Spatial Abilities and Performance in Anatomy for Occupational Therapy and Physical Therapy Doctoral Students.

Spatial ability is the capacity to comprehend three-dimensional structures and positional relationships and to mentally manipulate these structures and relationships to predict the outcome correctly. Spatial ability, which requires extensive knowledge of three-dimensional relationships, contributes to success in endeavors such as studying human anatomy, a foundational component of rehabilitation science curricula. This investigation explored relationships between anatomy course grades, learning preferences, and spatial abilities of graduate healthcare students from two fields of rehabilitation science. We administered the Mental Rotation Test to 95 Doctor of Physical Therapy students and 66 Occupational Therapy students at the start of the anatomy course in the first semester of their professional programs. The spatial abilities of doctoral students in physical therapy and occupational therapy programs reflect consistently reported trends for gender and anatomy performance. Physical therapy students demonstrated higher spatial ability scores than occupational therapy students, which could result from differences in life experience or academic preparation. Awareness of students' spatial abilities, the factors that influence them, and their relationships to student success have important implications for teaching, learning, advising, and retention.

Dietary L-carnitine supplementation enhances the lipopolysaccharide-induced acute phase protein response in broiler chickens.

The objective of the present study was to evaluate the potential effects of dietary L-carnitine supplementation on acute phase protein response upon a lipopolysaccharide (LPS) challenge of male broiler chickens receiving a commercial broiler diet supplemented with 15 or 100 mg L-carnitine/kg or an unsupplemented (control) diet from 14 days of age onwards. At 28 days of age, eight chickens per dietary treatment were weighed and subcutaneously injected with 300 microg LPS from E. coli (100 microg LPS/ml saline) or 3 ml saline (unsupplemented group only). During the next 10 days, blood samples were taken repeatedly and analysed for their hemopexin (HX) and alpha-1 acid glycoprotein (AGP) levels. Extra dietary L-carnitine did not affect broiler performance. At day 1 postinjection, plasma HX and AGP levels were significantly increased in all treatment groups. However, the elevations in circulating HX and AGP levels were more pronounced in the L-carnitine supplemented chickens, especially in the 100mg L-carnitine group. It is concluded that extra L-carnitine in the diet of broiler chickens enhances or advances the acute phase protein response. The exact mode of action needs to be elucidated but seems to be consistent with a glucocorticoid mimicking effect.