Interest in Cardiothoracic Surgery Among the American College of Osteopathic Surgeons' Medical Students.

Background: As more integrated cardiothoracic (CT) surgical residency programs are developed, there is increased interest in factors influencing specialty selection during undergraduate medical education. This study aimed to nationally assess interests and perceptions of CT surgery from medical students pursuing surgery and factors influencing such interests.

Methods: Active members of the American College of Osteopathic Surgeons - Medical Student Section were invited to complete an original survey.

Double layer capacitors in dye sensitized solar cells with large charge and energy storage capacity and controlled shape of output voltage signals.

The output signals in natural dyes-based solar cells (DSSC) can be either rising or decaying depending on the type of ions present in the system; these ions called added ions, are introduced by the additives: mordant and brighteners. The photon-dye interaction produces electrons, which eventually reach the electrode giving place to a superficially charged electrode in contact with an electrolyte where are the added ions. This combination produces, automatically, an electrical double-layer EDL structure which has important effects on the performance of the system: a) the added ions control, to a large extent, the initial shape of the output signal, giving rise to rising or decaying profiles; b) it is possible to store large amounts of energy and charge at high electric fields.

Building Interest in Cardiothoracic Surgery at an Osteopathic Medical School: Results of an Institutional Study and a Guide for Medical Schools.

Objective A previous study at this institution revealed a connection between interest group involvement and specialty interest while identifying the negative perceptions of cardiothoracic (CT) surgery. This study aimed to build interest and ameliorate the negative perceptions of CT surgery by exposing pre-clinical students to the field through engaging events. Methods Students at a US osteopathic institution who attended CT surgery committee events were invited to complete an online survey after each event.

Assessing interest in cardiothoracic surgery at an osteopathic medical school: Results of an institutional survey.

Objective: Cardiothoracic surgery is a surgical subspecialty that attracts few medical students. As integrated surgical residency programs continue to grow in number, there is increased interest in what factors influence specialty selection during undergraduate medical education. Previous institutional studies have studied allopathic medical schools affiliated with academic institutions.

HDAC1 regulates the chromatin landscape to control transcriptional dependencies in chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is a quiescent B-cell malignancy that depends on transcriptional dysregulation for survival. The histone deacetylases are transcriptional regulators whose role within the regulatory chromatin and consequence on the CLL transcriptome is poorly characterized. Here, we profiled and integrated the genome-wide occupancy of HDAC1, BRD4, H3K27Ac, and H3K9Ac signals with chromatin accessibility, Pol2 occupancy, and target expression signatures in CLL cells.

Behind the Adaptive and Resistance Mechanisms of Cancer Stem Cells to TRAIL.

Tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL), also known as Apo-2 ligand (Apo2L), is a member of the TNF cytokine superfamily. TRAIL has been widely studied as a novel strategy for tumor elimination, as cancer cells overexpress TRAIL death receptors, inducing apoptosis and inhibiting blood vessel formation. However, cancer stem cells (CSCs), which are the main culprits responsible for therapy resistance and cancer remission, can easily develop evasion mechanisms for TRAIL apoptosis.

Mouse mutant phenotyping at scale reveals novel genes controlling bone mineral density.

The genetic landscape of diseases associated with changes in bone mineral density (BMD), such as osteoporosis, is only partially understood. Here, we explored data from 3,823 mutant mouse strains for BMD, a measure that is frequently altered in a range of bone pathologies, including osteoporosis. A total of 200 genes were found to significantly affect BMD.

Corrigendum: High-throughput discovery of novel developmental phenotypes.

This corrects the article DOI: 10.1038/nature19356.

Disease model discovery from 3,328 gene knockouts by The International Mouse Phenotyping Consortium.

Although next-generation sequencing has revolutionized the ability to associate variants with human diseases, diagnostic rates and development of new therapies are still limited by a lack of knowledge of the functions and pathobiological mechanisms of most genes. To address this challenge, the International Mouse Phenotyping Consortium is creating a genome- and phenome-wide catalog of gene function by characterizing new knockout-mouse strains across diverse biological systems through a broad set of standardized phenotyping tests. All mice will be readily available to the biomedical community.

