Can enriching emotional intelligence improve medical students' proactivity and adaptability during OB/GYN clerkships?

Abstract Objective: The purpose of this pilot study was to examine our hypothesis that enriching workplace emotional intelligence through resident coaches could improve third-year medical students' adaptability and proactivity on the Obstetrics and Gynecology clerkship. Methods: An observational pilot study was conducted in a teaching hospital. Fourteen 3rd year medical students from two cohorts of clerkships were randomly divided into two groups, and equally assigned to trained resident coaches and untrained resident coaches. Data was collected through onsite naturalistic observation of students' adaptability and proactivity in clinical settings using a checklist with a 4-point Likert scale (1=poor to 4=excellent). Wilcoxon ranksum test was used to compare the differences between these two groups. Results: A total of 280 data points were collected through onsite observations conducted by investigators. All (n=14) students' adaptability and proactivity performance significantly improved from an average of 3.04 to 3.45 (p=0.014) over 6-week clerkship. Overall, students with trained resident coaches adapted significantly faster and were more proactive in the obstetrics and gynecology clinical setting than the students with untrained coaches (3.31 vs. 3.24, p=0.019). Conclusions: Findings from our pilot study supported our hypothesis that enriching workplace emotional intelligence knowledge through resident coaches was able to help medical students adapt into obstetrics and gynecology clinical settings faster and become more proactive in learning. Clerkship programs can incorporate the concept of a resident coach in their curriculum to help bridge medical students into clinical settings and to help them engage in self-directed learning throughout the rotation

Inherent tracers for carbon capture and storage in sedimentary formations: composition and applications

Inherent tracers - the “natural” isotopic and trace gas composition of captured CO₂ streams – are potentially powerful tracers for use in CCS technology. This review outlines for the first time the expected carbon isotope and noble gas compositions of captured CO₂ streams from a range of feedstocks, CO₂-generating processes and carbon capture techniques. The C-isotope composition of captured CO₂ will be most strongly controlled by the feedstock, but significant isotope fractionation is possible during capture; noble gas concentrations will be controlled by the capture technique employed. Comparison with likely baseline data suggests that CO₂ generated from fossil fuel feedstocks will often have δ13C distinguishable from storage reservoir CO₂. Noble gases in amine-captured CO₂ streams are likely to be low concentration, with isotopic ratios dependant on the feedstock, but CO₂ captured from oxyfuel plants may be strongly enriched in Kr and Xe which are potentially valuable subsurface tracers. CO₂ streams derived from fossil fuels will have noble gas isotope ratios reflecting a radiogenic component that will be difficult to distinguish in the storage reservoir, but inheritance of radiogenic components will provide an easily recognisable signature in the case of any unplanned migration into shallow aquifers or to the surface

Gain-of-Function Experiments With Bacteriophage Lambda Uncover Residues Under Diversifying Selection in Nature

Viral gain-of-function mutations frequently evolve during laboratory experiments. Whether the specific mutations that evolve in the lab also evolve in nature and whether they have the same impact on evolution in the real world is unknown. We studied a model virus, bacteriophage λ, that repeatedly evolves to exploit a new host receptor under typical laboratory conditions. Here, we demonstrate that two residues of λ’s J protein are required for the new function. In natural λ variants, these amino acid sites are highly diverse and evolve at high rates. Insertions and deletions at these locations are associated with phylogenetic patterns indicative of ecological diversification. Our results show that viral evolution in the laboratory mirrors that in nature and that laboratory experiments can be coupled with protein sequence analyses to identify the causes of viral evolution in the real world. Furthermore, our results provide evidence for widespread host-shift evolution in lambdoid viruses

Gain-of-Function Experiments With Bacteriophage Lambda Uncover Residues Under Diversifying Selection in Nature

Viral gain-of-function mutations frequently evolve during laboratory experiments. Whether the specific mutations that evolve in the lab also evolve in nature and whether they have the same impact on evolution in the real world is unknown. We studied a model virus, bacteriophage λ, that repeatedly evolves to exploit a new host receptor under typical laboratory conditions. Here, we demonstrate that two residues of λ’s J protein are required for the new function. In natural λ variants, these amino acid sites are highly diverse and evolve at high rates. Insertions and deletions at these locations are associated with phylogenetic patterns indicative of ecological diversification. Our results show that viral evolution in the laboratory mirrors that in nature and that laboratory experiments can be coupled with protein sequence analyses to identify the causes of viral evolution in the real world. Furthermore, our results provide evidence for widespread host-shift evolution in lambdoid viruses

