ABSTRACT
Problem: The COVID-19 pandemic required rapid changes to medical curricula, forcing emergent transition to purely remote learning. At Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine (ICOM), all in-person sessions were suspended on March 16, 2020. One course affected included the first-year, 4-week Respiratory System course which began on March 9. Methods: On the final day of the course, students were sent surveys which assessed how they adjusted academically and personally to the campus shutdown. Results: The response rate was 137/159 (86%). Students' learning adjustments took into account changes to spaces and daily routine, their cohabitants, need for accountability, new learning resources, and anxiety. Most students were concerned about public health, the economy, and health of family and loved ones; fewer were concerned about their professional futures, restrictions on personal freedoms, and own health. Most students adjusted personally by connecting more with family, entertainment and sleep, and studying less. While a large majority of students made changes to connecting with friends and physical activity, students did not adjust uniformly.
ABSTRACT
This study was undertaken to test the hypothesis that, in toads, the pressor effects of angiotensin II (ANG II) are partly due to the secondary effects of catecholamines. In Bufo marinus, blood pressure responses to bullfrog ([Val(5)]) ANG II administration were measured in animals pretreated (experimental group) and not pretreated (control group) with phentolamine, an alpha-adrenergic antagonist. At 1, 2, and 4 min following ANG II administration (50 ngkg(-1)), mean arterial pressure (MAP) of the experimental group was significantly less than in the control group (27.9+/-1.0, 28.2+/-1.6, and 25.8+/-2.1 mmHg versus 45.1+/-1.0, 39.4+/-2.8, and 35.5+/-3.6, respectively; n=6). Heart rate (f(H)) was unaffected by phentolamine. These data support our hypothesis. Previous authors, using human ([Ile(5)]) ANG II, have concluded that alpha-adrenergic mechanisms are not involved in the pressor effects of ANG II in B. marinus. In a separate group of toads, we examined MAP and f(H) responses to similar doses of human and bullfrog ANG II (100 ngkg(-1)). Bullfrog ANG II caused MAP to reach higher peak values (56.5+/-2.6 versus 37.2+/-0.4 mmHg; n=7) in less time (approximately 1 min versus approximately 8 min) than human ANG II. Furthermore, bullfrog ANG II caused f(H) to significantly increase from 41.3+/-5.1 to 79.3+/-2.3 beats min(-1) (at 1 min) whereas human ANG II caused no significant changes in f(H) throughout the measured time course. Higher doses of human ANG II (100 microgkg(-1)) invoked slow but large increases in MAP with non-significant decreases in f(H). These additional data suggest that the choice of exogenously administered hormone is an important one to consider in comparative endocrinological studies.