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Social workers have worked with colleagues from other disciplines since the early days of the profession; yet, they were without clear models to guide this interdisciplinary work. The author uses multidisciplinary theoretical literature and conceptual and research pieces from social work literature to support the development of such a model. First, current trends relevant to interdisciplinary practice are noted to emphasize its importance. The article describes a two-part model. Part one of the model consists of five components that constitute interdisciplinary collaboration between social workers and other professionals: interdependence, newly created professional activities, flexibility, collective ownership of goals, and reflection on process. Part two of the model consists of four influences on collaboration: professional role, structural characteristics, personal characteristics and a history of collaboration. Implications for social work practice are discussed.

This article focuses on the Jewish community center (JCC) as a host setting for social work practice. Findings of a national study of JCC professional staff designed to explore the degree of congruence between social work values and JCC practice are presented. The findings have implications for other sectarian and nonsectarian host settings providing similar types of services. The survey was sent to practitioners at 191 of 200 JCCs. The sample was drawn from a population of MSW and non-MSW personnel. Respondents were asked to indicate the extent to which they fulfilled particular social work responsibilities. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and the independent t tests were used to analyze the data. The study findings demonstrate that social workers actively call on their knowledge, values, and skills, deal with the social welfare concerns of constituents, and use the agencies' Jewish function as a guide for their practice.

This chapter contains sections titled: Introduction Biology and Diversity of Fungal Viruses Transmission of Fungal Viruses Effects of Viruses on Fungal Fitness Population Biology of Fungal Viruses Biological Control of Fungi with Viruses Future Directions References

Klebsiella species cause a wide range of diseases including pneumonia, urinary tract infections (UTIs), bloodstream infections and sepsis. These infections are particularly a problem among neonates, elderly and immunocompromised individuals. Klebsiella is also responsible for a significant number of community-acquired infections. A defining feature of these infections is their morbidity and mortality, and the Klebsiella strains associated with them are considered hypervirulent. The increasing isolation of multidrug-resistant strains has significantly narrowed, or in some settings completely removed, the therapeutic options for the treatment of Klebsiella infections. Not surprisingly, this pathogen has then been singled out as an 'urgent threat to human health' by several organisations. This review summarises the tremendous progress that has been made to uncover the sophisticated immune evasion strategies of K. pneumoniae. The co-evolution of Klebsiella in response to the challenge of an activated immune has made Klebsiella a formidable pathogen exploiting stealth strategies and actively suppressing innate immune defences to overcome host responses to survive in the tissues. A better understanding of Klebsiella immune evasion strategies in the context of the host-pathogen interactions is pivotal to develop new therapeutics, which can be based on antagonising the anti-immune strategies of this pathogen.

Abstract The human gastrointestinal tract harbors a heterogeneous and complex microbial community, which plays a key role in human health. The gut microbiota controls the development of the immune system by setting systemic threshold for immune activation. Glycoconjugates, such as lipopolysaccharides, from gut bacteria have been shown to be able to elicit both systemic proinflammatory and immunomodulatory responses. This phenomenon is particularly intriguing considering that the immune system is charged with the task to distinguish the beneficial microbes from the pathogens, even if the commensal bacteria have molecular patterns resembling those of the pathogenic counterparts. Therefore, the importance of the chemical structure of these macromolecules in fine tuning this delicate equilibrium is beyond question. This review offers an overview of the current understanding of chemical peculiarities of the lipopolysaccharides isolated from the gut microbiota, and their relationships to their biological activity in terms of immune system maturation and development. The gut microbiota lipopolysaccharides: the poorly explored world that can change the perception of endotoxins from harmful to beneficial.

Migration patterns have rapidly changed in Australia and elsewhere, which have contributed to increasingly culturally and linguistically diverse societies. This requires healthcare sectors to provide professional interpreter services for patients with a language barrier to eliminate healthcare disparities. This integrative review aimed to investigate the impact of professional interpreter services on hospital care outcomes and the associated cost of service provision. A systematic search of five databases was conducted for peer-reviewed articles from January 1996 to December 2020. Data were extracted for the hospital setting, intervention, population, study design, outcomes and key findings. Following the PRISMA guidelines, full-text screening identified 37 articles that were analysed and included. Communication quality, hospital care outcomes and hospital costs were the three main themes identified. Closing the language gap should be a primary consideration to prevent adverse events that affect patient safety and the standard of care in hospitals. The findings of this review indicate the provision of professional interpreter services can enhance hospital care for linguistically diverse patients by improving patient–provider communication. To gain insight into the changing patterns on the outcomes of medical care, further research requires efforts by the hospital administrative system to document complete records of service usage.

Abstract Microbial ecology provides insights into the ecological and evolutionary dynamics of microbial communities underpinning every ecosystem on Earth. Microbial communities can now be investigated in unprecedented detail, although there is still a wealth of open questions to be tackled. Here we identify 50 research questions of fundamental importance to the science or application of microbial ecology, with the intention of summarising the field and bringing focus to new research avenues. Questions are categorised into seven themes: host–microbiome interactions; health and infectious diseases; human health and food security; microbial ecology in a changing world; environmental processes; functional diversity; and evolutionary processes. Many questions recognise that microbes provide an extraordinary array of functional diversity that can be harnessed to solve real-world problems. Our limited knowledge of spatial and temporal variation in microbial diversity and function is also reflected, as is the need to integrate micro- and macro-ecological concepts, and knowledge derived from studies with humans and other diverse organisms. Although not exhaustive, the questions presented are intended to stimulate discussion and provide focus for researchers, funders and policy makers, informing the future research agenda in microbial ecology. We identify research questions in the field of microbial ecology, with emerging themes that recognise vast microbial functions that could benefit humanity, and the need to integrate knowledge across organisms.

