Fear and Foxes: An Educational Primer for Use with "Anterior Pituitary Transcriptome Suggests Differences in ACTH Release in Tame and Aggressive Foxes".

The way genes contribute to behavior is complicated. Although there are some single genes with large contributions, most behavioral differences are due to small effects from many interacting genes. This makes it hard to identify the genes that cause behavioral differences. Mutagenesis screens in model organisms, selective breeding experiments in animals, comparisons between related populations with different behaviors, and genome-wide association studies in humans are promising and complementary approaches to understanding the heritable aspects of complex behaviors. To connect genes to behaviors requires measuring behavioral differences, locating correlated genetic changes, determining when, where, and how these candidate genes act, and designing causative confirmatory experiments. This area of research has implications from basic discovery science to human mental health

The body and the blood: Graham Greene’s incarnational imagination

The Christian doctrine of the Incarnation is central to the “Catholic novels” of modern British author Graham Greene, as can be seen through a close reading of how he ties the physical nature of experience to a spiritual understanding of God. Indeed, Greene writes of a God who not only exists, but acts as a living being within the plot to shape events, their participants, and the nature of the world in which He acts. In the author’s view as communicated through Brighton Rock, The Power and the Glory, The Heart of the Matter, and The End of the Affair, Christ embodied as God in human form elevates the significance and potential holiness of normal human bodily experience, creating the potential for God to work His mercy and love within the corrupted earthly world. While religious themes are certainly not the only narrative aspects to be discussed in the works of Graham Greene, this analysis seeks to show the importance of evaluating Christian ideas for a deeper understanding particularly of his “Catholic novels.” As will be demonstrated, Greene relies heavily on the Christian idea of the Incarnation to frame the paradoxes of existence faced by the modern writer

Simple Guide to Research Integrity for Undergraduate Researchers

Involving undergraduates in research is valuable for their education and important for their career development, vital for science, and rewarding for supervisors. Instilling the importance of research integrity as fundamental to the advancement of knowledge may be challenging, particularly for first time trainees, as they learn the research process and their attendant responsibilities. This simple guide was developed to assist researchers who oversee the work of undergraduate trainees address basic concepts and topics. After the core values which establish the basis for the integrity of research and scholarship broadly, the ordering of concepts/topics does not represent a hierarchy; the sequence of presentation may depend on an individual’s preference. Throughout the article the term research “group” is used but “team” or “lab” might be reasonably substituted

Childhood Obesity: The Role of Health Policy

This first policy report from the CPRC and the NICHQ Childhood Obesity Action Network was released on March 18, 2008 in Miami Florida as part of the Second Childhood Obesity Congress

More than simply hanging out : The nature of participant observation and research relationships

Participant observation is a research activity used in qualitative inquiry, particularly ethnography, where the aim is to understand the meanings and experiences of social actors. Researchers employing this activity take part in people\u27s lives as a way of learning about them and their culture, and to gain understanding of social life processes. Often these activities in the field are referred to as hanging out : that is, interacting with participants in an uncontrived fashion as they go about their daily lives. Participation observation is multifaceted: participant observation is conducted within the framework of scientists\u27 own and others\u27 life worlds; participant observers try to experience the lives of others to the extent possible; researchers\u27 relationships with participants, often personally and emotionally involved, are central to success; participant observers are present in the field concurrently in multiple dimensions; the situations that settings present determine, for the most part, researchers\u27 experiences; and, as situations and participants\u27 lives unfold, so do researchers\u27 experiences. In settings, these aspects coalesce to result in many unknowns and complexities for participant observers. This study examined the lived experiences of scientists who used participant observation as a research activity. Using Seidman\u27s (1998) three-interview structure, I interviewed twelve researchers about their participant observation experiences. Two questions central to my study were what meaning do participant observers give to their participant observation experiences and to their research relationships? Phenomenology as my lens allowed me to access the complexity of this research method, particularly relationships formed for research purpose, from the perspectives of participant observers. I used van Manen\u27s (1990) empirical approach to phenomenological research that involves the interplay of the following six research activities: (1) Turning to the nature of lived experience; (2) Investigating experience as we live it; (3) Reflecting on the essential themes; (4) The art of writing and rewriting; (5) Maintaining a strong and oriented relation; and, (6) Balancing the research context by considering parts and whole. Based on my analysis of my participants\u27 accounts of their experiences, first I identify and characterize using the following terms five essential themes of participant observation arising from my participants\u27 experiences: existential, experiential, multidimensional, situational, and processual. I then describe essential themes of participant observation relationships. I identify them as having a professional/personal duality, built on commonalities, and trustful, respectful, and reciprocal. Within each theme, I describe constitutive components using my participants\u27 words wherever possible. Following, I explore implications of my findings in two areas and suggest directions for future inquiry: one area concerns the nature of participant observation and the preparation of scientists who engage in it; the second area concerns informed consent in participant observation research

The role of population pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic modelling in antimalarial chemotherapy

