Perceptions of the effectiveness of using patient encounter data as an education and reflection tool in general practice training.

Introduction Patient encounter tools provide feedback and potentially reflection on general practitioner (GP) registrars' in-practice learning and may contribute to the formative assessment of clinical competencies. However, little is known about the perceived utility of such tools. Aim To investigate the perceived utility of a patient encounter tool by GP registrars, their supervisors, and medical educators (MEs).

A new gelatinous host for pelagic fishes: First in situ record of an association between driftfishes (Stromateiformes, Ariommatidae) and nudibranchs (Mollusca, Phylliroidae).

We describe the first recorded association between fishes and nudibranchs in epipelagic waters. In situ observations and photographs of a juvenile spotted driftfish Ariomma regulus (Stromateiformes; Ariommatidae) swimming alongside the planktonic nudibranch Phylliroe lichtensteinii (Gastropoda; Phylliroidae) were made during blackwater scuba dives off Palm Beach, Florida, United States of America. In this paper, we describe this behavior, highlighting a previously undocumented zooplanktonic host used by fishes.

The Registrar Clinical Encounters in Training (ReCEnT) cohort study: updated protocol.

Background: During vocational general practice training, the content of each trainee's (in Australia, registrars') in-consultation clinical experience is expected to entail a breadth of conditions that exemplify general practice, enabling registrars to gain competency in managing common clinical conditions and common clinical scenarios. Prior to the Registrar Clinical Encounters in Training (ReCEnT) project there was little research into the content of registrars' consultations despite its importance to quality of training. ReCEnT aims to document the consultation-based clinical and educational experiences of individual Australian registrars.

Assessing the vulnerability of marine life to climate change in the Pacific Islands region.

Our changing climate poses growing challenges for effective management of marine life, ocean ecosystems, and human communities. Which species are most vulnerable to climate change, and where should management focus efforts to reduce these risks? To address these questions, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries Climate Science Strategy called for vulnerability assessments in each of NOAA's ocean regions. The Pacific Islands Vulnerability Assessment (PIVA) project assessed the susceptibility of 83 marine species to the impacts of climate change projected to 2055.

Revision of the circumglobal deep-sea genus Leucicorus (Teleostei, Ophidiidae) with two new species.

The rare deepsea ophidiid genus Leucicorus was described by Garman (1899) based on L. lusciosus Garman, 1899 caught in the East Pacific. Until 1973 only three additional specimens were caught of which two from the East Pacific belong to L.

Study protocol: content and perceived educational utility of different modalities of clinical teaching visit (CTV) workplace-based assessments within Australian general practice vocational training: a cross-sectional study.

Introduction: Clinical teaching visits (CTVs) are formative workplace-based assessments that involve a senior general practitioner (GP) observing a clinical practice session of a general practice registrar (specialist vocational GP trainee). These visits constitute a key part of Australian GP training. Despite being mandatory and resource-intensive, there is a paucity of evidence regarding the content and educational utility of CTVs.

Ibrutinib treatment improves T cell number and function in CLL patients.

Background: Ibrutinib has been shown to have immunomodulatory effects by inhibiting Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK) and IL-2-inducible T cell kinase (ITK). The relative importance of inhibiting these 2 kinases has not been examined despite its relevance to immune-based therapies.

Methods: Peripheral blood mononuclear cells from chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) patients on clinical trials of ibrutinib (BTK/ITK inhibitor; n = 19) or acalabrutinib (selective BTK inhibitor; n = 13) were collected serially.

A time-driven activity-based costing model to improve health-care resource use in Mirebalais, Haiti.

Background: In resource-limited settings, efficiency is crucial to maximise resources available for patient care. Time driven activity-based costing (TDABC) estimates costs directly from clinical and administrative processes used in patient care, thereby providing valuable information for process improvements. TDABC is more accurate and simpler than traditional activity-based costing because it assigns resource costs to patients based on the amount of time clinical and staff resources are used in patient encounters.

The family empowerment program: an interdisciplinary approach to working with multi-stressed urban families.

The family empowerment program (FEP) is a multi-systemic family therapy program that partners multi-stressed families with an interdisciplinary resource team while remaining attached to a "traditional" mental health clinic. The rationale for this model is that far too often, families presenting at community mental health centers struggle with multiple psychosocial forces, for example problems with housing, domestic violence, child care, entitlements, racism, substance abuse, and foster care, as well as chronic medical and psychiatric illnesses, that exacerbate symptoms and impact traditional service delivery and access to effective treatment. Thus, families often experience fragmented care and are involved with multiple systems with contradictory and competing agendas.

Biobehavioral, immune, and health benefits following recurrence for psychological intervention participants.

Purpose: A clinical trial was designed to test the hypothesis that a psychological intervention could reduce the risk of cancer recurrence. Newly diagnosed regional breast cancer patients (n = 227) were randomized to the intervention-with-assessment or the assessment-only arm. The intervention had positive psychological, social, immune, and health benefits, and after a median of 11 years the intervention arm was found to have reduced the risk of recurrence (hazard ratio, 0.

