In this retrospective database review, the objective was to investigate the ethnic composition of urology applicants and residents in recent years and assess whether any advancements have been made ...in enhancing the recruitment of candidates from historically underrepresented groups in medicine.
A retrospective database review was conducted on self-reported data on the ethnicity of urology applicants from academic year 2016 to 2017 (AY2016) to AY2021 and urology residents from AY2011 to AY2021. Applicant data were collected from the Association of American Medical Colleges, and resident data were collected from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. The ethnic proportions of applicants and residents within cohorts were analyzed using χ
tests, and differences between cohorts were analyzed using
tests.
There was a statistically significant decrease in the proportion of White applicants from 61.4% to 50.5% from AY2016 to AY2021 and a statistically significant increase in the proportion of applicants of multiple race/ethnicity from 4.7% to 12.0% from AY2016 to AY2021. There were disproportionately more Hispanic/Latino residents than applicants and disproportionately fewer residents of multiple race/ethnicity than applicants in the 2 cycles analyzed. There were disproportionately fewer Black residents than applicants only in the comparison of AY2016 to AY2020 applicants to AY2020 residents.
There continues to be a lack of ethnic representation among applicants and residents in urology from underrepresented groups in medicine, despite some measurable improvement over the years. This deficit highlights the important need for new and ongoing efforts to diversify the field.
Graduated compression bandaging of the lower limbs is the primary therapy for venous leg ulcers with its efficacy believed to be predominantly dependent on the amount and the distribution of the ...compressive pressure applied. There has been on-going demand for an ideal sensor to facilitate in-vivo monitoring of the sub-bandage pressure. Several methods and devices have been reported but each has its limitations, such as bulkiness, low tolerance to movement, susceptible to thermal noise and single point sensing. An optical fiber force sensor is demonstrated, consisting of two arrays of fiber Bragg grating (FBG) entwined in a double helix form and packaged with contact-force sensitivity. This sensor array has inherent temperature immunity and is capable of real-time, distributed sensing of sub-bandage pressure. The calibration results of the sensor array, as well as the validation human trial results, are presented.
In this communication, we report results of an experiment in which crude oil adsorbed on Teflon fabric is exposed to conditions expected in natural ocean-surface collection vehicle containers over a ...period of 3 months. Samples were recovered at designated time points and analyzed to determine degree of preservation of molecular signatures. Ratios of saturate hydrocarbons were preferentially preserved compared to those of aromatic compounds. Unsubstituted aromatic compounds such as naphthalene and dibenzothiophene were removed at higher rates relative to methyl-substituted homologues owing to differences in biodegradability and solubility. Ratios of important marker compounds persist over several months with sufficient fidelity for accurate determination of source-rock facies and thermal maturity. Collection and storage of oil samples on small pieces of adsorbent Teflon mesh broadens the opportunity space for collection of organic geochemistry data. Deployment of automated samplers equipped with such Teflon meshes aboard autonomous surface vehicles and human-operated vessels promises cheaper, better coverage of geochemical data in seep, slick, and spill surveys conducted for research, exploration, monitoring, and emergency response efforts.
•Oil adsorbed on Teflon mesh preserves diagnostic geochemical markers for 3 months.•Saturate biomarker ratios are better preserved than aromatic hydrocarbon ratios.•No additional preservatives are necessary as long as exposure to air is limited.•Autonomous survey vessels can collect oil slick samples using Teflon mesh samplers.
Identification of cancer sub-types is a pivotal step for developing personalized treatment. Specifically, sub-typing based on changes in RNA splicing has been motivated by several recent studies. We ...thus develop CHESSBOARD, an unsupervised algorithm tailored for RNA splicing data that captures "tiles" in the data, defined by a subset of unique splicing changes in a subset of patients. CHESSBOARD allows for a flexible number of tiles, accounts for uncertainty of splicing quantification, and is able to model missing values as additional signals. We first apply CHESSBOARD to synthetic data to assess its domain specific modeling advantages, followed by analysis of several leukemia datasets. We show detected tiles are reproducible in independent studies, investigate their possible regulatory drivers and probe their relation to known AML mutations. Finally, we demonstrate the potential clinical utility of CHESSBOARD by supplementing mutation based diagnostic assays with discovered splicing profiles to improve drug response correlation.
