Sporadic Contact Research Articles

Homicide in the context of psychosis: analysis of prior service utilisation and age at onset of illness and violence.

Public stigma and fear are heightened in cases of extreme violence perpetrated by persons with serious mental illness (SMI). Prevention efforts require understanding of illness patterns and treatment needs prior to these events unfolding. To examine mental health service utilisation by persons who committed homicide and entered into forensic care, to investigate the adequacy of mental healthcare preceding these offences. Forensic patients across two mental health hospitals in Ontario with an admitting offence of homicide between 2011 and 2021 were identified (n = 112). Sociodemographic, clinical and offence-related variables were coded from the health record and reports prepared for the forensic tribunal. Most patients (75.7%) had mental health contacts preceding the homicide, with 28.4% having a psychiatric in-patient admission in the year prior. For those with service contacts in the year preceding, 50.9% had had only sporadic contact and 70.7% were non-adherent with prescribed medications. Victims were commonly known to the individual (35.7%) and were often family members in care-providing roles (55.4%). Examination of age at onset of illness and offending patterns suggested that most persons admitted to forensic care for homicide act in the context of illness and exhibit a low frequency of pre-homicide offending. Many individuals admitted to forensic care for homicide have had inadequate mental healthcare leading up to this point. Effective responses to reduce and manage risk should encompass services that proactively address illness-related (e.g. earlier access and better maintenance in care) and criminogenic (e.g. substance use treatment, employment and psychosocial supports) domains.

Motivations for University-Industry Interaction: A Typology of Academic Scientists at the National University of Colombia

In recent decades there has been an intensification of reflections on university-industry interaction as a mechanism for promoting innovation in countries, especially those characterized by a fragile collaboration between science and technology organizations and the productive apparatus. This article examines Colombian academic scientists who collaborate with industry, understanding their motivations and the interaction channels they use. To do this, a qualitative-type research study was conducted through semi-structured interviews with fifteen scientists and three employees involved in technology transfer programs at the National University of Colombia. As a result, we identified heterogeneous positions regarding the university-industry interaction and proposed four groups: i) “Circumstantial collaborators,” who have sporadic contact with industry; ii) “Independent,” who develop their own initiatives through spin-offs with sporadic contacts with industry; iii) “Integrated,” who see industry as a strategic partner and do not wish to undertake entrepreneurship; and iv) “Academic entrepreneurs,” who create spin-offs and see industry as a strategic partner. The main contribution of this work is the typology of academic scientists in the context of a Latin American country, which has implications for technology transfer offices in universities, with a recommendation towards creating typology-based programs, since the incentives that work for one type of scientist may not be the right fit for others.

Implementation of An Interactive Radiation Oncology Clinical Rotation for Medical Students

