We sought to determine whether the Reflective Practice Questionnaire (RPQ) is a reliable measure of reflective capacity and related characteristics in medical students. We also planned to learn how ...the RPQ could be used in medical education.
The RPQ is a 40 item self-report questionnaire that includes a multi-faceted approach to measuring reflective capacity. It also includes sub-scales on several other theoretically relevant constructs such as desire for improvement, confidence, stress, and job satisfaction. The reliabilities of reflective capacity and other sub-scales were determined by calculating their Cronbach alpha reliability values. In the present study, the RPQ was answered by 98 graduating fourth-year medical students from an American University, and these RPQ scores were compared with general public and mental health practitioner samples from a prior study using ANOVA and Bonferroni adjusted comparisons.
Medical students reported a higher reflective capacity than the general public sample, but students were statistically indistinguishable from the mental health practitioner sample. For medical students, reflective capacity was associated with features of confidence, stress, and desire for improvement. Job satisfaction was positively associated with confidence in communication with patients, and negatively associated with stress when interacting with patients. A cluster analysis revealed that around 19% of the medical students exhibited a relatively high level of anxiety interacting with patients, 23% were less engaged, 5% were dissatisfied, and 7% expressed a level of over-confidence in their knowledge and skills that was concerning.
The RPQ is a reliable measure of reflective capacity (Chronbach's alpha value = 0.84) and related characteristics (Cronbach's alpha values from 0.75 to 0.83) in medical students. The RPQ can be used as part of pre-post evaluations of medical education initiatives, to complement student self-reflection activities in the curriculum, and to identify students who might benefit from targeted intervention.
In 2014, antimicrobial drug-resistant Campylobacter jejuni sequence type 6964 emerged contemporaneously in poultry from 3 supply companies in the North Island of New Zealand and as a major cause of ...campylobacteriosis in humans in New Zealand. This lineage, not previously identified in New Zealand, was resistant to tetracycline and fluoroquinolones. Genomic analysis revealed divergence into 2 major clades; both clades were associated with human infection, 1 with poultry companies A and B and the other with company C. Accessory genome evolution was associated with a plasmid, phage insertions, and natural transformation. We hypothesize that the tetO gene and a phage were inserted into the chromosome after conjugation, leaving a remnant plasmid that was lost from isolates from company C. The emergence and rapid spread of a resistant clone of C. jejuni in New Zealand, coupled with evolutionary change in the accessory genome, demonstrate the need for ongoing Campylobacter surveillance among poultry and humans.
Campylobacter hyointestinalis is a member of an emerging group of zoonotic Campylobacter spp. that are increasingly identified in both gastric and non-gastric disease in humans. Here, we discovered ...C. hyointestinalis in three separate classes of New Zealand ruminant livestock; cattle, sheep and deer. To investigate the relevance of these findings we performed a systematic literature review on global C. hyointestinalis epidemiology and used comparative genomics to better understand and classify members of the species. We found that C. hyointestinalis subspecies hyointestinalis has an open pangenome, with accessory gene contents involved in many essential processes such as metabolism, virulence and defence. We observed that horizontal gene transfer is likely to have played an overwhelming role in species diversification, favouring a public-goods-like mechanism of gene 'acquisition and resampling' over a tree-of-life-like vertical inheritance model of evolution. As a result, simplistic gene-based inferences of taxonomy by similarity are likely to be misleading. Such genomic plasticity will also mean that local evolutionary histories likely influence key species characteristics, such as host-association and virulence. This may help explain geographical differences in reported C. hyointestinalis epidemiology and limits what characteristics may be generalised, requiring further genomic studies of C. hyointestinalis in areas where it causes disease.
Generic Escherichia coli is commonly used as an indicator of fecal contamination to assess water quality and human health risk. Where measured E. coli exceedances occur, the presence of other ...pathogenic microorganisms, such as Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC), is assumed, but confirmatory data are lacking. Putative E. coli isolates (
= 709) were isolated from water, sediment, soil, periphyton, and feces samples (
= 189) from five sites representing native forest and agricultural environments. Ten E. coli isolates (1.41%) were
positive, 19 (2.7%) were
positive, and
-positive isolates were absent. At the sample level,
-positive E. coli (5 of 189, 2.6%) and
-positive isolates (16 of 189, 8.5%) were rare. Using real-time PCR, these STEC-associated virulence factors were determined to be more prevalent in sample enrichments (
, 23.9%;
, 31.4%;
, 53.7%) and positively correlated with generic E. coli isolate numbers (
< 0.05) determined using culture-based methods. Whole-genome sequencing (WGS) was undertaken on a subset of 238 isolates with assemblies representing seven E. coli phylogroups (A, B1, B2, C, D, E, and F), 22 Escherichia marmotae isolates, and 1 Escherichia ruysiae isolate. Virulence factors, including those from extraintestinal pathogenic E. coli, were extremely diverse in isolates from the different locations and were more common in phylogroup B2. Analysis of the virulome from WGS data permitted the identification of gene repertoires that may be involved in environmental fitness and broadly align with phylogroup. Although recovery of STEC isolates was low, our molecular data indicate that they are likely to be widely present in environmental samples containing diverse E. coli phylogroups.
