Women currently comprise the majority of students graduating from medical school and face unique stressors not seen with their male counterparts. In particular, during their medical education, women ...with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) experience symptoms of the disorder, which strongly impact both their academic and social lives. This in turn influences their academic and professional future. Although women as medical professionals, in general, are happy with their careers, awareness, and understanding on the part of medical educators will definitely be helpful to women medical students in their path to being successful medical professionals. The first objective of our current study is to find the prevalence of PCOS in medical and dental students. The second objective is to find the academic and health impacts of PCOS and what type of interventions are being adopted to relieve the symptoms. Using the keywords such as "PCOS," "medical students," and "dental students", the search engines PubMed, Embase, and Scopus were used to retrieve relevant articles published from 2020 to 2022. After removing the duplicates, 11 prospective cross-sectional studies were utilized for qualitative and quantitative analysis. The pooled prevalence of 2,206 female medical students diagnosed with PCOS was 24.7%. The students in the various studies were aware of their PCOS diagnosis and were taking therapeutic medications. The most common associated complications reported were BMI abnormalities, abnormal hair growth, and acne, along with other complications such as stress and poor academic and social life. The majority also had significant family histories of concurrent clinical conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, and other menstrual abnormalities. Considering the huge impact of PCOS, medical educators, policymakers, and all stakeholders should take proactive measures to accommodate students' needs and bridge the social gap. Special awareness of needed lifestyle changes should be a part of the medical education curriculum for an inclusive educational environment, as it will minimize the gender discrepancy in academic satisfaction and professional life.
Background:
Community service learning seems to positively impact undergraduate medical students’ practical procedural and communications skills. Events like health fairs also strengthen the bond ...between healthcare providers and the wider community. Recognizing this mutually beneficial situation, national accreditation agencies and medical boards have recommended incorporating community-based learning in the core undergraduate curriculum. Our university is the first to probe medical students’ perceptions of community service in our region to the best of our knowledge.
Objectives:
We sought to analyze the experience of our students to improve the practical value of the curriculum.
Methods:
This was a qualitative survey interviewing medical students volunteering at a health fair in a Caribbean Island aimed to screen gross cardio-vascular and metabolic abnormalities in the native adult population. The focus group interviews were processed, transcribed and coded for thematic analyses by independent observers.
Results:
Overall, the students perceived CS as an opportunity to improve their clinical procedural and communications skills and to apply theoretical medical knowledge in practice to detect undiagnosed conditions like diabetes mellitus, hypertension and nutritional imbalance.
Pedagogical implications:
We have increased practical laboratory sessions by 15% in the new semester to improve our students’ practical skills.
Conclusions:
This is the first study that describes how community service may influence the individual learning curve of undergraduate medical students and may serve as a quality improvement tool to guide amendments to the curriculum. We opine that inter-agency, community-focused service promotes social, peer and active learning amongst undergraduate medical students.
The usage of whole-slide images has recently been gaining a foothold in medical education, training, and diagnosis.
The first objective of the current study was to compare academic performance on ...virtual microscopy (VM) and light microscopy (LM) for learning pathology, anatomy, and histology in medical and dental students during the COVID-19 period. The second objective was to gather insight into various applications and usage of such technology for medical education.
Using the keywords "virtual microscopy" or "light microscopy" or "digital microscopy" and "medical" and "dental" students, databases (PubMed, Embase, Scopus, Cochrane, CINAHL, and Google Scholar) were searched. Hand searching and snowballing were also employed for article searching. After extracting the relevant data based on inclusion and execution criteria, the qualitative data were used for the systematic review and quantitative data were used for meta-analysis. The Newcastle Ottawa Scale (NOS) scale was used to assess the quality of the included studies. Additionally, we registered our systematic review protocol in the prospective register of systematic reviews (PROSPERO) with registration number CRD42020205583.
A total of 39 studies met the criteria to be included in the systematic review. Overall, results indicated a preference for this technology and better academic scores. Qualitative analyses reported improved academic scores, ease of use, and enhanced collaboration amongst students as the top advantages, whereas technical issues were a disadvantage. The performance comparison of virtual versus light microscopy meta-analysis included 19 studies. Most (10/39) studies were from medical universities in the USA. VM was mainly used for teaching pathology courses (25/39) at medical schools (30/39). Dental schools (10/39) have also reported using VM for teaching microscopy. The COVID-19 pandemic was responsible for the transition to VM use in 17/39 studies. The pooled effect size of 19 studies significantly demonstrated higher exam performance (SMD: 1.36 95% CI: 0.75, 1.96,
< 0.001) among the students who used VM for their learning. Students in the VM group demonstrated significantly higher exam performance than LM in pathology (SMD: 0.85 95% CI: 0.26, 1.44,
< 0.01) and histopathology (SMD: 1.25 95% CI: 0.71, 1.78,
< 0.001). For histology (SMD: 1.67 95% CI: -0.05, 3.40,
= 0.06), the result was insignificant. The overall analysis of 15 studies assessing exam performance showed significantly higher performance for both medical (SMD: 1.42 95% CI: 0.59, 2.25,
< 0.001) and dental students (SMD: 0.58 95% CI: 0.58, 0.79,
< 0.001).
The results of qualitative and quantitative analyses show that VM technology and digitization of glass slides enhance the teaching and learning of microscopic aspects of disease. Additionally, the COVID-19 global health crisis has produced many challenges to overcome from a macroscopic to microscopic scale, for which modern virtual technology is the solution. Therefore, medical educators worldwide should incorporate newer teaching technologies in the curriculum for the success of the coming generation of health-care professionals.
