2016-07-22T05-35-06Z
Source: Indo American Journal of Pharmaceutical Research
T. Umapoorani*, K. Periyanayagam, S. Indumathi, R. Balasubramanian, B. Sugithra, N. Subbulekshmi, R. Velmurugan.
Objective: To prescreen the in vivo antimitotic of the marine green alga Ulva lactuca Family Ulvaceae using the Allium cepa meristamatic root tip. Method: In the present study to investigate the effect of ulvan which was isolated from Ulva lactuca marine green alga was selected for phytochemical and pharmacological screening of antimitotic activity. Antimitotic activity was evaluated on actively dividing meristamatic cells of Allium cepa root tip. Result: Preliminary phytochemical screening of ethanolic extract of Ulva lactuca (EEUL) showed the presence of alkaloids, carbohydrates, sterols, saponins, tannins, proteins and amino acids, mucilage, flavonoids and absence of volatile oil, fixed oils. Total phenolic and flavonoid content were found to be 13.678±1.6mg/ml and 1.25±0.06mg/ml respectively. Percentage of yield of ulvan obtained was 10% and its UV, IR spectral studies were performed. Total uronic acid was found to be 18.8%w/w. Antimitotic activity of ulvan using the Allium cepa root tip model showed good inhibition of dividing meristamatic cells. The percentage of mitotic index of ulvan 4,5,6μg/ml were found to be 30.59±1.59, 21.64±1.02, 13.60±0.56 respectively which was comparable to that of std drug W/W methotrexate 100ng/ml was 13.04±0.80. Conclusion: Ulva lactuca have been used in medicine due to various biological activities and as a food. This study indicates that the ulvan possesses potential anti mitotic and anti proliferative activity. The presence of ulvan and the attributed reported anti-oxidant activity appears to contribute to the antimitotic activity. Further investigation requires confirming this activity.
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Παρασκευή 22 Ιουλίου 2016
ANTIMITOTIC ACTIVITIES OF ULVAN FROM ULVA LACTUCA (L) BY USING ALLIUM CEPA ROOT TIP MODEL
STUDY OF THE INHIBITORY ACTIVITY OF THE CELLULAR GROWTH OF VETIVERS AQUEUOUS AND METHANOL-BASED EXTRACTS
2016-07-22T05-35-06Z
Source: Indo American Journal of Pharmaceutical Research
Chadia SEKKAT, Hicham MOHTI and*Abdelhamid ZAID.
In order to evaluate the antimitotic activity of Vetiveria zizanioides, a study was carried out on its plant cells using the Lepidium sativum L bioassay. We conducted the optimization of several parameters related to different modes of extraction. The root extract obtained by decoction through methanol exhibits the best activity with 72.43% inhibition, followed by leaf extract obtained by decoction through distilled water with 63.8% inhibition. However, the different concentrations of the Vetiver grass essential oil provide low percentage inhibition, below 40%.
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FORMULATION AND EVALUTION OF MOUTH DISSOLVING TABLETS OF MEMANTINE HYDROCHLORIDE
2016-07-22T05-35-06Z
Source: Indo American Journal of Pharmaceutical Research
P. Sambasiva Rao, E. Mounica, S. Roja, K. Venkatesh, R. Suthakaran.
The aim of this research work to formulate mouth dissolving tablets of memantine hydrochloride to increase its bioavailability. Mouth dissolving tablets were prepared by direct compression technique using sublimation approach. The powder mixtures were prepared to subject both pre and post compression evaluation parameters like micromeritics properties, tablet hardness, friability, wetting time, disintegration time and in vitro drug release. The results of micromeritics studies revealed that all formulations were of acceptable to good flowability. Tablet friability and hardness indicated good mechanical strength. The F2 formulation which is having high concentration of magnesium stearate was given promising results in tablet disintegration, waiting time and gives faster dissolution rate. Crospovidone was used as a superdisintegrant for increasing of dissolution rate of tablets. The optimized formulation showed 98.64% within 10 min. The prepared tablets seem to be attractive to conventional marketed formulations.
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FTIR SPECTROSCOPY DATA AS A FINGERPRINT OF WITHANIA SOMNIFERA ROOT TISSUES: A CASE STUDY WITH ACCESSIONS OF THE SPECIES FROM KERALA, SOUTH INDIA
2016-07-22T05-35-06Z
Source: Indo American Journal of Pharmaceutical Research
V. S. Anil Kumar*, K.V. Dinesh Babu, R. Salini, Jollykutty Eapen, M. S. Deepa.
The root samples of thirty accessions of the medicinal plant Withania somnifera from different districts of Kerala were subjected to FTIR spectral analysis and the spectral peaks were analyzed. The peaks coming in the range of 1001-1076 cm-1 corresponding to withanolide ring band and flavanoid like structures, and 1614 cm-1 represent the carbon skeleton of withanolides which are the common and active ingredients of Withania. Therefore, these peaks can be considered as the fingerprint peaks of the species. Meanwhile, spectral peak at 405 cm-1 is seen in some accessions which correspond to the presence metal complexes which can be attributed to the accumulation of some metals in these accessions, probably from the soil. The study can thus reflect the changing habitat of the species and can also be employed to find out the materials that can possibly include as the substitutes of the species because of its medicinal potential.
