A Qualitative Analysis of Medical Students' Views of Their First Psychiatry Rotation

Objective: The importance of student’s perspectives in informing curricula and pedagogy has long been recognised. However, student’s perspectives are rarely reported in the academic literature. Therefore this study explores and reports on medical student’s perspectives of their first psychiatry clinical rotation in a ‘new’ era medical school in Australia. Method: Seventy-three graduate entry medical students completed a semi-structured questionnaire about their experiences during a mental health rotation. The responses were analysed and coded into thematic categories. Results: The following thematic categories were evident; staff, breadth of experience, attitudes towards mental health, course materials and structure, and professional development. Conclusion: The results are discussed in the context of the current academic recommendations for the teaching of psychiatry and behavioural science to medical students. Although the use of student feedback is recommended by the literature, pragmatically it is rarely utilised and if it is utilised it is not reported in the academic literature. It is recommended that educators embrace the use of student’s perspectives to evaluate and inform their teaching

Macrophage-sensory neuronal interaction in HIV-1 gp120-induced neurotoxicity

Acknowledgements We thank Dr Jim Perkins of University College London for his help with the statistical analysis of our gene array data. We thank Prof. Maria Papathanasopoulos from the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, for the gift of gp120Bal.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

A specific deficit of auditory processing in children with Rolandic Epilepsy and their relatives

Previous research shows that children with Rolandic Epilepsy have deficits of auditory processing. We wanted to confirm the nature of this deficit and whether it aggregates in families. We compared 40 children with Rolandic Epilepsy and 32 unaffected siblings with 99 typically developing children and 71 parents of RE children with 31 healthy adults on a battery of auditory processing tests. We also examined ear advantage in children with RE, their siblings and parents using population norms and measured non-word reading performance. We found a specific deficit for competing words in patients, their siblings and their parents, suggesting that this particular impairment of auditory processing present in children with RE, is heritable and likely to be persistent. Importantly, scores on this subtest in patients and siblings were significantly correlated with non-word reading performance. We saw increased rates of atypical left ear advantage in patients and siblings but no evidence of this in parents. We present these findings as evidence of familial incidence of dichotic listening and ear advantage abnormalities in relatives of children with Rolandic Epilepsy

Effects of bolt torque tightening on the strength and fatigue life of airframe FRP laminate bolted joints

The experimental study presented herein, investigated the effects of bolt torque tightening on the strength and fatigue design of bolted AS7/8552 fibre reinforced polymer laminates. Damage initiation and final failure manifestation on the joints was investigated and presented using optical microscopy. Subsequent experimental result analysis explored the application domain of bolted joints within the airframe design sector, bound by the current airworthiness certification requirements and expected airframe design life. The reasons for the static strength of the joint laminates or the fatigue failure of the bolt being the main design drivers for the tested joints were highlighted. The study concluded with comments and suggestions on the application of bolt torque tightening in relation to the strength, fatigue life and damage tolerance characteristics of joints on similar fibre reinforced polymer laminate composite material systems

Introduction of an Applicant Job-Related Task Assessment and the Effects on the Health and Fitness of Police Recruits

PURPOSE: In 2020, a large south-eastern police department in the USA introduced a JobRelated Task Assessment (JTA) that applicants had to complete in 417 seconds, which incorporated running, climbing, crawling, balance, direction changes, stair climbing, dragging, sled pushes, and simulated controlling of a struggling subject. The study aim was to compare the health and fitness of recruits hired after the introduction of the JTA compared to the previous 4 years following a hiring freeze. METHODS: Retrospective analysis was conducted on recruit data split into academy training year: 2016 (61 males, 30 females), 2017 (88 males, 41 females), 2018 (115 males, 52 females), 2019 (161 males, 81 females), and 2020 (24 males, 13 females). The 2020 group was hired after the JTA introduction and included one academy class. The following were recorded for all trainees: age, height, body mass, and body mass index (BMI); systolic and diastolic blood pressure (BP); grip strength; push-ups; sit-ups; 2.4-km run; and a physical ability test (PAT) that included a car exit/entrance, ~201-m runs, body drag, obstacle courses, and dry firing. A univariate ANOVA, with sex and age as covariates and Bonferroni post hoc, determined between-year differences. RESULTS: Data are displayed in Table 1. Key results indicated that 2020 recruits had a lower body mass than recruits from all years (p≤0.031) and BMI than 2017-2019 recruits (p≤0.024); higher BP than recruits from all years (p≤0.019); completed more push-ups than 2016-2017 and 2019 recruits (p≤0.034) and more sit-ups than 2019 recruits (p=0.009); and were faster than recruits from all years in the 2.4-km run (p<0.001) and PAT (p≤0.011). RELEVANCE: The JTA introduction led to selection of recruits with lower body mass and BMI, better muscular endurance (push-ups, sit-ups), aerobic fitness (2.4-km run), and job-specific fitness (PAT). However, the higher BP recorded by 2020 recruits should be monitored

Heritability and the Equal Environments Assumption: Evidence from Multiple Samples of Misclassified Twins

The final publication is available at Springer via https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-013-9602-1Classically derived estimates of heritability from twin models have been plagued by the possibility of genetic-environmental covariance. Survey questions that attempt to measure directly the extent to which more genetically similar kin (such as monozygotic twins) also share more similar environmental conditions represent poor attempts to gauge a complex underlying phenomenon of GE-covariance. The present study exploits a natural experiment to address this issue: Self-misperception of twin zygosity in the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health (Add Health). Such twins were reared under one “environmental regime of similarity” while genetically belonging to another group, reversing the typical GE-covariance and allowing bounded estimates of heritability for a range of outcomes. In addition, we examine twins who were initially misclassified by survey assignment—a stricter standard—in three datasets: Add Health, the Minnesota Twin Family Study and the Child and Adolescent Twin Study in Sweden. Results are similar across approaches and datasets and largely support the validity of the equal environments assumption

Ion-Beam Induced Current in High-Resistance Materials

The peculiarities of electric current in high-resistance materials, such as semiconductors or semimetals, irradiated by ion beams are considered. It is shown that after ion--beam irradiation an unusual electric current may arise directed against the applied voltage. Such a negative current is a transient effect appearing at the initial stage of the process. The possibility of using this effect for studying the characteristics of irradiated materials is discussed. A new method for defining the mean projected range of ions is suggested.Comment: 1 file, 7 pages, RevTex, no figure

Autonomous decision-making against induced seismicity in deep fluid injections

The rise in the frequency of anthropogenic earthquakes due to deep fluid injections is posing serious economic, societal, and legal challenges to geo-energy and waste-disposal projects. We propose an actuarial approach to mitigate this risk, first by defining an autonomous decision-making process based on an adaptive traffic light system (ATLS) to stop risky injections, and second by quantifying a "cost of public safety" based on the probability of an injection-well being abandoned. The ATLS underlying statistical model is first confirmed to be representative of injection-induced seismicity, with examples taken from past reservoir stimulation experiments (mostly from Enhanced Geothermal Systems, EGS). Then the decision strategy is formalized: Being integrable, the model yields a closed-form ATLS solution that maps a risk-based safety standard or norm to an earthquake magnitude not to exceed during stimulation. Finally, the EGS levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) is reformulated in terms of null expectation, with the cost of abandoned injection-well implemented. We find that the price increase to mitigate the increased seismic risk in populated areas can counterbalance the heat credit. However this "public safety cost" disappears if buildings are based on earthquake-resistant designs or if a more relaxed risk safety standard or norm is chosen.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, conference (International Symposium on Energy Geotechnics, 26-28 September 2018, Lausanne, Switzerland