Things Are Not What They Seem

https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mmb-vp/6525/thumbnail.jp

Bashful Betsy Brown

https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mmb-vp/1075/thumbnail.jp

Fellowship training:a qualitative study of scope and purpose across one department of medicine

BACKGROUND: Fellowship training follows certification in a primary specialty or subspecialty and focusses on distinct and advanced clinical and/or academic skills. This phase of medical education is growing in prevalence, but has been an "invisible phase of postgraduate training" lacking standards for education and accreditation, as well as funding. We aimed to explore fellowship programs and examine the reasons to host and participate in fellowship training, seeking to inform the future development of fellowship education. METHODS: During the 2013-14 academic year, we conducted interviews and focus groups to examine the current status of fellowship training from the perspectives of division heads, fellowship directors and current fellows at the Department of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Canada. Descriptive statistics were used to depict the prevailing status of fellowship training. A process of data reduction, data analysis and conclusions/verifications was performed to analyse the quantitative data. RESULTS: We interviewed 16 division heads (94%), 15 fellowship directors (63%) and 8 fellows (21%). We identified three distinct types of fellowships. Individualized fellowships focus on the career goals of the trainee and/or the recruitment goals of the division. Clinical fellowships focus on the attainment of clinical expertise over and above the competencies of residency. Research fellowships focus on research productivity. Participants identified a variety of reasons to offer fellowships: improve academic productivity; improve clinical productivity; share/develop enhanced clinical expertise; recruit future faculty members/attain an academic position; enhance the reputation of the division/department/trainee; and enhance the scholarly environment. CONCLUSIONS: Fellowships serve a variety of purposes which benefit both individual trainees as well as the academic enterprise. Fellowships can be categorized within a distinct taxonomy: individualized; clinical; and research. Each type of fellowship may serve a variety of purposes, and each may need distinct support and resources. Further research is needed to catalogue the operational requirements for hosting and undertaking fellowship training, and establish recommendations for educational and administrative policy and processes in this new phase of postgraduate education

Surveillance of antenatal influenza vaccination: validity of current systems and recommendations for improvement

Abstract Background: Although influenza vaccination is recommended during pregnancy as standard of care, limited surveillance data are available for monitoring uptake. Our aim was to evaluate the validity of existing surveillance in Western Australia for measuring antenatal influenza immunisations. Methods: The self-reported vaccination status of 563 women who delivered between April and October 2013 was compared against three passive data collection sources: a state-wide antenatal influenza vaccination database maintained by the Department of Health, a public maternity hospital database, and a private health service database. Sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values were calculated for each system using self-report as the “gold standard.” Results: The state-wide antenatal vaccination database detected 45.7 % (95 % CI: 40.1–51.4 %) of influenza vaccinations, the public maternity hospital database detected 66.7 % (95 % CI: 55.1–76.9 %), and the private health service database detected 29.1 % (95 % CI: 20.5–39.4 %). Specificity exceeded 90 % and positive predictive values exceeded 80 % for each system. Sensitivity was lowest for women whose antenatal care was provided by a private obstetrician. Conclusions: Existing resources for surveillance of antenatal influenza vaccinations detect 29–67 % of vaccinations. Considering the importance of influenza immunisation as a public health intervention, particularly in pregnant women, improvements to routine monitoring of influenza vaccination is warranted

What is the role of the film viewer? The effects of narrative comprehension and viewing task on gaze control in film

