The landscape of research during post-graduate medical training in New Zealand.

Formalised research opportunities offered to junior doctors in Australasia, and specifically New Zealand, are few and far in between. This is especially evident for interns in the first 2 years after graduation. Academic internships are positioned not only to fill this gap but also provide interns with long-lasting skills beyond the confines of academia.

Would you do it again? A qualitative study of student and supervisor perceptions of an intercalated MBChB/PhD programme.

BACKGROUND: Several studies have warned about the diminishing physician-scientist breed. Limited studies, however, have attempted to assess what factors (if any) enhanced or hindered the experience of trainee physician-scientists and their supervisors. Using Vroom's expectancy theory as a conceptual framework, we explored the highlights, motivations and barriers of an intercalated MBChB/PhD programme as experienced by students of the programme and their supervisors. METHODS: Previous and current students of the MBChB/PhD programme at the University of Otago, and their supervisors, were invited to provide comments on the programme. Data were analysed using a general inductive approach which involved coding responses, and grouping codes into common themes via an iterative process. A deductive approach was used to interpret the themes and relate them to Vroom's expectancy theory. RESULTS: A total of 22 students (88% response rate) and 36 supervisors (58.3% response rate) responded to our survey. Three themes were identified through the analysis of the students' responses. These were: motives for undertaking the intercalated degree, effect on career development, and perceived barriers. Supervisors' survey yielded two themes: characteristics of successful students, and optimising the intercalated programme. CONCLUSIONS: The current study sheds light on the successes and challenges of an intercalated MBChB/PhD programme by considering the views of those most involved. Whereas the combined programme has its advantages for student research and career development, extending the research-time may be worthwhile. Further studies involving a larger cohort of intercalating students and their supervisors may allow for extrapolation of data to address these concerns.

The Symbol-Digit Modalities Test in Mild Cognitive Impairment: Evidence from Parkinson's Disease Patients.

BACKGROUND: The evaluation process of the performance of the symbol-digit modalities test (SDMT) has focused much on numerical scores paying only little attention to the qualitative aspects of performance. Incorporating the gaze analysis technique, we aimed to investigate the performance of Parkinson's disease (PD) patients on the written SDMT task. METHODS: Twelve patients with PD and normal cognition (PD-N), 11 with PD and mild cognitive impairment (PD-MCI), and 13 healthy participants (NC) controlled for age, sex and education were recruited. RESULTS: PD-MCI participants achieved significantly lower scores than NC and PD-N participants. Eye-movement parameters, however, did not differ among the study groups, and were not correlated with task performance. CONCLUSIONS: Impaired performance on the SDMT by PD-MCI participants despite relatively preserved oculomotor performance indicates that lower SDMT scores are not due - even in part - to visuomotor impairments otherwise seen in PD patients.

Dual Degrees in Medicine: Options for Medical Students.

Increasingly, more universities are showing an interest in offering combined degrees (most commonly research-based) with their medical degree. Intercalated degrees often require the medical student to take time off their medical course in order to pursue the second degree full-time. Concurrent degrees, on the other hand, do not usually require taking additional time to complete; rather, they are integrated into the medical curriculum. Exposing medical students to the array of opportunities offered by their academic institutions will hopefully allow interested students to pursue studies in an area of their preference, at a pace of their own and for a cost (time and financial) they could afford. This article explores the different degrees offered around the world to students in combination with medical degrees.

Errors on the MoCA's animal-naming: findings from Parkinson's disease patients.

We read the findings by Cecato et al. (2016) with great interest. In their study, naming the rhinoceros discriminated between patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) but not healthy controls (HC). Of note, HC participants were significantly younger than aMCI and AD patients. All participants were administered the original version of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) instrument.

Characteristics of Arabic Websites with information on autism.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the characteristics of Arabic websites with information on autism spectrum disorder (ASD). METHODS: The word autism in Arabic was entered into 2 popular search engines in September 2013 to locate the top 80 websites featuring the term. Websites were sorted using 10 characteristics, previously used to evaluate the characteristics of English websites with information on ASD. RESULTS: Most websites were registered using a .com top-level domain (69%), were an individual`s site, forum, or blog (44%), and were updated after September 2012 (60%); they contained images or texts that seemed to persuade viewers to purchase products (43%); they provided information with the name of author(s) (64%); they described the basic characteristics of ASD; and they promoted various types of treatments, most of which lack empirical support (63%). However, few websites contained information with references to peer review resources (3%) or a warning statement that such information should not replace the opinion of a qualified professional (8%). CONCLUSION: Internet users may not find Arabic websites to be reliable sources to obtain information on ASD. Given the increased use of the internet, creation of websites that contain trusted information on ASD could potentially aid parents in accessing available services, help them learn about empirically validated interventions, and enable them to advocate for their children`s rights.