Background Our radiotherapy department is situated onsite at a university-affiliated hospital where medical students undertake clinical rotations. However, no formal programme for attachments to the radiation oncology service was previously in place. Student experience was limited to occasional classroom-based lectures and sporadic contact with cancer patients while rotating through other clinical services. Under-exposure to radiation oncology (RO) (and oncology generally) during medical school is common. A 2016 survey of medical students at two US universities found that only 4% of third year and 7% of fourth year students completed an RO rotation (Osvarak et al 2016). And 47% of Australian and New Zealand medical students recently reported that RO was not incorporated into their curriculum at all (Bravery et al 2020). We identified improving medical student involvement as a priority for our department. Methods We collaborated with tutors at the University to arrange for medical students to have allocated RO rotations during their clinical attachments at the hospital. Agreed learning objectives fitted into three categories: -fundamental clinical skills in history taking and physical examination -care of cancer patients -an introduction to RO and its role in the care of cancer patients. A multidisciplinary effort with involvement of consultant and trainee radiation oncologists, radiation therapists, nurses, and university representatives allowed us to develop a programme to deliver these learning objectives. Results The programme began in January 2022. One radiation oncologist takes overall responsibility for day-to-day operations and acts as the primary point of contact for the students and other staff members in case of any issues. Students receive tutorials on oncological emergencies and are involved in academic sessions in the department. They are supervised as they spend time contouring organs at risk and clinical targets and also have dedicated sessions with radiation therapists where they observe the delivery of external beam radiotherapy. Clinical experience is gained via attendance at outpatient clinics and on the inpatient oncology ward. Feedback on history taking and clinical examination is provided via tutorials with radiation oncologists and trainees. Students provided feedback which indicated that they had enjoyed their experience of the specialty and found the rotation beneficial. Discussion The rotation has been well-received by students and the university tutors. The primary goal of incorporating RO rotations into the medical school curriculum was successful and these attachments will continue in future. Involvement of relevant stakeholders within the department and the university contributed to the successful implantation. Our radiotherapy department is situated onsite at a university-affiliated hospital where medical students undertake clinical rotations. However, no formal programme for attachments to the radiation oncology service was previously in place. Student experience was limited to occasional classroom-based lectures and sporadic contact with cancer patients while rotating through other clinical services. Under-exposure to radiation oncology (RO) (and oncology generally) during medical school is common. A 2016 survey of medical students at two US universities found that only 4% of third year and 7% of fourth year students completed an RO rotation (Osvarak et al 2016). And 47% of Australian and New Zealand medical students recently reported that RO was not incorporated into their curriculum at all (Bravery et al 2020). We identified improving medical student involvement as a priority for our department. We collaborated with tutors at the University to arrange for medical students to have allocated RO rotations during their clinical attachments at the hospital. Agreed learning objectives fitted into three categories: -fundamental clinical skills in history taking and physical examination -care of cancer patients -an introduction to RO and its role in the care of cancer patients. A multidisciplinary effort with involvement of consultant and trainee radiation oncologists, radiation therapists, nurses, and university representatives allowed us to develop a programme to deliver these learning objectives. The programme began in January 2022. One radiation oncologist takes overall responsibility for day-to-day operations and acts as the primary point of contact for the students and other staff members in case of any issues. Students receive tutorials on oncological emergencies and are involved in academic sessions in the department. They are supervised as they spend time contouring organs at risk and clinical targets and also have dedicated sessions with radiation therapists where they observe the delivery of external beam radiotherapy. Clinical experience is gained via attendance at outpatient clinics and on the inpatient oncology ward. Feedback on history taking and clinical examination is provided via tutorials with radiation oncologists and trainees. Students provided feedback which indicated that they had enjoyed their experience of the specialty and found the rotation beneficial. The rotation has been well-received by students and the university tutors. The primary goal of incorporating RO rotations into the medical school curriculum was successful and these attachments will continue in future. Involvement of relevant stakeholders within the department and the university contributed to the successful implantation.

Radiation safety considerations for the use of radium-224-calciumcarbonate-microparticles in patients with peritoneal metastasis.

Two ongoing phase I studies are investigating the use of radium-224 adsorbed to calcium carbonate micro particles (224Ra-CaCO3-MP) to treat peritoneal metastasis originating from colorectal or ovarian cancer. The aim of this work was to study the level of radiation exposure from the patients to workers at the hospital, carers and members of the public. Six patients from the phase 1 trial in patients with colorectal cancer were included in this study. Two days after cytoreductive surgery, they were injected with 7 MBq of 224Ra-CaCO3-MP. At approximately 3, 24 and 120 h after injection, the patients underwent measurements with an ionization chamber and a scintillator-based iodide detector, and whole body gamma camera imaging. The patient was modelled as a planar source to calculate dose rate as a function of distance. Scenarios varying in duration and distance from the patient were created to estimate the potential effective doses from external exposure. Urine and blood samples were collected at approximately 3, 6, 24, 48 and 120 h after injection of 224Ra-CaCO3-MP, to estimate the activity concentration of 224Ra and 212Pb. The patients' median effective whole-body half-life of 224Ra-CaCO3-MP ranged from 2.6 to 3.5 days, with a mean value of 3.0 days. In the scenarios with exposure at the hospital (first 8 days), sporadic patient contact resulted in a range of 3.9-6.8 μSv per patient, and daily contact resulted in 4.3-31.3 μSv depending on the scenario. After discharge from the hospital, at day 8, the highest effective dose was received by those with close daily contact; 18.7-83.0 μSv. The highest activity concentrations of 224Ra and 212Pb in urine and blood were found within 6 h, with maximum values of 70 Bq/g for 224Ra and 628 Bq/g for 212Pb. The number of patients treated with 224Ra-CaCO3-MP that a single hospital worker - involved in extensive care - can receive per year, before effective doses of 6 mSv from external exposure is exceeded, is in the order of 200-400. Members of the public and family members are expected to receive well below 0.25 mSv, and therefore, no restrictions to reduce external exposure should be required.

