Examination Feedback

This project focussed on exploring types of examination feedback. The project brought together key stakeholders from UPSU, students, academic and educational development staff. The aim was to consider perceptions, experiences, expectations and practical considerations of different feedback models to inform the development of an institutional wide examination feedback toolkit. Staff in two academic disciplines, Law and Sociology piloted different formats of examination feedback.TFA

Model-based optimization of antibody galactosylation in CHO cell culture

Exerting control over the glycan moieties of antibody therapeutics is highly desirable from a product safety and batch-to-batch consistency perspective. Strategies to improve antibody productivity may compromise quality, while interventions for improving glycoform distribution can adversely affect cell growth and productivity. Process design therefore needs to consider the trade-off between preserving cellular health and productivity while enhancing antibody quality. In this work, we present a modeling platform that quantifies the impact of glycosylation precursor feeding - specifically that of galactose and uridine - on cellular growth, metabolism as well as antibody productivity and glycoform distribution. The platform has been parameterized using an initial training data set yielding an accuracy of ±5% with respect to glycoform distribution. It was then used to design an optimized feeding strategy that enhances the final concentration of galactosylated antibody in the supernatant by over 90% compared with the control without compromising the integral of viable cell density or final antibody titer. This work supports the implementation of Quality by Design towards higher-performing bioprocesses

Reliability of medical students' vaccination histories for immunisable diseases

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Medical students come into contact with infectious diseases early on their career. Immunity against vaccine-preventable diseases is therefore vital for both medical students and the patients with whom they come into contact.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The purpose of this study was to compare the medical history and serological status of selected vaccine-preventable diseases of medical students in Germany.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The overall correlation between self-reported medical history statements and serological findings among the 150 students studied was 86.7 %, 66.7 %, 78 % and 93.3 % for measles, mumps, rubella and varicella, conditional on sufficient immunity being achieved after one vaccination. Although 81.2 % of the students' medical history data correlated with serological findings, significant gaps in immunity were found.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our findings indicate that medical history alone is not a reliable screening tool for immunity against the vaccine-preventable diseases studied.</p

Psychological distress in cancer patients assessed with an expert rating scale

The purpose of this study was to investigate psychosocial stress in a large sample of cancer patients using an expert rating scale. Specific aims were to analyse the relevance of setting variables (type of clinic, contact initiative, therapy) and gender. A total of 6365 patients were assessed in 105 institutions. Univariate and multivariate statistical analysis of setting variables indicated that patients treated in palliative care settings showed highest distress scores compared to patients recruited from hospitals and outpatient clinics (P<0.001). Significant differences were also found for contact initiative (P<0.001); lowest distress was found in patients who were recruited by routine contact. Patients who asked for psychosocial support or who were recruited by the medical staff showed the highest distress scores. The analysis of therapy groups showed that patients receiving radiotherapy or surgery were not more distressed than patients without therapy. The most distressing treatment was chemotherapy. Gender had differential effects on clinic type (P<0.001) and contact initiative (P<0.001) but not on treatment and diagnosis. Expert rating scales are an important complement for self-assessment questionnaires to evaluate psychological distress of cancer patients in psychosocial studies as well as in routine medical care

Quantifying Microstructural Evolution in Moving Magma

Many of the grand challenges in volcanic and magmatic research are focused on understanding the dynamics of highly heterogeneous systems and the critical conditions that enable magmas to move or eruptions to initiate. From the formation and development of magma reservoirs, through propagation and arrest of magma, to the conditions in the conduit, gas escape, eruption dynamics, and beyond into the environmental impacts of that eruption, we are trying to define how processes occur, their rates and timings, and their causes and consequences. However, we are usually unable to observe the processes directly. Here we give a short synopsis of the new capabilities and highlight the potential insights that in situ observation can provide. We present the XRheo and Pele furnace experimental apparatus and analytical toolkit for the in situ X-ray tomography-based quantification of magmatic microstructural evolution during rheological testing. We present the first 3D data showing the evolving textural heterogeneity within a shearing magma, highlighting the dynamic changes to microstructure that occur from the initiation of shear, and the variability of the microstructural response to that shear as deformation progresses. The particular shear experiments highlighted here focus on the effect of shear on bubble coalescence with a view to shedding light on both magma transport and fragmentation processes. The XRheo system is intended to help us understand the microstructural controls on the complex and non-Newtonian evolution of magma rheology, and is therefore used to elucidate the many mobilization, transport, and eruption phenomena controlled by the rheological evolution of a multi-phase magmatic flows. The detailed, in situ characterization of sample textures presented here therefore represents the opening of a new field for the accurate parameterization of dynamic microstructural control on rheological behavior

