The Role of Extracurricular Activities and Lectures in Mitigating Medical Student Burnout

CONTEXT: Strong evidence throughout the literature highlights burnout as a significant and increasing problem among medical students, impacting students\u27 ability to effectively care for and empathize with patients. OBJECTIVES: To examine how involvement in extracurricular activities and attendance at burnout lectures can impact burnout among medical students. METHODS: An anonymous digital survey including the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) was sent to all students (n=765) at Rowan University School of Osteopathic Medicine. The survey included questions regarding the number of burnout/wellness lectures respondents had attended, the number of clubs in which the respondents participated, the number of hours spent in these clubs, and any leadership positions held by the respondents. RESULTS: Of the 765 students enrolled, 597 completed the survey. Results indicated that women participated in significantly more clubs than men ( CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate the importance of understanding what drives burnout on the individual level and adapting interventions to suit the needs of individual students, rather than the student body as a whole

Teaching a Doctoral Course in Consultation: The Parallel Team Process

A parallel team model of teaching consultation is presented. The model highlights experiential group counseling theory, techniques, and Yalom’s (1995) identified group therapeutic factors. The goal was to increase the students’ awareness and knowledge of consultation skills and teamwork in order to model and teach the same skills. The parallel interaction between the consultant and consultee teams is illustrated during the consultation stages of entry, problem/strength identification (diagnosis), intervention, and evaluation. The learning experience stimulated ideas for teaching consultation and the parallel team process

Huperzine A Provides Robust and Sustained Protection against Induced Seizures in Scn1a Mutant Mice

De novo loss-of-function mutations in the voltage-gated sodium channel (VGSC) SCN1A (encoding Nav1.1) are the main cause of Dravet syndrome (DS), a catastrophic early-life encephalopathy associated with prolonged and recurrent early-life febrile seizures (FSs), refractory afebrile epilepsy, cognitive and behavioral deficits, and a 15–20% mortality rate. SCN1A mutations also lead to genetic epilepsy with febrile seizures plus (GEFS+), which is an inherited disorder characterized by early-life FSs and the development of a range of adult epilepsy subtypes. Current antiepileptic drugs often fail to protect against the severe seizures and behavioral and cognitive deficits found in patients with SCN1A mutations. To address the need for more efficacious treatments for SCN1A-derived epilepsies, we evaluated the therapeutic potential of Huperzine A, a naturally occurring reversible acetylcholinesterase inhibitor. In CF1 mice, Hup A (0.56 or 1 mg/kg) was found to confer protection against 6 Hz-, pentylenetetrazole (PTZ)-, and maximal electroshock (MES)-induced seizures. Robust protection against 6 Hz-, MES-, and hyperthermia-induced seizures was also achieved following Hup A administration in mouse models of DS (Scn1a+/−) and GEFS+ (Scn1aRH/+). Furthermore, Hup A-mediated seizure protection was sustained during 3 weeks of daily injections in Scn1aRH/+ mutants. Finally, we determined that muscarinic and GABAA receptors play a role in Hup A-mediated seizure protection. These findings indicate that Hup A might provide a novel therapeutic strategy for increasing seizure resistance in DS and GEFS+, and more broadly, in other forms of refractory epilepsy

KELT-8b: A highly inflated transiting hot Jupiter and a new technique for extracting high-precision radial velocities from noisy spectra