The growth of process safety practice in China

AbstractImplementation of modern process safety practices came to China around the turn of the millennium. Compared to other developed countries. It is a relatively late start. However, within a period of 20 short years, remarkable results have been achieved under the joint efforts of many parties. Firstly, this paper introduces four major contributors that influence the development of process safety in China. These are the Chinese government, industry associations and consulting companies, production enterprises, and research institutes and universities. Among them, the government guides the development of process safety in China through policy guidance and the establishment of government projects. It also provides the driving force for research. Secondly, this paper reviews the main process for the development of process safety in China. It divides the development of process safety in China into three stages: namely sporadic contact, active cooperation, and comprehensive development, according to the frequency and leading party of process safety practice activities. Finally, a systematic review of China's process safety practices is conducted from four aspects: international communication and cooperation, process safety technology promotion, safety management system promotion, and personnel training promotion.

Are habitable clean areas in heterogeneously contaminated landscapes functioning as escape zones for fish populations to alleviate stress?

Environmental contamination is a problem that reduces the quality of ecosystems and may make them unsuitable to accommodate life. As many ecosystems are connected, some organisms avoid the stress from continuous exposure to contaminants by moving towards less disturbed areas. However, the landscapes in which organisms move might vary regarding the concentrations of contaminants, in the form of gradients or patches of contamination. Therefore, although it is expected that organisms prefer clean areas, their sporadic contact with contamination should not be ignored, as the greater the probability of being in contact with contaminated areas, the higher the stress. The aim of this study was to assess how the stress (cortisol levels) of zebrafish (Danio rerio) varies as a consequence of heterogeneity in the chemical composition of the habitats and the presence of uncontaminated areas in this heterogeneous landscape. Zebrafish were exposed to heterogeneous contamination scenarios containing different concentrations of copper along a free-choice multi-compartmented system, in which they were able to flee from the most contaminated areas. Fish escaped from the most contaminated areas with an avoidance by 50% of population (AC50) at concentrations of 41 (copper gradient scenario), 25 (spatially limited contamination scenario) and 69 (highly contaminated scenario) μg/L. Higher cortisol levels were observed in the populations exposed to homogeneously contaminated and highly contaminated (by copper) scenarios (both with no acceptable clean area to flee to). In summary, the uncontaminated areas might be crucial for the spatial dynamics of fish populations in a chemically heterogeneous landscape due to their role as escape zones to alleviate stress.

Identification of Recent Tuberculosis Exposure Using QuantiFERON-TB Gold Plus, a Multicenter Study.

ABSTRACTWe investigated whether the difference of antigen tube 2 (TB2) minus antigen tube 1 (TB1) (TB2−TB1) of the QuantiFERON-TB gold plus test, which has been postulated as a surrogate for the CD8+ T-cell response, could be useful in identifying recent tuberculosis (TB) exposure. We looked at the interferon gamma (IFN-γ) responses and differences in TB2 and TB1 tubes for 686 adults with QFT-plus positive test results. These results were compared among groups with high (368 TB contacts), low (229 patients with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases [IMID]), and indeterminate (89 asylum seekers or people from abroad [ASPFA]) risks of recent TB exposure. A TB2−TB1 value >0.6 IU·ml−1 was deemed to indicate a true difference between tubes. In the whole cohort, 13.6%, 10.9%, and 11.2% of cases had a TB2>TB1 result in the contact, IMID, and ASPFA groups, respectively (P = 0.591). The adjusted odds ratios (aORs) for an association between a TB2−TB1 result of >0.6 IU·ml−1 and risk of recent exposure versus contacts were 0.71 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.31 to 1.61) for the IMID group and 0.86 (95% CI, 0.49 to 1.52) for the ASPFA group. In TB contact subgroups, 11.4%, 15.4%, and 17.7% with close, frequent, and sporadic contact had a TB2>TB1 result (P = 0.362). The aORs versus the close subgroup were 1.29 (95% CI, 0.63 to 2.62) for the frequent subgroup and 1.55 (95% CI, 0.67 to 3.60) for the sporadic subgroup. A TB2−TB1 difference of >0.6 IU·ml−1 was not associated with increased risk of recent TB exposure, which puts into question the clinical potential as a proxy marker for recently acquired TB infection.IMPORTANCE Contact tuberculosis tracing is essential to identify recently infected people, who therefore merit preventive treatment. However, there are no diagnostic tests that can determine whether the infection is a result of a recent exposure or not. It has been suggested that by using the QuantiFERON-TB gold plus, an interferon gamma (IFN-γ) release assay, a difference in IFN-γ production between the two antigen tubes (TB2 minus TB1) of >0.6 IU·ml−1 could serve as a proxy marker for recent infection. In this large multinational study, infected individuals could not be classified according to the risk of recent exposure based on differences in IFN-γ in TB1 and TB2 tubes that were higher than 0.6 IU·ml−1. QuantiFERON-TB gold plus is not able to distinguish between recent and remotely acquired tuberculosis infection, and it should not be used for that purpose in contact tuberculosis tracing.

