Resident perceptions of anatomy education: a survey of medical school alumni from two different anatomy curricula and multiple medical specialties

In 2004, the University of Michigan Medical School reduced its gross anatomy curriculum. To determine the effect of this reduction on resident perceptions of their clinical preparedness, we surveyed alumni that included residents from the original and new shortened curricula. A Likert-scale survey was sent to four classes of alumni. Respondents were compared in old curriculum (OC) and new curriculum (NC) groups, surgical specialty (SS) and nonsurgical specialty (NS) groups, and subgroups of SS and NS were compared for differences between OC and NC. Mean response scores were compared using independent samples T-tests. As a single population (n = 110), respondents felt their anatomy education prepared them well for residency, that a more robust anatomy curriculum would be helpful, that dissection was important to their residency preparation, and that a 4th year anatomy elective was effective in expanding their anatomy education and preparing them for residency. No significant difference existed between OC and NC groups, neither as a whole nor as SS and NS subgroups. The SS group felt dissection was more important to their residency preparation than the NS group (P = 0.001) and that a more robust anatomy curriculum would have better prepared them for residency (P = 0.001). Thirty percent of SS respondents who did not take a 4th year elective commented that they wish they had. Fourth year anatomy electives were highly valued by residents, and respondents felt that they should be offered to students as a way of revisiting anatomy following the 1st year of clinical training.     

Neutrino oscillations: The 2007 Benjamin Franklin medal in physics presented to Arthur McDonald and Yoji Totsuka

This award recognizes two specific discoveries that constitute the experimental discovery of neutrino oscillations. In 1998 the Super-Kamiokande group under the leadership of Yoji Totsuka published their paper, “Evidence for Oscillation of Atmospheric Neutrinos” in Physical Review Letters [1]. The paper describes a deficit of muon-type neutrinos from below the detector relative to those from above. It explains this “atmospheric neutrino anomaly” as a result of transformation of some of the muon neutrinos into another type of neutrino. Four years later, the group led by Arthur McDonald described “Direct Evidence for Neutrino Flavor Transformation from Neutral-Current Interactions in the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory” [2] in the same journal. This experiment detected lower energy neutrinos from deep inside the Sun. By measuring all flavors of neutrinos with large rates, the SNO collaboration showed definitively that the long-standing “solar neutrino puzzle” was another manifestation of neutrino oscillations. As a result of these two experiments, we now understand that neutrinos can change identities during propagation and that both the solar and atmospheric neutrino “problems” result from the same underlying phenomenon of oscillations. A consequence of neutrino oscillations is that neutrinos, previously thought to be massless, must have a non-zero rest mass.     

Fear and Loathing in the Fog: The Perceived (and Persistent) Vagaries of Tenure Standards Among Mass Communication Professors

Perhaps nothing strikes more fear into the hearts of all tenure-track professors than the process itself. Are four papers in this journal good enough? Are eight papers in another okay? What if someone doesn’t like me or my area of research? These issues have plagued academia since the first essay was penned by the first researcher hundreds of years ago. While personal bias and journal preference continue to infect honest tenure reviews, solutions exist. This does not mean we have a magic bullet to solve issues of bullying or elitism. However, if we are honest in our desire to improve the Academy, we should avail ourselves of every possible tool for improvement. This essay is based on a survey sent to 2,500 mass communication educators. Of the almost 500 respondents, roughly 10% took the time to express emotions that ranged from fear and confusion to outright rage and anger, all because what ought to be clear is not. The author offers 10 ideas of how academia can improve its evaluation of new faculty, as well as a few suggestions regarding the unnecessary inclusion of personal issues in a process that ought to be about creating better researchers and teachers.     

e-Trust and reputation

Trust online can be a hazardous affair; many are trustworthy, but some people use the anonymity of the web to behave very badly indeed. So how can we improve the quality of evidence for trustworthiness provided online? I focus on one of the devices we use to secure others’ trustworthiness: tracking past conduct through online reputation systems. Yet existing reputation systems face problems. I analyse these, and in the light of this develop some principles for system design, towards overcoming these challenges. In providing better evidence for trustworthiness online, so we can also encourage people actually to be trustworthy more often, which is an ethically welcome outcome.     

