2,146 research outputs found
Valuation of Child Behavioral Problems from the Perspective of US Adults
To assess preferences between child behavioral problems and estimate their value on a quality-adjusted life year (QALYs) scale
Neutral genomic microevolution of a recently emerged pathogen, salmonella enterica serovar agona
Salmonella enterica serovar Agona has caused multiple food-borne outbreaks of gastroenteritis since it was first isolated in
1952. We analyzed the genomes of 73 isolates from global sources, comparing five distinct outbreaks with sporadic
infections as well as food contamination and the environment. Agona consists of three lineages with minimal mutational
diversity: only 846 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) have accumulated in the non-repetitive, core genome since
Agona evolved in 1932 and subsequently underwent a major population expansion in the 1960s. Homologous
recombination with other serovars of S. enterica imported 42 recombinational tracts (360 kb) in 5/143 nodes within the
genealogy, which resulted in 3,164 additional SNPs. In contrast to this paucity of genetic diversity, Agona is highly diverse
according to pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), which is used to assign isolates to outbreaks. PFGE diversity reflects a
highly dynamic accessory genome associated with the gain or loss (indels) of 51 bacteriophages, 10 plasmids, and 6
integrative conjugational elements (ICE/IMEs), but did not correlate uniquely with outbreaks. Unlike the core genome, indels
occurred repeatedly in independent nodes (homoplasies), resulting in inaccurate PFGE genealogies. The accessory genome
contained only few cargo genes relevant to infection, other than antibiotic resistance. Thus, most of the genetic diversity
within this recently emerged pathogen reflects changes in the accessory genome, or is due to recombination, but these
changes seemed to reflect neutral processes rather than Darwinian selection. Each outbreak was caused by an independent
clade, without universal, outbreak-associated genomic features, and none of the variable genes in the pan-genome seemed
to be associated with an ability to cause outbreaks
The Affordable Care Act and implications for health care services for American Indian and Alaska Native individuals
American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) populations report poor physical and mental health outcomes while tribal health providers and the Indian Health Service (IHS) operate in a climate of significant under funding. Understanding how the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) affects Native American tribes and the IHS is critical to addressing the improvement of the overall access, quality, and cost of health care within AI/AN communities. This paper summarizes the ACA provisions that directly and/or indirectly affect the service delivery of health care provided by tribes and the IHS
Host adapted serotypes of <i>Salmonella enterica</i>
Salmonella constitutes a genus of zoonotic bacteria of worldwide economic and health importance. The current view of salmonella taxonomy assigns the members of this genus to two species: S. enterica and S. bongori. S. enterica itself is divided into six subspecies, enterica, salamae, arizonae, diarizonae, indica, and houtenae, also known as subspecies I, II, IIIa, IIIb, IV, and VI, respectively. Members of Salmonella enterica subspecies enterica are mainly associated with warm-blooded vertebrates and are usually transmitted by ingestion of food or water contaminated by infected faeces. The pathogenicity of most of the distinct serotypes remains undefined, and even within the most common serotypes, many questions remain to be answered regarding the interactions between the organism and the infected host.
Salmonellosis manifests itself in three major forms: enteritis, septicaemia, and abortion, each of which may be present singly or in combination, depending on both the serotype and the host involved. Although currently over 2300 serovars of Salmonella are recognized, only about 50 serotypes are isolated in any significant numbers as human or animal pathogens and they all belong to subspecies enterica. Of these, most cause acute gastroenteritis characterized by a short incubation period and a severe systemic disease in man or animals, characterized by septicaemia, fever and/or abortion, and such serotypes are often associated with one or few host species.
