Surgical efficiency in femtosecond laser cataract surgery compared with phacoemulsification cataract surgery: a case-control study.

Objectives: To investigate differences in surgical time, the distance the surgical instrument travelled and number of movements required to complete manual phacoemulsification cataract surgery versus femtosecond laser cataract surgery.

Design: Non-randomised comparative case series.

Setting: Single surgery site, Moorfields Eye Hospital, UK.

Combining multiple ChIP-seq peak detection systems using combinatorial fusion.

Background: Due to the recent rapid development in ChIP-seq technologies, which uses high-throughput next-generation DNA sequencing to identify the targets of Chromatin Immunoprecipitation, there is an increasing amount of sequencing data being generated that provides us with greater opportunity to analyze genome-wide protein-DNA interactions. In particular, we are interested in evaluating and enhancing computational and statistical techniques for locating protein binding sites. Many peak detection systems have been developed; in this study, we utilize the following six: CisGenome, MACS, PeakSeq, QuEST, SISSRs, and TRLocator.

Effects of nickel treatment on H3K4 trimethylation and gene expression.

Occupational exposure to nickel compounds has been associated with lung and nasal cancers. We have previously shown that exposure of the human lung adenocarcinoma A549 cells to NiCl(2) for 24 hr significantly increased global levels of trimethylated H3K4 (H3K4me3), a transcriptional activating mark that maps to the promoters of transcribed genes. To further understand the potential epigenetic mechanism(s) underlying nickel carcinogenesis, we performed genome-wide mapping of H3K4me3 by chromatin immunoprecipitation and direct genome sequencing (ChIP-seq) and correlated with transcriptome genome-wide mapping of RNA transcripts by massive parallel sequencing of cDNA (RNA-seq).

SOMOSAT: Utility of a web-based self-assessment tool in undergraduate medical education.

Background: Relatively few studies have rigorously assessed the effectiveness of computer-based self-assessment in medical education.

Aim: To assess whether an online self-assessment tool can be an effective adjunct to a traditional curriculum for second-year medical students.

Methods: The NYU School of Medicine Online Self-Assessment Tool (SOMOSAT) consists of >450 multiple-choice questions spanning disciplines of internal medicine, administered as separate modules focused on individual organ systems.

Cloning of a novel homeobox (NK-7.1) containing gene, DmHboxNK-7.1, from Drosophila melanogaster.

We have cloned a novel Drosophila melanogaster homeobox (Hbox) containing gene, NK-7.1 (Dm.HboxNK-7.