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One pathogen that commonly causes gastrointestinal illnesses from the consumption of contaminated food is Escherichia coli O157:H7. In 2011 in Germany, however, there was a prominent outbreak of bloody diarrhea with a high incidence of hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) caused by an atypical, more virulent E. coli O104:H4 strain. To facilitate the identification of this lesser-known, atypical E. coli O104:H4 strain, we wanted to identify phenotypic differences between it and a strain of O157:H7 in different media and culture conditions. We found that E. coli O104:H4 strains produced considerably more biofilm than the strain of O157:H7 at 37 °C (p = 0.0470–0.0182) Biofilm production was significantly enhanced by the presence of 5% CO2 (p = 0.0348–0.0320). In our study on the innate immune response to the E. coli strains, we used HEK293 cells that express Toll-like receptors (TLRs) 2 or 4. We found that E. coli O104:H4 strains had the ability to grow in a novel HEK293 cell culture medium, while the E. coli O157:H7 strain could not. Thus, we uncovered previously unknown phenotypic properties of E. coli O104:H4 to further differentiate this pathogen from E. coli O157:H7. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The introductory survey of media course is a standard offering in many media studies programs. Students' points of view about controversial issues treated in this class are quite susceptible to change. Indeed, a deliberately value-added approach to teaching this class acknowledges and appreciates that student opinions are likely to change in the direction of those espoused by the instructor. This research project compares the changes in students' viewpoints from the start of the semester to the conclusion, on 18 issues featured in Alexander and Hanson's (2001) Taking Sides: Clashing Views on Controversial Issues in Mass Media and Society. Statistically significant differences between survey responses early in the semester and late in the semester emerged for seven of the issues. Of these, five changed in the direction of the instructor's viewpoint; opinions on two other issues, however, changed in the opposite direction. The study provides a model for assessing outcomes beyond typical knowledge and achievement measures.

Comments on how U.S. journalists are accustomed to accepting the dictates of 'national security' while remaining unshakably certain of their own objectivity. Changes in the news media during the nuclear age; Return to peacetime assumptions and practices; Evidence that the news media have consistently gone along with Washington's overstatements of Soviet strength and military spending.

Focuses on the news coverage received by the nuclear reactor accident that occurred in April 1986 in Chornobyl, Ukraine by the U.S. press. U.S. press coverage's willingness to give currency to speculation about casualties; Significance of the U.S. administration's reaction to the accident; U.S. nuclear industry's effort to use the press to distance itself from the Soviet accident.

In May of 2011, an enteroaggregative Escherichia coli O104:H4 strain that had acquired a Shiga toxin 2-converting phage caused a large outbreak of bloody diarrhea in Europe which was notable for its high prevalence of hemolytic uremic syndrome cases. Several studies have described the genomic inventory and phylogenies of strains associated with the outbreak and a collection of historical E. coli O104:H4 isolates using draft genome assemblies. We present the complete, closed genome sequences of an isolate from the 2011 outbreak (2011C-3493) and two isolates from cases of bloody diarrhea that occurred in the Republic of Georgia in 2009 (2009EL-2050 and 2009EL-2071). Comparative genome analysis indicates that, while the Georgian strains are the nearest neighbors to the 2011 outbreak isolates sequenced to date, structural and nucleotide-level differences are evident in the Stx2 phage genomes, the mer/tet antibiotic resistance island, and in the prophage and plasmid profiles of the strains, including a previously undescribed plasmid with homology to the pMT virulence plasmid of Yersinia pestis. In addition, multiphenotype analysis showed that 2009EL-2071 possessed higher resistance to polymyxin and membrane-disrupting agents. Finally, we show evidence by electron microscopy of the presence of a common phage morphotype among the European and Georgian strains and a second phage morphotype among the Georgian strains. The presence of at least two stx2 phage genotypes in host genetic backgrounds that may derive from a recent common ancestor of the 2011 outbreak isolates indicates that the emergence of stx2 phage-containing E. coli O104:H4 strains probably occurred more than once, or that the current outbreak isolates may be the result of a recent transfer of a new stx2 phage element into a pre-existing stx2-positive genetic background. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors examine social interest as a one- vs. two-dimensional construct, examine recalled youth experiences as predictors of adult social interest and feelings of social inadequacy, and describe an Adlerian-based program designed to guide teachers and counselors to foster social interest. In Study 1, social liking and social empathy were identified as two independent dimensions of social interest. In Study 2, adult social liking is correlated with having had supportive interpersonal relationships with teachers, family social support, community connectedness, and an absence of peer rejection and bullying during middle-school years. The authors also found that adult social empathy was strongly correlated with having had supportive interpersonal relationships with teachers and community connectedness during middle-school years. In Study 3, adult social anxiety was predicted strongly by peer rejection/lack of close friends and also by parental devaluing and lack of parental responsivity. Additionally, either peer connectedness or family responsivity served as a buffer in the presence of other risk factors. In Study 4, the authors describe an Adlerian-based individual education project guiding teachers and counselors in school initiatives designed to foster social interest. Three prototype initiatives are described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The introductory survey of media course is a standard offering in many media studies programs. Students' points of view about controversial issues treated in this class are quite susceptible to change. Indeed, a deliberately value-added approach to teaching this class acknowledges and appreciates that student opinions are likely to change in the direction of those espoused by the instructor. This research project compares the changes in students' viewpoints from the start of the semester to the conclusion, on 18 issues featured in Alexander and Hanson's (2001) Taking Sides: Clashing Views on Controversial Issues in Mass Media and Society. Statistically significant differences between survey responses early in the semester and late in the semester emerged for seven of the issues. Of these, five changed in the direction of the instructor's viewpoint; opinions on two other issues, however, changed in the opposite direction. The study provides a model for assessing outcomes beyond typical knowledge and achievement measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]