The role of anatomy demonstrators: surgical trainees’ perspective

ABSTRACT Core Surgical Trainees (CST) in the London (UK) Postgraduate School of Surgery receive clinical anatomy teaching in their first year of training, and, in their second year, give thirty sessions of anatomy teaching to medical and other students. This study set out to investigate the role of demonstrators from the perspective of the trainees. A focus group was convened to ascertain trainees’ perspectives on demonstrating anatomy and to identify problems and improvement strategies to optimise their ability to enhance students’ learning. A questionnaire was formulated and all second-year CST (n=186 – from two cohorts) in the London Postgraduate School of Surgery were invited. A total of 109 out of 186 trainees completed the questionnaire. A high percentage (98%) of trainees that completed the questionnaire responded that demonstrating was an invaluable part of their training. Sixty-two per cent responded that anatomy teaching they received in their first year of core surgical training helped them in their teaching role and 80% responded that it helped them prepare for surgical training. The study also revealed the need for improved communication between trainees and the London Postgraduate School of Surgery / Medical Schools / National Health Service Trusts to address issues such as trainees’ perceived difficulty in fulfilling their teaching session requirement. The stakeholders have acknowledged and addressed the outcomes to improve the experience for both surgical trainees and students. The results indicate that anatomy demonstrating delivers important benefits to early surgical trainees, in addition to those received by the students that they teach

The presence of heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoproteins in frontotemporal lobar degeneration with FUS positive inclusions

Frontotemporal lobar degeneration with fused in sarcoma–positive inclusions (FTLD-FUS) is a disease with unknown cause. Transportin 1 is abundantly found in FUS-positive inclusions and responsible for the nuclear import of the FET proteins of which FUS is a member. The presence of all FET proteins in pathological inclusions suggests a disturbance of transportin 1–mediated nuclear import. FUS also belongs to the heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein (hnRNP) protein family. We investigated whether hnRNP proteins are associated with FUS pathology implicating dysfunctional nuclear export in the pathogenesis of FTLD-FUS. hnRNP proteins were investigated in affected brain regions in FTLD-FUS using immunohistochemistry, biochemical analysis, and the expression analysis. We demonstrated the presence of several hnRNP proteins in pathological inclusions including neuronal cytoplasmic inclusions and dystrophic neurites. The biochemical analysis revealed a shift in the location of hnRNP A1 from the nucleus to the cytoplasm. The expression analysis revealed an increase in several hnRNP proteins in FTLD-FUS. These results implicate a wider dysregulation of movement between intracellular compartments, than mechanisms only affecting the nuclear import of FUS proteins

Anthropologie alimentaire et développement en Afrique intertropicale : du biologique au social

En milieu rural Kukuya, les connaissances et les attitudes des mères jouent un rôle important dans les décision qui concernent la conduite de l'alimentation du jeune enfant. Un certain nombre de problèmes nutritionnels qui les affectent est dû aux erreurs commises par les mères, souvent liées aux règles traditionnelles véhiculées et admises par la société. Le non respect de ces règles suscite parfois une réaction qui masque les vrais problèmes à prendre en considération pour l'amélioration de l'état de santé. L'objectif principal de ce travail est d'identifier les facteurs socio-culturels à l'origine des problèmes de maigreur chez les enfants de 0 à 59 mois du plateau Kukuya en vue de fournir des données de base aux programmes d'intervetnion qui auront pour cible les enfant d'âge préscolaire de cette région. A partir des données d'une enquête d'évaluation nutritionnelle menée sur un échantillon de 1072 enfants représentatif des enfants de moins de 72 mois du plateau Kukuya, deux groupes de 65 mères d'enfants maigres (- 2 ET; P/T) et d'enfants bien nourris ont été identifiés et interrogés au cours d'entretiens individuels ou collectifs (focus group). Les mères enquêtées dont les enfants sont maigres reconnaissent sans ambiguïté qu'un enfant présentant des signes de malnutrition est possédé par le "nkira". Ce nkira serait déclenché par le non respect des coutumes par la mère. L'enfant atteint est nommé ngkula. Son entourage le soumet à un rite particulier assorti d'interdits alimentaires qui l'empêchent de consommer les aliments indispensables à sa croissance et l'enferment dans un état de malnutrition chronique. Parmi les mères enquêtées, environ le quart reconnait que la dégradation de l'état de santé de l'enfant est aggravée par la sorcellerie et un nombre non négligeable pense que les infections diarrhéiques ont un lien étroit avec le changement de cycle lunaire. Les réponses apportées par les mères d'enfants en bon état nutritionnel sont différentes. Elles reconnaissent le bien fondé du respect du calendrier du sevrage et de l'utilisation d'une bonne alimentation pour une meilleure croissance des enfants. Elles sont davantage favorables à une intervention pratique de type éducation nutritionnelle et à une introduction de méthodes améliorées de préparation des bouillies. En conclusion, l'identification du rite associé au Nkira met en évidence l'existence d'un cercle vicieux dès que l'enfant tombe naturellement en état de malnutrition et souligne donc l'importance d'interventions nutritionnelles qui l'en préserve. (Résumé d'auteur

CO2 Pricing Pass-Through to Electricity Prices Under Partial Regulations

With climate change becoming a growing concern, carbon trading has gained attention as a key solution to reducing carbon emissions. However, this raises a concern about whether polluters pass the cost of carbon to electricity prices. This study aims to assess the impact of CO2 pricing on electricity prices in the PJM market where some areas are regulated by carbon trading while others are not. Our findings reveal a significant impact of CO2 prices across all regulated areas, encompassing both real- time and day-ahead markets. Moreover, the impact extends to non-regulated areas, indicating a spillover effect within the PJM market. Interestingly, the electricity price increase in unregulated areas negatively correlates with their distance to regulated areas. The strongest impact is observed during peak hours. These findings highlight how carbon trading policies affect electricity prices, showing how regulations in one area can influence pricing across the energy market

Seeking Justice: Mobilizing the South Asian Community in the Face of Sexual Assault

This thesis looks at how the rule of law fails to achieve justice for Indian-American survivors of domestic violence in a multitude of ways, corresponding to class and religious positionality, as well as documentation status, and how the Indian community mobilizes in response to these failures by creating alternative modes of justice for survivors. Historically, these alternatives have taken form as direct service organizations, providing culturally and linguistically accessible services to survivors. I contend that these are helpful on an individual level, working to interrupt cycles of violence, but not at the collective level – stopping these cycles altogether. Given the systemic nature of sexual violence, working from transformative justice principles is an ideal modality of organizing, but not feasible given the structure of Indian-American communities today. In the interim between present post-violence work and future integration of transformative justice, I argue that pre-violence educational models are the most effective way to see tangible, generational, systemic change. Modes of resistance through educational initiatives aimed towards Indian youth ages ten to eighteen against rape culture will more effectively deter the cycles of intra-community violence from occurring, specifically when oriented from sites of religious worship and/or cultural centers – spaces that create a sense of Indian identity. These educational spaces currently do not exist as an intra-community effort, so I analyze various feminist pedagogies as well as an example of this work being done within other communities to extend these praxes back to the Indian community