Depressive symptoms and perceived burdens related to being a student: Survey in three European countries

Mikolajczyk RT, Maxwell AE, Naydenova V, Meier S, El Ansari W. Depressive symptoms and perceived burdens related to being a student: survey in three European countries. Clinical Practice and Epidemiology in Mental Health. 2008;4(1): 19.Background: Despite a high prevalence of depressive symptoms among university students, few studies have examined how this mental health problem is associated with perceived stress and perceived burdens related to being a student. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study of 2,103 first year students from one western (Germany), one central (Poland), and one south-eastern European country (Bulgaria). The self-administered questionnaires included the modified Beck Depression Inventory and Cohen's Perceived Stress Scale. A 13 item scale measured perceived burdens related to being a student with four subscales: ''Course work'', ''Relationships'', ''Isolation'', and ''Future''. Results: Depressive symptoms were highly prevalent in all three countries (M-BDI ≥35: 34% in Poland, 39% in Bulgaria, and 23% in Germany). Students felt more burdened by course work and bad job prospects (''Future'') than by relationship problems or by feelings of isolation. The perceived burdens subscales ''Future'', ''Relationship'' and ''Isolation'' remained associated with depressive symptoms after adjusting for perceived stress, which displayed a strong association with depressive symptoms. The association between perceived stress and depressive symptoms differed by gender. These findings were similar in all three countries. Conclusion: Perceived burdens related to studying are positively associated with higher depression scores among students, not only by mediation through perceived stress but also directly. While the strong association between perceived stress and depressive symptoms suggests the need for interventions that improve stress management, perceived burdens should also be addressed

Foodborne Bacteria: Potential Bioterrorism Agents

Bioterrorist attacks are usually associated with airborne infections because of their easy dissemination and maximal effect on the human population. However, foodborne pathogens represent potential bioterrorist weapons, as the consumption of safe food affects every individual in the society. Most of the foodborne microorganisms can be readily isolated from natural sources and can cause severe outbreaks with a number of hospitalized persons. Biological agents, which may contaminate food products, are bacteria, viruses, yeasts, parasites, or chemical substances with microbial origin. They cause more than 200 diseases—ranging from diarrhea to cancers. Typical symptoms of food poisoning are abdominal cramps, nausea, vomiting, upset stomach, diarrhea, fever, dehydration, and others. Most isolated bacterial agents responsible for foodborne infections include bacteria from genera such as Salmonella, Shigella, Bacillus, Clostridium, Listeria, Campylobacter, Escherichia, Staphylococcus, Vibrio, Enterobacter, and Yersinia. In this chapter, we discuss the bacterial species causing food poisoning in the context of a potential bioterrorist attack. We review in a concise manner their morphological and biochemical characteristics, as well as the treatment and possible prevention measures. Popular examples of attacks with food poisoning agents and their impact on the society are also given

Сross-analysis of big data in accreditation of health specialists

Objective: The relevance of this study is due to the mass accreditation of health professionals that is developing in Russia, which requires innovative measurement tools and opens new opportunities for a well-founded cross-analysis of specialists’ professional readiness quality. Purpose of the study: The purpose of this article is to present approved methodical approaches to the transformation of accreditation data into a format suitable for secondary analysis of medical schools graduates quality based on the requirements of Professional Standards. Method: The leading methods of secondary data analysis are: a) codification of indicators in the primary data accumulation array; b) statistical processing of study results (evaluation of the relationships between the arrays of primary data accumulation and instrumental data, the correlation of test scores obtained by accreditation results with the labor functions of Professional Standards); c) the creation of representative samples for data analysis. The implementation of methods is carried out in the mode of working with arrays of big data, which also uses the method of cross-analysis to identify additional factors that affect to specialists’ professional readiness quality. Results: As a results of the research, there were: 1) approaches to the codification of data in the array and their secondary analysis were developed; 2) three samples were constructed with an estimation of representativeness for different strata, including subjects, assignments and corresponding labor functions; 3) the matrix of primary data in the specialty “Pediatrics” was verified using the example of the results of students from 50 medical universities in Russia. Conclusion: Approbation of methods of secondary data analysis conducted on representative samples of the subjects showed the effectiveness of the developed approaches that should be used when analyzing large data sets in the procedures of certification or accreditation. The materials of the article can be useful for specialists in the field of assessing the quality of education or assessing the professional readiness of health professionals, managers, professors and pedagogical staff of medical schools, specialists of centers for independent assessment of qualifications. © 2018, Modestum Ltd.. All rights reserved

