Introduction: In psychiatry, several converging factors are impacting the recruitment of residents: the increased competitiveness of the specialty, the national trend to take active steps to improve diversity and inclusion, and the decision from USMLE to change Step 1 to a pass/fail result.
Methods: We developed a workshop for psychiatry residency program directors to meet these challenges and transition into using a holistic review model during recruitment. The workshop included (1) a didactic session providing background on the AAMC holistic review model; (2) a small-group exercise to determine and prioritize experiences, attributes, competencies, and metrics (EACMs) aligned with the program's mission and aims; (3) a review of the rankings from the previous exercise, selection of two "very important" criteria for each of the four domains of the EACM model, and operationalization of these criteria based on the recruitment process; and (4) a discussion focused on application of program criteria with example applicants.
Although it has been more than 2 years since the start of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, COVID-19 continues to be a worldwide health crisis. Despite the development of preventive vaccines, therapies to treat COVID-19 and other inflammatory diseases remain a major unmet need in medicine. Our study sought to identify drivers of disease severity and mortality to develop tailored immunotherapy strategies to halt disease progression.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThough it has been 2 years since the start of the Coronavirus Disease 19 (COVID-19) pandemic, COVID-19 continues to be a worldwide health crisis. Despite the development of preventive vaccines, very little progress has been made to identify curative therapies to treat COVID-19 and other inflammatory diseases which remain a major unmet need in medicine. Our study sought to identify drivers of disease severity and death to develop tailored immunotherapy strategies to halt disease progression.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMultisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) presents with fever, inflammation and pathology of multiple organs in individuals under 21 years of age in the weeks following severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. Although an autoimmune pathogenesis has been proposed, the genes, pathways and cell types causal to this new disease remain unknown. Here we perform RNA sequencing of blood from patients with MIS-C and controls to find disease-associated genes clustered in a co-expression module annotated to CD56CD57 natural killer (NK) cells and exhausted CD8 T cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMultisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) presents with fever, inflammation and multiple organ involvement in individuals under 21 years following severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. To identify genes, pathways and cell types driving MIS-C, we sequenced the blood transcriptomes of MIS-C cases, pediatric cases of coronavirus disease 2019, and healthy controls. We define a MIS-C transcriptional signature partially shared with the transcriptional response to SARS-CoV-2 infection and with the signature of Kawasaki disease, a clinically similar condition.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAn amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: This multisite study examines how clinical competency committees in Psychiatry synthesize resident assessments to inform milestones decisions to provide guidelines that support their use.
Methods: The study convened training directors and associate training directors from three psychiatry residency programs to examine decision-making processes of clinical competency committees. Annual resident assessments for one second year and one third year resident were used in a mock clinical competency committee format to assign milestones for two consecutive reporting periods.
This study evaluated the ability to flexibly shift cognitive set and to consistently maintain a new response preference using the Penn Conditional Exclusion Test (PCET). The relationship of performance errors with catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) rs4680 (Val158Met) genotype (Met carriers vs. Val homozygotes) on test performance before and after antipsychotic treatment in 32 first episode psychosis (FEP) patients was examined.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnergy metabolism and immunity are characterized as abnormal in schizophrenia. Because these two systems are highly coordinated, we measured expression of prototypic obesogenic and immunogenic genes in freshly harvested PBMC from controls and participants with schizophrenia. We report significant increases in PPARγ, SREBP1, IL-6 and TNFα, and decreases in PPARα and C/EPBα and mRNA levels from patients with schizophrenia, with additional BMI interactions, characterizing dysregulation of genes relating to metabolic-inflammation in schizophrenia.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNeurocognitive deficits are associated with most psychotic disorders, but may differ across diagnosis and by treatment status. This ambiguity is partly addressed in longitudinal pre/post treatment studies with first episode patients. Antipsychotic-naïve first-episode schizophrenia patients have shown intact performance on a predictive saccade task that assesses simple motor learning, spatial abilities, and response planning.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: This study sought to identify similarities and differences in symptom characteristics at initial presentation of first psychotic episodes in schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and unipolar depression.
Methods: The Structured Interview for DSM-IV (SCID) and Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) were administered to consecutive admission study-eligible patients (n=101) presenting for treatment during their first acute phase of psychotic illness. Forty-nine percent of patients met diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia, 29% for psychotic bipolar disorder and 22% for unipolar depression with psychosis.
Topic: This article describes a curricular transformation initiative, the Recovery Education in the Academy Program (REAP), spearheaded by the University of Illinois at Chicago's National Research and Training Center on Psychiatric Disability.
Purpose: REAP is designed to integrate principles of recovery, self-determination, and other evidence-based practices for people with psychiatric disabilities into medical, social, and behavioral sciences curricula. The principles on which the curricula transformation efforts are based, the instructional activities employed, early outcomes of the endeavor, and future plans for replication are delineated.
J Psychosoc Nurs Ment Health Serv
September 2010
Monitoring for metabolic sequelae of antipsychotic medications is inconsistent in clinical settings. In this study, frequency of such monitoring in 40 individuals experiencing a first episode of psychosis was analyzed according to the setting in which they received treatment (i.e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe severity and profile of cognitive dysfunction in first episode schizophrenia and psychotic affective disorders were compared before and after antipsychotic treatment. Parallel recruitment of consecutively admitted study-eligible first-episode psychotic patients (30 schizophrenia, 22 bipolar with psychosis, and 21 psychotic depression) reduced confounds of acute and chronic disease/medication effects as well as differential treatment and course. Patient groups completed a neuropsychological battery and were demographically similar to healthy controls (n=41) studied in parallel.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAcetazolamide (AZD), a sulfa-like moiety, is a potent, nonspecific inhibitor of carbonic anhydrase (CA) enzymes and has been demonstrated to decrease lipogenesis in adipose cells in in vitro cell culture studies. In contrast, topiramate (a sulfamate moiety) appears to inhibit specific (CA) enzymes II and V. Four placebo-controlled trials with topiramate have demonstrated positive results in weight loss.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Consult Clin Psychol
December 2006
The Circle of Security intervention uses a group treatment modality to provide parent education and psychotherapy that is based on attachment theory. The purpose of this study was to track changes in children's attachment classifications pre- and immediately postintervention. Participants were 65 toddler- or preschooler- caregiver dyads recruited from Head Start and Early Head Start programs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: The authors evaluated emotion perception in acutely ill patients experiencing a first episode of schizophrenia. They also investigated the effects of antipsychotic medication on emotion perception.
Method: Tests of the ability to perceive and discriminate emotional expressions from the Penn Computerized Neuropsychological Battery were given to 13 patients experiencing their first episode of schizophrenia.
The Marvin and Britner system for classifying caregiver behavior patterns in the preschool Strange Situation is presented to complement the Cassidy and Marvin (1992) preschool child-parent attachment classification system. Participants were 110 mothers and their preschool children (aged 2 to 4 years) with medical risks (epilepsy or mild cerebral palsy) or no diagnosis (i.e.
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