Virtually the Same? Evaluating the Effectiveness of Remote Undergraduate Research Experiences

In-person undergraduate research experiences (UREs) promote students' integration into careers in life science research. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic prompted institutions hosting summer URE programs to offer them remotely, raising questions about whether undergraduates who participate in remote research can experience scientific integration and whether they might perceive doing research less favorably (i.e., not beneficial or too costly). To address these questions, we examined indicators of scientific integration and perceptions of the benefits and costs of doing research among students who participated in remote life science URE programs in Summer 2020. We found that students experienced gains in scientific self-efficacy pre- to post-URE, similar to results reported for in-person UREs. We also found that students experienced gains in scientific identity, graduate and career intentions, and perceptions of the benefits of doing research only if they started their remote UREs at lower levels on these variables. Collectively, students did not change in their perceptions of the costs of doing research despite the challenges of working remotely. Yet students who started with low cost perceptions increased in these perceptions. These findings indicate that remote UREs can support students' self-efficacy development, but may otherwise be limited in their potential to promote scientific integration.

Generalized implementation of reflex testing of hepatitis C in Galicia: Results for reflection

INTRODUCTION

The implementation of reflex testing of active hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, together with the incorporation of informative alerts in the reports, has shown that it significantly reduces the number of patients who were not referred for therapeutic evaluation.

METHODS

Since the implementation in 2018 of the DUSP in the Microbiology Services of the Galician Health Service hospitals (SERGAS), new diagnoses of active HCV infection have been retrospectively identified and characterized.

RESULTS

In 2018, a total of 258 patients with unknown active HCV infection (70,2% men, middle age 52 years) were identified through by reflex testing from consultations of primary and specialized care units in 54.8% and 39.8% respectively, as well as from other locations by 5.4%. Of the 258 patients, 81.0% were referred for therapeutic evaluation, with a median of 54 days from their diagnosis. In 58.3% of the cases the reflex testing was determined by viral load, the predominant genotype was 1a (30,7%) and 52,1% were treated, observing sustained viral response (SVR) in 93.7 % of these.

CONCLUSION

The generalized implementation of the HCV reflex testing together with informative alerts in Galicia has allowed us to obtain referral rates for treatment similar to those obtained in other studies. However, there is a wide variability between the different centers that require the incorporation of improvements, such as training or the use of rescue measures for optimization.

"How Do We Do This at a Distance?!" A Descriptive Study of Remote Undergraduate Research Programs during COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic shut down undergraduate research programs across the United States. A group of 23 colleges, universities, and research institutes hosted remote undergraduate research programs in the life sciences during Summer 2020. Given the unprecedented offering of remote programs, we carried out a study to describe and evaluate them. Using structured templates, we documented how programs were designed and implemented, including who participated. Through focus groups and surveys, we identified programmatic strengths and shortcomings as well as recommendations for improvements from students' perspectives. Strengths included the quality of mentorship, opportunities for learning and professional development, and a feeling of connection with a larger community. Weaknesses included limited cohort building, challenges with insufficient structure, and issues with technology. Although all programs had one or more activities related to diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice, these topics were largely absent from student reports even though programs coincided with a peak in national consciousness about racial inequities and structural racism. Our results provide evidence for designing remote Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REUs) that are experienced favorably by students. Our results also indicate that remote REUs are sufficiently positive to further investigate their affordances and constraints, including the potential to scale up offerings, with minimal concern about disenfranchising students.

Generalized implementation of reflex testing of hepatitis C in Galicia: Results for reflection

INTRODUCTION

The implementation of reflex testing of active hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, together with the incorporation of informative alerts in the reports, has shown that it significantly reduces the number of patients who were not referred for therapeutic evaluation.

METHODS

Since the implementation in 2018 of the DUSP in the microbiology services of the Galician Health Service hospitals (SERGAS), new diagnoses of active HCV infection have been retrospectively identified and characterized.

