A Process for Curricular Improvement Based on Evaluation of Student Performance on Milestone Examinations.

To identify and address areas for curricular improvement by evaluating student achievement of expected learning outcomes and competencies on annual milestone examinations. Students were tested each professional year with a comprehensive milestone examination designed to evaluate student achievement of learning outcomes and professional competencies using a combination of multiple-choice questions, standardized patient assessments (SPAs), and objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) questions. Based on student performance on milestone examinations, curricular changes were instituted, including an increased emphasis on graded comprehensive cases, OSCE skills days, and use of patient simulation in lecture and laboratory courses.

Distribution of the antifungal agents sordarins across filamentous fungi.

Sordarins are a class of natural antifungal agents which act by specifically inhibiting fungal protein synthesis through their interaction with the elongation factor 2, EF2. A number of natural sordarins produced by diverse fungi of different classes have been reported in the literature. We have run an exhaustive search of sordarin-producing fungi using two different approaches consecutively, the first one being a differential sensitivity screen using a sordarin-resistant mutant yeast strain run in parallel with a wild type strain, and the second one an empiric screen against Candida albicans followed by early detection of sordarins by LC-MS analysis.

Impact of an occupational and environmental medicine curriculum on lost workdays.

Objective: We established an occupational and environmental medicine (OEM) curriculum for our residents. We hypothesized that greater OEM knowledge would decrease the number of lost workdays for injured patients.

Methods: We retrospectively compared return-to-work outcomes before and after implementation of the OEM curriculum.

Sordarin derivatives induce a novel conformation of the yeast ribosome translocation factor eEF2.

The sordarins are fungal specific inhibitors of the translation factor eEF2, which catalyzes the translocation of tRNA and mRNA after peptide bond formation. We have determined the crystal structures of eEF2 in complex with two novel sordarin derivatives. In both structures, the three domains of eEF2 that form the ligand-binding pocket are oriented in a different manner relative to the rest of eEF2 compared with our previous structure of eEF2 in complex with the parent natural product sordarin.

New targets for antivirals: the ribosomal A-site and the factors that interact with it.

Many viruses use programmed -1 ribosomal frameshifting to ensure the correct ratio of viral structural to enzymatic proteins. Alteration of frameshift efficiencies changes these ratios, in turn inhibiting viral particle assembly and virus propagation. Previous studies determined that anisomycin, a peptidyl transferase inhibitor, specifically inhibited -1 frameshifting and the ability of yeast cells to propagate the L-A and M(1) dsRNA viruses (J.

Species-specific inhibition of fungal protein synthesis by sordarin: identification of a sordarin-specificity region in eukaryotic elongation factor 2.

The sordarin class of natural products selectively inhibits fungal protein synthesis by impairing the function of eukaryotic elongation factor 2 (eEF2). Mutations in Saccharomyces cerevisiae eEF2 or the ribosomal stalk protein rpP0 can confer resistance to sordarin, although eEF2 is the major determinant of sordarin specificity. It has been shown previously that sordarin specifically binds S.