Définir des priorités de recherche à l’échelle du Canada pour les programmes de simulation agréés par le Collège royal

To advance the field of health sciences simulation, research must be of high quality and would benefit from multi-institutional collaboration where centres can leverage and share expertise as well as work together to overcome limits to the generalizability of research findings from single-institution studies. A needs assessment in emergency medicine simulation has illustrated the importance of identifying research priorities in Canada. The main purpose of this study was to identify simulation research priority directions for Canadian simulation centres. The current survey study drew on 16 research priorities developed through a two-round internal Delphi study at McGill University that 15 of 17 simulation centre advisory board members participated in. The final 16 research priorities were then rated by a total of 18 of 24 simulation centre directors and/or delegates contacted from 15 of 19 Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada-accredited simulation centres in Canada. Results revealed 9 common research priorities that reached 70% or higher agreement for all respondents. We anticipate that our findings can contribute to building a shared vision of priorities, community, and collaboration to enhance health care simulation research quality amongst Canadian simulation centres.Pour faire progresser le domaine de la simulation en sciences de la santé, il faut tendre vers une recherche de haute qualité, qui serait favorisée par une collaboration multi-institutionnelle permettant aux programmes de tirer parti de leur expertise, de la partager et de surmonter les limites de la généralisabilité des résultats de recherche provenant d’études menées dans un seul établissement. Une évaluation des besoins en matière de simulation en médecine d’urgence a illustré l’importance de définir des priorités de recherche à l’échelle du Canada. Le principal objectif de cette étude était de dresser les orientations prioritaires des programmes de simulation canadiens pour la recherche en simulation. Elle est basée sur 16 priorités de recherche dégagées d’une étude Delphi à deux tours réalisée à l’Université [masqué], à laquelle 15 des 17 membres du comité consultatif de son centre de simulation ont participé. Les 16 priorités de recherche finales ont ensuite été évaluées par 18 des 24 directeurs ou délégués de centres de simulation contactés, provenant de 15 des 19 programmes de simulation agréés par le Collège royal des médecins et chirurgiens du Canada. Les résultats font état de neuf priorités de recherche communes ayant obtenu un taux d’accord de 70 % ou plus parmi l’ensemble des répondants. Nous pensons que nos résultats peuvent contribuer à l’élaboration d’une vision commune des priorités parmi les programmes de simulation canadiens, à la création d’une communauté de pratique et à une collaboration pour améliorer la qualité de la recherche en simulation dans le domaine des soins de santé

A MicroRNA Linking Human Positive Selection and Metabolic Disorders

Postponed access: the file will be accessible after 2021-10-14Positive selection in Europeans at the 2q21.3 locus harboring the lactase gene has been attributed to selection for the ability of adults to digest milk to survive famine in ancient times. However, the 2q21.3 locus is also associated with obesity and type 2 diabetes in humans, raising the possibility that additional genetic elements in the locus may have contributed to evolutionary adaptation to famine by promoting energy storage, but which now confer susceptibility to metabolic diseases. We show here that the miR-128-1 microRNA, located at the center of the positively selected locus, represents a crucial metabolic regulator in mammals. Antisense targeting and genetic ablation of miR-128-1 in mouse metabolic disease models result in increased energy expenditure and amelioration of high-fat-diet-induced obesity and markedly improved glucose tolerance. A thrifty phenotype connected to miR-128-1-dependent energy storage may link ancient adaptation to famine and modern metabolic maladaptation associated with nutritional overabundance.acceptedVersio

Low levels of amyloid-beta and its transporters in neonatal rats with and without hydrocephalus

