Myoscaffolds reveal laminin scarring is detrimental for stem cell function while sarcospan induces compensatory fibrosis.

We developed an on-slide decellularization approach to generate acellular extracellular matrix (ECM) myoscaffolds that can be repopulated with various cell types to interrogate cell-ECM interactions. Using this platform, we investigated whether fibrotic ECM scarring affected human skeletal muscle progenitor cell (SMPC) functions that are essential for myoregeneration. SMPCs exhibited robust adhesion, motility, and differentiation on healthy muscle-derived myoscaffolds.

Loss of sarcospan exacerbates pathology in mdx mice, but does not affect utrophin amelioration of disease.

The dystrophin-glycoprotein complex (DGC) is a membrane adhesion complex that provides structural stability at the sarcolemma by linking the myocyte's internal cytoskeleton and external extracellular matrix. In Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), the absence of dystrophin leads to the loss of the DGC at the sarcolemma, resulting in sarcolemmal instability and progressive muscle damage. Utrophin (UTRN), an autosomal homolog of dystrophin, is upregulated in dystrophic muscle and partially compensates for the loss of dystrophin in muscle from patients with DMD.

Stabilization of the cardiac sarcolemma by sarcospan rescues DMD-associated cardiomyopathy.

In the current preclinical study, we demonstrate the therapeutic potential of sarcospan (SSPN) overexpression to alleviate cardiomyopathy associated with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) utilizing dystrophin-deficient mdx mice with utrophin haploinsufficiency that more accurately represent the severe disease course of human DMD. SSPN interacts with dystrophin, the DMD disease gene product, and its autosomal paralog utrophin, which is upregulated in DMD as a partial compensatory mechanism. SSPN transgenic mice have enhanced abundance of fully glycosylated α-dystroglycan, which may further protect dystrophin-deficient cardiac membranes.

Medical students' affirmation of ethics education.

Objective: Despite the acknowledged importance of ethics education in medical school, little empirical work has been done to assess the needs and preferences of medical students regarding ethics curricula.

Methods: Eighty-three medical students at the University of New Mexico participated in a self-administered written survey including 41 scaled questions regarding attitudes, needs, and preferences toward medical ethics and ethics education.

Results: Students reported strong personal interest in learning more about ethics in clinical medicine and research.

Professionalism and ethics education on relationships and boundaries: psychiatric residents' training preferences.

Objective: Awareness of the privileges and limits of one's role as physician, as well as recognition and respect for the patient as a human being, are central to ethical medical practice. The authors were particularly interested in examining the attitudes and perceived needs of psychiatric residents toward education on professional boundaries and relationships given the heightened current focus on professionalism and ethics.

Methods: Residents from six psychiatric residencies provided views on professionalism and ethics education on a survey encompassing 10 domains of professionalism.

When residents need health care: stigma of the patient role.

Objective: Whether and under what circumstances medical residents seek personal health care is a growing concern that has important implications for medical education and patient welfare, but has not been thoroughly investigated. Barriers to obtaining care have been previously documented, but very little empirical work has focused on trainees who seek health care at their home institution.

Methods: A self-report survey on special issues in personal health care of residents was created and distributed at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine in 2001.

Assessments by patients with schizophrenia and psychiatrists of relative risk of research procedures.

Objective: Schizophrenia studies involve diverse procedures with varying levels of risk. Federal regulations indicate that oversight of these protocols entails assessment of risk in relation to the risks encountered in everyday life. No data exist on comparing assessments of people with schizophrenia with those of psychiatrists regarding research procedure risks in relation to the usual risks of living with schizophrenia.

An inverse relationship between perceived harm and participation willingness in schizophrenia research protocols.

Objective: This study attempted to clarify how people with schizophrenia evaluate the potential harm associated with various research-related procedures and how these assessments relate to participation willingness.

Method: The authors conducted a semistructured interview among participants with schizophrenia.

Results: Sixty participants with schizophrenia rated four procedures as harmful (e.

Views of people with schizophrenia regarding aspects of research: study size and funding sources.

Serious mental illness research poses many ethical questions, including important considerations pertaining to how large a study is and its source of funding. Little is known about how people with schizophrenia understand these ethical considerations and whether these factors may influence their decisions to participate in research. Structured interviews were conducted with 60 people with schizophrenia.