Dermatology residency selection criteria with an emphasis on program characteristics: a national program director survey.

Background. Dermatology residency programs are relatively diverse in their resident selection process. The authors investigated the importance of 25 dermatology residency selection criteria focusing on differences in program directors' (PDs') perception based on specific program demographics. Methods. This cross-sectional nationwide observational survey utilized a 41-item questionnaire that was developed by literature search, brainstorming sessions, and online expert reviews. The data were analyzed utilizing the reliability test, two-step clustering, and K-means methods as well as other methods. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the differences in PDs' perception regarding the importance of the selection criteria based on program demographics. Results. Ninety-five out of 114 PDs (83.3%) responded to the survey. The top five criteria for dermatology residency selection were interview, letters of recommendation, United States Medical Licensing Examination Step I scores, medical school transcripts, and clinical rotations. The following criteria were preferentially ranked based on different program characteristics: "advanced degrees," "interest in academics," "reputation of undergraduate and medical school," "prior unsuccessful attempts to match," and "number of publications." Conclusions. Our survey provides up-to-date factual data on dermatology PDs' perception in this regard. Dermatology residency programs may find the reported data useful in further optimizing their residency selection process

A case of new-onset vitiligo in a patient on tofacitinib and brief review of paradoxical presentations with other novel targeted therapies

With recent advancements in the understanding of vitiligo pathogenesis, Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitors have emerged as a promising new treatment modality, but their effects remain incompletely elucidated. Tofacitinib, an oral JAK 1/3 inhibitor approved for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, has previously been shown to induce significant re-pigmentation in vitiligo. However, as with other novel targeted therapies, cutaneous adverse effects have been observed. We report a 36-year-old woman with a history of rheumatoid arthritis, refractory to multiple pharmacotherapies, who was initiated on tofacitinib and subsequently developed progressive depigmented patches consistent with new-onset vitiligo. Although definitive causation cannot be established in this case without additional studies, it is important to note that many targeted therapies have the potential to induce paradoxical effects, that is, the occurrence or exacerbation of pathologic conditions that have been shown to respond to these medications. Paradoxical findings with other targeted therapies include the occurrence of melanoma during treatment with BRAF inhibitors, keratoacanthomas with PD-1 inhibitors, vitiligo and psoriasis with TNF-alpha inhibitors, and hidradenitis suppurativa with various biologic agents. Although JAK inhibitors hold therapeutic promise in the treatment of inflammatory skin disorders, further research is warranted to more fully comprehend their effects

Radiative transfer in highly scattering materials - numerical solution and evaluation of approximate analytic solutions

Numerical solutions for radiative transport in a class of anisotropically scattering materials are presented. Conditions for convergence and divergence of the iterative method are given and supported by computed results. The relation of two flux theories to the equation of radiative transfer for isotropic scattering is discussed. The adequacy of the two flux approach for the reflectance, radiative flux and radiative flux divergence of highly scattering media is evaluated with respect to solutions of the radiative transfer equation

The EnteroBase user's guide, with case studies on Salmonella transmissions, Yersinia pestis phylogeny and Escherichia core genomic diversity

EnteroBase is an integrated software environment which supports the identification of global population structures within several bacterial genera that include pathogens. Here, we provide an overview on how EnteroBase works, what it can do, and its future prospects. EnteroBase has currently assembled more than 300,000 genomes from Illumina short reads from Salmonella, Escherichia, Yersinia, Clostridiodes, Helicobacter, Vibrio, and Moraxella, and genotyped those assemblies by core genome Multilocus Sequence Typing (cgMLST). Hierarchical clustering of cgMLST sequence types allows mapping a new bacterial strain to predefined population structures at multiple levels of resolution within a few hours after uploading its short reads. Case study 1 illustrates this process for local transmissions of Salmonella enterica serovar Agama between neighboring social groups of badgers and humans. EnteroBase also supports SNP calls from both genomic assemblies and after extraction from metagenomic sequences, as illustrated by case study 2 which summarizes the microevolution of Yersinia pestis over the last 5,000 years of pandemic plague. EnteroBase can also provide a global overview of the genomic diversity within an entire genus, as illustrated by case study 3 which presents a novel, global overview of the population structure of all of the species, subspecies and clades within Escherichia

Measurement and interpretation of Salmonella typhi Vi IgG antibodies for the assessment of adaptive immunity

Response to polysaccharide vaccination can be an invaluable tool for assessing functionality of the adaptive immune system. Measurement of antibodies raised in response to Pneumovax®23 is the current gold standard test, but there are significant challenges and constraints in both the measurement and interpretation of the response. An alternative polysaccharide vaccine approach (Salmonella typhi Vi capsule (ViCPS)) has been suggested. In the present article, we review current evidence for the measurement of ViCPS antibodies in the diagnosis of primary and secondary antibody deficiencies. In particular, we review emerging data suggesting their interpretation in combination with the response to Pneumovax®23 and comment upon the utility of these vaccines to assess humoral immune responses while receiving immunoglobulin replacement therapy (IGRT)

The effect of active toe movement (AToM) on calf pump function and deep vein thrombosis in patients with acute foot and ankle trauma treated with cast - a prospective randomized study

Background Patients with foot and ankle trauma treated with cast are advised to perform toe movements to prevent venous thromboembolism (VTE). Our aim was to determine the effect of active toe movement on asymptomatic deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and venous calf pump function. Methods Patients aged 18–60 years with acute foot and ankle trauma requiring below knee non weight bearing cast were randomized to intervention (regular active toe movement) or control groups (n = 100). Patients had bilateral lower limb venous ultrasound to assess for DVT on discharge from clinic. Patients requiring chemical thromboprophylaxis were excluded. Results 78 completed the study. 27% sustained asymptomatic DVT, with no statistically significant difference in calf pump function or DVT incidence between groups. All DVT's occurred in the injured lower limb. Conclusion Active toe movement is not a viable strategy for thromboprophylaxis in patients with acute foot and ankle trauma treated with cast

Bs∗BKB_s^* B K vertex from QCD sum rules

The form factors and the coupling constant of the $B_s^* B K$ vertex are calculated using the QCD sum rules method. Three point correlation functions are computed considering both $K$ and $B$ mesons off-shell and, after an extrapolation of the QCDSR results, we obtain the coupling constant of the vertex. We study the uncertainties in our result by calculating a third form factor obtained when the $B^*_s$ is the off-shell meson, considering other acceptable structures and computing the variations of the sum rules' parameters. The form factors obtained have different behaviors but their simultaneous extrapolations reach to the same value of the coupling constant $g_{B_s^* B K}=10.6 \pm 1.7$. We compare our result with other theoretical estimates.Comment: 11 pages, 11 figure