Plos One
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Comparative Study
Microbial resolution of whole genome shotgun and 16S amplicon metagenomic sequencing using publicly available NEON data.
Microorganisms are ubiquitous in the biosphere, playing a crucial role in both biogeochemistry of the planet and human health. However, identifying these microorganisms and defining their function are challenging. Widely used approaches in comparative metagenomics, 16S amplicon sequencing and whole genome shotgun sequencing (WGS), have provided access to DNA sequencing analysis to identify microorganisms and evaluate diversity and abundance in various environments. ⋯ The dominant bacterial phyla detected across samples agreed between sequencing methodologies. However, WGS yielded greater microbial resolution, increased accuracy, and allowed identification of more genera of bacteria, archaea, viruses, and eukaryota, and putative functional genes that would have gone undetected using 16S amplicon sequencing. NEON open data will be useful for future studies characterizing and quantifying complex ecological processes associated with changing aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems.
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Despite evidence of socio-demographic disparities in outcomes of COVID-19, little is known about characteristics and clinical outcomes of patients admitted to public hospitals during the COVID-19 outbreak. ⋯ COVID-19 demonstrated severe morbidity and mortality in critically ill patients. Modifications in care delivery outside the ICU allowed the hospital to effectively care for a surge of critically ill and severely hypoxic patients.
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Multicenter Study
Comparison of professionalism between emergency medicine resident physicians and faculty physicians: A multicenter cross-sectional study.
Professionalism is a critical competency for emergency medicine (EM) physicians, and professional behavior affects patient satisfaction. However, the findings of various studies indicate that there are differences in the interpretation of professionalism among EM resident physicians and faculty physicians. Using a cross-sectional survey, we aimed to analyze common challenges to medical professionalism for Japanese EM physicians and survey the extent of professionalism coursework completed during undergraduate medical education. ⋯ More participants in the EM resident physician group completed formal courses in medical professionalism than those in the EM faculty physician group (25.8% versus 5.5%, p < 0.01). Further, EM faculty physicians were less likely than EM resident physicians to provide acceptable responses in terms of confidentiality, and few of both had received professionalism training through school curricula. Continuous professionalism education focused on the prevention of sexual harassment and gender gap is needed for both EM resident physicians and faculty physicians in Japan.
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Clinical Trial
Knowledge and practice of personal protective measures during the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional study in Saudi Arabia.
The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is an emergent infectious pathogen causing an acute respiratory disease called corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Virus transmission may occur by contact, droplet, airborne or via contaminated surfaces. In efforts to effectively control the COVID-19 outbreak, the world health organization (WHO) and the Saudi Ministry of Health (MOH) have advised the public to practice protective measures to reduce transmission of the virus and reduce incidence of infection. ⋯ Over two thirds of participants preferred hand washing to alcohol disinfection, and the frequency and performance of hand washing improved during the pandemic for more than half of respondents. Overall, the findings reflected high public knowledge of SARS-CoV2 transmission routes and adherence to personal protective measures. However, public awareness campaigns with an emphasis on the youth and individuals with low education and income are required to improve overall practice.
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Mobility restrictions-trade and travel bans, border closures and, in extreme cases, area quarantines or cordons sanitaires-are among the most widely used measures to control infectious diseases. Restrictions of this kind were important in the response to epidemics of SARS (2003), H1N1 influenza (2009), Ebola (2014) and, currently in the containment of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. However, they do not always work as expected. ⋯ Mobility restrictions may not be an effective policy for controlling the spread of an infectious disease if it is assessed by the overall final epidemic size. Patterns of mobility established through the independent mobility and trade decisions of people in both communities may be sufficient to contain epidemics.