Opinión de estudiantes de medicina sobre el uso de un aula virtual asincrónica durante la COVID-19 / Opinion of medical students on the use of an asynchronous virtual classroom during COVID-19

Introducción: Ante la pandemia por COVID-19, las escuelas de medicina debieron transitar de un modelo de enseñanza predominantemente presencial a la modalidad en línea, por lo que se dieron a la tarea de diseñar una serie de herramientas para dar continuidad a la formación de sus estudiantes. Objetivo: Conocer la opinión de los alumnos de medicina sobre el uso de un aula virtual asincrónica como recurso de apoyo durante su proceso de aprendizaje en el contexto de la pandemia. Sujetos y métodos: Participaron 31 alumnos de primer año de medicina en México. Se utilizó un cuestionario de nueve ítems para indagar su opinión sobre la calidad de los contenidos de una asignatura, la idoneidad de la cantidad de actividades utilizadas, así como la claridad de la introducción a cada tema, de sus objetivos y de las instrucciones para cada actividad de aprendizaje. Resultados: Más de la mitad opinó que la introducción, los objetivos y las instrucciones del aula virtual asincrónica para realizar las actividades de aprendizaje de cada tema eran fáciles de entender. Más del 70% consideró que la calidad de los contenidos era muy buena y que el número de actividades de aprendizaje utilizadas era suficiente para cubrir los objetivos. Conclusiones: Los resultados permitieron identificar el material y las actividades del aula virtual asincrónica que resultaron, en opinión de los estudiantes, enriquecedores para su proceso de aprendizaje y qué cambios realizar para mejorar esta plataforma en beneficio de su formación profesional.(AU)

Introduction: Faced with the COVID-19 pandemic, medical schools had to move from a predominantly face-to-face teaching model to the online modality, so they undertook the task of designing a series of tools to continue the training of their students. Aim: To know the opinion of medical students on the use of an asynchronous virtual classroom as a support resource during their learning process in the context of the pandemic. Subjects and methods: Thirty-one first-year medical students in Mexico participated. A nine-item questionnaire was used to find out their opinion about the quality of the contents of a subject, the suitability of the number of activities used, as well as the clarity of the introduction to each topic, its objectives and the instructions for each learning activity. Results: More than half found the introduction, objectives, and instructions of the asynchronous virtual classroom to carry out the learning activities for each topic easy to understand. Over 70% considered that the quality of the contents was very good and that the number of learning activities used was sufficient to cover the objectives. Conclusions: The results made it possible to identify the material and activities of the asynchronous virtual classroom that were, in the opinion of the students, enriching for their learning process and what changes to make to improve this platform for the benefit of their professional training.(AU)

Evolución histórica de la psicología médica y su riqueza para la formación humanista y psicológica del médico general / Historical evolution of medical psychology and its wealth for the humanistic and psychological formation of the general practitioner

El objetivo de este artículo se basa en el principio de que el ser humano aprende de su pasado, de ahí que contar con la evolución histórica de la materia ‘Psicología médica’ enriquece la conciencia de quienes la imparten y fortalece sus raíces y las del Departamento de Psiquiatría y Salud Mental de la Facultad de Medicina de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México que la fundó, además de que establece las bases para proteger y fomentar su importancia dentro del currículo de la carrera de médico y da a conocer la materia a otras universidades que también consideran que es una asignatura indispensable en la formación de los médicos. Basándose en el análisis de diversas fuentes de información, se reconoce la importancia de sus profesores, de sus programas y del apoyo que brinda a la formación de los futuros médicos

This article is based on the principle that human beings learn from their past, hence having the historical evolution of ‘Medical Psychology’ course, enriches the conscience of those who teach it, strengthens their roots and those of the Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health of the Faculty of Medicine of the National Autonomous University of Mexico who founded it and, lays the basis for protecting and promoting its importance within the curriculum of medical career and makes it known to other universities that also consider that it’s indispensable in the formation of their doctors. Based on the analysis of different sources of information, it recognized the importance of their teachers, their programs and support provided for the training of future doctors

Importance of amino acids Leu135 and Tyr236 for the interaction between EhCFIm25 and RNA: a molecular dynamics simulation study.

The CFIm25 subunit of the heterotetrameric cleavage factor Im (CFIm) is a critical factor in the formation of the poly(A) tail at mRNA 3' end, regulating the recruitment of polyadenylation factors, poly(A) site selection, and cleavage/polyadenylation reactions. We previously reported the homologous protein (EhCFIm25) in Entamoeba histolytica, the protozoan causing human amoebiasis, and showed the relevance of conserved Leu135 and Tyr236 residues for RNA binding. We also identified the GUUG sequence as the recognition site of EhCFIm25. To understand the interactions network that allows the EhCFIm25 to maintain its three-dimensional structure and function, here we performed molecular dynamics simulations of wild-type (WT) and mutant proteins, alone or interacting with the GUUG molecule. Our results indicated that in the presence of the GUUG sequence, WT converged more quickly to lower RMSD values in comparison with mutant proteins. However, RMSF values showed that movements of amino acids of WT and EhCFIm25*L135 T were almost identical, interacting or not with the GUUG molecule. Interestingly, EhCFIm25*L135 T, which is the only mutant with a slight RNA binding activity experimentally, presents the same stabilization of bend structures and alpha helices as WT, notably in the C-terminus. Moreover, WT and EhCFIm25*L135 T presented almost the same number of contacts that mainly involve lysine residues interacting with the G4 nucleotide. Overall, our data proposed a clear description of the structural and mechanistic data that govern the RNA binding capacity of EhCFIm25.

Mapping the intrinsically disordered properties of the flexible loop domain of Bcl-2: a molecular dynamics simulation study.

Most of the B-cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2) protein structure has been elucidated; however, the conformation of its flexible loop domain (FLD) has not yet been experimentally predicted. Its high flexibility under physiological conditions is the reason. FLD behaves as an intrinsically disordered region (IDR) and can adopt regular structures in particular conditions associated with the control of Bcl-2's anti-apoptotic functions. In a previous contribution, we analyzed an engineered Bcl-2 construct (Bcl-2-Δ22Σ3) submitted to 25-ns MD and reported a disordered-to-helix transitions in a region of FLD (rFLD, residues 60-77). However, the conformational preferences in solution of rFLD in the nanosecond to microsecond scale were not analyzed. Herein, an average model was obtained for the native Bcl-2 protein by homology modeling and MD simulation techniques. From this, only the atomic coordinates corresponding to the rFLD were simulated for 1 µs by MD at 310 K. In concordance with previous studies, a disordered-to-helix transitions were exhibited, implying that this "interconversion of folding" in the rFLD suggest a possible set of conformations encoded in its sequence. Principal component analysis (PCA) showed that most of the conformational fluctuation of Bcl-2 is provided by rFLD. Dihedral PCA (dPCA) offered information about all the conformations of rFLD in the µs of the simulation, characterizing a dPCA-based free energy landscape of rFLD, and a conformational ensemble of fast interconverting conformations as other IDRs. Furthermore, despite the conformational heterogeneity of rFLD, the analysis of the dihedral angles (Φ, Ψ) showed that this region does not randomly explore the conformational space in solution.