Admission criteria and student success in a medical radiation sciences program.

Determining admission criteria that will predict successful student outcomes is a challenging undertaking for newly established health professional programs. This study examined data from the students who entered a medical radiation sciences program in September 2002. By analyzing the correlation between undergraduate GPA, grades in undergraduate science courses, performance in program coursework, and post-graduation certification examination results, the authors determined admission criteria that were linked to successful student outcomes for radiological technology and radiation therapy students.

Helping learners in difficulty--the incidence and effectiveness of remedial programmes of the Medical Radiation Sciences Programme at University of Toronto and the Michener Institute for Applied Sciences, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

INTRODUCTION: Academic difficulty can often be a significant problem for students in health professional programmes. Students in difficulty are often identified late in their training and run the risk of dismissal if remediation is not successful. Since the inception of the Medical Radiation Sciences Program (MRSP) at the University of Toronto, Faculty of Medicine, and the Michener Institute (MI) in 1999, a number of students have required remediation due to problems in the didactic or clinical component of their training. Not all remediation was successful, and a number of students have been dismissed. There is relatively sparse evidence in the educational literature regarding the nature of academic difficulties that health professional students encounter, and what constitutes appropriate remedial education. The purpose of this research was to evaluate the incidence and prevalence of remediation in the MRSP and the nature of the academic problems. In addition, this study looked at the type of remedial instruction that the Radiation Sciences Board of Examiners (BOE) recommended for these students as well as the effectiveness of these recommendations. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study consisted of a review of the academic records of students who failed one or more courses and underwent pre-clinical or clinical remediation, and who were presented at the Medical Radiation Sciences Board of Examiners at the University of Toronto between September 1999 and December 2004. Data extraction forms were developed to obtain demographic information, the nature of the academic problems, the remedial recommendation, and their outcomes. RESULTS: This study identified 69 students who were presented to the BOE 95 times. Forty-four students (44/69, 64%) were from the Radiation Therapy stream, 16 students (16/69, 23%) were from the Nuclear Medicine stream and 9 students (9/69, 13%) were from the Radiographic Technology stream. Most of the remediation occurred due to pre-clinical 50 (50/69, 72%), clinical 15 (15/69, 22%) and both preclinical and clinical problems 4 students (4/69, 6%). Out of 54 students who required pre-clinical remediation, 40 (74%) were promoted. Out of 19 students who required clinical remediation, 10 (10/19, 53%) passed their remediation. Six students (6/69, 9%) were dismissed from the programme due to unsuccessful remediation; 2 due to pre-clinical and 4 due to clinical problems. Based on these results, the remediation process at the MRSP was successful; however, 6 students (6/69, 9%) were dismissed from the programme during the last 4 years despite lengthy unsuccessful remediation. CONCLUSION: Our study provided an important perspective about the remediation process at the MRSP at the Michener Institute for Applied Health Sciences. Despite its retrospective methodology, it attempted to identify the magnitude of learning problems that lead to remediation, and identified the efficacy of the remedial programmes.

Association of parity with risk of type 2 diabetes and related metabolic disorders.

OBJECTIVE: The relationship between parity and risk of diabetes is controversial, and little information is available regarding associations between parity and measures of insulin resistance and beta-cell function. The objective of this study was to investigate the association between parity and risk of glucose intolerance and related metabolic disorders using data from a population-based study in a Native Canadian community. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Female participants (n = 383, aged 12-79 years) provided fasting blood samples for the determination of glucose, insulin, C-peptide, and proinsulin concentrations. A 75-g oral glucose tolerance test was administered, and diabetes and impaired glucose tolerance were diagnosed according to World Health Organization criteria. Waist circumference and percent body fat were determined. Information regarding occurrence of live births and previously diagnosed diabetes was obtained from interviewer-administered questionnaires. RESULTS: Parity was associated with a significantly reduced risk of diabetes (nulliparous vs. >or=1 birth, odds ratio 0.43, 95% CI 0.19- 0.94, P < 0.05) after adjustment for age and waist circumference. In addition, nondiabetic nulliparous women had significantly elevated concentrations of fasting insulin and proinsulin relative to nondiabetic parous women (all P < 0.05) in analyses adjusted for age and waist circumference. CONCLUSIONS: Our results are consistent with those from other populations experiencing high rates of diabetes and suggest the presence of a diabetes-prone phenotype within the nulliparous subcohort of this population, which may contribute to infertility.

Cross-sectional and prospective associations between abdominal adiposity and proinsulin concentration.

The objective of this study was to investigate the associations of total and abdominal obesity with variation in proinsulin concentration in a Native Canadian population experiencing an epidemic of type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM). Between 1993 and 1995, 728 members of a Native Canadian community participated in a population-based survey to determine the prevalence and risk factors for type 2 DM. Samples for glucose, C-peptide, and proinsulin were drawn after an overnight fast, and a 75-g oral glucose tolerance test was administered. Type 2 DM and impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) were diagnosed using World Health Organization criteria. Height, weight, waist circumference, and percent body fat were measured. In 1998, 95 individuals who, at baseline, had IGT or normal glucose tolerance with an elevated 2-h glucose level (> or = 7.0 mM) participated in a follow-up evaluation using the same protocol. After adjustment for age, sex, C-peptide concentration, per cent body fat, and waist circumference, proinsulin was found to be significantly elevated in diabetic subjects, relative to subjects with both impaired and normal glucose tolerance (both P < 0.0001); and the concentration in those with IGT was higher, compared with normals (P < 0.0001). Among nondiabetic subjects, proinsulin showed significant univariate associations with percent body fat, body mass index, and waist circumference (r = 0.34, 0.45, 0.41, respectively, all P < 0.0001). After adjustment for body fat and other covariates, waist circumference remained significantly associated with proinsulin concentration in nondiabetic subjects (r = 0.20, P < 0.0001). In prospective analysis, adjusted for covariates (including baseline IGT and follow-up glucose tolerance status), baseline waist circumference was positively associated with both follow-up and change in proinsulin concentration (r = 0.27, P = 0.01; r = 0.24, P = 0.03, respectively). These data highlight the detrimental effects of abdominal obesity on beta-cell function, and support the hypothesis that beta-cell dysfunction occurs early in the natural history of glucose intolerance.