ABSTRACT
Objective@#This study examined school-based sexual harassment experience among college students in Guangzhou, and to provide theoretical basis for preventing campus sexual harassment.@*Methods@#A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 1 062 college students from five universities in Guangzhou, China. A self-made questionnaire regarding awareness sexual harassment and experience of school-based sexual harassment was filled out by students voluntarily and anonymously.@*Results@#A total of 169 students reported they experienced school-based sexual harassment. The incidence of school-based sexual harassment among college students in Guangzhou was 15.91%, higher among female students (20.30%) than male students(10.2%)(χ 2=19.91, P<0.01). Verbal harassment (10.26%) was the most common type of sexual harassment, followed by physical harassment (7.16%), visual harassment (4.61%) and unwanted sexual advances (1.69%). Sexual harassment primarily took place in teaching building(58), dormitory(33) and office(17). Among the victims, 116(68.64%) were influenced by harassment. Females(n=94) being harassed were more likely to be negatively influenced compare to males(n=22).@*Conclusion@#School-based sexual harassment may result adverse psychological outcomes to students, more emphasis should be put on the prevention of sexual harassment.
ABSTRACT
Abstract Streptococcus pneumoniae is one of the most frequent opportunistic pathogens worldwide. DNA processing protein A (DprA) is an important factor involved in bacterial uptake and DNA integration into bacterial genome, but its role in S. pneumoniae virulence remains unclear. The aim of this study was to characterize the effects of the pneumococcal dprA gene on the pathogenesis of S. pneumoniae. To construct a dprA-deficient pneumococcal strain, the dprA gene of the S. pneumoniae strain D39 was inactivated. The virulence of this dprA-deficient strain, designated ΔD39, was compared with that of the wild-type strain by evaluating their respective capabilities to adhere to human pulmonary epithelial cells (PEC-A549) and by analyzing their choline-binding protein expression levels. In addition, the expression profiles of genes associated with virulence and host survival assays were also conducted with the mutant and the wild-type strain. Our results indicate that the capability of ΔD39 to adhere to the PEC-A549 airway cells was significantly lower (p < 0.01) compared with D39. Additionally, the 100-KD choline-binding protein was not detected in ΔD39. The addition of competence-stimulating peptide (CSP) lead to a significantly reduction of psaA mRNA expression in the dprA-deficient mutant and an increased level of psaA transcripts in the wild-type strain (p < 0.01). The median survival time of mice intraperitoneally infected with ΔD39 was significantly higher (p < 0.01) than that of mice infected with D39. The results of this study suggest that DprA has a significant effect on virulence characteristics of S. pneumoniae by influencing the expression of choline-binding protein and PsaA.
Subject(s)
Humans , Animals , Pneumococcal Infections/pathology , Streptococcus pneumoniae/pathogenicity , Bacterial Proteins/metabolism , Bacterial Adhesion , Virulence Factors/analysis , Membrane Proteins/metabolism , Pneumococcal Infections/microbiology , Streptococcus pneumoniae/genetics , Bacterial Proteins/analysis , Bacterial Proteins/genetics , Survival Analysis , Cell Line , Virulence Factors/genetics , Disease Models, Animal , Epithelial Cells/microbiology , Gene Knockout Techniques , Membrane Proteins/genetics , MiceABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the interaction between insulin-like growth factor binding protein-3 (IGFBP-3) and thyroid hormone receptor α1 (TRα1) and the modulatory effect of IGFBP-3 on transcription of the thyroid hormone responsive gene.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The interaction between IGFBP-3 and TRα1 was detected with glutathione-S-transferase pull-down method, co-immunoprecipitation, fluorescence resonance energy transfer test. The cellular distribution of these two proteins was observed by confocal laser scanning microscopy. The effect of IGFBP-3 on the growth hormone promoter activity stimulated by triiodothyronine (T3) was determined by dual-luciferase reporter assay.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>IGFBP-3 interacted with TRα1 both in vivo and in vitro. IGFBP-3 and TRα1 were shown to co-localize in the nucleus of HEK-293 cells. The overexpressed IGFBP-3 inhibited the growth hormone promoter activity stimulated by T3 (P<0.01).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>IGFBP-3 interacts with TRα1 and inhibits T3 responsive gene transcription. This finding further confirms the insulin-like growth factor-independent role of IGFBP-3 in the nucleus.</p>