F74 plasmids are major vectors of virulence genes in bovine NTEC2.

Necrotoxigenic Escherichia coli 2 (NTEC2) are defined as E. coli producing the toxin known as cytotoxic necrotizing factor 2 (CNF2), a potent toxin primarily found in bovine but also in humans. NTEC2 are mostly associated with bovine, and cnf2 is known to be carried by pVir-like plasmids. In this study, we looked for NTEC2 in a collection of E. coli collected between 2011 and 2018 in French bovine. Thirty-two isolates, collected from both sick (n = 19) and healthy (n = 13) animals, were identified and characterized using whole-genome sequencing. One F74 plasmid of this bacterial collection was long-read sequenced: its size was 138 121 bp and it carried the cnf2, F17cA-eG, cdtB, iutA, iucC and ompP virulence factors (VFs), but no resistance gene. A large variety of genetic backgrounds was observed, but all cnf2-carrying plasmids belonged to the IncF family, and most of them (78·1%) were of the F74 group. Similar F74 plasmids were also reported from bovine in the United Kingdom and the United States, as identified in the publically available databases. Consequently, these F74 plasmids, which are widely disseminated among E. coli from cattle in the French territory, are vectors of virulence determinants that largely went unnoticed until now.

Overall changes in the transcriptome of Escherichia coli O26:H11 induced by a subinhibitory concentration of ciprofloxacin.

AIMS: The goal was to explore the effects of subinhibitory concentration (SIC) (0·5 MIC = 20 µg l-1 ) of ciprofloxacin on the transcriptome of enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli O26:H11 isolate by 60 minutes of exposure. MATERIALS AND RESULTS: We used a combination of comparative genomic and transcriptomic (RNAseq) analyses. The whole genome of the E. coli O26:H11 #30934 strain of bovine origin was sequenced and assembled. This genome was next used as reference for the differential gene expression analysis. A whole-genome-based analysis of 36 publicly available E. coli O26:H11 genomes was performed to define the core and the accessory transcriptome of E. coli O26:H11. Using RNAseq and RT-qPCR analysis we observed overexpression of the SOS response and of T3SS effectors, together with the inhibition of specific motility-associated genes. Among the large set of transposases present, only three were activated, suggesting moderate transposition of genes with low doses of ciprofloxacin. Our results illustrated that transcriptional repressors, such as the CopG family protein, belonging to the core genome of E. coli O26:H11, are altered in response to fluoroquinolone exposure. The gene ontology enrichment analysis showed SIC of ciprofloxacin induced binding functions and catalytic activities, including mostly transferase and hydrolase proteins. The amino acid pathways involved in metabolic processes were significantly enhanced after the treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Although the core genome of E. coli O26:H11 constituted only 54·5% of the whole genome, we demonstrated that most differentially expressed genes were associated with the core genome of E. coli O26:H11, and that effects on the mobile genetic element, phage, and plasmid-related genes were rare. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: For the first time the effect of low dose of ciprofloxacin on the core transcriptome of E. coli O26:H11 was described. The effects on the main biological functions and protein classes including transcriptional regulators were illustrated.

Interlaboratory ring trial to evaluate CFT proficiency of European laboratories for diagnosis of glanders in equids.

To evaluate the routine complement fixation test (CFT) used to detect Burkholderia mallei antibodies in equine sera, an interlaboratory proficiency test was held with 24 European laboratories, including 22 National Reference Laboratories for glanders. The panels sent to participants were composed of sera with or without B mallei antibodies. This study confirmed the reliability of CFT and highlighted its intralaboratory reproducibility. However, the sensitivity of glanders serodiagnosis and laboratory proficiency may be improved by standardising critical reagents, including antigens, and by developing a standard B mallei serum.

Prevalence and correlates of seclusion with or without restraint in a Canadian psychiatric hospital: a 2-year retrospective audit.

