Medical Students' Opinion of Their Learning Process.

Introduction: The opinion of students is of utmost importance to identify areas of improvement in undergraduate studies. Medical schools would use this information to plan actions to ensure that the students achieve the necessary medical knowledge. The aim of this study was to analyse the opinion of medical students about their learning process and to analyse the influence of their experience according to their year of medical degree. Methods: A questionnaire including 21 items, divided into four sections (motivation, theory lectures, hospital internships, and research) and two overall questions, was distributed among eligible 246 students. Each item was scored from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). The opinions of intermediate-year students of medical degree (3rd and 4th) were compared to late-year students (5th and 6th). Results: A total of 148 students answered the questionnaire (60.2% response rate). The mean scores for overall student motivation and teaching quality were 6.15 and 7.10, respectively. The student-teacher interaction and new learning technological tools were considered important for student motivation. The only differences found between the two groups of students were that late-year students wished to become part of a medical team and to learn writing scientific papers more than the intermediate-year students. Conclusions: This questionnaire revealed that the year of career had little influence on the medical students' opinion on their learning process during their undergraduate studies. Late-year students rated highest on being more interested in being part of a medical team and their knowledge on writing scientific articles. The use of new technologies and the student-teacher interaction is key to motivate students.

Methicillin-resistant and methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus in pork industry workers, Catalonia, Spain.

Background: Methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) especially ST398, is a zoonotic agent. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of methicillin-susceptible S. aureus (MSSA) and MRSA among workers in the pork production chain. Methods: 659 workers associated with 123 pig farms, livestock transporters, one pig slaughterhouse, pork transporters and 23 pork butcheries were studied for S. aureus recovery, and all isolates were characterized (antibiotic resistance, MLST and spa-typing). Results: The prevalence of S. aureus was 35.5%, 75.6% of isolates being MRSA. The prevalence of MRSA was 68.7% (149/217) among pig farm, 33.9% (19/56) livestock transporters, 2.9% (9/306) slaughterhouse, 0% in pork transporters (0/36) and butchery workers (0/44). Of the 234 S. aureus-positive workers, 100% (149/149) of pig farm workers, 82.6% (19/23) of livestock transporters, and 16.4% (9/55) of slaughterhouse workers carried MRSA isolates (p < 0.001). Of the workers who had contact with live swine, 61.8% (178/288) were S. aureus-positive, MRSA being detected in 96.1% of cases (p < 0.001). The most frequent lineage among MRSA were: ST398 (97.7%; 173/177) and ST1 (1.7%; 3/177); and among MSSA were ST30 (19.2%; 11/57) and ST5 (10.5%; 6/57). The most frequent spa-types among MRSA were t011 (93.8%, 166/177) and t1451 (2.25%, 4/177), and among MSSA: t084 (10.5%, 6/57) and t021 (7.0%, 4/57). All MRSA isolates showed resistance to tetracycline, 92.7% to clindamycin, 81.9% to erythromycin and 40.1% to cotrimoxazole. Conclusions: Pig industry workers having occupational contact with live animals present a high risk of colonization of MRSA, especially by MRSA-ST398. Prevention measures should be intensified in any employment sector involving live animals.

Correction: Ten simple rules for leveraging virtual interaction to build higher-level learning into bioinformatics short courses.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1010220.].