ABSTRACT
The abundant computer-based materials for medical education developed in Europe and North America have found limited use in Japan. To remedy this situation, the usefulness of such educational materials for Japanese students should be clearly presented, because issues of language and cost are involved. For detailed evaluation of educational material, collaboration with the developing institution is necessary. Kochi Medical School participated in an international collaborative study proposed by the University of British Columbia to evaluate computer-based educational materials. The study evaluated computer-based educational materials for clinical-skills training (CyberPatient) developed at the University of British Columbia. Fourteen medical educational institutions from six countries participated in the study. Kochi Medical School's portion of the study was successfully performed in December 2001. However, we found four problems related to this collaborative study: dealing with foreign languages in educational materials, establishing rapid communication, flexibly coping with sudden changes in study design, and guaranteeing the coherence of the study design among collaborating institutions.
ABSTRACT
The concentration of pesticide that was inspired by speed sprayer (SS) operatorsin spraying a low toxic organophosphorus pesticide (800-fold to 1000-fold dilutions of wettable agent) were measured by the impinger-one respirator-per man measuring system. The mean ± standard error was 0.01116 ± 0.00191 mg/m<SUP>3</SUP>.<BR>The operators were made to perform the spraying task every day, and the organophosphorus pesticide concentration in the serum was gas-chromatographically measured before and after the task on each day. The maximum concentration after daily task was 0.032μg/2ml in an operator, and 0.061μg/2ml in anassistant. The concentration was already trace or undetectable in many of them the following morning. No apparent tendency for the pesticide to be accumulated was observed even in the operators after spraying the pesticide for 2 consecutivedays.<BR>The 24-hour urine was collected from each subject to measure the outputof PNMC (p-nitro-m-crezol). The output tended to be greater in the assistants than in the operators. This finding may be attributed to the fact that the assistants are trasiently exposed to high concentrations of the pesticide in powder form.