582 research outputs found
Physician burnout among West Virginia primary care providers
TITLE: Physician burnout among West Virginia primary care providers
INTRODUCTION:
Work related burnout is highly prevalent in US physicians and linked to adverse effects on patients, providers and organizations. This study measures burnout in West Virginia (WV) primary care providers, allowing for comparison of results to a similar, recent study of US physicians.
METHODS:
Anonymous survey through email that included Maslach Burnout Inventory, demographic, workload, and practice characteristics. Responses were analyzed using JMP Pro 13. Analysis used JMP Pro 13 for descriptive statistics, chi-square and regression modeling.
RESULTS:
Subjects = 110, female/male ratio 1.4, all primary care physicians (PCP), or advanced practice registered nurses or physician assistants (APRN/PA). PCP and APRN/PA differed on sex ratio (p /= 65 vs under 0.178 (p 0.032). Severe burnout in WV PCP was 57.6% and in all US physicians 43.9% (p 0.015). The OR for severe burnout in PCP versus APRN/PA was 2.89 (p 0.039). Burnout in PCP \u3e APRN in rural (p 0.046) but not urban. Private practice 17.6% in our population, 48% US physicians (p 0.0003). Burnout increased linearly with work hours (p 0.003). Self-estimate of burnout correlated with MBI results (p \u3c0.0001).
DISCUSSION/CONCLUSION:
Severe burnout was highly prevalent in this high risk specialty serving a patient population at risk in regards to poverty, age and medical complexity. This community had a low rate of private practice, fewer providers over age 65, a higher rate of burnout in physicians compared to APRN/PA, and a linear association of burnout to work hours. There was also validation of a single question burnout screening tool. High risk community systems could be a reservoir for burnout research and improvement there could reduce costs and improve outcomes
Questions of Ethical Responsibility in the Research of Unaccompanied Minors
This paper presents a general discussion on ethical considerations in qualitative research in the applied social sciences. It reflects on the ethical dilemmas posed to this researcher prior to initiating a field-work process and during the methodological structuring process. The intention is to promote discussion on issues of ethics when researching new types of service user groups with attention to the value of ethics committees
Evidence that talin alternative splice variants from Ciona intestinalis have different roles in cell adhesion
BACKGROUND: Talins are large, modular cytoskeletal proteins found in animals and amoebozoans such as Dictyostelium discoideum. Since the identification of a second talin gene in vertebrates, it has become increasingly clear that vertebrate Talin1 and Talin2 have non-redundant roles as essential links between integrins and the actin cytoskeleton in distinct plasma membrane-associated adhesion complexes. The conserved C-terminal I/LWEQ module is important for talin function. This structural element mediates the interaction of talins with F-actin. The I/LWEQ module also targets mammalian Talin1 to focal adhesion complexes, which are dynamic multicomponent assemblies required for cell adhesion and cell motility. Although Talin1 is essential for focal adhesion function, Talin2 is not targeted to focal adhesions. The nonvertebrate chordate Ciona intestinalis has only one talin gene, but alternative splicing of the talin mRNA produces two proteins with different C-terminal I/LWEQ modules. Thus, C. intestinalis contains two talins, Talin-a and Talin-b, with potentially different activities, despite having only one talin gene. RESULTS: We show here that, based on their distribution in cDNA libraries, Talin-a and Talin-b are differentially expressed during C. intestinalis development. The I/LWEQ modules of the two proteins also have different affinities for F-actin. Consistent with the hypothesis that Talin-a and Talin-b have different roles in cell adhesion, the distinct I/LWEQ modules of Talin-a and Talin-b possess different subcellular targeting determinants. The I/LWEQ module of Talin-a is targeted to focal adhesions, where it most likely serves as the link between integrin and the actin cytoskeleton. The Talin-b I/LWEQ module is not targeted to focal adhesions, but instead preferentially labels F-actin stress fibers. These different properties of C. intestinalis the Talin-a and Talin-b I/LWEQ modules mimic the differences between mammalian Talin1 and Talin2. CONCLUSION: Vertebrates and D. discoideum contain two talin genes that encode proteins with different functions. The urochordate C. intestinalis has a single talin gene but produces two separate talins by alternative splicing that vary in a domain crucial for talin function. This suggests that multicellular organisms require multiple talins as components of adhesion complexes. In C. intestinalis, alternative splicing, rather than gene duplication followed by neo-functionalization, accounts for the presence of multiple talins with different properties. Given that C. intestinalis is an excellent model system for chordate biology, the study of Talin-a and Talin-b will lead to a deeper understanding of cell adhesion in the chordate lineage and how talin functions have been parceled out to multiple proteins during metazoan evolution
A randomised, open label, active comparator trial assessing the effects of 26âweeks of liraglutide or sitagliptin on cardiovascular function in young obese adults with type 2 diabetes
Aim
To compare the effects of a glucagonâlike peptideâ1 receptor agonist and a dipeptidyl peptidaseâ4 inhibitor on magnetic resonance imagingâderived measures of cardiovascular function.
