03±1.03) more than the moderately scored peer learning (4.95 ±1.50) and help-seeking (4.95 ±1.09). In the focus group discussions, students reported that they often narrate or explain to each other what they would have read and understood from anatomy lectures, tutorials, and textbooks. They also bemoaned lack of institutional support for stress burdens. The motivation and learning strategies subscales were not correlated with anatomy cGPA. Males were driven by extrinsic goals and experienced significantly higher levels of test anxiety than females (P less then 0.05). Knowing the motivation and learning strategies students employ early in the medical curriculum can be leveraged to promote self-directed learning and academic achievement.

To explore aspects of professional identity in nurses’ written narratives of what is significant to their choice to remain in the profession.

This study used a qualitative design and was underpinned by a hermeneutical approach.

The participants were recruited via purposive sampling procedures and included 13 nurses aged 26 to 62years. The data were collected in the form of written narratives to initiate the nurses’ reflections on the decision to remain in the profession. A thematic analysis was conducted.

The analysis revealed two themes acting as a professional contributor and realigning to maintain professional belongingness. In the nurses’ written narratives, these aspects of professional identity were clearly significant to their choice to remain in the profession. In a complexly interwoven way, the aspects constructed who the nurses were as professionals, and thus, professional identity seems to play a critical role in the choice to remain.

The analysis revealed two themes acting as a professional contributor and realigning to maintain professional belongingness. In the nurses’ written narratives, these aspects of professional identity were clearly significant to their choice to remain in the profession. In a complexly interwoven way, the aspects constructed who the nurses were as professionals, and thus, professional identity seems to play a critical role in the choice to remain.Missing or erroneous information is a common problem in the analysis of pharmacokinetic (PK) data. This may present as missing or inaccurate dose level or dose time, drug concentrations below the analytical limit of quantification, missing sample times, or missing or incorrect covariate information. Several methods to handle problematic data have been evaluated, although no single, broad set of recommendations for commonly occurring errors has been published. In this tutorial, we review the existing literature and present the results of our simulation studies that evaluated common methods to handle known data errors to bridge the remaining gaps and expand on the existing knowledge. This tutorial is intended for any scientist analyzing a PK data set with missing or apparently erroneous data. The approaches described herein may also be useful for the analysis of nonclinical PK data.Programmed death-ligand-1 (PD-L1) is a ligand for programmed death receptor (PD-1) that plays a major role in cell-mediated immune response; it regulates T-cell activation and regulates survival and functions of activated T cells. Expression of PD-L1 can induce chronic inflammation and activate mechanisms of immune evasion. PD-L1 is expressed in most of human carcinomas. Porphyromonas gingivalis (P. gingivalis) is a major keystone pathogen in periodontitis that invade host cells and disposes a variety of virulence factors. The aim of the present study was to clarify the signaling pathway of P. gingivalis molecules that induce PD-L1 up-regulation in colon carcinoma cells. Additionally, it was investigated which components of P. gingivalis are responsible for PD-L1 induction. Colon cancer cells (CL-11) were stimulated with total membrane (TM) fractions, peptidoglycans (PDGs) and viable P. gingivalis bacteria. Seven signaling molecule inhibitors were used receptor-interacting serine/threonine-protein kinase 2 (RIP2) tyrosine kinase inhibitor, nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain (NOD)-like receptor 1&2 inhibitor, NOD-like receptor, nuclear factor kappa B inhibitor, c-Jun N-terminal kinases inhibitor, mitogen-activated protein/extracellular signal-regulated kinase inhibitor, mitogen activated kinase (MAPK) inhibitor. PD-L1 protein expression was examined by western blot analysis and quantitative real time PCR. It was demonstrated that the TM fraction and PDG induced up-regulation of PD-L1 expression in colon cancer cells. In conclusion, the results of this study suggest that PDG of P. gingivalis plays a major role in PD-L1 up-regulation in colon cancer cells. In addition, the mechanism of PD-L1 up-regulation depends on NOD 1 and NOD 2 and involves activation of RIP2 and MAPK signaling pathways.The current global pandemic COVID-19 challenges oncologists to reorganise cancer care in order to strikingly reduce hospital visits and admissions. Cancer patients are more susceptible to infections and likely to get severe consequences compared with other patients. Health-care facility services are quickly changing their systems and workflow in response to the global pandemic COVID-19 crisis. These alterations mitigate infection risks and give profound effects on crucial aspects of care, including patients with cancer. Here, we discuss the current situations and a roadmap for cancer care during the COVID-19 crisis. In the prevalence of global cancer and higher transmission of pandemic COVID-19, there is an urgent need to realise the effect of SARS-CoV-2 infection and their related life-threatening outcomes specifically for cancer patients.