High-throughput discovery of novel developmental phenotypes.

Approximately one-third of all mammalian genes are essential for life. Phenotypes resulting from knockouts of these genes in mice have provided tremendous insight into gene function and congenital disorders. As part of the International Mouse Phenotyping Consortium effort to generate and phenotypically characterize 5,000 knockout mouse lines, here we identify 410 lethal genes during the production of the first 1,751 unique gene knockouts.

Use of CPR in hemorrhagic shock, a dog model.

Introduction: Cardiopulmonary resuscitation was designed for sudden cardiac events usually triggered by thrombotic phenomena. Despite this, it is routinely used in trauma resuscitations as per the American Heart guidelines. There is no data supporting the use of chest compressions in hemorrhagic shock.

Principles and application of LIMS in mouse clinics.

Large-scale systemic mouse phenotyping, as performed by mouse clinics for more than a decade, requires thousands of mice from a multitude of different mutant lines to be bred, individually tracked and subjected to phenotyping procedures according to a standardised schedule. All these efforts are typically organised in overlapping projects, running in parallel. In terms of logistics, data capture, data analysis, result visualisation and reporting, new challenges have emerged from such projects.

PAND: A Distribution to Identify Functional Linkage from Networks with Preferential Attachment Property.

Technology advances have immensely accelerated large-scale mapping of biological networks, which necessitates the development of accurate and powerful network-based algorithms to make functional inferences. A prevailing approach is to leverage functions of neighboring nodes to predict unknown molecular function. However, existing neighbor-based algorithms have ignored the scale-free property hidden in many biological networks.

dsPIG: a tool to predict imprinted genes from the deep sequencing of whole transcriptomes.

Background: Dysregulation of imprinted genes, which are expressed in a parent-of-origin-specific manner, plays an important role in various human diseases, such as cancer and behavioral disorder. To date, however, fewer than 100 imprinted genes have been identified in the human genome. The recent availability of high-throughput technology makes it possible to have large-scale prediction of imprinted genes.

SINE retrotransposons cause epigenetic reprogramming of adjacent gene promoters.

Almost half of the human genome and as much as 40% of the mouse genome is composed of repetitive DNA sequences. The majority of these repeats are retrotransposons of the SINE and LINE families, and such repeats are generally repressed by epigenetic mechanisms. It has been proposed that these elements can act as methylation centers from which DNA methylation spreads into gene promoters in cancer.

Symptom burden in individuals with cerebral palsy.

The current study sought to (1) determine the relative frequency and severity of eight symptoms in adults with cerebral palsy (CP), (2) examine the perceived course of these eight symptoms over time, and (3) determine the associations between the severity of these symptoms and psychosocial functioning. Eighty-three adults with CP completed a measure assessing the frequency, severity, and perceived course of eight symptoms (pain, weakness, fatigue, imbalance, numbness, memory loss, vision loss, and shortness of breath). Respondents also completed measures of community integration and psychological functioning.

Severe radiation therapy-related soft tissue toxicity in a patient with porphyria cutanea tarda: a literature review.

Background: Some porphyrias are associated with cutaneous phototoxicity due to photoactivation of porphyrins, but whether ionizing radiation can have an additive effect is not clear. We report a case of severe radiation therapy-related toxicity in a patient with porphyria cutanea tarda and review the literature.

Methods: A 50-year-old man with porphyria cutanea was treated for lower lip squamous cell carcinoma with definitive radiation therapy.

Nerves as embodied metaphor in the Canada/Mexico seasonal agricultural workers program.

This article examines nerves among participants in the Canada/Mexico Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (C/MSAWP). Based on in-depth interviews with 30 Mexican farm workers in southwestern Ontario, we demonstrate that nerves embodies the distress of economic need, relative powerlessness, and the contradictions inherent in the C/MSAWP that result in various life's lesions. We also explore their use of the nerves idiom as an embodied metaphor for their awareness of the breakdown in self/society relations and, in certain cases, of the lack of control over even themselves.