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ISOLATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF 5-O-METHYL-QUERCETIN-3-O-(3-ACETYL-) β-D- GALACTOSIDE FROM CASSIA AURICULATA FLOWERS
2016-07-22T05-35-06Z
Source: Indo American Journal of Pharmaceutical Research
Dr. M. M. Senthamilselvi, N. Muruganantham*, S. Solomon.
In Indian system of medicine, a large number of drugs of either herbal or mineral origin have been advocated for various types of diseases, India has been one of the pioneers in the development and practice of well-documented original systems of medicine, particularly Ayurveda, Siddha and Unani. A compound has been isolated from the flowers of Cassia auriculata. The isolated compound was identified as Flavonol glycoside-5-O-methyl- quercetin-3-O-(3-acetyl-) β-d galactoside. The chemical structure of this compound was elucidated based on spectroscopic data like UV, NMR (1H, 13C) and MS. This is the first report of isolation of this compound from Cassia auriculata flowers.
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EVALUATION OF THERAPEUTIC POTENTIAL OF AEGLE MARMELOS (BILVA) LEAVES IN METABOLIC SYNDROME
2016-07-22T05-35-06Z
Source: Indo American Journal of Pharmaceutical Research
Amit Vaibhav*, Prof. O.P. Singh.
Metabolic Syndrome is a cluster of disease highly prevalent in the sophisticated, modernized and western world. It received increased attention in the past few decades and is the burning problem of todays world. The metabolic syndrome has been shown to be a powerful risk factor responsible for coronary artery disease, renal failure, neuropathy etc. The conventional treatment option is only limited to managing hyperglycemia, dyslipidemia, hypertension but unable to prevent disease pathogenesis and complications. Long term side effect of artificial chemical drugs are another big problem, keeping these points in the account a pilot study has been framed to evaluate the therapeutic potential of Aegle marmelos (Bilva) leaves in Metabolic Syndrome. Aegle marmelos (Bilva) plant is vividly described in all ancient Ayurvedic texts known for its potent anti-diabetic, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-hyperlipidaemic activities. The main objective of the present work to evaluate the therapeutic potential of crude leaf powder of Aegle marmelos (Bilva). In this present study, total 30 previously diagnosed MS patients were randomly selected and divided into two groups having 15 patients in each group. In group I (n=15) patient have advised taking starch capsule 500 mg BD as a placebo and in Group II (n=15) crude leaf powder of Aegle marmelos (Bilva) 10 g BD has been given for 3 months with follow-up of 1 month. During the entire course of therapy, patients were advised to continue their ongoing conventional treatment along with the trial drug. The result showed a significant improvement in dyslipidemic state and hyperglycemic state of MS patient as compared to placebo group. The study can be concluded that the crude leaf powder of Aegle marmelos (Bilva) exhibit excellent hypolipidemic and hypoglycemic potential in MS patients, it can be used as natural, safe alternative to conventional management in the management of Metabolic Syndrome (MS).
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Brain train to combat brain drain; focus on exercise strategies that optimise neuroprotection
Abstract
The prevalence of cognitive decline and neurodegenerative diseases (e.g. stroke and dementia) is increasing. Numerous studies show that regular exercise has beneficial effects on brain health in clinical and non-clinical populations, yet adherence to public health exercise guidelines is notoriously poor. Recently, novel exercise strategies have been investigated to allow for more individualised and prescriptive approaches that target the key mechanistic pathways that allow exercise to mediate adaptation. This work exploring alternative approaches to the traditional model of exercise training has demonstrated exciting potential for positive health-related adaptations (especially for metabolic, muscle and cardiovascular function). However, few studies to date have focused on brain adaptations. The aim of this review is to summarise new and innovative interventions that have the potential to optimise exercise for improved brain health (i.e., brain structure and function). First, we will briefly summarise current understanding of the nature whereby positive effects of exercise deliver their influence on the brain (i.e., underlying mechanisms and factors affecting its delivery). We will then introduce the effects of exercise training on cognition and give examples of studies showing the beneficial effects of exercise in clinical populations. Finally, we will explore the adaptive roles of individual stressors that may induce greater health-related adaptations in the brain than exercise alone, including environmental stressors (hydrostatic stress, thermal stress and hypoxia), nutritional supplementation and cognitive loading. In summary, optimised interventions that target key mechanistic pathways linked to improved brain structure and function could ultimately protect against and/or ameliorate cognitive decline and neurodegenerative diseases.
