Primary prevention of sexually transmitted infections in Switzerland: practices of family physicians and their determinants-a national cross-sectional survey.

To describe the activities of general practitioners (GPs) pertaining to primary prevention in the field of affective and sexual life, studying the advice they provide as well as their vaccination practices. Cross-sectional national survey. The study was carried out using the Swiss Primary Care Active Monitoring GPs' network, a national GP network created in 2012. One hundred and seventy Swiss GPs, from a random sample from professional lists stratified by canton, participated in the present study. Prevention practices against sexually transmitted infections (STIs) performed by GPs through advice provided as well as their vaccination practices. Predictive factor of these practices through their links with the doctors' relevant characteristics and their opinions about STI prevention. Approximately 80% consider prevention in the area of affective and sexual life to be part of their duty and discuss it easily with patients. Most of them spontaneously give advice regarding STIs during a routine consultation. Regarding human papillomavirus (HPV) immunisation in adults, almost half of GPs report never doing it, while almost 75% often or always immunise their adult patients against hepatitis B. Higher numbers of consultations per day are associated with vaccinating more adults against HPV (OR 1.13 (1.05 to 1.23)) and against hepatitis A (OR 1.17 (1.05 to 1.31)). Vaccinating children against hepatitis B is associated with practising in rural areas (OR 4.64 (1.20 to 17.98)). GPs practising in the French-speaking region of Switzerland immunise children less against HPV (OR 0.40 (0.20 to 0.80)). Longer consultations are associated with providing advice on affective and sexual life during a first consultation (OR 1.08 (1.01 to 1.14)). Swiss GPs are involved in primary prevention against STIs and consider it as their responsibility. Prevention practices are associated with GPs' favourable opinions on prevention

An invitation to grieve: reconsidering critical incident responses by support teams in the school setting

This paper proposes that consideration could be given to an invitational intervention rather than an expectational intervention when support personnel respond to a critical incident in schools. Intuitively many practitioners know that it is necessary for guidance/counselling personnel to intervene in schools in and following times of trauma. Most educational authorities in Australia have mandated the formulation of a critical incident intervention plan. This paper defines the term critical incident and then outlines current intervention processes, discussing the efficacy of debriefing interventions. Recent literature suggests that even though it is accepted that a planned intervention is necessary, there is scant evidence as to the effectiveness of debriefing interventions in stemming later symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder. The authors of this paper advocate for an expressive therapy intervention that is invitational rather than expectational, arguing that not all people respond to trauma in the same way and to expect that they will need to recall and retell what has happened is most likely a dangerous assumption. A model of invitation using Howard Gardner’s (1983) multiple intelligences is proposed so that students are invited to grieve and understand emotionally what is happening to them following a critical incident

Enhanced direct oxidation of diclofenac (DCF) at a carbon paste electrode (CPE) modified with cellulose and its biodegradability by Scedosporium dehoogii

A novel carbon paste electrode modified with cellulose fibers and dedicated to diclofenac electroanalysis was prepared, optimized, and used for the determination of the kinetic parameters of DCF biodegradation by a filamentous fungus. The electrochemical response of the modified CPE was compared to that of the unmodified. This study conducted by cyclic voltammetry and linear sweep voltammetry allowed the optimization of the cellulose fibers modified CPE in terms of absence/presence of cellulose fibers, accumulation time (250 s), and initial potential (- 0.4 V/Ag/AgCl). Interestingly, in these conditions, the limit of detection observed through linear sweet voltammetry was found to be as low as 0.020 µmol L-1. This electrode was then used to follow the degradation of DCF. Our results demonstrated that among species belonging to the Scedosporium genus, S. dehoogii displayed the best assets in our process in terms of growth temperature and ability to metabolize DCF. More precisely, DCF biodegradation using S. dehoogii in the process revealed a kinetic of order of 1, a kinetic constant k of 0.012 day-1 and a half time of 57.8 days for an initial concentration of DCF of 1.65 ± 0.05 mg L-1 and at a temperature of 25°C. This study constitutes a solid proof of concept for future developments of fungal wastewater treatments for bioremediation of DCF which is refractory to standard bacterial-based bioprocesses

Major haplotype divergence including multiple germin-like protein genes, at the wheat Sr2 adult plant stem rust resistance locus

