Use of Stroboscopic Goggles in Suture Training Improves Precision and Accuracy.

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to quantify the impact of intermittent visual occlusion via stroboscopic goggles on suture accuracy and precision. METHODS: This crossover study recruited and randomized 72 graduate students to train with stroboscopic goggles early or late in structured suture practice. Participants completed assessments of 10 running sutures with 2 training sessions between baseline and follow-up assessments. The procedure was repeated after crossover. Suture photos were analyzed using ImageJ. Total error among all measurements represented accuracy; standard deviation of error represented precision. Intra- and inter-group trends were identified with Wilcoxon rank-sum tests. RESULTS: Both groups significantly improved in accuracy in the sessions immediately following goggle use, but the group that used goggles later in training continued improving in accuracy and precision while the group that trained with stroboscopic goggles early plateaued. CONCLUSIONS: Using stroboscopic goggles showed quantifiable benefit for augmenting suture training with greatest effect after initial skill acquisition is completed.

The effect of a forensic fellowship program on general psychiatry residents' in-training examination outcomes.

This article describes how the establishment and existence of a forensic psychiatry fellowship program was associated with improvements in general psychiatry residents' scores on the Psychiatry Resident In-training Examination (PRITE). Four consecutive years of general psychiatry residents' PRITE scores spanning 2 years before and 2 years after implementation of the forensic fellowship program at our institution were compared. Mixed-model statistical analyses accounting for repeated measurements of individual residents across the periods indicated statistically significant improvement in forensic content scores and several other subspecialty areas in which our institution offers educational fellowship programs. External indicators of program outcomes such as standardized examination scores may provide a useful indication of the effects that an educational fellowship program can have on general psychiatry education.

Effects of resistive training and chromium picolinate on body composition and skeletal muscle size in older women.

This study assessed the effect of resistive training (RT), with or without highdose chromium picolinate (Cr-pic) supplementation, on body composition and skeletal muscle size of older women. Seventeen sedentary women, age range 54-71 years, BMI 28.8 +/- 2.4 kg/m2, were randomly assigned (double-blind) to groups (Cr-pic, n = 9; Placebo, n = 8) that consumed either 924 micrograms Cr/d as Cr-pic or a low-Cr placebo (< 0.2 microgram Cr/d) during a 12-week RT program (2 day/week, 3 sets.exercise-1.d-1, 80% of 1 repetition maximum). Urinary chromium excretion was 60-fold higher in the Cr-pic group, compared to the Placebo group (p < .001), during the intervention. Resistive training increased maximal strength of the muscle groups trained by 8 to 34% (p < .001), and these responses were not influenced by Cr-pic supplementation. Percent body fat and fat-free mass were unchanged with RT in these weight-stable women, independent of Cr-pic supplementation. Type I and type II muscle fiber areas of the m. vastus lateralis were not changed over time and were not influenced by Cr-pic supplementation. These data demonstrate that high-dose Cr-pic supplementation did not increase maximal strength above that of resistive training alone in older women. Further, these data show that, under these experimental conditions, whole body composition and skeletal muscle size were not significantly changed due to resistive training and were not influenced by supplemental chromium picolinate.