This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved
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Environmentally-induced return to juvenile-like chemosensitivity in the respiratory control system of adult bullfrogs, Lithobates catesbeianus
An unanswered question in developmental physiology is to what extent does the environment vs. a genetic program produce phenotypes. Developing animals inhabit different environments and switch from one to another. Thus a developmental time course overlapping with environmental change confounds interpretations as to whether development (i.e., permanent processes) or environmental plasticity (i.e., reversible processes) generates phenotypes. Tadpoles of the American bullfrog, Lithobates catesbeianus, breathe water at early life-stages and minimally use lungs for gas exchange. As adults, bullfrogs rely on lungs for gas exchange, but spend months per year in ice-covered ponds without lung breathing. Aquatic-submergence, therefore, removes environmental pressures requiring lung breathing and enables separation of adulthood from environmental factors associated with adulthood that necessitate control of lung ventilation. To test the hypothesis that postmetamorphic respiratory control phenotypes arise through permanent developmental changes vs. reversible environmental signals, we measured respiratory-related nerve discharge in isolated brainstem preparations and action potential firing from CO2-sensitive neurons in bullfrogs acclimatized to semi-terrestrial (air-breathing) and aquatic-overwintering (no air-breathing) habitats. We found that aquatic-overwintering significantly reduced neuroventilatory responses to CO2 and O2 involved in lung breathing. Strikingly, this gas sensitivity profile reflects that of water-breathing tadpoles. We further demonstrated that aquatic-overwintering reduced CO2-induced firing responses of chemosensitive neurons. In contrast, respiratory rhythm generating processes remained adult-like after submergence. Our results establish that phenotypes associated with life-stage can arise from environmental plasticity per se. This provides evidence that developmental time courses coinciding with environmental changes obscure interpretations regarding origins of stage-dependent physiological phenotypes by masking plasticity.
This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved
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The relevance of the irrelevant: Attention and task-set adaptation in prematurely born adults
Publication date: Available online 20 July 2016
Source:Clinical Neurophysiology
Author(s): Ida Emilia Aasen, Asta Kristine Håberg, Alexander Olsen, Ann-Mari Brubakk, Kari Anne I. Evensen, Anne Elisabeth Sølsnes, Jon Skranes, Jan Ferenc Brunner
ObjectiveTo investigate attention and task-set adaptation in a preterm born very low birth weight (PT/VLBW) population by means of event-related potential components from an adapted cued go/no-go task.MethodsP3 components after target and non-target cues, as well as target, no-go and non-target imperative stimuli were compared in 30 PT/VLBW young adults and 33 term-born controls. Changes in P3 amplitudes as a function of time-on-task were also investigated.ResultsThe PT/VLBW group had larger P3 amplitudes to non-target cues and non-targets compared with controls. There were no significant group differences in the P3s to target or no-go stimuli. Moreover, the amplitude of the P3 to non-target cues and non-targets decreased significantly over time in the control group but not in the PT/VLBW group.ConclusionsPT/VLBW young adults allocate more attention to behaviorally irrelevant information than term-born controls, and persist in attending to this information over time.SignificanceThis is the first study to investigate ERP components in an adult population born preterm with very low birth weight.
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An evolution in student-centered teaching
The American Physiological Society (APS) Teaching Section annually honors an educator through its Claude Bernard Distinguished Lecture at the Experimental Biology meeting. Since I knew about my selection for almost a year, I had a long time to think about what I wanted to say and how I wanted to say it. The theme of my presentation was "nothing in education makes sense except in the light of student learning." My presentation began with a video of my "And, But, Therefore" description of my educational scholarship (see Randy Olson Great Challenges Day at TEDMED 2013, Ref. 10). "Physiology is the basic foundation of all the health professions AND physiology can be hard for students to figure out BUT many physiology courses expect students to memorize a large number of facts; THEREFORE, my scholarship is to help students learn physiology better for the long-term with various types of student-centered learning opportunities." To stress the goal of student-centered learning, my brief video was followed by a 2-min video of one of my students describing her experiences with student-centered learning in one of my two-semester Advanced Human Physiology classes. Since I have been convinced that Randy Olson is an expert on science communication (11), the rest of my presentation was the story about how I have evolved from a sage-on-the-stage lecturer into a student-centered learning facilitator. I have chosen Olson's "And, But, Therefore" approach to narrative for this written version of key aspects of the presentation.
