FBPAII and rpoBC, the Two Novel Secreted Proteins Identified by the Proteomic Approach from a Comparative Study between Antibiotic-Sensitive and Antibiotic-Resistant Helicobacter pylori-Associated Gastritis Strains.

Helicobacter pylori infection is the leading cause of chronic gastritis, which can develop into gastric cancer. Eliminating H. pylori infection with antibiotics achieves the prevention of gastric cancer. Currently, the prevalence of H. pylori resistance to clarithromycin and metronidazole, and the dual resistance to metronidazole and clarithromycin (C_R, M_R, and C/M_R, respectively), remains at a high level worldwide. As a means of exploring new candidate proteins for the management of H. pylori infection, secreted proteins from antibiotic-susceptible and antibiotic-resistant H. pylori-associated gastritis strains were obtained by in-solution tryptic digestion coupled with nano-liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (nano-LC-MS/MS). A total of 583, 582, 590, and 578 differential expressed proteins were identified from C_R, M_R, C/M_R, and antibiotic-sensitive strain (S_S) samples, respectively. Of these, 23 overlapping proteins were found by Venn diagram analysis. Based on heat map analyses, the most and least differing protein expressions were observed from C/M_R strains and S_S strains, respectively. Of the proteins secreted by the S_S strain, only nine were found. After predicting the protein interaction with metronidazole and clarithromycin via the STITCH database, the two most interesting proteins were found to be rpoBC and FBPAII. After quantitative real-time reverse transcription PCR (qRT-PCR) analysis, a downregulation of rpoB from M_R strains was observed, suggesting a relationship of rpoB to metronidazole sensitivity. Inversely, an upregulation of fba from C_R, M_R, and C/M_R strains was noticed, suggesting the paradoxical expression of FBPAII and the fba gene. This report is the first to demonstrate the association of these two novel secreted proteins, namely, rpoBC and FBPAII, with antibiotic-sensitive H. pylori-associated gastritis strains.

Perception of social networking benefits in the support of a PBL module according to students' performance levels.

BACKGROUND: The use ofsocial networking to all levels of medical teaching as a communication tool between instructors and students has drawn much interest and increased usage. As Facebook is one of the most popular social networking sites among students, a Facebook page has been used in the Genitourinary System problem-based learning (PBL) course at the Faculty of Medicine, Thammasat University in the year 2014. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this work is to study the perception ofusing a Facebook page to support PBL in an integrated pre- clinical year course. MATERIAL AND METHOD: The Genitourinary System course committee introduced Facebook page to the 2"d year medical students who enrolled and instructors involved in the course. At the beginning ofthe course, the objectives ofFacebook page setting were informed as follows: 1) public relations, 2) channelfor questions and responses to address curiosities between students and instructors, 3) learning stimulation and 4) supporting good relationship between course coordinators and students. The participants consisted of 177 students who voluntarily allowed their opinion to be used in analysis and dissemination after completing a questionnaire about using the Facebook page in PBL at the end. A Likert scale was used to determine satisfaction scores for nine questions. Finally, the mean satisfaction was compared for each question and for students with different academic performances (great, good, fine, weak). RESULTS: The students liked the page (averaged satisfaction score 4.64) and wanted it to continue to be used in coursework (4.63), especiallyfor students at mid-level when compared to students with great performances (p<0.05). It was beneficial in allowing questions to be directed to instructors, both in lecture learning (4.54) and SDL (4.35), and lessened the time it took to understand content in SDL (4.03). However, although it did notcreate stress (2.10), students had not madefull use of it, as much as they could (3.25), as they were not able study all posts in detail (3.68). Therefore, if the Facebook pages were developed for students to study in more detail, it would enhance its benefits as SDL stimulus (4.09). CONCLUSION: Using social networking, particularly Facebook pages, achieved all the four the stated objectives. Since this was the first time social networking was applied, some of faculty members had concern that their personal information would be disseminated to the public. Moreover there was still minimal knowledge of sharing among students. The Facebook "closed group" with a good protective system may be an interesting option to enhance effectiveness in integrated PBL-styled courses.

Scenemulator: an innovative tutor note to facilitate non-specialist tutor in PBL tutorial session.

BACKGROUND: The tutor notes are the principal learning material to assist the non-specialist tutors in facilitating the students in tutorial groups effectively. Objective: This research aimed to study which tutor notes (scenemulators = scene + simulator + tutor notes anda typical one) is best to ensure effectiveness amongst Thammasat University preclinical tutors to facilitate in tutorial sessions. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Three of the scenemulators and one of typical tutor notes were formed based on the endocrinologist and endocrine block committees. After completion of each scenario over 3 consecutive years, twenty-two items with a five- rating scale questionnaire were co-operated to be completed by preclinical tutors at the Faculty ofMedicine, Thammasat University (n = 21-22/year). Thirteen and six were the topics efficiency and the comparative satisfaction, respectively. The last three were the tutor notes most needed by the tutors. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (mean + SD) andANOVA. RESULTS: From the 85%-response data, mean scores (M) on the topics efficiency on scenemulators and the regular tutor notes were above 4.5 and 3, respectively. Noticeably, the more preferable tutor notes were scenemulator (p-value <0.001). CONCLUSION: The present study demonstrated the potential ofscenemulators in filling up uncertain significant matters and its effective use as a tool to assist non-specialist PBL tutors.