Communication brève sur les perceptions et les comportements postulants potentiels aux études de médecine par rapport à la recherche en lien avec l’admission dans une faculté de médecine canadienne

Background: Aspiring medical students behave based on their perception of what is valued in the selection process. While research experience is not explicitly considered in most Canadian admissions policies, it is commonly held as valuable within aspiring medical student communities. The purpose of this study is to describe the perceptions and behaviours of aspiring medical students with respect to gaining research experience in support of their medical school applications. Methods: We surveyed prospective applicants of Canadian medical schools between August 2021 and November 2021, then compiled descriptive statistics pertaining to their perceptions and behaviours. Results: Respondents affirmed the belief that research experience is valued in medical school admissions processes. They reported spending approximately 13 hours per week engaged in research, which usually did not yield publication or presentation recognition. Conclusion: Aspiring medical students invest substantial time and energy in research experiences to benefit their applications. There is room for medical schools to be more transparent about the value of research experience in their admissions processes.Contexte : Le comportement des candidats aux études de médecine est déterminé par leur perception de ce qui est valorisé dans le processus de sélection. Tandis que la plupart des établissements canadiens ne mentionnent pas explicitement l’expérience en recherche comme prérequis d’admission, les futurs candidats, eux, voient une telle expérience comme un atout précieux. L’objectif de cette étude est de décrire les perceptions et les comportements des futurs étudiants en médecine par rapport à l’acquisition d’une expérience en recherche en appui à leur demande d’admission dans une école de médecine. Méthodes : Nous avons interrogé des postulants potentiels aux programmes de médecine au Canada entre août 2021 et novembre 2021, et nous avons compilé des statistiques descriptives relatives à leurs perceptions et à leurs comportements. Résultats : Les répondants ont affirmé croire que l’expérience en recherche est valorisée dans les processus d’admission aux facultés de médecine. Ils ont déclaré consacrer environ 13 heures par semaine à la recherche, qui, le plus souvent, n’a pas mené à des publications ou des présentations. Conclusion : Les futurs candidats aux études de médecine investissent beaucoup de temps et d’énergie dans des activités de recherche afin d’améliorer leur dossier de candidature. Les facultés de médecine devraient se prononcer de manière transparente sur l’importance attribuée à l’expérience en recherche dans le cadre de leur processus d’admission

Targeting PI3Kδ function for amelioration of murine chronic graft-versus-host disease.

Chronic graft-versus-host disease (cGVHD) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality following allotransplant. Activated donor effector T cells can differentiate into pathogenic T helper (Th)-17 cells and germinal center (GC)-promoting T follicular helper (Tfh) cells, resulting in cGVHD. Phosphoinositide-3-kinase-δ (PI3Kδ), a lipid kinase, is critical for activated T cell survival, proliferation, differentiation, and metabolism. We demonstrate PI3Kδ activity in donor T cells that become Tfh cells is required for cGVHD in a nonsclerodermatous multiorgan system disease model that includes bronchiolitis obliterans (BO), dependent upon GC B cells, Tfhs, and counterbalanced by T follicular regulatory cells, each requiring PI3Kδ signaling for function and survival. Although B cells rely on PI3Kδ pathway signaling and GC formation is disrupted resulting in a substantial decrease in Ig production, PI3Kδ kinase-dead mutant donor bone marrow-derived GC B cells still supported BO cGVHD generation. A PI3Kδ-specific inhibitor, compound GS-649443, that has superior potency to idelalisib while maintaining selectivity, reduced cGVHD in mice with active disease. In a Th1-dependent and Th17-associated scleroderma model, GS-649443 effectively treated mice with active cGVHD. These data provide a foundation for clinical trials of US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved PI3Kδ inhibitors for cGVHD therapy in patients

Advances in multiangle satellite remote sensing of speciated airborne particulate matter and association with adverse health effects: from MISR to MAIA

Inhalation of airborne particulate matter (PM) is associated with a variety of adverse health outcomes. However, the relative toxicity of specific PM types—mixtures of particles of varying sizes, shapes, and chemical compositions—is not well understood. A major impediment has been the sparse distribution of surface sensors, especially those measuring speciated PM. Aerosol remote sensing from Earth orbit offers the opportunity to improve our understanding of the health risks associated with different particle types and sources. The Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) instrument aboard NASA’s Terra satellite has demonstrated the value of near-simultaneous observations of backscattered sunlight from multiple view angles for remote sensing of aerosol abundances and particle properties over land. The Multi-Angle Imager for Aerosols (MAIA) instrument, currently in development, improves on MISR’s sensitivity to airborne particle composition by incorporating polarimetry and expanded spectral range. Spatiotemporal regression relationships generated using collocated surface monitor and chemical transport model data will be used to convert fractional aerosol optical depths retrieved from MAIA observations to near-surface PM_(10), PM_(2.5), and speciated PM_(2.5). Health scientists on the MAIA team will use the resulting exposure estimates over globally distributed target areas to investigate the association of particle species with population health effects