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Interteaching within a human physiology course: a comparison of first- and second-year students' learning skills and perceptions
This article describes student perceptions and outcomes in relation to the use of a novel interteaching approach. The study sample (n = 260) was taken from a large human physiology class, which included both first- and second-year students. However, unlike the first-year students, the second-year students had significant prior knowledge, having completed a previous physiology course. Active learning, where students were required to engage with course material in a self-directed manner before tutorials and to identify areas of difficulty and discuss these within tutorial sessions, was a central component of the study. The second-year students adapted quickly to the novel approach, as indicated by stable levels of perceived difficulty and understanding. In contrast, the first-year students demonstrated a decrease in perceived difficulty and an increase in perceived individual understanding throughout the study. These results notwithstanding, there was a consistent low level of interest for both years but no significant difference between the first- and second-year individual and group learning skills by the end of the study, as measured by their performance in the tutorials. Overall, the results were encouraging, with both years achieving a reasonably high learning skill level (average: ~70%) within the interteaching environment. The improvement of active learning shown by the first-year students may have compensated, to some extent, for the prior learning advantage of the second-year students, since both groups achieved similar marks in the written components of final exams for both interteaching modules.
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Central neural control of the cardiovascular system: current perspectives
This brief review, which is based on a lecture presented at the American Physiological Society Teaching Refresher Course on the Brain and Systems Control as part of the Experimental Biology meeting in 2015, aims to summarize current concepts of the principal mechanisms in the brain that regulate the autonomic outflow to the cardiovascular system. Such cardiovascular regulatory mechanisms do not operate in isolation but are closely coordinated with respiratory and other regulatory mechanisms to maintain homeostasis. The brain regulates the cardiovascular system by two general means: 1) feedforward regulation, often referred to as "central command," and 2) feedback or reflex regulation. In most situations (e.g., during exercise, defensive behavior, sleep, etc.), both of these general mechanisms contribute to overall cardiovascular homeostasis. The review first describes the mechanisms and central circuitry subserving the baroreceptor, chemoreceptor, and other reflexes that work together to regulate an appropriate level of blood pressure and blood oxygenation and then considers the brain mechanisms that defend the body against more complex environmental challenges, using dehydration and cold and heat stress as examples. The last section of the review considers the central mechanisms regulating cardiovascular function associated with different behaviors, with a specific focus on defensive behavior and exercise.
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The use of simulation as a novel experiential learning module in undergraduate science pathophysiology education
Teaching of pathophysiology concepts is a core feature in health professional programs, but it can be challenging in undergraduate medical/biomedical science education, which is often highly theoretical when delivered by lectures and pen-and-paper tutorials. Authentic case studies allow students to apply their theoretical knowledge but still require good imagination on the part of the students. Lecture content can be reinforced through practical learning experiences in clinical environments. In this study, we report a new approach using clinical simulation within a Human Pathophysiology course to enable undergraduate science students to see "pathophysiology in action" in a clinical setting. Students role played health professionals, and, in these roles, they were able to interact with each other and the manikin "patient," take a medical history, perform a physical examination and consider relevant treatments. Evaluation of students' experiences suggests that using clinical simulation to deliver case studies is more effective than traditional paper-based case studies by encouraging active learning and improving the understanding of physiological concepts.
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Peer-assisted learning: filling the gaps in basic science education for preclinical medical students
In contrast to peer-assisted learning (PAL) in clinical training, there is scant literature on the efficacy of PAL during basic medical sciences teaching for preclinical students. A group of senior medical students aimed to design and deliver clinically oriented small-group tutorials after every module in the preclinical curriculum at a United Kingdom medical school. Twenty tutorials were delivered by senior students throughout the year to first- and second-year students. A baseline questionnaire was delivered to inform the development of the program followed by an end-point questionnaire the next year (n = 122). Quizzes were administered before and after five separate tutorials to assess changes in mean student scores. Additionally, each tutorial was evaluated via a questionnaire for participants (n = 949). All five posttutorial quizzes showed a significant improvement in mean student score (P < 0.05). Questionnaires showed students found the program to be relevant and useful for revision purposes and appreciated how tutorials contextualized basic science to clinical medicine. Students appreciated the interactive nature of the sessions and found receiving personalized feedback about their learning and consolidating information with someone familiar with the material to be useful. With the inclusion of the program, students felt there were now an adequate number of tutorials during the year. In conclusion, this study shows that senior medical students can design and deliver a program that adds value to the mostly lecture-based formal preclinical curriculum. We hope that our study can prompt further work to explore the effect of PAL on the teaching of basic sciences during preclinical studies.
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Do targeted written comments and the rubric method of delivery affect performance on future human physiology laboratory reports?