Is it acceptable for medical professionals to kiss paediatric patients?

It is human nature, perhaps more so for doctors and nurses, to comfort children in distress. Unfortunately, however, necessary medical procedures carried out by healthcare providers (eg, venipuncture) can often result in pain and discomfort, which may in turn cause the provider a degree of guilt and distress. Is it ever acceptable to comfort a paediatric patient with a kiss? This essay examines the literature published on this subject reflecting on a recent encounter with a patient.

Poststroke Anxiety and Depression: Findings from Saudi Arabia.

BACKGROUND: Anxiety and depression are the two most frequent neuropsychiatric manifestations of stroke. In Saudi Arabia, there is a general lack of research into anxiety and depression in stroke patients when compared with physical complications. METHODS: We assessed the prevalence of anxiety and depression in 76 stroke patients from Saudi Arabia using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). RESULTS: In this study, 18.4% and 23.7% of the patients met the HADS criteria for moderate or severe anxiety and depression, respectively. Female gender was the only significant predictive factor associated with both anxiety (P = .03) and depression (P = .04), where longer duration since stroke was only associated with anxiety (P = .02) but not depression (P = .25). CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that anxiety and depression are commonplace in Saudi patients with stroke, a finding that has implications for clinical practice and future research.

How do medical student journals fare? A global survey of journals run by medical students.

Medical students have made significant contributions to the medical and scientific fields in the past. Today, medical students still contribute to biomedical research; however, they often face disappointment from journals when trying to publish their findings. This led to the development of medical student journals, which take a more "student-friendly" approach. This article reviews the current medical student journals published in English and sheds light on current trends and challenges.

Parkinson's Disease in the Gulf Countries: An Updated Review.

BACKGROUND: The Arabian Gulf region is a rapidly developing part of the world. With the increase in average life-expectancy, idiopathic Parkinson's disease (PD), is also expected to increase in prevalence. Furthermore, the high rate of consanguinity among Arabs probably makes familial cases of PD more likely to be encountered than other areas in the world. This review provides an update on the published literature on sporadic and familial PD in Gulf Arabs. SUMMARY: Although the Arab population of this region shares religious beliefs and demographic characteristics with other Arabs, their environmental exposures and genetic makeup may be different. This could account for the relatively low prevalence of PD reported in the Al-Thugba study (27 per 100,000) compared with prevalence rates by most other studies on Arab (mainly North African) populations (31.4-557.4 per 100,000). KEY MESSAGES: Gulf countries are considered rich countries, which makes conducting nation-wide or even international studies logistically easier than it is in many other countries. Such multinational research can be organized by the existing Gulf Cooperation Council, or through a collaboration of the Ministries of Health. This would, hopefully, culminate in the introduction of more research centers, as well as the implementation of better health care policies and practices for the ageing community.

Personality characteristics in a population of mountain climbers.

OBJECTIVE: Mountaineering and mountain-related sports are growing in popularity and are associated with significant risk of injury. There is a perception that mountaineers possess unique personality characteristics that attract them to the sport. We aim to determine whether there are any identifiable differences between the personality characteristics of experienced mountaineers and a normal control population and to determine whether there is an association between specific personality traits and risk of injury. METHODS: Questionnaires were utilized to obtain data on demographics, accidents, and personality characteristics from a population of experienced mountaineers. The Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) was used, and the results were compared with normative data from age-matched controls. RESULTS: Forty-seven mountaineers from 8 different countries enrolled in the study. The mean age was 33 years, and 44 (90%) had been mountaineering for more than 5 years. Twenty-three climbers (49%) had been involved in a total of 33 accidents. Mountaineers scored higher on novelty seeking (P < .05) and self-directedness (P < .05) and lower on harm avoidance (P < .001) and self-transcendence (P < .001). There was a significant association between the character measure of cooperativeness and the total number (-.33, P < .05) and severity (-.475, P < .05) of accidents. CONCLUSIONS: Mountaineering is associated with significant risk of injury. Wide variation in the scores of personality traits suggests that there is not a tightly defined personality profile among mountaineers. Scores on cooperativeness may assist in determining risk of injury in mountaineers.