It is the intention of this review to present a summary of current knowledge of these host-adapted serotypes of S. enterica. The taxonomic relationships between the serotypes will be discussed together with a comparison of the pathology and pathogenesis of the disease that they cause in their natural host(s). Since much of our knowledge on salmonellosis is based on the results of work on Typhimurium, this serotype will often be used as the baseline in discussion. It is hoped that an appreciation of the differences that exist in the way these serotypes interact with the host will lead to a greater understanding of the complex host–parasite relationship that characterizes salmonella infections
Asking, Learning, Seeking Out : An Exploration of Data Literacy for Teaching
The current study explored preservice and inservice teachers’ perspectives on data literacy for teaching. Semi-structured interviews were employed with 12 teacher candidates in elementary and special education. The findings revealed participants’ misconceptions regarding formative and summative data; their understanding of the value of formative data; perceptions of challenges related to data literacy for teaching including time, making sense of data, and reliability and validity; and candidates’ preferences for authentic data literacy instruction
Simple and objective prediction of survival in patients with lung cancer: staging the host systemic inflammatory response
Background. Prediction of survival in patients diagnosed with lung cancer remains problematical. The aim of the present study was to examine the clinical utility of an established objective marker of the systemic inflammatory response, the Glasgow Prognostic Score, as the basis of risk stratification in patients with lung cancer. Methods. Between 2005 and 2008 all newly diagnosed lung cancer patients coming through the multidisciplinary meetings (MDTs) of four Scottish centres were included in the study. The details of 882 patients with a confirmed new diagnosis of any subtype or stage of lung cancer were collected prospectively. Results. The median survival was 5.6 months (IQR 4.8–6.5). Survival analysis was undertaken in three separate groups based on mGPS score. In the mGPS 0 group the most highly predictive factors were performance status, weight loss, stage of NSCLC, and palliative treatment offered. In the mGPS 1 group performance status, stage of NSCLC, and radical treatment offered were significant. In the mGPS 2 group only performance status and weight loss were statistically significant. Discussion. This present study confirms previous work supporting the use of mGPS in predicting cancer survival; however, it goes further by showing how it might be used to provide more objective risk stratification in patients diagnosed with lung cancer
Rational design of a (S)-selective-transaminase for asymmetric synthesis of (1S)-1-(1,1′-biphenyl-2-yl)ethanamine
Amine transaminases offer an environmentally sustainable synthesis route for the production of pure chiral amines. However, their catalytic efficiency toward bulky ketone substrates is greatly limited by steric hindrance and therefore presents a great challenge for industrial synthetic applications. We hereby report an example of rational transaminase enzyme design to help alleviate these challenges. Starting from the Vibrio fluvialis amine transaminase that has no detectable catalytic activity toward the bulky aromatic ketone 2-acetylbiphenyl, we employed a rational design strategy combining in silico and in vitro studies to engineer the transaminase enzyme with a minimal number of mutations, achieving an high catalytic activity and high enantioselectivity. We found that, by introducing two mutations W57G/R415A, detectable enzyme activity was achieved. The rationally designed variant, W57F/R88H/V153S/K163F/I259M/R415A/V422A, showed an improvement in reaction rate by more than 1716-fold toward the bulky ketone under study, producing the corresponding enantiomeric pure (S)-amine (enantiomeric excess (ee) value of >99%)
The Value Adults Place On Child Health And Functional Status
By summarizing the value adults place on child health and functional status, this study provides a new quantitative tool that enhances our understanding of the benefits of new health technologies and illustrates the potential contributions of existing datasets for comparative effectiveness research in pediatrics
Protecting healthcare and patient pathways from infection and antimicrobial resistance.
Innovative whole system approaches to integrate research and novel technologies within patient pathways are needed to target antibiotic use, minimise healthcare associated infections, and adapt to novel pathogens, write Derek Cocker and colleague
Would You Test for 5000 Shillings? HIV Risk and Willingness to Accept HIV Testing in Tanzania
Objectives: Despite substantial public health efforts to increase HIV testing, testing rates have plateaued in many countries and rates of repeat testing for those with ongoing risk are low. To inform policies aimed at increasing uptake of HIV testing, we identified characteristics associated with individuals’ willingness-to-accept (WTA) an HIV test in a general population sample and among two high-risk populations in Moshi, Tanzania.
Methods: In total, 721 individuals, including randomly selected community members (N = 402), female barworkers (N = 135), and male Kilimanjaro mountain porters (N = 184), were asked in a double-bounded contingent valuation format if they would test for HIV in exchange for 2000, 5000 or 10,000 Shillings (approximately 3.20, and 150 per prevalent infection and 70 for prevalent and $620 for incident HIV infections.
Conclusions: The results support the value of information about the accuracy of HIV testing, and suggest that relatively modest amounts of money may be sufficient to incentivize at-risk populations to test
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