Do Interviews Really Matter in Generating Programs and Applicants' Rank Lists for the Match?

OBJECTIVE: A paucity of data exists on the role of the interview day in programs and applicants' final rank list. The objective of our study was to investigate the impact interview day has on our programs and our interviewees' final rank list. METHODS: For the 2020 appointment year, our program used an Electronic Residency Application System Application Scoring Tool and Interview Scoring Tool to generate the preliminary rank list for our pulmonary and critical care fellowship applicants. The final rank list was decided after interviewers' discussion during the program's rank list meeting. We aimed to correlate the preliminary and final lists. We also surveyed applicants on the importance of interview day in generating their rank list. RESULTS: The final and the preliminary rank lists were strongly correlated (rs(47) = 0.87, P < 0.001). There was a stronger correlation between the final rank and the rank based on the application score (rs(47) = 0.84, P < 0.001) than the rank based on the interview score (rs(47) = 0.64, P < 0.001). For the postinterview survey, 48 applicants were surveyed-20 replied with a response rate of 42% and 18 respondents (90%) rated the interview experience as important or very important in their rank list decisions. CONCLUSIONS: The programs rank list correlated more with the candidates' written application than their interview day performance; however, interview experience greatly influenced the applicants' rank lists. In the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, in which all interviews are virtual, programs should make diligent efforts to construct virtual interview days, given their importance to applicants in generating their final rank list for the match.

Saponins: Extraction, bio-medicinal properties and way forward to anti-viral representatives.

Medicinal or herbal plants are widely used for their many favourable properties and are generally safe without any side effects. Saponins are sugar conjugated natural compounds which possess a multitude of biological activities such as medicinal properties, antimicrobial activity, antiviral activity, etc. Saponin production is a part of the normal growth and development process in a lot of plants and plant extracts such as liquorice and ginseng which are exploited as potential drug sources. Herbal compounds have shown a great potential against a wide variety of infectious agents, including viruses such as the SARS-CoV; these are all-natural products and do not show any adverse side effects. This article reviews the various aspects of saponin biosynthesis and extraction, the need for their integration into more mainstream medicinal therapies and how they could be potentially useful in treating viral diseases such as COVID-19, HIV, HSV, rotavirus etc. The literature presents a close review on the saponin efficacy in targeting mentioned viral diseases that occupy a high mortality rate worldwide. This manuscript indicates the role of saponins as a source of dynamic plant based anti-viral remedies and their various methods for extraction from different sources.