Harnessing ChatGPT dialogues to address claustrophobia in MRI - A radiographers' education perspective

Introduction: The healthcare sector invests significantly in communication skills training, but not always with satisfactory results. Recently, generative Large Language Models, have shown promising results in medical education. This study aims to use ChatGPT to simulate radiographer-patient conversations about the critical moment of claustrophobia management during MRI, exploring how Artificial Intelligence can improve radiographers' communication skills. Methods: This study exploits specifically designed prompts on ChatGPT-3.5 and ChatGPT-4 to generate simulated conversations between virtual claustrophobic patients and six radiographers with varying levels of work experience focusing on their differences in model size and language generation capabilities. Success rates and responses were analysed. The methods of radiographers in convincing virtual patients to undergo MRI despite claustrophobia were also evaluated. Results: A total of 60 simulations were conducted, achieving a success rate of 96.7% (58/60). ChatGPT-3.5 exhibited errors in 40% (12/30) of the simulations, while ChatGPT-4 showed no errors. In terms of radiographers' communication during the simulations, out of 164 responses, 70.2% (115/164) were categorized as "Supportive Instructions," followed by "Music Therapy" at 18.3% (30/164). Experts mainly used "Supportive Instructions" (82.2%, 51/62) and "Breathing Techniques" (9.7%, 6/62). Intermediate participants favoured "Music Therapy" (26%, 13/50), while Beginner participants frequently utilized "Mild Sedation" (15.4%, 8/52). Conclusion: The simulation of clinical scenarios via ChatGPT proves valuable in assessing and testing radiographers' communication skills, especially in managing claustrophobic patients during MRI. This pilot study highlights the potential of ChatGPT in preclinical training, recognizing different training needs at different levels of professional experience. Implications for practice: This study is relevant in radiography practice, where AI is increasingly widespread, as it explores a new way to improve the training of radiographers

Inhibitor affinity chromatography: profiling the specific reactivity of the proteome with immobilized molecules.

An inhibitor affinity chromatography (IAC) method has been developed for the analysis of inhibitor-protein interactions as a complementary approach to two-dimensional electrophoresis for functional proteomics studies. The procedure was developed utilizing a cyclin-dependent kinase 2 (Cdk2) inhibitor coupled to a polymeric resin and validated using a number of proteins interacting with the inhibitor with different specificities. Cdk2 and the other kinases bound and eluted from the resin in accordance with the relative in vitro potency of the inhibitor for each enzyme. Molecular interactions with the Cdk2 inhibitor were compared for HCT116 cancer cells versus rat pancreatic acinar cells. Proteins interacting with the ligand on the IAC matrix were identified by mass spectrometry. Isothermal calorimetry was used to confirm and quantitatively evaluate the binding affinity of some of the interacting proteins. Heat-shock protein (Hsp) 70 and Hsp27 were the strongest interactors with the inhibitor, displaying binding affinities comparable to those of Cdk2. These results support the use of IAC as a general method for the rapid identification and qualitative evaluation of the in vivo targets and potential side effects of a given drug

Stabilization of recombinant human basic fibroblast growth factor by chemical modifications of cysteine residues.

The production of recombinant human basic fibroblast growth factor (rhbFGF) in Escherichia coli cells yielded active forms of this polypeptide which, however, displayed a high degree of instability towards oxidative processes. Biochemical studies in our laboratory and those of others indicated that the reactivity of the four cysteine residues was the main cause of the observed instability. Several attempts to obtain more stable derivatives of rhbFGF were carried out by modification of the sulfhydryl groups. Among these, treatment of rhbFGF with iodoacetic acid led to the isolation of a partially carboxymethylated form (Cm-FGF). Peptide mapping analysis of the modified protein showed that two cysteines (78 and 96) were blocked by a carboxymethyl group. The remaining cysteines (34 and 101) were not modified under the conditions used and were found to be in the reduced form. Cm-FGF and unmodified rhbFGF showed similar affinity both for heparin and for high-affinity receptors. Cm-FGF was more stable than the unmodified molecule as measured by HPLC and SDS/PAGE analysis. Interestingly, Cm-FGF was more active than unmodified rhbFGF in stimulating proliferation of endothelial cells and DNA synthesis in 3T3 fibroblasts. This new derivative could represent a desirable complementation to rhbFGF for the development of more stable pharmaceutical formulations in wound healing applications