Mentoring at the University of Pennsylvania: Results of a Faculty Survey

BACKGROUND: Research suggests mentoring is related to career satisfaction and success. Most studies have focused on junior faculty. OBJECTIVE: To explore multiple aspects of mentoring at an academic medical center in relation to faculty rank, track, and gender. DESIGN: Cross-sectional mail survey in mid-2003. PARTICIPANTS: Faculty members, 1,432, at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine MEASUREMENTS: Self-administered survey developed from existing instruments and stakeholders. RESULTS: Response rate was 73% (n = 1,046). Most (92%) assistant and half (48%) of associate professors had a mentor. Assistant professors in the tenure track were most likely to have a mentor (98%). At both ranks, the faculty was given more types of advice than types of opportunities. Satisfaction with mentoring was correlated with the number of types of mentoring received (r = .48 and .53, P < .0001), job satisfaction (r = .44 and .31, P < .0001), meeting frequency (r = .53 and .61, P < .0001), and expectation of leaving the University within 5 years (Spearman r = −.19 and −.18, P < .0001), at the assistant and associate rank, respectively. Significant predictors of higher overall job satisfaction were associate rank [Odds ratio (OR) = 2.04, CI = 1.29–3.21], the 10-point mentoring satisfaction rating (OR = 1.27, CI = 1.17–1.35), and number of mentors (OR = 1.60, CI = 1.20–2.07). CONCLUSIONS: Having a mentor, or preferably, multiple mentors is strongly related to satisfaction with mentoring and overall job satisfaction. Surprisingly, few differences were related to gender. Mentoring of clinician–educators, research track faculty, and senior faculty, and the use of multiple mentors require specific attention of academic leadership and further study

The motivational drive to natural rewards is modulated by prenatal glucocorticoid exposure

Exposure to elevated levels of glucocorticoids (GCs) during neurodevelopment has been identified as a triggering factor for the development of reward-associated disorders in adulthood. Disturbances in the neural networks responsible for the complex processes that assign value to rewards and associated stimuli are critical for disorders such as depression, obsessive–compulsive disorders, obesity and addiction. Essential in the understanding on how cues influence behavior is the Pavlovian–instrumental transfer (PIT), a phenomenon that refers to the capacity of a Pavlovian stimulus that predicts a reward to elicit instrumental responses for that same reward. Here, we demonstrate that in utero exposure to GCs (iuGC) impairs both general and selective versions of the PIT paradigm, suggestive of deficits in motivational drive. The iuGC animals presented impaired neuronal activation pattern upon PIT performance in cortical and limbic regions, as well as morphometric changes and reduced levels of dopamine in prefrontal and orbitofrontal cortices, key regions involved in the integration of Pavlovian and instrumental stimuli. Normalization of dopamine levels rescued this behavior, a process that relied on D2/D3, but not D1, dopamine receptor activation. In summary, iuGC exposure programs the mesocorticolimbic dopaminergic circuitry, leading to a reduction in the attribution of the incentive salience to cues, in a dopamine-D2/D3-dependent manner. Ultimately, these results are important to understand how GCs bias incentive processes, a fact that is particularly relevant for disorders where differential attribution of incentive salience is critical.We thank Pedro Morgado for discussions and help in the technical aspects of PIT procedure. This project was supported by a grant of Institute for the Study of Affective Neuroscience (ISAN) and by Janssen Neuroscience Prize. CS-C, SB, MMC and AJR are recipients of Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia (FCT) fellowships (CS-C: SFRH/BD/51992/2012; SB: SFRH/BD/89936/2012; MMC: SRFH/BD/51061/2010; AJR: SFRH/BPD/33611/2009)