The Opdc missense mutation of Pax2 has a milder than loss-of-function phenotype

Renal-coloboma syndrome, also known as papillorenal syndrome, is an autosomal dominant human disorder in which optic disc coloboma is associated with kidney abnormalities. Mutations in the paired domain transcription factor PAX2 have been found to be the underlying cause of this disease. Disease severity varies between patients, and in some cases, renal hypoplasia has been found in the absence of any retinal defects. Here we report an N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea-induced mouse mutation, Opdc, which is an isoleucinetothreonine missense mutation, I40T, in the first α-helix of the Pax2 paired domain. The mutant protein binds target DNA sequences less strongly than the wild-type protein and acts poorly to transactivate target promoters in culture. The phenotypic consequence of this mutation on the development of the eye and ear is similar to that reported for null alleles of Pax2. However, in homozygotes, cerebellar development is normal on a genetic background in which loss of Pax2 results in failure of cerebellar formation. Moreover, there is a genetic background effect on the heterozygous phenotype such that on some strain backgrounds, kidney development is unaffected. Opdc is the first hypomorphic mutation reported for Pax2 that differs in phenotype from loss-of-function mutations. These results suggest that PAX2 is a strong candidate gene for cases in which human patients have optic disc coloboma not associated with renal dysplasia

Tobacco cessation Clinical Practice Guideline use by rural and urban hospital nurses: a pre-implementation needs assessment

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>This study was a pre-program evaluation of hospital-based nurses' tobacco intervention beliefs, confidence, training, practice, and perceived intervention barriers and facilitators. It was designed to identify relevant information prior to implementing tobacco cessation guidelines across a large northern rural region, home to 1 urban and 12 rural hospitals.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This cross-sectional survey was distributed by nurse managers to nurses in the 13 hospitals and returned by nurses (N = 269) via mail to the researchers.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Nurses were somewhat confident providing cessation interventions, agreed they should educate patients about tobacco, and 94% perceived tobacco counselling as part of their role. Although only 11% had received cessation training, the majority reported intervening, even if seldom--91% asked about tobacco-use, 96% advised quitting, 89% assessed readiness to quit, 88% assisted with quitting, and 61% arranged post-discharge follow-up. Few performed any of these steps frequently, and among those who intervened, the majority spent < 10 minutes. The most frequently performed activities tended to take the least amount of time, while the more complex activities (e.g., teaching coping skills and pharmacotherapy education) were seldom performed. Patient-related factors (quitting benefits and motivation) encouraged nurses to intervene and work-related factors discouraged them (time and workloads). There were significant rural-urban differences--more rural nurses perceived intervening as part of their role, reported having more systems in place to support cessation, reported higher confidence for intervening, and more frequently assisted patients with quitting and arranged follow-up.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The findings showed nurses' willingness to engage in tobacco interventions. What the majority were doing maps onto the recommended minimum of 1-3 minutes but intervention frequency and follow-up were suboptimal. The rural-urban differences suggest a need for more research to explore the strengths of rural practice which could potentially inform approaches to smoking cessation in urban hospitals.</p

Mediator Acts Upstream of the Transcriptional Activator Gal4

We show that Mediator, a protein originally isolated on the basis of its ability to respond to transcriptional activators, and thought to be regulated by an activator, can also be the master that controls the activator

Studies on CuCe0.75Zr0.25Ox preparation using bacterial cellulose and its application in toluene complete oxidation

A series of CuCe0.75Zr0.25Ox catalysts (CCZ) were synthesized based on the environmental‐friendly bacterial cellulose (BC) by using the sol‐gel method. The corresponding synthesis mechanism, physicochemical properties of the catalysts and catalytic performances for toluene oxidation were comprehensively studied. In the presence of BC without sugar, the CCZ−A synthesized by ethanol‐gel exhibits better catalytic activity than the CCZ−W synthesized by water‐gel, which may be due to the different roles of BC in different solvents. However, it is worth noting that the graft copolymerization between BC and active metal (Ce4+, Cu2+) is the same process in both water‐gel and ethanol‐gel. The activity of CCZ‐SW synthesized by water‐gel using BC with sugar is obviously higher than that of CCZ−W and CCZ−A. The temperature of complete degradation of toluene over CCZ‐SW is 205 °C, which is 35 °C lower than that of CCZ−W. The results from BET, Raman and H2‐TPR indicate that the larger the specific surface area, the more oxygen vacancies and better low‐temperature reducibility, that are mainly responsible for the excellent activity of CCZ‐SW. The existence of sugar in BC could hinder the agglomeration of active metal particles during the calcination process. Combined with the results of in situ DRIFT, the adsorbed toluene on the catalyst surface is oxidized into alkoxide, aldehydic and carboxylic acid species as intermediates before the complete oxidation into CO2 and H2O.