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Medical Studies (medical + studies)
Selected AbstractsComparative psychology is still alive but may be losing relevanceDEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOBIOLOGY, Issue 1 2004Victor H. Denenberg Abstract Greenberg et al., in their perspective on the current state and fate of comparative psychology, present convincing data that the field is viable and that comparative psychologists are making important contributions to the research literature. The central feature of the field is its emphasis upon evolution. This is also its weakness since advances in genetic techniques permit researchers to create laboratory animals that have no counterpart in the natural world, and thus have no evolutionary history. These "unnatural" animals are widely used in behavioral, biological, and medical studies, but the findings cannot be interpreted within a comparative psychology framework. As the use of these preparations expand, the relevance of comparative psychology diminishes. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Dev Psychobiol 44: 21,25, 2004. [source] Enriching spaces in practice-based education to support collaboration while mobile: the case of teacher educationJOURNAL OF COMPUTER ASSISTED LEARNING, Issue 4 2007E.M. Morken Abstract Practice-based education is gaining a growing popularity in fields as diverse as, for example, software engineering, pedagogy and medical studies. In practice-based education learning takes place across different learning arenas and requires cooperation among all the actors involved in the learning process. However, mobility of students across these arenas impact deeply on cooperation patterns, and therefore on the learning process. In this paper we investigate the usage of shared display systems to promote cooperation among students in practice-based education. Our focus is on teacher education and the paper is based on our experiences with the teacher education programme at our university. Based on our observations of students out in practice, we discuss the importance of common spaces and the role of bulletin boards of different types. We then define high-level requirements for a shared display system to support practice-based education and we illustrate the main concepts with a demonstrator. Strengths and weaknesses of our approach are pointed out through an evaluation of the demonstrator. [source] Reasoning versus knowledge retention and ascertainment throughout a problem-based learning curriculumMEDICAL EDUCATION, Issue 9 2009Anne Collard Context, Since 2000, problem-based learning (PBL) seminars have been introduced into the curriculum of medical studies at the University of Liège. We aimed to carry out a cross-sectional investigation of the maturational increase in biomedical reasoning capacity in comparison with factual knowledge retention throughout the curriculum. Methods, We administered a factual knowledge test (i.e. a true/false test with ascertainment degree) and a biomedical reasoning test (i.e. an adapted script concordance test [SCT]) to 104 students (Years 3,6) and a reference panel. The selected topic was endocrinology. Results, On the SCT, the students obtained higher scores in Years 5 and 6 than in Years 3 and 4. In Year 3, the scores obtained on SCT questions in a new context indicated transfer of reasoning skills. On the true/false test, the scores of Year 3 students were significantly higher than those of students in the other three year groups. A positive correlation between SCT scores and true/false test scores was observed only for students in Years 3 and 4. In each group, the ascertainment degree scores were higher for correct than for incorrect responses and the difference was calculated as an index of self-estimation of core knowledge. This index was found to be positively correlated to SCT scores in the four year groups studied. Conclusions, Biomedical reasoning skills are evidenced early in a curriculum involving PBL and further increase during training. This is accompanied by a decrease in factual knowledge retention. The self-estimation of core knowledge appears to be related to reasoning capacity, which suggests there is a link between the two processes. [source] Internationalization of undergraduate medical studies: promoting clinical tourism or academic development?MEDICAL EDUCATION, Issue 12 2001G D Majoor No abstract is available for this article. [source] Tutorials in Clinical Research: Part VII.THE LARYNGOSCOPE, Issue 9 2003Part A: General Concepts of Statistical Significance, Understanding Comparative Statistics (Contrast) Abstract Objectives/Hypothesis The present tutorial is the seventh in a series of Tutorials in Clinical Research. The specific purpose of the tutorial (Part A) and its sequel (Part B) is to introduce and explain three commonly used statistical tools for assessing contrast in the comparison between two groups. Study Design Tutorial. Methods The authors met weekly for 10 months discussing clinical research studies and the applied statistics. The difficulty was not in the material but in the effort to make the report