Serafino Zappacosta: An Enlightened Mentor and Educator.
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Carbone E
PROVIDER: S-EPMC7031500 | biostudies-literature | 2020
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Publications
Serafino Zappacosta: An Enlightened Mentor and Educator.
Carbone Ennio E De Felice Mario M Di Rosa Francesca F D'Oro Ugo U Fontana Silvia S La Cava Antonio A Maio Michele M Matarese Giuseppe G Racioppi Luigi L Ruggiero Giuseppina G Terrazzano Giuseppe G
Frontiers in immunology 20200213
With this article, the authors aim to honor the memory of Serafino Zappacosta, who had been their mentor during the early years of their career in science. The authors discuss how the combination of Serafino Zappacosta's extraordinary commitment to teaching and passion for science created a fostering educational environment that led to the creation of the "<i>Ruggero Ceppellini Advanced School of Immunology</i>." The review also illustrates how the research on the MHC and the inspirational scien ...[more]
Similar Datasets
Project description:Altruism and the medical profession have been linked throughout the history of medicine. Students are drawn to the calling of medicine because of altruistic values, dedication to service, and the desire to alleviate suffering and promote healing. Despite a dedication to these values, altruism in medicine is threatened by empathy erosion that develops in the clinical years of medical school and an increasing rate of medical student burnout. Currently, there are two widespread movements in medicine aimed at addressing the dual loss of altruism and physician and student burnout-professionalism and wellness. Despite widespread recognition of the problems and programs aimed at improving them, there has been little headway, and even calls to abandon altruism in the modern marketplace of medicine. What is needed is not an abandonment of a fundamental, defining value of the profession, but a re-evaluation of the meaning of altruism in medicine and a framework that allows for students and physicians to provide altruistic care for a sustainable, rewarding career in the healing profession. This paper proposes the Enlightened Self-Interest in Altruism (ESIA) model as an ethical framework to allow medical students to synergize the interests of the self with those they serve in a mutually beneficial relationship to improve patient care and the healthcare system at large. The ESIA model acknowledges that egoism and altruism are intertwined, dynamic motivators of behavior. In the enlightened self-interest approach, the interests of the group are also the interests of the self. The physician-patient relationship is a dyad in which egoism and altruism may converge in an enlightened way that acknowledges that the interests of one are the interests of the whole. This is a paradigm shift from the historical view of egoism and altruism as opposing motivations. This paper will present the threats to altruism, explore the interface of egoism and altruism in a clinical vignette, and then present the ESIA framework as an educational approach to aligning the interests of providers and patients to prevent burnout and promote altruism.
| S-EPMC7224037 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Whole cell biosensors (WCBs) have multiple applications for environmental monitoring, detecting a wide range of pollutants. WCBs depend critically on the sensitivity and specificity of the transcription factor (TF) used to detect the analyte. We describe the mechanism of regulation and the structural and biochemical properties of TF families that are used, or could be used, for the development of environmental WCBs. Focusing on the chemical nature of the analyte, we review TFs that respond to aromatic compounds (XylS-AraC, XylR-NtrC, and LysR), metal ions (MerR, ArsR, DtxR, Fur, and NikR) or antibiotics (TetR and MarR). Analyzing the structural domains involved in DNA recognition, we highlight the similitudes in the DNA binding domains (DBDs) of these TF families. Opposite to DBDs, the wide range of analytes detected by TFs results in a diversity of structures at the effector binding domain. The modular architecture of TFs opens the possibility of engineering TFs with hybrid DNA and effector specificities. Yet, the lack of a crisp correlation between structural domains and specific functions makes this a challenging task.
| S-EPMC4486848 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Introduction:While residents must meet standardized educational milestones to graduate, individualized mentorship and guidance can help them achieve personal and career goals. A novel mentor, advisor, and coach (MAC) program was created for residents of the Yale University Traditional Internal Medicine Residency Program to help them attain these goals. Methods:Internal medicine faculty were recruited into the MAC program and matched with residents, with each faculty paired with one to three mentees. A structured roadmap was used to guide program content (including topics of mentoring, advising, and coaching), and meetings were individualized to cater to the needs of residents. During the 2017-2018 academic year, online surveys and focus groups were used to obtain feedback from participants. Results:Survey responses were obtained from 50 of the 116 residents (43%) and 21 of the 49 MAC faculty (43%). Thirteen residents and five MAC faculty participated in in-person focus groups. Most participants (92% of interns, 83% of residents, and 95% of MAC faculty) felt the program was beneficial and should continue. Individualized relationships and meeting content were key to the program's success. Areas for improvement included clarification of the program's purpose and each party's responsibilities in scheduling meetings. MAC faculty also requested faculty development tools to help them meet expectations of being a MAC. Discussion:The MAC program provided a successful avenue for mentorship and guidance for residents. Central themes to enhance participants' experience were individualization and flexibility, mutual agreement of the ground rules, and enhanced communication from program leadership.
