The objective structured interview for medical student selection

An objective structured interview is an integral part of the process of selecting and admitting applicants to study medicine at this university. During the nine years (to the end of 1986) that the interview has been used 1600 candidates were interviewed out of roughly 13 000 applicants, and from these, 584 students were admitted to the course. Analysis of the interview data was carried out based on two aspects of student progress: graduation with honours and failure to complete the course of study.The interview as a whole, and especially some of the subscales, appears to identify students who may fail to complete the course: it may also help to predict which students are likely to graduate with honours.     

On the low viscosity blood of two cold water,marine sculpins

Summary The viscosities of blood from shorthorn sculpin (Myoxocephalus scorpius), longhorn sculpin (Myoxocephalus octodecemspinosus) and winter flounder (Pseudopleuronectes americanus) were compared using a cone-plate viscometer. Both species of sculpin were almost identical with respect to blood and plasma viscosity at the temperatures (0 and 15°C) and shear rates (2.3–90/s) examined. In contrast, the viscosities of winter flounder blood and plasma were considerably greater than those observed in the sculpins. This difference in blood viscosity between the shorthorn sculpin and the winter flounder persisted over the hematocrit range of 0 to 40% red blood cells. The viscosity of the plasma and the interactions between plasma proteins and red blood cells appeared to be the major reasons for the relatively high viscosity of the flounder blood. Although a proportion of the flounder blood viscosity was attributable to fibrinogen, other plasma proteins also appeared to play a significant role. The relatively low blood viscosity of the sculpin species may confer a circulatory advantage during periods of low water temperatures.     

The subcellular distribution of a membrane-bound calmodulin-stimulated protein kinase

Incubation of subcellular fractions isolated from rat cerebral cortex with [-³²P]ATP results in the phosphorylation of a number of proteins including two with apparent molecular weights of approximately 50,000 and 60,000 daltons. These phosphoproteins were shown to be the autophosphorylated subunits of a calmodulin-stimulated protein kinase by a number of physicochemical criteria, including their mobility on non-equilibrium pH gradient electrophoresis, their phosphopeptide profiles and phosphorylation characteristics. When a crude membrane fraction obtained following osmotic lysis of a P2 fraction was labeled and subsequently fractionated on sucrose density gradients, approximately 80% of the autophosphorylated kinase was associated with fractions enriched in synaptic plasma membranes. Other substrates of calmodulin kinase(s) were similarly distributed. Detergent extraction of synaptic plasma membranes to produce synaptic junctions and post-synaptic densities indicated that the majority of the autophosphorylated kinase was solubilized, apparently as a holoenzyme. The major post synaptic density protein (mPSDp) was not readily extracted by detergents and was largely unlabeled under the conditions used for phosphorylation, and yet this protein is structurally closely related to the kinase subunit. It is possible that this lack of labeling is due to the mPSDp being attached to the PSD in a different way or being present there in a different isoenzymic form from that of the readily autophosphorylated enzyme subunit. Thus, the data suggest that, in vitro at least, a number of pools of calmodulin kinase exist in neuronal membranes.A preliminary account of part of this work has been published (1).