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ABSTRACTMulti-generational Transmission of Mutans Streptococci in Early Childhood Caries. Rahman JE*, Featherstone JDB, Zhan L, Hoover CI (University of California San Francisco, School of Dentistry, San Francisco, CA)Purpose: To determine the extent of multi-generational (grandmother-mother, mother-child, and grandmother-grandchild transmission of mutans streptococci (MS) in early childhood caries (ECC) families where grandmothers provide significant childcare (≥20 hours/week).Methods: Ten grandmother-mother-child triads (30 participants) were recruited using a questionnaire. All children (aged 3-6 years) had at least one active carious lesion. DMFS/dmfs scores were determined using WHO criteria, and saliva samples were obtained. Saliva samples were cultured on MSSB agar to enumerate and isolate MS. Ten MS colonies were randomly selected and propagated for arbitrarily primed-polymerase chain reaction (AP-PCR) typing using two primers (OPA-5 and OPA-13).Results: MS were isolated from all subjects except one grandmother, who had no MS detected. There were no significant differences in log10 MS CFU/mL of saliva (4.4±1.6, 4.6±1.0, 4.8±1.0, for children, mothers, and grandmothers, respectively). There were significant differences (P

Additional file 1: Supplementary Table S1: Univariate logistic regression modelling the likelihood of early feeding indicators (n = 5622).

Background Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a serious public health problem and a global concern. The inappropriate use of antibiotics has been identified by the World Health Organization as a major risk factor for AMR. Methods The purpose of this research study is to assess the prevalence of inappropriate antibiotic use among Qatar University students and their family members, detect sociodemographic factors associated with inappropriate use, evaluate the knowledge and attitude towards antibiotic use, and assess respondents’ opinions on healthcare providers’ antibiotic prescription practices. Participants (N = 596) completed a self-administered questionnaire. Descriptive analysis, the Pearson chi-squared test, and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed. Results The major inappropriate antibiotic use practices followed by the respondents were using antibiotics without prescription (82%), not completing the antibiotic course (45%), and obtaining antibiotics from the pharmacy without prescription (23%). The chi-square test results showed that age (p = 0.031) and nationality (p = 0.041) were associated with using antibiotics without prescription. In addition, respondents less than 21 years of age (p26 years), married and university-graduated participants were more likely to have a positive attitude towards antibiotic use than others. Respondents also reported that neither doctors nor pharmacists were providing adequate patient education about appropriate antibiotic use. The Socio-Ecological Model was applied to interpret the findings and frame implications. Conclusion The findings shed light on various factors shaping antibiotic use practices and provide evidence to design multilevel behavioral interventions to improve public practices of antibiotic use.

Response to Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) has demonstrated a high correlation to survival in locally advanced breast cancer (LABC) patients. An early prediction of responsiveness to NAC could facilitate treatment adjustments on an individual patient basis that would be expected to improve treatment outcomes and patient survival. This study investigated, for the first time, the efficacy of quantitative computed tomography (qCT) parametric imaging to characterize intra-tumour heterogeneity and its application in predicting tumour response to NAC in LABC patients. Textural analyses were performed on CT images acquired from 72 patients before the start of chemotherapy to determine quantitative features of intra-tumour heterogeneity. The best feature subset for response prediction was selected through a sequential feature selection with bootstrap 0.632 + area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve ($${\mathrm{A}\mathrm{U}\mathrm{C}}_{0.632+}$$ A U C 0.632 + ) as a performance criterion. Several classifiers were evaluated for response prediction using the selected feature subset. Amongst the applied classifiers an Adaboost decision tree provided the best results with cross-validated $${\mathrm{A}\mathrm{U}\mathrm{C}}_{0.632+}$$ A U C 0.632 + , accuracy, sensitivity and specificity of 0.89, 84%, 80% and 88%, respectively. The promising results obtained in this study demonstrate the potential of the proposed biomarkers to be used as predictors of LABC tumour response to NAC prior to the start of treatment.

Background Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a serious public health problem and a global concern. The inappropriate use of antibiotics has been identified by the World Health Organization as a major risk factor for AMR. Methods The purpose of this research study is to assess the prevalence of inappropriate antibiotic use among Qatar University students and their family members, detect sociodemographic factors associated with inappropriate use, evaluate the knowledge and attitude towards antibiotic use, and assess respondents’ opinions on healthcare providers’ antibiotic prescription practices. Participants (N = 596) completed a self-administered questionnaire. Descriptive analysis, the Pearson chi-squared test, and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed. Results The major inappropriate antibiotic use practices followed by the respondents were using antibiotics without prescription (82%), not completing the antibiotic course (45%), and obtaining antibiotics from the pharmacy without prescription (23%). The chi-square test results showed that age (p = 0.031) and nationality (p = 0.041) were associated with using antibiotics without prescription. In addition, respondents less than 21 years of age (p26 years), married and university-graduated participants were more likely to have a positive attitude towards antibiotic use than others. Respondents also reported that neither doctors nor pharmacists were providing adequate patient education about appropriate antibiotic use. The Socio-Ecological Model was applied to interpret the findings and frame implications. Conclusion The findings shed light on various factors shaping antibiotic use practices and provide evidence to design multilevel behavioral interventions to improve public practices of antibiotic use.

In this paper, we discuss our work towards a new dining platform that uses magnetic levitating food and magnetic utensils in an initial prototype device. The ultimate goal of the project is a complete table with dynamic levitating food, but the current implementation is a set of levitating magnets that can be encased in food hovering over static locations. We investigated different weights and shapes of 3-D printed objects to mimic food and found that the levitating magnets are strong enough to support lightweight food. This magnetic levitating table can produce a playful and entertaining dining experience by moving and rotating to stay in place. The key novelties of this paper are the integration of food with a magnetic levitating table for playful interactions and novel dining experiences.

This poster paper discuss the concept of magnetic table interface and magnetic foods. This interface introduces new human-food interactions such as modifying weight, levitation, movement, and dynamic textures for our daily used food and utensils using a strong magnetic field formed by an array of Bitter electromagnets. To make foods and cutleries interactive, we add edible magnetic material on the food such as iron and iron oxides, and make cutleries with magnetic materials. We expect that this system will alter our food consumption behaviours and make the whole experience much more interactive and enjoyable.

The biochemical changes in amino acids, water soluble vitamins, soluble sugars and organic acids occurring during fermentation (at 43°C for 6 h) of camel milk inoculated with Streptococcus thermophilus 37, Lactobacillus delbrueckii sub sp. bulgaricus CH2, Lactococcus lactis, Lactobacillus acidophilus and mixed yogurt culture (S. thermophilus and L. bulgaricus 1:1) were studied. Amino acids analysis revealed slight insignificant increase in alanine, leucine, histidine, lysine and argninie, while valine, methionine and tyrosine were slightly decreased. The fermentation process significantly decreased vitamin C contents, while it had no significant effect on riboflavin and thiamine content. Single as well as mixed culture fermentation resulted in decrease in lactose concentration with parallel increase in glucose and galactose. Organic acids analysis revealed the presence of lactic acid, formic acid and acetic acid, with yogurt culture showing the highest concentration of lactic acid, formic acid and acetic acid, while L. lactis showed lowest concentration.Key words: Camel milk, fermentation, amino acids, organic acids, vitamins, sugars.