Bradshawsvane1699

Timely drug resistance detection is essential to global tuberculosis management. Unfortunately, rapid molecular tests assess resistance to only a few drugs, with culture required for comprehensive susceptibility test results.

We evaluated targeted next generation sequencing (tNGS) for tuberculosis on 40 uncultured sputum samples. Resistance profiles from tNGS were compared with profiles from Xpert MTB/RIF, line probe assay (LPA), pyrosequencing (PSQ), and phenotypic testing. Concordance, sensitivity, specificity, and overall test agreement were compared across assays.

tNGS provided results for 39 of 40 samples (97.5%) with faster turnaround than phenotypic testing (median 3 vs. 21 days, p=0.0068). Most samples were isoniazid and rifampin resistant (N=31, 79.5%), 21 (53.8%) were fluoroquinolone resistant, and 3 (7.7%) were also resistant to Kanamycin. Half were of the Beijing lineage (N=20, 51.3%). tNGS from uncultured sputum identified all resistance to isoniazid, rifampin, fluoroquinolones, and second-line injectable drugs that was identified by other methods. Agreement between tNGS and existing assays was excellent for isoniazid, rifampin, and SLDs, very good for levofloxacin, and good for moxifloxacin.

tNGS can rapidly identify tuberculosis, lineage, and drug resistance with faster turnaround than phenotypic testing. tNGS is a potential alternative to phenotypic testing in high-burden settings.

tNGS can rapidly identify tuberculosis, lineage, and drug resistance with faster turnaround than phenotypic testing. tNGS is a potential alternative to phenotypic testing in high-burden settings.There are remarkable individual differences in the ability to recognise individuals by the sound of their voice. Theoretically, this ability is thought to depend on the coding accuracy of voices in a low-dimensional "voice-space". Here we were interested in how adaptive coding of voice identity relates to this variability in skill. In two adaptation experiments we explored first whether the aftereffect size to two familiar vocal identities can predict voice perception ability and second, whether this effect stems from general auditory skill (e.g. discrimination ability for tuning and tempo). Experiment 1 demonstrated that contrastive aftereffect sizes for voice identity predicted voice perception ability. check details In Experiment 2, we replicated this finding and further established that this effect is unrelated to general auditory abilities or general adaptability of listeners. Our results highlight the important functional role of adaptive coding in voice expertise and suggest that human voice perception is a highly specialised and distinct auditory ability.This study investigates the impact of wearing a fabric face mask on speech comprehension, an underexplored topic that can inform theories of speech production. Speakers produced sentences in three speech styles (casual, clear, positive-emotional) while in both face-masked and non-face-masked conditions. Listeners were most accurate at word identification in multi-talker babble for sentences produced in clear speech, and less accurate for casual speech (with emotional speech accuracy numerically in between). In the clear speaking style, face-masked speech was actually more intelligible than non-face-masked speech, suggesting that speakers make clarity adjustments specifically for face masks. In contrast, in the emotional condition, face-masked speech was less intelligible than non-face-masked speech, and in the casual condition, no difference was observed, suggesting that 'emotional' and 'casual' speech are not styles produced with the explicit intent to be intelligible to listeners. These findings are discussed in terms of automatic and targeted speech adaptation accounts.Although the Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Questionnaire-4 (SATAQ-4) has been shown to be a reliable and valid tool for assessing appearance pressures and appearance ideal internalization among French college students, to date its psychometric properties among French clinical populations have not been examined. The aim of this study was to evaluate the factor structure, reliability, and validity of the SATAQ-4 among a French female clinical eating disorder sample, and to compare the mean SATAQ-4 scores from this clinical sample to previously published means observed among French female college women. The current sample included 192 French women consecutively recruited from an outpatient eating disorders unit in France. Participants completed the SATAQ-4, as well as validated measures of body image and eating pathology. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed that the original 22-item five-factor solution provided less than adequate fit to the data. In contrast, the reduced 20-item five-factor solution identified among French college students provided a good fit to the data. The SATAQ-4 subscales generally exhibited moderate positive associations with convergent measures of body image and eating disturbance, consistent with expectations. Differences in SATAQ-4 subscale means across diagnostic groups were observed. In addition, the clinical group reported higher scores on the Internalization Thin/Low Body Fat and Internalization Muscular/Athletic subscales compared to a non-clinical French sample. Findings support the SATAQ-4 as a valuable tool for assessing sociocultural influences on body image and eating concerns among French women with eating disorders.The shells of mussels, live-collected bivalves or during archaeological excavations, can be used as bioindicators of current and historical levels of heavy metal contamination. In this study, we examined the shells of Unio tumidus, commonly found in the Baltic Sea region, and determined the concentrations of Zn, Cu, Fe, Pb, Ni, and Cd in samples from the 10th, 11th, and 21st century from the area of the Szczecin Lagoon. The average levels of heavy metals (in μg g-1 dry weight) in the shells from the Middle Ages were 137.5 (Fe), 3.87 (Zn), 0.789 (Cu), 0.012 (Pb), 0.047 (Ni), and 0.0009 (Cd). Shells from the 21st century were significantly (P less then 0.05) more abundant in Fe, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Cd (rates of increase 1.96×, 3.54×, 2.71×, 2.08×, and 3.55×, respectively) than shells from the Middle Ages. These results reflect contemporary anthropogenic pollution of the environment with heavy metals and confirm the possibility of using U. tumidus shells in the assessment of heavy metal pollution levels.