Comparative transcriptome investigation of Nosema ceranae infecting eastern honeybee workers

Apis cerana is the original host for Nosema ceranae, a widespread fungal parasite resulting in bee nosemosis, which leads to severe losses for apiculture industry throughout the world. However, knowledge of N. ceranae infecting eastern honeybees is extremely limited. Currently, the mechanism underlying N. ceranae infection is still largely unknown. Based on our previously gained high-quality transcriptome datasets, comparative transcriptomic investigation was conducted in this work, with a focus on virulence factor-associated differentially expressed genes (DEGs). Microscopic observation showed that A. c. cerana workers midguts were effectively infected after inoculation with clean spores of N. ceranae. Totally, 1411, 604, and 38 DEGs were identified from NcCK vs. NcT1, NcCK vs. NcT2 and NcT1 vs. NcT2 comparison groups. Venn analysis showed that ten up-regulated genes and nine down-regulated ones were shared by aforementioned comparison groups. GO category indicated these DEGs were involved in a series of functional terms relevant to biological process, cellular component, and molecular function, such as metabolic process, cell part, and catalytic activity. Additionally, KEGG pathway analysis suggested that the DEGs were engaged in an array of pathways of great importance, such as metabolic pathway, glycolysis, and biosynthesis of secondary metabolites. Further, expression clustering analysis demonstrated that majority of genes encoding virulence factors such as ricin B lectins and polar tube proteins displayed apparent up-regulation, whereas a few virulence factor-associated genes such as hexokinase gene and 6-phosphofructokinase gene presented down-regulation during the fungal infection. Finally, the expression trend of 14 DEGs was confirmed by RT-qPCR, validating the reliability of our transcriptome datasets. These results together demonstrated that an overall alteration of the transcriptome of N. ceranae occurred during the infection of A. c. ceranae workers, and most of virulence factor-related genes were induced to activation to promote the fungal invasion. Our findings not only lay a foundation for clarifying the molecular mechanism underlying N. ceranae infection of eastern honeybee workers, but also shed light on developing novel targets for microsporidiosis control.

Estimated Costs Associated with Surgical Site Infections in Patients Undergoing Cholecystectomy

Among healthcare-associated infections, surgical site infections (SSIs) are the most frequent in Spain. The aim of this work was to estimate the costs of SSIs in patients who underwent a cholecystectomy at the Hospital General Universitario de Alicante (Spain) between 2012–2017. This was a prospective observational cohort study. The Active Epidemiological Surveillance Program at our hospital recorded all the cholecystectomies performed. Risk factors associated with the development of SSIs were determined by multivariate analysis and two homogeneous comparison groups were obtained by using the propensity score. The number of extra days of hospital stay were recorded for patients with an SSI and with the cost per hospitalised day data, the additional cost attributed to SSIs was calculated. A total of 2200 cholecystectomies were considered; 110 patients (5.0%) developed an SSI. The average length of hospital stay was 5.6 days longer among patients with an SSI. The cost per SSI was EUR 1890.60 per patient, with the total cost for this period being EUR 207,961.60. SSIs after cholecystectomy lead to a prolongation of hospital stay and an increase in economic costs. It is essential to implement infection surveillance and control programs to reduce SSIs, improve patient safety, and reduce economic burden.

Reducing the harms of unsafe abortion: a systematic review of the safety, effectiveness and acceptability of harm reduction counselling for pregnant persons seeking induced abortion