Materials and methods
In a prospective, randomized, openâlabel, blinded endpoint trial liraglutide (1.8 mg) and sitagliptin (100âmg) were compared in asymptomatic, nonâinsulin treated young (aged 18â50âyears) adults with obesity and type 2 diabetes. The primary outcome was difference in circumferential peak early diastolic strain rate change (PEDSR), a biomarker of cardiac diastolic dysfunction 26âweeks after randomization. Secondary outcomes included other indices of cardiac structure and function, HbA1c and body weight.
Results
Seventyâsix participants were randomized (54% female, meanâ±âSD age 44â± 6âyears, diabetes duration 4.4âyears, body mass index 35.3â±â6.1 kgâmâ2), of whom 65% had â„1 cardiovascular risk factor. Sixtyâone participants had primary outcome data available. There were no statistically significant betweenâgroup differences (intentionâtoâtreat; mean [95% confidence interval]) in PEDSR change (â0.01 [â0.07, +0.06] sâ1), left ventricular ejection fraction (â1.98 [â4.90, +0.94]%), left ventricular mass (+1.14 [â5.23, +7.50] g) or aortic distensibility (â0.35 [â0.98, +0.28] mmHgâ1âĂâ10â3) after 26âweeks. Reductions in HbA1c (â4.57 [â9.10, â0.37] mmolâmolâ1) and body weight (â3.88 [â5.74, â2.01] kg) were greater with liraglutide.
Conclusion
There were no differences in cardiovascular structure or function after shortâterm use of liraglutide and sitagliptin in younger adults with obesity and type 2 diabetes. Longer studies in patients with more severe cardiac dysfunction may be necessary before definitive conclusions can be made about putative pleiotropic properties of incretinâbased therapies
Magnetic field exposure and long-term survival among children with leukaemia
We examined the association between magnetic field (MF) exposure and survival among children with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) treated at 51 Pediatric Oncology Group centres between 1996 and 2001. Of 1672 potentially eligible children under treatment, 482 (29%) participated and personal 24-h MF measurements were obtained from 412 participants. A total of 386 children with ALL and 361 with B-precursor ALL were included in the analysis of event-free survival (time from diagnosis to first treatment failure, relapse, secondary malignancy, or death) and overall survival. After adjustment for risk group and socioeconomic status, the event-free survival hazard ratio (HR) for children with measurements â©Ÿ0.3âÎŒT was 1.9 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.8, 4.9), compared to <0.1âÎŒT. For survival, elevated HRs were found for children exposed to â©Ÿ0.3âÎŒT (multivariate HR=4.5, 95% CI 1.5â13.8) but based on only four deaths among 19 children. While risk was increased among children with exposures above 0.3âÎŒT, the small numbers limited inferences for this finding
Correlated insulator behaviour at half-filling in magic-angle graphene superlattices
Van der Waals (vdW) heterostructures are an emergent class of metamaterials comprised of vertically stacked two-dimensional (2D) building blocks, which provide us with a vast tool set to engineer their properties on top of the already rich tunability of 2D materials. 1 One of the knobs, the twist angle between different layers, plays a crucial role in the ultimate electronic properties of a vdW heterostructure and does not have a direct analog in other systems such as MBE-grown semiconductor heterostructures. For small twist angles, the moirĂ© pattern produced by the lattice misorientation creates a long-range modulation. So far, the study of the effect of twist angles in vdW heterostructures has been mostly concentrated in graphene/hex a gonal boron nitride (h-BN) twisted structures, which exhibit relatively weak interlayer interaction due to the presence of a large bandgap in h-BN. 2-5 Here we show that when two graphene sheets are twisted by an angle close to the theoretically predicted âmagic angleâ, the resulting flat band structure near charge neutrality gives rise to a strongly-correlated electronic system . 6 These flat bands exhibit half-filling insulating phases at zero magnetic field, which we show to be a Mott-like insulator arising from electrons localized in the moirĂ© superlattice. These unique properties of magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene (TwBLG) open up a new playground for exotic many-body quantum phases in a 2D platform made of pure carbon and without mag netic field. The easy accessibility of the flat bands, the electrical tunability, and the bandwidth tunability though twist angle may pave the way towards more exotic correlated systems, such as unconventional superconductors or quantum spin liquids
Study of the reaction e^{+}e^{-} -->J/psi\pi^{+}\pi^{-} via initial-state radiation at BaBar
We study the process with
initial-state-radiation events produced at the PEP-II asymmetric-energy
collider. The data were recorded with the BaBar detector at center-of-mass
energies 10.58 and 10.54 GeV, and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 454
. We investigate the mass
distribution in the region from 3.5 to 5.5 . Below 3.7
the signal dominates, and above 4
there is a significant peak due to the Y(4260). A fit to
the data in the range 3.74 -- 5.50 yields a mass value
(stat) (syst) and a width value (stat)(syst) for this state. We do not
confirm the report from the Belle collaboration of a broad structure at 4.01
. In addition, we investigate the system
which results from Y(4260) decay
NMR assignment of the C-terminal actin-binding domain of talin.
Talin is a large dimeric 270 kDa adapter protein which binds the cytoplasmic face of a subset of integrin beta-subunits and couples them to the actin cytoskeleton. Here we report the near complete 15N, 13C and 1H chemical shift assignments for the C-terminal actin-binding domain
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