Prevalence and risk factors for latent tuberculosis in polish healthcare workers: the comparison of tuberculin skin test and interferon-gamma release assay (IGRA) performance

BackgroundTuberculosis (TB) is still one of the most common infectious diseases worldwide. Health care workers (HCW) are at particular risk of the disease due to their constant exposure to TB patients or their specimens, nevertheless no specific surveillance is widely recommended in this group of professionals. Both, tuberculin skin test (TST) and interferon-gamma-release-assays (IGRAs) are widely applied to detect latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI). The aim of the present study was to evaluate the prevalence and risks of LTBI in the population of Polish HCW, to identify factors associated with LTBI, as well as to determine the rate of the discordance between the results of the two applied tests in relation to various factors in a TB endemic setting. The study participants were recruited from several health care facilities (hospitals and outpatients clinics) all over the country. Laboratory personnel included 156 persons from both TB and non-TB laboratories (118 clinical pathologists, 38 laboratory technicians), 31 medical doctors, 29 nurses (from both TB and non-TB wards and from family practices), 6 other medical employees (patients assistants). Out of examined group 88 (40%) declared constant (everyday) occupational contact with TB patients and/or contagious biologic materials, 134 (60%) reported sporadic (incidental) contact (few times a year). Administrative HCWs who were not in direct contact with patients were not included in the study group.Material and methodsLTBI status was prospectively evaluated in 222 HCW, 204 females, 18 males, aged 40.8 ± 9 years, with tuberculin skin test (TST) and interferon gamma release assay (QuantiFERON-TB-Gold in Tube – QFT GIT).ResultsTST ≥ 10 mm was found in 58% of HCW, QFT GIT ≥ 0.35 IU/ml in 23%. Nevertheless the relative number of positive QFT GIT in HCW above 45 years of age exceeded those obtained in general population (prevalence of positive QTF test in polish adult population is around 23%). The risk of obtaining positive QFT GIT was significantly increased in the participants older than 44 years (OR = 4.95, 95%CI:2.375–10.193), in those employed > 10 years (OR = 2.726, 95%CI:1.126–6.599), and in those who reported the direct contact with tuberculous patients or infected biological materials (OR = 8.135, 95%CI:1.297–51.016). The concordance between TST and IGRA was poor (kappa 0.23), especially in younger participants, possibly due to BCG vaccination in childhood.ConclusionThe increased risk of LTBI in Polish HCW was related to age, duration of employment and contact with infectious patients or their biological specimens. TB infection control measures in health care facilities in Poland are still insufficient. It is crucial to increase awareness about the importance of detecting and treating LTBI of HCW.

Danger zone assessment in small-sided recreational football: providing data for consideration in relation to COVID-19 transmission

During the COVID-19 pandemic, physical inactivity has increased, and a wide range of sporting activities locked down, with possible long-term implications for public health. Football is the most popular sport...

PRINCIPLES OF PSYCHOLOGY (KELLER & SCHOENFELD, 1950) TURNS 70 YEARS OLD: MEMORIES OF AN EPOCH

Having studied in the Conditioning program at Queens College from the City University of New York (1972-1981) places me in an unique position to celebrate the 70th birthday of Principles of Psychology. Different from my sporadic contact with Fred Keller, I was in continuous contact with Nat Schoenfeld. During this period I read for the first time their wonderful book. Since an impersonal analysis of the text is impossible I decided to share a few memories from that epoch. One was my obsession to understand the premises of Nat ́s thinking of psychology. I concluded that almost invariably he strived to integrate the known independent variables of behavior on continua that allowed for quantitative variation to produce new knowledge. My second memory is related to the latter and was my discovery of his systematization of established knowledge. This is evident in Principles of Psychology, which emphasizes that behavior analysis is a view of the whole of psychology. The textbook organizes the established knowledge as variations of reinforcement and extinction, with each chapter adding new knowledge to the preceding one. The power of such strategy is evident in the last three chapters on motivation, emotion and social behavior, which are not common themes in behavior analysis.

