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Background: Pythium insidiosum is an oomycete that infects both humans and animals, leading to a life-threatening infectious disease called “pythiosis”. Animal pythiosis presents with lesions of the skin, gastrointestinal tract, lung and bone, whereas human pythiosis presents with two common clinical forms, vascular pythiosis involving arteries, and ocular pythiosis involving the eye. Pythiosis in humans has been reported exclusively from Thailand. The disease in animals has been found around the world, but its occurrence has never been reported from Thailand.Objective: To group P. insidiosum based on molecular phylogenetic analysis, investigating correlation between phylogenetic group, geographic distribution, and host specificity of this pathogen.Methods: 113 rDNA internal transcribed spacer sequences of P. insidiosum were also obtained for phylogenetic analyses. These included 32 human isolates and 59 environmental isolates from Thailand, and four additional human isolates and 18 animal isolates from around the world.Results: P. insidiosum existed in three distinct clades in accordance with geographic distribution; clade-I contained American isolates, clade-II contained Asian and Australian isolates, and clade-III contained mainly Thai isolates. The Thai isolates existed only in clade-II and clade-III.Conclusion: There were two major subpopulations of P. insidiosum in Thailand. There were no correlation between the two Thai subpopulations of P. insidiosum and geographic regions or host specificity.
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<p><b>INTRODUCTION</b>The aim of this paper was to assess factors that predict students' performance in the Medical Licensing Examination of Thailand (MLET) Step1 examination. The hypothesis was that demographic factors and academic records would predict the students' performance in the Step1 Licensing Examination.</p><p><b>MATERIALS AND METHODS</b>A logistic regression analysis of demographic factors (age, sex and residence) and academic records [high school grade point average (GPA), National University Entrance Examination Score and GPAs of the pre-clinical years] with the MLET Step1 outcome was accomplished using the data of 117 third-year Ramathibodi medical students.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Twenty-three (19.7%) students failed the MLET Step1 examination. Stepwise logistic regression analysis showed that the significant predictors of MLET Step1 success/failure were residence background and GPAs of the second and third preclinical years. For students whose sophomore and third-year GPAs increased by an average of 1 point, the odds of passing the MLET Step1 examination increased by a factor of 16.3 and 12.8 respectively. The minimum GPAs for students from urban and rural backgrounds to pass the examination were estimated from the equation (2.35 vs 2.65 from 4.00 scale).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Students from rural backgrounds and/or low-grade point averages in their second and third preclinical years of medical school are at risk of failing the MLET Step1 examination. They should be given intensive tutorials during the second and third pre-clinical years.</p>
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Adult , Female , Humans , Male , Education, Medical , Reference Standards , Licensure, Medical , Prognosis , Regression Analysis , Retrospective Studies , Singapore , Students, MedicalABSTRACT
<p><b>INTRODUCTION</b>The teaching of evidence-based medicine (EBM) has now been incorporated as an integral part of medical curriculum at the Faculty of Medicine, Ramathibodi Hospital but there is little research into the effectiveness of the course. The purpose of this report is to evaluate the EBM skills of medical students and competency of the faculty member.</p><p><b>MATERIALS AND METHODS</b>The EBM course was created by the EBM Working Group at the Faculty of Medicine, Ramathibodi Hospital for 3rd- to 6th-year medical students. The principles of EBM, clinical epidemiology and biostatistics were gradually instilled during the 4 years of medical school. Information technology infrastructure was also provided to facilitate critical appraisal skills. At the end of the Community Medicine clerkship, students anonymously evaluated aspects of the course regarding their EBM skills and faculty member competency with Likert scale questions.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Medical students generally gave high evaluations to all aspects of the EBM course taught in the Community Medicine Department. For each of the evaluation questions, the means were higher for faculty member competency.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>The teaching of EBM course at the Faculty of Medicine, Ramathibodi Hospital is useful for medical students to enhance their critical thinking skills, and they seem to value the sessions positively.</p>