A student affairs podcast as novel communication tool

Podcasts are prevalent within medical education, but not within medical student affairs. Our Office of Student Affairs (OSA) created a podcast focusing on topics relevant to the medical student experience. There have been over 20,000 downloads thus far. Survey responses and feedback have been positive and highlight the podcast’s utility as a communication tool, with 96% of respondents saying they would recommend this podcast to others. Given the mission of student affairs offices to advise, mentor, and educate students, a student affairs podcast is an exciting innovation for medical schools to consider

Poços de Caldas, meso-regional centre : environment, planning and quality of life in the interrelation of municipalities in São Paulo's média mogiana and south Minas Gerais

Orientador: Simone Narciso LessaDissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Civil, Arquitetura e UrbanismoResumo: Este trabalho busca analisar a inter-relação entre ambiente, planejamento e qualidade de vida no Município de Poços de Caldas, e sua articulação com a Mesorregião da Média Mogiana Paulista e do Sul de Minas Gerais, na condição de polo da mesma. Para tanto, pesquisa a constituição, integração e sustentabilidade regionais, começando pela Região da Mogiana, que é representativa da área mais desenvolvida do País, prosseguindo pela Mesorregião da Mogiana, e chegando à Microrregião de Poços de Caldas. A metodologia está baseada na comparação matricial do tratamento dado pelos Planos Diretores Municipais aos aspectos de saneamento e ambiente. O trabalho verifica, também, se houve integração entre os Planos, e se as conclusões obtidas podem ser extrapoladas para outras regiões. Finalmente, analisa o papel do planejamento na transformação de Poços de Caldas em polo mesorregional, e na formação de sua qualidade de vida, representada dentre outros índices, pelo seu IDHM, Índice de Qualidade de Vida Municipal, que foi o maior do Estado de Minas Gerais no ano 2.000Abstract: This dissertation analyzes the interrelation between environment, planning and quality of life in Poços de Caldas, the main city in the Meso-region comprised by the 'Média Mogiana Paulista', located in the State of São Paulo, and the Southern part of the State of Minas Gerais. For this purpose, it analyzes the constitution, integration and sustainability of the area, starting with the 'Mogiana' region, which represents one of the most developed areas of the country, moving on to the eponymous Meso-region and arriving finally at the Micro-region of Poços de Caldas. The methodology is based on a comparative approach, which looks at how different Municipal Master Plans treat thesubject of sanitation and the environment. The research also attempts to evaluate the level of integration between these Master Plans, and whether the conclusions drawn from them can be applied to other regions. Finally, this dissertation examines the role of planning in making Poços de Caldas a Meso-regional centre, as well as a city with a high quality of life, confirmed by, among other indexes, its Municipal HDI (Human Development Index), which was the highest in the State of Minas Gerais in the year 2000MestradoSaneamento e AmbienteMestre em Engenharia Civi

Scleromyxedema with systemic involvement mimics rheumatic diseases

Scleromyxedema is an infiltrative skin disease produced by hyaluronic acid deposition in the dermis. A benign monoclonal gammopathy is usually present. We report 2 patients with scleromyxedema and systemic illnesses. Both patients had muscle weakness, dysphagia, and weight loss in addition to the skin changes. One also had sclerodactyly, telangiectasias, and Raynaud's phenomenon. Scleromyxedema with systemic involvement may mimic rheumatic diseases.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/37776/1/1780290716_ftp.pd

A Sociolinguistic Profile of English in Lebanon

This article provides an overview of the historical presence of foreign languages in Lebanon, focusing on language contact from the eighteenth century to date. Through sociolinguistic profiling, the paper describes the users and uses of English, as well as Lebanese attitudes towards English. The article begins by offering a general overview of the country, its languages and cultures, and its ethnic and religious groups. It presents a description of users of English along with a characterization of how the interpersonal, instrumental, regulative, and innovative functions of the language are manifested, while the final section of the article discusses attitudes to English in Lebanese society

Flocked nasal swab versus nasopharyngeal aspirate for detection of respiratory tract viruses in immunocompromised adults: a matched comparative study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Several studies have compared nasal swabs to the more invasive nasopharyngeal aspirate (NPA) for detection of respiratory viruses. Mostly, the comparisons have been performed on immunocompetent children with upper respiratory tract symptoms. The results range from a relatively poor sensitivity for the swabs to an even higher sensitivity than for the NPA. We aimed to investigate the sensitivity of a flocked nasal swab (fNS) on immunocompromised adults with febrile neutropenia.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>During 16 months, adults with a hematological disorder presenting with febrile neutropenia were enrolled in the study. Paired samples of the fNS and NPA were collected in the outer part of the nasal cavity and the nasopharynx, respectively. The samples were analyzed regarding a panel of 15 respiratory viruses by means of quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Furthermore, as an indirect measure of cell yield by either method, the copy number of the human beta actin gene was also determined. Cohen's kappa was calculated as a measure of agreement of the results obtained from either method. Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used for comparison of cell yield.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A total of 98 paired samples from a total of 89 patients were collected. Twenty of the pairs had virus detected in at least one of the specimens; 11 in both, 7 in NPA only, and 2 in fNS only. For the fNS, the overall sensitivity for any virus and for rhinovirus only was 65% and 78%, respectively. NPA was significantly superior to the fNS in collecting epithelial cells.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We found the overall sensitivity of 65% to be too low to replace NPA with this sampling technique in this patient category.</p

