Overtime claiming among Australian doctors-in-training.

Objective To quantify patterns of overtime among doctors-in-training in New South Wales and to explore the reasons doctors-in-training cite for not claiming overtime worked. Methods A confidential online self-reporting survey was conducted of post-graduate doctors-in-training, working in hospitals in NSW, from post-graduate year 1 through to completion of specialist training. Questions sought to determine the average amount of overtime worked, overtime claiming patterns, and reasons why overtime was not claimed.

Antiarrhythmics in Cardiac Arrest: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Introduction: It is widely accepted that antiarrhythmics play a role in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) universally, but the absolute benefit of antiarrhythmic use and the drug of choice in advanced life support remains controversial.

Aim: To perform a thorough, in-depth review and analysis of current literature to assess the efficacy of antiarrhythmics in advanced life support.

Material And Methods: Two authors systematically searched through multiple bibliographic databases including CINAHL, SCOPUS, PubMed, Web of Science, Medline(Ovid) and the Cochrane Clinical Trials Registry.

Achieving self-sufficiency: training Australia's future medical workforce.

There is an oversupply of Australian junior doctors, but significant training bottlenecks are developing, and geographical maldistribution in rural and remote areas remains. Last year, the Federal Minister for Immigration rejected a Department of Health recommendation for the removal of 41 health roles from the Skilled Occupation List after concerns that rural and regional communities would be left without access to medical services in areas currently serviced by international medical graduates. In an effort to achieve workforce self-sufficiency, Australia must ensure access to high-quality vocational training places in rural and regional settings while managing immigration of overseas-trained health professionals.

Periluminal expression of a secreted transforming growth factor-β type II receptor inhibits in-stent neointima formation following adenovirus-mediated stent-based intracoronary gene transfer.

Transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) has been shown unequivocally to enhance neointima formation in carotid and ileo-femoral arteries. In our previous studies, however, TGF-β1 expression in coronary arteries actually reduced neointima formation without affecting luminal loss postangioplasty, while expression of a TGF-β1 antagonist (RIIs) in balloon-injured coronary arteries reduced luminal loss without affecting neointima formation. These observed effects may be a consequence of the mode of coronary artery gene transfer employed, but they may also represent differences in the modes of healing of coronary, carotid, and ileo-femoral arteries after endoluminal injury.

AAV-2-mediated expression of IGF-1 in skeletal myoblasts stimulates angiogenesis and cell survival.

The transplantation of skeletal myoblasts is being tested in various organ systems to facilitate tissue repair and regeneration. Previous studies have indicated that transplanted cells for varied reasons were not surviving in sufficient numbers following transplantation, thus negatively affecting overall therapeutic efficacy of the approach. We hypothesize that the genetic modification of myoblasts to express insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) locally may enhance the survival of transplanted cells by stimulating neo-vascularization, decreasing apoptosis, and promoting cell proliferation.

Dependence of neovascularization mechanisms on the molecular microenvironment.

In vivo vascularization of implanted (bio)artificial constructs is essential for their proper function. Vascularization may rely on sprouting angiogenesis, vascular incorporation of bone marrow-derived endothelial cells (BMDECs), or both. Here we investigated the relative contribution of these 2 mechanisms to neovascularization in a mouse model of a foreign body reaction (FBR) to subcutaneously implanted Dacron and in hind limb ischemia (HLI) in relation to the molecular microenvironment at these neovascularization sites.

Electrophysiological consequence of skeletal myoblast transplantation in normal and infarcted canine myocardium.

Objective: The purpose of this study is to test our hypothesis that injection of skeletal myoblasts (SkMbs) into viable tissue may alter impulse conduction but that injections into nonviable tissue (scar) will have negligible impact.

Background: Myocardial infarction (MI) is a major public health problem. SkMb transplantation after MI has been shown to have some beneficial effect on hemodynamic function.

Continuous periaortic infusion improves doxycycline efficacy in experimental aortic aneurysms.

Objective: We created a novel continuous infusion system to evaluate the efficacy of juxta-aortic doxycycline delivery as a transitional step toward developing hybrid drug/device treatment strategies for abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) disease.

Methods: Controlled comparison of treatment outcomes was studied in animal models with molecular and morphologic tissue analysis in a collaboration between university and corporate research laboratories. Rat AAAs were created via porcine pancreatic elastase (PPE) infusion and grouped and analyzed by subsequent treatment status (either doxycycline in vehicle or vehicle alone) and drug delivery method (continuous infusion via periaortic delivery system [PDS] or twice-daily subcutaneous injection).