Review on the Role of IRF6 in the Pathogenesis of Non-syndromic Orofacial Clefts.

Non-syndromic orofacial clefts (NSOCs) are the most common craniofacial malformation. In the complex aetiology and pathogenesis of NSOCs, genetic factors play a crucial role and IRF6, located at chromosome 1q32.2, is the best documented NSOC susceptibility gene. IRF6 is a key factor in oral maxillofacial development and known to contribute the most in NSOCs. It is essential to conduct a complete review of the existing results on IRF6 to further understand its role in the pathogenesis of NSOCs. Thus, the present authors summarised the research progress on the mechanism of IRF6 in NSOCs from both genetic and functional perspectives in this review.

Not Only Top-Down: The Dual-Processing of Gender-Emotion Stereotypes.

Is gender-emotion stereotype a "one-hundred percent" top-down processing phenomenon, or are there additional contributions to cognitive processing from background clues when they are related to stereotypes? In the present study, we measured the gender-emotion stereotypes of 57 undergraduates with a face recall task and found that, regardless of whether the emotional expressions of distractors were congruent or incongruent with targets, people tended to misperceive the fearful faces of men as angry and the angry faces of women as fearful. In particular, there was a significantly larger effect in the distractor-incongruent condition. The revised process-dissociation procedure analysis confirmed that both automatic and controlled processing have their own independent effects on gender-emotion stereotypes. This finding supports a dual-processing perspective on stereotypes and contributes to future research in both theory and methodology.

The effects of initial participation motivations on learning engagement in transition training for future general practitioners in rural China: perceived deterrents as mediator.

BACKGROUND: For the shortage of high-quality general practitioners (GPs) in China's rural areas, Chinese government has taken steps to encourage rural specialists to participate in transition training for future GPs. Specialists' initial participation motivations and their perceived deterrents during training may play important roles for their learning engagement in the transition training. This study aimed at revealing the relationships among the variables of initial participation motivations, perceived deterrents in training, and learning engagement. METHODS: A questionnaire survey was used in this study. A total of 156 rural specialists who participated in transition training for future GPs filled out the questionnaire, which consisted of the measurements of initial participation motivations, perceived deterrents, and learning engagement in training. The data about specialists' demographic variables were collected at the same time. RESULTS: The variance of initial escape/stimulations motivation significantly predicted the variance of learning engagement through the full mediating role of perceived deterrents in training. In addition, initial educational preparation motivations predicted the variance of learning engagement directly. CONCLUSIONS: Specialists' initial participation motivations and perceived deterrents in training played important roles for learning engagement in the transition training.

[Study on the prevalence and genotypes of Bartonella species in rodent hosts from Fujian coastal regions].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate Bartonella infection in rodent hosts from different environments and types of climate in Fujian coastal regions. Genetypes of the Bartonella strains was also studied to provide scientific basis for prevention and control of the correlated diseases. METHODS: By random sampling method, we selected six study sites in Fujian southeastern coastal regions. Rodents were captured by cages to Isolate Bartonella strains. Bartonella-like isolates were confirmed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The 379 bp fragment of gltA gene was sequenced and the growth and development tree was constructed to determine Bartonella species. Distribution of Bartonella species in the different area and related hosts was also analysed. RESULTS: Bartonella species were isolated from 188 of 1161 small animals including five rodent species. The infected animals were grouped into 2 genera and 2 orders. They were Suncus murinus, Rattus norvegicus, Rattus flavipectus, Mus musculus and Rattus rattus. The overall prevalence of Bartonella bacteremia was 16.19% in the most prevalent species of rodents in Fujian southeastern coastal regions including 21.43% in Suncus murinus, 13.54% in Rattus norvegicus and 18.27% in Rattus flavipectus. Rodents in every investigated areas were infected by Bartonella species (9.25% in Ningde, 9.52% in Fuzhou, 9.38% in Putian, 28.18% in Quanzhou, 17.42% in Xiamen and 13.33% in Zhangzhou). There were significant differences among infected rates in different annual accumulated temperature districts (chi(2) = 12.93, P < 0.001). Isolates from rodents were clustered in three genotypes (B. elizabethae, B. qeenslandensis and B. tribocorum A, B). CONCLUSION: The local rodents in Fujian southeastern coastal regions were widely infected by Bartonella spp. Differences among the prevalent species of Bartonella in Fujian southeastern coastal region, Yunan and Beijing were noticed. Our findings suggested there was a need to study the prevalence, related vectors and the molecular organism of Bartonella spp.