Why don't clinicians adhere more consistently to guidelines for the Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI)?

The Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI) has been introduced to reduce child morbidity and mortality in countries with a poor health infrastructure. Previous studies have documented a poor adherence to clinical guidelines, but little is known about the reasons for non-adherence. This mixed-method study measures adherence to IMCI case-assessment guidelines and identifies the reasons for weak adherence.

Mash1 is required for generic and subtype differentiation of hypothalamic neuroendocrine cells.

The neuroendocrine hypothalamus regulates a number of critical biological processes and underlies a range of diseases from growth failure to obesity. Although the elucidation of hypothalamic function has progressed well, knowledge of hypothalamic development is poor. In particular, little is known about the processes underlying the neurogenesis and specification of neurons of the ventral nuclei, the arcuate and ventromedial nuclei.

Altered peptide ligands induce quantitatively but not qualitatively different intracellular signals in primary thymocytes.

Interaction of the T cell receptor (TCR) with peptide/major histocompatibility complexes (MHC) in the thymus is of critical importance for developing thymocytes. In a previous study, we described an antagonist peptide that inhibited negative selection of transgenic thymocytes induced by an agonist peptide. In this study we show that this antagonist peptide can induce positive selection of CD8(+) thymocytes more efficiently than the agonist or the weak agonist peptides, whereas the opposite is true for their ability to cause negative selection.

Cell lineage studies using retroviruses.

In order to study cell lineage in any given experimental situation, a method by which a label can be introduced into a precursor cell is required. By means of this label, the subsequent fate of the cell and its progeny can be followed. A retrovirus, as an agent of gene transfer, can be used as a genetic label, providing an indelible, heritable marker of lineage.