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As an intern, I thought of myself as the member of the team who gets the things done. I took pride in prioritizing my long list of tasks and efficiently working through each item. I spent most of my time at the computer, on the phone, in front of the chart, or in a consultant’s office. My time with patients was so limited that I grew more comfortable thinking about their medical problems away from their bedside

An American on Rotation in Switzerland

It wasn’t easy getting to Switzerland. My husband started work at CERN at the end of 2009 when I was a 3rd year medical student and I was there helping him find an apartment during my winter break. In the back of my mind, I wondered if I could do an away rotation at les Hopitaux Universitaires de Genève (HUG) the following year. So I walked into the front entrance of the medical school associated with HUG. Bonjour! Do you have a program for students like me? Is it allowed for foreigners? Would I have to take a test in French

Device and Methods for Atomizing Fluids

One embodiment of the invention is directed to an apparatus for atomizing a fluid. This apparatus includes an atomizing nozzle assembly. The atomizing nozzle assembly includes: a spray applicator enclosure having a fluid entry zone, a flow shape profiler region, a transducer, and a cavitation enhancer module, wherein the cavitation enhancer module includes a residence modulation zone and the residence modulation zone includes a backward facing step region. The apparatus is configured such that fluid can enter the fluid entry zone to the nozzle profiler, the transducer and the cavitation enhancer module. Other embodiments relate to methods for atomizing fluids

Multimodal Intrinsic Speckle-Tracking (MIST) to extract rapidly-varying diffuse X-ray scatter

Speckle-based phase-contrast X-ray imaging (SB-PCXI) can reconstruct high-resolution images of weakly-attenuating materials that would otherwise be indistinguishable in conventional attenuation-based imaging. The experimental setup of SB-PCXI requires only a sufficiently coherent source and spatially random mask, positioned between the source and detector. The technique can extract sample information at length scales smaller than the imaging system's spatial resolution; this enables multimodal signal reconstruction. ``Multimodal Intrinsic Speckle-Tracking'' (MIST) is a rapid and deterministic formalism derived from the paraxial-optics form of the Fokker-Planck equation. MIST simultaneously extracts attenuation, refraction, and small-angle scattering (diffusive-dark-field) signals from a sample and is more computationally efficient compared to alternative speckle-tracking approaches. Hitherto, variants of MIST have assumed the diffusive-dark-field signal to be spatially slowly varying. Although successful, these approaches have been unable to well-describe unresolved sample microstructure whose statistical form is not spatially slowly varying. Here, we extend the MIST formalism such that there is no such restriction, in terms of a sample's rotationally-isotropic diffusive-dark-field signal. We reconstruct multimodal signals of two samples, each with distinct X-ray attenuation and scattering properties. The reconstructed diffusive-dark-field signals have superior image quality compared to our previous approaches which assume the diffusive-dark-field to be a slowly varying function of transverse position. Our generalisation may assist increased adoption of SB-PCXI in applications such as engineering and biomedical disciplines, forestry, and palaeontology, and is anticipated to aid the development of speckle-based diffusive-dark-field tensor tomography.Comment: 18 pages, 7 figure

Systems and Methods for Detecting Defects in Coatings Utilizing Color-Based Thermal Mismatch

A method of analyzing a thermal image of a coated substrate to determine the presence of defects includes determining a defect temperature range based on a color of the coated substrate and the maximum temperature of the coated substrate in the thermal image. Thereafter, the thermal image is processed by determining a signal value of a pixel of interest based on a temperature of the pixel of interest, temperatures of pixels in a kernel of pixels surrounding the pixel of interest, and the color of the coated substrate. The signal value of the pixel of interest is then compared to the lower temperature threshold of the defect temperature range, wherein the pixel of interest is a defect location when the signal value of the pixel of interest is greater than or equal to the lower temperature threshold

Characterization of the 2016-2017 dermatology standardized letter of recommendation

© 2018 Matrix Medical Communications. All rights reserved. Objective: We aimed to analyze the reformatted standard letter of recommendation (SLOR) for dermatology residents to examine trends in grading and content based on the positions of the letter writers, their backgrounds, and their relationship with the applicant, as well as to evaluate the SLOR\u27s ability to discriminate applicants. Design: This was a retrospective characterization study of dermatology SLORs from the 2016-17 application cycle. Setting: We examined SLORs received by The Ohio State University, the University of Oklahoma, and Hofstra University Northwell Health dermatology residency programs. Participants: We included dermatology residency applicants and their letter writers from the 2016-17 application cycle. Results: A total of 141 SLORs were analyzed from 115 applicants. SLORs demonstrated grade inflation from letter writers of all backgrounds. Ratings for research potential and inquisitive nature were significantly lower than ratings for other categories. Letter writers with limited clinical and research contact graded applicants significantly lower than did writers who had more extensive contact. Word boxes were underutilized. Conclusion: The dermatology SLOR is useful in differentiating applicants, and ratings correlate with the relationships that letter writers have with their applicants. Residency programs should be aware of these findings when evaluating letters of recommendation for applicants

Parasite infections, neuroinflammation, and potential contributions of gut microbiota

Many parasitic diseases (including cerebral malaria, human African trypanosomiasis, cerebral toxoplasmosis, neurocysticercosis and neuroschistosomiasis) feature acute or chronic brain inflammation processes, which are often associated with deregulation of glial cell activity and disruption of the brain blood barrier’s intactness. The inflammatory responses of astrocytes and microglia during parasite infection are strongly influenced by a variety of environmental factors. Although it has recently been shown that the gut microbiota influences the physiology and immunomodulation of the central nervous system in neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s, the putative link in parasite-induced neuroinflammatory diseases has not been well characterized. Likewise, the central nervous system can influence the gut microbiota. In parasite infections, the gut microbiota is strongly perturbed and might influence the severity of the central nervous system inflammation response through changes in the production of bacterial metabolites. Here, we review the roles of astrocytes and microglial cells in the neuropathophysiological processes induced by parasite infections and their possible regulation by the gut microbiota