What Constitutes a Natural Fire Regime? Insight from the Ecology and Distribution of Coniferous Forest Birds in North America

Bird species that specialize in the use of burned forest conditions can provide insight into the prehistoric fire regimes associated with the forest types that they have occupied over evolutionary time. The nature of their adaptations reflects the specific post-fire conditions that occurred prior to the unnatural influence of humans after European settlement. Specifically, the post-fire conditions, nest site locations, and social systems of two species (Bachman\u27s sparrow [Aimophila aestivalis] and red-cockaded woodpecker [Picoides borealis]) suggest that, prehistorically, a frequent, low-severity fire regime characterized the southeastern pine system in which they evolved. In contrast, the patterns of distribution and abundance for several other bird species (black-backed woodpecker [Picoides arcticus], buff-breasted flycatcher [Empidonax fulvifrons], Lewis\u27 woodpecker [Melanerpes lewis], northern hawk owl [Surnia ulula], and Kirtland\u27s warbler [Dendroica kirtlandii]) suggest that severe fire has been an important component of the fire regimes with which they evolved. Patterns of habitat use by the latter species indicate that severe fires are important components not only of higher-elevation and high-latitude conifer forest types, which are known to be dominated by such fires, but also of mid-elevation and even low-elevation conifer forest types that are not normally assumed to have had high-severity fire as an integral part of their natural fire regimes. Because plant and animal adaptations can serve as reliable sources of information about what constitutes a natural fire regime, it might be wise to supplement traditional historical methods with careful consideration of information related to plant and animal adaptations when attempting to restore what are thought to be natural fire regimes

Developing counseling skills through pre-recorded videos and role play: a pre- and post-intervention study in a Pakistani medical school

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Interactive methods like role play, recorded video scenarios and objective structured clinical exam (OSCE) are being regularly used to teach and assess communication skills of medical students in the western world. In developing countries however, they are still in the preliminary phases of execution in most institutes. Our study was conducted in a naïve under resourced setup to assess the impact of such teaching methodologies on the counseling skills of medical students.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Fifty four 4^thyear MBBS students were identified to be evaluated for communication skills by trained facilitators in a pre-intervention OSCE. The same group of students was given a demonstration of ideal skill level by means of videos and role playing sessions in addition to real life interaction with patients during hospital and community rotations. A post-intervention evaluation was carried out six months later through OSCE and direct observation through structured checklist (DOS) in hospital and community settings. The combined and individual performance levels of these students were analyzed.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>There was a statistically significant difference in the communication skills of students when assessed in the post-intervention OSCE (p = 0.000). Individual post-intervention percentages of study participants displayed improvement as well (n = 45, p = 0.02). No difference was observed between the scores of male and female students when assessed for two specific competencies of antenatal care and breast feeding counseling (p = 0.11). The mean DOS (%) score of 12 randomly selected students was much lower as compared to the post-intervention (%) score but the difference between them was statistically non significant, a result that may have been affected by the small sample size as well as other factors that may come into play in real clinical settings and were not explored in this study (59.41 ± 7.8 against 82.43 ± 22.08, p = 0.88).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Videos and role play in combination with community and clinical exposure are effective modes of teaching counseling skills to medical students. They can be successfully utilized even in a limited resource setup, as demonstrated by our trial.</p

Pegylated Interferon and Ribavirin Dosing Strategies to Enhance Sustained Virologic Response

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) affects about 170 million people worldwide and is the most common chronic blood borne infection in the United States. Since the advent of blood screening protocols in the early 1990s, injection drug use has become the leading cause of infection. Hepatitis C can have both hepatic and nonhepatic manifestations of infection. Hepatic manifestations include hepatic fibrosis, cirrhosis, liver cancer, and liver failure. The standard treatment for chronic HCV is combination therapy with pegylated interferon-α and ribavirin. Although pegylated interferon and ribavirin has been used against HCV for close to a decade, advances in therapy have centered on doses and treatment durations. There has been increasing interest in applying on-treatment response or viral kinetics to predict antiviral response rates and shape therapeutic intervention. Protease inhibitors are a promising adjuvant to combination therapy, but their efficacy and safety are still under investigation

VKORC1 variants as significant predictors of warfarin dose in Emiratis

Zeina N Al-Mahayri,1 Hayat S Al Jaibeji,2 Yolande Saab,3 Karem Soliman,4 Lihadh Al-Gazali,5 George P Patrinos,1,6&ndash;7 Bassam R Ali1,71Department of Pathology, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, United Arab Emirates University, Al-Ain, United Arab Emirates; 2Sharjah Institute for Medical Research, College of Medicine, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates; 3School of Pharmacy, Lebanese American University, Byblos, Lebanon; 4INR Clinic, Tawam Hospital, Al-Ain, United Arab Emirates; 5Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, United Arab Emirates University, Al-Ain, United Arab Emirates; 6Department of Pharmacy, School of Health Sciences, University of Patras, Patras, Greece; 7Zayed Center for Health Sciences, United Arab Emirates University, Al-Ain, United Arab EmiratesPurpose: Variability in response to warfarin is one of the main obstacles challenging its use in clinical practice. Vitamin K epoxide reductase complex (VKORC) is the target enzyme of warfarin, and variations in the form of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in VKORC1, coding for this enzyme, are known to cause resistance to warfarin treatment. This study aimed to explore VKORC1 variants in Emirati patients receiving warfarin treatment and to correlate their genotypes at the studied SNPs to their maintenance warfarin dose.Patients and methods: Sanger sequencing of the majority of the VKORC1 gene was applied to samples from 90 patients and 117 normal individuals recruited from Tawam Hospital, Al-Ain, UAE. Genotypes at the following variants were determined (rs9923231, rs188009042, rs61742245, rs17708472, rs9934438, rs8050894, rs2359612, rs7294). Statistical analysis was applied, including ANOVA, cross-tabulation, and multiple linear regression analysis, to determine the ability of nongenetic factors (age and gender) and genetic factors (VKORC1 genotypes) to explain variability in warfarin dose in patients.Results: Different frequencies of minor alleles were detected in the selected SNPs. Significant variation among genotypes at six VKORC1 variants were identified (rs9923231, rs9934438, rs8050894, rs2359612, rs7294). The main predictors for warfarin dose were rs9923231, age, and rs61742245 with 50.7% of the average warfarin dose in our sample could be explained by a regression model built on these three factors.Conclusion: This is the first report of the explanatory power of VKORC1 genotypes and nongenetic factors (age and gender) on warfarin dose among Emiratis. Also, this study highlighted the positive effect of considering rare pharmacogenomic variants on explaining warfarin dose variability.Keywords: anticoagulants, pharmacogenomics, single nucleotide polymorphisms, United Arab Emirate