An improved quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction technology for Helicobacter pylori detection in stomach tissue and its application value in clinical precision testing.

BACKGROUND: Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection is a serious human health threat. The empiric H. pylori treatment paradigm guided by traditional testing technologies has led to antibiotic resistance. Here, we improved the qPCR method to provide technical support for precision H. pylori diagnosis and treatment. METHODS: Two pairs of primers and probes targeting the glmM gene were designed to detect H. pylori, and a multiplex qPCR method was established for virulence factor detection. Then, a rapid urease test (RUT), culturing and qPCR were performed on 141 specimens collected from Xinqiao Hospital of China in 2017 to evaluate the qPCR detection capability. Finally, the H. pylori infectious amount and virulence genes were detected by qPCR. RESULTS: 1. The improved qPCR method which used two pairs of primers had a higher detection rate (100%) and better accuracy (p = 0.000), compared with the qPCR using a pair of primers. It also had better consistency with the bacterial culture than with RUT (Kappa =0.440, p < 0.001). 2. The H. pylori infectious amount was significantly positively associated with gastritis in corpus (p = 0.003) and gastric erosion (p = 0.043). The H. pylori infectious amount in gastric precancerous patients was significantly lower than that in H. pylori-positive patients (p < 0.05), and the infectious H. pylori-vacA s1+ amount was significantly greater than that of H. pylori-vacA s1- (p < 0.05). 3. The vacA s1 frequency was significantly higher than that of vacA m1/cagA+/babA2+ in chronic superficial gastritis (p = 0.000), peptic ulcer (p = 0.037) and gastric erosion (p = 0.009). The H. pylori-vacA+/cagA+/babA2+ frequency showed a significant positive correlation (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The H. pylori infectious amount and presence of H. pylori virulence factors showed complex correlations with gastric disease occurrence and development. The improved qPCR with good detection performance can be used for quantitative H. pylori detection and testing for the virulence genes vacA s1, vacA m1, cagA and babA2 simultaneously. These findings will provide valuable information for disease diagnosis and treatment.

Competence of pharmacy mentors: a survey of the perceptions of pharmacy postgraduates and their mentors.

BACKGROUND: Although mentorship can bring many benefits to medical education, mentors' need for professional development is typically ignored. This study aims to acquire insight into the development of pharmacy mentors' competence by comparing differences between mentors' and postgraduates' perspectives. METHODS: We used ANOVAs, independent-sample T-tests and paired-sample T-tests to analyze data collected via an anonymous survey, which included a prepared questionnaire completed by 118 pharmacy mentors and 118 pharmacy postgraduates from 8 Chinese universities and colleges. RESULTS: 1. Research competence, professional knowledge, and communication competence exhibited the highest means. 2. Research competence was highly correlated with communication competence and moderately correlated with professional knowledge, educational competence, academic achievement and supportive competence. 3. Mentors' educational competence was significantly more important to mentors than to postgraduates, and mentors' supportive competence was significantly more important to postgraduates than to mentors. 4. Educational competence, supportive competence and academic achievement were significantly more important to mentors with a bachelor's degree than to mentors with a master's or doctoral degree. 5. Research competence, educational competence and communication competence were significantly more important to female students than male students. CONCLUSIONS: Good mentors should possess three core competencies: research competence, professional knowledge and communication competence. They are related rather than independent. The construction of a harmonious mentoring relationship should take full account of a student's characteristics and expectations because graduate students care more about supportive competence and female students assign greater importance to mentors' competence than male students. There should be more development opportunities for less educated mentors, as they have a greater need to increase their competence than more qualified mentors.