Advances in vaccinating immunocompromised children.

Immunocompromised children are a largely under-vaccinated population and are vulnerable to acquiring vaccine-preventable infections (VPIs). A variety of factors contribute to poor vaccine coverage including: severity of underlying illness, sporadic contact with primary care physicians, and lack of awareness among specialty providers regarding vaccination status. In this review, we report recent data regarding incidence of VPIs, new approaches to vaccine use, rates of vaccine coverage, and strategies to optimize vaccine administration in immunocompromised populations. Pediatric transplant recipients and patients with autoimmune disorders receiving novel biological therapies, represent growing immunocompromised patient populations. VPIs continue to be a concern for such patients. Underlying disease severity may limit efforts to immunize pediatric patients early in their disease process, prior to immunosuppression. Inactive vaccines are safe and immunogenic after the introduction of immunosuppression, but live vaccines are typically contraindicated. Emerging data support the safety and effectiveness of live vaccines in certain immunocompromised individuals. Care providers must remain vigilant in maintaining patients' vaccination status based on current vaccination guidelines, and create a multidisciplinary approach to optimizing vaccination. Immunocompromised children remain under-vaccinated and vulnerable to VPIs. Optimizing vaccines should be a priority for every provider caring for this population.

Attitudes towards Persons with Disabilities by Educational Science Students: Importance of Contact, Its Frequency and the Type of Disability

ABSTRACT According to Contact Theory, direct experience between people with and without disabilities seems to be the basis for building and changing beliefs and, therefore, behaviours. The present study enquires into Educational Science university students’ attitudes towards people with disabilities analysing the differences that occur on the basis of the frequency of contact (almost permanent, habitual, frequent or sporadic), and the type of disability (motor, hearing, visual, intellectual or multiple) of the person with whom the contact is maintained. The participants were 900 students of the Faculty of Education of the University of Granada who completed the Scale of Attitudes towards people with disabilities. The analysis carried out shows significant differences depending on the contact with people with disabilities in different factors of the scale. In addition, there are more favourable attitudes in students who maintain sporadic contact, and also those in those with contact with people with sensory disabilities.

Self-referred personal behavior profile of university professors: association with communicative and vocal self-evaluation.

Describe the self-referred personal behavior profiles of university professors and verify the association of these profiles with the self-assessment of communicative aspects and vocal symptoms. Study conducted with 334 professors at a public university who responded to an online questionnaire regarding voice use in teaching practice. Personal behavior profile classification was the response variable, which was divided into four types: pragmatic, analytical, expressive and affable. Explanatory variables were vocal self-perception, vocal resources, and communicative aspects. Descriptive data analysis was performed with application of the Pearson's Chi-squared and Fisher's Exact tests. University professors identified themselves more with the affable and expressive personal behavior profiles. Overall, professors presented good self-perception about vocal and communicative aspects, in addition to having reported few vocal symptoms. Profiles differed for some of the assessed variables, namely, pragmatic professors reported high speech velocity and sporadic eye contact; expressive professors demonstrated self-perception about their voice and strong voice intensity; those in the analytical profile self-reported negative perception about vocal quality, weak voice intensity, poor articulation and rapid speaking rate; the other professors mostly reported voice tiredness symptoms and difficulty projecting the voice. University professors identify themselves mostly with the affable and expressive profiles. Self-perception analysis of the personal behavior profile in university professors showed the influence of self-reported personality characteristics on communicative skills in the classroom.

Influence of Nanopillar Arrays on Fibroblast Motility, Adhesion, and Migration Mechanisms.

Surfaces decorated with high aspect ratio nanostructures are a promising tool to study cellular processes and design novel devices to control cellular behavior. However, little is known about the dynamics of cellular phenomenon such as adhesion, spreading, and migration on such surfaces. In particular, how these are influenced by the surface properties. In this work, fibroblast behavior is investigated on regular arrays of 1 µm high polymer nanopillars with varying pillar to pillar distance. Embryonic mouse fibroblasts (NIH-3T3) spread on all arrays, and on contact with the substrate engulf nanopillars independently of the array pitch. As the cells start to spread, different behavior is observed. On dense arrays which have a pitch equal or below 1 µm, cells are suspended on top of the nanopillars, making only sporadic contact with the glass support. Cells stay attached to the glass support and fully engulf nanopillars during spreading and migration on the sparse arrays which have a pitch of 2 µm and above. These alternate states have a profound effect on cell migration rates. Dynamic F-actin puncta colocalize with nanopillars during cell spreading and migration. Strong membrane association with engulfed nanopillars might explain the reduced migration rates on sparse arrays.

