Impact of the Graphic Memoir on Patients With Parkinson's Disease: A Mixed Methods Study.

Introduction: Understanding the lived experience of illness is important for empowering patients and informing health care practitioners. This study investigated the impact of a book-length comic memoir, , by Peter Dunlap-Shohl, on patients' mental health, knowledge, and attitudes about living with Parkinson's disease (PD). The authors further explored which patients found the book to be beneficial and why.

Real-World Biomarkers for Pediatric Takayasu Arteritis.

Childhood-onset Takayasu arteritis (TA) is a rare, heterogeneous disease with limited diagnostic markers. Our objective was to identify and classify all candidates for biomarkers of TA diagnosis in children reported in the literature. A systematic literature review (PRISMA) of MEDLINE, EMBASE, Wiley Cochrane Library, ClinicalTrias.

Evaporative silicification in floating microbial mats: patterns of oxygen production and preservation potential in silica-undersaturated streams, El Tatio, Chile.

Microbial mats floating within multiple hydrothermally sourced streams in El Tatio, Chile, frequently exhibit brittle siliceous crusts (~1 mm thick) above the air-water interface. The partially silicified mats contain a diverse assemblage of microbial clades and metabolisms, including cyanobacteria performing oxygenic photosynthesis. Surficial crusts are composed of several amorphous silica layers containing well-preserved filaments (most likely cyanobacteria) and other cellular textures overlying EPS-rich unsilicified mats.

Morphogenesis of digitate structures in hot spring silica sinters of the El Tatio geothermal field, Chile.

In silica-rich hot spring environments, internally laminated, digitate sinter deposits are often interpreted as bio-mediated structures. The organic components of microbial communities (cell surfaces, sheaths and extracellular polymeric substances) can act as templates for silica precipitation, therefore influencing digitate sinter morphogenesis. In addition to biologic surface-templating effects, various microenvironmental factors (hydrodynamics, local pH and fluctuating wind patterns) can also influence silica precipitation, and therefore the morphology of resulting digitate sinters.

Use of a Graphic Memoir to Enhance Clinicians' Understanding of and Empathy for Patients with Parkinson Disease.

Context: Parkinson disease (PD) can be physically, emotionally, and financially burdensome. Understanding its impact from the patient's perspective is an important way to sensitize clinicians to the challenges of living with PD.

Objective: To evaluate whether a book-length graphic memoir (an illness story in comic form) can help clinicians appreciate PD from the patient's perspective.

A Collaborative Response to Provocative Comments in a Medical School.

This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended. In 2018, anonymous online provocative comments were submitted to student leaders of a Syrian Refugee Initiative (SRI) at the Penn State College of Medicine.

Formation and Preservation of Microbial Palisade Fabric in Silica Deposits from El Tatio, Chile.

Palisade fabric is a ubiquitous texture of silica sinter found in low temperature (<40°C) regimes of hot spring environments, and it is formed when populations of filamentous microorganisms act as templates for silica polymerization. Although it is known that postdepositional processes such as biological degradation and dewatering can strongly affect preservation of these fabrics, the impact of extreme aridity has so far not been studied in detail. Here, we report a detailed analysis of recently silicified palisade fabrics from a geyser in El Tatio, Chile, tracing the progressive degradation of microorganisms within the silica matrix.

Graphic Pathographies and the Ethical Practice of Person-Centered Medicine.

Graphic medicine is a swiftly growing movement that explores, theoretically and practically, the use of comics in medical education and patient care. At the heart of graphic medicine are graphic pathographies, stories of illness conveyed in comic form. These stories are helpful tools for health care professionals who seek new insight into the personal, lived experience of illness and for patients who want to learn more about their disease from others who have actually experienced it.

Exercise Effects on Adipose Tissue Postprandial Lipolysis and Blood Flow in Children.

Unlabelled: Poor suppression of lipolysis and blunted increase in blood flow after meal ingestion in obese adults may indicate resistance to the antilipolytic action of insulin. Exercise may be used to normalize lipolytic responses to food intake by increasing insulin sensitivity.

Purpose: To determine if acute bouts of aerobic exercise and/or excise training alter lipolytic and blood flow responses to food intake in lean (LN) and obese (OB) children.

Team Investment and Longitudinal Relationships: An Innovative Global Health Education Model.

Problem: Increasing student interest in global health has resulted in medical schools offering more global health opportunities. However, concerns have been raised, particularly about one-time, short-term experiences, including lack of follow-through for students and perpetuation of unintentional messages of global health heroism, neocolonialism, and disregard for existing systems and communities of care. Medical schools must develop global health programs that address these issues.

Medical Student Perceptions of Their Education About Suffering.

Background And Objectives: To explore student perceptions of their medical school teaching and learning about human suffering and to elicit student recommendations for better approaches to teaching about suffering.

Methods: Qualitative study involving focus groups of students from each class at two US medical schools.

Results: Students reported that teaching about human suffering was variable, rarely explicit, and occurred primarily in the pre-clinical curriculum.

Preclinical Development of a Nontoxic Oral Formulation of Monoethanolamine, a Lipid Precursor, for Prostate Cancer Treatment.

Most currently available chemotherapeutic agents target rampant cell division in cancer cells, thereby affecting rapidly dividing normal cells resulting in toxic side-effects. This nonspecificity necessitates identification of novel cellular pathways that are reprogrammed selectively in cancer cells and can be exploited to develop pharmacologically superior and less toxic therapeutics. Despite growing awareness on dysregulation of lipid metabolism in cancer cells, targeting lipid biosynthesis is still largely uncharted territory.

Creativity in Medical Education: The Value of Having Medical Students Make Stuff.

What is the value of having medical students engage in creative production as part of their learning? Creating something new requires medical students to take risks and even to fail--something they tend to be neither accustomed to nor comfortable with doing. "Making stuff" can help students prepare for such failures in a controlled environment that doesn't threaten their professional identities. Furthermore, doing so can facilitate students becoming resilient and creative problem-solvers who strive to find new ways to address vexing questions.