How physicians perceive and utilize information from a teratogen information service: The Motherisk Program

BACKGROUND: Teratogen information services have been developed around the world to disseminate information regarding the safety of maternal exposures during pregnancy. The Motherisk Program in Toronto, Canada, fields thousands of these inquiries per year. Our primary objective was to evaluate the perception and utilization of information received from us by physicians. Our secondary objective was to examine their information seeking behavior, in particular regarding teratogen information. METHODS: A one page survey was sent to physicians who had called Motherisk for information concerning pregnancy exposures in the previous 30 days for three months. Among the questions that were asked were demographics, which included gender, years in practice, specialty, information resources, and how they utilized the information received from Motherisk. RESULTS: We received 118/200 completed questionnaires (59% response rate). The mean age of the respondents was: 42 ± 9 years, mean years of practice was: 14 ± 8 years, males: 46(38%) and females 72(62%) and 95(80%) were family physicians. 56(48%) researched their question prior to calling Motherisk, 106(91%) and passed on the information received to their patient verbatim. The top four resources for information were: 1) The CPS (PDR), 2) textbooks, 3) journals and 4) colleagues. Only 8% used the Medline for gathering information. CONCLUSIONS: Physicians feel that a teratogen information service is an important component in the management of women exposed to drugs, chemicals, radiation and infections diseases etc. during pregnancy. Despite the advent of the electronic age, a minority of the physicians in our survey elected to use electronic means to seek information

SSRI'S and other antidepressant use during pregnancy and potential neonatal adverse effects: Impact of a public health advisory and subsequent reports in the news media

BACKGROUND: On Aug 9(th )2004 Health Canada released an advisory, which followed a similar one from the FDA regarding the use of SSRI's and other antidepressants during pregnancy and potential adverse effects on newborns. In neither advisory was it stated that women should discontinue their antidepressant. In the seven days following the release of this advisory, The Motherisk Program received 49 calls from anxious women in response to the media reporting of this information. OBJECTIVE: To examine the impact of the advisory and subsequent reporting in the media, on the decision-making of women, currently taking an antidepressant, who called The Motherisk Program after becoming aware of this information. METHODS: We attempted to follow up all the women who had called us who were alarmed by this advisory and asked them to complete a specially designed questionnaire. RESULTS: We were able to complete 43/49 (88%) follow-ups of the women who contacted us. All of the callers reported that the messages in the media caused a great deal of anxiety. Seven misunderstood the advisory, ie their children were more than 1 year old, five had discontinued their antidepressant (3 abruptly (2 later restarted after speaking with Motherisk counsellors)and 2 with some form of tapering off) and(6) were considering discontinuation, but decided to continue following reassurance from Motherisk CONCLUSION: Medical information regarding fetal and infant safety, disseminated in the public domain, should be transferred in a way that does not influence a pregnant woman to make decisions that may not be in the best interest of hers or her child's health

An RNA Interference Lethality Screen of the Human Druggable Genome to Identify Molecular Vulnerabilities in Epithelial Ovarian Cancer

Targeted therapies have been used to combat many tumor types; however, few have effectively improved the overall survival in women with epithelial ovarian cancer, begging for a better understanding of this deadly disease and identification of essential drivers of tumorigenesis that can be targeted effectively. Therefore, we used a loss-of-function screening approach to help identify molecular vulnerabilities that may represent key points of therapeutic intervention. We employed an unbiased high-throughput lethality screen using a 24,088 siRNA library targeting over 6,000 druggable genes and studied their effects on growth and/or survival of epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) cell lines. The top 300 “hits” affecting the viability of A1847 cells were rescreened across additional EOC cell lines and non-tumorigenic, human immortalized ovarian epithelial cell lines. Fifty-three gene candidates were found to exhibit effects in all tumorigenic cell lines tested. Extensive validation of these hits refined the list to four high quality candidates (HSPA5, NDC80, NUF2, and PTN). Mechanistic studies show that silencing of three genes leads to increased apoptosis, while HSPA5 silencing appears to alter cell growth through G1 cell cycle arrest. Furthermore, two independent gene expression studies show that NDC80, NUF2 and PTN were significantly aberrantly overexpressed in serous adenocarcinomas. Overall, our functional genomics results integrated with the genomics data provide an important unbiased avenue towards the identification of prospective therapeutic targets for drug discovery, which is an urgent and unmet clinical need for ovarian cancer

Accessing elite nurses for research: reflections on the theoretical and practical issues of telephone interviewing

Elite groups are interesting as they frequently are powerful (in terms of position, knowledge and influence) and enjoy considerable authority. It is important, therefore, to involve them in research concerned with understanding social contexts and processes. This is particularly pertinent in healthcare, where considerable strategic development and change are features of everyday practice that may be guided or perceived as being guided, by elites. This paper evolved from a study investigating the availability and role of nurses whose remit involved leading nursing research and development within acute NHS Trusts in two health regions in Southern England. The study design included telephone interviews with Directors of Nursing Services during which time the researchers engaged in a reflective analysis of their experiences of conducting research with an `elite' group. Important issues identified were the role of gatekeepers, engagement with elites and the use of the telephone interview method in this context. The paper examines these issues and makes a case for involving executive nurses in further research. The paper also offers strategies to help researchers design and implement telephone interview studies successfully to maximise access to the views and experiences of `hard to reach groups', such as elites, while minimising the associated disruption

Seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii infection among veterinary staff in Ontario, Canada (2002): Implications for teratogenic risk