Setting-up of the Database on the Nucleotide Sequences of the Genomes of the Strains of Bacterial and Viral Infections Agents of the I–II Pathogenicity Groups

Set-up is database containing characteristics of variable tandem repeats, oligo-nucleotide primers and probes of the genomes of the strains bacterial and viral infections agents of the I-II pathogenicity groups. It allows for accumulation of information on genome regions. Using the incorporated VBA one can rapidly analyze the data and carry out substantiated calculation of gene-diagnostic preparations based on various PCR frameworks

Spin Caloritronics

This is a brief overview of the state of the art of spin caloritronics, the science and technology of controlling heat currents by the electron spin degree of freedom (and vice versa).Comment: To be published in "Spin Current", edited by S. Maekawa, E. Saitoh, S. Valenzuela and Y. Kimura, Oxford University Pres

Sharing of carbapenemase-encoding plasmids between Enterobacteriaceae in UK sewage uncovered by MinION sequencing

Dissemination of carbapenem resistance among pathogenic Gram-negative bacteria is a looming medical emergency. Efficient spread of resistance within and between bacterial species is facilitated by mobile genetic elements. We hypothesized that wastewater contributes to the dissemination of carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (CPE), and studied this through a cross-sectional observational study of wastewater in the East of England. We isolated clinically relevant species of CPE in untreated and treated wastewater, confirming that waste treatment does not prevent release of CPE into the environment. We observed that CPE-positive plants were restricted to those in direct receipt of hospital waste, suggesting that hospital effluent may play a role in disseminating carbapenem resistance. We postulated that plasmids carrying carbapenemase genes were exchanged between bacterial hosts in sewage, and used short-read (Illumina) and long-read (MinION) technologies to characterize plasmids encoding resistance to antimicrobials and heavy metals. We demonstrated that different CPE species ($\textit{Enterobacter kobei}$ and $\textit{Raoultella ornithinolytica}$) isolated from wastewater from the same treatment plant shared two plasmids of 63 and 280 kb. The former plasmid conferred resistance to carbapenems ($bla_\text{OXA-48}$), and the latter to numerous drug classes and heavy metals. We also report the complete genome sequence for $\textit{Enterobacter kobei}$. Small, portable sequencing instruments such as the MinION have the potential to improve the quality of information gathered on antimicrobial resistance in the environment.This publication presents independent research supported by the Health Innovation Challenge Fund (WT098600, HICF-T5-342), a parallel funding partnership between the Department of Health, UK, and the Wellcome Trust. C. L. is a Wellcome Trust Sir Henry Postdoctoral Fellow (110243/Z/15/Z). T. G. is a Wellcome Trust Research Training Fellow (103387/Z/13/Z)

2.4-Å structure of the double-ring Gemmatimonas phototrophica photosystem.

Phototrophic Gemmatimonadetes evolved the ability to use solar energy following horizontal transfer of photosynthesis-related genes from an ancient phototrophic proteobacterium. The electron cryo-microscopy structure of the Gemmatimonas phototrophica photosystem at 2.4 Å reveals a unique, double-ring complex. Two unique membrane-extrinsic polypeptides, RC-S and RC-U, hold the central type 2 reaction center (RC) within an inner 16-subunit light-harvesting 1 (LH1) ring, which is encircled by an outer 24-subunit antenna ring (LHh) that adds light-gathering capacity. Femtosecond kinetics reveal the flow of energy within the RC-dLH complex, from the outer LHh ring to LH1 and then to the RC. This structural and functional study shows that G. phototrophica has independently evolved its own compact, robust, and highly effective architecture for harvesting and trapping solar energy

2.4-Å structure of the double-ring Gemmatimonas phototrophica photosystem.

Phototrophic Gemmatimonadetes evolved the ability to use solar energy following horizontal transfer of photosynthesis-related genes from an ancient phototrophic proteobacterium. The electron cryo-microscopy structure of the Gemmatimonas phototrophica photosystem at 2.4 Å reveals a unique, double-ring complex. Two unique membrane-extrinsic polypeptides, RC-S and RC-U, hold the central type 2 reaction center (RC) within an inner 16-subunit light-harvesting 1 (LH1) ring, which is encircled by an outer 24-subunit antenna ring (LHh) that adds light-gathering capacity. Femtosecond kinetics reveal the flow of energy within the RC-dLH complex, from the outer LHh ring to LH1 and then to the RC. This structural and functional study shows that G. phototrophica has independently evolved its own compact, robust, and highly effective architecture for harvesting and trapping solar energy