Assessing Peer Mentor Skill Development in Participating in a Novel Medical Student Mentoring Initiative

BackgroundLearning communities in medical schools create a bridge for senior students to engage with junior peers, providing advice and support as mentors. In this process, mentors are likely to gain skills in communication, empathy, and leadership - well received traits for residency. Methods We aim to elucidate an objective measure of mentor growth and development during the mentorship program. We will evaluate opinions on the program\u27s ability to foster professional attributes including leadership, communication, and empathy; determining features that benefit them while assessing for paradigms of improvement. We will survey 24 M2-students through self-rated queries on a Likert scale. This survey will be administered to mentors at two time-points: half-way and at the end of the program. Results From the mid-point survey, 22 out of 24 total mentors responded. Most mentors feel satisfied with the support that they receive from the program, specifically with the time commitment while not feeling overwhelmed with their duties. Finally, mentors find an importance in building mentee confidence and helping mentees to meet their goals, but most do not feel skilled at this. Conclusion The survey results provide valuable insight regarding mentors’ personal and professional development. We identified mentors’ needs for increased support. In a follow-up study, we will assess how the program can develop educational interventions to aid mentors in developing abilities to communicate, lead, and mentor. We additionally hope to establish a rigorous quality-assessment tool to be used year-over-year in assessing program development while also defining avenues to improve mentors’ professional development

Learning Community Student-Resident Physician Mentorship

Wayne State University School of Medicine (WSUSOM) in 2018 formed Learning Communities (LCs), that facilitate student engagement, comradery, and mentoring. These programs include medical student-premed, near-peer, and faculty/attending mentorships. There has been an identified gap in mentorship between near-peer and faculty/attending mentorship, and that is near-peer mentors at WSUSOM have yet to complete the residency process to guide other students through it. Moreover, faculty/attending mentors are more removed from residency and may not have relevant advice for students. As resident physicians are recent graduates, they are more likely to provide relevant insight about residency applications, academic challenges, and efficiency than attendings. We aim to assess the extent of the gap between faculty/attending and peer mentorships. MS4 at WSUSOM (N=33) self-reported their: confidence in transitioning to residency; the gaps they believe such mentorship will fill; and whether they, themselves, would participate in an MS-resident fellowship program. Results indicated that MS4s feel somewhat confident in their abilities to transition to residency. They believe that a resident-MS mentorship would help in the interview and application process, as well as, the residency program choosing process. Furthermore, if given the opportunity, all the students would consider joining the program. We hope to implement a student-resident mentorship program, to reassure students on their journey to residency

Evidence-Based Umbrella Review of 162 Peripheral Biomarkers for Major Mental Disorders

The literature on non-genetic peripheral biomarkers for major mental disorders is broad, with conflicting results. An umbrella review of meta-analyses of non-genetic peripheral biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease, autism spectrum disorder, bipolar disorder (BD), major depressive disorder, and schizophrenia, including first-episode psychosis. We included meta-analyses that compared alterations in peripheral biomarkers between participants with mental disorders to controls (i.e., between-group meta-analyses) and that assessed biomarkers after treatment (i.e., within-group meta-analyses). Evidence for association was hierarchically graded using a priori defined criteria against several biases. The Assessment of Multiple Systematic Reviews (AMSTAR) instrument was used to investigate study quality. 1161 references were screened. 110 met inclusion criteria, relating to 359 meta-analytic estimates and 733,316 measurements, on 162 different biomarkers. Only two estimates met a priori defined criteria for convincing evidence (elevated awakening cortisol levels in euthymic BD participants relative to controls and decreased pyridoxal levels in participants with schizophrenia relative to controls). Of 42 estimates which met criteria for highly suggestive evidence only five biomarker aberrations occurred in more than one disorder. Only 15 meta-analyses had a power >0.8 to detect a small effect size, and most (81.9%) meta-analyses had high heterogeneity. Although some associations met criteria for either convincing or highly suggestive evidence, overall the vast literature of peripheral biomarkers for major mental disorders is affected by bias and is underpowered. No convincing evidence supported the existence of a trans-diagnostic biomarker. Adequately powered and methodologically sound future large collaborative studies are warranted