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Previous studies in aging animals have shown that amyloid-beta protein (Aβ) accumulates and its transporters, low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein-1 (LRP-1) and the receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGE) are impaired during hydrocephalus. Furthermore, correlations between astrocytes and Aβ have been found in human cases of normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH) and Alzheimer's disease (AD). Because hydrocephalus occurs frequently in children, we evaluated the expression of Aβ and its transporters and reactive astrocytosis in animals with neonatal hydrocephalus.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Hydrocephalus was induced in neonatal rats by intracisternal kaolin injections on post-natal day one, and severe ventriculomegaly developed over a three week period. MRI was performed on post-kaolin days 10 and 21 to document ventriculomegaly. Animals were sacrificed on post-kaolin day 21. For an age-related comparison, tissue was used from previous studies when hydrocephalus was induced in a group of adult animals at either 6 months or 12 months of age. Tissue was processed for immunohistochemistry to visualize LRP-1, RAGE, Aβ, and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and with quantitative real time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) to quantify expression of LRP-1, RAGE, and GFAP.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>When 21-day post-kaolin neonatal hydrocephalic animals were compared to adult (6–12 month old) hydrocephalic animals, immunohistochemistry demonstrated levels of Aβ, RAGE, and LRP-1 that were substantially lower in the younger animals; in contrast, GFAP levels were elevated in both young and old hydrocephalic animals. When the neonatal hydrocephalic animals were compared to age-matched controls, qRT-PCR demonstrated no significant changes in Aβ, LRP-1 and RAGE. However, immunohistochemistry showed very small increases or decreases in individual proteins. Furthermore, qRT-PCR indicated statistically significant increases in GFAP.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Neonatal rats with and without hydrocephalus had low expression of Aβ and its transporters when compared to adult rats with hydrocephalus. No statistical differences were observed in Aβ and its transporters between the control and hydrocephalic neonatal animals.</p

Participation of older newly-diagnosed cancer patients in an observational prospective pilot study: an example of recruitment and retention

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>There have been few prospective observational studies which recruited older newly-diagnosed cancer patients, and of these only some have reported information on the number needed to screen to recruit their study sample, and the number and reasons for refusal and drop-out. This paper reports on strategies to recruit older newly-diagnosed cancer patients prior to treatment into an observational prospective pilot study and to retain them during a six-month period.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Medical charts of all patients in the Segal Cancer Centre aged 65 and over were screened and evaluated for inclusion. Several strategies to facilitate recruitment and retention were implemented. Reasons for exclusion, refusal and loss to follow-up were recorded. Descriptive statistics were used to report the reasons for refusal and loss to follow-up. A non-response analysis using chi-square tests and t-tests was conducted to compare respondents to those who refused to participate and to compare those who completed the study to those who were lost to follow-up. A feedback form with open-ended questions was administered following the last interview to obtain patient's opinions on the length of the interviews and conduct of this pilot study.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>3060 medical charts were screened and 156 eligible patients were identified. Of these 112 patients participated for a response rate of 72%. Reasons for refusal were: feeling too anxious (40%), not interested (25%), no time (12.5%), too sick (5%) or too healthy (5%) or other reasons (5%). Ninety-one patients participated in the six-month follow-up (retention 81.3%), seven patients refused follow-up (6.2%) and fourteen patients died (12.5%) during the course of the study. The median time to conduct the baseline interview was 45 minutes and 57% of baseline interviews were conducted at home. Most patients enjoyed participation and only five felt that the interviews were too long.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>It was feasible to recruit newly-diagnosed cancer patients prior to treatment although it required considerable time and effort. Once patients were included, the retention rate was high despite the fact that most were undergoing active cancer treatment.</p

Insights into the Genetic Architecture of Early Stage Age-Related Macular Degeneration: A Genome-Wide Association Study Meta-Analysis

10.1371/journal.pone.0053830PLoS ONE81

Research program in theoretical high-energy physics. Progress report. [Summaries of research activities at Brown Univ]

Last year's research program dealt with a large range of topics in high energy theoretical physics. Included in the problems studied were: flavor mixing angles in flavor gauge theory; grand unification schemes; neutral current phenomenology; charmonium decays; perturbative aspects of soft hadronic phenomena within the framework of the dual topological expansion; Regge trajectory slopes and the shape of the inclusive spectra; bound states in quantum electrodynamics; calculations of the Lamb Shift and hyperfine splitting in hydrogen (and muonium) through order ..cap alpha..(Z..cap alpha..)/sup 6/; perturbation theory resummation techniques; collective behavior of instantons in quantum chromodynamics; 1/N expansion and mean field expansion techniques (applied to the nonlinear sigma model, classical solutions to Yang-Mills theories, and renormalized four-Fermi models of weak interactions); semiclassical calculation of Z/sub 1/(..cap alpha..) in scalar QED; group theoretic studies of spontaneous symmetry breaking; fibre bundles applied to the topological aspects of gauge theories; strong-coupling expansions (as an aspect of infrared behavior, as a systematic perturbation expansion with reference to lattice extrapolation, applied to classical statistical mechanics, applied to problems with nonquadratic kinetic energy terms, and in transfer matrix formulations); eikonal methods (three-body Coulomb scattering, quark-antiquark potentials); computer augmented solutions to quantum field theory; topological excitations in two-dimensional models and WKB approximation on a lattice. A list of publications is included