15 research outputs found
The preparedness of medical students from the Middle East for the modern curriculum: a cross-sectional study
No full text[EN] Aim
This study aims to examine whether there were any differences in self-directed learning readiness
(SDLR) between students who entered medicine with a local Bahraini schools certificate and those
students who entered with an international schools certificate.
Results
We analysed how self-management, desire for learning, self-control and total SDLR scores varied in
relation to the student’s previous exit award: ‘A’ levels (or equivalent) or Bahrain Secondary School
(BSS) certificate. BSS certificate students had a significantly lower mean standardised desire for
learning score (63.5) compared to those ‘A’ levels or equivalent (73.6; p=0.003). BSS certificate
students also had a significantly lower mean total self-directed learning readiness score (192.3)
compared to those with the ‘A’ levels and equivalent (214.5; p=0.015). When we controlled for all the
other factors, secondary school award certificate was the only independent predictor of self-control
(standardised beta 0.4; p=0.02) and SDLR (standardised beta 0.36; p=0.043).
Conclusion
Self-directed learning is a key skill in the modern curriculum. Students who exit with a local Middle
Eastern secondary school certificate are finding it difficult to prepare themselves for independent
learning in medical school. This poses a challenge for institutions bringing a more active-learning type
of curriculum to the Middle East.Rashid-Doubell, F.; Doubell, T.; O'sullivan, R.; Elmusharaf, K. (2015). The preparedness of medical students from the Middle East for the modern curriculum: a cross-sectional study. En 1ST INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON HIGHER EDUCATION ADVANCES (HEAD' 15). Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 258-266. https://doi.org/10.4995/HEAd15.2015.299OCS25826
Book Review: The ECG Atlas of Cardiac Rhythms
No full textBook Title: The ECG Atlas of Cardiac RhythmsBook Author: Rob Scott MillarCape Town: Clinics Cardive Publishing, 2015. ISBN: 978-0-620-64044-
To click or not to click:Introducing audience response system during undergraduate teaching to improve academic performance
No full textObjective: To determine if the use of audience response system (ARS) during large group teaching to undergraduate medical students promotes active learning, improves retention of information and leads to an improvement in academic performance.Method: ARS was used during a 12-week teaching period in the first semester of the first year of the medical program from October 2012 to December 2012. Lecturers integrated Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) into their PowerPoint presentations together with ARS during Anatomy and Physiology lectures. Students were asked to discuss and respond to the MCQs during the lectures.Design: A Prospective Interventional Study.Setting: RCSI Bahrain.Result: Using ARS did not improve academic performance in Anatomy and Physiology, but students reported that using clickers during lectures provided a more interactive learning environment increasing student engagement, promoted active-learning and helped students identify gaps in knowledge.Conclusion: Using ARS in large group teaching had no impact on academic performance in the Anatomy and Physiology rich modules. However, students overwhelmingly enjoyed using clickers during lectures as they promoted active learning and helped them identify gaps in their knowledge.</p
Inflammatory pain hypersensitivity mediated by phenotypic switch in myelinated primary sensory neurons
No full textMuscle architecture and muscle fibre type composition in the forelimb of two African mole-rat species, Bathyergus suillus and Heterocephalus glaber
No full textDATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT : The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to privacy or ethical restrictions.The scratch-digging Cape dune mole-rat (Bathyergus suillus), and the chisel-toothed digging naked mole-rat (Heterocephalus glaber) are African mole-rats that differ in their digging strategy. The aim of this study was to determine if these behavioural differences are reflected in the muscle architecture and fibre-type composition of the forelimb muscles. Muscle architecture parameters of 39 forelimb muscles in both species were compared. Furthermore, muscle fibre type composition of 21 forelimb muscles were analysed using multiple staining protocols. In B. suillus, muscles involved with the power stroke of digging (limb retractors and scapula elevators), showed higher muscle mass percentage, force output and shortening capacity compared to those in H. glaber. Additionally, significantly higher percentages of glycolytic fibres were observed in the scapular elevators and digital flexors of B. suillus compared to H. glaber, suggesting that the forelimb muscles involved in digging in B. suillus provide fast, powerful motions for effective burrowing. In contrast, the m. sternohyoideus a head and neck flexor, had significantly more oxidative fibres in H. glaber compared to B. suillus. In addition, significantly greater physiological cross-sectional area and fascicle length values were seen in the neck flexor, m. sternocleidomastoideus, in H. glaber compared to B. suillus, which indicates a possible adaptation for chisel-tooth digging. While functional demands may play a significant role in muscle morphology, the phylogenetic differences between the two species may play an additional role which needs further study.The National Research Foundation.https://wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/jmorhj2024Mammal Research InstituteZoology and EntomologySDG-03:Good heatlh and well-bein
Evidence of a large seasonal coastal upwelling system along the southern shelf of Australia
No full text2000 FLORIDA AVE NW, WASHINGTON, USA, DC,
2000
Making insurance markets work for the poor : microinsurance policy, regulation and supervision; South Africa case study
No full textThis document presents the findings from the South African component of a five-country
case study on the role of regulation in the development of microinsurance markets. The
objectives of this project were to map the experience in a sample of five developing
countries (Colombia, India, the Philippines, South Africa and Uganda) where microinsurance
products have evolved and to consider the influence that policy, regulation and supervision
on the development of these markets. From this evidence base, cross-country lessons were
extracted that seek to offer guidance to policymakers, regulators and supervisors who are
looking to support the development of microinsurance in their jurisdiction. It must be
emphasized that these findings do not provide an easy recipe for developing microinsurance
but only identifies some of the key issues that need to be considered. In fact, the findings
emphasize the need for a comprehensive approach informed by and tailored to domestic
conditions and adjusted continuously as the environment evolves
Evaluating early intervention programmes: six common pitfalls, and how to avoid them.
