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Background: The University of New Mexico School of Medicine established the combined baccalaureate/medical degree (BA/MD) program in response to critical physician shortages in New Mexico (NM). This 8-year program aims to improve health care in NM by expanding access to medical education for local students, particularly from rural and underserved communities and/or racial/ethnically underrepresented in medicine (URiM) in NM., Objectives: To describe the BA/MD program's initial design, the impact of improvements on retention, and the outcomes in terms of physicians in practice, particularly in primary care specialties., Methods: The study reviews the BA/MD program's progress from 2006 to 2023, focusing on curriculum and support enhancements. Retention rates and choice of primary care specialties were analyzed by geographic origin and racial/ethnic background., Results: From 2006 to 2023, the program graduated 81 physicians, with 53 practicing in 10 of NM's 33 counties. Approximately two-thirds specialize in primary care, and a similar proportion are URiM. Students from 31 of NM's 33 counties were admitted, with two-thirds coming from outside the state's metropolitan area. Overall retention and retention across demographic groups improved significantly in the baccalaureate phase of the program due to changes in curriculum and support services., Conclusions: The program has effectively addressed physician shortages in NM, particularly in rural and underserved areas. Its success in training and retaining physicians from diverse backgrounds, with a focus on primary care, is crucial for improving health care access in the state. Ongoing improvements in the program are essential to sustaining and enhancing these outcomes., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For commercial re-use, please contact reprints@oup.com for reprints and translation rights for reprints. All other permissions can be obtained through our RightsLink service via the Permissions link on the article page on our site—for further information please contact journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Many medical schools in the United States have integrated anatomy into an organ-based preclinical curriculum with some schools using anatomy as the cornerstone of their reorganization efforts. Curricular change could affect one or more of the three domains of learning, with the cognitive domain often scrutinized exclusively. A previous study reported the impact of anatomy integration on the affective domain, specifically, student attitudes toward learning anatomy. This mixed methods follow-up study asked if the observed attitudinal changes and lack of effect on student knowledge and confidence persisted using knowledge and confidence surveys, focus groups, internal and national surveys, and United States Medical Licensing Examination ® performance metrics. Results evidenced the persistence of specific attitudinal differences between cohorts with blocked versus integrated anatomy with no apparent short- or long-term differences in anatomy learning or confidence in this learning. Altered attitudes included lower value placed on working in teams and reflective practices, and less recognition of anatomy's contribution (or less contribution of anatomy learning) to professional identity formation. These attitudinal changes could result in a weaker foundation for building collaborative skills throughout the medical curriculum. A decreased sense of student engagement also followed curricular change, as assessed by data from the American Association of Medical Colleges Year 2 Questionnaire. Overall, results emphasized the necessity of anticipating, monitoring, and if necessary, addressing changes in the affective domain when undertaking curricular change., (© 2024 American Association for Anatomy.)

RNA binding proteins (RBPs) post-transcriptionally regulate gene expression by associating with regulatory sequences in the untranslated regions of mRNAs. Cold-inducible RBP (CIRP) is a stress-induced RBP that was recently shown to modulate inflammation in response to cellular stress, where it increases or decreases pro-tumorigenic (proinflammatory) cytokines in different contexts. CIRP expression is altered in several cancers, including breast cancer, but the effects of CIRP on inflammation in breast cancer is not known. Here, we investigate if CIRP alters growth and the inflammatory profile of breast tumors. Transgenic mice overexpressing CIRP in the mammary epithelium were crossed with the PyMT mouse model of breast cancer, and the effects on both early and late tumorigenesis and inflammation were assessed. The effects of CIRP knockdown were also assessed in Py2T cell grafts. Overexpression of CIRP led to decreased tumorigenesis in the PyMT mouse model. Conversely, the knockdown of CIRP in Py2T cell grafts led to increased tumor growth. Luminex cytokine assays assessed the effects on the inflammatory environment. CIRP/PyMT mammary glands/mammary tumors and serum had decreased cytokines that promote inflammation, angiogenesis, and metastasis compared to PyMT mammary glands and serum, documenting a shift towards an environment less supportive of tumorigenesis. CIRP overexpression also decreased CD4 + helper T cells and increased CD8 + cytotoxic T cells in mammary tumors. Overall, these data support a role for CIRP as a potent antitumor molecule that suppresses both local and systemic pro-tumorigenic inflammation.