Promoting Access to Science Careers: Training Faculty to Teach Professional Development and Research Ethics

In the United States, graduate programs in the biomedical sciences are designed to provide individuals with the training necessary to pursue an independent career in research. The curriculum typically involves a combination of coursework, in which students obtain depth and breadth in the subject matter of their discipline, as well as extensive practical experience planning, conducting, and analyzing original research. However, in order for individuals to develop into successful professionals, there is an additional set of abilities they need to cultivate: they must develop a set of general professional skills, including the ability to publish their work, give research seminars and other types of oral presentations, obtain employment and secure funding, balance multiple responsibilities, and behave responsibly. Traditionally this information has been transmitted primarily through interactions between a student and their advisor or mentor. However, this seems inefficient, at best, and it places a disproportionate burden on women, minorities, and first-generation professionals, who often have less access to mentoring than their male counterparts. Since 1995, the Survival Skills and Ethics Program at the University of Pittsburgh has offered an annual conference designed to prepare faculty to implement courses on these essential skills. A follow-up survey of participants (1995-2003) was conducted in 2004; the aims were to determine what instruction had been implemented, ascertain the barriers to implementation, and examine how much participants felt the conference contributed to their abilities to provide the training. The instruction implemented varied widely in terms of the duration and the number of students taught; on average, participants provided 37 hr of instruction to 87 students annually. Finding time to devote to teaching was, by far, the greatest barrier to participants implementing courses in professional skills and ethics. Most participants felt that the conference significantly enhanced their ability to provide such instruction. In sum, these data indicate that this trainer-of-trainers program was an effective mechanism for disseminating a curriculum designed to promote the socialization of students to the practice of science. These results have implications for optimizing trainer-of-trainer programs and reducing barriers to the implementation of instruction in professional development and the responsible conduct of research

Teaching responsible conduct responsibly.

The advancement of science requires trust – trust in the literature, in our collaborators, in the data we are handed, and most of all in ourselves. Policies issued by U.S. federal funding agencies (e.g., the National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation) have been valuable in prompting institutions to initiate formal mechanisms for providing instruction in the responsible conduct of research (RCR). However, the guidelines vary greatly in scope, detail, and the types of individuals to which they apply. Unfortunately, at many institutions, the provision of RCR instruction has become a bureaucratic exercise aimed at fulfilling a regulatory requirement, instead of an activity optimized for promoting a climate of integrity. We argue that for RCR instruction to be effective it should (1) be provided to everyone involved in the research enterprise, be they students, trainees, faculty, or staff, (2) be infused throughout one’s time at an institution. For graduate students, that would include from orientation to thesis completion, including integration into all “core classes” within their discipline, as well as into discussions at research group meetings. (3) We also advocate that the bulk of the instruction should be provided primarily by active researchers who know the issues and have relevance to, and credibly with, those being taught, and (4) that the instruction actively engages the learners. Not only will we be providing RCR instruction in a much more optimized manner, such an approach also emphasizes through our actions, not just in words, that behaving responsibly is an essential skill for researchers

Toward a Climate of Scientific Integrity

A review of the new edition of Macrina's "Scientific integrity: Text and cases in responsible conduct of research" highlights the continuing need for teaching ethical guidelines to young researchers

Introductory comments for the scientific ethics theme.

In this letter, the three Guest Editors for JMBE's first-ever themed section introduce the topic of scientific ethics and decribe the organization of essays within the special section.\u

Parkinson's disease biomarkers: perspective from the NINDS Parkinson's Disease Biomarkers Program

Biomarkers for Parkinson's disease (PD) diagnosis, prognostication and clinical trial cohort selection are an urgent need. While many promising markers have been discovered through the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke Parkinson's Disease Biomarker Program (PDBP) and other mechanisms, no single PD marker or set of markers are ready for clinical use. Here we discuss the current state of biomarker discovery for platforms relevant to PDBP. We discuss the role of the PDBP in PD biomarker identification and present guidelines to facilitate their development. These guidelines include: harmonizing procedures for biofluid acquisition and clinical assessments, replication of the most promising biomarkers, support and encouragement of publications that report negative findings, longitudinal follow-up of current cohorts including the PDBP, testing of wearable technologies to capture readouts between study visits and development of recently diagnosed (de novo) cohorts to foster identification of the earliest markers of disease onset

Associations Between Social Capital and Depressive Symptoms Among College Students in 12 Countries: Results of a Cross-National Study