Impact of periodic health examination on surgical treatment for uterine fibroids in Beijing: a case-control study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>During the past 2 decades, there has been a rapid proliferation of "health examination center (HEC)" across China. The effects of their services on public's health have not been systemically investigated. This study aimed to assess the impact of periodic health examination (PHE) at HEC on surgical treatment for uterine fibroids in Beijing residents.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We identified 224 patients with a primary diagnosis of uterine fibroids who had surgical treatment at four Level-1 general hospitals in Beijing, from June 1, 2009 to October 20, 2009. Controls were women who did not have surgery for uterine fibroids, matched (1:1 ratio) for age (within 2 years). A standard questionnaire was used to inquire about whether participants had PHE at HEC during the previous 2 years.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>PHE at HEC within 2 years were associated with surgical treatment for uterine fibroids. Odds ratios was 4.05 (95% CI, 2.61-6.29 P < 0.001), after adjustment for marital status, whether have children, annual family income, health insurance, education level and self-rated uterine fibroids-related symptom severity.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our study showed PHE currently provided at HEC in China were associated with significantly increased use of surgical treatment for uterine fibroids in women. Further studies are needed to assess the effects of PHE on clinical as well as on broad societal outcomes in Chinese in contemporary medical settings.</p

Trophic Shifts of a Generalist Consumer in Response to Resource Pulses

Trophic shifts of generalist consumers can have broad food-web and biodiversity consequences through altered trophic flows and vertical diversity. Previous studies have used trophic shifts as indicators of food-web responses to perturbations, such as species invasion, and spatial or temporal subsidies. Resource pulses, as a form of temporal subsidies, have been found to be quite common among various ecosystems, affecting organisms at multiple trophic levels. Although diet switching of generalist consumers in response to resource pulses is well documented, few studies have examined if the switch involves trophic shifts, and if so, the directions and magnitudes of the shifts. In this study, we used stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes with a Bayesian multi-source mixing model to estimate proportional contributions of three trophic groups (i.e. producer, consumer, and fungus-detritivore) to the diets of the White-footed mouse (Peromyscus leucopus) receiving an artificial seed pulse or a naturally-occurring cicadas pulse. Our results demonstrated that resource pulses can drive trophic shifts in the mice. Specifically, the producer contribution to the mouse diets was increased by 32% with the seed pulse at both sites examined. The consumer contribution to the mouse diets was also increased by 29% with the cicadas pulse in one of the two grids examined. However, the pattern was reversed in the second grid, with a 13% decrease in the consumer contribution with the cicadas pulse. These findings suggest that generalist consumers may play different functional roles in food webs under perturbations of resource pulses. This study provides one of the few highly quantitative descriptions on dietary and trophic shifts of a key consumer in forest food webs, which may help future studies to form specific predictions on changes in trophic interactions following resource pulses

The Dopamine Augmenter L-DOPA Does Not Affect Positive Mood in Healthy Human Volunteers

Dopamine neurotransmission influences approach toward rewards and reward-related cues. The best cited interpretation of this effect proposes that dopamine mediates the pleasure that commonly accompanies reward. This hypothesis has received support in some animal models and a few studies in humans. However, direct assessments of the effect of transiently increasing dopamine neurotransmission have been largely limited to the use of psychostimulant drugs, which elevate brain levels of multiple neurotransmitters in addition to dopamine. In the present study we tested the effect of more selectively elevating dopamine neurotransmission, as produced by administration of the immediate dopamine precursor, L-DOPA (0, 100/25, 200/50 mg, Sinemet), in healthy human volunteers. Neither dose altered positive mood. The results suggest that dopamine neurotransmission does not directly influence positive mood in humans

Identification of a novel splice variant form of the influenza a virus m2 ion channel with an antigenically distinct ectodomain

