An Adaptable Pediatrics Faculty Mentoring Model

An effective faculty mentoring program (FMP) is 1 approach that academic departments can use to promote professional fulfillment, faculty retention, and mitigate the risks of faculty burnout. Mentoring has both direct benefits for junior faculty mentees as they navigate the academic promotion process with their mentors, in addition to broader departmental and institutional benefits, with regard to recruitment, retention, and academic productivity. We describe a successful FMP model that has been adapted for use in 6 other pediatrics departments, summarizing the key personnel, mentoring process, and program evaluation methods. Important lessons learned and a generalizable mentoring "model" are provided. Program evaluation indicates a positive effect for the FMP on enhanced faculty self-efficacy, job satisfaction, and career development. The importance of communication, oversight, feedback, accountability, and valuing all faculty members is emphasized. Strategies to promote faculty engagement and the critical role of departmental leadership in prioritizing mentorship are discussed. The success of academic medical departments is inextricably linked to its commitment to the career development of individual faculty members at all levels and in all academic pathways. With our findings, we support the positive impact of a formal FMP in promoting enhanced self-efficacy and career satisfaction, which directly benefits the department and institution through enhanced productivity, retention, successful promotion, and overall professional fulfillment.

Neurotoxicity of manganese: Indications for future research and public health intervention from the Manganese 2016 conference

Manganese is an essential trace element, but also at high levels a neurotoxicant. Manganese neurotoxicity has been extensively studied since its discovery in highly exposed workers. The International conference MANGANESE2016 held at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York provided relevant updates on manganese research in relation to both occupational and environmental exposures. Epidemiological, toxicological and cellular studies reported at the conference have yielded new insights on mechanisms of manganese toxicity and on opportunities for preventive intervention. Strong evidence now exists for causal associations between manganese and both neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disorders. The neurodevelopmental effects of early life exposures are an example of the developmental origin of health and disease (DOHAD) concept. Brain imaging has rapidly become an important tool for examining brain areas impacted by manganese at various life stages. Candidate biomarkers of exposure are being identified in hair, nails, and teeth and reflect different exposure windows and relate to different health outcomes. Sex differences were reported in several studies, suggesting that women are more susceptible. New evidence indicates that the transporter genes SLC30A10 and SLC39A8 influence both manganese homeostasis and toxicity. New potential chelation modalities are being developed.

Monkey versus human performance in the NCTR Operant Test Battery

A battery of operant behavioral tasks, designed to monitor complex "cognitive" functions in monkeys, was adapted for use in children. Adaptations were then incorporated into the monkey battery so that monkeys and children performed exactly the same tasks. Food pellets served as reinforcers for monkeys; nickels for children. Correct responding in a task is thought to depend upon relatively specific brain functions including short-term memory and attention, learning, time perception, motivation, and color and position discrimination. Eight 4-year-old rhesus monkeys served as subjects, and groups (n = 10 to 20) of 4- to 8-year-old children were recruited if they were not known to have any neurological, academic or behavioral problems. In performance of only the learning task was there any significant difference between monkeys and children. This difference was in response rate (not accuracy), with the monkeys responding faster than children. This lone difference in operant responding between monkeys and children was likely due to the fact that monkeys generally use all four appendages to respond whereas children generally do not.

Prenatal chlordane exposure: effects on plasma corticosterone concentrations over the lifespan of mice

Developmental exposure to nonteratogenic doses of the organochlorine pesticide Chlordane has been reported to alter endocrine function of apparently normal offspring evaluated at 101 days of age (J.S. Cranmer, D.L. Avery, R.R. Grady, and J.S. Kitay, 1978, J. Environ. Pathol. Toxicol. 2, 357-369). The long-term study reported here was conducted in cohort groups of identically treated mice to determine if prenatal exposure to Chlordane had a persistent effect on endocrine function over the lifespan of the exposed offspring as determined by alterations in plasma concentrations of corticosterone at 400 and 800 days of age. Dihybrid female mice were exposed throughout gestation to 0.16 or 8.00 mg/kg/day Chlordane and endocrine function of offspring was evaluated at three timepoints in their lifespan. Adrenal production and liver reduction capacity for corticosterone (the primary glucocorticoid in rodents) and plasma concentration of corticosterone were measured at 101 days. In this and three previous studies, changes in plasma levels of corticosterone proved to be a reliable indicator of changes in adrenal and/or liver function, thus, only plasma concentrations of corticosterone were determined at 400 and 800 days of age. Plasma corticosterone concentrations of male mice prenatally exposed to the lower Chlordane dose were significantly (P less than 0.01) elevated when measured at 101 days of age. This abnormal elevation (P less than 0.05) was recorded in both dose groups when male mice were examined at 400 days of age. At 800 days of age, no differences from control were found for male offspring in the lower dose group; insufficient numbers of offspring in the higher dose group survived to be evaluated. An effect of Chlordane on corticosterone metabolism in female offspring was observed only in the 0.16 mg/kg dose group at 400 days of age when plasma concentrations of corticosterone were significantly (P less than 0.05) increased. Results suggest that prenatal exposure to nonteratogenic doses of Chlordane (1) had a significant effect on endocrine function (corticosterone control), (2) affected males more than females, and (3) produced changes (increased plasma corticosterone levels) which were detectable at adulthood and persisted into middle age. The mechanisms responsible for these persistent changes in corticosterone metabolism remain to be elucidated.