Backhaus I, Ramirez Varela A, Khoo S, et al. Associations Between Social Capital and Depressive Symptoms Among College Students in 12 Countries: Results of a Cross-National Study. Frontiers in Psychology. 2020;11: 644.Introduction: A mental health crisis has hit university campuses across the world. This study sought to determine the prevalence and social determinants of depressive symptoms among university students in twelve countries. Particular focus was placed on the association between social capital and depressive symptoms. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among students at their first year at university in Europe, Asia, the Western Pacific, and Latin and North America. Data were obtained through a self-administered questionnaire, including questions on sociodemographic characteristics, depressive symptoms, and social capital. The simplified Beck’s Depression Inventory was used to measure the severity of depressive symptoms. Social capital was assessed using items drawn from the World Bank Integrated Questionnaire to Measure Social Capital. Multilevel analyses were conducted to determine the relationship between social capital and depressive symptoms, adjusting for individual covariates (e.g., perceived stress) and country-level characteristics (e.g., economic development). Results: Among 4228 students, 48% presented clinically relevant depressive symptoms. Lower levels of cognitive (OR: 1.82, 95% CI: 1.44–2.29) and behavioral social capital (OR: 1.51, 95% CI: 1.29–1.76) were significantly associated with depressive symptoms. The likelihood of having depressive symptoms was also significantly higher among those living in regions with lower levels of social capital. Conclusion: The study demonstrates that lower levels of individual and macro-level social capital contribute to clinically relevant depressive symptoms among university students. Increasing social capital may mitigate depressive symptoms in college students

Randomized trial examining the effect of exercise and wellness interventions on preventing postpartum depression and perceived stress

Background Approximately 13–19% of postpartum women experience postpartum depression and a majority report at least some stress during the postpartum phase. Traditional interventions such as psychotherapy and antidepressant medications are often not feasible or desirable. The purpose of this study was to examine two low cost, brief, accessible interventions designed to prevent postpartum depression and perceived stress among women at high risk. Methods Participants (n = 450) who were on average four weeks postpartum, had a history of depression before pregnancy, and exercised less than 60 min per week were randomly assigned to one of the following three conditions: (1) 6-month telephone-based exercise intervention; (2) 6-month telephone-based wellness/support intervention (e.g., healthy eating, sleep, and perceived stress); or (3) usual care. Results Overall, 2.4% of participants met criteria for depression at 6 months and 3.6% at 9 months with no differences between groups. At 6 months following randomization, median symptoms of depression were significantly lower among wellness participants compared to usual care participants (b = − 1.00, SE = 0.46, p = .03). Perceived stress at 6 months post-randomization was significantly lower among exercise vs. usual care participants (b = − 2.00, SE = .98, p = .04) and exercise vs. wellness participants (b = − 2.20, SE = 1.11, p = .04). Conclusions The wellness intervention was efficacious for preventing symptoms of depression; however, postpartum depression that met the diagnostic criteria was surprisingly low in all conditions among this at risk sample of postpartum women. Exercise interventions may have a protective effect on perceived stress among women at risk for postpartum depression. Practitioners should consider integrating exercise and wellness interventions into postpartum care. Trial registration Clinical Trials Number: NCT01883479 (06/21/2013)

The INF Treaty of 1987

Der von Ronald Reagan und Michail Gorbatschow am 8. Dezember 1987 unterzeichnete »Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty«, kurz INF-Vertrag, stellte einen Meilenstein der nuklearen Abrüstungsverhandlungen zwischen den Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika und der Sowjetunion dar. Im Jahr 2019 wurde er von Russland und den USA gekündigt. Der englischsprachige Band untersucht die Vorgeschichte des Abkommens, dessen Implementierung und Folgen sowohl in den beiden Supermächten als auch in den mit ihnen verbündeten Staaten. Er ist damit die erste umfassende Darstellung eines der wichtigsten Abrüstungsabkommen der jüngsten Zeit

Ad Libitum Choline Intake in Healthy Individuals Meets or Exceeds the Proposed Adequate Intake Level

Choline is an essential nutrient for humans that is used to synthesize membrane phospholipids and the neurotransmitter acetylcholine. Betaine, a metabolite of choline, functions as a methylgroup donor in the conversion of homocysteine to methionine, and is important for renal function. Accurate analysis of choline intake was previously not possible because the choline content of most foods was not known. Using new and recently published data on the concentrations of choline in common foods, we measured the choline content of diets consumed ad libitum by healthy adult volunteers housed in a clinical research center and compared these with estimates of choline intake derived from 3-d food records kept by subjects immediately before study enrollment. Mean choline intake in this subject population met or slightly exceeded the current Adequate Intake (AI) of 7 mg/(kg · d) set by the Institute of Medicine. Men and women consumed similar amounts of choline per day (8.4 and. 6.7 mg/kg, respectively; P = 0.11). Choline intakes estimated from the 3-d food records were significantly lower than this (when expressed as mg/kg, or as total mg, but not when normalized to energy intake), suggesting underreporting of food intake. Intake of betaine, which may spare choline utilization as a methylgroup donor, was 5.3 mg/(kg · d) in men and 4.7 mg/(kg · d) in women. Intake of folate, vitamin B-12, and methionine + cysteine, were similar and sufficient in all subjects. The current recommended AI for choline seems to be a good approximation of the actual intake of this nutrient