Irish Medical Students Understanding of the Intern Year.

Upon completion of medical school in Ireland, graduates must make the transition to becoming interns. The transition into the intern year may be described as challenging as graduates assume clinical responsibilities. Historically, a survey of interns in 1996 found that 91% felt unprepared for their role. However, recent surveys in 2012 have demonstrated that this is changing with preparedness rates reaching 52%. This can be partially explained by multiple initiatives at the local and national level. Our study aimed evaluate medical student understanding of the intern year and associated factors. An online, cross-sectional survey was sent out to all Irish medical students in 2013 and included questions regarding their understanding of the intern year. Two thousand, two hundred and forty-eight students responded, with 1,224 (55.4%) of students agreeing or strongly agreeing that they had a good understanding of what the intern year entails. This rose to 485 (73.7%) among senior medical students. Of junior medical students, 260 (42.8%) indicated they understood what the intern year, compared to 479 (48.7%) of intermediate medical students. Initiatives to continue improving preparedness for the intern year are essential in ensuring a smooth and less stressful transition into the medical workforce.

Childhood obesity: the extent of the problem among 6-year-old Irish national school children.

BACKGROUND: Childhood obesity is rapidly increasing worldwide. In Ireland, the number of overweight children has trebled over the last decade. The study aimed to provide an assessment of the prevalence of obesity of 6-year-old children in one region of Ireland. METHODS: Following training, School Public Health Nurses included the measurement of height and weight as part of the annual 'senior infants' school health check for 5453 6-year-old children in 189 schools between 2004 and 2007. Body mass index (BMI) was calculated using the International Obesity Taskforce cut-off points using lmsGrowth (a Microsoft Excel add-in), which uses a child's exact age. Kendall's Tau b was used to determine the reliability of measurements. Prevalence trends were tested using multinomial logistic regression. Pearson's chi-squared test was utilized to assess the statistical significance of differences in BMI by gender, school year, and to compare with similar other Irish studies. RESULTS: Out of the 5453 children measured, 3493 were aged 6 years old. A further 11 were excluded because of incomplete data. Data were analysed for 3482 6-year-old children. Overall, 27% of 6-year-olds were classified as either overweight or obese. A significantly greater proportion of girls are overweight or obese compared with boys (31% compared with 23%). Gender differences have remained relatively stable from 2004-2007. Overall, there have been no significant changes in the level of obesity from 2004-2007. In addition, when comparing with other Irish studies that collected data for 2001/2, there are no significant differences in obesity levels. CONCLUSIONS: There is a clear need to urgently prioritize the effective management of obesity. Resourses should now be targeted towards ensuring government policies in Ireland and elsewhere are implemented.

AIR synthetase in cowpea nodules: a single gene product targeted to two organelles?

A cDNA (VUpur5) encoding phosphoribosyl aminoimidazole (AIR) synthetase, the fifth enzyme of the de novo purine biosynthesis pathway has been isolated from a cowpea nodule cDNA library. It encodes a 388 amino acid protein with a predicted molecular mass of 40.4 kDa. The deduced amino acid sequence has significant homology with AIR synthetase from other organisms. AIR synthetase is present in both mitochondria and plastids of cowpea nodules. A signal sequence encoded by the VUpur5 cDNA has properties associated with plastid transit sequences but there is no consensus cleavage site as would be expected for a plastid targeted protein. Although the signal sequence does not have the structural features of a mitochondrial targeted protein, it has a mitochondrial cleavage site motif (RX/XS) close to the predicted N-terminus of the mature protein. Southern analysis suggests that AIR synthetase is encoded by a single gene raising questions as to how the product of this gene is targeted to the two organelles. VUpur5 is expressed at much higher levels in nodules compared to other cowpea tissues and the gene is active before nitrogen fixation begins. These results suggest that products of nitrogen fixation do not play a role in the initial induction of gene expression. VUpur5 was expressed in Escherichia coli and the recombinant protein used to raise antibodies. These antibodies recognize two forms of AIR synthetase which differ in molecular size. Both forms are present in mitochondria, although the larger protein is more abundant. Only the smaller protein was detected in plastids.