This study takes a systematic sampling approach to assess the public health risk of Escherichia coli recovered from freshwater sites within forest and farmland. The New Zealand landscape is dominated by livestock farming, and previous work has demonstrated that "recreational exposure to water" is a risk factor for human infection by Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC). Though STEC isolates were rarely isolated from water samples, STEC-associated virulence factors were identified more commonly from water sample culture enrichments and were associated with increased generic E. coli concentrations. Whole-genome sequencing data from both E. coli and newly described
spp. demonstrated the presence of virulence factors from E. coli pathotypes, including extraintestinal pathogenic E. coli. This has significance for understanding and interpreting the potential health risk from E. coli where water quality is poor and suggests a role of virulence factors in survival and persistence of E. coli and
spp.
Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli serogroup O26 is an important public health pathogen. Phylogenetic bacterial lineages in a country can be associated with the level and timing of international ...imports of live cattle, the main reservoir. We sequenced the genomes of 152 E. coli O26 isolates from New Zealand and compared them with 252 E. coli O26 genomes from 14 other countries. Gene variation among isolates from humans, animals, and food was strongly associated with country of origin and stx toxin profile but not isolation source. Time of origin estimates indicate serogroup O26 sequence type 21 was introduced at least 3 times into New Zealand from the 1920s to the 1980s, whereas nonvirulent O26 sequence type 29 strains were introduced during the early 2000s. New Zealand's remarkably fewer introductions of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli O26 compared with other countries (such as Japan) might be related to patterns of trade in live cattle.
is often used as a fecal indicator bacterium for water quality monitoring. We report the draft genome sequences of 500
isolates including newly described
species, namely
,
and
, obtained from diverse ...environmental sources to assist with improved public health risk assessments.
This research was carried out to prepare the regional level landslide susceptibility maps by incorporating the oblique rainfall raster in the upper Blue Nile and Tekeze River basins. The oblique ...rainfall is the amount that actually falls on sloping surfaces, and varies considerably with slope inclination and aspect with respect to the prevailing trend of the wind direction. The monthly averaged precipitation data for the Kermit (July–September) and the Belg (March–April) rainfall seasons for the study area were acquired for the period of 1950 to 2000, and utilized to compute the oblique rainfall vectors at 40°, 45°, 50°, 55°, and 60° angles (representing “wind-driven” rainfall vectors). The weighted overlay index method using ArcGIS software was applied for this regional landslide susceptibility mapping (scales >1:100,000) by incorporating vertical rainfall intensity maps and aspect separately and as a combination (rainfall raster coupled with the slope aspect raster). The resulting landslide susceptibility maps were compared which reveals that the results obtained from using integrated rainfall/aspect raster’s (combined) were found to be more reasonable towards computing high to very high hazards than using aspect and rainfall rasters as separate layers. The susceptibility maps were validated with landslide inventory maps as well as documented rockslides, scattered throughout the study area. This reconnaissance level study could serve as guide maps in identifying those areas where more detailed landslide hazard mapping might, or should be, undertaken in the future for detailed investigations.
Draft genomes of five
Campylobacter
isolates recovered from New Zealand brushtail possums are described. Genome sizes ranged from 1.591 Mbp to 1.594 Mbp, with G+C contents of 29.9% to 29.95%. ...Comparison to Australian
Campylobacter
16S rRNA gene sequences suggests that the species may be common to possums.
ABSTRACT
Draft genomes of five
Campylobacter
isolates recovered from New Zealand brushtail possums are described. Genome sizes ranged from 1.591 Mbp to 1.594 Mbp, with G+C contents of 29.9% to 29.95%. Comparison to Australian
Campylobacter
16S rRNA gene sequences suggests that the species may be common to possums.
A serologic survey of anti-Brucella and antileptospiral antibodies was conducted on 147 adult, female New Zealand sea lions (Phocarctos hookeri). Most sea lions (n=138) were sampled at Sandy Bay, ...Enderby Island, Auckland Islands (50°30′S, 166°17′E), January 2000–March 2005. Nine were sampled at Otago, New Zealand (46°0′S, 170°40′E); four in April 2008 and five in March 2009. Serum from one of the Enderby Island females was weakly positive for antibodies to Brucella abortus using the competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and one female had a low titer for Leptospira interrogans serovar pomona using the microscope agglutination test. All serum samples from Otago animals were negative. Brucellosis and leptospirosis are therefore considered unlikely to play a major role in population dynamics of these populations, and the low antibody prevalence of these agents suggests that they are an unlikely source of infection for humans, wildlife, or domestic species on mainland New Zealand.
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