In the case of keloids, an aberration in these pathways could influence the activity of TP53. But there are lingering questions that need to be explored, Dr. Garcia-Rodriguez said. “What was most important about this research was that the intermediate regulators and master regulators were found to be important in cell proliferation, senescence, apoptosis, and tumor suppression, suggesting a possible association, indirect or direct, with the development of keloids,” she said. “The big question that our group has was if TP53 is inactivated and there’s an aberrant process occurring with this drug, how come the keloid doesn’t actually turn into a cancer? And do these drugs and master regulators have the ability to influence these processes?”
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April 2016Self-Directed Learning in Otolaryngology Residents’ Preparation for Surgical Cases
In a nationwide survey, researchers from the Medical College of Wisconsin and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center found that otolaryngology residents tend to rate their preparation for surgical cases as not particularly effective or efficient, with scores below four on a five-point scale for both junior and senior residents.
“The number of surgical education resources that are available seems to be increasing almost daily and, while we residents do have it easier now in the era of duty-hour restrictions, most would agree that residency is still very time-demanding,” said Jad Jabbour, MD, MPH, a fourth-year resident at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. “At the same time, we have evidence from other surgical fields that there’s often a disconnect between what staff surgeons or resident surgeons think is important to study before a case.”
The eight-question survey was distributed to every U.S. otolaryngology residency program and was completed by 108 residents. Junior residents rated their effectiveness in preparing for cases at 3.4 and their efficiency at 3.03, while senior residents, in their fourth and fifth years, rated those categories a 3.75 and 3.45, respectively. The differences between the resident groupings was significant for both questions (p=.008 for effectiveness and p=.02 for efficiency). Textbooks, surgical atlases, and surgical education websites were the most commonly cited resources used, with senior residents significantly more likely than junior residents to use journal articles (p=.01) and personal notes (p=.02).
For both groups, convenience was the most commonly cited reason for choosing a given resource, leading to the popularity of surgical websites, Dr. Jabbour noted, and lack of time the most commonly cited limitation in preparing for cases.