Characterization of bacteriophage T7-Ah reveals its lytic activity against a subset of both mesophilic and psychrophilic Aeromonas salmonicida strains

Aeromonas salmonicida strains cause problematic bacterial infections in the aquaculture industry worldwide. The genus Aeromonas includes both mesophilic and psychrophilic species. Bacteriophages that infect Aeromonas spp. strains are usually specific for mesophilic or psychrophilic species; only a few bacteriophages can infect both types of strains. In this study, we characterized the podophage T7-Ah, which was initially found to infect the Aeromonas salmonicida HER1209 strain. The burst size of T7-Ah against its original host is 72 new virions per infected cell, and its burst time is 30 minutes. It has been found that this phage can lyse both mesophilic and psychrophilic A. salmonicida strains, as well as one strain of Escherichia coli. Its genome comprises 40,153 bp of DNA and does not contain any recognizable toxin or antibiotic resistance genes. The adsorption rate of the phage on highly sensitive bacterial strains was variable and could not be related to the presence or absence of a functional A-layer on the surface of the bacterial strains. The lipopolysaccharide migration patterns of both resistant and sensitive bacterial strains were also studied and compared to investigate the nature of the potential receptor of this phage on the bacterial surface. This study sheds light on the surprising diversity of lifestyles of the bacterial strains sensitive to phage T7-Ah and opens the door to the potential use of this phage against A. salmonicida infections in aquaculture

Transport aircraft loading and balancing system: Using a CLIPS expert system for military aircraft load planning

The requirement for improving aircraft utilization and responsiveness in airlift operations has been recognized for quite some time by the Canadian Forces. To date, the utilization of scarce airlift resources has been planned mainly through the employment of manpower-intensive manual methods in combination with the expertise of highly qualified personnel. In this paper, we address the problem of facilitating the load planning process for military aircraft cargo planes through the development of a computer-based system. We introduce TALBAS (Transport Aircraft Loading and BAlancing System), a knowledge-based system designed to assist personnel involved in preparing valid load plans for the C130 Hercules aircraft. The main features of this system which are accessible through a convivial graphical user interface, consists of the automatic generation of valid cargo arrangements given a list of items to be transported, the user-definition of load plans and the automatic validation of such load plans

Assessment for Learning and self-regulation support in a descriptive and inferential psychostatistics course at ULiège

Depuis 2013, le Projet Feedback 1er Bac vise à soutenir l'apprentissage et la réussite des étudiant.es de première année inscrit.es dans les mêmes cursus à l'Université de Liège par une bonne pratique de l'évaluation formative et du feedback dans leurs cours (Nicol, 2009). Dans le cadre de ce projet, la refonte pédagogique en ligne d'un cours de psychostatistique descriptive et inférentielle a été réalisée selon des stratégies clés (Thompson & Wiliam, 2008) ou des principes essentiels de l'Assessment for Learning (AfL). Introduisant des procédures statistiques élémentaires à un groupe très important de première année de bachelier en psychologie, sciences de l'éducation et logopédie, cette unité de cours est notamment confrontée aux difficultés des étudiants à appliquer les connaissances théoriques à des ensembles de données simples pour pouvoir choisir les tests statistiques appropriés. Afin de mettre en œuvre cet apprentissage de manière active et régulière, la planification du cours a été repensée à l'aide de Blackboard (le système de gestion de l'apprentissage de l'institution) pour inclure une séquence de trois tests à difficulté progressive qui se déclinent en de nombreuses sous-questions aidant à structurer la résolution par l'étudiant, et qui n'apportent qu'un bénéfice minimal sur la note finale (un seul point de bonus motivant en cas de réussite). Leur donnant ainsi des " opportunités de pratiques et de répétitions ", ces tests d'" évaluation à faible enjeu " étaient tous précédés d'exercices identiques mais purement formatifs, permettant également d'" équilibrer évaluation sommative et formative " (Sambell, McDowell & Montgomery, 2013). Conçu également comme un programme de tests et d'exercices "authentiques" (mettant l'accent sur l'utilisation de procédures statistiques dans des situations que les psychologues pourraient rencontrer et correspondant au niveau réel de l'examen), ce système d'évaluation de l'apprentissage en ligne fournit également aux étudiant.es des retours formatifs fréquents et automatiques avec des commentaires pour les réponses correctes et incorrectes, dans le but de les aider à "avancer" (Hounsell et al., 2008) et à autoréguler leur apprentissage. Afin d'évaluer l'impact et la réception de cette refonte par les étudiant.es, des données objectives et subjectives ont été recueillies selon le cadre 3P de Verpoorten et al. (2017) concernant trois aspects de l'expérience d'apprentissage des étudiant.es : leur Participation, leur Performance et leur Perception. Les premières analyses indiquent un lien statistiquement significatif entre la note moyenne des trois tests et la note à l'examen (Performance). Il apparaît également que la participation à ces tests est un indicateur très fort de la réussite du cours. De plus, une enquête auprès du public cible montre des perceptions favorables liées aux paramètres de rétroaction, à la compréhension des attentes du professeur, à la probabilité de persévérer ou de s'autoréguler