Film is ubiquitous, but the processes that guide viewers' attention while viewing film narratives are poorly understood. In fact, many film theorists and practitioners disagree on whether the film stimulus (bottom-up) or the viewer (top-down) is more important in determining how we watch movies. Reading research has shown a strong connection between eye movements and comprehension, and scene perception studies have shown strong effects of viewing tasks on eye movements, but such idiosyncratic top-down control of gaze in film would be anathema to the universal control mainstream filmmakers typically aim for. Thus, in two experiments we tested whether the eye movements and comprehension relationship similarly held in a classic film example, the famous opening scene of Orson Welles' Touch of Evil (Welles & Zugsmith, Touch of Evil, 1958). Comprehension differences were compared with more volitionally controlled task-based effects on eye movements. To investigate the effects of comprehension on eye movements during film viewing, we manipulated viewers' comprehension by starting participants at different points in a film, and then tracked their eyes. Overall, the manipulation created large differences in comprehension, but only produced modest differences in eye movements. To amplify top-down effects on eye movements, a task manipulation was designed to prioritize peripheral scene features: a map task. This task manipulation created large differences in eye movements when compared to participants freely viewing the clip for comprehension. Thus, to allow for strong, volitional top-down control of eye movements in film, task manipulations need to make features that are important to narrative comprehension irrelevant to the viewing task. The evidence provided by this experimental case study suggests that filmmakers' belief in their ability to create systematic gaze behavior across viewers is confirmed, but that this does not indicate universally similar comprehension of the film narrative

Sheep Updates 2003 - Pastures

This session covers seven papers from different authors: 1. Pastures for saline land, Ed Barrett-Lennard 1Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Hayley Norman, Robyn Dynes and David Masters CSIRO Livestock Industries, Centre for Mediterranean Agricultural Research, Floreat Park, 2. Feeding value - the essential link between pastures and animals CSIRO Livestock Industries, Centre for Environmental and Life Sciences 3. ‘Pastures from space’ - how do we do it, how well do we do it and what do producers think about it? Stephen Gherardi Department of Agriculture Western Australia Graham Donald Asoka Edirisinghe Dave Henry CSIRO Livestock Industries Chris Oldham Department of Agriculture Western Australia Richard Smith Department of Land Information Joanne Sneddon University of Western Australia Mike Hyder Department of Agriculture Western Australia Andrew Thompson Department of Primary Industries, Hamilton Victoria Kazue Tanaka Roy Latta Department of Agriculture Western Australia Chris Matthews CRC for Plant-based Management of Dryland Salinity Brad Nutt Department of Agriculture Western Australia Angelo Loi, Centre for Legumes in Mediterranean Agriculture, UWA Tim Wiley, Department of Agriculture Western Australi

Sensitization of spinal cord nociceptive neurons with a conjugate of substance P and cholera toxin

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Several investigators have coupled toxins to neuropeptides for the purpose of lesioning specific neurons in the central nervous system. By producing deficits in function these toxin conjugates have yielded valuable information about the role of these cells. In an effort to specifically stimulate cells rather than kill them we have conjugated the neuropeptide substance P to the catalytic subunit of cholera toxin (SP-CTA). This conjugate should be taken up selectively by neurokinin receptor expressing neurons resulting in enhanced adenylate cyclase activity and neuronal firing.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The conjugate SP-CTA stimulates adenylate cyclase in cultured cells that are transfected with either the NK1 or NK2 receptor, but not the NK3 receptor. We further demonstrate that intrathecal injection of SP-CTA in rats induces the phosphorylation of the transcription factor cyclic AMP response element binding protein (CREB) and also enhances the expression of the immediate early gene c-Fos. Behaviorally, low doses of SP-CTA (1 μg) injected intrathecally produce thermal hyperalgesia. At higher doses (10 μg) peripheral sensitivity is suppressed suggesting that descending inhibitory pathways may be activated by the SP-CTA induced sensitization of spinal cord neurons.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The finding that stimulation of adenylate cyclase in neurokinin receptor expressing neurons in the spinal cord produces thermal hyperalgesia is consistent with the known actions of these neurons. These data demonstrate that cholera toxin can be targeted to specific cell types by coupling the catalytic subunit to a peptide agonist for a g-protein coupled receptor. Furthermore, these results demonstrate that SP-CTA can be used as a tool to study sensitization of central neurons in vivo in the absence of an injury.</p