Seclusion with or without restraint is a measure used to manage patients with challenging behaviours. Although controversial, the intervention remains poorly documented, especially in Canadian psychiatric hospitals. The purpose of this study is to assess the prevalence of the measure and identify any correlated demographic characteristics and psychiatric disorders. Episodes of seclusion with or without restraint were extracted from a computerized, hospital-based system introduced specifically to track such interventions. Of 2721 patients hospitalized during that time, 23.2% (n = 632) were secluded with or without restraint, and 17.5% (n = 476) were secluded with restraint. Younger age, schizophrenia or other psychosis, bipolar and personality disorder, and longer stay in hospital are predictors of an episode of seclusion with or without restraint. Younger age, bipolar and personality disorders and a longer stay in hospital are predictors of an episode of seclusion with restraint. For patients who spent longer in seclusion and under restraint, there is a positive association with longer stay in hospital. In this inpatient psychiatric facility, seclusion with or without restraint thus appears to be common. More research is warranted to better identify the principal factors associated with seclusion and restraint and help reduce resort to these measures.

The relationship between work stress and mental disorders in men and women: findings from a population-based study.

OBJECTIVES: [corrected] This analysis estimated the gender-specific associations between work stress, major depression, anxiety disorders and any mental disorder, adjusting for the effects of demographic, socioeconomic, psychological and clinical variables. METHODS: Data from the Canadian national mental health survey were used to examine the gender-specific relationships between work stress dimensions and mental disorders in the working population (n = 24,277). Mental disorders were assessed using a modified version of the World Mental Health - Composite International Diagnostic Interview. RESULTS: In multivariate analysis, male workers who reported high demand and low control in the workplace were more likely to have had major depression (OR 1.74, 95% CI 1.12 to 2.69) and any depressive or anxiety disorders (OR 1.47, 95% CI 1.05 to 2.04) in the past 12 months. In women, high demand and low control was only associated with having any depressive or anxiety disorder (OR 1.39, 95% CI 1.05 to 1.84). Job insecurity was positively associated with major depression in men but not in women. Imbalance between work and family life was the strongest factor associated with having mental disorders, regardless of gender. CONCLUSIONS: Policies improving the work environment may have positive effects on workers' mental health status. Imbalance between work and family life may be a stronger risk factor than work stress for mental disorders. Longitudinal studies incorporating important workplace health research models are needed to delineate causal relationships between work characteristics and mental disorders.

Participatory Action Research: creating an effective prevention curriculum for adolescents in the Southwestern US.

Existing research confirms a need to seek strategies that combine the strengths of researchers and community to create effective prevention curricula for youth. This article describes how components of Participatory Action Research (PAR) methodology were used to create the keepin' it REAL Drug Resistance Strategies (DRS) curriculum designed for a diverse Southwestern US youth population. School community participants were involved in multiple stages of creation and implementation. The research team developed a systematic process for creating lessons built upon strong theoretical foundations, while teachers and students contributed lesson modifications and evaluations, suggestions for supplemental activities, and the actual production of instructional videos. While the experimental design and some methodological constraints served to limit school community involvement in some phases of the DRS project, this article describes how PAR methodology ensured that researchers collaborated with school community members to create this promising drug prevention curriculum. Results of the REAL experiment, discussion of the use of this methodology, implications and recommendations for future research also are included.

Scholastic achievement of adolescent refugees from Cambodia and Central America.

This study investigated the relationship of emotional disturbance and pre- and postmigration environment to the scholastic achievement of adolescent refugees of very different cultural backgrounds. One hundred fifty-two Central American and Cambodian students in six Canadian high schools, as well as their parents, were interviewed to assess the students' emotional problems (using the Youth Self-Report and Child Behavior Checklist) and to determine the pre- and postmigration family environment. The findings indicated that the relationship between the emotional problems and scholastic achievement of teenaged refugees was tenuous. It was concluded that a connection between young refugees' symptomatology and their functional capacity should not be assumed. Nonetheless, certain pre- and postmigration variables, particularly trauma experienced in the homeland, seem to be associated with the academic achievement of some refugees.

Living conditions and emotional profiles of Cambodian, Central American, and Québécois youth.