easy to read and as short as possible. Results The tutorial is organized into two parts. Part A, which is the present report, focuses on the fundamental concepts of the null hypothesis and comparative statistical significance. The sequel, Part B, discusses the application of three common statistical indexes of contrast, the ,2, Mann-Whitney U, and Student t tests. Conclusions Assessing the validity of medical studies requires a working knowledge of research design and statistics; obtaining this knowledge need not be beyond the ability of the busy surgeon. The authors have tried to construct an accurate, easy-to-read, easy-to-apply, basic introduction to comparing two groups. The long-term goal of the present tutorial and others in the series is to facilitate basic understanding of clinical research, thereby stimulating reading of some of the numerous well-written research design and statistical texts. This knowledge may then be applied to the continuing educational review of the literature and the systematic prospective analysis of individual practices. [source] The Distribution of the Cardiac Veins in Angora Rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus)ANATOMIA, HISTOLOGIA, EMBRYOLOGIA, Issue 4 2007S. Bahar Summary This study was carried out to describe the ramifications of the cardiac veins of Angora rabbit. For this purpose, a total of 16 adult healthy Angora rabbits of both sexes, 1.5,2 years of age, were used. The great, middle, right cardiac veins ran in a subepicardial course and opened into the left cranial vena cava, but some tributaries of the right cardiac veins sometimes also joined various portions of the right atrium. The smallest cardiac veins followed subendocardially and terminated in the right chambers of the heart. Based on their origin, course and frequency, it was concluded that the smallest cardiac veins are primarily responsible for the drainage of the interventricular septum. Results from this study are thought to shed light on further heart-related medical studies, and to contribute considerably to the present anatomical knowledge of the cardiac veins in this species. [source] Spatial Multistate Transitional Models for Longitudinal Event DataBIOMETRICS, Issue 1 2008F. S. Nathoo Summary Follow-up medical studies often collect longitudinal data on patients. Multistate transitional models are useful for analysis in such studies where at any point in time, individuals may be said to occupy one of a discrete set of states and interest centers on the transition process between states. For example, states may refer to the number of recurrences of an event, or the stage of a disease. We develop a hierarchical modeling framework for the analysis of such longitudinal data when the processes corresponding to different subjects may be correlated spatially over a region. Continuous-time Markov chains incorporating spatially correlated random effects are introduced. Here, joint modeling of both spatial dependence as well as dependence between different transition rates is required and a multivariate spatial approach is employed. A proportional intensities frailty model is developed where baseline intensity functions are modeled using parametric Weibull forms, piecewise-exponential formulations, and flexible representations based on cubic B-splines. The methodology is developed within the context of a study examining invasive cardiac procedures in Quebec. We consider patients admitted for acute coronary syndrome throughout the 139 local health units of the province and examine readmission and mortality rates over a 4-year period. [source] Model-Checking Techniques Based on Cumulative ResidualsBIOMETRICS, Issue 1 2002D. Y. Lin Summary. Residuals have long been used for graphical and numerical examinations of the adequacy of regression models. Conventional residual analysis based on the plots of raw residuals or their smoothed curves is highly subjective, whereas most numerical goodness-of-fit tests provide little information about the nature of model misspecification. In this paper, we develop objective and informative model-checking techniques by taking the cumulative sums of residuals over certain coordinates (e.g., covariates or fitted values) or by considering some related aggregates of residuals, such as moving sums and moving averages. For a variety of statistical models and data structures, including generalized linear models with independent or dependent observations, the distributions of these stochastic processes under the assumed model can be approximated by the distributions of certain zero-mean Gaussian processes whose realizations can be easily generated by computer simulation. Each observed process can then be compared, both graphically and numerically, with a number of realizations from the Gaussian process. Such comparisons enable one to assess objectively whether a trend seen in a residual plot reflects model misspecification or natural variation. The proposed techniques are particularly useful in checking the functional form of a covariate and the link function. Illustrations with several medical studies are provided. [source] | ||||||||||