Interleukin-29 binds to melanoma cells inducing Jak-STAT signal transduction and apoptosis.

Interleukin-29 (IL-29) is a member of the type III IFN family that has been shown to have antiviral activity and to inhibit cell growth. Melanoma cell lines were tested for expression of the IL-29 receptor (IL-29R) and their response to IL-29. Expression of IL-28R1 and IL-10R2, components of IL-29R, was evaluated using reverse transcription-PCR.

Prognostic significance of interleukin-6 single nucleotide polymorphism genotypes in neuroblastoma: rs1800795 (promoter) and rs8192284 (receptor).

Purpose: Neuroblastoma is a childhood cancer of the sympathetic nervous system and many patients present with high-risk disease. Risk stratification, based on pathology and tumor-derived biomarkers, has improved prediction of clinical outcomes, but overall survival (OS) rates remain unfavorable and new therapeutic targets are needed. Some studies suggest a link between interleukin (IL)-6 and more aggressive behavior in neuroblastoma tumor cells.

Human bone marrow stromal cells enhance breast cancer cell growth rates in a cell line-dependent manner when evaluated in 3D tumor environments.

Our understanding of the impact that fibroblasts have on cancer cell behavior in vivo has been limited by the complexities of in vivo tumor microenvironments, which contain many distinct cell populations that influence tumor growth and survival. Herein, we describe a novel, three-dimensional (3D), in vitro, fluorometric, Tumor Growth Assay (TGA) that allows for non-invasive measurements of cancer cell expansion in the presence of multiple tumor-associated cell types or soluble factors, while embedded in Cultrex or Matrigel Basement Membrane Extract (BME). Using this assay, we investigated the direct biological impact of primary human bone marrow stromal cells (hMSC) on the growth rates of a panel of metastatic breast cancer cell lines.

Collagen gel delivery of Tgf-beta3 non-viral plasmid DNA in rat osteoblast and calvarial culture.

Different forms of collagen as a carrier for naked plasmid DNA have shown potential as vehicles for therapeutic gene delivery and tissue engineering. The objective of this study was to determine the suitability of a dense collagen gel as a vehicle for sustained delivery of plasmid DNA in cell and organ culture. Plasmid DNA encoding Tgf-beta(3) was combined with collagen gel.

Sustained delivery of bioactive cytokine using a dense collagen gel vehicle collagen gel delivery of bioactive cytokine.

Objective: The use of cytokines as localized therapeutic agents is limited by the lack of a satisfactory delivery system. The aim of the current investigation was to determine the release kinetics and bioactivity of a simplified cytokine/collagen gel system designed to achieve extended, local delivery of bioactive cytokines at sites of premature cranial suture fusion (craniosynostosis).

Design: Cytokine release was determined by ELISA measurements of Tgf-beta3 collected in media.

Relationship between obesity and B-type natriuretic peptide levels.

Background: The relationships among B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) levels, body mass index (BMI), and congestive heart failure (CHF) as an emergency diagnosis are unknown.

Methods: Of 1586 participants in the Breathing Not Properly Multinational Study who had acute dyspnea, 1369 (86.3%) had BNP values and self-reported height and weight.

Effect of harvesting and sorting on beta-1 integrin in canine microvascular cells.

Background: The goal of seeding prosthetic conduits with endothelial cells (ECs) has focused attention on the role of EC adhesion molecules. Cell preparation techniques may affect adhesion molecule expression and graft seeding.

Methods: Using fluorescent antibody labeling and flow cytometric analysis, this study examined the effectsof monolayer detachment (scraping vs trypsinization), timing of immunolabeling (pre- vs postdetachment), gene transfection (transfected vs nontransfected), and cell selection (antibiotic vs fluorescence sorting) techniques on beta-1 integrin expression in canine microvascular EC (K9MVEC).

Isolation of the major component in white snakeroot that is toxic after microsomal activation: possible explanation of sporadic toxicity of white snakeroot plants and extracts.

Tremetone, the major toxic component in white snakeroot (Eupatorium rugosum Houtt) extracts, was isolated following an in vitro bioactivity assay. Microsomal activation was required to produce a product toxic to murine melanoma (B16F1) cells as well as five other mammalian cell cultures. The metabolic activation product(s) of tremetone is suspected to be responsible for the toxic activity of the plant.

Some synthetic phytotoxins structurally related to rhynchosporoside.

The (2-O)alpha-d-glucopyranoside of 1,2-propanediol and [U-(14)C]glucose were used as substrates in a reaction with almond beta-glucosidase, which resulted in the production of some (2-O)alpha-d-oligoglucosides of 1,2-propanediol. As its substrate, the beta-glucosidase preferred the glucoside isomer that rotates plane-polarized light to the right. Some of the glucosides produced in the enzymic reaction mixture possessed host selective toxin activity.