Ethical issues in residency education related to the COVID-19 pandemic: a narrative inquiry study.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic introduced new challenges to provide care and educate junior doctors (resident physicians). We sought to understand the positive and negative experiences of first-year resident physicians and describe potential ethical issues from their stories.

Method: We used narrative inquiry (NI) methodology and applied a semistructured interview guide with questions pertaining to ethical principles and both positive and negative aspects of the pandemic.

Measuring evidence-based clinical guideline compliance in the paediatric intensive care unit.

Background: Evidence-based clinical care guidelines improve medical treatment by reducing error, improving outcomes and possibly lowering healthcare costs. While some data exist on individual guideline compliance, no data exist on overall compliance to multiple nuanced guidelines in a paediatric intensive care setting.

Methods: Guideline compliance was observed and measured with a prospective cohort at a tertiary academic paediatric medical-surgical intensive care unit.

The effect of dehydration, hyperchloremia and volume of fluid resuscitation on acute kidney injury in children admitted to hospital with diabetic ketoacidosis.

Background: Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a recognized comorbidity in pediatric diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), although the exact etiology is unclear. The unique physiology of DKA makes dehydration assessments challenging, and these patients potentially receive excessive amounts of intravenous fluids (IVF). We hypothesized that dehydration is over-estimated in pediatric DKA, leading to over-administration of IVF and hyperchloremia that worsens AKI.

Corticosteroids to safely reduce neonatal respiratory morbidity after late preterm and term planned caesarean section birth? A randomised placebo-controlled feasibility study.

Objectives: To assess the feasibility of conducting a randomised placebo-controlled trial of corticosteroids prior to planned caesarean section from 35 to 39 weeks.

Design: A triple-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel, trial randomised at the participant level (1:1 ratio). Additional feasibility data obtained by questionnaires from trial participants and women who declined trial participation, and focus groups with local site researchers and clinicians.

Amygdala-Prefrontal Structural Connectivity Mediates the Relationship between Prenatal Depression and Behavior in Preschool Boys.

Prenatal depression is common, underrecognized, and undertreated. It has negative consequences on child behavior and brain development, yet the relationships among prenatal depression, child behavior, and children's brain structure remain unclear. The aim of this study was to determine whether altered brain connectivity mediates relationships between prenatal maternal depressive symptoms and child behavior.

Ghrelin Receptor Signaling Is Not Required for Glucocorticoid-Induced Obesity in Male Mice.

Chronically elevated levels of glucocorticoids increase food intake, weight gain, and adiposity. Similarly, ghrelin, a gut-secreted hormone, is also associated with weight gain, adiposity, and increased feeding. Here we sought to determine if corticosterone-induced metabolic and behavioral changes require functional ghrelin receptors (GHSR).

Hungry to gamble? Ghrelin as a predictor of persistent gambling in the face of loss.

Ghrelin, a peptide hormone associated with appetite, is also linked to increased reward seeking behaviors, including food, sex, and drug seeking behaviors through the stimulation of the mesolimbic dopaminergic system. Moreover, plasma ghrelin concentrations are increased by cues that predict rewards, suggesting that cues could facilitate cravings and ultimately relapse. In this project we examined the effects of an overnight fast, a manipulation known to increase ghrelin concentrations, on gambling behaviors.

A fast 3D reconstruction system with a low-cost camera accessory.

Photometric stereo is a three dimensional (3D) imaging technique that uses multiple 2D images, obtained from a fixed camera perspective, with different illumination directions. Compared to other 3D imaging methods such as geometry modeling and 3D-scanning, it comes with a number of advantages, such as having a simple and efficient reconstruction routine. In this work, we describe a low-cost accessory to a commercial digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) camera system allowing fast reconstruction of 3D objects using photometric stereo.

Optically trapped bacteria pairs reveal discrete motile response to control aggregation upon cell-cell approach.

Aggregation of bacteria plays a key role in the formation of many biofilms. The critical first step is cell-cell approach, and yet the ability of bacteria to control the likelihood of aggregation during this primary phase is unknown. Here, we use optical tweezers to measure the force between isolated Bacillus subtilis cells during approach.

Identification of appressorial and mycelial cell wall proteins and a survey of the membrane proteome of Phytophthora infestans.

Proteins embedded in the cell wall and plasma membrane of filamentous oomycetes and fungi provide a means by which these organisms can interact with their local environment. However, cell wall and membrane proteins have often proved difficult to isolate using conventional proteomic techniques. Here we have used liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) to facilitate rapid and sensitive quantification of the cell wall proteome.