We investigated how students performed on weekly two-page laboratory reports based on whether the grading rubric was provided to the student electronically or in paper form and the inclusion of one- to two-sentence targeted comments. Subjects were registered for a 289-student, third-year human physiology class with laboratory and were randomized into four groups related to rubric delivery and targeted comments. All students received feedback via the same detailed grading rubric. At the end of the term, subjects provided consent and a self-assessment of their rubric viewing rate and preferences. There were no differences in laboratory report scores between groups (P = 0.86), although scores did improve over time (P < 0.01). Students receiving targeted comments self-reported viewing their rubric more often than students that received no comments (P = 0.02), but the viewing rate was independent of the rubric delivery method (P = 0.15). Subjects with high rubric viewing rates did not have higher laboratory report grades than subjects with low viewing rates (P = 0.64). When asked about their preference for the future, 43% of respondents preferred the same method again (electronic or paper rubric) and 25% had no preference. We conclude that although student laboratory report grades improved over time, the rate and degree of improvement were not related to rubric delivery method or to the inclusion of targeted comments.
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Application of a utility analysis to evaluate a novel assessment tool for clinically oriented physiology and pharmacology
Multiple-choice questions are a gold-standard tool in medical school for assessment of knowledge and are the mainstay of licensing examinations. However, multiple-choice questions items can be criticized for lacking the ability to test higher-order learning or integrative thinking across multiple disciplines. Our objective was to develop a novel assessment that would address understanding of pathophysiology and pharmacology, evaluate learning at the levels of application, evaluation and synthesis, and allow students to demonstrate clinical reasoning. The rubric assesses student writeups of clinical case problems. The method is based on the physician's traditional postencounter Subjective, Objective, Assessment and Plan note. Students were required to correctly identify subjective and objective findings in authentic clinical case problems, to ascribe pathophysiological as well as pharmacological mechanisms to these findings, and to justify a list of differential diagnoses. A utility analysis was undertaken to evaluate the new assessment tool by appraising its reliability, validity, feasibility, cost effectiveness, acceptability, and educational impact using a mixed-method approach. The Subjective, Objective, Assessment and Plan assessment tool scored highly in terms of validity and educational impact and had acceptable levels of statistical reliability but was limited in terms of acceptance, feasibility, and cost effectiveness due to high time demands on expert graders and workload concerns from students. We conclude by making suggestions for improving the tool and recommend deployment of the instrument for low-stakes summative assessment or formative assessment.
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The benefit of self-testing and interleaving for synthesizing concepts across multiple physiology texts
A testing-based learning strategy is one that relies on the act of recalling (i.e., testing) information after exposure, and interleaving is a strategy in which the learning materials are presented in a serial order (e.g., texts 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3) versus a blocked order (e.g., texts 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3). Although both learning strategies have been thoroughly investigated, few studies have examined their additive effect with higher-order cognitive tasks such as the ability to identify themes across multiple texts, and none of those did so using physiology information. The purpose of the present study was to compare recall and thematic processing across five different physiology texts. Participants were randomly assigned to learn the texts using one of the following four learning strategies: 1) study-study-study (S-S-S) using a blocked order, 2) S-S-S using an interleaved order, 3) study-test-study (S-T-S) using a blocked order, and 4) S-T-S using an interleaved order. Over the course of the following week, the S-T-S groups had more stable recall of key text ideas compared with the S-S-S groups, and the S-T-S group had more stable recall of thematic information than the S-S-S group when interleaving was used as the presentation order.
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Students' motivation toward laboratory work in physiology teaching
The laboratory has been given a central role in physiology education, and teachers report that it is motivating for students to undertake experimental work on live animals or measuring physiological responses on the students themselves. Since motivation is a critical variable for academic learning and achievement, then we must concern ourselves with questions that examine how students engage in laboratory work and persist at such activities. The purpose of the present study was to investigate how laboratory work influences student motivation in physiology. We administered the Lab Motivation Scale to assess our students' levels of interest, willingness to engage (effort), and confidence in understanding (self-efficacy). We also asked students about the role of laboratory work for their own learning and their experience in the physiology laboratory. Our results documented high levels of interest, effort, and self-efficacy among the students. Correlation analyses were performed on the three motivation scales and exam results, yet a significant correlation was only found between self-efficacy in laboratory work and academic performance at the final exam. However, almost all students reported that laboratory work was very important for learning difficult concepts and physiological processes (e.g., action potential), as the hands-on experiences gave a more concrete idea of the learning content and made the content easier to remember. These results have implications for classroom practice as biology students find laboratory exercises highly motivating, despite their different personal interests and subject preferences. This highlights the importance of not replacing laboratory work by other nonpractical approaches, for example, video demonstrations or computer simulations.
