Formative evaluation results of a phase 2 Center of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE).

Introduction: Because a primary focus of Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) is the development of junior-level investigators into competent and successful research scientists, evaluation of their skills, mentoring experiences, and usefulness of COBRE services is paramount to the transition of the Center to a self-sustaining, collaborative, multidisciplinary research environment. A formative evaluation, focused on the processes of a COBRE, was undertaken and is presented here.

Methods: Two instruments, one for completion by junior investigators and one for completion by mentors, were developed for the purpose of evaluating this COBRE.

Building Research Capacity in Vascular Biology in Rhode Island.

The CardioPulmonary Vascular Biology Center for Biomedical Research Excellence (CPVB COBRE) was funded in 2013 by the National Institute for General Medical Sciences to establish a collaborative center for research excellence in vascular biology in Rhode Island. The CPVB COBRE has funded successful junior faculty investigators and pilot projects spanning the research spectrum from basic vascular development mechanisms using zebrafish to clinical research on pulmonary hypertension to the effects of mindfulness on hypertension in pregnancy. The Administrative Core has united the group with an active seminar program with visiting experts, a focus on career development, and the use of evaluation to support continuous improvement.

Multiplexed real-time polymerase chain reaction cell-free DNA assay as a potential method to monitor stage IV colorectal cancer.

Background: Liquid biopsy is a new area in cancer diagnostics that measures cell-free DNA in plasma from tumor that may serve as a monitoring tool in colorectal cancer patients.

Methods: Multiplexed real-time polymerase chain reaction based on multicopy retro-transposable elements (targeting 80 base pair and 265 base pair sequences and an internal-positive-control) was used to evaluate the ability of cell-free DNA concentration and DNA Integrity Index to discriminate cancer from healthy patients. A cohort of 40 healthy controls and 39 stage IV colorectal patient's plasma were interrogated.

"Strange and otherwise unaccountable actions": category, conundrum, and trans identities.

Despite recognizing that gender identity is a complex compromise formation, psychotherapists struggle to tolerate gender variance. We still tend to favor binary gender identities and clear developmental lines, rather than embracing a stance of subversive curiosity about the variability and fluidity of gender in our patients. When gender identity is fluid or ambiguous, countertransferential affective disturbances can arise that meld states of abjection and excitement, challenging theoretical constructs and threatening therapeutic neutrality.

Seduction and revenge in Virginia Woolf's Orlando.

Virginia Woolf's Orlando was characterized by Nigel Nicolson as a "charming love letter" to his mother, Vita Sackville-West. The fictional biography was actually an attempt by Woolf to organize herself after the unbearable humiliation of Vita's abandoning her for another woman. In imagining, writing, and publishing Orlando, Woolf turns her despair about Vita's betrayal into a monument of revenge, defending against disorganizing feelings of humiliation, powerlessness, rage, and loss by creating her own scathing portrait of Vita.

A syringe prescription program to prevent infectious disease and improve health of injection drug users.

Injection drug users (IDUs) are at increased risk for many health problems, including acquisition of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis B and C. These risks are compounded by barriers in obtaining legal, sterile syringes and in accessing necessary medical care. In 1999, we established the first-ever syringe prescription program in Providence, Rhode Island, to provide legal access to sterile syringes, reduce HIV risk behaviors, and encourage entry into medical care.

Pharmacist support for selling syringes without a prescription to injection drug users in Rhode Island.

Objective: To examine pharmacists' attitudes and obstacles to syringe sales to IDUs without prescriptions in Rhode Island, around the time that such sales became legal in the state.

Design: Self-administered written survey.

Setting: Rhode Island.