We announce the discovery of a highly inflated transiting hot Jupiter discovered by the KELT-North survey. A global analysis including constraints from isochrones indicates that the V = 10.8 host star (HD 343246) is a mildly evolved, G dwarf with $T_{\rm eff} = 5754_{-55}^{+54}$ K, $\log{g} = 4.078_{-0.054}^{+0.049}$, $[Fe/H] = 0.272\pm0.038$, an inferred mass $M_{*}=1.211_{-0.066}^{+0.078}$ M$_{\odot}$, and radius $R_{*}=1.67_{-0.12}^{+0.14}$ R$_{\odot}$. The planetary companion has mass $M_P = 0.867_{-0.061}^{+0.065}$ $M_{J}$, radius $R_P = 1.86_{-0.16}^{+0.18}$ $R_{J}$, surface gravity $\log{g_{P}} = 2.793_{-0.075}^{+0.072}$, and density $\rho_P = 0.167_{-0.038}^{+0.047}$ g cm$^{-3}$. The planet is on a roughly circular orbit with semimajor axis $a = 0.04571_{-0.00084}^{+0.00096}$ AU and eccentricity $e = 0.035_{-0.025}^{+0.050}$. The best-fit linear ephemeris is $T_0 = 2456883.4803 \pm 0.0007$ BJD$_{\rm TDB}$ and $P = 3.24406 \pm 0.00016$ days. This planet is one of the most inflated of all known transiting exoplanets, making it one of the few members of a class of extremely low density, highly-irradiated gas giants. The low stellar $\log{g}$ and large implied radius are supported by stellar density constraints from follow-up light curves, plus an evolutionary and space motion analysis. We also develop a new technique to extract high precision radial velocities from noisy spectra that reduces the observing time needed to confirm transiting planet candidates. This planet boasts deep transits of a bright star, a large inferred atmospheric scale height, and a high equilibrium temperature of $T_{eq}=1675^{+61}_{-55}$ K, assuming zero albedo and perfect heat redistribution, making it one of the best targets for future atmospheric characterization studies.Comment: Submitted to ApJ, feedback is welcom

Diverse Intestinal Bacteria Contain Putative Zwitterionic Capsular Polysaccharides with Anti-inflammatory Properties

Zwitterionic capsular polysaccharides (ZPSs) are bacterial products that modulate T cells, including inducing anti-inflammatory IL-10-secreting T regulatory cells (Tregs). However, only a few diverse bacteria are known to modulate the host immune system via ZPS. We present a genomic screen for bacteria encoding ZPS molecules. We identify diverse host-associated bacteria, including commensals and pathogens with known anti-inflammatory properties, with the capacity to produce ZPSs. Human mononuclear cells stimulated with lysates from putative ZPS-producing bacteria induce significantly greater IL-10 production and higher proportions of Tregs than lysates from non-ZPS-encoding relatives or a commensal strain of Bacteroides cellulosilyticus in which a putative ZPS biosynthetic operon was genetically disrupted. Similarly, wild-type B. cellulosilyticus DSM 14838, but not a close relative lacking a putative ZPS, attenuated experimental colitis in mice. Collectively, this screen identifies bacterial strains that may use ZPSs to interact with the host as well as those with potential probiotic properties

Interpreting ambiguous ‘trace’ results in Schistosoma mansoni CCA Tests: Estimating sensitivity and specificity of ambiguous results with no gold standard

Background The development of new diagnostics is an important tool in the fight against disease. Latent Class Analysis (LCA) is used to estimate the sensitivity and specificity of tests in the absence of a gold standard. The main field diagnostic for Schistosoma mansoni infection, Kato-Katz (KK), is not very sensitive at low infection intensities. A point-of-care circulating cathodic antigen (CCA) test has been shown to be more sensitive than KK. However, CCA can return an ambiguous ‘trace’ result between ‘positive’ and ‘negative’, and much debate has focused on interpretation of traces results. Methodology/Principle findings We show how LCA can be extended to include ambiguous trace results and analyse S. mansoni studies from both Côte d’Ivoire (CdI) and Uganda. We compare the diagnostic performance of KK and CCA and the observed results by each test to the estimated infection prevalence in the population. Prevalence by KK was higher in CdI (13.4%) than in Uganda (6.1%), but prevalence by CCA was similar between countries, both when trace was assumed to be negative (CCAtn: 11.7% in CdI and 9.7% in Uganda) and positive (CCAtp: 20.1% in CdI and 22.5% in Uganda). The estimated sensitivity of CCA was more consistent between countries than the estimated sensitivity of KK, and estimated infection prevalence did not significantly differ between CdI (20.5%) and Uganda (19.1%). The prevalence by CCA with trace as positive did not differ significantly from estimates of infection prevalence in either country, whereas both KK and CCA with trace as negative significantly underestimated infection prevalence in both countries. Conclusions Incorporation of ambiguous results into an LCA enables the effect of different treatment thresholds to be directly assessed and is applicable in many fields. Our results showed that CCA with trace as positive most accurately estimated infection prevalence

