Design principles for professionalizing primary school teachers on promoting reading motivation

Development Psychopathology in context: clinical setting

Pre-service teachers' reader profiles: stability and change throughout teacher education

1900120NEducation and Child Studie

Bacterial activity in cystic fibrosis lung infections

BACKGROUND: Chronic lung infections are the primary cause of morbidity and mortality in Cystic Fibrosis (CF) patients. Recent molecular biological based studies have identified a surprisingly wide range of hitherto unreported bacterial species in the lungs of CF patients. The aim of this study was to determine whether the species present were active and, as such, worthy of further investigation as potential pathogens. METHODS: Terminal Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (T-RFLP) profiles were generated from PCR products amplified from 16S rDNA and Reverse Transcription Terminal Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (RT-T-RFLP) profiles, a marker of metabolic activity, were generated from PCR products amplified from 16S rRNA, both extracted from the same CF sputum sample. To test the level of activity of these bacteria, T-RFLP profiles were compared to RT-T-RFLP profiles. RESULTS: Samples from 17 individuals were studied. Parallel analyses identified a total of 706 individual T-RF and RT-T-RF bands in this sample set. 323 bands were detected by T-RFLP and 383 bands were detected by RT-T-RFLP (statistically significant; P ≤ 0.001). For the group as a whole, 145 bands were detected in a T-RFLP profile alone, suggesting metabolically inactive bacteria. 205 bands were detected in an RT-T-RFLP profile alone and 178 bands were detected in both, suggesting a significant degree of metabolic activity. Although Pseudomonas aeruginosa was present and active in many patients, a low occurrence of other species traditionally considered to be key CF pathogens was detected. T-RFLP profiles obtained for induced sputum samples provided by healthy individuals without CF formed a separate cluster indicating a low level of similarity to those from CF patients. CONCLUSION: These results indicate that a high proportion of the bacterial species detected in the sputum from all of the CF patients in the study are active. The widespread activity of bacterial species in these samples emphasizes the potential importance of these previously unrecognized species within the CF lung

Viability and Burden of Leishmania in Extralesional Sites during Human Dermal Leishmaniasis

Understanding of the dynamics and distribution of Leishmania in the human host is fundamental to the targeting of control measures and their evaluation. Amplification of parasite gene sequences in clinical samples from cutaneous leishmaniasis patients has provided evidence of Leishmania in blood, other tissues and sites distinct from the lesion and of persistence of infection after clinical resolution of disease. However, there is uncertainty about the interpretation of the presence of Leishmania DNA as indicative of viable parasites. Because RNA is short-lived and labile, its presence provides an indicator of viability. We amplified Leishmania 7SLRNA, a molecule involved in intracellular protein translocation, to establish viability and estimate parasite load in blood monocytes, tonsil swab samples, and tissue fluid from healthy skin of patients with dermal leishmaniasis. Results showed that during active dermal leishmaniasis, viable Leishmania are present in blood monocytes, tonsils and normal skin in quantities similar to that in lesions, demonstrating widespread dissemination of infection and subclinical involvement of tissues beyond the lesion site. Leishmania 7SLRNA will be useful in deciphering the role of human infection in transmission

Gravitational waves from single neutron stars: an advanced detector era survey

With the doors beginning to swing open on the new gravitational wave astronomy, this review provides an up-to-date survey of the most important physical mechanisms that could lead to emission of potentially detectable gravitational radiation from isolated and accreting neutron stars. In particular we discuss the gravitational wave-driven instability and asteroseismology formalism of the f- and r-modes, the different ways that a neutron star could form and sustain a non-axisymmetric quadrupolar "mountain" deformation, the excitation of oscillations during magnetar flares and the possible gravitational wave signature of pulsar glitches. We focus on progress made in the recent years in each topic, make a fresh assessment of the gravitational wave detectability of each mechanism and, finally, highlight key problems and desiderata for future work.Comment: 39 pages, 12 figures, 2 tables. Chapter of the book "Physics and Astrophysics of Neutron Stars", NewCompStar COST Action 1304. Minor corrections to match published versio

VALHUDES: A protocol for validation of human papillomavirus assays and collection devices for HPV testing on self-samples and urine samples

&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;BACK GROUND: &lt;/b&gt;Systematic reviews have concluded that hrHPV DNA testing using target-amplification tests is as accurate on vaginal self-samples as on clinician-taken specimens for the detection of cervical precancer. However, insufficient evidence is available for specific HPV assay/self-sample device combinations.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;OBJECTIVES: &lt;/b&gt;The VALHUDES protocol is designed as a diagnostic test accuracy study that aims to compare the clinical sensitivity and specificity of particular hrHPV assay(s) on vaginal self-samples and first-void-urine, collected in agreement with standardized protocols, with hrHPV testing on matched clinician-taken samples.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;STUDY DESIGN: &lt;/b&gt;Five hundred enrolled women referred to a colposcopy clinic are invited to collect a first-void urine sample and one or more vaginal self-samples with particular devices before collection of a cervical sample by a clinician. Sample sets are subsequently analysed in a laboratory accredited for HPV testing. Disease verification for all enrolled patients is provided by colposcopy combined with histological assessment of biopsies.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;RESULTS: &lt;/b&gt;A first VALHUDES study has started in Belgium in December 2017 with enrolment from four colposcopy centres. The following assays are foreseen to be evaluated: RealTime High Risk HPV assay (Abbott), cobas-4800 and -6800 (Roche), Onclarity (BD), Xpert HPV (Cepheid) and Anyplex II HPV HR (Seegene).&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;CONCLUSION: &lt;/b&gt;Given empirical evidence that the relative accuracy of HPV-testing on self- vs clinician-samples is robust across clinical settings, the VALHUDES protocol offers a framework for validation of HPV assay/self-sample device combinations that can be translated to a primary screening setting.&lt;/p&gt;</p

Erratum to: 36th International Symposium on Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1186/s13054-016-1208-6.]