母亲龋易感性与婴儿口腔微生物多样性关系的纵向探究

目的通过检查有龋及无龋母亲的口腔卫生状况,并通过随访收集其婴儿1个月(1月龄)及6个月(6月龄)的唾液样本测序分析,观察母亲患龋情况对其婴儿口腔微生物多样性的影响。方法通过筛查收集1月龄婴儿的唾液样本;于首次采样时记录母亲的口腔卫生状况,根据母亲患龋情况将婴儿分为母亲有龋组(简称有龋组)和母亲无龋组(简称无龋组),跟踪随访至婴儿6个月时再次收集唾液样本。通过高通量测序的方法,分析婴儿不同月龄微生物多样性的变化。结果本研究随访受试者10例(男6例,女4例),其中有龋组7例,无龋组3例,各组间的微生物群落多样性Shannon指数均无显著性差异(P>0.05)。无龋组婴儿1月龄至6月龄时微生物群落的物种组成有较大变化;有龋组婴儿在1月龄和6月龄时组内各样本间物种组成均差异较大;1月龄时两组微生物群落较相似,而至6月龄时两组婴儿唾液的物种组成已开始发生变化。结论有龋组婴儿口腔内菌群多样性总体高于无龋组,在1月龄至6月龄间婴儿口腔内微生物物种的多样性及丰度均有了不同程度的提高。     

The impact of neighborhoods and friendships on interracial anxiety among medical students and residents: A report from the medical student CHANGES study

Objective

To examine the experience of interracial anxiety among health professionals and how it may affect the quality of their interactions with patients from racially marginalized populations. We explored the influence of prior interracial exposure—specifically through childhood neighborhoods, college student bodies, and friend groups—on interracial anxiety among medical students and residents. We also examined whether levels of interracial anxiety change from medical school through residency.

Data Source

Web-based longitudinal survey data from the Medical Student Cognitive Habits and Growth Evaluation Study.

Study Design

We used a retrospective longitudinal design with four observations for each trainee. The study population consisted of non-Black US medical trainees surveyed in their 1st and 4th years of medical school and 2nd and 3rd years of residency. Mixed effects longitudinal models were used to assess predictors of interracial anxiety and assess changes in interracial anxiety scores over time.

Principal Findings

In total, 3155 non-Black medical trainees were followed for 7 years. Seventy-eight percent grew up in predominantly White neighborhoods. Living in predominantly White neighborhoods and having less racially diverse friends were associated with higher levels of interracial anxiety among medical trainees. Trainees' interracial anxiety scores did not substantially change over time; interracial anxiety was highest in the 1st year of medical school, lowest in the 4th year, and increased slightly during residency.

Conclusions

Neighborhood and friend group composition had independent effects on interracial anxiety, indicating that premedical racial socialization may affect medical trainees' preparedness to interact effectively with diverse patient populations. Additionally, the lack of substantial change in interracial anxiety throughout medical training suggests the importance of providing curricular tools and structure (e.g., instituting interracial cooperative learning activities) to foster the development of healthy interracial relationships.     

Genetic characterization and diversity of porcine circovirus type 2 in non‐vaccinated South African swine herds

The porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) is a swine infectious viral pathogen of great significance in global swine herds. It was recently detected at another Province of South Africa sequel to the first detection of North American‐like strain (PCV2a) at Gauteng about two decades ago, but there is a dearth of information about the genomic features and diversity of the viral strains in circulation within the country and the entire sub‐Saharan Africa region. To date, only one complete genome of the virus from South Africa is available on global data base. This current effort is therefore geared towards the full‐genome characterization of the circulating PCV2 strains in the pigs of Eastern Cape Province. With the use of conventional polymerase chain reaction method, fifteen complete PCV2 genomes were successfully amplified, sequenced and assembled from field samples obtained from non‐vaccinated pigs in the region. Neighbor Joining and Maximum Likelihood phylogenetic analyses of the ORF2 gene and full genomes unanimously showed that most of the assembled genomes (11) belong to genotype PCV2b. Furthermore, three of the characterized sequences formed clade with other reference mutant PCV2b and PCV2b subtype 1C (i.e. PCV2d) strains from the USA, China and South Korea. The last sequence, however, clustered with other reference strains belonging to PCV2 intermediate clade 2 (PCV2‐IM2), recently identified in a global PCV2 strains phylogenetic analysis. This study reports the first complete genome sequences of PCV2b, PCV2d and PCV2‐IM2 in pigs from South Africa, and it gives a possible insight into the genetic characteristics and variability of the viral strains presently in circulation within the country. It further emphasizes the need for more stringent measures in curtailing the introduction and spread of transboundary swine pathogens in the country and entire Southern African region.     

