Conflict of interest

BACKGROUND CONTEXT: Depression is associated with greater postoperative disability in lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS) patients. No previous studies have reported the association in a 10-year follow-up. PURPOSE: To evaluate the association between preoperative and postoperative depressive symptoms and the surgical outcome among LSS patients in a 10-year follow-up. In addition, we examined the effects of the depressive burden on the surgical outcome. DESIGN: A prospective observational follow-up study...

BACKGROUND CONTEXT: Pelvic Incidence (PI) = Pelvic Tilt (PT) + Sacral Slope (SS) is an established trigonometric equation which can be expanded from studying the fixed pelvis with the spine to a fixed spinopelvic complex with the remnant spine, in scenarios of spinopelvic fusion or ankylosis. For a fixed spinopelvic complex, we propose the equation termed: Lumbar Incidence (LI) = Lumbar Tilt (LT) + Lumbar Slope (LS). PURPOSE: To establish reference values for LI, LT and LS at each lumbar vertebral level, and to show how LI can be used to determine rLL...

BACKGROUND CONTEXT: Smartphones have become an integral tool in the daily life of healthcare professionals (Franko 2011). Their ease of use and wide availability often make smartphones the first tool surgeons use to perform measurements. This technique has been validated for certain orthopaedic pathologies (Shaw 2012, Quek 2014, Milanese 2014, Milani 2014), but never to assess sagittal parameters in adult spinal deformity. This study was designed to assess the validity, reproducibility, precision and efficiency of using a smartphone protractor application to measure sagittal parameters commonly measured in adult spinal deformity assessment and surgical planning...

Sexual conflict is the divergence of evolutionary interests between the sexes. A neglected aspect of sexual conflict theory is that the conflict often occurs within the female's body, which can lead to a power asymmetry between the sexes. In particular, the female may often be able to respond flexibly to the actions of the male, and so exhibits plasticity. Here, we consider the implications of female plasticity, and find that it tends to result in lower levels of sexual conflict. We then relate our results to a comparison of pre- versus post-copulatory sexual conflict, and we also show that this asymmetry between males and females reduces the likelihood of runaway selection, preventing co-evolutionary arms races...

BACKGROUND: To date, conditions for successfully implementing and maintaining multi-level interventions and policies for the promotion of a balanced diet and physical activity are not well understood from the perspective of stakeholders. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this article is to examine which factors are regarded as facilitating or impeding introduction, implementation and maintenance of multi-level interventions and policies from the standpoint of stakeholders. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Semi-structured face-to-face interviews with stakeholders of one multi-level intervention (Identification and prevention of Dietary- and lifestyle-induced health EFfects In Children and infantS [IDEFICS] for the prevention of childhood obesity, n = 4) and one policy (Federal state offices coordinating networks for the provision of healthy food options in schools, n = 3) were analysed using qualitative content analysis...

In flowering plants the female gametophyte controls pollen tube reception immediately before fertilization and regulates seed development immediately after fertilization, although controlling mechanisms remain poorly understood. Previously, we showed that LORELEI (LRE), which encodes a putative glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI)-anchored membrane protein, is critical for pollen tube reception by the female gametophyte before fertilization and initiation of seed development after fertilization. Here, we show that LRE is expressed in the synergid, egg, and central cells of the female gametophyte and in the zygote and proliferating endosperm of the seed...

STUDY QUESTION: Can supplementation of medium with prolactin (PRL), epidermal growth factor (EGF) and 4-hydroxyestradiol (4-OH-E2) prior to embryo transfer improve implantation potential in mouse blastocysts derived from IVF? SUMMARY ANSWER: Combined treatment with PRL, EGF and 4-OH-E2 improves mouse blastocyst implantation rates, while alone, each factor is ineffective. WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY: Blastocyst dormancy during delayed implantation caused by ovariectomy is maintained by continued progesterone treatment in mice, and estrogen injection rapidly activates blastocysts to implantation-induced status in vivo...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: There are many opportunities and challenges for conducting occupational epidemiologic studies today. In this paper, we summarize the discussion of a symposium held at the Epidemiology in Occupational Health (EPICOH) conference, Chicago 2014, on challenges for occupational epidemiology in the twenty-first century. RECENT FINDINGS: The increasing number of publications and attendance at our conferences suggests that worldwide interest in occupational epidemiology has been growing...

The affective domain is not explicitly targeted during medical studies and poor skills in this domain may lead to conflict when dealing with patients. Reflective narratives are said to promote humanitarianism and professional development. We aimed to examine reflective narratives written by medical students in our institution for content relating to ethical and professional Attitude and Behaviour, Communication, respect for Diversity and Disability, and Empathy (the ABCDE paradigm). We were also interested in understanding how far the students enjoyed learning through the writing of narratives and in determining their perceived learning from the exercise...