BACKGROUND: Toxoplasma gondii infection is embryotoxic in humans. It is mainly transmitted through raw/undercooked meat and ingestion of oocysts in cat feces. There remains controversy about the actual risk of cats transmitting the disease to humans. Our primary objective was to determine the seroprevalence of T. gondii antibody among veterinary staff, to ascertain whether they have an increased risk through occupational exposure. Our secondary objective was to examine their practices regarding cats, toxoplasma infection, and pregnancy. METHODS: Veterinary staff attending the 2002 Annual Ontario Veterinary Medical Association Conference were invited to discuss their toxoplasma seroprevalence. Interested attendees completed a questionnaire and a physician drew blood samples to determine T. gondii titres using the ELISA IgG test. RESULTS: We collected 161 completed questionnaires, and 141 blood samples. There were 20 (14.2%, CI95%:8.4–19.9%) reactive titres among the veterinarian staff (80% females aged 30–45). All were regularly exposed to cats, washed their hands when in contact and few wore gloves routinely. CONCLUSIONS: These findings of low positive rates may be used to reassure veterinary staff that their exposure to cats does not appear to increase their risk of contracting toxoplasma infection and that pregnant women are not at an increased risk by owning a cat

The use of CAM by women suffering from nausea and vomiting during pregnancy

BACKGROUND: Nausea and vomiting during pregnancy (NVP) affects two-thirds of pregnant women to varying degrees and over the years many modalities have been used to try to alleviate this often debilitating condition. There is a paucity of information in the literature about the use or efficacy of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) for the treatment of this condition that affects so many women. Our primary objective was to examine the prevalence of CAM usage by women suffering from NVP. Our secondary objective was to ascertain if women had any supervision in the use of these treatments. METHODS: Women who called The Motherisk NVP helpline, were asked after the counseling session to complete a questionnaire, which included demographic data as well as information about their CAM use. RESULTS: Seventy women completed the questionnaire. 61% reported using CAM therapies, of which the three most popular were: ginger, vitamin B6 and acupressure. 21% of those who reported using CAM, had consulted CAM practitioners, 8% their physicians or pharmacists and 71% discussed the usage with family, friends and other allied health professionals. Women who did not use CAM stated they would probably use these modalities if there was more information about the safety in pregnancy. CONCLUSION: Pregnant women with NVP are mirroring the trend in the general population of the use of CAM. They are also using CAM therapies with little supervision from practitioners experienced in the use of these modalities

Spin liquid phase for the frustrated Quantum Heisenberg Antiferromagnet on a square lattice

The existance of a spin disordered ground state for the frustrated Quantum Heisenberg Antiferromagnet on a square lattice is reconsidered. It is argued that there is a unique action which is continuous through the whole phase diagram, except at the Lifshitz point, so that the Neel and helicoidal states can not coexist and there has to be an intermediate spin liquid state. To show it, a detailed study combining Spin-Wave theory, Schwinger Bosons Mean Field Theory and a scaling analysis of the appropriate hydrodynamic action is performed. When done carefully, all these theories agree and strongly support the existance of the spin liquThe manuscript has eight figures, which are available upon request to the author. e-mail address is [email protected]: 21 page

Engaging Undergraduates in Science Research: Not Just About Faculty Willingness.

Despite the many benefits of involving undergraduates in research and the growing number of undergraduate research programs, few scholars have investigated the factors that affect faculty members' decisions to involve undergraduates in their research projects. We investigated the individual factors and institutional contexts that predict faculty members' likelihood of engaging undergraduates in their research project(s). Using data from the Higher Education Research Institute's 2007-2008 Faculty Survey, we employ hierarchical generalized linear modeling to analyze data from 4,832 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) faculty across 194 institutions to examine how organizational citizenship behavior theory and social exchange theory relate to mentoring students in research. Key findings show that faculty who work in the life sciences and those who receive government funding for their research are more likely to involve undergraduates in their research project(s). In addition, faculty at liberal arts or historically Black colleges are significantly more likely to involve undergraduate students in research. Implications for advancing undergraduate research opportunities are discussed

Microscopy-Based Automated Live Cell Screening for Small Molecules That Affect Ciliation

The primary monocilium, or cilium, is a single antenna-like organelle that protrudes from the surface of most mammalian cell types, and serves as a signaling hub. Mutations of cilia-associated genes result in severe genetic disorders termed ciliopathies. Among these, the most common is autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD); less common genetic diseases include Bardet–Biedl syndrome, Joubert syndrome, nephronophthisis, and others. Important signaling cascades with receptor systems localized exclusively or in part at cilia include Sonic Hedgehog (SHH), platelet derived growth factor alpha (PDGFRα), WNTs, polycystins, and others. Changes in ciliation during development or in pathological conditions such as cancer impacts signaling by these proteins. Notably, ciliation status of cells is coupled closely to the cell cycle, with cilia protruding in quiescent (G0) or early G1 cells, declining in S/G2, and absent in M phase, and has been proposed to contribute to cell cycle regulation. Because of this complex biology, the elaborate machinery regulating ciliary assembly and disassembly receives input from many cellular proteins relevant to cell cycle control, development, and oncogenic transformation, making study of genetic factors and drugs influencing ciliation of high interest. One of the most effective tools to investigate the dynamics of the cilia under different conditions is the imaging of live cells. However, developing assays to observe the primary cilium in real time can be challenging, and requires a consideration of multiple details related to the cilia biology. With the dual goals of identifying small molecules that may have beneficial activity through action on human diseases, and of identifying ciliary activities of existing agents that are in common use or development, we here describe creation and evaluation of three autofluorescent cell lines derived from the immortalized retinal pigmented epithelium parental cell line hTERT-RPE1. These cell lines stably express the ciliary-targeted fluorescent proteins L13-Arl13bGFP, pEGFP-mSmo, and tdTomato-MCHR1-N-10. We then describe methods for use of these cell lines in high throughput screening of libraries of small molecule compounds to identify positive and negative regulators of ciliary disassembly