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First-year medical students' naïve beliefs about respiratory physiology
The present study explored the nature and frequency of physiology naïve beliefs by investigating novices' understanding of the respiratory system. Previous studies have shown considerable misconceptions related to physiology but focused mostly on specific physiological processes of normal respiration. Little is known about novices' broader understanding of breathing in a clinical context. Our study hypothesized that naïve beliefs could hamper participants' ability to understand the interrelatedness of respiratory structures and functions related to breathing during a clinical complication. The study entailed both quantitative and qualitative foci. A two-tier test was designed and administered to 211 first-year medical students. Participants were asked to choose the correct answer out of a set of four options and to substantiate their choices. Questions were purposefully left open to elicit a wide range of responses. Statistical analysis (SPSS) was done to evaluate the frequency of naïve beliefs. Thematic analysis was used to determine themes within the raw data. The majority of participants selected incorrect answers in the multiple-choice question part of the questionnaire. Results from the thematic analysis yielded a considerable range of naïve beliefs about gas exchange, foundational physics, airflow, anatomic structures, and breathing pathways. An awareness of the existence of such naive beliefs in respiratory physiology will allow educators to address them in their teaching and thereby prevent naïve beliefs transforming into misconceptions.
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The prevalence of exercise prescription-related course offerings in United States pharmacy school curricula: Exercise is Medicine
Exercise training has proven to be beneficial in the prevention of disease. In addition, exercise can improve the pathogenesis and symptoms associated with a variety of chronic disease states and can attenuate drug-induced adverse effects. Exercise is a drug-free polypill. Because the benefits of exercise are clear and profound, Exercise is Medicine, a joint initiative between the American Medical Association and American College of Sports Medicine, was launched in 2007 to call on all health care providers to counsel patients and prescribe exercise in the prevention and treatment of chronic disease states. Pharmacists play an increasing role in direct patient care and are the most accessible health care providers in the community. Thus, pharmacists should be knowledgeable in counseling patients on the frequency, intensity, time, and type of exercise that is appropriate for various conditions and disease states. The aim of the present study was to determine the prevalence of didactic course offerings in United States pharmacy school curricula regarding training in exercise prescription. School websites were accessed for information regarding course offerings in PharmD programs. No United States pharmacy schools offered courses that were dedicted to the role of exercise in disease prevention or exercise prescription in disease management. Ninety percent of pharmacy schools did not offer courses with the keywords "exercise," "fitness, or "physical activity" in the title or description. The data suggest that student pharmacists are not adequately trained to counsel patients on the benefits of exercise or exercise prescription.
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Ultrasound imaging in teaching cardiac physiology
This laboratory session provides hands-on experience for students to visualize the beating human heart with ultrasound imaging. Simple views are obtained from which students can directly measure important cardiac dimensions in systole and diastole. This allows students to derive, from first principles, important measures of cardiac function, such as stroke volume, ejection fraction, and cardiac output. By repeating the measurements from a subject after a brief exercise period, an increase in stroke volume and ejection fraction are easily demonstrable, potentially with or without an increase in left ventricular end-diastolic volume (which indicates preload). Thus, factors that affect cardiac performance can readily be discussed. This activity may be performed as a practical demonstration and visualized using an overhead projector or networked computers, concentrating on using the ultrasound images to teach basic physiological principles. This has proved to be highly popular with students, who reported a significant improvement in their understanding of Frank-Starling's law of the heart with ultrasound imaging.
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Student exam analysis (debriefing) promotes positive changes in exam preparation and learning
Traditional exam review sessions, typically conducted orally and in class by the instructor, are intended to identify the most frequently missed or problematic question with the intent of helping students perform better on subsequent exams. The shortcoming of this instructor-led activity is that it tends to focus on issues with content or understanding rather than helping the individual student prevent or avoid similar mistakes on future exams. Here, we report that students who performed a more comprehensive out-of-class exam debrief after the first exam significantly improve their exam performance compared with students that did not conduct the exam debrief. We also identify the most common mistakes that students make on exams and the most frequent self-selected strategies to improve their learning. By having students focus on missed questions coupled with addressing deficiencies in their test preparation strategies and behaviors, they likely engage in more self-regulated learning to better prepare for exams and avoid repeating past mistakes.
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Reliability and validity of the function in sitting test in nonambulatory individuals with multiple sclerosis.