BackgroundGlobally, access to safe abortion is limited. We aimed to assess the safety, effectiveness and acceptability of harm reduction counselling for abortion, which we define as the provision of information about safe abortion methods to pregnant persons seeking abortion.MethodsWe searched PubMed, EMBASE, ClinicalTrials.gov, Cochrane, Global Index Medicus and the grey literature up to October 2021. We included studies in which healthcare providers gave pregnant persons information on safe use of abortifacient medications without providing the actual medications. We conducted a descriptive summary of results and a risk of bias assessment using the ROBINS-I tool. Our primary outcome was the proportion of pregnant persons who used misoprostol to induce abortion rather than other methods among those who received harm reduction counselling.ResultsWe included four observational studies with a total of 4002 participants. Most pregnant persons who received harm reduction counselling induced abortion using misoprostol (79%–100%). Serious complication rates were low (0%–1%). Uterine aspiration rates were not always reported but were in the range of 6%–22%. Patient satisfaction with the harm reduction intervention was high (85%–98%) where reported. We rated the risk of bias for all studies as high due to a lack of comparison groups and high lost to follow-up rates.DiscussionBased on a synthesis of four studies with serious methodological limitations, most recipients of harm reduction counselling use misoprostol for abortion, have low complication rates, and are satisfied with the intervention. More research is needed to determine abortion success outcomes from the harm reduction approach.FundingThis work did not receive any funding.PROSPERO registration numberWe registered the review in the PROSPERO database of systematic reviews (ID number: CRD42020200849).

A Study on the Harmonic Resonance during Energizing Primary Restorative Transmission Systems: Korean Power System Case

In this paper, a power system restoration study following a massive or complete blackout was performed. The power system restoration process from a complete shutdown system without the operating generation and load starts with energizing primary restorative transmission systems. During this primary restoration process, unexpected over-voltage may occur due to nonlinear interaction between the unloaded transformer and the transmission system. This is known as the harmonic resonance phenomenon that may cause the burning out of a transformer or other devices. So far, harmonic resonances have been reported in some extra-high voltage systems around the world. Since the harmonic resonance originates from the nonlinear characteristics of the power system components, it is very difficult to predict the occurrence of this phenomenon. This paper reports the analyses of the harmonic resonance that can occur in the Korean power system. In addition, through calculating the required buffer load compared to the length of the line, a solution that changes the length of the restoration path impedance considering the specificity of the Korean system was presented. The various analyses of harmonic overvoltage, including methodologies that are used internationally as comparison groups, are provided based on PSCAD/EMTDC simulations.

The influence of drinkers on the affective status of representatives of their microsocial environment

The purpose of the work is to study the adverse influence of drinkers on the affective status of representatives of their microsocial environment. In four regions of Ukraine (Kharkiv, Lugansk and Zaporizhzhia regions, as well as the city of Kyiv), during 2018—2021, 1742 people were examined, who belonged to three qualitatively different comparison groups: patients with alcohol dependence (AD) (393 people); healthy relatives of alcohol-dependent patients (274 people) and representatives of the general population (1075 people). Of these surveyed, respondents were identified who had drinkers in the environment: 288 persons among healthy people and 121 persons among patients with AD. Further research focused on this particular contingent. The main research tool was the questionnaire of the international research consortium GENAHTO (Gender, Alcohol, and Harms to Others) and Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS). The obtained data were processed by methods of mathematical statistics (variance and cluster analysis) on a computer using Excel 2016 computational tables (with the Data Analysis package) and also the software package SPSS-15. It was shown that the presence of drinkers in environment of the women significantly increases the proportion of people with depressive disorders among them, while among the male respondents, this effect was not found. It was revealed that the presence of drinkers in environment of the women significantly increases the severity of such manifestations of depression as: insomnia, weight loss, sexual dysfunctions; suicidal tendencies and guilt. Using cluster analysis, the following typical symptom complexes (important for choosing the optimal therapeutic tactics) were established: insomnia-somatoform, hypochondriacal and anxiety-agitational (the latter — with a sense of guilt and an increased risk of suicidal activity).

