Modernising Anatomy Teaching: Which Resources Do Students Rely On?

The way in which we learn anatomy has changed exponentially over the decades and students now have access to lecture notes, textbooks, computer-assisted programmes, and a wide variety of internet based information. This study explored which resources were the most (and least) useful for a group of first year, undergraduate, medical students, with minimal prior content exposure (aged 18 and 19 years old, n = 76), over an 18 month period. Anatomy websites were found to be the most useful (30%), followed by tutorials (20%) and lectures (19%).

Induced pluripotent stem cells reprogrammed from primary dendritic cells provide an abundant source of immunostimulatory dendritic cells for use in immunotherapy.

Cell types differentiated from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) are frequently arrested in their development program, more closely resembling a fetal rather than an adult phenotype, potentially limiting their utility for downstream clinical applications. The fetal phenotype of iPSC-derived dendritic cells (ipDCs) is evidenced by their low expression of MHC class II and costimulatory molecules, impaired secretion of IL-12, and poor responsiveness to conventional maturation stimuli, undermining their use for applications such as immune-oncology. Given that iPSCs display an epigenetic memory of the cell type from which they were originally derived, we investigated the feasibility of reprogramming adult DCs to pluripotency to determine the impact on the phenotype and function of ipDCs differentiated from them.

Non-adherence to antimicrobial stewardship prospective audit and feedback advice: Risk factors and clinical consequences.

Amongst 325 patients receiving restricted antimicrobials whose management was subject to antimicrobial stewardship prospective audit and feedback, adherence to advice was 78%. Non-adherence was associated with diabetic patients, giving more than 1 piece of advice and receipt of piperacillin/tazobactam therapy, and was inversely associated with liver disease. Adherence to advice was associated with a one third reduction in duration of antimicrobial use without adversely impacting other infection-related patient outcomes.

Harnessing the properties of dendritic cells in the pursuit of immunological tolerance.

The acquisition of self-perpetuating, immunological tolerance specific for graft alloantigens has long been described as the "holy grail" of clinical transplantation. By removing the need for life-long immunosuppression following engraftment, the adverse consequences of immunosuppressive regimens, including chronic infections and malignancy, may be avoided. Furthermore, autoimmune diseases and allergy are, by definition, driven by aberrant immunological responses to ordinarily innocuous antigens.

Beneath the sword of Damocles: regenerative medicine and the shadow of immunogenicity.

Few topics in regenerative medicine have inspired such impassioned debate as the immunogenicity of cell types and tissues differentiated from pluripotent stem cells. While early predictions suggested that tissues derived from allogeneic sources may evade immune surveillance altogether, the pendulum has since swung to the opposite extreme, with reports that the ectopic expression of a few developmental antigens may prompt rejection, even of tissues differentiated from autologous cell lines. Here we review the evidence on which these contradictory claims are based in order to reach an objective assessment of the likely magnitude of the immunological challenges ahead.

Role of vascularity for successful bone formation and repair.

Tissue engineering has been touted as the solution to regenerate tissue in patients. Yet current strategies for orthopedic application are limited because of the inability to successfully manage critical sized defects without a working vascular system. Bone grafts are commonly used in critical sized defects to fill the gap in missing bone tissue.

Interleukin-6 deficiency corrects nephritis, lymphocyte abnormalities, and secondary Sjögren's syndrome features in lupus-prone Sle1.Yaa mice.

Objective: To assess disease features in Sle1.Yaa mice with genetic interleukin-6 (IL-6) deficiency.

Methods: Sera and tissues were collected from C57BL/6 (B6), Sle1.

Long-range PCR based sequencing of the highly homologous genes, SFTPA1 and SFTPA2.

In humans, Surfactant Protein A exists as two highly homologous genetic isoforms, SFTPA1 and SFTPA2. Mutations in these two genes are associated with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and lung cancer. We have developed a Sanger DNA sequencing assay which utilizes long-range PCR to detect mutations in these two genes.

Toll-like receptors in systemic lupus erythematosus: potential targets for therapeutic intervention.

Toll-like receptors (TLRs) have attracted increased attention in recent years, not only for their role in sensing conserved microbial components, but also in the realm of autoimmunity. Although TLRs are most widely known for their capacity to detect conserved motifs of infectious agents, mounting evidence indicates that these innate receptors also promote autoimmune conditions by causing uncontrolled autoinflammation as a result of chronic recognition of self. In response to the need for modern approaches to treatment of autoimmune diseases, several groups have begun investigating ways to target TLRs as new therapeutic options for autoimmune conditions.

Targeting Toll-like receptors for treatment of SLE.

Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are important innate immune receptors for the identification and clearance of invading pathogens. Twelve TLRs that recognize various conserved components of microorganisms are currently known. Among these, the endosomal TLRs 3, 7/8, and 9 recognize dsRNA, ssRNA, and CpG DNA, respectively.

ELXR: a resource for rapid exon-directed sequence analysis.

ELXR (Exon Locator and Extractor for Resequencing) streamlines the process of determining exon/intron boundaries and designing PCR and sequencing primers for high-throughput resequencing of exons. We have pre-computed ELXR primer sets for all exons identified from the human, mouse, and rat mRNA reference sequence (RefSeq) public databases curated by the National Center for Biotechnology Information. The resulting exon-flanking PCR primer pairs have been compiled into a system called ELXRdb, which may be searched by keyword, gene name or RefSeq accession number.