Medical Faculty Perspectives Toward Cadaveric Dissection as a Learning Tool for Anatomy Education: A Survey Study in India.

Cadaveric dissection, as a learning tool, has been a part of Indian medical education. Worldwide, with reforms in medical education and the introduction of new learning modalities, cadaveric dissection has been complemented with other modalities such as living anatomy and virtual anatomy. This study aims to collect the feedback of faculty members regarding the role of dissection in the present context of medical education. The method of the study involved a 32-item questionnaire to collect responses; they were collected using the 5-point Likert scale along with two open-ended questions. In general, the closed questions covered these sections: learning styles, interpersonal skills, teaching and learning, dissection, and other learning modes. The principal component analysis was used to explore the multivariate relationships among the items' perceptions. The multivariate regression analysis was conducted between the construct and the latent variable to develop the structural equation model. Four themes, PC1 (learning ability with structural orientation), PC2 (interpersonal skill), PC3 (multimedia-virtual tool), and PC5 (associated factors) had positive relation and were treated as a latent variable motivation for dissection, and theme 4 (PC4, safety) had a negative correlation and was treated as a latent variable repulsion for dissection. It was found that the dissection room is an important place for learning clinical and personal skills, along with empathy, in anatomy education. Safety issues and implementation of stress-coping activities during the induction phase are required. There is also a need to use mixed-method approaches that integrate technology-enhanced learning such as virtual anatomy, living anatomy, and radiological anatomy with cadaveric dissection.

Repurposing Glyburide as Antileishmanial Agent to Fight Against Leishmaniasis.

BACKGROUND: Leishmaniasis is caused by a protozoan parasite, Leishmania. It is common in more than 98 countries throughout the world. Due to insufficient availability of antileishmanial chemotherapeutics, it is an urgent need to search for new molecules which have better efficacy, low toxicity and are available at low cost. OBJECTIVES: There is a high rate of diabetic cases throughout the world that is why we planned to test the antileishmanial activity of glyburide, an effective sugar lowering drug used for the treatment of diabetes. In this study, glyburide showed a significant decrease in the parasite growth and survival in vitro in a dose-dependent manner. METHODS: Anti-leishmanial activity of glyburide was checked by culturing Leishmania donovani promastigotes in the presence of glyburide in a dose and time dependent manner. Docking study against Leishmania donovani-Trypanothione synthetase (LdTrySyn) protein was performed using Autodock Vina tool. RESULTS: Growth reversibility assay shows that growth of treated parasite was not reversed when transferred to fresh culture media after 7 days. Moreover, docking studies show efficient interactions of glyburide with key residues in the catalytic site of Leishmania donovani- Trypanothione synthetase (LdTrySyn), a very important leishmanial enzyme involved in parasite's survival by detoxification of Nitric Oxide (NO) species, generated by the mammalian host as a defense molecule. Thus this study proves that the drug-repurposing is a beneficial strategy for identification of new and potent antileishmanial molecules. CONCLUSION: The results suggest that glyburide binds to LdTrySyn and inhibits its activity which further leads to the altered parasite morphology and inhibition of parasite growth. Glyburide may also be used in combination with other anti-leishmanial drugs to potentiate the response of the chemotherapy. Overall this study provides information about combination therapy as well as a single drug treatment for the infected patients suffering from diabetes. This study also provides raw information for further in vivo disease model studies to confirm the hypothesis.

Perception of medical undergraduate students about interactive lectures in an outcome-based integrated curriculum: A cross-sectional study.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study is to explore the student's perspectives toward the interactive lectures as a teaching and learning method in an integrated curriculum. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted among 1st, 2nd and 3rd year male medical students (n = 121). A self-administered questionnaire based on the Visual, Auditory, Reader, Kinesthetic learning styles, learning theories, and role of feedback in teaching and learning on five-point Likert rating scale was used. The questionnaire was constructed after extensive literature review. RESULTS: There was an 80% response rate in this study. The total number of undergraduate medical students responded in the study were n = 97, 34 students of 1st year, n = 30 students of 2nd year and n = 33 student were in 3rd year, the mean scores of the student responses were calculated using Independent samples Kruskal-Wallis. There was no significant difference in the responses of the students of different years except for the question "The Interactive lectures facilitate effective use of learning resources." Which showed significant difference in the responses of the 3 years students by Independent samples Kruskal-Wallis test. No significant association was found between the year of study and items of the questionnaire except for the same item, " The Interactive lectures facilitates effective use of learning resources" by Spearman rank correlation test. CONCLUSION: The students perceive interactive lecture as an effective tool for facilitating visual and auditory learning modes, and for achieving curricular strategies. The student find the feedback given during the interactive lectures is effective in modifying learning attitude and enhancing motivation toward learning.