A Coaching Model to Promote Economic Mobility and Child Developmental Outcomes

OBJECTIVES: Children growing up in poverty experience worse developmental outcomes than their more economically advantaged peers. Whether Mobility Mentoring, a program focused on building parent executive function to promote economic mobility, results in improved child developmental outcomes is not known. METHODS: This study population was drawn from children enrolled in Washington State’s public, income-qualified prekindergarten program and their families. We used a quasi-experimental, preintervention-postintervention design with 2 contemporaneous comparison groups: children in the same settings whose families did not receive the intervention and children in settings in which the intervention was not offered. Primary outcomes are improvement in each of the 6 dimensions of the Teaching Strategies GOLD (TSG) measure (social-emotional, physical, cognitive, language, literacy, and mathematics) and meeting or exceeding “widely held expectations” in all of these 6 dimensions. RESULTS: Within sites that offered the coaching program, children whose parents received the program (n = 2609) showed gains in 2 of 6 TSG dimensions compared with children (n = 440) whose parents did not, and also met or exceeded widely held expectations. TSG outcomes of all children in sites offering the intervention (n = 3049) did not differ from those of children in sites that did not (n = 7216). CONCLUSIONS: Findings provide sufficient evidence of a positive impact of Mobility Mentoring on child development to merit further study. If substantiated, building parental executive function may improve child outcomes as well as enhance progress toward economic self-sufficiency, and potentially be more engaging than traditional family support programs.

Evaluation of effectiveness of combined use of COC and topical preparation containing azelaic acid for acne

The article presents the results of evaluating the effectiveness of the combined use of combined oral contraceptives (COC) and Skinoren cream in severe papular-pustular and moderate nodular-cystic acne.Material and methods. Patients of the first group (n = 11) used COC and an external antibacterial drug two times a day for the treatment of acne. Patients of the second group (n = 12) used COC and an external drug containing azelaic acid (Skinoren) for the treatment of acne two times a day. The duration of follow-up was 6 months. The efficiency assessment was carried out taking into account the dynamics of the indicators of the IGA (Investors Global Assessment) scale. The Manchester Scar Scale (MSS) was used to assess the effectiveness of post-acne correction. In addition, the effectiveness was evaluated based on the results of the mexametry.Results. When evaluating IGA in the comparison groups in patients with severe papulopustular acne and moderate nodular cystic acne, comparable efficacy was noted, but the best results were recorded in the COC + Skinoren group (p < 0.05). No effect and deterioration of the condition were observed in any group. When assessing MSS, the most pronounced changes were observed in patients of group 2, where the combination of COC + Skinoren was used. So, in group 1, the severity of scars decreased by 42.3 %, in group 2 by 48.2 % (p < 0.05). The evaluation of the results of the mexametry showed a more pronounced decrease in the amount of pigment in patients from group 2. When studying the results of the severity of erythema, the dynamics similar to the severity of the pigment was obtained. The best result was registered in group 2 (COC + Skinoren) (p < 0.05).Conclusions. The combined use of COC and Skinoren cream for severe papular-pustular and moderate nodular-cystic acne has proven to be an effective method both in relation to the number of inflammatory and retention elements, and in relation to hyperpigmentation.

Healthcare service use patterns among autistic adults: A systematic review with narrative synthesis

Autistic adults often experience barriers to healthcare that can cause their healthcare service use to be unique from other populations. We conducted a systematic review to gather the most recent evidence about how often autistic adults use five important healthcare services (the emergency department, hospitalization, outpatient mental health, preventive services, and primary care) compared to populations of non-autistic adults. We searched six electronic research databases for articles. Our search strategy identified N = 2964 unique articles. Ultimately, we included N = 16 articles in our review. Most included studies (N = 13) were high-quality level 3a studies that compared autistic adults’ service use to a non-autistic population comparison group (N = 11), and examined emergency department use (N = 12). Autistic adults most often had equal or higher use of services than population comparison groups across all healthcare services we examined. Although autistic adults had greater use of primary care and preventive services than comparison groups, frequent emergency department visits and hospitalizations may reflect that these services are not adequately meeting autistic adults’ needs. Future research should identify targets for improving autistic adults’ access to and use of primary care and preventive services, which may ultimately reduce frequent use of the emergency department and hospitalizations. Lay abstract Autistic adults often have complex healthcare needs due to factors like having other health conditions, sensory sensitivities, and limited access to healthcare providers who are trained to provide care for them. All these factors may influence the healthcare services that autistic adults use. In this review, we searched six electronic research databases to gather the most recent evidence about how often autistic adults use five important healthcare services (the emergency department, hospitalization, outpatient mental health, preventive services, and primary care) compared to populations of non-autistic adults. A total of 16 articles were ultimately included in this review. Most articles found that autistic adults had equal or higher use of healthcare services than non-autistic adults. Autistic adults frequently used the emergency department and hospital. This may indicate that routine outpatient care in the community is not meeting their needs. Our findings show the importance of improving care at this level for autistic adults to reduce overuse of the emergency department (in this article referred to as ED) and hospital.

