Art-based observational training for medical students and surgical residents in two Dutch museums.

Background: Art-based education is gaining interest in the medical field, particularly in specialties with a strong visual focus. Visual arts are increasingly used for the development of observational skills and social competencies. While content and objectives of art-based programs widely differ across medical faculties in the Netherlands, the diverse range of options underscore the interest in and the potential of this educational approach. In this report, we explore the value of art-based observational training for medical students and surgical residents in two prominent Dutch museums in Amsterdam and Rotterdam, respectively. Methods: Our program, conducted at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and Depot Boijmans van Beuningen Museum in Rotterdam engaged medical students (n=24) and surgeons (in training) (n=66) in an interactive workshop focused on art observation led by an experienced art-educator and a clinical professional. Learning objectives were defined and a post-workshop questionnaire was devised to evaluate participants' perceptions, with a specific focus on contribution of the program to professional development. Results: Both residents and surgeons acknowledged that the program had a positive impact on their professional skills. The program learned them to postpone their judgements and contributed to the awareness of their personal bias. Notably, medical students believed in the program's potential contribution to their professional development. Surgeons were more critical in their evaluation, emphasizing the challenge of sustainable improvement of skills within the limited duration of the course. Conclusions: An interactive art-based medical education program was offered to medical students, PhD students, house officers, surgical residents and surgeons in two well known Dutch museums. Participants expressed enthusiasm for the innovative educational approach they experienced at the museums. They learned about the importance of critical observation in their professional work, handling of ambiguity and got the opportunity to practice both observational and communicational skills in a creative manner. The findings indicate that medical students and surgical residents can benefit from art-based observational training, using art as a vehicle to develop their professional competencies.

The Showcases of Dental History - A Time Machine in Miniature at the University of Puerto Rico: Part I.

The evolution of 20-year-old dental museum-like showcases located in the lobby and the main hallway of the School of Dental Medicine, Puerto Rico (PR) are described along with important professionals who impacted on this development.

The first interactive science museum in Peru: the origin and creation of TECNO-ITINTEC, 1975-1979.

This paper examines the development of the TECNO-ITINTEC museum, the first interactive science museum in Peru, which opened in 1979. The museum functioned under the Institute of Industrial Technology Research and Technical Standards (ITINTEC), a public institution established during the government of Velazco Alvarado. In 1975, Jorge Heraud became the president of ITINTEC's Board of Directors and proposed a science museum to inspire future generations of scientists. José Castro Mendívil joined as the exhibition's director and designer. Their motivation to open a museum coincided with the government's ideals for modernization and nationalization. This article analyzes various sources including newspapers, laws that regulated the institute, reports, and interviews with people involved in the museum to understand how science and politics intersected in TECNO-ITINTEC.

Using Museum collections to assess the impact of industrialization on mussel (Mytilus edulis) calcification.

Mytilus edulis is a commercially and ecologically important species found along the east coast of the United States. Ecologically, M. edulis improves water quality through filtration feeding and provides habitat formation and coastal protection through reef formation. Like many marine calcifiers, ocean warming, and acidification are a growing threat to these organisms-impacting their morphology and function. Museum collections are useful in assessing long-term environmental impacts on organisms in a natural multi-stressor environment, where acclimation and adaptation can be considered. Using the American Museum of Natural History collections ranging from the early 1900s until now, we show that shell porosity changes through time. Shells collected today are significantly more porous than shells collected in the 1960s and, at some sites, than shells collected from the early 1900s. The disparity between porosity changes matches well with the warming that occurred over the last 130 years in the north Atlantic suggesting that warming is causing porosity changes. However, more work is required to discern local environmental impacts and to fully identify porosity drivers. Since, porosity is known to affect structural integrity, porosity increasing through time could have negative consequences for mussel reef structural integrity and hence habitat formation and storm defenses.

Pathogen prospecting of museums: Reconstructing malaria epidemiology.

Malaria is a disease of global significance. Ongoing changes to the earth's climate, antimalarial resistance, insecticide resistance, and socioeconomic decline test the resilience of malaria prevention programs. Museum insect specimens present an untapped resource for studying vector-borne pathogens, spurring the question: Do historical mosquito collections contain Plasmodium DNA, and, if so, can museum specimens be used to reconstruct the historical epidemiology of malaria? In this Perspective, we explore molecular techniques practical to pathogen prospecting, which, more broadly, we define as the science of screening entomological museum specimens for human, animal, or plant pathogens. Historical DNA and pathogen prospecting provide a means of describing the coevolution of human, vector, and parasite, informing the development of insecticides, diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccines.

Link between Monkeypox Virus Genomes from Museum Specimens and 1965 Zoo Outbreak.

We used pathogen genomics to test orangutan specimens from a museum in Bonn, Germany, to identify the origin of the animals and the circumstances of their death. We found monkeypox virus genomes in the samples and determined that they represent cases from a 1965 outbreak at Rotterdam Zoo in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

Taxonomy, distribution, and conservation status of a rare arboreal lizard, Bronchocela celebensis Gray, 1845 (Reptilia: Agamidae) endemic to Sulawesi, Indonesia.