What's Next? Mediation

Historically, auto|biography studies has had sporadic contact with media studies. This is because the question of the aesthetic, psychological, social, and political formations of life narrative ha...

‘End of life could be on any ward really’: A qualitative study of hospital volunteers’ end-of-life care training needs and learning preferences

Background: Over half of all deaths in Europe occur in hospital, a location associated with many complaints. Initiatives to improve inpatient end-of-life care are therefore a priority. In England, over 78,000 volunteers provide a potentially cost-effective resource to hospitals. Many work with people who are dying and their families, yet little is known about their training in end-of-life care. Aims: To explore hospital volunteers’ end-of-life care training needs and learning preferences, and the acceptability of training evaluation methods. Design: Qualitative focus groups. Setting/participants: Volunteers from a large teaching hospital were purposively sampled. Results: Five focus groups were conducted with 25 hospital volunteers (aged 19–80 years). Four themes emerged as follows: preparation for the volunteering role, training needs, training preferences and evaluation preferences. Many described encounters with patients with life-threatening illness and their families. Perceived training needs in end-of-life care included communication skills, grief and bereavement, spiritual diversity, common symptoms, and self-care. Volunteers valued learning from peers and end-of-life care specialists using interactive teaching methods including real-case examples and role plays. A chance to ‘refresh’ training at a later date was suggested to enhance learning. Evaluation through self-reports or observations were acceptable, but ratings by patients, families and staff were thought to be pragmatically unsuitable owing to sporadic contact with each. Conclusion: Gaps in end-of-life care training for hospital volunteers indicate scope to maximise on this resource. This evidence will inform development of training and evaluations which could better enable volunteers to make positive, cost-effective contributions to end-of-life care in hospitals.

“For a Decent Quality of Life”

Since the 1970s urban spaces have increasingly been the focal point of conflict for politically active groups. Berlin, because of its occupied status, was in some aspects distinct from any other East or West German city, which is evident in the continuous negotiations between the municipal administrations and politics of both city halves to cope with the historical situation of the city. Though historical scholarship points to the transfers that occurred between East and West Berlin, this article claims that the Wall was not as permeable as the research suggests. Indeed contacts were scarce between East and West Berlin activist groups. The reason for only sporadic contact was not the Wall as such, but much more that the political groups on each side of the Wall had their own agendas. Given that East Berlin environmental groups have been the focus of a number of historical studies, this article will place the West Berlin protagonists and their actions at the center of the paper and analyze three ways of cooperation between two communal administrations and different environmental groups in East and West Berlin. It explores the circumstances under which reciprocal transfers between the different groups in East and West Berlin were possible and investigates how the environmental situation on one side of the city could influence the official politics on the other side through the geographic proximity and the common history of both city halves. It also explores the political groups and their environmental goals during the 1980s and locates these within the context of urban Berlin.

Phylogeography of the land snail genus Orcula (Orculidae, Stylommatophora) with emphasis on the Eastern Alpine taxa: speciation, hybridization and morphological variation.