| S-EPMC7666835 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Many cardiovascular diseases are facilitated by strong inheritance. For example, large-scale genetic studies identified hundreds of genomic loci that affect the risk of coronary artery disease. At each of these loci, common variants are associated with disease risk with robust statistical evidence but individually small effect sizes. Only a minority of candidate genes found at these loci are involved in the pathophysiology of traditional risk factors, but experimental research is making progress in identifying novel, and, in part, unexpected mechanisms. Targets identified by genome-wide association studies have already led to the development of novel treatments, specifically in lipid metabolism. This review summarizes recent genetic and experimental findings in this field. In addition, the development and possible clinical usefulness of polygenic risk scores in risk prediction and individualization of treatment, particularly in lipid metabolism, are discussed.
| S-EPMC8326228 | biostudies-literature
Project description:IntroductionHealth professions faculty members often struggle deciding on career paths balancing their identities as clinicians, educators, and scholars. Identity formation research has identified three major influences: context, roles, and agency. Identity influences career decisions and, in turn, affects engagement in medical education and faculty development. We designed a single-session workshop to foster educator identity formation.MethodsThe workshop varied from 1 to 3 hours. It explored how identity develops and considered how self, role, and context could be shaped to grow and sustain identity. Participants used a handout called Identity Quakes to indicate satisfaction with their support, engagement, and empowerment. The workshop employed direct instruction to provide language and tools to scaffold conversation and self-reflection leading to future plans aligning participants' professional identities and roles with resources to support further development.ResultsFrom 2016 to 2020, we offered the workshop to faculty members from diverse professions, including medicine, nursing, dentistry, physical therapy, and others, on 11 occasions (locally, nationally, and internationally) with audiences of 15-200 participants. At offerings that collected evaluations, the workshop received high ratings of 4.61-4.90 (very good-excellent) on a 5-point scale.DiscussionThis single-session workshop is a valuable opportunity to reflect on identity, which faculty members rarely get to do formally. The Identity Quakes handout prompts participants to challenge their assumptions about their professional identities and roles, employ their agency/choice, and consider future career choices.
| S-EPMC7809926 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Over the past several decades, fewer faculty members at American medical schools have engaged in an equally balanced portfolio of clinical, research, and education efforts, and increasing numbers of faculty members have become more differentiated into physician-scientists or clinician-educators. Career paths among clinician-educators are quite variable, and aspiring clinician-educators are frequently unsure of how to maximize their chances for success in a clinician-educator academic pathway. In the author's opinion, the aspiring clinician-educator should seek to develop their skill set in four main areas. First, they must develop, become respected for, and maintain their clinical expertise, ideally becoming their institution's go-to person when those issues either arise clinically or require teaching to a group of learners. Second, they must actively work to develop outstanding teaching skills so that they can excel in teaching in a variety of formats, including lectures, small-group facilitation, and bedside instruction delivered in the context of clinical care. This generally requires engagement with faculty development programs both inside and outside one's institution. Third, the aspiring clinician-educator needs to develop the skills necessary to support ongoing scholarly activities, either in the educational realm or in their clinical focus. Finally, because most successful clinician-educators are thrust into leadership positions of some type, either in medical school courses or clerkships, residency or fellowship training programs, or for clinical programs of the division, department, or health system, the aspiring clinician-educator needs to develop as a competent administrator, seeking additional leadership training if possible.