Recombinant factor VIIa for the prevention and treatment of bleeding in patients without haemophilia

This review is published as a Cochrane Review in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2012, Issue 3. Cochrane Reviews are regularly updated as new evidence emerges and in response to comments and criticisms, and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews should be consulted for the most recent version of the Review.BACKGROUND: Recombinant factor VIIa (rFVIIa) is licensed for use in patients with haemophilia and inhibitory allo-antibodies and for prophylaxis and treatment of patients with congenital factor VII deficiency. It is also used for off-license indications to prevent bleeding in operations where blood loss is likely to be high, and/or to stop bleeding that is proving difficult to control by other means. This is the third version of the 2007 Cochrane review on the use of recombinant factor VIIa for the prevention and treatment of bleeding in patients without haemophilia, and has been updated to incorporate recent trial data. OBJECTIVES: To assess the effectiveness of rFVIIa when used therapeutically to control active bleeding or prophylactically to prevent (excessive) bleeding in patients without haemophilia. SEARCH METHODS: We searched the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), MEDLINE, EMBASE and other medical databases up to 23 March 2011. SELECTION CRITERIA: Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) comparing rFVIIa with placebo, or one dose of rFVIIa with another, in any patient population (except haemophilia). Outcomes were mortality, blood loss or control of bleeding, red cell transfusion requirements, number of patients transfused and thromboembolic adverse events. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Two authors independently assessed potentially relevant studies for inclusion, extracted data and examined risk of bias. We considered prophylactic and therapeutic rFVIIa studies separately. MAIN RESULTS: Twenty-nine RCTs were included: 28 were placebo-controlled, double-blind RCTs and one compared different doses of rFVIIa. In the 'Risk of bias' assessment, most studies were found to have some threats to validity although therapeutic RCTs were found to be less prone to bias than prophylactic RCTs.Sixteen trials involving 1361 participants examined the prophylactic use of rFVIIa; 729 received rFVIIa. There was no evidence of mortality benefit (risk ratio (RR) 1.04; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.55 to 1.97). There was decreased blood loss (mean difference (MD) -297 mL; 95% CI -416 to -178) and decreased red cell transfusion requirements (MD -261 mL; 95% CI -367 to -154) with rFVIIa treatment; however, these values were likely overestimated due to the inability to incorporate data from trials (four RCTs in the outcome of blood loss and three RCTs in the outcome of transfusion requirements) showing no difference of rFVIIa treatment compared to placebo. There was a trend in favour of rFVIIa in the number of participants transfused (RR 0.85; 95% CI 0.72 to 1.01). However, there was a trend against rFVIIa with respect to thromboembolic adverse events (RR 1.35; 95% CI 0.82 to 2.25).Thirteen trials involving 2929 participants examined the therapeutic use of rFVIIa; 1878 received rFVIIa. There were no outcomes where any observed advantage or disadvantage of rFVIIa over placebo could not have been observed by chance alone. There was a trend in favour of rFVIIa for reducing mortality (RR 0.91; 95% CI 0.78 to 1.06). However, there was a trend against rFVIIa for increased thromboembolic adverse events (RR 1.14; 95% CI 0.89 to 1.47).When all trials were pooled together to examine the risk of thromboembolic events, a significant increase in total arterial events was observed (RR 1.45; 95% CI 1.02 to 2.05). AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: The effectiveness of rFVIIa as a more general haemostatic drug, either prophylactically or therapeutically, remains unproven. The results indicate increased risk of arterial events in patients receiving rFVIIa. The use of rFVIIa outside its current licensed indications should be restricted to clinical trials

