Interdisciplinary Teamwork: Student Differences and Teaching Implications

Teamwork with individuals from multiple disciplines is recognized as a significant skill necessary for professional employment. While a variety of teaching methods for students in health care professions have been investigated and found to be generally effective in improving interdisciplinary team skills, one field - health administration - has not been included in these studies. The research presented here used two standardized instruments (with seven distinct subscales) to compare perceptions of health care administration students and clinical students regarding interdisciplinary teamwork. Three attitudes toward interdisciplinary health care teams were similar among all students - shared leadership, perceived need for cooperation, and understanding others’ values. Significant differences between administration and clinical students were found in four areas. Health administration students exhibited lower scores for: 1) believing in the value of teamwork, 2) recognizing teamwork efficiency, 3) believing their profession was perceived as competent by other health care professionals, and 4) recognizing their own lack of cooperation in teamwork. These findings reveal the diverse cultures among health care professionals and invite educators to consider the diversity of their students when implementing interdisciplinary team-teaching techniques and methods

Gendered prices

We provide evidence that culture is a source of pricing bias. In a sample of 1.9 million auction transactions in 49 countries, paintings by female artists sell at an unconditional discount of 42.1%. The gender discount increases with measures of country-level gender inequality—even in artist fixed effects regressions. Our results are robust to accounting for potential gender differences in art characteristics and their liquidity. Evidence from two experiments supports the argument that women's art may sell for less because it is made by women. However, the gender discount reduces over time as gender equality increases

Agent based modelling helps in understanding the rules by which fibroblasts support keratinocyte colony formation

Background: Autologous keratincoytes are routinely expanded using irradiated mouse fibroblasts and bovine serum for clinical use. With growing concerns about the safety of these xenobiotic materials, it is desirable to culture keratinocytes in media without animal derived products. An improved understanding of epithelial/mesenchymal interactions could assist in this. Methodology/Principal Findings: A keratincyte/fibroblast o-culture model was developed by extending an agent-based keratinocyte colony formation model to include the response of keratinocytes to both fibroblasts and serum. The model was validated by comparison of the in virtuo and in vitro multicellular behaviour of keratinocytes and fibroblasts in single and co-culture in Greens medium. To test the robustness of the model, several properties of the fibroblasts were changed to investigate their influence on the multicellular morphogenesis of keratinocyes and fibroblasts. The model was then used to generate hypotheses to explore the interactions of both proliferative and growth arrested fibroblasts with keratinocytes. The key predictions arising from the model which were confirmed by in vitro experiments were that 1) the ratio of fibroblasts to keratinocytes would critically influence keratinocyte colony expansion, 2) this ratio needed to be optimum at the beginning of the co-culture, 3) proliferative fibroblasts would be more effective than irradiated cells in expanding keratinocytes and 4) in the presence of an adequate number of fibroblasts, keratinocyte expansion would be independent of serum. Conclusions: A closely associated computational and biological approach is a powerful tool for understanding complex biological systems such as the interactions between keratinocytes and fibroblasts. The key outcome of this study is the finding that the early addition of a critical ratio of proliferative fibroblasts can give rapid keratinocyte expansion without the use of irradiated mouse fibroblasts and bovine serum

Dendritic Morphology Predicts Pattern Recognition Performance in Multi-compartmental Model Neurons with and without Active Conductances

This is an Open Access article published under the Creative Commons Attribution license CC BY 4.0 which allows users to read, copy, distribute and make derivative works, as long as the author of the original work is citedIn this paper we examine how a neuron’s dendritic morphology can affect its pattern recognition performance. We use two different algorithms to systematically explore the space of dendritic morphologies: an algorithm that generates all possible dendritic trees with 22 terminal points, and one that creates representative samples of trees with 128 terminal points. Based on these trees, we construct multi-compartmental models. To assess the performance of the resulting neuronal models, we quantify their ability to discriminate learnt and novel input patterns. We find that the dendritic morphology does have a considerable effect on pattern recognition performance and that the neuronal performance is inversely correlated with the mean depth of the dendritic tree. The results also reveal that the asymmetry index of the dendritic tree does not correlate with the performance for the full range of tree morphologies. The performance of neurons with dendritic tapering is best predicted by the mean and variance of the electrotonic distance of their synapses to the soma. All relationships found for passive neuron models also hold, even in more accentuated form, for neurons with active membranesPeer reviewedFinal Published versio

Depth-specific fluctuations of gene expression and protein abundance modulate the photophysiology in the seagrass Posidonia oceanica

Here we present the results of a multiple organizational level analysis conceived to identify acclimative/adaptive strategies exhibited by the seagrass Posidonia oceanica to the daily fluctuations in the light environment, at contrasting depths. We assessed changes in photophysiological parameters, leaf respiration, pigments, and protein and mRNA expression levels. The results show that the diel oscillations of P. oceanica photophysiological and respiratory responses were related to transcripts and proteins expression of the genes involved in those processes and that there was a response asynchrony between shallow and deep plants probably caused by the strong differences in the light environment. The photochemical pathway of energy use was more effective in shallow plants due to higher light availability, but these plants needed more investment in photoprotection and photorepair, requiring higher translation and protein synthesis than deep plants. The genetic differentiation between deep and shallow stands suggests the existence of locally adapted genotypes to contrasting light environments. The depth-specific diel rhythms of photosynthetic and respiratory processes, from molecular to physiological levels, must be considered in the management and conservation of these key coastal ecosystems.Portuguese funds from FCT - Foundation for Science and Technology [UID/Multi/04326/2013]; SZN PhD fellowship via the Open University; ESF COST Action Seagrass Productivity: From Genes to Ecosystem Management [ES0906]info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The Wnt Receptor, Lrp5, Is Expressed by Mouse Mammary Stem Cells and Is Required to Maintain the Basal Lineage

