Evaluation of Competencies Related to Personal Attributes of Resident Doctors by 360 Degree.

INTRODUCTION: Postgraduate teaching involves training the residents in all spheres including professionalism, communication and interpersonal skills in addition to the basic clinical skills. Therefore, 360 degree evaluation has gained focus due to increased standards of medical care as shown in this study. AIM: To evaluate interpersonal and communication skills and professionalism in residents doctors using 360 degree evaluation method. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The present study was a descriptive study conducted at a tertiary care hospital affiliated with a medical college. Taking up as a pilot project, 26 residents from four departments were recruited in this study. A five point likert scale (1 to 5,1 meaning poor, 5 meaning excellent) was used for scoring them on for their interpersonal and communication skills and professionalism by the persons working around their sphere like teachers, peers, nursing staff, undergraduate students and patients/or relatives (360 degree). RESULTS: Though the ratings by the peers and consultants were found to be slightly lower compared with nursing staff, undergraduate students and patients, there was good agreement between all of them. The mean score of all traits showed an increasing trend over the years of residency. CONCLUSION: Regular orientation programs for professionalism with 360 degree evaluation and subsequent feedback to the resident doctor about their strength and weaknesses can definitely bring out behavioural change in the resident doctor in practice.

Prevalence and associated factors of dry eye: Our experience in patients above 40 years of age at a Tertiary Care Center.

CONTEXT: Dry eye is a very common as well as under-diagnosed ocular disorder. It is not only troublesome in terms of its symptoms but also imposes a great financial burden. AIMS: To determine the prevalence of dry eye in ophthalmology out-patients at a Tertiary Care Hospital and its association with various clinico-epidemiological factors. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: A hospital-based study at a Tertiary Care Center was conducted including 400 out-patients of age 40 years and above. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patients were consecutively selected and underwent a routine ophthalmological examination along with tear film break-up time (TBUT) as a screening tool for detecting the presence of dry eye. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: We performed a descriptive, univariate and multivariable logistic regression analysis to calculate odds ratios and 95% confidence interval. RESULTS: The mean age of the study population was 58.6 years. The overall prevalence of dry eye was found to be 54.3%. An association was found between dry eye prevalence and outdoor workers, participants working indoor using air conditioners, housewives, diabetics, patients who have undergone previous ocular surgery and those with meibomian gland dysfunction. CONCLUSIONS: Dry eye is a very common condition with a high prevalence among the elderly. We recommend the screening of all out-patients by TBUT, which is a simple test to perform and examination of lids for meibomian gland disease, which if present can be treated. Further studies are needed to establish uniform diagnostic criteria for dry eye, which will help to get more concrete prevalence data, as well as its etiological factors.

Impairments in motor coordination without major changes in cerebellar plasticity in the Tc1 mouse model of Down syndrome.

Down syndrome (DS) is a genetic disorder arising from the presence of a third copy of human chromosome 21 (Hsa21). Recently, O'Doherty et al. [An aneuploid mouse strain carrying human chromosome 21 with Down syndrome phenotypes. Science 309 (2005) 2033-2037] generated a trans-species aneuploid mouse line (Tc1) that carries an almost complete Hsa21. The Tc1 mouse is the most complete animal model for DS currently available. Tc1 mice show many features that relate to human DS, including alterations in memory, synaptic plasticity, cerebellar neuronal number, heart development and mandible size. Because motor deficits are one of the most frequently occurring features of DS, we have undertaken a detailed analysis of motor behaviour in cerebellum-dependent learning tasks that require high motor coordination and balance. In addition, basic electrophysiological properties of cerebellar circuitry and synaptic plasticity have been investigated. Our results reveal that, compared with controls, Tc1 mice exhibit a higher spontaneous locomotor activity, a reduced ability to habituate to their environments, a different gait and major deficits on several measures of motor coordination and balance in the rota rod and static rod tests. Moreover, cerebellar long-term depression is essentially normal in Tc1 mice, with only a slight difference in time course. Our observations provide further evidence that support the validity of the Tc1 mouse as a model for DS, which will help us to provide insights into the causal factors responsible for motor deficits observed in persons with DS.

Ensheathing cell cultures from the olfactory bulb and mucosa.

Transplantation of cells cultured from the nerve layers of the adult rat olfactory bulb has been shown to repair CNS tract injuries. The precise cellular composition of the culture appears to be important for this effect. Comparison was made of tissue cultured from the adult rat olfactory mucosa with that from the olfactory bulb. Both yielded mixtures of p75 immunoreactive cells and fibronectin immunoreactive cells. In sequential observations over 21 days in culture, the population of p75-expressing cells was maintained and continued to proliferate for longer in the samples from the olfactory mucosa. For derivation of cells for transplantation, the mucosa can be accessed without the need for intracranial surgery.