Segment 7 of influenza A virus produces up to four mRNAs. Unspliced transcripts encode M1, spliced mRNA2 encodes the M2 ion channel, while protein products from spliced mRNAs 3 and 4 have not previously been identified. The M2 protein plays important roles in virus entry and assembly, and is a target for antiviral drugs and vaccination. Surprisingly, M2 is not essential for virus replication in a laboratory setting, although its loss attenuates the virus. To better understand how IAV might replicate without M2, we studied the reversion mechanism of an M2-null virus. Serial passage of a virus lacking the mRNA2 splice donor site identified a single nucleotide pseudoreverting mutation, which restored growth in cell culture and virulence in mice by upregulating mRNA4 synthesis rather than by reinstating mRNA2 production. We show that mRNA4 encodes a novel M2-related protein (designated M42) with an antigenically distinct ectodomain that can functionally replace M2 despite showing clear differences in intracellular localisation, being largely retained in the Golgi compartment. We also show that the expression of two distinct ion channel proteins is not unique to laboratory-adapted viruses but, most notably, was also a feature of the 1983 North American outbreak of H5N2 highly pathogenic avian influenza virus. In identifying a 14th influenza A polypeptide, our data reinforce the unexpectedly high coding capacity of the viral genome and have implications for virus evolution, as well as for understanding the role of M2 in the virus life cycle

Meta-analysis of genome-wide linkage studies of asthma and related traits

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Asthma and allergy are complex multifactorial disorders, with both genetic and environmental components determining disease expression. The use of molecular genetics holds great promise for the identification of novel drug targets for the treatment of asthma and allergy. Genome-wide linkage studies have identified a number of potential disease susceptibility loci but replication remains inconsistent. The aim of the current study was to complete a meta-analysis of data from genome-wide linkage studies of asthma and related phenotypes and provide inferences about the consistency of results and to identify novel regions for future gene discovery.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The rank based genome-scan meta-analysis (GSMA) method was used to combine linkage data for asthma and related traits; bronchial hyper-responsiveness (BHR), allergen positive skin prick test (SPT) and total serum Immunoglobulin E (IgE) from nine Caucasian asthma populations.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Significant evidence for susceptibility loci was identified for quantitative traits including; BHR (989 pedigrees, n = 4,294) 2p12-q22.1, 6p22.3-p21.1 and 11q24.1-qter, allergen SPT (1,093 pedigrees, n = 4,746) 3p22.1-q22.1, 17p12-q24.3 and total IgE (729 pedigrees, n = 3,224) 5q11.2-q14.3 and 6pter-p22.3. Analysis of the asthma phenotype (1,267 pedigrees, n = 5,832) did not identify any region showing genome-wide significance.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This study represents the first linkage meta-analysis to determine the relative contribution of chromosomal regions to the risk of developing asthma and atopy. Several significant results were obtained for quantitative traits but not for asthma confirming the increased phenotype and genetic heterogeneity in asthma. These analyses support the contribution of regions that contain previously identified asthma susceptibility genes and provide the first evidence for susceptibility loci on 5q11.2-q14.3 and 11q24.1-qter.</p

Activation of D2 dopamine receptor-expressing neurons in the nucleus accumbens increases motivation.

Striatal dopamine receptor D1-expressing neurons have been classically associated with positive reinforcement and reward, whereas D2 neurons are associated with negative reinforcement and aversion. Here we demonstrate that the pattern of activation of D1 and D2 neurons in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) predicts motivational drive, and that optogenetic activation of either neuronal population enhances motivation in mice. Using a different approach in rats, we further show that activating NAc D2 neurons increases cue-induced motivational drive in control animals and in a model that presents anhedonia and motivational deficits; conversely, optogenetic inhibition of D2 neurons decreases motivation. Our results suggest that the classic view of D1-D2 functional antagonism does not hold true for all dimensions of reward-related behaviours, and that D2 neurons may play a more prominent pro-motivation role than originally anticipated.A special acknowledgement to Karl Deisseroth from Stanford University, for providing viral constructs and for comments on the manuscript, and to Alan Dorval from the University of Utah, for providing mouse strains. Thanks to Luis Jacinto, Joao Oliveira and Joana Silva that helped in some technical aspects of the experiments. C.S.-C., B.C., A.D.-P. and S.B. are recipients of Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia (FCT) fellowships (SFRH/BD/51992/2012; SFRH/BD/98675/2013; SFRH/BD/90374/2012; SFRH/BD/89936/2012). A.J.R. is a FCT Investigator (IF/00883/2013). This work was co-financed by the Portuguese North Regional Operational Program (ON.2 - O Novo Norte) under the National Strategic Reference Framework (QREN), through the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER). Part of the work was supported by the Janssen Neuroscience Prize (1st edition).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Assessment of dietary intake among pregnant women in a rural area of western China

