Students Needing Remediation in Preclinical Course Failures in a DVM Program: A 10-Year Analytic Study.

Remediation of preclinical course failures in the DVM program at Purdue University College of Veterinary Medicine began in 2010. We set out to understand whether some students were more likely than others to use remediation opportunities and succeed. Student demographics, undergraduate (UG) experiences, including institution attended and major studied, UG performance as measured by grade point average (uGPA), and extent of academic difficulties in DVM years 1-3 were studied at univariate levels to determine which students more often failed ≥1 courses, remediated ≥1 courses, and were successful in all remediation attempts.

Remediation of Preclinical Course Failures in a DVM Program and Its Impact on Program Outcomes: A 10-Year Descriptive Study.

Remediation provides academically struggling students reasonable opportunities to correct deficiencies in knowledge or skills, achieve competence, and potentially reverse failures. At Purdue University College of Veterinary Medicine, a remediation policy in the preclinical years of the DVM program was implemented beginning with the class of 2014. We evaluated its impact on our DVM program and student outcomes.

Implementing Competency-Based Veterinary Education: A Survey of AAVMC Member Institutions on Opportunities, Challenges, and Strategies for Success.

Competency-based education is increasingly being adopted across the health professions. A model for competency-based education in veterinary medicine was recently developed by a working group of the American Association of Veterinary Medical Colleges (AAVMC) and is being used in institutions worldwide. The purpose of this study was to gather information on progress in and barriers to implementing competency-based education (including use of the AAVMC competency-based veterinary education [CBVE] Model) by AAVMC member schools to inform the development of strategies to support institutions in successful implementation of the CBVE Model.

Global assessment of effective population sizes: Consistent taxonomic differences in meeting the 50/500 rule.

Effective population size (N) is a particularly useful metric for conservation as it affects genetic drift, inbreeding and adaptive potential within populations. Current guidelines recommend a minimum N of 50 and 500 to avoid short-term inbreeding and to preserve long-term adaptive potential respectively. However, the extent to which wild populations reach these thresholds globally has not been investigated, nor has the relationship between N and human activities.

Applying genetic technologies to combat infectious diseases in aquaculture.

Disease and parasitism cause major welfare, environmental and economic concerns for global aquaculture. In this review, we examine the status and potential of technologies that exploit genetic variation in host resistance to tackle this problem. We argue that there is an urgent need to improve understanding of the genetic mechanisms involved, leading to the development of tools that can be applied to boost host resistance and reduce the disease burden.

Genetic diversity and population structure of farmed and wild Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) in Uganda: The potential for aquaculture selection and breeding programs.

Nile tilapia is one of the most important aquaculture species globally, providing high-quality animal protein for human nutrition and a source of income to sustain the livelihoods of many people in low- and middle-income countries. This species is native to Africa and nowadays farmed throughout the world. However, the genetic makeup of its native populations remains poorly characterized.

A versatile nuclei extraction protocol for single nucleus sequencing in non-model species-Optimization in various Atlantic salmon tissues.

The use of single cell sequencing technologies has exploded over recent years, and is now commonly used in many non-model species. Sequencing nuclei instead of whole cells has become increasingly popular, as it does not require the processing of samples immediately after collection. Here we present a highly effective nucleus isolation protocol that outperforms previously available method in challenging samples in a non-model specie.

Geography, environment, and colonization history interact with morph type to shape genomic variation in an Arctic fish.

Polymorphic species are useful models for investigating the evolutionary processes driving diversification. Such processes include colonization history as well as contemporary selection, gene flow, and genetic drift, which can vary between intraspecific morphs as a function of their distinct life histories. The interactive and relative influence of such evolutionary processes on morph differentiation critically informs morph-specific management decisions and our understanding of incipient speciation.

Cranial anatomy of the mekosuchine crocodylian Trilophosuchus rackhami Willis, 1993.

One of the best-preserved crocodylian fossil specimens from the Cenozoic of Australia is the holotype of the mekosuchine Trilophosuchus rackhami, from the middle Miocene (13.56 ± 0.67 Ma) Ringtail Site at Riversleigh, northwestern Queensland.

Softening the steps to gigantism in sauropod dinosaurs through the evolution of a pedal pad.

How sauropod dinosaurs were able to withstand the forces associated with their immense size represents one of the most challenging biomechanical scenarios in the evolution of terrestrial tetrapods, but also one lacking robust biomechanical testing. Here, we use finite element analyses to quantify the biomechanical effects of foot skeletal postures with and without the presence of a soft tissue pad in sauropodomorphs. We find that none of the models can maintain bone stresses that fall within optimal bone safety factors in the absence of a soft tissue pad.

