Implementation of an Online Reporting System to Identify Unprofessional Behaviors and Mistreatment Directed at Trainees at an Academic Medical Center.

Importance: Unprofessional behaviors and mistreatment directed at trainees continue to challenge the learning environment. Academic medical institutions should encourage reports of inappropriate behavior and address such reports directly to create a safe learning environment.

Objective: To determine the feasibility of creating and implementing an online reporting system for receiving and reviewing complaints of unprofessional behavior directed toward or experienced by students, postdoctoral trainees, and residents.

Investigating a Quantitative Measure of Student Self-authorship for Undergraduate Medical Education.

Construct: In this study, the authors investigated the validity of a quantitative measure of self-authorship among medical students. Self-authorship is a cognitive-structural theory incorporating the ability to define one's beliefs, identity, and social relations to operate in a complex, ambiguous environment.

Background: Competency-based medical education (CBME) provides learners with the opportunity to self-direct their education at an appropriate pace to develop and exhibit required behaviors while incorporating functioning relationships with supervisors and trainers.

An update on the etiology of abdominal aortic aneurysms: implications for future diagnostic testing.

Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) disease is multifactorial with both environmental and genetic risk factors. The current research in AAA revolves around genetic profiles and expression studies in both human and animal models. Variants in genes involved in extracellular matrix degradation, inflammation, the renin-angiotensin system, cell growth and proliferation and lipid metabolism have been associated with AAA using a variety of study designs.

An Evolving Understanding of the Genetic Causes of Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Disease.

Aneurysms of the abdominal aorta (AAA) are relatively common - affecting as many as 8% of men and 1% of women over the age of 65. AAAs are characterized by a 50% increase in the diameter of the aneurysmal aorta compared with the normal vessel. Degeneration of structural components of the aortic wall is believed to be central in the pathogenesis of AAAs.

Use of a Pteridine Moiety to Track DNA Uptake in Cells.

Fluorescence labeled oligonucleotides have a long history of being used to monitor nucleic acid transport and uptake. However, it is not known if the fluorescent moiety itself physically limits the number of pathways that can be used by the cell due to steric, hydrophobic, or other chemical characteristics. Here, we report a method for comparing the uptake kinetics of oligonucleotides labeled either with the fluorescent pteridine, 3-methyl-8-(2-deoxy-β-D-ribofuranosyl) isoxanthopterin (3MI), or the common fluorophore 5-carboxyfluorescein (5-FAM).