Validity of the UCEEM in use: How Does it Triangulate with Qualitative Data in Measuring the Effect of an Educational Intervention?

Objectives: Improving medical student placements relies on being able to reliably evaluate how students experience clinical learning environments. The Undergraduate Clinical Education Environment Measure (UCEEM) is an increasingly used validated tool designed to allow such evaluations. This study aims to further characterize how the UCEEM relates to qualitative evaluation.

Expanding our concept of simulation in radiology: a "Radiology Requesting" session for undergraduate medical students.

Objectives: Whilst radiology is central to the modern practice of medicine, graduating doctors often feel unprepared for radiology in practice. Traditional radiological education focuses on image interpretation. Key areas which are undertaught include communication skills relating to the radiology department.

Nephrotic syndrome with minimal change disease after the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine: two cases.

We present two cases of nephrotic syndrome with minimal change disease after the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. We discuss the initial presentation, investigation and management of these patients along with a discussion around the current evidence base for vaccine-induced nephrotic syndrome.

Towards validation of combined-accelerated stress testing through failure analysis of polyamide-based photovoltaic backsheets.

Novel methods for advancing reliability testing of photovoltaic (PV) modules and materials have recently been developed. Combined-accelerated stress testing (C-AST) is one such method which has demonstrated reliable reproduction of some field-failures which were not reproducible by standard certification tests. To increase confidence and assist in the development of C-AST, and other new testing protocols, it is important to validate that the failure modes observed and mechanisms induced are representative of those observed in the field, and not the product of unrealistic stress conditions.

The Frequency of Ras Mutations in Cancer.

Ras is frequently mutated in cancer, however, there is a lack of consensus in the literature regarding the cancer mutation frequency of Ras, with quoted values varying from 10%-30%. This variability is at least in part due to the selective aggregation of data from different databases and the dominant influence of particular cancer types and particular Ras isoforms within these datasets. To provide a more definitive figure for Ras mutation frequency in cancer, we cross-referenced the data in all major publicly accessible cancer mutation databases to determine reliable mutation frequency values for each Ras isoform in all major cancer types.

High-output cardiac failure secondary to high-output arteriovenous fistula: investigations, management and definitive treatment.

A 32 year-old woman was admitted to our institution with progressive dyspnoea. Her medical history was notable for end-stage renal failure secondary to chronic pyelonephritis, and she had undergone a cadaveric renal transplant in 2010. This had been preceded by haemodialysis treatment via a radiocephalic arteriovenous fistula.

Endoscopic measurement of gastric pH associates with persistent acid reflux in patients treated with proton-pump inhibitors for gastroesophageal reflux disease.

Background: Proton-pump inhibitors (PPIs) are the mainstay of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) treatment, however, up to 30% of patients have a poor symptomatic response. PH-impedance is the gold standard to assess whether this is due to persistent acid reflux. We aimed to characterize clinical predictors of persistent esophageal acid reflux on PPIs including gastric pH measured during endoscopy.

The burden of infant group B streptococcal infections in Ontario: Analysis of administrative data to estimate the potential benefits of new vaccines.

Group B streptococcus (GBS) is a leading bacterial cause of neonatal sepsis and meningitis in many countries as well as an important cause of disease in pregnant women. Currently, serotype-specific conjugate vaccines are being developed. We conducted an epidemiological analysis of health administrative data to estimate the burden of infant GBS disease in Ontario, Canada and combined these estimates with literature on serotype distribution to estimate the burden of disease likely to be vaccine-preventable.

Evaluation of the selectivity and sensitivity of isoform- and mutation-specific RAS antibodies.

There is intense interest in developing therapeutic strategies for RAS proteins, the most frequently mutated oncoprotein family in cancer. Development of effective anti-RAS therapies will be aided by the greater appreciation of RAS isoform-specific differences in signaling events that support neoplastic cell growth. However, critical issues that require resolution to facilitate the success of these efforts remain.

Single Synonymous Mutations in KRAS Cause Transformed Phenotypes in NIH3T3 Cells.