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Risk and Protective Factors for Cause-Specific Mortality after Spinal Cord Injury
Publication date: Available online 20 July 2016
Source:Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
Author(s): James S. Krause, Yue Cao, Michael J. DeVivo, Nicole D. DiPiro
ObjectiveTo investigate the association of multiple sets of risk and protective factors (biographic and injury, socioeconomic, and health) with cause-specific mortality after spinal cord injury (SCI).DesignRetrospective analysis of a prospectively created cohortSettingSCI Model Systems facilities (n=20).Participants8,157 adults with traumatic SCI who were enrolled in a model systems facility after 1973 and received follow-up evaluation that included all study covariates (between November 1995 and October 2006).Interventionsn/aMain Outcome Measure(s)All-cause mortality was determined using the Social Security Death Index as of January 1, 2014. Causes of death were obtained from the National Death Index and classified as infective and parasitic diseases, neoplasms, respiratory system diseases, heart and blood vessel diseases, external causes, and other causes. Competing risks analysis, with time-dependent covariates, was performed with hazard ratios (HR) for each cause of death.ResultsThe HRs for injury severity indicators were highest for deaths due to respiratory system diseases (highest HR for injury level C1-C4: 4.84) and infective and parasitic diseases (highest HR for AIS A: 5.70). In contrast, injury level and AIS were relatively unrelated to death due to neoplasms and external causes. Of the socioeconomic indicators, education and income were significantly predictive of a number of causes of death. Pressure ulcers were the only one of four secondary health condition indicators consistently related to cause of death.ConclusionsInjury severity was highly related to mortality due to infectious disease and respiratory complications, suggesting those with the most severe SCI should be targeted for prevention of these causes. Socioeconomic and health factors were more broadly related to a number of causes of death. Intervention strategies that enhance socioeconomic status and health may also result in decreased mortality due to multiple causes.
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Negative neurodynamic tests do not exclude neural dysfunction in patients with entrapment neuropathies
Publication date: Available online 20 July 2016
Source:Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
Author(s): Larissa Baselgia, David LH. Bennett, Robert M. Silbiger, Annina B. Schmid
ObjectiveTo examine differences in somatosensory phenotypes of patients with positive and negative neurodynamic tests and compare these to healthy controls.Designcase-control studySettingUniversity departmentParticipantsFifty-three patients with electrodiagnostically confirmed carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) and 26 healthy controls participated in this study. Patients with CTS were sub-grouped according to the results of the upper limb neurodynamic tests (ULNT) biasing the median nerve into patients with positive (ULNTpos) or negative (ULNTneg) neurodynamic tests.InterventionsNAMain outcome measureAll participants underwent quantitative sensory testing in the median innervated territory of their hand.ResultsOnly 46% of patients with CTS had positive neurodynamic tests. No differences were identified between groups for pain thresholds (p>0.247). However, CTS patients had increased mechanical (p<0.0001) and thermal detection thresholds (p<0.0001) compared to healthy controls. ULNTneg patients had a more pronounced vibration detection deficit (mean (SD): 7.43 (0.59)) compared to healthy controls (7.89 (0.22), p=0.001). Interestingly, warm detection was the only domain differentiating ULNTpos (mean degrees Celsius (SD): 4.03 (2.18)) and ULNTneg groups (6.09 (3.70), p=0.032), with ULNTneg patients demonstrating increased loss of function.ConclusionPatients with normal neurodynamic tests seem to have a more severe dysfunction of the unmyelinated fibre population. Our findings suggest that neurodynamic tests should not be used in isolation to judge neural involvement. Rather, they should be interpreted in the context of loss of function tests of the small fibre domain.
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Bulimia nervosa following bariatric surgery: a case report
2016-07-22T01-55-07Z
Source: Medicine Science | International Medical Journal
Lale Gonenir Erbay, Ibrahim Sahin, Cuneyt Kayaalp, Rifat Karlıdag.
Bariatric surgery is an obesity treatment method gaining popularity in recent years. Since it may cause rapid weight loss and improvement in comorbid conditions, it is a preferred modality in some of the obese patients. Both obesity and bariatric surgery interact with psychiatric disorders and require a thorough psychiatric evaluation. It has been shown that eating disorders diagnosed in the preoperative period may continue postoperatively as well. However, development of eating disorders in the postoperative periodfor the first time is quite rare. Here, we present a patient who was diagnosed with bulimia nervosa after she had bariatric surgery for obesity. After psychiatric evaluation, she was diagnosed with bulimia nervosa that developed after bariatric surgery. Medical and cognitive behavioral therapy programs were initiated. A partial improvement in her disturbed body perception was observed. She is still on medical and cognitive behavioral therapies. Eating disorder like bulimia nervosa may develop even in patients whose preoperative psychiatric evaluation is normal. Therefore, we suggest not only preoperative but also postoperative detailed psychiatric evaluation and follow up in obese patients who are candidate for bariatric surgery.
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The study of blood smear as the analysis of images of various objects
2016-07-22T01-55-07Z
Source: Medicine Science | International Medical Journal
Vyacheslav V Lyashenko, Asaad MA.Babker, Valentin A Lyubchenko.
