Opinions of Health Care Personnel Regarding Disincentives and Incentives for Living Kidney Donation at a Single Center

Background

Transplant societies continue to actively concentrate on increasing rates of living kidney donation (LKD) to bridge the gap between individuals awaiting transplantation and the number of kidneys available. A widely discussed strategy to increase living donation rates is the provision of incentives and removal of disincentives. Though opinions of the public regarding this strategy have been studied, the opinions of health care providers, including younger professionals, are less clear. We studied the opinions of medical students and other health care providers on strategies to increase LKD to determine if opinions were different among those <?25 or ≥?25 years of age.

Student perception of a new integrated anatomy practical program: Does students' prior learning make a difference?

While there is evidence that science and non‐science background students display small differences in performance in basic and clinical sciences, early in a 4‐year, graduate entry medical program, this lessens with time. With respect to anatomy knowledge, there are no comparable data as to the impact previous anatomy experience has on the student perception of the anatomy practical learning environment. A study survey was designed to evaluate student perception of the anatomy practical program and its impact on student learning, for the initial cohort of a new medical school. The survey comprised 19 statements requiring a response using a 5‐point Likert scale, in addition to a free text opportunity to provide opinion of the perceived educational value of the anatomy practical program. The response rate for a total cohort of 82 students was 89%. The anatomy practical program was highly valued by the students in aiding their learning of anatomy, as indicated by the high mean scores for all statements (range: 4.04–4.7). There was a significant difference between the students who had and had not studied a science course prior to entering medicine, with respect to statements that addressed aspects of the course related to its structure, organization, variety of resources, linkage to problem‐based learning cases, and fairness of assessment. Nonscience students were more positive compared to those who had studied science before (P levels ranging from 0.004 to 0.035). Students less experienced in anatomy were more challenged in prioritizing core curricular knowledge. Clin. Anat. 24:664–670, 2011. © 2011 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Intralesional bleomycin sulfate in treatment of recalcitrant warts

There has long been a pressing need for an effective, easy, and safe treatment for recalcitrant warts. Intralesional injection of bleomycin promises to meet these criteria most nearly. The bleomycins, a group of sulfur-containing polypeptide compounds, were isolated from Streptomyces verticillus, a Japanese soil fungus, by Umezawa¹ in 1962. They have both antibiotic and cytotoxic properties. The cytotoxic effect depends on the ability to cause DNA strand scission, especially in dividing cells entering the mitotic phase.² It affects both DNA and protein synthesis as well as cell division.

Bleomycin is a broad-spectrum antibiotic with a variable antibacterial activity. Umezawa³ demonstrated that bleomycin also inactivated SV40 by scission of both strands of its DNA. It is possible, therefore, that it could act directly on human papillomavirus (HPV) in the same way.