BackgroundThe Central and Southern European mountain ranges represent important biodiversity hotspots and show high levels of endemism. In the land snail genus Orcula Held, 1837 nine species are distributed in the Alps and a few taxa inhabit the Carpathians, the Dinarids and the Western Black Sea region. In order to elucidate the general patterns of temporal and geographic diversification, mitochondrial and nuclear markers were analyzed in all 13 Orcula species. We particularly aimed to clarify whether the Alpine taxa represent a monophyletic group and if the local species diversity is rather the result of isolation in geographically separated Pleistocene glacial refuges or earlier Tertiary and Quaternary palaeogeographic events. In order to test if patterns of molecular genetic and morphological differentiation were congruent and/or if hybridization had occurred, shell morphometric investigations were performed on the Orcula species endemic to the Alps.ResultsThe phylogenetic trees resulting from the analyses of both the mitochondrial (COI, 12S and 16S) and the nuclear (H4/H3) data sets revealed three main groups, which correspond to the three subgenera Orcula, Illyriobanatica and Hausdorfia. The reconstruction of the historic geographic ranges suggested that the genus originated in the Dinarides during the Middle Miocene and first colonized the Alps during the Late Miocene, giving rise to the most diverse subgenus Orcula. Within the latter subgenus (including all Alpine endemics) almost all species were differentiated by both molecular genetic markers and by shell morphometrics, except O. gularis and O. pseudodolium.ConclusionsThe present study confirms the importance of the Alps as biodiversity hotspot and origin center of land snail diversity. The species diversity in the subgenus Orcula was likely promoted by Miocene to Pliocene palaeogeographic events and the insular distribution of preferred limestone areas. In some cases, speciation events could be linked to the divergence of populations in glacial refuges during the Pleistocene. Sporadic contact between geographically separated and reproductively not yet isolated populations led to intermixture of haplogroups within species and even hybridization and mitochondrial capture between species.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12862-014-0223-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The Effectiveness of Coxiella burnetii Vaccines in Occupationally Exposed Populations: A Systematic Review and Meta‐Analysis

To estimate the effect of vaccination in preventing acute Q fever in individuals occupationally exposed to Coxiella burnetii, a systematic review and meta-analysis were undertaken in controlled trials and observational studies. Publications were obtained through a scoping study of English and non-English articles, and those reporting a commercially licensed or licensable vaccine compared with an unvaccinated or placebo control group were included in the review. Two authors performed independent assessment of risk of systematic error and data extraction. One controlled trial and five cohort publications met the inclusion criteria. All trials used a Henzerling phase I vaccine. A random-effects meta-analysis estimated significant protection in abattoir workers (RR=0.07; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.02-0.22) compared with the control individuals. In individuals with rare or sporadic contact with the abattoir, a significant benefit of vaccination was also found (RR=0.06; 95% CI 0-0.93). Overall, the vaccine effectively prevented acute Q fever in individuals responsible for handling animals or their products and those working in the abattoir but not directly exposed to animals (RR=0.06; 95% CI 0.02-0.18). Caution must be taken when interpreting the effect of C.burnetii vaccination as significant heterogeneity amongst publications was observed. A meta-regression found no significant univariate associations. This may reflect the uncertainty provided by reported data in the cohort publications. Potential systematic biases were present in the publications, and evidence included may not be sufficiently robust to extrapolate the effect of vaccination on occupationally exposed groups beyond the population of abattoir employees in Australia where all included studies occurred.

Phylogeographical Studies of Ascaris spp. Based on Ribosomal and Mitochondrial DNA Sequences

BackgroundThe taxonomic distinctiveness of Ascaris lumbricoides and A. suum, two of the world's most significant nematodes, still represents a much-debated scientific issue. Previous studies have described two different scenarios in transmission patterns, explained by two hypotheses: (1) separated host-specific transmission cycles in highly endemic regions, (2) a single pool of infection shared by humans and pigs in non-endemic regions. Recently, A. suum has been suggested as an important cause of human ascariasis in endemic areas such as China, where cross-infections and hybridization have also been reported. The main aims of the present study were to investigate the molecular epidemiology of human and pig Ascaris from non-endemic regions and, with reference to existing data, to infer the phylogenetic and phylogeographic relationships among the samples.Methodology151 Ascaris worms from pigs and humans were characterized using PCR-RFLP on nuclear ITS rDNA. Representative geographical sub-samples were also analysed by sequencing a portion of the mitochondrial cox1 gene, to infer the extent of variability at population level. Sequence data were compared to GenBank sequences from endemic and non-endemic regions.Principal FindingsNo fixed differences between human and pig Ascaris were evident, with the exception of the Slovak population, which displays significant genetic differentiation. The RFLP analysis confirmed pig as a source of human infection in non-endemic regions and as a corridor for the promulgation of hybrid genotypes. Epidemiology and host-affiliation seem not to be relevant in shaping molecular variance. Phylogenetic and phylogeographical analyses described a complex scenario, involving multiple hosts, sporadic contact between forms and an ancestral taxon referable to A. suum. Conclusions/SignificanceThese results suggest the existence of homogenizing gene flow between the two taxa, which appear to be variants of a single polytypic species. This conclusion has implications on the systematics, transmission and control programs relating to ascariasis.