Metacarpophalangeal pattern profile analysis of a sample drawn from a North Wales population

This is tha author's PDF version of an article published in Annals of human biology© 2001. The definitive version is available at http://www.tandf.co.uk/journalsSexual dimorphism and population differences were investigated using metacarpophalangeal pattern profile (MCPP) analysis. Although it is an anthropmetric technique, MCPP analysis is more frequently used in genetic syndrome analysis and has been under-used in the study of human groups. The present analysis used a series of hand radiographics from Gwynedd, North Wales, to make comparisons, first, between the sexes within the sample and then with previously reported data from Japan. The Welsh sexes showed MCPP analyses that indicated size and shape differences but certain similarities in shape were also evident. Differences with the Japanese data were more marked. MCPP anlysis is a potentially useful anthropmetric technique but requires further statistical development

Medical Student Performance on the National Board of Medical Examiners Emergency Medicine Advanced Clinical Examination and the National Emergency Medicine M4 Exams

In April 2013, the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) released an Advanced Clinical Examination (ACE) in emergency medicine (EM). In addition to this new resource, CDEM (Clerkship Directors in EM) provides two online, high-quality, internally validated examinations. National usage statistics are available for all three examinations, however, it is currently unknown how students entering an EM residency perform as compared to the entire national cohort. This information may help educators interpret examination scores of both EM-bound and non-EM-bound students. Objectives The objective of this study was to compare EM clerkship examination performance between students who matched into an EM residency in 2014 to students who did not. We made comparisons were made using the EM-ACE and both versions of the National fourth year medical student (M4) EM examinations. Method In this retrospective multi-institutional cohort study, the EM-ACE and either Version 1 (V1) or 2 (V2) of the National EM M4 examination was given to students taking a fourth-year EM rotation at five institutions between April 2013 to February 2014. We collected examination performance, including the scaled EM-ACE score, and percent correct on the EM M4 exams, and 2014 NRMP Match status. Student t-tests were performed on the examination averages of students who matched in EM as compared with those who did not. Results A total of 606 students from five different institutions took both the EM-ACE and one of the EM M4 exams; 94 (15.5%) students matched in EM in the 2014 Match. The mean score for EM-bound students on the EM-ACE, V1 and V2 of the EM M4 exams were 70.9 (n=47, SD=9.0), 84.4 (n=36, SD=5.2), and 83.3 (n=11, SD=6.9), respectively. Mean scores for non-EM-bound students were 68.0 (n=256, SD=9.7), 82.9 (n=243, SD=6.5), and 74.5 (n=13, SD=5.9). There was a significant difference in mean scores in EM-bound and non-EM-bound student for the EM-ACE (p=0.05) and V2 (p<0.01) but not V1 (p=0.18) of the National EM M4 examination. Conclusion Students who successfully matched in EM performed better on all three exams at the end of their EM clerkship

Supernovae in Low-Redshift Galaxy Clusters: Observations by the Wise Observatory Optical Transient Search (WOOTS)

We describe the Wise Observatory Optical Transient Search (WOOTS), a survey for supernovae (SNe) and other variable and transient objects in the fields of redshift 0.06-0.2 Abell galaxy clusters. We present the survey design and data-analysis procedures, and our object detection and follow-up strategies. We have obtained follow-up spectroscopy for all viable SN candidates, and present the resulting SN sample here. Out of the 12 SNe we have discovered, seven are associated with our target clusters while five are foreground or background field events. All but one of the SNe (a foreground field event) are Type Ia SNe. Our non-cluster SN sample is uniquely complete, since all SN candidates have been either spectroscopically confirmed or ruled out. This allows us to estimate that flux-limited surveys similar to WOOTS would be dominated (~80%) by SNe Ia. Our spectroscopic follow-up observations also elucidate the difficulty in distinguishing active galactic nuclei from SNe. In separate papers we use the WOOTS sample to derive the SN rate in clusters for this redshift range, and to measure the fraction of intergalactic cluster SNe. We also briefly report here on some quasars and asteroids discovered by WOOTS.Comment: Submitted to ApJ. Comments welcom

Morphological aspects of male and female hands

This is an electronic version of an article published in Annals of Human Biology, 1996, 23(6), 491-494. Annals of Human Biology is available online at informaworldTM http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~content=a739339013~db=all~order=pageThis journal article discusses a series of hand radiographs from Gwynedd, North Wales, which were assessed for frequencies in digital and metacarpal formulae between the genders

Measuring Expansion Velocities in Type II-P Supernovae

We estimate photospheric velocities of Type II-P supernovae using model spectra created with SYNOW, and compare the results with those obtained by more conventional techniques, such as cross-correlation, or measuring the absorption minimum of P Cygni features. Based on a sample of 81 observed spectra of 5 SNe, we show that SYNOW provides velocities that are similar to ones obtained by more sophisticated NLTE modeling codes, but they can be derived in a less computation-intensive way. The estimated photospheric velocities (v_model) are compared to ones measured from Doppler-shifts of the absorption minima of the Hbeta and the FeII \lambda5169 features. Our results confirm that the FeII velocities (v_Fe) have tighter and more homogeneous correlation with the estimated photospheric velocities than the ones measured from Hbeta, but both suffer from phase-dependent systematic deviations from those. The same is true for comparison with the cross-correlation velocities. We verify and improve the relations between v_Fe, v_Hbeta and v_model in order to provide useful formulae for interpolating/extrapolating the velocity curves of Type II-P SNe to phases not covered by observations. We also discuss the implications of our results for the distance measurements of Type II-P SNe, and show that the application of the model velocities is preferred in the Expanding Photosphere Method.Comment: 19 pages, 10 figures, accepted in MNRA

Mannosidosis: two brothers with different degrees of disease severity

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/65926/1/j.1399-0004.1981.tb01829.x.pd