KELT-2Ab: A Hot Jupiter Transiting the Bright (V=8.77) Primary Star of a Binary System

We report the discovery of KELT-2Ab, a hot Jupiter transiting the bright (V=8.77) primary star of the HD 42176 binary system. The host is a slightly evolved late F-star likely in the very short-lived "blue-hook" stage of evolution, with \teff=6148\pm48{\rm K}, $\log{g}=4.030_{-0.026}^{+0.015}$ and \feh=0.034\pm0.78. The inferred stellar mass is $M_*=1.314_{-0.060}^{+0.063}$\msun\ and the star has a relatively large radius of $R_*=1.836_{-0.046}^{+0.066}$\rsun. The planet is a typical hot Jupiter with period $4.11379\pm0.00001$ days and a mass of $M_P=1.524\pm0.088$\mj\ and radius of $R_P=1.290_{-0.050}^{+0.064}$\rj. This is mildly inflated as compared to models of irradiated giant planets at the $\sim$4 Gyr age of the system. KELT-2A is the third brightest star with a transiting planet identified by ground-based transit surveys, and the ninth brightest star overall with a transiting planet. KELT-2Ab's mass and radius are unique among the subset of planets with $V<9$ host stars, and therefore increases the diversity of bright benchmark systems. We also measure the relative motion of KELT-2A and -2B over a baseline of 38 years, robustly demonstrating for the first time that the stars are bound. This allows us to infer that KELT-2B is an early K-dwarf. We hypothesize that through the eccentric Kozai mechanism KELT-2B may have emplaced KELT-2Ab in its current orbit. This scenario is potentially testable with Rossiter-McLaughlin measurements, which should have an amplitude of $\sim$44 m s$^{-1}$.Comment: 9 pages, 2 tables, 4 figures. A short video describing this paper is available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVS8lnkXXlE. Revised to reflect the ApJL version. Note that figure 4 is not in the ApJL versio

KELT-7b: A hot Jupiter transiting a bright V=8.54 rapidly rotating F-star

We report the discovery of KELT-7b, a transiting hot Jupiter with a mass of $1.28 \pm 0.18$ MJ, radius of $1.53_{-0.047}^{+0.046}$ RJ, and an orbital period of $2.7347749 \pm 0.0000039$ days. The bright host star (HD33643; KELT-7) is an F-star with $V=8.54$, Teff $=6789_{-49}^{+50}$ K, [Fe/H] $=0.139_{-0.081}^{+0.075}$, and $\log{g}=4.149 \pm 0.019$. It has a mass of $1.535_{-0.054}^{+0.066}$ Msun, a radius of $1.732_{-0.045}^{+0.043}$ Rsun, and is the fifth most massive, fifth hottest, and the ninth brightest star known to host a transiting planet. It is also the brightest star around which KELT has discovered a transiting planet. Thus, KELT-7b is an ideal target for detailed characterization given its relatively low surface gravity, high equilibrium temperature, and bright host star. The rapid rotation of the star ($73 \pm 0.5$ km/s) results in a Rossiter-McLaughlin effect with an unusually large amplitude of several hundred m/s. We find that the orbit normal of the planet is likely to be well-aligned with the stellar spin axis, with a projected spin-orbit alignment of $\lambda=9.7 \pm 5.2$ degrees. This is currently the second most rapidly rotating star to have a reflex signal (and thus mass determination) due to a planetary companion measured.Comment: Accepted to The Astronomical Journa