Bronchocela celebensis Gray, 1845 is one of the rarest species of the genus, known only from less than 20 museum specimens collected from northern Sulawesi. It is often confused with its similar congener, B. cristatella, which occurs widely throughout the Indonesian Archipelago and Peninsular Malaysia, except on the Sulawesi mainland. Here, we examine the morphology of B. celebensis based on 46 museum specimens including freshly collected individuals, and redescribe the species based on the holotype (by monotypy). We studied the characters of B. celebensis with morphometric comparison to its allopatric congener B. cristatella from the adjacent islands of southern Sulawesi in Indonesia. Based on the current distribution pattern and the apparent threats, we update the conservation status of B. celebensis using the IUCN Red List Criteria and propose that it be considered as a Vulnerable (VU) species endemic to Sulawesi.

Taxonomic notes on the genus Afghanicenus Heyrovsk, 1941 (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae), with the first record of Afghanicenus nuristanicus (Heyrovsk, 1936) from Pakistan.

Afghanicenus nuristanicus (Heyrovsk, 1936) is hereby newly recorded from Pakistan based on a specimen collected at the beginning of the 20th century and preserved in the collection of the Natural History Museum, London. High quality colour images of the type material (a male syntype of Purpuricenus nuristanicus and a female syntype of P. nuristanicus f. bisignata) are presented for the first time. Some literature information on the genus Afghanicenus Heyrovsk, 1941 is summarised, and taxonomic problems are highlighted and further discussed.

Preserving a Legacy: Ensuring the Access and Conservation of the Harold (Harry) G. Fowler (19502018) Ant Collection and Data.

Biological collections are important repositories of biodiversity, as they include various types of data potentially useful to different areas of science and can contribute to the establishment of biodiversity conservation policies. For a long time, scientific collections were considered only as physical databases; in this context Harold G. Fowler (19502018) built an ant collection at the Universidade Estadual Paulista, campus Rio Claro (So Paulo state, Brazil), over the course of a 34-year career, comprising around 20,000 ant specimens. Most specimens came from the Brazilian Atlantic Forest, but many others came from distinct locations in Brazil and abroad. After his death, the collection was left without the necessary curatorial care for a period of time, which required a project to be conceived for its recovery and conservation, with the goal of incorporating it to the Zoology Museum of the University of So Paulo (MZSP). In addition to applying modern technical curation protocols, other activities such as checking, material identification and digitization of the information contained on the sample labels were carried out, forming an accurate database. This process enabled the identification of new distribution records and the discovery of possible undescribed species and unpublished natural history data. After validating this information, we counted 524 valid species and 201 morphospecies belonging to 105 genera and 10 subfamilies. In addition, we integrated technical curation activities with scientific outreach to draw the general publics attention to the importance of biological collections, thus fostering interest in science, biodiversity and nature conservation. Our work highlights the importance of preserving the areas sampled by Fowlers research group. The preservation of vouchers using curatorial practices reinforces the role of scientific collections as important tools for the study, understanding and preservation of biodiversity.

Annotated catalogue of acrodont lizard types in the collection of the Naturalis Biodiverstity Center (Squamata: Agamidae, Chamaeleonidae).

A list of acrodont lizard type specimens extant in the Naturalis collection is presented here for the first time. The collections combines original specimens of the former Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie, Leiden (RMNH) and the former Zologisch Museum Amsterdam (ZMA). Currently the Naturalis collection holds primary types of 25 agamid lizard species (11 holotypes, six lectotypes and syntypes for eight species, including types of two species where the type status is unclear) as well as numerous secondary types for 22 species (14 para- and eight paralectotype series). Type material present in the collection represents 29 currently valid agamid lizards taxa and three currently valid chameleon taxa.

[Foreign Medicine "Angdi Moniu" in Qing Dynasty Court].

There is a kind of historical relics called "Angdi moniu" in the Palace Museum, which looks like metal and appears frequently in the archives of the Qing Dynasty as a foreign medicine.It is stated that it can treat sores and pus in the HanXiu CaoTang Biji and it was also found in the archives of the Palace Office. However, no researcher in the academic community has yet conducted an in-depth research of what exactly is it. Through the investigation of cultural relics, in-depth research of Chinese and foreign literature, and the use of linguistic methods, this paper examines "Angdi Moniu" and its related items, and clarifies that "Angdi Moniu" is antimony, related items are antimonials and antimony cup.

Lack of country-wide systematic herpetology collections in Portugal jeopardizes future research and conservation.

