ABSTRACT
A hybrid problem based learning (PBL) and traditional medical programme was started at the Trinidad campus of the University of the West Indies in 1989. Analyses were carried out to determine the extent to which the entrance qualifications of the students were related to their performances at the examinations in the Phase I (preclinical and paraclinical) and Phase II (clinical) programmes. Students who were admitted on the basis of their results in the secondary school General Certificate of Examination (GCE), 'A' level scored higher at the Phase I, but not at the Phase II, level than those who already had university education. Among the 'A' level students, there was positive correlation between the total 'A' level scores and the examination marks in the medical programme, particularly at the Phase I level. Furthermore, multiple regression analyses indicated that the grades in 'A' level Chemistry and, to a lesser extent in Biology, had the most influence on performances at the Phase I examinations, with much less influence on performances at the Phase II examinations. These results suggest that good grades at 'A' level examinations are significant factors, but not the only important ones, that favour high achievement in the initial stages of this type of PBL/traditional medical programme.
Subject(s)
Problem-Based Learning , Educational Measurement , Education, Medical, Undergraduate , Trinidad and TobagoABSTRACT
The unripe ackee fruit, when eaten, is known to cause serious clincial manifestations, including vomitting, hypoglycaemia and acidosis. The effects, of various extracts from the arilli of the unripe ackee fruit (including hypoglycin-A) on the lungs from rats were examined in an in vitro preparation. All the extracts were found to induce moderately severe broncho-constriction, indicating a possible contribution of these effects to the observed toxicity of ackee
Subject(s)
Rats , Animals , Male , Female , Bronchi/drug effects , Plant Extracts/pharmacology , Acetylcholine/pharmacology , Cyclopropanes/pharmacology , Hypoglycins/pharmacology , Rats, Inbred Strains , Constriction, Pathologic , Cyclopropanes/poisoning , Hypoglycins/poisoningABSTRACT
The hypoglycemia seen in ackee poisoning almost certainly results from the presence of hypoglycin A in the aril. However, the mechanisms underlying the vomiting and neurological disrders have not been properly established. We have, in thes review, re-examined the latter and proposed that the vomiting of glutamic and neurological feactures of ackee poisoning probably result from the excitotoxic properties of glutamic and aspartic acids derived directly and indirectly from ackee intake