Despite the high rates of mortality and morbidity associated with malaria very few new antimalarial drugs are being developed. Hence there is much to be gained by optimising currently available antimalarials. Using pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic data from field trials where mefloquine was administered either alone or in combination with artesunate important information regarding optimal dosing for the clinician has been obtained. The pharmacokinetics of mefloquine were influenced relatively little, or not at all, by factors such as age, sex, or measures of acute malaria severity. Splitting the 25 mglkg dose of mefloquine monotherapy was associated with a 50% increase in oral bioavailability, and bioavailability increased by 20% for the split dose on the combination treatment. Oral bioavailability was also observed to be associated with more rapid parasite clearance, a surrogate outcome measure for cure. A mechanistic mathematical model was developed that describes the change in total parasite burden with time in vivo, in the presence of mefloquine. Estimates for the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic parameters were obtained from population modelling of pharmacokinetic and in vitro pharmacodynamic data, both derived from the same region. Model simulations confirmed that, early in the evolution of resistance, conventional assessments of the therapeutic response 28 days after treatment underestimate considerably the level of resistance. Longer follow-up is required. The model also indicates that initial deployment of a lower (l5-mglkg) dose of mefloquine provides a greater opportunity for the selection of resistant mutants and would be expected to lead more rapidly to resistance than de novo use of the higher (25-mglkg) dose. From the modelling of malaria therapy data it was observed that even in the absence of drugs the patient parasitaemia versus time profiles varied greatly between both patients and parasites. Parasite multiplication rate every 48 hours was estimated to be approximately 8 fold

Improving Nursing Attitudes Toward Suicide Prevention in the Emergency Department: the Implementation of an Adolescent Suicide Risk Screening Tool

The Center for Disease Control ranked suicide as the second leading cause of death for American adolescents (2015). This crisis of adolescent suicide warrants evaluation and improvement of current suicide prevention practices. The Emergency Department (ED) offers 24-hour services and may be the only organized healthcare for utilized by some individuals. Nurses are the front-line provider of care in the ED and this role offers opportunity to identify an adolescent with increased suicide risk. The purpose of this EBP project is to evaluate nursing attitudes toward suicide prevention by implementing the best practice screening tool for adolescent suicide risk assessment. ED nurses’ attitudes toward suicide prevention directly impacts the candor of responses from adolescents during the risk assessment. This project evaluated ED nurses’ attitudes toward suicide prevention utilizing the Attitudes to Suicide Prevention (ASP) scale which collects information specific to front-line health professionals. A mandatory class emphasized the current crisis of adolescent suicide and the best evidence recommendation for implementation of the Ask Suicide-Screening Questions (ASQ) risk assessment tool. The ASQ was implemented as a practice change to be completed by ED nurses for all adolescents seeking treatment in the ED. Evaluation of ASQ results followed one month of implementation and results were compared to previous practice data. Seven positive risk screens for adolescents seeking treatment for complaints unrelated to psychiatric or suicidal origin were identified with one month of ASQ implementation. This finding would have been unrecognized with prior practice standards. These results were relayed to staff. A post-intervention ASP survey was voluntarily completed by ED nurses to evaluate a change in nursing attitudes. With the implementation of an educational event and the successful implementation of a new screening tool, improved ED nursing attitudes toward suicide prevention were demonstrated. Results indicated a more positive staff attitude towards suicide prevention, but were not statistically significant (p \u3e .05). Data demonstrated an increase in the number of adolescents identified with an increased suicide risk. Based on these results, implementing the ASQ demonstrated an improvement in adolescent suicide risk assessment practice and nursing attitudes toward suicide prevention in the ED

Synthesis and biological evaluation of potential anti-cancer agents

The new technology of combinational chemistry has been introduced to pharmaceutical companies, improving and making more efficient the process of drug discovery. Automated combinatorial chemistry in the solution-phase has been used to prepare a large number of compounds of anti-cancer screening. A library of caffeic acid derivatives has been prepared by the Knoevenagel condensation of aldehyde and active methylene reagents. These products have been screened against two murine adenocarcinoma cell lines (MAC) which are generally refractive to standard cytotoxic agents. The target of anti-proliferative action was the 12- and 15-lipoxygenase enzymes upon which these tumour cell lines have been shown to be dependent for proliferation and metastasis. Compounds were compared to a standard lipoxygenase inhibitor and if found to be active anti-proliferative agents were tested for their general cytotoxicity and lipoxygenase inhibition. A solid-phase bound catalyst, piperazinomethyl polystyrene, was devised and prepared for the improved generation of Knoevenagel condensation products. This piperazinomethyl polystyrene was compared to the traditional liquid catalyst, piperidine, and was found to reduce the amount of by-products formed during reaction and had the advantage of easy removal from the reaction. 13C NMR has been used to determine the E/Z stereochemistry of Knoevenagel condensation products. Soluble polymers have been prepared containing different building blocks pendant to the polymer backbone. Aldehyde building blocks incorporated into the polymer structure have been subjected to the Knoevenagel condensation. Cleavage of the resultant pendant molecules has proved that soluble linear polymers have the potential to generate combinatorial mixtures of known composition for biological testing. Novel catechol derivatives have been prepared by traditional solution-phase chemistry with the intention of transferring their synthesis to a solid-phase support. Catechol derivatives prepared were found to be active inhibitors of lipoxygenase. Soluble linear supports for the preparation of these active compounds were designed and tested. The aim was to develop a support suitable for the automated synthesis of libraries of catechol derivatives for biological screening