Natural History Collections (NHCs) represent the world's largest repositories of long-term biodiversity datasets. Specimen collection and voucher deposition has been the backbone of NHCs since their inception, but recent decades have seen a drastic decline in rates of growth via active collecting. Amphibians and reptiles are amongst the most threatened zoological groups on the planet and are historically underrepresented in most worldwide NHCs. As part of an ongoing project to review the Portuguese zoological collections in the country's NHCs, herpetological data from its three major museums and smaller collections was gathered and used to examine the coverage and representation of the different taxa extant in Portugal. These collections are not taxonomically, geographically, or temporally complete. Approximately 90% of the Portuguese herpetological taxa are represented in the country's NHCs, and around half of the taxa are represented by less than 50 specimens. Geographically, the collections cover less than 30% of the country's territory and almost all of the occurring taxa have less than 10% of their known distribution represented in the collections. A discussion on the implications for science of such incomplete collections and a review of the current status of Portuguese NHCs is presented.

Smithsonian urged to speed repatriation of human remains.

Task force says museum should return many of its 30,000 remains and seek descendants' consent for research.

Evaluation of effectiveness of an art-based museum intervention in reducing loneliness among older adults (ArtGran): a quasi-experimental study.

OBJECTIVES: Loneliness is a public health issue among older adults. We designed an intervention offering 10 sessions with diverse artistic methods (ArtGran). This study assessed the effectiveness of ArtGran in reducing loneliness and its negative effects on health in community-dwelling older adults in 2022 in Barcelona. STUDY DESIGN: Quasi-experimental study, with an intervention group (IG) and a comparison group (CG). METHODS: The sample included residents aged ≥70 years from 6 selected neighbourhoods of Barcelona. In each neighbourhood, an IG and a CG was formed with participants who reported loneliness and without special mobility needs. The participants were referred from primary care centres, social services, and community health centres. We included 138 participants (IG = 63, CG = 75). We collected data on loneliness, quality of life (QoL-5D), mood, and self-perceived health before and after the intervention through validated questionnaires. To assess the effect of the intervention, we built Poisson models with robust variance and linear regression models. RESULTS: At the end of the intervention, participants in the IG were more likely than those in the CG to be able to perform their usual activities without problems (adjusted prevalence ratio [aPR] = 1.22; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.02-1.45). Compared with the CG, participants in the IG attending more than half of the sessions had lower levels of loneliness (aPR = 1.36; 95%CI: 1.07-1.73), a better ability to perform their usual activities (aPR [95%CI] = 1.24 [1.05-1.48]), and higher happiness scores (ß = 0.73; P = 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: The effectiveness of the intervention was more pronounced when participants had high attendance. Our results suggest that high attendance of the ArtGran program was helpful in shielding older individuals from loneliness, fostering positive moods, and preserving their functional status.

Network science for museums.

This paper introduces network science to museum studies. The spatial structure of the museum and the exhibit display largely determine what visitors see and in which order, thereby shaping their visit experience. Despite the importance of spatial properties in museum studies, few scientific tools have been developed to analyze and compare the results across museums. This paper introduces the six habitually used network science indices and assesses their applicability to museum studies. Network science is an empirical research field that focuses on analyzing the relationships between components in an attempt to understand how individual behaviors can be converted into collective behaviors. By taking the museum and the visitors as the network, this methodology could reveal unknown aspects of museum functions and visitor behavior, which could enhance exhibition knowledge and lead to better methods for creating museum narratives along the routes.

Opening the Museum's Vault: Historical Field Records Preserve Reliable Ecological Data.

AbstractMuseum specimens have long served as foundational data sources for ecological, evolutionary, and environmental research. Continued reimagining of museum collections is now also generating new types of data associated with but beyond physical specimens, a concept known as "extended specimens." Field notes penned by generations of naturalists contain firsthand ecological observations associated with museum collections and comprise a form of extended specimens with the potential to provide novel ecological data spanning broad geographic and temporal scales. Despite their data-yielding potential, however, field notes remain underutilized in research because of their heterogeneous, unstandardized, and qualitative nature. We introduce an approach for transforming descriptive ecological notes into quantitative data suitable for statistical analysis. Tests with simulated and real-world published data show that field notes and our transformation approach retain reliable quantitative ecological information under a range of sample sizes and evolutionary scenarios. Unlocking the wealth of data contained within field records could facilitate investigations into the ecology of clades whose diversity, distribution, or other demographic features present challenges to traditional ecological studies, improve our understanding of long-term environmental and evolutionary change, and enhance predictions of future change.

Give heart cells a beat: An interactive museum exhibit that synchronizes stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes to visitors' heartbeat.

Science museums play an important role in science education, engaging the public with science concepts and building support for scientific research. Here, we describe Give Heart Cells a Beat, an interactive exhibit that lets museum visitors synchronize the beating of live stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes to their own heart rate in real time. The beat rate of cells accurately matched the beat rate of visitors and responded dynamically to changes such as exercise. Visitor evaluation revealed that engagement with the specimen prompted curiosity in heart biology and stem cells. Give Heart Cells a Beat is the product of a close collaboration between a museum and an academic research laboratory, and to our knowledge, it is the first interactive exhibit to use live human heart cells. We hope this exhibit serves as an example for the implementation of stem cell technology in informal science education and inspires future relationships between academia and public science venues.