Chagas disease is caused by the parasite , which is transmitted by insect-vectors in the taxonomic subfamily Triatominae and affects approximately 8,000,000 people world-wide. Current mitigation strategies for Chagas focus on insecticides, infrastructure improvements, and management of symptoms, which are largely unsustainable in underserved communities where the disease is widespread. Transmission patterns of vector-borne diseases are known to adaptively respond to habitat change; as such, the objective of our study was to evaluate how the physical characteristics of would vary in relation to land use in El Salvador.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCourse-based undergraduate research experience (CURE) courses incorporate high-impact pedagogies that have been shown to increase undergraduate retention among underrepresented minorities and women. As part of the Building Infrastructure Leading to Diversity program at the University of Detroit Mercy, a CURE metagenomics course was established in the winter of 2019. Students investigated the bacterial community composition in a eutrophic cove in Lake Saint Clair (Harrison Township, MI, United States) from water samples taken in the summer and winter.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAppl Environ Microbiol
December 2019
The methylotrophic yeast has been utilized for heterologous protein expression for over 30 years. Because secretes few of its own proteins, the exported recombinant protein is the major polypeptide in the extracellular medium, making purification relatively easy. Unfortunately, some recombinant proteins intended for secretion are retained within the cell.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: The objective of this study was to develop metrics to assess opioid prescribing behavior as part of the evaluation of the Extended-Release/Long-Acting (ER/LA) Opioid Analgesic Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies (REMS).
Design: Candidate metrics were selected using published guidelines, examined using sensitivity analyses, and applied to cross-sectional rolling cohorts of Medicare patients prescribed with extended-release oxycodone (ERO) between July 2, 2006 and July 1, 2011. Potential metrics included prescribing opioid-tolerant-only ER/LA opioid analgesics to non-opioid-tolerant patients, prescribing early fills to patients, and ordering drug screens.
Acute kidney injury (AKI) associated with high-dose vancomycin (VAN) therapy is a clinical concern, but no uniform diagnostic criteria exist. The AKI Network (AKIN) proposed new criteria to diagnose AKI based on abrupt changes in serum creatinine or urine output. We conducted a prospective observational study to determine the incidence and severity of AKI and associated outcomes using the AKIN criteria versus traditional definitions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Obstet Gynaecol Can
July 2010
Objective: To assess physicians' knowledge, attitudes, and practice with respect to four evidence-based natural family planning (NFP) methods: Standard Days, cervical mucus, basal body temperature, and the lactational amenorrhea method.
Methods: We undertook a cross-sectional survey of a random sample of family physicians and all gynaecologists in British Columbia (n = 460) who have women of reproductive age in their practice, as well as all affiliated residents (n = 239). Main outcome measures were (1) physicians' attitudes towards NFP and their perceptions of its effectiveness; (2) the relationship between physicians' demographic factors, their personal experience or beliefs, and their attitudes and knowledge; and (3) how these factors affect the counselling physicians offer their patients.
Two decades after its discovery the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is still spreading worldwide and killing millions. There are 25 drugs formally approved for HIV currently on the market, but side effects as well as the emergence of HIV strains showing single or multiple resistances to current drug-therapy are causes for concern. Furthermore, these drugs target only 4 steps of the viral cycle, hence the urgent need for new drugs and also new targets.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFContext: We see many Korean women in our clinics and we have found them to have negative attitudes to hormonal contraception. We need to understand their perceptions and experiences with contraception in order to improve the effectiveness of our contraceptive counseling.
Methods: This was a qualitative descriptive study, conducted in an urban family practice office.
This investigation examined the effects, in female rats, of a Pavlovian conditioning paradigm on the development of tolerance to hypolocomotion induced by the cannabinoid agonist HU-210. Rats were administered HU-210 and placebo in either an associative or a nonassociative fashion. The results indicated that rats in the associative paradigm developed tolerance significantly faster than those in the nonassociative group (p < 0.
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