| S-EPMC8043295 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Fish populations subject to heavy exploitation are expected to evolve over time smaller average body sizes. We introduce Stackelberg evolutionary game theory to show how fisheries management should be adjusted to mitigate the potential negative effects of such evolutionary changes. We present the game of a fisheries manager versus a fish population, where the former adjusts the harvesting rate and the net size to maximize profit, while the latter responds by evolving the size at maturation to maximize the fitness. We analyze three strategies: i) ecologically enlightened (leading to a Nash equilibrium in game-theoretic terms); ii) evolutionarily enlightened (leading to a Stackelberg equilibrium) and iii) domestication (leading to team optimum) and the corresponding outcomes for both the fisheries manager and the fish. Domestication results in the largest size for the fish and the highest profit for the manager. With the Nash approach the manager tends to adopt a high harvesting rate and a small net size that eventually leads to smaller fish. With the Stackelberg approach the manager selects a bigger net size and scales back the harvesting rate, which lead to a bigger fish size and a higher profit. Overall, our results encourage managers to take the fish evolutionary dynamics into account. Moreover, we advocate for the use of Stackelberg evolutionary game theory as a tool for providing insights into the eco-evolutionary consequences of exploiting evolving resources.
| S-EPMC7817040 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Polymorphonuclear cells diapedesis has an important contribution to the induced Mannhemia haemolytica (M. haemolytica) infection lung inflammation and IL-8 is the primary polymorphonuclear chemoattractant. Using a bovine IL-8/luciferase transiently transgenized mouse model, the orchestration among M. haemolytica, IL-8 promoter activation and neutrophilia was followed in real time by in vivo image analysis.
| S-EPMC3906860 | biostudies-other
Project description:Nigeria contributes the highest to the global burden of HIV/AIDS and also accounts for the largest proportion of new vertically transmitted HIV infections among children. The Mentor Mothers program in the Nigerian Department of Defense was introduced in accordance with the World Health Organization and its implementing partner guidelines to curb the high incidence of vertically acquired HIV infections. Understanding the experiences of participants could serve as a gateway to evaluating the effectiveness of the program to better provide quality services within targeted health facilities. This qualitative study employed key informant interviews with six healthcare workers as well as two focus group discussions with six mentor mothers and six prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) patients in four selected hospitals in the Nigerian Department of Defense to explore their experiences of the Mentor Mothers program. A thematic analysis technique was used to analyze the collated data. As a result, four main themes emerged, with the program perceived by most participants as providing psychosocial support to the patients, a valuable educational resource for raising HIV awareness, a valuable resource for promoting exclusive breastfeeding and mitigating vertical transmission of the virus, and functioning as a link between patients and the healthcare system. The participants reported that the program had effectively decreased HIV infections in children, reduced child and maternal mortality, and supported the livelihood and development of women, families, and communities in and around the Nigerian Department of Defense health facilities.
| S-EPMC8001623 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BACKGROUND:Mentorship plays an essential role in enhancing the success of junior faculty. Previous evaluation tools focused on specific types of mentors or mentees. The main objective was to develop and provide validity evidence for a Mentor Evaluation Tool (MET) to assess the effectiveness of one-on-one mentoring for faculty in the academic health sciences. METHODS:Evidence was collected for the validity domains of content, internal structure and relationship to other variables. The 13 item MET was tested for internal structure evidence with 185 junior faculty from Schools of Dentistry, Medicine, Nursing, and Pharmacy. Finally, the MET was studied for additional validity evidence by prospectively enrolling mentees of three different groups of faculty (faculty nominated for, or winners of, a lifetime achievement in mentoring award; faculty graduates of a mentor training program; and faculty mentors not in either of the other two groups) at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) and asking them to rate their mentors using the MET. Mentors and mentees were clinicians, educators and/or researchers. RESULTS:The 13 MET items mapped well to the five mentoring domains and six competencies described in the literature. The standardized Cronbach's coefficient alpha was 0.96. Confirmatory factor analysis supported a single factor (CFI = 0.89, SRMR = 0.05). The three mentor groups did not differ in the single overall assessment item (P = 0.054) or mean MET score (P = 0.288), before or after adjusting for years of mentoring. The mentorship score means were relatively high for all three groups. CONCLUSIONS:The Mentor Evaluation Tool demonstrates evidence of validity for research, clinical, educational or career mentors in academic health science careers. However, MET did not distinguish individuals nominated as outstanding mentors from other mentors. MET validity evidence can be studied further with mentor-mentee pairs and to follow prospectively the rating of mentors before and after a mentorship training program.
| S-EPMC7297334 | biostudies-literature