Processing of microscope images in medicine is one of the priority research areas. Among the many medical imaging follows allocate the image of blood preparations. This is due to the fact that study of the image of blood preparations allows to conduct a comprehensive diagnosis of human health state. However, the specific complexity of visualization process of blood preparations and their subsequent processing with the use of automated processing determine the necessity to study different possibilities to use any approaches for image processing. We consider the image of blood preparations is a complex image. For image analysis of blood preparations structure, we use the method of color segmentation. For image analysis, we also use the methodology of the human-machine. This allows you to clarify the structure of the image of blood preparations. We give some of examples that show the effectiveness of the proposed image processing of blood preparations.
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Association between CT-diagnosed pneumonia and endoscopic submucosal dissection of gastric neoplasms
Digestion
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Protease inhibitors drug resistance mutations in Turkish patients with chronic hepatitis C
International Journal of Infectious Diseases
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Clinical relapse after cessation of tenofovir therapy in HBeAg-negative patients
Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology
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Gut bacteria imbalance increases diabetes risk
University of Copenhagen Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences News
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Poor survival in stage IIB/C (T4N0) compared to stage IIIA (T1-2 N1, T1N2a) colon cancer persists even after adjusting for adequate lymph nodes retrieved and receipt of adjuvant chemotherapy
BMC Cancer
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Similar risk of cardiopulmonary adverse events between propofol and traditional anesthesia for gastrointestinal endoscopy: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology
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The beneficial effect of corticosteroids for patients with severe drug induced liver injury
Journal of Digestive Diseases
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Very early presentation of extrahepatic portal vein obstruction causing portal hypertension in an infant: Uncertainties in the management and therapeutic limitations
Case Reports in Gastroenterology
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Exercise training preserves vagal preganglionic neurones and restores parasympathetic tonus in heart failure
Abstract
Exercise training is an efficient tool to attenuate sympathoexcitation, a hallmark of heart failure (HF). Although sympathetic modulation in HF is widely studied, information regarding parasympathetic control is lacking. We examined the combined effects of sympathetic and vagal tonus to the heart in sedentary (Sed) and trained (ET) HF rats and the contribution of respective premotor and preganglionic neurones. Wistar rats submitted to coronary artery ligation or sham surgery were assigned to training or sedentary protocols for 6 weeks. After hemodynamic, autonomic tonus (atropine and atenolol iv) and ventricular function determinations, brains were collected for immunoreactivity assays (Choline acetyltransferase, ChATir; Dopamine β-Hydroxylase, DBHir) and neuronal counting in the dorsal motor nucleus of vagus (DMV), nucleus ambiguus (NA) and rostroventrolateral medulla (RVLM). HF-Sed vs. SHAM-Sed exhibited decreased exercise capacity, reduced ejection fraction, increased LVEDP, smaller positive and negative dP/dt, decreased intrinsic heart rate (IHR), lower parasympathetic and higher sympathetic tonus, reduced preganglionic vagal neurones and ChATir in the DMV/NA and, increased RVLM DBHir. Training increased treadmill performance, normalized autonomic tonus and IHR, restored the number of DMV and NA neurones and corrected ChATir without affecting ventricular function. There were strong positive correlations between parasympathetic tonus and ChATir in NA and DMV. RVLM DBHir was also normalized by training, but there was no change in neurones' number and no correlation with sympathetic tonus. Training induced preservation of preganglionic vagal neurones is crucial to normalize parasympathetic activity and restore autonomic balance to the heart even in the persistence of cardiac dysfunction.
This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved
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Chemotherapy induced neutropenia at 1-month mark is a predictor of overall survival in patients receiving TAS-102 for refractory metastatic colorectal cancer: a cohort study
BMC Cancer
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Emerging trends and risk factors for perianal surgery in Crohn’s disease: A 20-year national population-based cohort study
European Journal of Gastroenterology & Hepatology
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Drugs
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Generation R birth cohort study shows that specific enamel defects were not associated with elevated serum transglutaminase type 2 antibodies
Acta Pediatrica
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Increasing metronidazole and rifampicin resistance of Helicobacter pylori isolates obtained from children and adolescents between 2002 and 2015 in southwest Germany
Helicobacter
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The prognostic value of the strong ion gap in acute pancreatitis
Journal of Critical Care
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BMC Health Services Research
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Feasibility study of portable technology for weight loss and HbA1c control in type 2 diabetes
BMC Medical Informatics & Decision Making
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Neurogastroenterology & Motility
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Mass. General study reveals how the body disposes of red blood cells, recycles iron
Massachusetts General Hospital
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Twin epidemics of new and prevalent hepatitis C infections in Canada: BC Hepatitis Testers Cohort
BMC Infectious Diseases
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Multidisciplinary care impacts diagnosis and management of patients
University of Colorado Health News
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