Uterine tumours are a phenotypic manifestation of the hyperparathyroidism-jaw tumour syndrome

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/74672/1/j.1365-2796.2004.01421.x.pd

Efficacy of bacterial ribosomal RNA-targeted reverse transcription-quantitative PCR for detecting neonatal sepsis: a case control study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Neonatal sepsis is difficult to diagnose and pathogens cannot be detected from blood cultures in many cases. Development of a rapid and accurate method for detecting pathogens is thus essential. The main purpose of this study was to identify etiological agents in clinically diagnosed neonatal sepsis using bacterial ribosomal RNA-targeted reverse transcription-quantitative PCR (BrRNA-RT-qPCR) and to conduct comparisons with the results of conventional blood culture. Since BrRNA-RT-qPCR targets bacterial ribosomal RNA, detection rates using this approach may exceed those using conventional PCR.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Subjects comprised 36 patients with 39 episodes of suspected neonatal sepsis who underwent BrRNA-RT-qPCR and conventional blood culture to diagnose sepsis. Blood samples were collected aseptically for BrRNA-RT-qPCR and blood culture at the time of initial sepsis evaluation by arterial puncture. BrRNA-RT-qPCR and blood culture were undertaken using identical blood samples, and BrRNA-RT-qPCR was performed using 12 primer sets.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Positive rate was significantly higher for BrRNA-RT-qPCR (15/39, 38.5%) than for blood culture (6/39, 15.4%; p = 0.0039). BrRNA-RT-qPCR was able to identify all pathogens detected by blood culture. Furthermore, this method detected pathogens from neonates with clinical sepsis in whom pathogens was not detected by culture methods.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This RT-PCR technique is useful for sensitive detection of pathogens causing neonatal sepsis, even in cases with negative results by blood culture.</p

HIV-Care Outcome in Saudi Arabia; a Longitudinal Cohort

Background: Clinical characteristics of HIV-1 infection in people inhabiting Western, Sub-Saharan African, and South-East Asian countries are well recognized. However, very little information is available with regard to HIV-1 infection and treatment outcome in MENA countries including the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states. Methods: Clinical, demographic and epidemiologic characteristics of 602 HIV-1 infected patients followed in the adult Infectious Diseases Clinic of King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre, in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia a tertiary referral center were longitudinally collected from 1989 to 2010. Results: Of the 602 HIV-1 infected patients in this observation period, 70% were male. The major mode of HIV-1 transmission was heterosexual contact (55%). At diagnosis, opportunistic infections were found in 49% of patients, most commonly being pneumocysitis. AIDS associated neoplasia was also noted in 6% of patients. A hundred and forty-seven patients (24%) died from the cohort by the end of the observation period. The mortality rate peaked in 1992 at 90 deaths per 1000 person-year, whereas the mortality rate gradually decreased to <1% from 1993-2010. In 2010, 71% of the patients were receiving highly active retroviral therapy. Conclusions: These data describe the clinical characteristic of HIV-1-infected patients at a major tertiary referral hospital in KSA over a 20-year period. Initiation of antiretroviral therapy resulted in a significant reduction in both morbidity and mortality. Future studies are needed in the design and implementation of targeted treatment and prevention strategies for HIV-1 infection in KSA

Familial Risk Estimation in Systemic Sclerosis

BACKGROUND: Familial systemic sclerosis has been rarely reported. Assumptions have therefore been made implying no familial disease aggregation. This study critically challenges the assumption using a methodical population-based epidemiological approach to quantify the prevalence and characteristics of familial systemic sclerosis. METHODS: In this retrospective cohort study the systemic sclerosis prevalence in first degree family members was compared between 715 systemic sclerosis patients (710 families) and 371 randomly ascertained age and gender group-matched general practice controls (371 families). These data, obtained by telephone questionnaire (living patients) or medical records review (deceased patients and untraceable patients of unknown living status), were validated, where necessary, and expressed in terms of relative risk, absolute risk and population point prevalence. RESULTS: Systemic sclerosis affecting first degree members was validated in ten of 710 families. Reporting of systemic disease in another four more distant family members, and the co-occurrence of systemic and localised disease in three families was also documented. Observed and expected disease subtype concordance was 80% (44-97%) and 68% respectively and the female predominance among familial cases was similar to that for non-familial disease. The risk of disease in a subsequent first degree relative was compared to the risk in an initial first degree family member. Its estimated magnitude was wide (11-158). However, use of population prevalence data to determine the expected number of systemic sclerosis patients in the negative cohorts' families suggests the higher estimate is more realistic. Despite the high magnitude, the absolute disease risk in first degree family members remained low--approximating 1%. The population prevalence of familial systemic sclerosis approximated 1.4/million. CONCLUSIONS: This study substantially increases the otherwise small list of documented instances of familial systemic sclerosis. More importantly, it quantifies the risk for the first time, ranking it as the disease's most powerful determinant identified to date