OBJECTIVE: To compare Cambodian and Central American adolescent refugees to Quebec with their Quebec-born peers in regard to emotional and behavioural problems, feelings of competence, and risk-behaviour profiles, and to examine relations between emotional variables and living conditions in the 3 groups. METHOD: The sample consisted of 76 Cambodian, 82 Central American and 67 Québécois youth living in the Montreal area. The teenagers' internalization and externalization symptoms were assessed using the Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL) and the Youth Self-Report (YSR); the YSR also provided a measure of their feelings of competence. Risk behaviour was reported by the teenagers. The socioeconomic status of the teenagers' households was taken into account in multiple regression analyses conducted for each group. RESULTS: The level of emotional and behavioural problems reported by teenagers was lowest in Central Americans and highest in Québécois; the latter group also reported more risk behaviours than did either refugee group. The socioeconomic status of the Cambodian and Central American refugee households was lower than that of the Québécois. Living conditions were not a major determinant of emotional distress in young Cambodians, but low annual income was associated with internalizing symptoms among Central American youth. The most powerful predictor of externalizing symptoms among the Québécois youth was having a single-parent household. CONCLUSION: This study underscores the contrast between the living conditions of young Cambodian and Central American refugees to Quebec and those of Quebec-born youth. These refugees' precarious socioeconomic status is not accompanied by an increase in adolescents' emotional and behavioural problems.

Family trauma and its association with emotional and behavioral problems and social adjustment in adolescent Cambodian refugees.

OBJECTIVE: The main aim of this study was to investigate the effect of war-related trauma on the subsequent social adjustment and functioning of young Cambodian refugees. METHOD: This longitudinal study of 67 young Cambodian refugees in Montreal interviewed in the first year of high school and then 2 years later examines a family's exposure to war related premigration trauma and its association with an adolescent's emotional and behavioral problems and social adjustment. Emotional and behavioral problems were assessed using the Youth Self-Report and an inventory of risk behavior. Social adjustment was assessed in terms of academic achievement, peer relations, and feeling of competence. RESULTS: The trauma a family suffered before leaving their homeland and prior to the teenager's birth seems to play a protective role at various times in adolescence with regard to externalized symptoms, risk behavior, and school failure in boys, and foster positive social adjustment in girls. CONCLUSIONS: These reactions may be understood as overcompensation by the children of the survivors of a massacre, to whom the implicit duty to succeed has been passed on. They suggest that a broader range of posttraumatic responses to war situations should be investigated and that trauma's dual nature as both burden and source of strength should be examined more closely.

Parent-child agreement on refugee children's psychiatric symptoms: a transcultural perspective.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the types and rates of psychiatric symptoms of young Central American and Cambodian refugees, as reported by both parents and children, and to examine parent-child agreement in reporting symptoms. METHOD: Interviews were conducted with 123 children aged 8 to 12 years and 158 adolescents aged 12 to 16 years and their parents. Parents assessed psychiatric symptoms via the Child Behavior Checklist, the 8- to 12-year-olds responded to the Dominic, and the adolescents answered the Youth Self-Report. Means of Internalizing and Externalizing scores were compared on the basis of ethnic origin, parent's sex, and child's sex, as were the Spearman correlation coefficients of parents' and children's ratings. RESULTS: The Cambodian parents reported few symptoms in their children, and the Central Americans reported almost as many symptoms as did parents in U.S. clinical samples. The Cambodian children reported less symptoms than the Central Americans, but the interethnic difference was not significant in the adolescents' self-reports. Parent-child agreement varied considerably by sex and ethnic origin of the informant. CONCLUSIONS: The results underscore the need to involve multiple informants in assessing psychiatric symptoms of refugee children in spite of the difficulties inherent in field research with this population. They also show that data on multiple informants gathered from Western samples are not universally valid.

The influence of culture and context on the pre- and post-migration experience of school-aged refugees from Central America and Southeast Asia in Canada.

Pre- and post-migration contexts of refugee children from Central America and Southeast Asia were compared. The results suggest that the culture of origin radically modulates the relationship between the pre-migration experience and the developing post-migration universe. In the case of the Central American children, the state-sponsored violence suffered in the country of origin is strongly associated with subsequent family conflicts, whereas in the case of the Southeast Asians, conflict is associated with an active social network in the community of origin, suggesting that there is a delicate balance between the support provided and the burden imposed by the extended family.

School performance and emotional problems in refugee children.