Synonymous mutations in the KRAS gene are clustered at G12, G13, and G60 in human cancers. We constructed 9 stable NIH3T3 cell lines expressing KRAS, each with one of these synonymous mutations. Compared to the negative control cell line expressing the wild type human KRAS gene, all the synonymous mutant lines expressed more KRAS protein, grew more rapidly and to higher densities, and were more invasive in multiple assays.

Recurrent life-threatening haemoptysis from a bleeding vertebral artery pseudoaneurysm: A diagnostic dilemma.

A bleeding vertebral artery pseudoaneurysm is a rare cause of haemoptysis. Pseudoaneurysm can arise due to radionecrosis from previous radiotherapy in the base of skull and neck region and may present with haemoptysis many years later. It is important to be aware of this entity in the work-up of haemoptysis, particularly in patients with previous base of skull and neck radiotherapy.

Classic articles in Psychology in the Science Citation Index Expanded: A bibliometric analysis.

Who today are the most highly cited psychologists listed in the Web of Science? This paper reports answers to this question by using the Science Citation Index Expanded to find out. This index covers over 280,350 documents in the Psychology category of the Web of Science from 1900 to 2013 and lists the most highly cited papers published between 1927 and 2012. For example, in 2013, an article published by Jacob Cohen in 1992 obtained (1) the highest ranking with 1,068 citations, (2) the highest for total citations per year, and (3) was ranked 3rd for the total number of citations since publication by 2013.

The role of shed placental DNA in the systemic inflammatory syndrome of preeclampsia.

Preeclampsia is a syndrome occurring only in pregnancy characterized by systemic maternal inflammation and associated with the presence of the placenta. How these 2 aspects of the disease are linked has been the subject of numerous theories and ideas. Recently, there has been increasing interest in DNA shed from the placenta into the maternal circulation as a potential agent initiating the inflammatory response.

Clinical manufacturing of recombinant human interleukin 15. I. Production cell line development and protein expression in E. coli with stop codon optimization.

Interleukin 15 (IL-15) has shown remarkable biological properties of promoting NK- and T-cell activation and proliferation, as well as enhancing antitumor immunity of CD8(+) T cells in preclinical models. Here, we report the development of an E. coli cell line to express recombinant human Interleukin-15 (rhIL-15) for clinical manufacturing.

Why proteins in mammalian cells?

Producing recombinant mammalian proteins in native or near-native conformation is fundamental to many aspects of biology. Unfortunately, it is also a task whose outcome is extremely unpredictable. A protein that has been shaped over millions of generations of evolution for expression at a level appropriate to a specific cell type or in a particular developmental stage, may be toxic to a new host cell, or become insoluble (among many possible obstacles) when overexpressed in vitro.

A set of aspartyl protease-deficient strains for improved expression of heterologous proteins in Kluyveromyces lactis.

Secretion of recombinant proteins is a common strategy for heterologous protein expression using the yeast Kluyveromyces lactis. However, a common problem is degradation of a target recombinant protein by secretory pathway aspartyl proteases. In this study, we identified five putative pfam00026 aspartyl proteases encoded by the K.

Purify First: rapid expression and purification of proteins from XMRV.

Purifying proteins from recombinant sources is often difficult, time-consuming, and costly. We have recently instituted a series of improvements in our protein purification pipeline that allows much more accurate choice of expression host and conditions and purification protocols. The key elements are parallel cloning, small scale parallel expression and lysate preparation, and small scale parallel protein purification.

Tus, an E. coli protein, contains mammalian nuclear targeting and exporting signals.

Shuttling of proteins between nucleus and cytoplasm in mammalian cells is facilitated by the presence of nuclear localization signals (NLS) and nuclear export signals (NES), respectively. However, we have found that Tus, an E. coli replication fork arresting protein, contains separate sequences that function efficiently as NLS and NES in mammalian cell lines, as judged by cellular location of GFP-fusion proteins.

The completion of the Mammalian Gene Collection (MGC).

Since its start, the Mammalian Gene Collection (MGC) has sought to provide at least one full-protein-coding sequence cDNA clone for every human and mouse gene with a RefSeq transcript, and at least 6200 rat genes. The MGC cloning effort initially relied on random expressed sequence tag screening of cDNA libraries. Here, we summarize our recent progress using directed RT-PCR cloning and DNA synthesis.