Background: Ectopic Wnt signaling induces increased stem/progenitor cell activity in the mouse mammary gland, followed by tumor development. The Wnt signaling receptors, Lrp5/6, are uniquely required for canonical Wnt activity. Previous data has shown that the absence of Lrp5 confers resistance to Wnt1-induced tumor development. Methodology/Principal Findings: Here, we show that all basal mammary cells express Lrp5, and co-express Lrp6 in a similar fashion. Though Wnt dependent transcription of key target genes is relatively unchanged in mammary epithelial cell cultures, the absence of Lrp5 specifically depletes adult regenerative stem cell activity (to less than 1%). Stem cell activity can be enriched by.200 fold (over 80 % of activity), based on high Lrp5 expression alone. Though Lrp5 null glands have apparent normal function, the basal lineage is relatively reduced (from 42 % basal/total epithelial cells to 22%) and Lrp52/2 mammary epithelial cells show enhanced expression of senescence-associated markers in vitro, as measured by expression of p16 Ink4a and TA-p63. Conclusions/Significance: This is the first single biomarker that has been demonstrated to be functionally involved in stem cell maintenance. Together, these results demonstrate that Wnt signaling through Lrp5 is an important component o

Australian chiropractic sports medicine: half way there or living on a prayer?

Sports chiropractic within Australia has a chequered historical background of unorthodox individualistic displays of egocentric treatment approaches that emphasise specific technique preference and individual prowess rather than standardised evidence based management. This situation has changed in recent years with the acceptance of many within sports chiropractic to operate under an evidence informed banner and to embrace a research culture. Despite recent developments within the sports chiropractic movement, the profession is still plagued by a minority of practitioners continuing to espouse certain marginal and outlandish technique systems that beleaguer the mainstream core of sports chiropractic as a cohesive and homogeneous group. Modern chiropractic management is frequently multimodal in nature and incorporates components of passive and active care. Such management typically incorporates spinal and peripheral manipulation, mobilisation, soft tissue techniques, rehabilitation and therapeutic exercises. Externally, sports chiropractic has faced hurdles too, with a lack of recognition and acceptance by organized and orthodox sports medical groups. Whilst some arguments against the inclusion of chiropractic may be legitimate due to its historical baggage, much of the argument appears to be anti-competitive, insecure and driven by a closed-shop mentality.sequently, chiropractic as a profession still remains a pariah to the organised sports medicine world. Add to this an uncertain continuing education system, a lack of protection for the title 'sports chiropractor', a lack of a recognized specialist status and a lack of support from traditional chiropractic, the challenges for the growth and acceptance of the sports chiropractor are considerable. This article outlines the historical and current challenges, both internal and external, faced by sports chiropractic within Australia and proposes positive changes that will assist in recognition and inclusion of sports chiropractic in both chiropractic and multi-disciplinary sports medicine alike

Detailed Analysis of a Contiguous 22-Mb Region of the Maize Genome

Most of our understanding of plant genome structure and evolution has come from the careful annotation of small (e.g., 100 kb) sequenced genomic regions or from automated annotation of complete genome sequences. Here, we sequenced and carefully annotated a contiguous 22 Mb region of maize chromosome 4 using an improved pseudomolecule for annotation. The sequence segment was comprehensively ordered, oriented, and confirmed using the maize optical map. Nearly 84% of the sequence is composed of transposable elements (TEs) that are mostly nested within each other, of which most families are low-copy. We identified 544 gene models using multiple levels of evidence, as well as five miRNA genes. Gene fragments, many captured by TEs, are prevalent within this region. Elimination of gene redundancy from a tetraploid maize ancestor that originated a few million years ago is responsible in this region for most disruptions of synteny with sorghum and rice. Consistent with other sub-genomic analyses in maize, small RNA mapping showed that many small RNAs match TEs and that most TEs match small RNAs. These results, performed on ∼1% of the maize genome, demonstrate the feasibility of refining the B73 RefGen_v1 genome assembly by incorporating optical map, high-resolution genetic map, and comparative genomic data sets. Such improvements, along with those of gene and repeat annotation, will serve to promote future functional genomic and phylogenomic research in maize and other grasses

Global economic burden of unmet surgical need for appendicitis

Background: There is a substantial gap in provision of adequate surgical care in many low-and middle-income countries. This study aimed to identify the economic burden of unmet surgical need for the common condition of appendicitis. Methods: Data on the incidence of appendicitis from 170 countries and two different approaches were used to estimate numbers of patients who do not receive surgery: as a fixed proportion of the total unmet surgical need per country (approach 1); and based on country income status (approach 2). Indirect costs with current levels of access and local quality, and those if quality were at the standards of high-income countries, were estimated. A human capital approach was applied, focusing on the economic burden resulting from premature death and absenteeism. Results: Excess mortality was 4185 per 100 000 cases of appendicitis using approach 1 and 3448 per 100 000 using approach 2. The economic burden of continuing current levels of access and local quality was US $92 492 million using approach 1 and$73 141 million using approach 2. The economic burden of not providing surgical care to the standards of high-income countries was $95 004 million using approach 1 and$75 666 million using approach 2. The largest share of these costs resulted from premature death (97.7 per cent) and lack of access (97.0 per cent) in contrast to lack of quality. Conclusion: For a comparatively non-complex emergency condition such as appendicitis, increasing access to care should be prioritized. Although improving quality of care should not be neglected, increasing provision of care at current standards could reduce societal costs substantially