Paired Teaching for Faculty Professional Development in Teaching

Paired (or co-) teaching is an arrangement in which two faculty are collaboratively responsible for all aspects of teaching a course. By pairing an instructor experienced in research-based instructional strategies (RBIS) with an instructor with little or no experience in RBIS, paired teaching can be used to promote the adoption of RBIS. Using data from post-course interviews with the novice instructors of four such arrangements, we seek to describe factors that make for effective professional development in teaching via paired teaching. We suggest that the novice instructor’s approach to the paired teaching and their previous teaching experience are two aspects which mediate their learning about teaching. Additionally, the structure of the pair-taught course and the sequence of teaching assignments for the novice instructor both likely play roles in facilitating the adoption of RBIS by novice instructors. We discuss these results within the framework of cognitive apprenticeship

Paired teaching : High-impact, low-cost professional development in evidence-based teaching for new faculty

What is paired teaching? Paired teaching--in which a new faculty member and an experienced faculty member are collaboratively responsible for all aspects of a course--is a promising and cost-effective strategy for helping faculty learn to use evidence-based teaching strategies.Science, Faculty ofEarth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Department ofPhysics and Astronomy, Department ofUnreviewedFacultyPostdoctora

T1a Versus T1b Differentiated Thyroid Cancers: Do We Need to Make the Distinction?

BackgroundThe 7th edition of the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) staging system trialed a subdivision of T1 tumors into T1a (<1 cm) and T1b (1.0-2 cm). The 2009 American Thyroid Association (ATA) guidelines recommended total thyroidectomy for tumors >1 cm, and lobectomy for those ≤1 cm. These AJCC staging parameters remain a focus of debate, and ATA guidelines are in transition. The aim of this study was to determine if the T1 staging subdivision is associated with different treatment strategies and patterns of patient survival.MethodsAll adult patients with AJCC pT1 differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) from the National Cancer Data Base (NCDB; 1998-2012) and Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) program (2004-2012) were divided into two groups based on tumor size: T1a versus T1b. Demographic, clinical, and pathologic features were evaluated. Multivariate regression analysis was used to determine factors associated with undergoing total thyroidectomy and radioactive iodine. Cox proportional hazards models were performed to determine factors associated with overall and disease-specific survival.ResultsAmong 149,912 DTC patients, 98,111 (65.4%) were T1a and 51,801 (34.6%) T1b in the NCDB; in SEER, among 18,381 patients, 11,208 (61.0%) had T1a and 7173 (39.0%) T1b tumors. Patients with T1b cancers were younger (48 vs. 51 years T1a) and more likely to have private insurance (76.2% vs. 74.1%), no comorbidities (86.0% vs. 83.8%), and undergo treatment at academic medical centers (41.4% vs. 40.3%; all p < 0.01). They also were more likely to undergo total thyroidectomy (87.7% vs. 74.3%), and had more lymphovascular invasion (10.2% vs. 3.3%), positive surgical margins (7.9% vs. 3.8%), metastatic lymph nodes (35.8% vs. 23.8%), and distant metastases (0.4% vs. 0.3%; all p < 0.01). Factors associated with radioactive-iodine use included younger patient age, lower income, having insurance, positive surgical margins, and T1b stage (p < 0.01). After adjustment, overall (p = 0.23) and disease-specific survival (p = 0.93) were similar among patients with T1a versus T1b tumors.ConclusionThese results illustrate that patients with pT1a versus pT1b tumors undergo different treatment strategies. Based on the newly published 2015 ATA guidelines, whereby either lobectomy or total thyroidectomy can be performed for low-risk tumors, it might be anticipated that treatment differences will diminish over time. Therefore, division of AJCC T1 staging into T1a versus T1b subgroups might become obsolete over time

T1a Versus T1b Differentiated Thyroid Cancers: Do We Need to Make the Distinction?

Background: The 7th edition of the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) staging system trialed a subdivision of T1 tumors into T1a (<1 cm) and T1b (1.0–2 cm). The 2009 American Thyroid Association (ATA) guidelines recommended total thyroidectomy for tumors >1 cm, and lobectomy for those ≤1 cm. These AJCC staging parameters remain a focus of debate, and ATA guidelines are in transition. The aim of this study was to determine if the T1 staging subdivision is associated with different treatment strategies and patterns of patient survival. Methods: All adult patients with AJCC pT1 differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) from the National Cancer Data Base (NCDB; 1998–2012) and Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) program (2004–2012) were divided into two groups based on tumor size: T1a versus T1b. Demographic, clinical, and pathologic features were evaluated. Multivariate regression analysis was used to determine factors associated with undergoing total thyroidectomy and radioactive iodine. Cox proportional hazards models were performed to determine factors associated with overall and disease-specific survival. Results: Among 149,912 DTC patients, 98,111 (65.4%) were T1a and 51,801 (34.6%) T1b in the NCDB; in SEER, among 18,381 patients, 11,208 (61.0%) had T1a and 7173 (39.0%) T1b tumors. Patients with T1b cancers were younger (48 vs. 51 years T1a) and more likely to have private insurance (76.2% vs. 74.1%), no comorbidities (86.0% vs. 83.8%), and undergo treatment at academic medical centers (41.4% vs. 40.3%; all p < 0.01). They also were more likely to undergo total thyroidectomy (87.7% vs. 74.3%), and had more lymphovascular invasion (10.2% vs. 3.3%), positive surgical margins (7.9% vs. 3.8%), metastatic lymph nodes (35.8% vs. 23.8%), and distant metastases (0.4% vs. 0.3%; all p < 0.01). Factors associated with radioactive-iodine use included younger patient age, lower income, having insurance, positive surgical margins, and T1b stage (p < 0.01). After adjustment, overall (p = 0.23) and disease-specific survival (p = 0.93) were similar among patients with T1a versus T1b tumors. Conclusion: These results illustrate that patients with pT1a versus pT1b tumors undergo different treatment strategies. Based on the newly published 2015 ATA guidelines, whereby either lobectomy or total thyroidectomy can be performed for low-risk tumors, it might be anticipated that treatment differences will diminish over time. Therefore, division of AJCC T1 staging into T1a versus T1b subgroups might become obsolete over time

Occupational sun exposure and mycosis fungoides: a European multicenter case-control study.

International audienceOBJECTIVE: We sought to study the association between occupational sun exposure and mycosis fungoides (MF), a peripheral T-cell lymphoma. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: A European multicenter case-control study including seven rare cases (one being MF) was conducted between 1995 and 1997. From the 118 accepted cases, 104 were interviewed, of which 76 were definite cases. Population controls were selected randomly from the regions of case ascertainment. Information based on occupational experiences was coded according to industry types. A job exposure matrix was created according to the expected exposure to sunlight. RESULTS: Once exposures to aromatic halogenated hydrocarbons were eliminated (odds ratio = 2.3; 95% confidence interval = 0.9-6.2), a high MF risk was associated with exposures to solar radiation. CONCLUSION: It would appear that workers exposed to sunlight have a higher risk of MF. However, this factor is not the only one involved