Implementation of the AAMC's Holistic Review Model for Psychiatry Resident Recruitment.

Introduction: In psychiatry, several converging factors are impacting the recruitment of residents: the increased competitiveness of the specialty, the national trend to take active steps to improve diversity and inclusion, and the decision from USMLE to change Step 1 to a pass/fail result.

Methods: We developed a workshop for psychiatry residency program directors to meet these challenges and transition into using a holistic review model during recruitment. The workshop included (1) a didactic session providing background on the AAMC holistic review model; (2) a small-group exercise to determine and prioritize experiences, attributes, competencies, and metrics (EACMs) aligned with the program's mission and aims; (3) a review of the rankings from the previous exercise, selection of two "very important" criteria for each of the four domains of the EACM model, and operationalization of these criteria based on the recruitment process; and (4) a discussion focused on application of program criteria with example applicants.

Readiness assessments for gender-affirming surgical treatments: A systematic scoping review of historical practices and changing ethical considerations.

Transgender and gender diverse (TGD) are terms that refer to individuals whose gender identity differs from sex assigned at birth. TGD individuals may choose any variety of modifications to their gender expression including, but not limited to changing their name, clothing, or hairstyle, starting hormones, or undergoing surgery. Starting in the 1950s, surgeons and endocrinologists began treating what was then known as transsexualism with cross sex hormones and a variety of surgical procedures collectively known as sex reassignment surgery (SRS).

A Mobile Phone Application for Assessing Daily Variation in Pain Location and Pain Intensity in Patients with Urologic Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndrome: A MAPP Network Study.

Introduction: We created and tested a mobile app that facilitates the ecological momentary assessment of pain intensity and pain location and identifies heterogeneous patient pain phenotypes.

Methods: A mobile app was created with patient, clinician and researcher input. A sample of 20 participants with urologic chronic pelvic pain syndrome were then asked to complete a 14-day pain assessment using the app.

Pilot Study of an Online Self-Directed Learning Module for Medical Decision-Making Capacity.

Objective: This study assessed the impact of an online, self-directed learning module on medical student knowledge and attitudes regarding decision-making capacity.

Methods: The authors created a 15-min didactic video on decision-making capacity and sorted medical students on the psychiatry clerkship to teaching as usual or teaching as usual plus watching the video. The authors assessed student knowledge about and attitudes toward decisional capacity assessment using a pre/posttest design.

Understanding Assessment Systems for Clinical Competency Committee Decisions: Evidence from a Multisite Study of Psychiatry Residency Training Programs.

Objective: This multisite study examines how clinical competency committees in Psychiatry synthesize resident assessments to inform milestones decisions to provide guidelines that support their use.

Methods: The study convened training directors and associate training directors from three psychiatry residency programs to examine decision-making processes of clinical competency committees. Annual resident assessments for one second year and one third year resident were used in a mock clinical competency committee format to assign milestones for two consecutive reporting periods.

Pain and Urinary Symptoms Should Not be Combined into a Single Score: Psychometric Findings from the MAPP Research Network.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to create symptom indexes, that is scores derived from questionnaires to accurately and efficiently measure symptoms of interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome and chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome, collectively referred to as urological chronic pelvic pain syndromes. We created these indexes empirically by investigating the structure of symptoms using exploratory factor analysis.

Materials And Methods: As part of the MAPP (Multi-Disciplinary Approach to the Study of Chronic Pelvic Pain) Research Network 424 participants completed questionnaires, including GUPI (Genitourinary Pain Index), ICSI (Interstitial Cystitis Symptom Index) and ICPI (Interstitial Cystitis Problem Index).

The role of corticotropin-releasing hormone in the pathophysiology of depression: therapeutic implications.

Stress responses have been posited to be a key component of mental health and disease by playing essential roles both in normal adaptive processes and maladaptive physiological responses that in part underlie the pathogenesis of certain subtypes of mood and anxiety disorders. Early research focused on delineating the function of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and subsequently examined its role in mediating the mammalian stress responses and its hyperactivity in depression. Much evidence now supports an important function of the biological mediators of this system in relation to not only depression, but also anxiety, substance abuse, and psychotic disorders, and implicates several components of this system as areas of intervention for novel pharmacotherapy.

Choreoathetosis in the setting of lithium toxicity.

Background: Lithium toxicity has been shown to cause lasting neurological sequelae in certain cases.

Objective: The authors present a case of choreoathetosis in the aftermath of a presumed episode of lithium toxic reaction.

Method: The patient was treated by aggressive rehydration; lithium and, ultimately, all psychotropic medication was withheld for a period.

A novel G protein-coupled receptor, related to GPR4, is required for assembly of the cortical actin skeleton in early Xenopus embryos.

As the fertilized Xenopus egg undergoes sequential cell divisions to form a blastula, each cell develops a network of cortical actin that provides shape and skeletal support for the whole embryo. Disruption of this network causes loss of shape and rigidity of the embryo, and disrupts gastrulation movements. We previously showed that lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) signaling controls the change in cortical actin density that occurs at different stages of the cell cycle.

Lysophosphatidic acid signaling controls cortical actin assembly and cytoarchitecture in Xenopus embryos.

The mechanisms that control shape and rigidity of early embryos are not well understood, and yet are required for all embryonic processes to take place. In the Xenopus blastula, the cortical actin network in each blastomere is required for the maintenance of overall embryonic shape and rigidity. However, the mechanism whereby each cell assembles the appropriate pattern and number of actin filament bundles is not known.