No full textThis handy guide provides guidance on addressing six of the most common issues we see in our assessments of programme evaluations, including explanations of how these problems undermine confidence in a study’s findings, how they can be avoided or rectified, case studies and a list of useful resources in each case. Whether you are involved in commissioning, planning or delivering evaluations of early intervention, these are the issues to understand and watch out for.
Why does avoiding these common pitfalls in evaluation matter?
High-quality evidence on ‘what works’ plays an essential part in improving the design and delivery of public services, and ultimately outcomes for the people who use those services. Early intervention is no different: early intervention programmes should be commissioned, managed and delivered to produce the best possible results for children and young people at risk of developing long-term problems.
EIF has conducted over 100 in-depth assessments of the evidence for the effectiveness of programmes designed to improve outcomes for children. These programme assessments consider not only the findings of the evidence – whether the evidence suggests that a programme is effective or not – but also the quality of that evidence. Studies investigating the impact of programmes vary in the extent to which they are robust and have been well planned and properly carried out. Less robust and well-conducted studies are prone to produce biased results, meaning that they may overstate the effectiveness of a programme. In the worst case, less robust studies may mislead us into concluding a programme is effective when it is not effective at all. Therefore, to understand what the evidence tells us about a programme’s effectiveness, it is also essential to consider the quality of the process by which that evidence has been generated
Collateral Sprouting of Uninjured Primary Afferent A-Fibers into the Superficial Dorsal Horn of the Adult Rat Spinal Cord after Topical Capsaicin Treatment to the Sciatic Nerve
No full textThat terminals of uninjured primary sensory neurons terminating in the dorsal horn of the spinal cord can collaterally sprout was first suggested by Liu and Chambers (1958), but this has since been disputed. Recently, horseradish peroxidase conjugated to the B subunit of cholera toxin (B-HRP) and intracellular HRP injections have shown that sciatic nerve section or crush produces a long-lasting rearrangement in the organization of primary afferent central terminals, with A-fibers sprouting into lamina II, a region that normally receives only C-fiber input (Woolf et al., 1992). The mechanism of this A-fiber sprouting has been thought to involve injury-induced C-fiber transganglionic degeneration combined with myelinated A-fibers being conditioned into a regenerative growth state.In this study, we ask whether C-fiber degeneration and A-fiber conditioning are both necessary for the sprouting of A-fibers into lamina II. Local application of the C-fiber-specific neurotoxin capsaicin to the sciatic nerve has previously been shown to result in C-fiber damage and degenerative atrophy in lamina II. We have used B-HRP to transganglionically label A-fiber central terminals and have shown that 2 weeks after topical capsaicin treatment to the sciatic nerve, the pattern of B-HRP staining in the dorsal horn is indistinguishable from that seen after axotomy, with lamina II displaying novel staining in the identical region containing capsaicin-treated C-fiber central terminals.These results suggest that after C-fiber injury,uninjuredA-fiber central terminals can collaterally sprout into lamina II of the dorsal horn. This phenomenon may help to explain the pain associated with C-fiber neuropathy.</jats:p
Direct observations of microscale turbulence and thermohaline structure in the Kuroshio Front
No full textAuthor Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2012. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research 117 (2012): C08013, doi:10.1029/2011JC007228.Direct observations of microstructure near the Kuroshio Front were conducted in August 2008 and October 2009. These show negative potential vorticity (PV) in the mixed layer south of the front, where directly measured turbulent kinetic energy dissipation rates are an order magnitude larger than predicted by wind-scaling. These elevated dissipation rates scale better with an empirical scaling, which considers local wind and Ekman buoyancy flux driven by downfront wind. Near-zero PV in the thermocline under the Kuroshio mainstream is observed at 200–300 m depth, with dissipation exceeding open ocean thermocline values by factors of 10–100. Overall, the large turbulent dissipation rates measured in the Kuroshio can be categorized into two groups, one characterized by low Richardson number along the Kuroshio Front thermocline, and the other characterized by high stratification away from the Kuroshio mainstream. The former is attributed to mixing by unbalanced frontal ageostrophic flows, and the latter is attributed to internal wave breaking. On average, both groups appear in regions of large horizontal density gradients. Observed thermohaline structure shows low salinity tongues from the surface to over 300 m depth and deep cold tongues, extending upward from 500 to 100 m depth in a narrow (20 km) zone, suggesting down and upwelling driven by geostrophic straining, which is confirmed by Quasigeostrophic-Omega equation solutions. This implies that adiabatic along isopycnal subduction and diabatic diapycnal turbulent mixing acting in tandem at the Kuroshio Front likely contribute to NPIW formation.This study is supported by Sasagawa Scientific
Research grant 20-701M (the Japan Science Society), Grant- in-Aid for
Young Scientists (B) 20710002, and Excellent Young Researchers Overseas
Visit Program 21-7283 awarded to T. Nagai. A. Tandon would like to acknowledge support from NSFPO-
0928138 and ONR N00014-09-1-0196.2013-03-0