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Adequate maternal nutrient intake during pregnancy is important to ensure satisfactory birth outcomes. There are no data available on the usual dietary intake among pregnant women in rural China. The present study describes and evaluates the dietary intake in a cohort of pregnant women living in two counties of rural Shaanxi, western China.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>1420 pregnant women were recruited from a trial that examined the effects of micronutrient supplementation on birth outcomes. Dietary information was collected at the end of their trimester or after delivery with an interviewed-administrated semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). Nutrients intake was calculated from the FFQ and compared to the Estimated Average Requirements (EAR). The EAR cut-offs based on the Chinese Nutrition Society Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs) were used to assess the prevalence of inadequate dietary intakes of energy, protein, calcium, zinc, riboflavin, vitamin C and folate. Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal Wallis tests were used to compare nutrient intakes across subgroups.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The mean nutrient intakes assessed by the FFQ was similar to those reported in the 2002 Chinese National Nutrition and Health Survey from women living in rural areas except for low intakes of protein, fat, iron and zinc. Of the participants, 54% were at risk of inadequate intake of energy. There were high proportions of pregnant women who did not have adequate intakes of folate (97%) and zinc (91%). Using the "probability approach", 64% of subjects had an inadequate consumption of iron.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These results reveal that the majority of pregnant women in these two counties had low intakes of nutrients that are essential for pregnancy such as iron and folate.</p> <p>Trial registration</p> <p>ISRCTN08850194.</p

Sensitivity and specificity of monoclonal and polyclonal immunohistochemical staining for West Nile virus in various organs from American crows (Corvus brachyrhynchos)

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Based on results of earlier studies, brain, heart and kidney are most commonly used for West Nile virus (WNV) detection in avian species. Both monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies have been used for the immunohistochemical diagnosis of WNV in these species. Thus far, no studies have been performed to compare the sensitivity and specificity of monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies in detecting WNV in American crows (<it>Corvus brachyrhynchos</it>). Our objectives were to determine 1) the comparative sensitivities of monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies for immunohistochemical (IHC) diagnosis of WNV infection in free-ranging American crows, 2) which organ(s) is/are most suitable for IHC-based diagnosis of WNV, and 3) how real-time RT-PCR on RNA extracted from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissues compared to IHC for the diagnosis of WNV infection.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Various combinations, depending on tissue availability, of sections of heart, kidney, brain, liver, lung, spleen, and small intestine from 85 free-ranging American crows were stained using a rabbit-polyclonal anti-WNV antibody as well as a monoclonal antibody directed against an epitope on Domain III of the E protein of WNV. The staining intensity and the extent of staining were determined for each organ using both antibodies. Real-time RT-PCR on formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissues from all 85 crows was performed.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Forty-three crows were IHC-positive in at least one of the examined organs with the polyclonal antibody, and of these, only 31 were positive when IHC was performed with the monoclonal antibody. Real-time RT-PCR amplified WNV-specific sequences from tissue extracts of the same 43 crows that were IHC-positive using the polyclonal antibody. All other 42 crows tested negative for WNV with real-time PCR and IHC staining. Both antibodies had a test specificity of 100% when compared to PCR results. The test sensitivity of monoclonal antibody-based IHC staining was only 72%, compared to 100% when using the polyclonal antibody.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The most sensitive, readily identified, positively staining organs for IHC are the kidney, liver, lung, spleen, and small intestine. Real-time RT-PCR and IHC staining using a polyclonal antibody on sections of these tissues are highly sensitive diagnostic tests for the detection of WNV in formalin-fixed tissues of American crows.</p