RESULTS

In 2018, a total of 258 patients with unknown active HCV infection (70,2% men, middle age 52 years) were identified through by reflex testing from consultations of primary and specialized care units in 54.8% and 39.8% respectively, as well as from other locations by 5.4%. Of the 258 patients, 81.0% were referred for therapeutic evaluation, with a median of 54 days from their diagnosis. In 58.3% of the cases the reflex testing was determined by viral load, the predominant genotype was 1a (30,7%) and 52,1% were treated, observing sustained viral response in 93.7% of these.

CONCLUSION

The generalized implementation of the HCV reflex testing together with informative alerts in Galicia has allowed us to obtain referral rates for treatment similar to those obtained in other studies. However, there is a wide variability between the different centers that require the incorporation of improvements, such as training or the use of rescue measures for optimization.

Learning stochastic finite-state transducer to predict individual patient outcomes

The high frequency data in intensive care unit is flashed on a screen for a few seconds and never used again. However, this data can be used by machine learning and data mining techniques to predict patient outcomes. Learning finite-state transducers (FSTs) have been widely used in problems where sequences need to be manipulated and insertions, deletions and substitutions need to be modeled. In this paper, we learned the edit distance costs of a symbolic univariate time series representation through a stochastic finite-state transducer to predict patient outcomes in intensive care units. The Nearest-Neighbor method with these learned costs was used to classify the patient status within an hour after 10 h of data. Several experiments were developed to estimate the parameters that better fit the model regarding the prediction metrics. Our best results are compared with published works, where most of the metrics (i.e., Accuracy, Precision and F-measure) were improved.

Cigarette smoke induced genotoxicity and respiratory tract pathology: evidence to support reduced exposure time and animal numbers in tobacco product testing

Many laboratories are working to develop in vitro models that will replace in vivo tests, but occasionally there remains a regulatory expectation of some in vivo testing. Historically, cigarettes have been tested in vivo for 90 days. Recently, methods to reduce and refine animal use have been explored. This study investigated the potential of reducing animal cigarette smoke (CS) exposure to 3 or 6 weeks, and the feasibility of separate lung lobes for histopathology or the Comet assay. Rats were exposed to sham air or CS (1 or 2 h) for 3 or 6 weeks. Respiratory tissues were processed for histopathological evaluation, and Alveolar type II cells (AEC II) isolated for the Comet assay. Blood was collected for Pig-a and micronucleus quantification. Histopathological analyses demonstrated exposure effects, which were generally dependent on CS dose (1 or 2 h, 5 days/week). Comet analysis identified that DNA damage increased in AEC II following 3 or 6 weeks CS exposure, and the level at 6 weeks was higher than 3 weeks. Pig-a mutation or micronucleus levels were not increased. In conclusion, this study showed that 3 weeks of CS exposure was sufficient to observe respiratory tract pathology and DNA damage in isolated AEC II. Differences between the 3 and 6 week data imply that DNA damage in the lung is cumulative. Reducing exposure time, plus analyzing separate lung lobes for DNA damage or histopathology, supports a strategy to reduce and refine animal use in tobacco product testing and is aligned to the 3Rs (replacement, reduction and refinement).

An improved method for the isolation of rat alveolar type II lung cells: Use in the Comet assay to determine DNA damage induced by cigarette smoke

Smoking is a cause of serious diseases, including lung cancer, emphysema, chronic bronchitis and heart disease. DNA damage is thought to be one of the mechanisms by which cigarette smoke (CS) initiates disease in the lung. Indeed, CS induced DNA damage can be measured in vitro and in vivo. The potential of the Comet assay to measure DNA damage in isolated rat lung alveolar type II epithelial cells (AEC II) was explored as a means to include a genotoxicity end-point in rodent sub-chronic inhalation studies. In this study, published AEC II isolation methods were improved to yield viable cells suitable for use in the Comet assay. The improved method reduced the level of basal DNA damage and DNA repair in isolated AEC II. CS induced DNA damage could also be quantified in isolated cells following a single or 5 days CS exposure. In conclusion, the Comet assay has the potential to determine CS or other aerosol induced DNA damage in AEC II isolated from rodents used in sub-chronic inhalation studies.