(1) Background: Hyperphosphatemia is correlated with an increased rate of mortality and morbidity due to cardiovascular diseases in chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients. It can be improved by ...restricting dietary intake of phosphate and oral phosphate binders, such as lanthanum carbonate and sevelamer carbonate. (2) Objective: To evaluate the clinical efficacy of sevelamer carbonate in comparison to lanthanum carbonate as phosphate binders for the treatment of hyperphosphatemia in CKD patients. (3) Methods: A randomized control comparative clinical study was conducted for one year on 150 CKD patients associated with hyperphosphatemia, divided into two groups, i.e., Group 1 (
= 75) treated with sevelamer carbonate 800 mg thrice daily and Group 2 (
= 75) treated with lanthanum carbonate 500 mg thrice daily. The patients were assessed at the time of enrollment in the study, after three months and after six months from baseline for different parameters, i.e., complete blood count, liver function tests, renal function tests, electrolytes, and serum phosphate level. (4) Results: 150 CKD patients aged 51-60 participated in the study. The mean age of patients was 54 ± 4.6 years, and males (55.71%) were more common than females (44.29%). Hypertension was the common comorbidity in both groups with chronic kidney disease. After six months of treatment, the mean serum phosphate level was significantly decreased from 8.31 ± 0.09 mg/dL to 5.11 ± 0.18 (38%) in Group 1 and from 8.79 ± 0.28 mg/dl to 4.02 ± 0.12 (54%;
< 0.05) in Group 2, respectively. In both groups, no significant difference was found in other parameters such as parathyroid hormone, calcium, uric acid, LFT, RFT, CBC, etc. (5) Conclusion: Lanthanum carbonate is more efficacious in lowering serum phosphate concentrations and effectively managing hyperphosphatemia as compared to sevelamer carbonate.
Neuropathy is the most prevalent broad-spectrum microvascular complication of diabetes. The present study aims to evaluate the effect of empagliflozin with vitamin D supplementation on diabetic ...peripheral neuropathy.
A prospective, randomized, controlled study was conducted for six months including 150 type 2 diabetic patients, divided into three groups (n=50/group): Group 1, patients on oral hypoglycemic agents; Group 2, patients on empagliflozin and Group 3, patients on empagliflozin with vitamin D. Biochemical parameters were estimated for outcome measurements and patients' neuropathic pain was analysed using Douleur Neuropathique 4 Questions, Neuropathic Pain Symptom Inventory and Ipswich Touch the toes test questionnaire. Data were analysed using a one-way analysis of variance.
Diabetic neuropathy in males was more prevalent (more than 50%) as compared to females in all three groups, with an average age of 50±6 years, along with a diabetic history of 15±4.5 years and a glycated hemoglobin A1C (HbA1C) level of >10%. The mean value of serum vitamin D level significantly increased by 64.7% (19±5 to 54±8 ng/mL;
<0.05). A remarkable decrease (by 17.4%) from baseline in the HbA1C level was observed after six months of treatment only in Group 3, whereas in other groups (1 and 2), there was a non-significant decrease in HbA1C levels when compared to baseline. Moreover, a significant improvement in neuropathic condition was seen only in Group 3.
The results indicated that empagliflozin with vitamin D supplementation significantly controlled or reduced HbA1C and improved diabetic neuropathic symptoms in patients. It is suggested that this combination can be considered as the primary therapeutic approach for neuropathic complications in diabetic patients.
Objective In this study, we aimed to explore the potential diagnostic utility of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) expression in colorectal carcinoma. We investigated the association of ...HER2 expression with the type and grade of the tumor along with the pattern, staining intensity, and the percentage of cells stained. Methods This was an observational study involving 50 cases of colorectal carcinoma that underwent immunohistochemistry to analyze the HER2 expression. Results The positive expression of HER2 was seen in 16 (32%) cases. The majority of the study population was between the fifth-seventh decades of life. The most commonly diagnosed tumor was conventional adenocarcinoma with grade II, cytoplasmic pattern, +2 positivity, and moderate intensity. The maximum positivity for HER2 was seen in tumors of the rectum in eight (16%) cases. Conclusion A substantial rate of HER2 overexpression paves the way for it to become a potential future target in cancer therapeutics.
Background
Autoimmune bullous disorders (AIBD) are a heterogeneous group of disorders with substantial clinical overlap associated with blistering of skin or mucosa.
Aims
The present study aimed to ...study the histopathological spectrum and evaluate the utility of direct immunofluorescence (DIF) on snap-frozen and paraffin-embedded sections in resolving the differential diagnosis of AIBD and connective tissue disorders of the skin. We also compared the efficacy of DIF on paraffin versus the snap-frozen sections in diagnosing AIBD.
Methods
The present study was conducted for three years (2017-2019) and included 27 biopsies. We also included a retrospective analysis that included 25 biopsies collected over three years (2014-2017). Histopathological examination and DIF were conducted on all samples.
Results
Pemphigus vulgaris was the most common autoimmune cutaneous disorder constituting 37% (n = 10) in prospective and 36% (n = 9) in the retrospective study. DIF showed a specificity of 81.25% in our prospective study. While on the paraffin-embedded sections, it showed a specificity of 66.6% in our retrospective study. In the prospective study, DIF on paraffin-embedded sections had a positivity rate of 43.75% as compared to 81.25% in DIF done on snap-frozen sections.
Conclusion
DIF is a sensitive tool for the diagnosis as well as distinguishing immune-mediated bullous disorders from other lesions primarily when performed on snap-frozen sections. The diagnostic yield is enhanced by DIF in cases that pose a diagnostic dilemma both clinically and histologically. The final diagnosis depends on all clinical, histopathological and immunofluorescence findings.
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