Acute effect of various dosages of sugar ingestion on vascular function in offspring of hypertensive and normotensive parents.

OBJECTIVES: We aimed to study vascular function in healthy men with a parental history of hypertension compared to those without. Acute effect of various dosages of sugar ingestion on vascular function was also investigated in both groups. METHODS: Thirty-two healthy men were recruited and divided into two groups, offspring of hypertensive parents (OHT) and offspring of normotensive parents (ONT). Participants were orally given 15, 30, and 60 g of sucrose solution compared to water. Peak forearm blood flow (FBF), forearm vascular resistance (FVR), pulse wave velocity (PWV), and oxidative stress markers were measured at baseline and after sucrose intake at 30, 60, 90, and 120 min. RESULTS: At baseline, peak FBF was significantly lower (22.40 ±â€Š1.18 vs. 25.24 ±â€Š0.63 ml × dl -1  × min -1 , P  < 0.001), FVR was significantly higher (3.73 ±â€Š0.42 vs. 3.30 ±â€Š0.26 mmHg × ml -1  × dl × min, P  = 0.002), and PWV was significantly faster (6.31 ±â€Š0.59 vs. 5.78 ±â€Š0.61 m/s, P  = 0.017) in OHT than ONT. After each sucrose intake, peak FBF significantly declined and was lowest at 30 min in both groups. The reduction in peak FBF was seen in all doses of sucrose and the higher dose of sucrose intervened, the longer reduction in peak FBF observed. CONCLUSIONS: Vascular function was attenuated in healthy men with a family history of hypertension and became worse after sucrose ingestion even at the low dose. Our findings suggest that the ones, especially those with a parental history of hypertension, should reduce sugar consumption as low as possible.

Student academic performance in non-lecture physiology topics following the abrupt change from traditional on-site teaching to online teaching during COVID-19 pandemic.

BACKGROUND: During the COVID-19 pandemic, pre-clerkship medical education, including all physiology classes, was obliged to change to online teaching due to limitations of on-site (face-to-face) classes. However, the effectiveness of online teaching in non-lecture physiology topics during the COVID-19 pandemic has not been thoroughly investigated. METHOD: We conducted a prospective study to evaluate the students' academic achievement and opinions on online teaching during the COVID-19 academic year. Academic achievement of 312 students in the COVID-19 year was compared with that of 299 students in the pre-COVID-19 year. Student opinions regarding social interactions and the preferred learning method were also collected. RESULTS: We found that student academic achievement in the non-lecture physiology topics, assessed by summative scores, was 4.80±0.92 percent higher in the pre-COVID-19 year than in the COVID-19 year (P < 0.01, Cohen's d = 0.42). Students rated that online classes tended to reduce their interactions with peers and teachers; however, students preferred online learning over traditional on-site learning. CONCLUSIONS: This study pointed out that students' academic performance related to the physiology topics taught by online non-lecture methods during the COVID-19 pandemic was lower than their performance when the topics were taught by the traditional (on-site) methods, although students reported that they preferred the online teaching. Hence, we suggest that medical teachers should deliberately plan and utilise a variety of tools and techniques when developing online non-lecture classes to preserve the interactivity of the classes, which might overcome this gap in students' academic performance.

Asynchronous online lecture may not be an effective method in teaching cardiovascular physiology during the COVID-19 pandemic.

BACKGROUND: Asynchronous online lecture has become a common teaching method in medical education, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the effectiveness and students' attitudes towards this method under this special circumstance have not been exclusively studied. Hence, we aimed to evaluate these aspects of cardiovascular physiology teaching in an undergraduate medical curriculum. METHODS: We analysed and compared the academic achievement and attitudes of 613 medical students on cardiovascular physiology between pre-COVID-19 and COVID-19 years in which different teaching methods were implemented. In addition, we also explored the importance of teaching methods and teachers by subgroup analysis to evaluate whether they influenced the academic achievement and attitudes of students. RESULTS: Overall students' academic achievement was significantly higher when lectures were taught by the traditional method than by the asynchronous online method. Moreover, subgroup analysis revealed that teachers were also a factor influencing students' academic achievement. Although most students had positive attitudes towards asynchronous online lectures, overall satisfaction was slightly higher when all lectures were taught by the traditional method than by the asynchronous online method. CONCLUSIONS: Asynchronous online lectures might not be an effective teaching method especially during the abrupt change in education. Under the 'new normal' medical education, not only teaching methods but also teachers are the essential keys to the success in academic achievement and attitudes of undergraduate medical students.