The Genomic Consistency of the Loss of Anadromy in an Arctic Fish ().

AbstractThe potentially significant genetic consequences associated with the loss of migratory capacity of diadromous fishes that have become landlocked in freshwater are poorly understood. Consistent selective pressures associated with freshwater residency may drive repeated differentiation both between allopatric landlocked and anadromous populations and within landlocked populations (resulting in sympatric morphs). Alternatively, the strong genetic drift anticipated in isolated landlocked populations could hinder consistent adaptation, limiting genetic parallelism.

Circulating T regulatory cell subsets in patients with untreated lung cancer.

Introduction: Regulatory T Cells (Tregs) play an important role in carcinogenesis and tumor immunoediting by preventing the development of effective antitumor immunity. Several reports showed that circulating Tregs are increased in patients with solid tumors, including lung cancer. Treg population could be categorized into "naive," "effector," and "memory" subtypes, bearing potential unique functions.

The c-Myc/TBX3 Axis Promotes Cellular Transformation of Sarcoma-Initiating Cells.

Sarcomas are highly aggressive cancers of mesenchymal origin whose clinical management is highly complex. This is partly due to a lack of understanding of the molecular mechanisms underpinning the transformation of mesenchymal stromal/stem cells (MSCs) which are presumed to be the sarcoma-initiating cells. c-Myc is amplified/overexpressed in a range of sarcomas where it has an established oncogenic role and there is evidence that it contributes to the malignant transformation of MSCs.

Genetic Causes and Consequences of Sympatric Morph Divergence in Salmonidae: A Search for Mechanisms.

Repeatedly and recently evolved sympatric morphs exhibiting consistent phenotypic differences provide natural experimental replicates of speciation. Because such morphs are observed frequently in Salmonidae, this clade provides a rare opportunity to uncover the genomic mechanisms underpinning speciation. Such insight is also critical for conserving salmonid diversity, the loss of which could have significant ecological and economic consequences.

Alternative splicing: An overlooked mechanism contributing to local adaptation?

Identifying the molecular mechanisms contributing to phenotypic variation in natural populations is a major goal of molecular ecology. However, the multiple regulatory steps between genotype and phenotype mean that many potential mechanisms can lead to trait divergence. To date, the role of transcriptional regulation in local adaptation has received much focus, as we can readily measure mRNA quantity and have a reasonable grasp of how variation in the expression of many protein-coding genes can influence phenotype.

First record of a tomistomine crocodylian from Australia.

Based on the known fossil record, the majority of crocodylians from the Cenozoic Era of Australia are referred to the extinct clade Mekosuchinae. The only extant crocodylians in Australia are two species of Crocodylus. Hence, the viewpoint that Crocodylus and mekosuchines have been the only crocodylians inhabiting Australia during the Cenozoic has remained largely undisputed.

Australia's prehistoric 'swamp king': revision of the Plio-Pleistocene crocodylian genus de Vis, 1886.

The crocodylian fossil record from the Cenozoic of Australasia is notable for its rich taxonomic diversity, and is primarily represented by members of the clade Mekosuchinae. Reports of crocodylian fossils from Australia date back to the late nineteenth century. In 1886, Charles Walter de Vis proposed the name for crocodylian fossils from southeast Queensland-the first binomen given to an extinct crocodylian taxon from Australia.

The Reversion of cg05575921 Methylation in Smoking Cessation: A Potential Tool for Incentivizing Healthy Aging.

Smoking is the largest preventable cause of mortality and the largest environmental driver of epigenetic aging. Contingency management-based strategies can be used to treat smoking but require objective methods of verifying quitting status. Prior studies have suggested that cg05575921 methylation reverts as a function of smoking cessation, but that it can be used to verify the success of smoking cessation has not been unequivocally demonstrated.

Limited genetic parallelism underlies recent, repeated incipient speciation in geographically proximate populations of an Arctic fish (Salvelinus alpinus).

The genetic underpinnings of incipient speciation, including the genomic mechanisms which contribute to morphological and ecological differentiation and reproductive isolation, remain poorly understood. The repeated evolution of consistently, phenotypically distinct morphs of Arctic Charr (Salvelinus alpinus) within the Quaternary period offer an ideal model to study the repeatability of evolution at the genomic level. Sympatric morphs of Arctic Charr are found across this species' circumpolar distribution.