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In 2003,Laricobius nigrinusFender was introduced into the eastern United States as a biological control agent of the hemlock woolly adelgid (Adelges tsugaeAnnand). Following its release, it was discovered thatL. nigrinuswas hybridising and producing viable progeny withLaricobius rubidusLeConte, a species native to eastern North America. Recently,Laricobius osakensisMontgomery and Shiyake was imported from Japan into the USA as a potential biological control agent of hemlock woolly adelgid. Hybridisation betweenL. nigrinusandL. rubidusled to interest in the outcome of interactions betweenL. osakensisand the other twoLaricobiusspp. The purpose of this study was to determine ifL. osakensiscould mate withL. nigrinus, if they could produce hybrid progeny, and whether mating interferes with reproductive output.Laricobiusspp. were observed mating directly following emergence and found to be capable of producing sterile eggs in the absence of a mating event. Laboratory and confined field studies found no evidence thatL. osakensisandL. nigrinuscould produce hybrid progeny and the interaction between the two species did not result in a lower reproduction associated with interspecific mating attempts. Interbreeding should therefore not have an impact on biological control using these species. Fecundity experiments showed thatL. osakensisproduced eggs earlier in the season and at a higher rate thanL. nigrinus, suggesting thatL. osakensismay have the potential to be an even more successful biological control agent thanL. nigrinus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reviews several articles related to medicine including "Undergraduate Medical Education," in the "Journal of General Internal Medicine" in 2008, "Continuing Medical Education," in the journal "Annals of Internal Medicine" in 2007, and "Undergraduate Medical Education," in the "Journal of Urology" in 2008.

This journal watch is sponsored by the Alliance for Clinical Education (ACE). The purpose of this article is to summarize medical education manuscripts from specialty journals that are important and relevant to educators across specialties. Specialties included in our review were cardiology, gastroenterology, general internal medicine, pulmonology, nephrology, hematology and oncology, endocrinology, rheumatology, infectious disease, and neurology. We are grateful to Teaching and Learning in Medicine and ACE for giving us the opportunity to publish this review. The Clerkship Directors in Internal Medicine Research Committee conducted this review. Included are English articles published from September 2006 through September 2007. PubMed was searched for peer-reviewed research publications reporting primary data on medical education. Medical subject heading terms included combinations of medical education, medical student, residency training, practice, undergraduate medical education, graduate medical education, internship and residency, and continuing medical education. We also reviewed the bibliographies of all articles found though our PubMed search to identify additional articles that may not have been included in PubMed's search engine. Furthermore, we discussed identified articles with content experts in each specialty to ensure that appropriate journals and articles were included from each subspecialty. The journals that we selected for review are not often read by the typical medical educator. We included articles from general and subspecialty journals of internal medicine excluding the following, which have a focus on medical education or cross-specialties: Academic Medicine, Advances in Health Science Education, Medical Education, Medical Teacher, Teaching and Learning in Medicine, Journal of the American Medical Association, and New England Journal of Medicine. Specialties included in our review were cardiology, gastroenterology, general internal medicine, pulmonology, nephrology, hematology and oncology, endocrinology, rheumatology, infectious disease, and neurology. We also reviewed the bibliographies of all articles found though our PubMed search to identify additional articles. Furthermore, we discussed identified articles with content experts in each specialty to ensure that appropriate journals and articles were included from each subspecialty. Authors rated each article based on relevance, rigor, importance, and generalizibility of findings. We also sought to include articles from each phase in the continuum of medical education: undergraduate, graduate, and continuing medical education as well as qualitative and quantitative studies. Articles were ranked by each author. We then held conference calls and had e-mail discussions to establish consensus on the articles included in this review. The following is a summary of each selected article grouped by theme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Uncontrolled hypertension is a significant health problem, due in part to patients' under-use of antihypertensive medications. This study explored what factors influence patients' decisions to accept or resist initiation of pharmacologic therapy for hypertension. A total of 210 subjects reviewed a clinical vignette and a hypothetical physician-patient dialogue. They then self-reported their likelihood of accepting the physician's recommendation to initiate therapy with an antihypertensive. Additional measures included trust in the physician, satisfaction, beliefs about medication effectiveness, safety and side-effects, and beliefs about hypertension. Analyses included bivariate correlations and multivariate linear regression. Findings suggest that the strongest correlates of intent to begin therapy were trust in the physician (r = 0.65, p< 0.01), satisfaction with communication (r= 0.53, p< 0.01), and belief that medications can effectively treat hypertension (r = 0.45, p< 0.01). Three other beliefs were also correlated with acceptance of treatment: the belief that physicians do not prescribe unsafe medications (r=0.25, p<0.01), worry about having hypertension (r = 0.18, p<0.01) and belief that hypertension is a very serious disease (r= 0.26, p<0.01). Acceptance of treatment was not correlated with worry about medication side-effects or belief that medications cause problems (p> 0.01). The tone of the dialogue (positive versus negative) did not result in statistically significant differences in subjects' responses on any measures. The study concludes that attention to patients' perceptions and beliefs about hypertension and medication efficacy may help patients accept pharmacologic treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The 4th-year internal medicine subinternship (subI), with its strong emphasis on experience-based learning and increased patient responsibilities, is an important component of undergraduate medical education. Discussions have begun amongst educational leaders on the importance of standardizing curriculum and evaluation tools utilized during the subinternship. Purpose: The objective of this survey was to describe the current state of educational practices regarding the subI curriculum, use of Clerkship Directors in Internal Medicine (CDIM) curricular guidelines, evaluation methodologies, and subintern call frequency and duty hours. Methods: The survey was a part of the CDIM annual survey sent to 109 institutional members in 2005. The subinternship survey included 17 questions that addressed the prevalence of formal curricula in the subinternship, use of CDIM curricular guidelines and resources, and the evaluation tools utilized for assessment of the subinternship. Two questions examined the call frequency and duty hours of the subinterns. Results: Eighty-eight members responded (81%). Of the respondents, 37% have a formal curriculum and 35% used CDIM curricular guidelines for the subinternship. More than half of the respondents agreed that the curricular guide helped organize their subI rotations (53%), and 48% agreed that it enhanced the quality of subI education. A global rating summative evaluation form (56%) was the most commonly used evaluation tool in the subinternship. Objective Structured Clinical Examinations1-3 (1%) and Mini-Clinical Evaluation Exercise (mini-CEX)4(2%) were much less utilized during the subinternship. The respondents expressed an interest in the development of a standardized exam (47%) and clinical assessment tools such as the mini-CEX (59%). The vast majority of IM subinterns participate in 3 to 9 calls per rotation and spend less than 80 hr in the hospital per week. Conclusions: A formal curriculum is offered in slightly more than one third of subIs. Clerkship directors expressed interest in developing standardized evaluation tools to assess subintern competencies. The majority of IM subinterns spend less than 80 hr in the hospital per week. Further studies are needed to assess barriers to incorporating a formal curriculum and develop standardized tools to assess subintern competencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study which describes the contribution of myeloid translocation gene 16/Eto2, a transcriptional corepressor that is disrupted in acute myeloid leukemia, to murine T-cell development.