The aim of this retrospective study was to evaluate the incidence of male sexual dysfunction after mid to low rectal cancer surgery and to identify factors associated with postoperative erectile and ejaculatory dysfunction.

The subjects were 410 consecutive male patients who underwent surgery for mid to low rectal cancer from 2009 to 2015. Two questionnaires on sexual function were administered the International Index of Erectile Function, and an original questionnaire on ejaculatory status. Erectile and ejaculatory dysfunction were examined before and 3, 6, 12months after surgery. In patients without preoperative dysfunction, multivariate regression analyses were performed to identify factors associated with the incidence of erectile and ejaculatory dysfunction at 12months after surgery.

Of 410 patients, 234 (57%) gave complete responses to the questionnaires, of whom 108 (46%) and 155 (66%) had severe erectile dysfunction, while 115 (49%) and 168 (72%) had severe ejaculatory dysfunction before and 12months after surgery, respectively. Of the patients who maintained sexual function preoperatively, the incidence of erectile and ejaculatory dysfunction at 12months after surgery was 51% (64/126) and 49% (58/119), respectively. In multivariate analysis, age >60years (P=0.02), laparotomy (P=0.002), and creation of a diverting ileostomy (P=0.003) were independent factors associated with postoperative erectile dysfunction, while age >60years (P=0.005), laparotomy (P=0.04), and lateral lymph node dissection (P=0.001) were independent factors associated with postoperative ejaculatory dysfunction.

Sexual dysfunction occurred in almost half of patients after rectal cancer surgery, and was independently associated with several factors, including laparotomy.

Sexual dysfunction occurred in almost half of patients after rectal cancer surgery, and was independently associated with several factors, including laparotomy.Revealing the true structure of tissues and organs with tissue slicing technology is difficult since images reconstructed in three dimensions are easily distorted. To address the limitations in tissue slicing technology, tissue clearing has been invented and has recently achieved significant progress in three-dimensional imaging. Currently, this technology can mainly be divided into two types aqueous clearing methods and solvent-based clearing methods. As one of the important parts of this technology, organic solvent-based tissue clearing techniques have been widely applied because of their efficient clearing speed and high clearing intensity. This review introduces the primary organic solvent-based tissue clearing techniques and their applications.Buthus occitanus (B. occitanus) is one of the most dangerous scorpions in the world. Despite the involvement of B. occitanus scorpion in severe cases of envenomation in Morocco, no study has focused yet on the proteomic composition of the Moroccan B. occitanus scorpion venom. Mass spectrometry-based proteomic techniques are commonly used in the study of scorpion venoms. The implementation of top-down and bottom-up approaches for proteomic analyses facilitates screening by allowing a global view of the structural aspects of such complex matrices. Here, we provide a partial overview of the venom of B. occitanus scorpion, in order to explore the diversity of its toxins and hereafter understand their effects. To this end, a combination of top-down and bottom-up approaches was applied using nano-high liquid chromatography coupled to nano-electrospray tandem mass spectrometry (nano-LC-ESI MS/MS). The LC-MS results showed that B. occitanus venom contains around 200 molecular masses ranging from 1868 to 16 720 Da, the most representative of which are those between 5000 and 8000 Da. Interestingly, combined top-down and bottom-up LC-MS/MS results allowed the identification of several toxins, which were mainly those acting on ion channels, including those targeting sodium (NaScTxs), potassium (KScTxs), chloride (ClScTxs), and calcium channels (CaScTx), as well as antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), amphipathic peptides, myotropic neuropeptides, and hypothetical secreted proteins. This study reveals the molecular diversity of B. occitanus scorpion venom and identifies components that may have useful pharmacological activities.

To compare the effect of school-based education programs, by peer group versus health practitioner on Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS) in adolescent girls.

Non-masked three-armed clinical trial.

Ninety 11th-grade students with moderate to severe PMS will be allocated to Intervention Group 1 (IG1), Intervention Group 2 (IG2) and Comparison Group (CG). Three weeks (six online sessions) of parallel education will be implemented in IG1 by trained peer educators and in IG2 by a health practitioner. The primary outcome will be changes in PMS severity score between three groups over time (measured by Daily Record of Severity of Problems). Secondary outcomes include changes in Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder and General Health. Data collection will be conducted in two-time points, at baseline, and at the end of the intervention.

Our study will explore the effect of school-based education programs, by peer group versus health practitioner on PMS. This will add to the evidence-based interventions to PMS management and the effectiveness of peer education in health promotion of adolescents girls.

Our study will explore the effect of school-based education programs, by peer group versus health practitioner on PMS. This will add to the evidence-based interventions to PMS management and the effectiveness of peer education in health promotion of adolescents girls.