Background The adult plant stem rust resistance gene Sr2 was introgressed into hexaploid wheat cultivar (cv) Marquis from tetraploid emmer wheat cv Yaroslav, to generate stem rust resistant cv Hope in the 1920s. Subsequently, Sr2 has been widely deployed and has provided durable partial resistance to all known races of Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici. This report describes the physical map of the Sr2-carrying region on the short arm of chromosome 3B of cv Hope and compares the Hope haplotype with non-Sr2 wheat cv Chinese Spring. Results Sr2 was located to a region of 867 kb on chromosome 3B in Hope, which corresponded to a region of 567 kb in Chinese Spring. The Hope Sr2 region carried 34 putative genes but only 17 were annotated in the comparable region of Chinese Spring. The two haplotypes differed by extensive DNA sequence polymorphisms between flanking markers as well as by a major insertion/deletion event including ten Germin-Like Protein (GLP) genes in Hope that were absent in Chinese Spring. Haplotype analysis of a limited number of wheat genotypes of interest showed that all wheat genotypes carrying Sr2 possessed the GLP cluster; while, of those lacking Sr2, some, including Marquis, possessed the cluster, while some lacked it. Thus, this region represents a common presence-absence polymorphism in wheat, with presence of the cluster not correlated with presence of Sr2. Comparison of Hope and Marquis GLP genes on 3BS found no polymorphisms in the coding regions of the ten genes but several SNPs in the shared promoter of one divergently transcribed GLP gene pair and a single SNP downstream of the transcribed region of a second GLP. Conclusion Physical mapping and sequence comparison showed major haplotype divergence at the Sr2 locus between Hope and Chinese Spring. Candidate genes within the Sr2 region of Hope are being evaluated for the ability to confer stem rust resistance. Based on the detailed mapping and sequencing of the locus, we predict that Sr2 does not belong to the NB-LRR gene family and is not related to previously cloned, race non-specific rust resistance genes Lr34 and Yr36

Major haplotype divergence including multiple germin-like protein genes, at the wheat Sr2 adult plant stem rust resistance locus

Background The adult plant stem rust resistance gene Sr2 was introgressed into hexaploid wheat cultivar (cv) Marquis from tetraploid emmer wheat cv Yaroslav, to generate stem rust resistant cv Hope in the 1920s. Subsequently, Sr2 has been widely deployed and has provided durable partial resistance to all known races of Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici. This report describes the physical map of the Sr2-carrying region on the short arm of chromosome 3B of cv Hope and compares the Hope haplotype with non-Sr2 wheat cv Chinese Spring. Results Sr2 was located to a region of 867 kb on chromosome 3B in Hope, which corresponded to a region of 567 kb in Chinese Spring. The Hope Sr2 region carried 34 putative genes but only 17 were annotated in the comparable region of Chinese Spring. The two haplotypes differed by extensive DNA sequence polymorphisms between flanking markers as well as by a major insertion/deletion event including ten Germin-Like Protein (GLP) genes in Hope that were absent in Chinese Spring. Haplotype analysis of a limited number of wheat genotypes of interest showed that all wheat genotypes carrying Sr2 possessed the GLP cluster; while, of those lacking Sr2, some, including Marquis, possessed the cluster, while some lacked it. Thus, this region represents a common presence-absence polymorphism in wheat, with presence of the cluster not correlated with presence of Sr2. Comparison of Hope and Marquis GLP genes on 3BS found no polymorphisms in the coding regions of the ten genes but several SNPs in the shared promoter of one divergently transcribed GLP gene pair and a single SNP downstream of the transcribed region of a second GLP. Conclusion Physical mapping and sequence comparison showed major haplotype divergence at the Sr2 locus between Hope and Chinese Spring. Candidate genes within the Sr2 region of Hope are being evaluated for the ability to confer stem rust resistance. Based on the detailed mapping and sequencing of the locus, we predict that Sr2 does not belong to the NB-LRR gene family and is not related to previously cloned, race non-specific rust resistance genes Lr34 and Yr36

Escherichia coli : caractérisation moléculaire de souches de cystites récidivantes

International audienc

CRISPR interference interrogation of COPD GWAS genes reveals the functional significance of desmoplakin in iPSC-derived alveolar epithelial cells

