What Can You Learn About Psychiatry Programs from Their Website? A Content Evaluation for Potential Applicants.

OBJECTIVE: This project aimed to assess the information contained on general psychiatry program websites and identify common themes that may be useful and informative for residency applicants. METHODS: A survey study design was used to evaluate all US general psychiatry program websites as listed in the FREIDA database. The evaluation form included 44 binary (yes or no) items. Two reviewers rated each item on all program websites between September 2021 and January 2022. Item discrepancies were settled by a third reviewer. Fisher's exact tests evaluated differences between geographic regions and program types. Multidimensional scaling and Rasch modeling were conducted to examine clustering and the probability of items reported on program websites. RESULTS: A total of 285 websites were identified; 13 were excluded. Internal consistency was high among reviewers, Cronbach's Alpha = 0.927; κ = 0.863. Websites varied considerably in quality. Significant inconsistent reporting was observed by region for current residents' photos and alumni careers (fellowship/jobs); p<0.001. Program types varied regarding information about program faculty, which included significant differences for faculty photo, faculty research interest, and faculty research publications; p<0.001. CONCLUSIONS: While inter-rater reliability was high, considerable variation among websites was observed. Residency programs could be improved by consistently reporting resident and faculty information. Results show that applicants may encounter issues finding pertinent information, as programs' FREIDA link did not direct the user to the residency program website two-thirds of the time.

What do female medical students know about planned oocyte cryopreservation and what are their personal attitudes?

PURPOSE: This study aimed to assess medical student knowledge and attitudes regarding oocyte cryopreservation, as well as attitudes regarding future intentions of utilizing this procedure. METHODS: This cross-sectional web-based survey study was distributed to 873 medical students at the University of Kansas from July through September 2018. The survey was self-reported and female medical student responses were analyzed. Students were surveyed through a variety of multiple-choice questions on demographics, knowledge of oocyte cryopreservation, and factors and attitudes that would impact personal and professional use of oocyte cryopreservation. RESULTS: A total of 122 female responses were collected (30%). A majority of female medical students were aware of oocyte cryopreservation, less than half correctly identified a dramatic drop in female fertility as well as oocyte cryopreservation success and cost-effectiveness. Three-quarters felt pressure to delay childbearing and nearly two-thirds would consider freezing their oocytes. Several factors were found to alter their decision toward oocyte cryopreservation including personal factors, procedure complexity and availability, and outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: A majority of female medical students are amenable to the possibility of using oocyte cryopreservation to delay childbearing. Though nearly all knew of oocyte cryopreservation, knowledge regarding fertility and oocyte cryopreservation was low.

Can the Publication of Case Series or Case Reports Lead to a Change in Clinical Practice?

This column provides some criteria for evaluating whether a case series or case report may warrant publication. It will emphasize the value of having biomarker data in addition to clinical data to enhance the potential validation of the report and provide ways to test the findings in randomized, controlled clinical trials (RCTs). The potential validity of the case series or report is also high if the outcome is something that would not normally be expected such as, by way of example but not limited to, sudden death or malignant hypertension in someone who had always been normotensive. Examples illustrating how case series/case reports have changed the course of clinical practice or regulatory rules governing drug approval by the US Food and Drug Administration are presented, as well as examples of how those reports have been validated by more rigorous studies including RCTs. The column also includes a discussion of situations in which case series/case reports might have an endpoint (eg, sudden death) that would not be ethical to investigate in an RCT, as well as how biomarkers have been used in such instances to avoid serious untoward outcomes for a participant while still testing the hypothesis.

Radiation-induced ovarian follicle loss occurs without overt stromal changes.

Radiation damage due to total body irradiation (TBI) or targeted abdominal radiation can deplete ovarian follicles and accelerate reproductive aging. We characterized a mouse model of low-dose TBI to investigate how radiation affects the follicular and stromal compartments of the ovary. A single TBI dose of either 0.1 Gy or 1 Gy (Cesium-137 γ) was delivered to reproductively adult CD1 female mice, and sham-treated mice served as controls. Mice were euthanized either 2 weeks or 5 weeks post exposure, and ovarian tissue was harvested. To assess the ovarian reserve, we classified and counted the number of morphologically normal follicles in ovarian histologic sections for all experimental cohorts using an objective method based on immunohistochemistry for an oocyte-specific protein (MSY2). 0.1 Gy did not affect that total number of ovarian follicles, whereas 1 Gy resulted in a dramatic loss. At two weeks, there was a significant reduction in all preantral follicles, but early antral and antral follicles were still present. By five weeks, there was complete depletion of all follicle classes. We examined stromal quality using histologic stains to visualize ovarian architecture and fibrosis and by immunohistochemistry and quantitative microscopy to assess cell proliferation, cell death and vasculature. There were no differences in the ovarian stroma across cohorts with respect to these markers, indicating that this compartment is more radio-resistant relative to the germ cells. These findings have implications for reproductive health and the field of fertility preservation because the radiation doses we examined mimic scatter doses experienced in typical therapeutic regimens.

Ovarian tissue cryopreservation in young females through the Oncofertility Consortium's National Physicians Cooperative.

AIM: To characterize the clinical indications of females (<15 years old) undergoing ovarian tissue cryopreservation (OTC) through the Oncofertility Consortium's National Physicians Cooperative (OC-NPC). PATIENTS & METHODS: The clinical indications of 114 females who underwent OTC were classified, and their incidence was compared with childhood cancer databases. RESULTS: Leukemias/myeloproliferative diseases/myelodysplastic diseases and hemoglobinopathies were the most prevalent oncologic and nononcologic indications for OTC, respectively. The frequencies of malignant bone tumors and soft tissue and other extraosseous sarcomas were higher in the OC-NPC cohort relative to the general population, while CNS/intracranial/intraspinal neoplasms, retinoblastoma and hepatic tumors were lower. CONCLUSION: Those opting for OTC through the OC-NPC are at highest fertility risk, indicating that the appropriate patient populations are being identified. [Formula: see text].