BACKGROUND: Medical schools have a major impact on future doctors' ethics and their attitudes towards cooperation with the pharmaceutical industry. From childhood, medical students who are related to a physician are exposed to the characteristics of a medical career and learn its professional ethics not only in school but also in the family setting. The present paper sought to answer the research question: 'How does growing up with a physician influence medical students' perceptions of conflicts of interest in their relationships with industry?' METHODS: An anonymous questionnaire was completed by 451 medical students from four Philadelphia medical schools and 554 medical students from Warsaw Medical University during 2013...

The process of becoming a physician-scientist is a long and often harrowing one. The author reflects on her own experience deciding to commit to a career as a physician-scientist and setting out on that career path. She identifies the largest challenges as the lack of clear direction to becoming a physician-scientist; the long lag time between the end of graduate medical education and becoming faculty, resulting in lower wages, less job security, and conflicts with personal goals; and a tension between traditional definitions of success and her own areas of interest...

AIM: To examine the contribution of programme year and demographic factors to medical students' perceptions of evidence-based classification categories of professional misconduct. METHODS: Students at an Irish medical school were administered a cross-sectional survey comprising 31 vignettes of professional misconduct, which mapped onto a 12-category classification system. Students scored each item using a 5-point Likert scale, where 1 represents the least severe form of misconduct and 5 the most severe...

Prior efforts to dissect etiological and pharmacological modulations in brain morphology in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) are often undermined by methodological and sampling constraints, yielding conflicting conclusions and no reliable neuromarkers. Here we evaluated alteration of regional gray matter volume including effect size (Cohen's d value) in 95 drug-naïve patients (age range: 18-55) compared to 95 healthy subjects (age: 18-63), then examined pharmacological effects in 65 medicated (age: 18-57) and 73 medication-free patients (age: 18-61)...

INTRODUCTION: With efforts to combat opioid use disorder, there is an increased interest in clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) for opioid use disorder treatments. No literature exists examining the quality of systematic reviews used in opioid use disorder CPGs. This study aims to describe the methodological quality and reporting clarity of systematic reviews (SRs) used to create CPGs for opioid use disorder. METHODS: From June to July 2016 guideline clearinghouses and medical literature databases were searched for relevant CPGs used in the treatment of opioid use disorder...

We study the dynamics of an active gel droplet with imposed orientational anchoring (normal or planar) at its surface. We find that if the activity is large enough droplets subject to strong anchoring spontaneously start to rotate, with the sense of rotation randomly selected by fluctuations. Contractile droplets rotate only for planar anchoring and extensile ones only for normal anchoring. This is because such a combination leads to a pair of stable elastic deformations which creates an active torque to power the rotation...

PURPOSE: Individuals rely upon many types of information to manage an illness, including information provided by their own bodies. This study investigated how people tune into and manage the flow of information from their bodies to manage their health. METHOD: We developed a platform for participants to share and collaboratively reflect on how they engaged in this dialogic process, in which participants contributed to a discussion on topics relating to body listening and body awareness...

INTRODUCTION: The definition of psychological trauma has been rephrased with the DSM-5. From now on, witnessing someone else's traumatic event is also accepted as a traumatic life event. Therefore, the psychiatric examination of forensic cases gains importance for not overlooking a psychiatric trauma. This research aims to discuss the psychiatric examinations of military personnel who had a traumatic life event and to reveal psychiatric states of soldiers after trauma. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The forensic reports prepared at Gulhane Military Medical Academy (GMMA), Forensic Medicine polyclinic between January 1, 2011 and November 30, 2014 were examined, and among them the cases sent to GMMA Psychiatry polyclinic for psychiatric examination were analyzed retrospectively...

CONTEXT: Conflicts of interest (CoIs) are considered to be ubiquitous in health care and biomedicine. The disclosure of relevant interests is a first step in managing conflicts, although its usefulness is contested. Although several countries have mandated the public disclosure of doctors' financial relationships with the pharmaceutical industry, little is known about medical students' understanding of mandatory public disclosure. METHODS: Six 90-minute focus groups were conducted with medical students in New South Wales, Australia...

BACKGROUND CONTEXT: Negative beliefs are known to influence treatment outcome in patients with spine pain (SP). The impact of positive beliefs is less clear. PURPOSE: Assess the influence of positive and negative beliefs on baseline and treatment responses in patients with SP. STUDY DESIGN/SETTING: Retrospective cross-sectional and longitudinal analysis of prospectively collected data of outpatient physical therapy patients with SP. Questionnaires administered before and during treatment included the STarT Back distress scale (negative beliefs), and expectation and self-efficacy questions (positive beliefs)...

DNA analysis was first applied to the identification of victims of armed conflicts and other situations of violence (ACOSV) in the mid-1990s, starting in South America and the Balkans. Argentina was the first country to establish a genetic database specifically developed to identify disappeared children. Following on from these programs the early 2000s marked major programs, using a largely DNA-led approach, identifying missing persons in the Balkans and following the attack on the World Trade Center in New York...