Practice makes perfect: the development of a medical student-led crowdsourced question bank for self-study in undergraduate medical education.

The development of multiple-choice questions (MCQs) for undergraduate medical education study purposes is resource intensive. Commercially available question banks are typically expensive, only available in English, and may not be aligned with medical school learning objectives. Here, we introduce : a student-led, bilingual study resource curated to a Canadian undergraduate medicine curriculum (www.

The contributions of T cell-mediated immunity to protection from vaccine-preventable diseases: A primer.

In the face of the ever-present burden of emerging and reemerging infectious diseases, there is a growing need to comprehensively assess individual- and population-level immunity to vaccine-preventable diseases (VPDs). Many of these efforts, however, focus exclusively on antibody-mediated immunity, ignoring the role of T cells. Aimed at clinicians, public health practioners, and others who play central roles in human vaccine research but do not have formal training in immunology, we review how vaccines against infectious diseases elicit T cell responses, what types of vaccines elicit T cell responses, and how T cell responses are measured.

Transcriptional programming mediated by the histone demethylase KDM5C regulates dendritic cell population heterogeneity and function.

Functional and phenotypic heterogeneity of dendritic cells (DCs) play crucial roles in facilitating the development of diverse immune responses essential for host protection. Here, we report that KDM5C, a histone lysine demethylase, regulates conventional or classical DC (cDC) and plasmacytoid DC (pDC) population heterogeneity and function. Mice deficient in KDM5C in DCs have increased proportions of cDC2Bs and cDC1s, which is partly dependent on type I interferon (IFN) and pDCs.

Guideline-Concordant Therapy for Community-Acquired Pneumonia in the Hospitalized Population: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

Background: A commonly used guideline for community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is the joint American Thoracic Society and Infectious Diseases Society of America practice guideline. We aimed to investigate the effect of guideline-concordant therapy in the treatment of CAP.

Methods: We systematically searched MEDLINE, Embase, CENTRAL, Web of Science, and Scopus from 2007 to December 2023.

Addressing the physician burnout epidemic with resilience curricula in medical education: a systematic review.

Background: A variety of stressors throughout medical education have contributed to a burnout epidemic at both the undergraduate medical education (UGME) and postgraduate medical education (PGME) levels. In response, UGME and PGME programs have recently begun to explore resilience-based interventions. As these interventions are in their infancy, little is known about their efficacy in promoting trainee resilience.

MicroRNA-9 Fine-Tunes Dendritic Cell Function by Suppressing Negative Regulators in a Cell-Type-Specific Manner.

Dendritic cells, cells of the innate immune system, are found in a steady state poised to respond to activating stimuli. Once stimulated, they rapidly undergo dynamic changes in gene expression to adopt an activated phenotype capable of stimulating immune responses. We find that the microRNA miR-9 is upregulated in both bone marrow-derived DCs and conventional DC1s but not in conventional DC2s following stimulation.

Chromatin Architecture as an Essential Determinant of Dendritic Cell Function.

Epigenetics has widespread implications in a variety of cellular processes ranging from cell identity and specification, to cellular adaptation to environmental stimuli. While typically associated with heritable changes in gene expression, epigenetic mechanisms are now appreciated to regulate dynamic changes in gene expression-even in post-mitotic cells. Cells of the innate immune system, including dendritic cells (DC), rapidly integrate signals from their microenvironment and respond accordingly, undergoing massive changes in transcriptional programming.

Complementary oligonucleotides regulate induced fit ligand binding in duplexed aptamers.

Duplexed aptamers (DAs) are engineered by hybridizing an aptamer-complementary element (ACE, a DNA oligonucleotide) to an aptamer; to date, ACEs have been presumed to sequester the aptamer into a non-binding duplex state, in line with a conformational selection-based model of ligand binding. Here, we uncover that DAs can actively bind a ligand from the duplex state through an ACE-regulated induced fit mechanism. Using a widely-studied ATP DNA aptamer and a solution-based equilibrium assay, DAs were found to exhibit affinities up to 1 000 000-fold higher than predicted by conformational selection alone, with different ACEs regulating the level of induced fit binding, as well as the cooperative allostery of the DA (Hill slope of 1.

Clinical pharmacology study of Bramitob, a tobramycin solution for nebulization, in comparison with Tobi.

Background And Objectives: To compare in vitro characteristics and pharmacokinetics of Bramitob, a preservative-free tobramycin solution for nebulization, and Tobi in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection.

Methods: In vitro characteristics of Bramitob and Tobi were evaluated using Pari TurboBoy/LC Plus and the Systam 290 LS nebulizers. In the randomized, double-blind, two-way crossover pharmacokinetic study, 11 patients with CF received a single nebulized dose (300mg) of Bramitob or Tobi, separated by a 7-day washout period.

A positron emission tomography microdosing study with a potential antiamyloid drug in healthy volunteers and patients with Alzheimer's disease.

This work describes a microdosing study with an investigational, carbon 11-labeled antiamyloid drug, 1,1'-methylene-di-(2-naphthol) (ST1859), and positron emission tomography (PET) in healthy volunteers (n = 3) and patients with Alzheimer's disease (n = 6). The study aimed to assess the distribution and local tissue pharmacokinetics of the study drug in its target organ, the human brain. Before PET studies were performed in humans, the toxicologic characteristics of ST1859 were investigated by an extended single-dose toxicity study according to guidelines of the Food and Drug Administration and European Medicines Agency, which are relevant for clinical trials with a single microdose.

Clinical study of the therapeutic efficacy and safety of emedastine difumarate versus cetirizine in the treatment of seasonal allergic rhinitis.

Objective: The therapeutic efficacy and tolerability of emedastine difumarate (CAS 87233-62-3) in male and female Caucasian patients with seasonal allergic rhinitis as compared to cetirizine (CAS 83881-51-0) was evaluated.

Methods: The study was designed as a double-blind, randomised, parallel groups comparison of two antihistamines administered by oral route (emedastine 4 mg o.d.

Clinical study of the therapeutic efficacy and safety of emedastine difumarate versus terfenadine in the treatment of seasonal allergic rhinitis.

Objective: Emedastine is a new H1-receptor antagonist endowed with potent and selective antihistamine activity. The aim of this study was to evaluate the therapeutic efficacy and tolerability of emedastine difumarate (CAS 87233-62-3) in Caucasian patients in the treatment of seasonal allergic rhinitis as compared to terfenadine (CAS 50679-08-8).

Methods: A total of 130 patients suffering from grass pollen allergic rhinitis were randomly assigned to 14 days treatment with either emedastine difumarate (2 mg b.

A tolerability and pharmacokinetic study of a new injectable formulation of disodium clodronate in healthy female volunteers.

Disodium clodronate (dichloromethylene bisphosphonic acid, disodium salt; CAS 22560-50-5) is a bisphosphonate that has demonstrated efficacy in patients with a variety of diseases of enhanced bone resorption. Intramuscular clodronate can determine pain at the injection site, it is therefore particularly useful to co-administer a local anaesthetic with clodronate to reduce pain at the injection site. The tolerability and pharmacokinetic of a new formulation of 100 mg disodium clodronate containing 1% lidocaine (test formulation, Chiesi Farmaceutici S.