Evaluation of the Current Perspectives on Letters of Recommendation for Residency Applicants among Plastic Surgery Program Directors

Background. The goals of this project were to evaluate the current perspective on letters of recommendation and to assess the need for, and acceptance of, a more standardized letter of recommendation (LOR). Methods. An eight-question survey was distributed to plastic surgery program directors. A five-point Likert scale was selected as a means of quantifying the participants' responses to the survey. Results. Twenty-eight of 71 program directors (39.4%) completed the survey. The majority of participants felt that current LOR did not offer a realistic way to compare applicants (mean ± SD, 2.9 ± 0.8). While most agreed that increasing the objectivity of LOR would be valuable in comparing applicants (mean ± SD, 4.1 ± 0.9), the overall average response to whether a more standardized letter format would improve the resident selection process remained only slightly better than neutral (mean ± SD, 3.5 ± 1.2). Most of the chairmen supported the notion that familiarity with the author of the LOR strengthened the recommendation (mean ± SD, 4.5 ± 0.6). Conclusion. The majority of plastic surgery program directors would like more objectivity in comparing applicants but are ambivalent about a standardized letter of recommendation

Geochemical Analysis of Recent Volcanic Ash Blanketing Barbados and Constraints on Magma Composition (V32E-0112)

Preliminary field and geochemical investigations were conducted on ash samples from Barbados to chemically characterize and decipher magma chemistry associated with a recent volcanic event. A thick plume of volcanic ash from the La Soufriere Volcano in St Vincent, which erupted on April 9, 2021, caused lower visibility due to ash clouds which engulfed the region for some time. Three authors from the research team visited Barbados during the summer subsequent and completed a reconnaissance investigation on recent ashfall. St Vincent is a small volcanic island in the Eastern Caribbean and lies in the southern part of the Lesser Antilles volcanic arc. Six volcanoes along the arc have erupted since 1900. Magmas that have erupted from the Soufrière of St Vincent during the geologic past (Holocene) include primitive arc basalts and andesites. Collected ash samples were analyzed using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), Ultra Trace Aqua Regia and whole rock package – X-ray Fluorescence (XRF). Facilities available through the ALS USA Incorporated (Reno, Nevada), an established geochemistry laboratory known for its research quality output, provided access to retrieve both bulk oxide and trace elements data. To achieve better accuracy, samples were pulverized to 75 microns or less. Analyzed samples fell well within the more evolved andesitic compositions (SiO2 = 53- 56 wt. %). A notable concentration of alumina (18%), CaO (9%), and a general decrease in magnesia and soda (each averaging 3%) seem to suggest differentiation of the investigated samples. LOI recorded between less than 1 to 3%. It seems likely that magma evolution was substantially driven by crystal fractionation over time. The results of trace element investigation including Ba, Cu, Mn, Ce, Cr, Ni, Zn, Rb, Sr, V, Y, and Zr, point to an intermediate volcanism constraining the ash composition in Barbados. Utilization of Harker-type binary variation diagrams involving recent ash deposits in Barbados indicate differentiation trend with an evolving nature of the source volcanism. Composition of ash samples record time-integrated enrichment in light REE over heavy REE, and the volcanism in the source area changed character with time and point to an increase in the degree of partial melting and a decrease in crustal involvement with time

Epigenetic Contributions to the Relationship between Cancer and Dietary Intake of Nutrients, Bioactive Food Components, and Environmental Toxicants

Epigenetics is the study of heritable changes in gene expression that occur without a change in DNA sequence. Cancer is a multistep process derived from combinational crosstalk between genetic alterations and epigenetic influences through various environmental factors. The observation that epigenetic changes are reversible makes them an attractive target for cancer prevention. Until recently, there have been difficulties studying epigenetic mechanisms in interactions between dietary factors and environmental toxicants. The development of the field of cancer epigenetics during the past decade has been advanced rapidly by genome-wide technologies – which initially employed microarrays but increasingly are using high-throughput sequencing – which helped to improve the quality of the analysis, increase the capacity of sample throughput, and reduce the cost of assays. It is particularly true for applications of cancer epigenetics in epidemiologic studies that examine the relationship among diet, epigenetics, and cancer because of the issues of tissue heterogeneity, the often limiting amount of DNA samples, and the significant cost of the analyses. This review offers an overview of the state of the science in nutrition, environmental toxicants, epigenetics, and cancer to stimulate further exploration of this important and developing area of science. Additional epidemiologic research is needed to clarify the relationship between these complex epigenetic mechanisms and cancer

