Pay for performance: improving quality care.

Pay-for-Performance (PFP) is becoming increasingly viewed as a viable means of responding to the ever increasing pressure for economy, continuity, and consistency in the delivery of health care. Pay-for-Performance is an important development in the move toward a more quality-driven health care system. The quality improvement mission of today's PFP programs is to provide realistic incentives encouraging physicians and hospitals to deliver quality health care in an efficient and cost-effective manner.

Comparative proteome analysis of laboratory grown Brucella abortus 2308 and Brucella melitensis 16M.

Brucella species are pathogenic agents that cause brucellosis, a debilitating zoonotic disease that affects a large variety of domesticated animals and humans. Brucella melitensis and Brucella abortus are considered major health threats because of their highly infectious nature and worldwide occurrence. The availability of the annotated genomes for these two species has allowed a comparative proteomics study of laboratory grown B.

Adaptor long-range PCR procedure for clone-specific characterization and chromosomal localization.

An efficient adaptor long-range PCR (ALR-PCR) procedure was developed to detect genomic rearrangements in high-plasticity genomic regions between closely related strains of bacteria. The method was precisely optimized using a combination of high-speed experimental steps for the chromosomal localization and elucidation of deletions, inversions, duplications, or inserted sequences within a clone-specific flanking region. The advantages of this strategy are: (i) ready-to-use polymerase mixtures and Master mix (ready-to-use reaction mixtures with polymerase MasterAmp and buffer 2x Premix 4); (ii) a 5-min ligation procedure; (iii) rapid purification of DNA digests; (iv) optimized DNA template concentration protocol to avoid nonspecific amplification and high backgrounds; (v) long-range PCR protocol to obtain at least 9.

Achieving "Narrative Flow": pre-medical education as an essential chapter of a physician's story.

This article explores the disconnection between what pre-professional students expect from college and what their undergraduate education might foster, between the focus on "getting into medical school" and the development of humanistic physicians. It reviews the longstanding challenge inherent in helping pre-meds acquire not only sufficient scientific background but also well-developed interpersonal skills to help them understand patients' experience of illness and their own interactions with other members of the health care team. Clinical experiences from the NEH Institute are interpreted from the perspective of a pre-med advisor who also teaches literature; they are also incorporated into an undergraduate course on literature about illness.

Comparative secretome analyses of three Bacillus anthracis strains with variant plasmid contents.

Bacillus anthracis, the causative agent of anthrax, secretes numerous proteins into the extracellular environment during infection. A comparative proteomic approach was employed to elucidate the differences among the extracellular proteomes (secretomes) of three isogenic strains of B. anthracis that differed solely in their plasmid contents.

Molecular characterization of Brucella abortus chromosome II recombination.

Large-scale genomic rearrangements including inversions, deletions, and duplications are significant in bacterial evolution. The recently completed Brucella melitensis 16M and Brucella suis 1330 genomes have facilitated the investigation of such events in the Brucella spp. Suppressive subtractive hybridization (SSH) was employed in identifying genomic differences between B.

Rapid genotyping of Bacillus anthracis strains by real-time polymerase chain reaction.

Rapid and accurate identification of Bacillus anthracis is critical for patient care as well as outbreak control. We have developed 3 separate PCR based assays using fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) to detect the presence of pXO1, pXO2 plasmids and a chromosomal marker. A set of amplification primers and probes were used in each assay.

Global analysis of Brucella melitensis proteomes.

Brucella melitensis is a facultative, intracellular, gram-negative cocco-bacillus that causes Malta fever in humans and brucellosis in animals. There are at least six species in the genus, and the disease is classified as zoonotic because several species infect humans. Using 2-D gel electrophoresis and mass spectrometry, we have initiated (i) a comprehensive mapping and identification of all the expressed proteins of B.

Global analysis of the Brucella melitensis proteome: Identification of proteins expressed in laboratory-grown culture.

Brucella melitensis is a facultative intracellular bacterial pathogen that causes brucellosis, a zoonotic disease primarily infecting sheep and goats, characterized by undulant fever, arthritic pain and other neurological disorders in humans. A comprehensive proteomic study of strain 16M was conducted to identify and characterize the proteins expressed in laboratory-grown culture. Using overlapping narrow range immobilized pH gradient strips for two-dimensional gel electrophoresis, 883 protein spots were detected between pH 3.

Comparative proteome analysis of Brucella melitensis vaccine strain Rev 1 and a virulent strain, 16M.

The genus Brucella consists of bacterial pathogens that cause brucellosis, a major zoonotic disease characterized by undulant fever and neurological disorders in humans. Among the different Brucella species, Brucella melitensis is considered the most virulent. Despite successful use in animals, the vaccine strains remain infectious for humans.

Academic misconduct: responses from deans and nurse educators.

The purpose of this study was to describe what deans/chairs and faculty in baccalaureate nursing programs perceive as academic misconduct among students. Subjects were asked to describe a positive and negative incident that reflected student cheating and/or plagiarizing and to describe the setting where the incident occurred. Various types of cheating and plagiarism were described by the subjects as occurring in the classroom setting.