Career development in fragment-based drug discovery.

The pharmaceutical industry is highly reliant on researchers who not only possess the technical knowledge but also the professional skills to collaborate in drug development. To prepare future practitioners to thrive in this interdisciplinary environment, Innovative Training Networks (ITNs) have become increasingly important in doctoral training. In this piece, we explore the benefits of these ITNs in training future practitioners in drug discovery. Through a bibliometric review, we find that the top researchers in fragment-based drug discovery have a high degree of collaboration and mobility across institutes. We then investigate which aspects of the ITN training program enable PhD students to gain these skills. We find that secondments, the short-term stays that students have in partner research institutes, are useful in preparing students to have both broad knowledge of drug discovery and specialization in their field of interest. Aside from imparting technical skills, we find that the collaborative environment in ITNs enables students to communicate better and to work effectively in teams. Doctoral students benefit by being exposed to relevant experiences that they can later apply as they navigate through the complex web of relationships and competencies in the industry. We conclude by recommending best practices to further improve ITNs in the training of future practitioners.

Perceived control by "powerful others" in paranormal healers.

49 paranormal healers working by laying-on of hands (direct healing) and healing at a distance were compared with 56 nurses and a control group of 73 randomly selected persons on their locus of control and especially on the subscale Powerful Others of Levenson. The paranormal healers scored external in locus of control, and their scores differed significantly from those of the other two groups tested on the Powerful Others subscale. This finding may be associated with the dependent position of paranormal healers since their profession is tolerated by medical doctors and the law.

Demographic differences in coping with uncertainty about the future.

Age, gender, and regional differences in the responses of a Dutch population to the Prediction of Future Events Scale (Tobacyk, Nagot, & Mitchell, 1989) were explored. The factor structure of the scale was found to be identical to that in the U.S. study of Tobacyk et al., although the latter study accounted for 40.6% of the variance, whereas the present study accounted for 63.1% of the variance. Only 3 of the 7 factors could be considered reliable. Age appeared to be an important factor; the younger groups had more confidence than the older groups did in all methods of predicting the future. The scores for the western part of the Netherlands were systematically and significantly lower than those of the other regions, for all scales, and the women's scores for methods of prediction involving psi were higher than those of the men.

Information-processing styles of paranormal healers.

49 paranormal healers working by laying-on-of-hands (direct healing) and distance healing were compared with 56 nursing staff and a control group of 73 on the information-processing styles of field-dependence and reflexivity-impulsivity. Apparently paranormal healers scored as more field-dependent than the other groups which is consistent with observations of paranormal healers when working. No differences appeared among groups on reflexivity-impulsivity.

Developing audiovisuals for problem solving in physical therapy education.

This article describes the design and development of an audiovisual training program in problem-solving skills for physical therapy students. A model showing the physical therapy problem-solving process serves as the basis for the audiovisuals. The audiovisuals are videotaped physical therapy case histories. These case histories are structured at three different levels to foster the integrated development of students' knowledge, skills, and attitudes at the three levels of physical therapy programs in the Netherlands. Initial experience using this audiovisual approach seems to indicate its effectiveness as a tool for physical therapy education.