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified dozens of loci associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) susceptibility; however, the function of associated genes in the cell type(s) affected in disease remains poorly understood, partly due to a lack of cell models that recapitulate human alveolar biology. Here, we apply CRISPR interference to interrogate the function of nine genes implicated in COPD by GWAS in induced pluripotent stem cell–derived type 2 alveolar epithelial cells (iAT2s). We find that multiple genes implicated by GWAS affect iAT2 function, including differentiation potential, maturation, and/or proliferation. Detailed characterization of the GWAS gene DSP demonstrates that it regulates iAT2 cell-cell junctions, proliferation, mitochondrial function, and response to cigarette smoke–induced injury. Our approach thus elucidates the biological function, as well as disease-relevant consequences of dysfunction, of genes implicated in COPD by GWAS in type 2 alveolar epithelial cells.This work was supported by a CJ Martin Early Career Fellowship from the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council awarded to R.B.W.; NIH grant F30HL147426 awarded to K.M.A.; NIH grants U01TR001810, R01DK101501, and R01DK117940 awarded to A.A.W.; NIH grants R01HL135142, R01HL137927, and R01HL147148 awarded to M.H.C.; and NIH grants R01HL127200 and R01HL148667 awarded to X.Z

Human iPSC-hepatocyte modeling of alpha-1 antitrypsin heterozygosity reveals metabolic dysregulation and cellular heterogeneity

Individuals homozygous for the “Z” mutation in alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency are known to be at increased risk for liver disease. It has also become clear that some degree of risk is similarly conferred by the heterozygous state. A lack of model systems that recapitulate heterozygosity in human hepatocytes has limited the ability to study the impact of a single Z alpha-1 antitrypsin (ZAAT) allele on hepatocyte biology. Here, we describe the derivation of syngeneic induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) engineered to determine the effects of ZAAT heterozygosity in iPSC-hepatocytes (iHeps). We find that heterozygous MZ iHeps exhibit an intermediate disease phenotype and share with ZZ iHeps alterations in AAT protein processing and downstream perturbations including altered endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and mitochondrial morphology, reduced mitochondrial respiration, and branch-specific activation of the unfolded protein response in cell subpopulations. Our model of MZ heterozygosity thus provides evidence that a single Z allele is sufficient to disrupt hepatocyte homeostatic function.This work was supported by an Alpha-1 Foundation John W. Walsh Translational Research Award (to J.E.K.); a CJ Martin Early Career Fellowship from the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (to R.B.W.); NIH grant R01HL095993 (to D.N.K.); and NIH grants R01DK101501 (to A.A.W.) and R01DK117940 (to A.N.H. and A.A.W.). iPSC distribution and disease modeling is supported by NIH grants U01TR001810 (to D.N.K. and A.A.W.) and N0175N92020C00005 (to D.N.K.); and by The Alpha-1 Project (TAP), a wholly owned subsidiary of the Alpha-1 Foundation (to D.N.K. and A.A.W.)

Rhinosinusitis derived Staphylococcal enterotoxin B plays a possible role in pathogenesis of food allergy

BACKGROUND: Staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB) is a potent immunomodulator and implicated with pathogenesis of inflammatory diseases mediated by Th1 or Th2 dominant immune responses. The objective of this study is to determine a possible association between rhinosinusitis derived SEB and pathogenesis of food allergy (FA). METHODS: The study included chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) patients with FA (N = 46) or without FA (N = 33). Controls included FA patients without CRS (N = 26) and healthy volunteers (N = 25). In CRS patients, we assessed the parameters associated with FA including prick skin test (PST) reactivity to food allergens, serum levels of allergen-specific IgE and cytokines (IL-4, IL-13, IFN-Î(3)), and the number/reactivity of food-allergen specific Th1/Th2 cells in the peripheral blood before and 2 months after sinus surgery. Changes of these parameters were evaluated in comparison with changes in SEB concentration in the sinus lavage and stool samples and also in vitro reactivity to SEB. In CRS patients with FA, we also assessed changes in reactivity to oral challenge of offending food before and after sinus surgery. RESULTS: Two months following sinus surgery, we observed statistically significant reduction in PST and oral challenge reactivity in CRS patients with FA in parallel to decrease in serum levels of Th2 cytokines (IL-4 and IL-13) and allergen specific IgE. Improvement of reactivity to food allergens was positively associated with decline in SEB concentrations in the sinus lavage and stool samples. In vitro study results also indicated a role of SEB in aggravation of Th2 skewed responses to food allergens. Such changes were not observed in CRS-non FA patients or control FA patients. CONCLUSION: The rhinosinusitis derived SEB plays a certain role in the pathogenesis of FA by augmenting and/or maintaining polarized Th2 responses. Removal of SEB-producing pathogens from the rhinosinuses may be beneficial for attenuating the FA symptoms in patients with CRS-FA