We report herein for the first time the incorporation of a versatile organocatalyst, 4‐(N,N‐dimethylamino)pyridine (DMAP), into the network of a nanoporous conjugated polymer (NCP) by the “bottom‐up” ...approach. The resulting DMAP‐NCP material possesses highly concentrated and homogeneously distributed DMAP catalytic sites (2.02 mmol g−1). DMAP‐NCP also exhibits enhanced stability and permanent porosity due to the strong covalent linkage and the rigidity of the “bottom‐up” monomers. As a result, DMAP‐NCP shows excellent catalytic activity in the acylation of alcohols with yields of 92–99 %. The DMAP‐NCP catalyst could be easily recovered from the reaction mixture and reused in at least 14 consecutive cycles without measurable loss of activity. Moreover, the catalytic acylation reaction could be performed under neat and continuous‐flow conditions for at least 536 h of continuous work with the same catalyst activity.
Nanoporous catalyst: DMAP‐NCP, a new network nanoporous conjugated polymer containing 4‐(N,N‐dimethylamino)pyridine catalytic moieties, has been constructed by the “bottom‐up” strategy. It shows excellent activity and recyclability in the acylation of alcohols and phenols, even under neat and continuous‐flow conditions (see figure). This study demonstrates the possibility of using DMAP‐NCP as a robust and effective heterogeneous catalyst, especially for practical applications on a large scale.
Existing research shows positive associations between humility and well-being, and between civic engagement and well-being. Rarely have humility, civic engagement, and well-being been examined ...together. We build off of previous cross-sectional findings and a prior longitudinal study that used three waves of data and found significant positive bivariate correlations between humility and the presence of life purpose across time points.
Extending these previous findings, we used six waves of data obtained from graduate students at 18 seminaries across North America (
= 574;
= 31.54; 46.7% female; 65.3% White) to explore the dynamic associations among humility and life purpose, along with horizontal transcendence (an indicator of the attitudinal dimension of civic engagement) and social justice activism (an indicator for the behavioral dimension). We explored reciprocal short-run processes and dynamic long-run effects using a general cross-lagged panel model.
We found robust evidence for a reciprocal influence between the presence of life purpose and horizontal transcendence, and long-run effects for initial levels of life purpose to influence later levels of horizontal transcendence. We also found long-run effects for the influence of initial levels of life purpose on later levels of humility, and initial levels of social justice activism on later levels of horizontal transcendence. Implications center on the use of the findings for planning future one-time life purpose and social justice interventions to affect changes in humility and horizontal transcendence.
Introduction:
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is partly characterized by the formation of plaques composed of β-amyloid (Aβ) as a result of excessive accumulation of Aβ. Monophosphoryl lipid A (MPL) is a ...Toll-like receptor 4 agonist commonly used as a nontoxic, FDA-approved adjuvant in viral vaccines.
Areas covered:
Previous reports had shown MPL as an effective adjuvant for Aβ vaccinations to decrease Aβ deposition. Recently, it was discovered that MPL monotherapy in APP/PS1 transgenic AD mice had beneficial effects, such as decreasing the number and size of deposits, decreasing soluble Aβ monomers and improving cognition through phagocytic activation of microglia. Unlike the parental endotoxin lipopolysaccharide (LPS), MPL stimulated microglial phagocytosis of Aβ, while only minimally increasing a proinflammatory response.
Expert opinion:
MPL is a promising therapeutic option for AD treatment due to its ability to promote Aβ clearance without eliciting a strong adverse inflammatory response. Since MPL is already FDA-approved in humans, clinical application can be accelerated. Further analysis of how MPL affects other hallmarks of AD pathology such as dystrophic neurites and hyperphosphorylated tau aggregates, as well as its mechanism of action, will facilitate the understanding of the therapeutic benefits that MPL can produce.
Comprehensive knowledge of the host factors required for picornavirus infection would facilitate antiviral development. Here we demonstrate roles for three human genes,
,
, and
, in infection by ...multiple picornaviruses. CRISPR deletion of
,
or
reduced encephalomyocarditis virus (EMCV), coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3), poliovirus and enterovirus D68 infection, and chemical inhibitors of TNK2 and WASL decreased EMCV infection. Reduced EMCV lethality was observed in mice lacking TNK2. TNK2, WASL, and NCK1 were important in early stages of the viral lifecycle, and genetic epistasis analysis demonstrated that the three genes function in a common pathway. Mechanistically, reduced internalization of EMCV was observed in TNK2 deficient cells demonstrating that TNK2 functions in EMCV entry. Domain analysis of WASL demonstrated that its actin nucleation activity was necessary to facilitate viral infection. Together, these data support a model wherein TNK2, WASL, and NCK1 comprise a pathway important for multiple picornaviruses.
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