Impairment of germline transmission after blastocyst injection with murine embryonic stem cells cultured with mouse hepatitis virus and mouse minute virus

The aim of this study was to determine the susceptibility of murine embryonic stem (mESCs) to mouse hepatitis virus (MHV-A59) and mouse minute virus (MMVp) and the effect of these viruses on germline transmission (GLT) and the serological status of recipients and pups. When recipients received 10 blastocysts, each injected with 100 TCID50 MHV-A59, three out of five recipients and four out of 14 pups from three litters became seropositive. When blastocysts were injected with 10−5 TCID50 MMVp, all four recipients and 14 pups from four litters remained seronegative. The mESCs replicated MHV-A59 but not MMVp, MHV-A59 being cytolytic for mESCs. Exposure of mESCs to the viruses over four to five passages but not for 6 h affected GLT. Recipients were seropositive for MHV-A59 but not for MMVp when mESCs were cultured with the virus over four or five passages. The data show that GLT is affected by virus-contaminated mESCs

Non-homologous end-joining pathway associated with occurrence of myocardial infarction: gene set analysis of genome-wide association study data

<p>Purpose: DNA repair deficiencies have been postulated to play a role in the development and progression of cardiovascular disease (CVD). The hypothesis is that DNA damage accumulating with age may induce cell death, which promotes formation of unstable plaques. Defects in DNA repair mechanisms may therefore increase the risk of CVD events. We examined whether the joints effect of common genetic variants in 5 DNA repair pathways may influence the risk of CVD events.</p> <p>Methods: The PLINK set-based test was used to examine the association to myocardial infarction (MI) of the DNA repair pathway in GWAS data of 866 subjects of the GENetic DEterminants of Restenosis (GENDER) study and 5,244 subjects of the PROspective Study of Pravastatin in the Elderly at Risk (PROSPER) study. We included the main DNA repair pathways (base excision repair, nucleotide excision repair, mismatch repair, homologous recombination and non-homologous end-joining (NHEJ)) in the analysis.</p> <p>Results: The NHEJ pathway was associated with the occurrence of MI in both GENDER (P = 0.0083) and PROSPER (P = 0.014). This association was mainly driven by genetic variation in the MRE11A gene (PGENDER = 0.0001 and PPROSPER = 0.002). The homologous recombination pathway was associated with MI in GENDER only (P = 0.011), for the other pathways no associations were observed.</p> <p>Conclusion: This is the first study analyzing the joint effect of common genetic variation in DNA repair pathways and the risk of CVD events, demonstrating an association between the NHEJ pathway and MI in 2 different cohorts.</p&gt

Catheter Colonization and Abscess Formation Due to Staphylococcus epidermidis with Normal and Small-Colony-Variant Phenotype Is Mouse Strain Dependent

Coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS) form a thick, multilayered biofilm on foreign bodies and are a major cause of nosocomial implant-associated infections. Although foreign body infection models are well-established, limited in vivo data are available for CoNS with small-colony-variant (SCV) phenotype described as causative agents in implant-associated infections. Therefore, we investigated the impact of the Staphylococcus epidermidis phenotype on colonization of implanted PVC catheters and abscess formation in three different mouse strains. Following introduction of a catheter subcutaneously in each flank of 8- to 12-week-old inbred C57BL/6JCrl (B6J), outbred Crl:CD1(ICR) (CD-1), and inbred BALB/cAnNCrl (BALB/c) male mice, doses of S. epidermidis O-47 wild type, its hemB mutant with stable SCV phenotype, or its complemented mutant at concentrations of 106 to 109 colony forming units (CFUs) were gently spread onto each catheter. On day 7, mice were sacrificed and the size of the abscesses as well as bacterial colonization was determined. A total of 11,500 CFUs of the complemented mutant adhered to the catheter in BALB/c followed by 9,960 CFUs and 9,900 CFUs from S. epidermidis wild type in BALB/c and CD-1, respectively. SCV colonization was highest in CD-1 with 9,500 CFUs, whereas SCVs were not detected in B6J. The minimum dose that led to colonization or abscess formation in all mouse strains was 107 or 108 CFUs of the normal phenotype, respectively. A minimum dose of 108 or 109 CFU of the hemB mutant with stable SCV phenotype led to colonization only or abscess formation, respectively. The largest abscesses were detected in BALB/c inoculated with wild type bacteria or SCV (64 mm2 vs. 28 mm2). Our results indicate that colonization and abscess formation by different phenotypes of S. epidermidis in a foreign body infection model is most effective in inbred BALB/c followed by outbred CD-1 and inbred B6J mice