Good practice in health care for migrants: views and experiences of care professionals in 16 European countries

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Health services across Europe provide health care for migrant patients every day. However, little systematic research has explored the views and experiences of health care professionals in different European countries. The aim of this study was to assess the difficulties professionals experience in their service when providing such care and what they consider constitutes good practice to overcome these problems or limit their negative impact on the quality of care.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Structured interviews with open questions and case vignettes were conducted with health care professionals working in areas with high proportion of migrant populations in 16 countries. In each country, professionals in nine primary care practices, three accident and emergency hospital departments, and three community mental health services (total sample = 240) were interviewed about their views and experiences in providing care for migrant patients, i.e. from first generation immigrant populations. Answers were analysed using thematic content analysis.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Eight types of problems and seven components of good practice were identified representing all statements in the interviews. The eight problems were: language barriers, difficulties in arranging care for migrants without health care coverage, social deprivation and traumatic experiences, lack of familiarity with the health care system, cultural differences, different understandings of illness and treatment, negative attitudes among staff and patients, and lack of access to medical history. The components of good practice to overcome these problems or limit their impact were: organisational flexibility with sufficient time and resources, good interpreting services, working with families and social services, cultural awareness of staff, educational programmes and information material for migrants, positive and stable relationships with staff, and clear guidelines on the care entitlements of different migrant groups. Problems and good care components were similar across the three types of services.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Health care professionals in different services experience similar difficulties when providing care to migrants. They also have relatively consistent views on what constitutes good practice. The degree to which these components already are part of routine practice varies. Implementing good practice requires sufficient resources and organisational flexibility, positive attitudes, training for staff and the provision of information.</p

Are well-studied marine biodiversity hotspots still blackspots for animal barcoding?

Marine biodiversity underpins ecosystem health and societal well-being. Preservation of biodiversity hotspots is a global challenge. Molecular tools, like DNA barcoding and metabarcoding, hold great potential for biodiversity monitoring, possibly outperforming more traditional taxonomic methods. However, metabarcoding-based biodiversity assessments are limited by the availability of sequences in barcoding reference databases; a lack thereof results in high percentages of unassigned sequences. In this study we (i) present the current status of known vs. barcoded marine species at a global scale based on online taxonomic and genetic databases; and (ii) compare the current status with data from ten years ago. Then we analyzed occurrence data of marine animal species from five Large Marine Ecosystems (LMEs) classified as biodiversity hotspots, to identify any consistent disparities in COI barcoding coverage between geographic regions and at phylum level. Barcoding coverage varied among LMEs (from 36.8% to 62.4% COI-barcoded species) and phyla (from 4.8% to 74.7% COI-barcoded species), with Porifera, Bryozoa and Platyhelminthes being highly underrepresented, compared to Chordata, Arthropoda and Mollusca. We demonstrate that although barcoded marine species increased from 9.5% to 14.2% since the last assessment in 2011, about 15,000 (corresponding to 7.8% increase) new species were described from 2011 to 2021. The next ten years will thus be crucial to enroll concrete collaborative measures and long term initiatives (e.g., Horizon 2030, Ocean Decade) to populate barcoding libraries for the marine realm.the Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences (BiGeA) of the University of Bologna (UniBo). The CoMBoMed initiative was supported by the European Marine Research Network (EUROMARINE Network), the Inter-Departmental Research Centre for Environmental Sciences (CIRSA – UniBo), the Cultural Heritage Department (DBC - UniBo, https://beniculturali.unibo.it/it), the Fondazione Flaminia and the ERANet Mar-Tera Project SEAMoBB (Solutions for sEmi-Automated Monitoring of Benthic Biodiversity).Peer reviewe