Molecular characterization of the 17D-204 yellow fever vaccine

IntroductionThe worldwide use of yellow fever (YF) live attenuated vaccines came recently under close scrutiny as rare but serious adverse events have been reported. The population identified at major risk for these safety issues were extreme ages and immunocompromised subjects. Study NCT01426243 conducted by the French National Agency for AIDS research is an ongoing interventional study to evaluate the safety of the vaccine and the specific immune responses in HIV-infected patients following 17D-204 vaccination. As a preliminary study, we characterized the molecular diversity from E gene of the single 17D-204 vaccine batch used in this clinical study.Materials and methodsEight vials of lyophilized 17D-204 vaccine (Stamaril^®, Sanofi-Pasteur, Lyon, France) of the E5499 batch were reconstituted for viral quantification, cloning and sequencing of C/prM/E region.ResultsThe average rate of virions per vial was 8.68 ± 0.07 log₁₀ genome equivalents with a low coefficient of variation (0.81%). 246 sequences of the C/prM/E region (29–33 per vials) were generated and analyzed for the eight vials, 25 (10%) being defective and excluded from analyses. 95% of sequences had at least one nucleotide mutation. The mutations were observed on 662 variant sites distributed through all over the 1995 nucleotides sequence and were mainly non-synonymous (66%). Genome variability between vaccine vials was highly homogeneous with a nucleotide distance ranging from 0.29% to 0.41%. Average p-distances observed for each vial were also homogeneous, ranging from 0.15% to 0.31%.ConclusionThis study showed a homogenous YF virus RNA quantity in vaccine vials within a single lot and a low clonal diversity inter and intra vaccine vials. These results are consistent with a recent study showing that the main mechanism of attenuation resulted in the loss of diversity in the YF virus quasi-species.     

构建数字化、可视化教学平台实现妇产科学教学手段多元化

介绍了构建数字化、可视化教学平台,实现妇产科教学手段多元化的做法。内容包括多媒体课件开发制作,利用医学视听教材,建设妇产科图片数据库,建设妇产科标本库(馆),利用模型、模块进行模拟操作,加强实践技能培养和通过临床见习、实习将理论应用于实践等问题。     

The Impact of Community Diversity and Consolidated Inequality on Dropping Out of High School

Abstract: Data from the National Education Longitudinal Study were combined with census data at the zip code level to examine the impact of neighborhood racial and ethnic diversity and consolidated inequality, in addition to individual, family, and school factors, on the likelihood of dropping out of high school. Results indicate that while the effects for diversity and consolidated inequality did not support the stated hypotheses, main effects for family risk and prior academic achievement were significant and in the stated direction. Also, when controlling for individual, family, school, and neighborhood characteristics, African Americans were less likely than White students to drop out of school. Implications for contextual effects research and educational outcomes are discussed.     

Differentiation of Helicobacter pylori isolates by polymerase chain reaction—restriction fragment length polymorphism

Objective: To investigate the association between the diversity of urease gene and urease activity of clinical isolates of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori). Methods: Polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) of urease gene and rapid urease activity test were used to study the urease activity of different clinical isolates of H. pylori. Results: H. pylori clinical isolates were divided into 4 types according to their PCR-RFLP results of urease gene and urease activity. Type Ⅰ , possessing strong urease activity (0. 11) and presented 1 fragment of 1. 7 kb by PCR-RFLP, had close relations with gastric ulcer; type Ⅱ , with the weakest urease activity (0. 07) and 2 fragments (1. 3 and 0. 4 kb respectively) , was associated with duodenal bulb ulcer; type Ⅲ , with the strongest urease activity (0. 12) and 2 fragments (0. 4 and 0. 17 kb) with or without 1 fragment (0. 23 or 0. 37 kb) , was responsible for gastritis; type Ⅳ , with weak urease activity (0. 09) and 2 fragments     

Serial order short-term memory capacities and specific language impairment: No evidence for a causal association

This study re-explored the nature of verbal short-term memory (STM) deficits in children with specific language impairment (SLI), by distinguishing item and serial order STM processes. Recent studies have shown serial order STM capacity to be a critical determinant of language development, relative to item STM. In Experiment 1, 12 children with SLI, 12 age-matched children and 12 language-matched children were administered serial order recognition and reconstruction tasks. Experiment 2 assessed implicit serial learning abilities via a Hebb learning task. The SLI group showed impaired performance for the serial order reconstruction and recognition tasks, relative to language-matched and/or age-matched control groups. However, normal serial position effects were observed in all SLI children in the serial order reconstruction task, suggesting normal coding of serial position information. Similarly, performance on the Hebb serial learning task was at chronological age appropriate levels. Experiment 3 showed that the group differences observed for the serial order STM tasks in Experiment 1 disappeared when the SLI group was compared to a mental age-matched control group. Experiment 4 showed similar performance levels in the SLI group and the mental age-matched control group for a nonword recognition task assessing item STM capacities. This study shows that children with SLI have no specific impairments for serial order and item STM components but that poorer general cognitive efficiency is related to functional limitations in verbal STM tasks. The data are in line with limited information processing accounts of SLI.     

Are the same phoneme and lexical layers used in speech production and comprehension? A case-series test of model of aphasic speech production

In this paper, we investigate the claim that although the same lexical units are involved in speech production and comprehension, there are separate input and output phoneme layers (Foygel and Dell, 2000). Data from a case series of aphasic patients are used to test this claim by examining the relationship between performance on a test of picture naming and performance on tests of phonological input. Estimates of each patient's semantic-lexical and phonological impairments in speech production were derived from Foygel and Dell's computational model of picture naming. It was found that the strength of the semantic-lexical impairments in speech production was significantly correlated with performance on auditory comprehension tests. This finding is consistent with the claim that the same lexical units are involved in speech comprehension and production. Conversely, the correlations between the strength of the phonological lesions in speech production and performance on tests of phonological input were non-significant, consistent with Foygel and Dell's claim that there are distinct input and output phoneme layers.