Anesthesiologic management of elective endovascular stenting of coronary artery

Introduction. Ischemic heart disease is the most common cause of death in the Russian Federation and in the world. One of the main methods of surgical treatment is endovascular stenting of the coronary arteries. Despite the minimally invasive method, there is a need to ensure sedation of the patient during the intervention. The main type of anesthetic aid for this procedure is monitored sedation.The aim of the study was to conduct a comparative analysis of the two most frequently used regimens of monitored sedation for elective endovascular interventions in world practice.Materials and methods. From January to July 2021, a prospective cohort study was conducted that included 70 patients. A comparison was made between the sedation group using phenazepam (n = 38) with the analgosedation group (n = 32) — a combination of sibazone and fentanyl. The comparison was made by the level of sedation (RASS scale), the severity of anginal pain at the stage of stenting of the coronary arteries according to the VAS; vital indicators of patients (sBP, dBP, avgBP, HR, SpO2).Results. The use of a monitored sedation regimen (sibazone + fentanyl) leads to deeper sedation according to the RASS and a more significant decrease in heart rate in patients at the stage of coronary artery stenting compared with the use of benzodiazepine (phenazepam) alone. Despite this, the incidence of anginal pain during the intervention did not differ statistically significantly between the comparison groups.Discussion. In this work, we compared two approaches to anesthetic protection when performing planned endovascular stenting of coronary arteries, which are most often used in foreign and domestic interventional practice.Conclusions. The use of analgosedation (sibazone + fentanyl) for elective endovascular stenting of coronary arteries has no significant advantages over sedation with benzodiazepines (phenozepam) for these types of interventions. It becomes obvious that it is necessary to continue the search for more effective and safer schemes of anesthetic management during planned endovascular stenting of coronary arteries.

Returning to work after a sickness absence due to cancer: a cohort study of salaried workers in Catalonia (Spain)

Cancer incidence and survival rates have increased in the last decades and as a result, the number of working age people diagnosed with cancer who return to work. In this study the probability of accumulating days of employment and employment participation trajectories (EPTs) in a sample of salaried workers in Catalonia (Spain) who had a sickness absence (SA) due to cancer were compared to salaried workers with SA due to other diagnoses or without SA. Each individual with SA due to cancer between 2012 and 2015 was matched by age, sex, and onset of time at risk to a worker with SA due to other diagnoses and another worker without SA. Accumulated days of employment were measured, and negative binomial models were applied to assess differences between comparison groups. Latent class models were applied to identify EPTs and multinomial regression models to analyse the probability of belonging to one EPT of each group. Men and women without SA or with SA due to other diagnoses had at least a 9% higher probability of continuing in employment compared to workers who had a SA due to cancer, especially among men without SA (adjusted IRR 1.27, 95% CI 1.06‒1.53). Men without SA had the highest probability of having high stable EPT compared to workers who had a SA due to cancer (adjusted RRR 3.21, 95% CI 1.87‒5.50). Even though workers with SA due to cancer continue working afterwards, they do it less often than matched controls and with a less stable employment trajectory. Health and social protection systems should guaranty cancer survivors the opportunity to continue voluntary participation in the labour market.