Influence of the 2015–2016 El Niño on the record‑breaking mangrove dieback along northern Australia coast

This study investigates the underlying climate processes behind the largest recorded mangrove dieback event along the Gulf of Carpentaria coast in northern Australia in late 2015. Using satellite derived fractional canopy cover (FCC), variation of the mangrove canopies during recent decades are studied, including a severe dieback during 2015–2016. The relationship between mangrove FCC and climate conditions is examined with a focus on the possible role of the 2015–2016 El Niño in altering favorable conditions sustaining the mangroves. The mangrove FCC is shown to be coherent with the low-frequency component of sea level height (SLH) variation related to the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) cycle in the equatorial Pacific. The SLH drop associated with the 2015–2016 El Niño is identified to be the crucial factor leading to the dieback event. A stronger SLH drop occurred during austral autumn and winter, when the SLH anomalies were about 12% stronger than the previous very strong El Niño events. The persistent SLH drop occurred in the dry season of the year when SLH was seasonally at its lowest, so potentially exposed the mangroves to unprecedented hostile conditions. The influence of other key climate factors is also discussed, and a multiple linear regression model is developed to understand the combined role of the important climate variables on the mangrove FCC variation

Antimicrobial Production in Burkholderia thailandensis

Burkholderia thailandensis is a soil-dwelling bacterium that has been proven to produce antimicrobial compounds. We are interested in understanding how B. thailandensis regulates production of these compounds and also hope to identify and characterize novel bacterial factors that possess antimicrobial activity. In our research, we use a variety of methods including disc diffusion assays, competition experiments, and mutational analysis to investigate the genes responsible for the antimicrobial activity of B. thailandensis. The current research reports the presence of a previously undescribed diffusible antimicrobial factor produced by B. thailandensis. We have yet to identify the chemical nature of this factor or the genes responsible for its production. However, this factor is removed or inactivated by filter sterilization. We tested if cell-to-cell communication and a selection of candidate secondary metabolites are associated with this antimicrobial factor. The BtaR1 regulator for bacterial communication may control antimicrobial activity, but we do not believe it to be a different factor. Additionally, mutations in known BtaR1-controlled secondary metabolites do not influence antimicrobial activity against B. subtilis in our assays. Moving forward with this project we will continue to investigate the genes responsible for producing antimicrobial compounds by testing mutant strains of B. thailandensis. We hope to isolate and further characterize the antimicrobial factor(s)

Exhaled breath condensate purines correlate with lung function in infants and preschoolers

Although airway inflammation begins early in life in children with chronic respiratory diseases, current methods to assess this inflammation are invasive and entail significant risk. Measurement of exhaled breath condensate (EBC) purines and other biomarkers offer a less invasive method to assess airway inflammation; however, the feasibility and utility of EBC biomarkers in young children has not been established

Adiposity, reproductive and metabolic health, and activity levels in zoo Asian elephant (Elephas maximus)

Acknowledgements The authors thank Dr Barbara Gower, Maryellen Williams, Heather Hunter and Cindy Zeng at the UAB NORC's Metabolism Core for their assistance with hormone assays and mass spectroscopy, and Dr Katie Edwards, Steve Paris and Niki Boisseau at SCBI for inflammatory and estradiol analyses. The authors thank African Lion Safari, Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden, Columbus Zoo & Aquarium, Fort Worth Zoo, Little Rock Zoo, Oklahoma City Zoo, Oregon Zoo, Santa Barbara Zoo and Saint Louis Zoo for their participation in this study. Specifically, a very big thank you to the zoos' elephant keepers and elephants, who made this study possible and enjoyable. A special thank you to the Birmingham Zoo and Pat Flora and his elephant team for their continued support, help and input with method improvement. Funding This work was supported in part by the Smithsonian Institution, the UAB Nutrition Obesity Research Center (P30DK056336), the Diabetes Research Center (P30DK079626), the Nathan Shock Center on Aging (P30AG050886), and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (T32HL105349 to D.E.C.). Deposited in PMC for release after 12 months.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Genetic and Serologic Properties of Zika Virus Associated with an Epidemic, Yap State, Micronesia, 2007

One-sentence summary for table of contents: The full coding region nucleic acid sequence and serologic properties of the virus were identified