Bayesian versus politically motivated reasoning in human perception of climate anomalies

In complex systems where humans and nature interact to produce joint outcomes, mitigation, adaptation, and resilience require that humans perceive feedback-signals of health and distress-from natural systems. In many instances, humans readily perceive feedback. In others, feedback is more difficult to perceive, so humans rely on experts, heuristics, biases, and/or identify confirming rationalities that may distort perceptions of feedback. This study explores human perception of feedback from natural systems by testing alternate conceptions about how individuals perceive climate anomalies, a form of feedback from the climate system. Results indicate that individuals generally perceive climate anomalies, especially when the anomalies are relatively extreme and persistent. Moreover, this finding is largely robust to political differences that generate predictable but small biases in feedback perception at extreme ends of the partisan spectrum. The subtlety of these biases bodes well for mitigation, adaptation, and resilience as human systems continue to interact with a changing climate system.Peer reviewedSociolog

HLA-DQA1*05 carriage associated with development of anti-drug antibodies to infliximab and adalimumab in patients with Crohn's Disease

Anti-tumor necrosis factor (anti-TNF) therapies are the most widely used biologic drugs for treating immune-mediated diseases, but repeated administration can induce the formation of anti-drug antibodies. The ability to identify patients at increased risk for development of anti-drug antibodies would facilitate selection of therapy and use of preventative strategies.This article is freely available via Open Access. Click on Publisher URL to access the full-text

Challenges in Translation: Lessons from Using Business Pedagogy to Teach Leadership in Undergraduate Medicine

Problem: Leadership is increasingly recognized as a core physician competency required for quality patient care, continual system improvement, and optimal healthcare team performance. Consequently, integration of leadership into medical school curriculum is becoming a priority. This raises the question of the appropriate context, timing, and pedagogy for conveying this competency to medical students. Intervention: Our program introduced a 1-week leadership course grounded in business pedagogy to Year 1 medical students. The curriculum centred on four themes: (a) Understanding Change, (b) Effective Teamwork, (c) Leading in Patient Safety, and (d) Leadership in Action. Post-curriculum qualitative student feedback was analyzed for insight into student satisfaction and attitude towards the leadership course content. Context: The Undergraduate Medical Education program of the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, Western University, is delivered over 4 years across 2 campuses in London and Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Course structure moved from traditional passive lectures to established business pedagogy, which involves active engagement in modules, case-based discussions, insights from guest speakers, and personal reflection. Outcome: A student-led survey evaluated student opinion regarding the leadership course content. Students valued career development reading materials and insights from guest speakers working in healthcare teams. Students did not relate to messages from speakers in senior healthcare leadership positions. Course scheduling late in the second semester was viewed negatively. Overall student opinion suggested that the 1-week course was suboptimal for establishing leadership principles and translated business pedagogy was ineffective in this context. Lessons Learned: Leadership curriculum in Undergraduate Medical Education should be grounded in a healthcare context relevant to the student\u27s stage of training. Student engagement may be better supported if leadership is framed as a competency throughout their career. Schools considering such innovations could draw lessons from other professional schools and utilize material and faculty that resonate with students

Mapping and validation of QTL which confer partial resistance to broadly virulent post-2000 North American races of stripe rust in hexaploid wheat

A mapping population of 186 recombinant inbred lines developed from a cross between UC1110, an adapted California spring wheat, and PI610750, a synthetic derivative from CIMMYT’s Wide Cross Program, was evaluated for its response to current California races of stripe rust (Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici) in replicated field trials over four seasons (2007–2010) in the northern Sacramento Valley. A genetic map was constructed consisting of 1,494 polymorphic probes (SSRs, DArTs, and ESTs) mapped to 558 unique loci, and QTL analysis revealed the presence of four stripe rust resistance QTL segregating in this population, two from UC1110 (on chromosomes 3BS and 2BS) and two from PI610750 (5AL and 2AS). The two QTL of largest effects (on 3BS and 5AL) were validated in independent populations and their intervals narrowed to 2.5 and 5.3 cM, respectively. The 3BS QTL was shown, by allelism test and genotype, to carry a gene different from the Yr30/Sr2 complex. Mapped position also suggests that the 3BS QTL is associated with a gene different from either Yrns-B1 or YrRub, two stripe rust resistance genes mapped to this region in other studies. The 5AL QTL carries a previously unreported partial stripe rust resistance gene, designated here as Yr48. This paper discusses the individual contributions to resistance of these four QTL, their epistatic interactions, and their potential in durable resistance breeding strategies based on combinations of partial resistance genes