing mutation of a herpesvirus genome must account for possible effects on RNAs generated by pervasive transcription. IMPORTANCE The fact that pervasive transcription produces functionally important RNAs has profound implications for design and interpretation of genetic studies in herpesviruses, since such studies often involve mutating both strands of the genome. This is a common potential problem; for example, a conservative estimate is that there are an additional 73,000 nucleotides transcribed antisense to annotated ORFs from the 119,450-bp MHV68 genome. Recognizing the importance of considering the function of each strand of the viral genome independently, we used strand-specific approaches to identify six regions of the genome encoding transcripts that promoted viral protein expression. For two of these regions, we mapped novel transcripts and determined that targeting transcripts from these regions reduced viral replication and the expression of other viral genes. This is the first description of a function for these RNAs and suggests that novel transcripts emanating from regions of pervasive transcription are critical for the viral life cycle

Invasive frogs show persistent physiological differences to elevation and acclimate to colder temperatures

The coqui frog (Eleutherodactylus coqui) was introduced to the island of Hawai’i in the 1980s and has spread across much of the island. Concern remains that this frog will continue to expand its range and invade higher elevation habitats where much of the island’s endemic species are found. We determined whether coqui thermal tolerance and physiology change along Hawai’i’s elevational gradients. We measured physiological responses using a short-term experiment to determine baseline tolerance and physiology by elevation, and a long-term experiment to determine the coqui’s ability to acclimate to different temperatures. We collected frogs from low, medium, and high elevations. After both the short and long-term experiments, we measured critical thermal minimum (CTmin), blood glucose, oxidative stress, and corticosterone levels. CTmin was lower in high elevation frogs than low elevation frogs after the short acclimation experiment, signifying that they acclimate to local conditions. After the extended acclimation, CTmin was lower in frogs acclimated to cold temperatures compared to warm-acclimated frogs and no longer varied by elevation. Blood glucose levels were positively correlated with elevation even after the extended acclimation, suggesting glucose may also be related to lower temperatures. Oxidative stress was higher in females than males, and corticosterone was not significantly related to any predictor variables. The extended acclimation experiment showed that coquis can adjust their thermal tolerance to different temperatures over a 3-week period, suggesting the expansion of coqui into higher elevation habitats may still be possible, and they may not be as restricted by cold temperatures as previously thought