Exome sequencing identifies germline variants in DIS3 in familial multiple myeloma

[Excerpt] Multiple myeloma (MM) is the third most common hematological malignancy, after Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma and Leukemia. MM is generally preceded by Monoclonal Gammopathy of Undetermined Significance (MGUS) [1], and epidemiological studies have identified older age, male gender, family history, and MGUS as risk factors for developing MM [2]. The somatic mutational landscape of sporadic MM has been increasingly investigated, aiming to identify recurrent genetic events involved in myelomagenesis. Whole exome and whole genome sequencing studies have shown that MM is a genetically heterogeneous disease that evolves through accumulation of both clonal and subclonal driver mutations [3] and identified recurrently somatically mutated genes, including KRAS, NRAS, FAM46C, TP53, DIS3, BRAF, TRAF3, CYLD, RB1 and PRDM1 [3,4,5]. Despite the fact that family-based studies have provided data consistent with an inherited genetic susceptibility to MM compatible with Mendelian transmission [6], the molecular basis of inherited MM predisposition is only partly understood. Genome-Wide Association (GWAS) studies have identified and validated 23 loci significantly associated with an increased risk of developing MM that explain ~16% of heritability [7] and only a subset of familial cases are thought to have a polygenic background [8]. Recent studies have identified rare germline variants predisposing to MM in KDM1A [9], ARID1A and USP45 [10], and the implementation of next-generation sequencing technology will allow the characterization of more such rare variants. [...]French National Cancer Institute (INCA) and the Fondation Française pour la Recherche contre le Myélome et les Gammapathies (FFMRG), the Intergroupe Francophone du Myélome (IFM), NCI R01 NCI CA167824 and a generous donation from Matthew Bell. This work was supported in part through the computational resources and staff expertise provided by Scientific Computing at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Research reported in this paper was supported by the Office of Research Infrastructure of the National Institutes of Health under award number S10OD018522. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. The authors thank the Association des Malades du Myélome Multiple (AF3M) for their continued support and participation. Where authors are identified as personnel of the International Agency for Research on Cancer / World Health Organization, the authors alone are responsible for the views expressed in this article and they do not necessarily represent the decisions, policy or views of the International Agency for Research on Cancer / World Health Organizatio

What is the value and impact of quality and safety teams? A scoping review

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The purpose of this study was to conduct a scoping review of the literature about the establishment and impact of quality and safety team initiatives in acute care.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Studies were identified through electronic searches of Medline, Embase, CINAHL, PsycINFO, ABI Inform, Cochrane databases. Grey literature and bibliographies were also searched. Qualitative or quantitative studies that occurred in acute care, describing how quality and safety teams were established or implemented, the impact of teams, or the barriers and/or facilitators of teams were included. Two reviewers independently extracted data on study design, sample, interventions, and outcomes. Quality assessment of full text articles was done independently by two reviewers. Studies were categorized according to dimensions of quality.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Of 6,674 articles identified, 99 were included in the study. The heterogeneity of studies and results reported precluded quantitative data analyses. Findings revealed limited information about attributes of successful and unsuccessful team initiatives, barriers and facilitators to team initiatives, unique or combined contribution of selected interventions, or how to effectively establish these teams.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Not unlike systematic reviews of quality improvement collaboratives, this broad review revealed that while teams reported a number of positive results, there are many methodological issues. This study is unique in utilizing traditional quality assessment and more novel methods of quality assessment and reporting of results (SQUIRE) to appraise studies. Rigorous design, evaluation, and reporting of quality and safety team initiatives are required.</p