The relationship between school performance and emotional problems was assessed in a general population sample of refugee children from Southeast Asia and Central America. Results suggested that learning difficulties and levels of academic achievement were associated with emotional problems in both groups but that, despite comparable academic records, remedial measures were more often prescribed for Central American children.

[Homogeneity of the spatial distribution of cancers of the female reproductive tract in Quebec]. / Homogénéité de la distribution spatiale des cancers du système reproducteur féminin au Québec.

Risk factors associated with women's reproductive life and sexual growth do not adequately predict cancer incidence of the breast, uterus and ovary. The heterogeneous worldwide distribution of these cancers could imply that some environmental and cultural risk factors are involved in their cancerogenesis. The few attempts made so far to unravel their spatial structures at a geographic scale facilitating the search for exogenous risk factors have proved inconclusive. This study reports the results of a spatial analysis of the cancer incidence rates for breast, cervix, endometrium and ovary among Community Health Departments (CHD) in Quebec using a spatial autocorrelation method. Correlograms built according to four definitions of the inter-CHDs distance indicate that breast and ovary incidence rates follow quite similar spatial gradients attesting to their etiologic affinity. They also suggest that the spatial distribution of endometrial cancer follows a gradient divergent from that of breast and ovary cancers, and that the CHDs' spatial scale does not suitably describe the distribution of cervical cancer. The demonstration of a structured spatial distribution for breast, endometrium and ovary cancers in Québec strengthen the hypothesis that cultural or environmental risk factors are involved in their etiology. But, the observed disparities in the spatial structure of these cancers imply that their etiologic specificity may be greater than their biologic bond would suggest.

[Support provided by third parties and the reaction of close female caregivers in the care of elderly persons with loss of autonomy]. / L'aide apportée par des tiers et les réactions des aidantes naturelles à la prise en charge de personnes âgées en perte d'autonomie.

This article is about the relation between, on the one hand, support provided by third parties and, on the other, the burden and the depression experienced by the main female supporters who care for the elderly suffering from physical or cognitive problems. The authors examine the hypothesis that social support is not homogeneous across the board and that the different types of support are likely to have different effects on elders with adverse reactions to the caring process. Data originates from a study that was conducted in the Montréal area in 1990 with 159 female supporters living with an elder requiring care who requested support services from formal and informal networks. Hierarchical regression analyses show that the variables in connection with care dispensed by the network play a limited role in attempting to explain the depression and burden levels. Furthermore, these analyses confirm the hypothesis of the variables' narrow range of influence.

[Attempted characterization of microorganisms by their metallic profiles]. / Essais de caractérisation des microorganismes par leurs profils métalliques.

Ten medically or environmentally significant strains of bacteria were assessed as to their metallic content (Be, Mg, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Cu, Zn, Cd and Pb). Metallic detection was performed using a carbon rod-equipped atomic absorption spectrophotometer. Experimental parameters such as heavy metal content of initial culture medium, incubation, "red fuming" nitric acid digestion times, evaporative losses (and their individual correction) plus primary sample dilutions, were standardized. For the ten strains studied, characteristic metallic profiles were observed. More work is needed to assess the taxonomic and epidemiologic significance of metallic profiles of microorganisms.

[Survival of "Pseudomonas aeruginosa" and "Escherichia coli" in cold water (author's transl)]. / Survie comparée de Pseudomonas aeruginosa et de Escherichia coli en eau froide.

The survival rates of Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa in water were studied and compared at 4, 10 and 20 degrees C and pH 6 and 8, either separately or in mixed culture at four different concentration ratios. Under ceratin experimental conditions, the temperature, the pH and the bacterial concentration exerted a marked influence on the survival rate. At 4 degrees C, P. aeruginosa may be substituted to E. coli as an effective micriobiological pollution indicator.

[Compared survival of "Escherichia coli" and "Salmonella typhi-murium" in cold water (author's transl)]. / Survie comparée de Escherichia coli et de Salmonella typhi-murium en eau froide.

The survival rates of Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhi-murium in water are studied at 4, 10 and 20 degrees C and pH 6 and 8, either separately or in mixed culture at four different ratios. S. typhi-murium's survival rate is enhanced at pH 6 and low water temperature. The value of traditional microbiological indicators in assessed in cold water conditions.