Writing settlement after Idle No More: non-indigenous responses in Anglo-Canadian poetry

This article examines the representation of settlement in Canada in the wake of Idle No More in recent Anglo-Canadian literature. It argues that Idle No More engendered a new vocabulary for settler-invader citizens to position themselves in relation to this Indigenous movement, with non-Indigenous Canadians self-identifying as “settlers” and “allies” as a means of both orienting themselves with respect to Indigenous resistance to the settler-invader nation-state and signalling an attempted solidarity with Idle No More that would not lapse into appropriation. Four very different poetic texts by non-Indigenous authors demonstrate this reconsideration of settlement in the wake of Idle No More: Arleen Paré’s Lake of Two Mountains (2014); Rachel Zolf’s Janey’s Arcadia (2014); Rita Wong’s undercurrent (2015); and Shane Rhodes’s X (2013). Although only the latter two of these collections make explicit reference to Idle No More, all four of these texts engage with historical and current colonialisms, relationships to land and water, and relationships between Indigenous peoples and settler-invaders, providing examples of new understandings and representations of (neo)colonial settlement in post-Idle No More Canada

Investigating Nutritional Status in Moderate to Severe Alzheimer's Disease Patients Enrolled in a Randomized Controlled Trial with Nabilone

Nutritional status is of great clinical significance in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) patients as malnutrition can increase risk of morbidity, mortality and severity of neuropsychiatric symptoms. Due to a lack of pharmacological treatments for malnutrition, we investigate the use of nabilone, a synthetic cannabinoid, for the improvement of nutritional status. Patients were recruited from a clinical trial in AD patients with clinically significant agitation. Patients treated with nabilone did not have improved nutritional status over time as assessed by the Mini Nutritional Assessment-Short Form (b=-0.020 (95%CI -0.27 to 0.23), p=0.87) and body mass index (b=0.020 (95%CI -0.13 to 0.17), p=0.79). Safety outcomes did not significantly differ with respect to nutrition for patients receiving nabilone treatment. By identifying efficacious interventions to manage nutrition in an at-risk population, there may be potential to improve quality of life for AD patients.M.Sc

Purification of huntingtin domain constructs (2016/06/03)

Huntingtin structure-function open lab notebook projec

The Effect of Exercise Training on Resting Concentrations of Peripheral Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF): A Meta-Analysis

<div><p>Background</p><p>The mechanisms through which physical activity supports healthy brain function remain to be elucidated. One hypothesis suggests that increased brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) mediates some cognitive and mood benefits. This meta-analysis sought to determine the effect of exercise training on resting concentrations of BDNF in peripheral blood.</p><p>Methods</p><p>MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, SPORTDiscus, Rehabilitation & Sports Medicine Source, and CINAHL databases were searched for original, peer-reviewed reports of peripheral blood BDNF concentrations before and after exercise interventions ≥ 2 weeks. Risk of bias was assessed using standardized criteria. Standardized mean differences (SMDs) were generated from random effects models. Risk of publication bias was assessed using funnel plots and Egger’s test. Potential sources of heterogeneity were explored in subgroup analyses.</p><p>Results</p><p>In 29 studies that met inclusion criteria, resting concentrations of peripheral blood BDNF were higher after intervention (SMD = 0.39, 95% CI: 0.17–0.60, p < 0.001). Subgroup analyses suggested a significant effect in aerobic (SMD = 0.66, 95% CI: 0.33–0.99, p < 0.001) but not resistance training (SMD = 0.07, 95% CI: -0.15–0.30, p = 0.52) interventions. No significant difference in effect was observed between males and females, nor in serum vs plasma.</p><p>Conclusion</p><p>Aerobic but not resistance training interventions increased resting BDNF concentrations in peripheral blood.</p></div