Structural and dynamic properties of linker histone H1 binding to DNA

Found in all eukaryotic cells, linker histones H1 are known to bind to and rearrange nucleosomal linker DNA. In vitro, the fundamental nature of H1∕DNA interactions has attracted wide interest among research communities-from biologists to physicists. Hence, H1∕DNA binding processes and structural and dynamical information about these self-assemblies are of broad importance. Targeting a quantitative understanding of H1 induced DNA compaction mechanisms, our strategy is based on using small-angle x-ray microdiffraction in combination with microfluidics. The usage of microfluidic hydrodynamic focusing devices facilitates a microscale control of these self-assembly processes, which cannot be achieved using conventional bulk setups. In addition, the method enables time-resolved access to structure formation in situ, in particular, to transient intermediate states. The observed time dependent structure evolution shows that the H1∕DNA interaction can be described as a two-step process: an initial unspecific binding of H1 to DNA is followed by a rearrangement of molecules within the formed assemblies. The second step is most likely induced by interactions between the DNA and the H1's charged side chains. This leads to an increase in lattice spacing within the DNA∕protein assembly and induces a decrease in the correlation length of the mesophases, probably due to a local bending of the DNA.     

A comparison of anthropometric and training characteristics of Ironman triathletes and Triple Iron ultra-triathletes

We examined differences in anthropometry and training between 64 Triple Iron ultra-triathletes competing over 11.4 km swimming, 540 km cycling, and 126.6 km running, and 71 Ironman triathletes competing over 3.8 km swimming, 180 km cycling, and 42.2 km running. The association of anthropometry and training with race time was investigated using multiple linear regression analysis. The Triple Iron ultra-triathletes were smaller (P < 0.05), had shorter limbs (P < 0.05), a higher body mass index (P < 0.05), and larger limb circumferences (P < 0.01) than the Ironman triathletes. The Triple Iron ultra-triathletes trained for more hours (P < 0.01) and covered more kilometres (P < 0.01), but speed in running during training was slower compared with the Ironman triathletes (P < 0.01). For Triple Iron ultra-triathletes, percent body fat (P = 0.022), training volume per week (P < 0.0001), and weekly kilometres in both cycling (P < 0.0001) and running (P < 0.0001) were related to race time. For Ironman triathletes, percent body fat (P < 0.0001), circumference of upper arm (P = 0.006), and speed in cycling training (P = 0.012) were associated with total race time. We conclude that both Triple Iron ultra-triathletes and Ironman triathletes appeared to profit from low body fat. Triple Iron ultra-triathletes relied more on training volume in cycling and running, whereas speed in cycling training was related to race time in Ironman triathletes.     

Daredevils and early birds: Belgian pioneers in automobile racing and aerial sports during the belle époque

During the belle époque, Belgium was a trend-setting nation in many domains, including motorised sports. Belgian automobile racers and pilots shattered world records and became international stars. Striking was the shift in sports. Indeed, around 1896, sporting members of the leisure class stepped from the bicycle into the automobile and, around 1908, from the automobile into the airplane. Although these motorised sports were extremely expensive, this article shows that sportsmen and sportswomen from the working class could achieve upward social mobility through their performances. The achievements of these motorised pioneers had a major impact and wide-ranging significance. They laid the foundations for the expansion of the automobile industry and the emergence of civilian and military aviation.     

School learning support for teacher technology integration from a self-determination theory perspective

Teacher technology integration research on persistence is needed. Teachers’ persistence is strongly associated with their autonomous motivation, as defined by self-determination theory (SDT); however, most SDT-based studies have focused on teachers’ support and students’ motivation and well-being. SDT founders also recently suggested that future studies should include teacher motivation towards the use of technology. Accordingly, this experimental and longitudinal study aimed to investigate how the proposed support encouraged and sustained the low- and high- quality teachers’ integration practices. It proposed a school learning support intervention with three dimensions—leader, expert, and peer support—to meet teachers’ basic needs and thereby increase their motivation for and persistence in classroom technology integration. It had a sequential explanatory mixed-methods design, involved 122 school teachers and lasted for 22 months. Pre-, post- and delay- questionnaires and two arounds of interviews were used to collect the teachers perceptions on needs satisfaction and technology integration practices. The results suggest that the support increased the extent to which the teachers’ needs were met, resulting in more high-quality (student-centered) but not low-quality (lecturing) integration practices. However, the intervention sustained both types of integration practices. The findings offer three major empirical implications, makes two theoretical contributions, and offers four practical suggestions for researchers and practitioners.