Transcending the Male–Female Binary in Biomedical Research: Constellations, Heterogeneity, and Mechanism When Considering Sex and Gender

Accounting for the influences of sex- and gender-related factors on health is one of the most interesting and important challenges in contemporary health research. In biomedical research, models, experimental designs, and statistical analyses create particular challenges in attempting to incorporate the complex, dynamic, and context-dependent constructs of sex and gender. Here, we offer conceptual elaborations of the constructs of sex and gender and discuss their application in biomedical research, including a more mechanism-oriented and context-driven approach to experimental design integrating sex and gender. We highlight how practices of data visualization, statistical analysis, and rhetoric can be valuable tools in expanding the operationalization of sex and gender biomedical science and reducing reliance on a male–female binary approach

A brief report of aspiring medical student perceptions and behaviours concerning research experiences for selection into Canadian medical schools

Background: Aspiring medical students behave based on their perception of what is valued in the selection process. While research experience is not explicitly considered in most Canadian admissions policies, it is commonly held as valuable within aspiring medical student communities. The purpose of this study is to describe the perceptions and behaviours of aspiring medical students with respect to gaining research experience in support of their medical school applications.Methods: We surveyed prospective applicants of Canadian medical schools between August 2021 and November 2021, then compiled descriptive statistics pertaining to their perceptions and behaviours.Results: Respondents affirmed the belief that research experience is valued in medical school admissions processes. They reported spending approximately 13 hours per week engaged in research, which usually did not yield publication or presentation recognition.Conclusion: Aspiring medical students invest substantial time and energy in research experiences to benefit their applications. There is room for medical schools to be more transparent about the value of research experience in their admissions processes.Contexte : Le comportement des candidats aux études de médecine est déterminé par leur perception de ce qui est valorisé dans le processus de sélection. Tandis que la plupart des établissements canadiens ne mentionnent pas explicitement l’expérience en recherche comme prérequis d’admission, les futurs candidats, eux, voient une telle expérience comme un atout précieux. L’objectif de cette étude est de décrire les perceptions et les comportements des futurs étudiants en médecine par rapport à l’acquisition d’une expérience en recherche en appui à leur demande d’admission dans une école de médecine.Méthodes : Nous avons interrogé des postulants potentiels aux programmes de médecine au Canada entre août 2021 et novembre 2021, et nous avons compilé des statistiques descriptives relatives à leurs perceptions et à leurs comportements.Résultats : Les répondants ont affirmé croire que l’expérience en recherche est valorisée dans les processus d’admission aux facultés de médecine. Ils ont déclaré consacrer environ 13 heures par semaine à la recherche, qui, le plus souvent, n’a pas mené à des publications ou des présentations.Conclusion : Les futurs candidats aux études de médecine investissent beaucoup de temps et d’énergie dans des activités de recherche afin d’améliorer leur dossier de candidature. Les facultés de médecine devraient se prononcer de manière transparente sur l’importance attribuée à l’expérience en recherche dans le cadre de leur processus d’admission

A Discussion on Experiments and Experimentation: NIH to Balance Sex in Cell and Animal Studies

In 2014, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) proposed a new policy to promote “sex parity” in research.  As an extension to the 1993 NIH Revitalization Act which mandated the inclusion of women and minorities in clinical trials, the new NIH policy will require scientists to include “sex” as a variable in both animal model and in vitro cell line-based research.  The end goal is to ensure that NIH funded scientists “balance male and female cells and animals in preclinical studies in all future applications” (Clayton and Collins 2014, 283). The curators of this section asked four interdisciplinary scholars to discuss this proposed policy

On the generation of allergic airway diseases: from GM-CSF to Kyoto

The sharp increase in the prevalence of asthma over the past three decades suggests an important contribution of environmental factors in the generation of this disease, and compels a search for molecular pathways by which such factors could facilitate Th2 immune-inflammatory airway responses; granulocyte–macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) might be one such signal. In this review, we appraise the evidence with respect to the presence of GM-CSF in asthma, the roles played by GM-CSF in these immune responses and environmental triggers that can induce GM-CSF expression. Further, we propose a paradigm that unites these divergent observations, and postulate that GM-CSF produced in response to environmental agents can establish an airway microenvironment that promotes the initiation, influences the evolution and supports the maintenance of an aeroallergen-specific adaptive Th2 immune response.Exposure to certain environmental agents can trigger the expression of GM-CSF in the airways, which might in part be responsible for Th2-mediated allergic asthma. Could this partly explain the increase in asthma prevalence in the West