Using Whiteboard Animation and Patient Narratives for Learning Clinical Ophthalmology: Student Perspectives.

Purpose: In ophthalmology, an area that lacks teaching time in university, whiteboard animation and patient narratives may be untapped resources for learning. This research will seek student perspectives on both formats. The authors hypothesise that these formats would be a useful learning tool for clinical ophthalmology in the medical curriculum. Patients and Methods: The principal aims were to report the prevalence of using whiteboard animation and patient narratives to learn clinical ophthalmology and determine medical students' perspectives on their satisfaction and value as a learning tool. A whiteboard animation and patient narrative video on an ophthalmological condition were provided to students attending two medical schools in South Australia. Following this, they were asked to provide feedback via an online questionnaire. Results: A total of 121 wholly answered surveys were obtained. 70% of students use whiteboard animation for medicine, but only 28% use it for ophthalmology. There was a significant association between the qualities of the whiteboard animation and satisfaction (P<0.001). 25% of students use patient narratives for medicine, but only 10% use it for ophthalmology. Nonetheless, most of the students reported that patient narratives are engaging and improve memory. Conclusion: The consensus is that these learning methods would be welcome in ophthalmology if more content like this were available. According to medical students, whiteboard animation and patient narratives are helpful methods of learning ophthalmology, and a continued effort should be made for their use.

Background pressure effects on MeV protons accelerated via relativistically intense laser-plasma interactions.

We present how chamber background pressure affects energetic proton acceleration from an ultra-intense laser incident on a thin liquid target. A high-repetition-rate (100 Hz), 3.5 mJ laser with peak intensity of [Formula: see text] impinged on a 450 nm sheet of flowing liquid ethylene glycol. For these parameters, we experimentally demonstrate a threshold in laser-to-proton conversion efficiency at background pressures [Formula: see text], wherein the overall energy in ions [Formula: see text] increases by an order of magnitude. Proton acceleration becomes increasingly efficient at lower background pressures and laser-to-proton conversion efficiency approaches a constant as the vacuum pressure decreases. We present two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations and a charge neutralization model to support our experimental findings. Our experiment demonstrates that high vacuum is not required for energetic ion acceleration, which relaxes target debris requirements and facilitates applications of high-repetition rate laser-based proton accelerators.

Toward the identification, characterization and experimental culture of Lacazia loboi from Atlantic bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus).

Lobomycosis (lacaziosis) is a chronic, granulomatous, fungal infection of the skin and subcutaneous tissues of humans and dolphins. To date, the causative agent, the yeast-like organism Lacazia loboi, has not been grown in the laboratory, and there have been no recent reports describing attempts to culture the organism. As a result, studies on the efficacy of therapeutics and potential environmental reservoirs have not been conducted. Therefore, the objective of the current study was to utilize both classical and novel microbiological methods in order to stimulate growth of Lacazia cells collected from dolphin lesions. This included the experimental inoculation of novel media, cell culture, and the use of artificial skin matrices. Although unsuccessful, the methods and results of this study provide important insight into new approaches that could be utilized in future investigations of this elusive organism.