Chronic 17beta-estradiol treatment improves skeletal muscle insulin signaling pathway components in insulin resistance associated with aging

Insulin resistance is a common feature of aging in both humans and rats. In the case of females, it seems to be related to loss of gonadal function, due mainly due to a decrease in plasma estrogen levels. Several causes have been postulated for this insulin resistance, among them changes in several steps of the insulin pathway. In view of these findings, the purpose of the present study was to examine the role of chronic 17beta-estradiol treatment on insulin sensitivity during the aging process, and its effects on levels of the insulin-sensitive glucose transporter Glut4 (both total and plasma membrane localized), the interaction between p85alpha subunit of PI3-k and IRS-1, Tyr- and Ser-612 phosphorylation of IRS-1 levels, and Ser-473 phosphorylation of Akt. The present findings indicate that 17beta-estradiol treatment is able to minimize the deleterious effect of aging on insulin sensitivity, at least at the level of plasma membrane localized Glut4. Nevertheless further research is needed to determine this conclusively.

Chagas' disease: polyspecificity of antibodies against Trypanosoma cruzi acidic antigens

The aim of this work was to study the reactivity of chagasic patient sera against a panel of natural antigens and its relationship with the immune response against T. cruzi acidic antigens. The presence of IgG and IgM antibodies reactive with myosin, myoglobin, actin and thyroglobulin was investigated in sera with positive serology for Chagas' disease classified into groups (G) I, n = 7, with normal electrocardiogram (ECG) and no signs or symptoms of the disease; GII, n = 7, with ECG abnormalities but without cardiomegaly and GIII, n = 7, with cardiomegaly and congestive heart failure. Healthy individual sera were analyzed in parallel as controls. In the three groups of chagasic patients, a high proportion of sera exhibited an enhancement of IgG response anti actin ranging from 71 to 100%. IgM against this antigen was found positive in GI, 21%; GII and GIII, 57%. The antibodies binding to myosin and myoglobin were mainly of IgM type. When myosin was assayed, the frequency of reactive sera was gradually diminished as heart involvement increased: GI 57%, GII 28% and GIII 14%. Only IgG antibodies against thyroglobulin were detected in the three groups of chagasic patients ranging from 43 to 86%. IgG natural antibodies showed to be polyreactive, since a diminished reactivity against each one of the natural antigens assayed and against T. cruzi acidic antigens (FIV) was observed in the sera absorbed with any of the selected antigens irrespective of the absorbing ones. Moreover, the antibodies against FIV parasite's antigens purified by immunoabsorption showed a similar reactivity with FIV, myosin and actin, and a slight lower reactivity with thyroglobulin. These results indicate that in chagasic patients, the specific humoral response against FIV is associated with an increase of the natural autoantibodies along with their polyspecificity.

Enhancement of natural antibodies in mice immunized with exoantigens of pI 4.5 from Trypanosoma cruzi

This paper deals with the enhancement of natural antibodies in mice immunized with a previously purified exoantigen of Trypanosoma cruzi from infected mouse plasma by isoelectric focusing, called Ea 4.5. A simultaneous rinse of IgG antibodies recognizing acidic sciatic nerve antigen (SNA) and other conserved antigens such as myoglobin, actin, thyroglobulin, and tubulin was observed. The highest level of antibodies was revealed when myoglobin was used as antigen in the ELISA test. Good correlation was found between the level of antibodies reactive with SNA and with highly conserved antigens. Furthermore, absorption experiments showed that a fraction of antibodies binding SNA are polyreactive and also react with the highly conserved antigens. The histological studies of sciatic nerve, heart and skeletal muscle performed 1 month after the last immunization revealed no modifications with respect to the control animals. Based on these and a previous result [1], indicating that injection of Ea 4.5 induced in mice a partial protection against T. cruzi, the possibility exists that a percentage of antibodies induced by Ea 4.5 may correspond to the natural autoantibody type and take part in protective and/or pathogenic effects.