Framework for virtual education of COVID-19 vaccines for Mandarin-speaking learners: an educational intervention module.

BACKGROUND: In the United States, patients with limited English proficiency face significant barriers to comprehending and acting upon health-related information, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. The ability of health professionals to communicate COVID-19-related information to Mandarin-speaking patients has proved critical in discussions about vaccine efficacy, side effects, and post-vaccine protection. METHODS: The authors created a one-hour educational module to help Mandarin-speaking medical students better convey COVID-19 vaccine information to Mandarin-only speakers. The module is composed of an educational guide, which introduced key terminology and addressed commonly asked questions, and pre- and post-surveys. The authors recruited 59 Mandarin-speaking medical students all of whom had previously completed a medical Mandarin elective. The module and surveys were distributed and completed in August 2021. Data analysis measured the change in aggregate mean for subjective five-point Likert-scale questions and change in percent accuracy for objective knowledge-based questions. RESULTS: 86.4% of participants were primary English speakers with variable levels of Mandarin proficiency. The educational module significantly improved participants' subjective comfort level in discussing the COVID-19 vaccine in English and Mandarin. The largest improvement in both English and Mandarin was demonstrated in participants' ability to explain differences between the COVID-19 vaccines, with an aggregate mean improvement of 0.39 for English and 1.48 for Mandarin. Survey respondents also demonstrated increased percent accuracy in knowledge-based objective questions in Mandarin. CONCLUSIONS: This module provides Mandarin-learning medical students with skills to deliver reliable information to the general population and acts as a model for the continued development of educational modules for multilingual medical professionals.

Structural studies and molecular dynamics simulations suggest a processive mechanism of exolytic lytic transglycosylase from Campylobacter jejuni.

The bacterial soluble lytic transglycosylase (LT) breaks down the peptidoglycan (PG) layer during processes such as cell division. We present here crystal structures of the soluble LT Cj0843 from Campylobacter jejuni with and without bulgecin A inhibitor in the active site. Cj0843 has a doughnut shape similar but not identical to that of E. coli SLT70. The C-terminal catalytic domain is preceded by an L-domain, a large helical U-domain, a flexible linker, and a small N-terminal NU-domain. The flexible linker allows the NU-domain to reach over and complete the circular shape, using residues conserved in the Epsilonproteobacteria LT family. The inner surface of the Cj0843 doughnut is mostly positively charged including a pocket that has 8 Arg/Lys residues. Molecular dynamics simulations with PG strands revealed a potential functional role for this pocket in anchoring the negatively charged terminal tetrapeptide of the PG during several steps in the reaction including homing and aligning the PG strand for exolytic cleavage, and subsequent ratcheting of the PG strand to enhance processivity in degrading PG strands.