Pneumocystis jirovecii is a prevalent opportunistic fungal pathogen that can lead to life-threatening Pneumocystis pneumonia in immunocompromised individuals. Given that timely and accurate diagnosis is essential for initiating prompt treatment and enhancing patient outcomes, it is vital to develop a rapid, simple, and sensitive method for P. jirovecii detection. Herein, we exploited a novel detection method for P. jirovecii by combining recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) of nucleic acids isothermal amplification and the trans cleavage activity of Cas12a. The factors influencing the efficiency of RPA and Cas12a-mediated trans cleavage reaction, such as RPA primer, crRNA, the ratio of crRNA to Cas12a and ssDNA reporter concentration, were optimized. Our RPA-Cas12a-based fluorescent assay can be completed within  30–40 min, comprising a 25–30 min RPA reaction and a 5–10 min trans cleavage reaction. It can achieve a lower detection threshold of 0.5 copies/µL of target DNA with high specificity. Moreover, our RPA-Cas12a-based fluorescent method was examined using 30 artificial samples and demonstrated high accuracy with a diagnostic accuracy of 93.33%. In conclusion, a novel, rapid, sensitive, and cost-effective RPA-Cas12a-based detection method was developed and demonstrates significant potential for on-site detection of P. jirovecii in resource-limited settings.

Background Gastrointestinal (GI) cytomegaloviral (CMV) infection is common among patients with immunocompromised status; however, data specific to GI-CMV infection in immunocompetent patients are comparatively limited. Methods This retrospective study included patients diagnosed with GI-CMV infection at Siriraj Hospital (Bangkok, Thailand) during 2008–2017. Baseline characteristics, presentations, comorbid conditions, endoscopic findings, treatments, and outcomes were compared between immunocompetent and immunocompromised. Results One hundred and seventy-three patients (56 immunocompetent, 117 immunocompromised) were included. Immunocompetent patients were significantly older than immunocompromised patients (73 vs. 48.6 years, p  < 0.0001). Significantly more immunocompetent patients were in the ICU at the time of diagnosis (21.0% vs. 8.6%, p  = 0.024). GI bleeding was the leading presentation in immunocompetent, while diarrhea and abdominal pain were more common in immunocompromised. Blood CMV viral load was negative in significantly more immunocompetent than immunocompromised (40.7% vs. 12.9%, p  = 0.002). Ganciclovir was the main treatment in both groups. Significantly more immunocompetent than immunocompromised did not receive any specific therapy (25.5% vs. 4.4%, p  ≤ 0.01). Six-month mortality was significantly higher among immunocompetent patients (39.0% vs. 22.0%, p  = 0.047). Independent predictors of death were old age and inpatient or ICU clinical setting. Treatment with antiviral agents was the only independent protective factor. Conclusion GI-CMV infection was frequently observed among immunocompetent elderly patients with comorbidities or severe concomitant illnesses. GI bleeding was the most common presentation. Blood CMV viral load was not diagnostically helpful. Significantly higher mortality was observed in immunocompetent than in immunocompromised patients, but this could be due to more severe concomitant illnesses in the immunocompetent group.

The extent of access to energy of displaced persons in settlements and camps on the African continent is largely unknown. A multitude of contextual factors, such as the location, the characteristics of housing, legal status, socio-cultural background, and the availability of humanitarian and public services, impact the living conditions and needed energy services. Limitations in accessing energy services have direct, multilayered, and far-reaching implications, including impacts on health, nutrition, education, protection, and livelihood. The objective of this article is to contribute to a more comprehensive overview of the current state of energy access in displacement contexts on the African continent by identifying and utilizing existing data. After screening the vast and various available information, setting up a database, consolidating the gathered data as well as assessing quality through a quality assessment method, the currently available information was visualized and discussed. Considerable differences in the access to energy for displaced persons across the countries were found. Access to both electricity and clean cooking ranged from nearly no access at all up to an access rate of 100%, though the averages are 94% of displaced persons without access to electricity and 81% of displaced persons without clean cooking. Overall, the results showed that besides South Africa and countries in the Maghreb region, the access to both clean cooking and electricity for displaced persons is very low. At the same time, the fragmented data availability, the poor data quality, and the inadequate expediency of available data allowed neither solid theoretical conclusions nor the planning of effective practical implementation measures. Novel interdisciplinary research, conceptual frameworks, and indicators are needed for the purpose of comparability and consistency. Future research has the potential to more comprehensively capture the current state of access to energy in displacement contexts and, subsequently, examine how energy is interwoven in the lives of displaced persons to derive a set of more detailed context-sensitive energy indicators. It is essential that displaced persons themselves are included in the research in a meaningful way.