Sheep Updates 2005 - Part 6

This session covers seven papers from different authors: PASTURES/GRAZING 1. New annual pastures - quality and quantity for fodder conservation?, Sarah Pugh and Giles Glasson, Department of Agriculture Western Australia 2. Saltland Pastures: Dispelling some Myths, Ed Barrett-Lennard1,3, Hayley Norman2,3, Matt Wilmat2,3, Meir Altman,3, Kelly Pearce2,3, Sally Phelan4, David Masters2,3, 1. Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, 2 CSIRO Livestock Industries, Floreat, WA, 3. CRC for Plant-based Management of Dryland Salinity 4. Saltland Pastures Association 3. Pastures: Putting profit back into sandplain, Nadine Eva, Department of Agriculture Western Australia. 4. Pastures from Space R - Can be used to make profitable strategic and tactical management decisions on farm, Brad Wooldridge, Farmer Wagin WA, Stephen Gherardi, Lucy Anderton, Department of Agriculture Western Australia, Gonzalo Mata, CSIRO Livestock Industries, Wembley, WA 5. Are new farming systems based on perenial pastures in south west Australia more profitable?, P. Sanford, Department of Agriculture Western Australia, J. Young, Farm Systems Analysis, Kojonup WA 6. Sown fodders, rotational grazing and Merinos make money in a drought, Tim Wiley, Department of Agriculture Western Australia, Richard Quinlan, Planfarm, Geraldton 7. Lifetime Wool - The \u27best bet\u27 optimum condition score profile for Merino ewes lambing in winter. Chris Oldham, Mike Hyder, Mandy Curnow, Samantha Giles, Department of Agriculture Western Australia, John Young, Farming Systems Analysis Service, Kojonup, Andrew Thompson, DPI Victoria, Hamilton

Nonlinear pharmacokinetics of therapeutic proteins resulting from receptor mediated endocytosis

Receptor mediated endocytosis (RME) plays a major role in the disposition of therapeutic protein drugs in the body. It is suspected to be a major source of nonlinear pharmacokinetic behavior observed in clinical pharmacokinetic data. So far, mostly empirical or semi-mechanistic approaches have been used to represent RME. A thorough understanding of the impact of the properties of the drug and of the receptor system on the resulting nonlinear disposition is still missing, as is how to best represent RME in pharmacokinetic models. In this article, we present a detailed mechanistic model of RME that explicitly takes into account receptor binding and trafficking inside the cell and that is used to derive reduced models of RME which retain a mechanistic interpretation. We find that RME can be described by an extended Michaelis–Menten model that accounts for both the distribution and the elimination aspect of RME. If the amount of drug in the receptor system is negligible a standard Michaelis–Menten model is capable of describing the elimination by RME. Notably, a receptor system can efficiently eliminate drug from the extracellular space even if the total number of receptors is small. We find that drug elimination by RME can result in substantial nonlinear pharmacokinetics. The extent of nonlinearity is higher for drug/receptor systems with higher receptor availability at the membrane, or faster internalization and degradation of extracellular drug. Our approach is exemplified for the epidermal growth factor receptor system

EGF increases expression and activity of PAs in preimplantation rat embryos and their implantation rate

BACKGROUND: Embryo implantation plays a major role in embryogenesis and the outcome of pregnancy. Plasminogen activators (PAs) have been implicated in mammalian fertilization, early stages of development and embryo implantation. As in-vitro developing embryos resulted in lower implantation rate than those developed in-vivo we assume that a reduced PAs activity may be involved. In the present work we studied the effect of EGF on PAs activity, quantity and embryo implantation. METHODS: Zygotes were flushed from rat oviducts on day one of pregnancy and grown in-vitro in R1ECM supplemented with EGF (10 ng/ml) and were grown up to the blastocyst stage. The control groups were grown in the same medium without EGF. The distribution and quantity of the PAs were examined using fluorescence immunohistochemistry followed by measurement of PAs activity using the chromogenic assay. Implantation rate was studied using the embryo donation model. RESULTS: PAs distribution in the embryos was the same in EGF treated and untreated embryos. Both PAs were localized in the blastocysts' trophectoderm, supporting the assumption that PAs play a role in the implantation process in rats. EGF increased the quantity of uPA at all stages studied but the 8-cell stage as compared with controls. The tissue type PA (tPA) content was unaffected except the 8-cell stage, which was increased. The activity of uPA increased gradually towards the blastocyst stage and more so due to the presence of EGF. The activity of tPA did not vary with the advancing developmental stages although it was also increased by EGF. The presence of EGF during the preimplantation development doubled the rate of implantation of the treated group as compared with controls