Perceptions of undergraduate medical students regarding online classes during COVID-19 pandemic: A questionnaire survey

Background: The nationwide lockdown due to coronavirus disease pandemic lead to shutdown of medical colleges. Due to which, it was not possible to teach students in classrooms anymore. To continue with their teaching, the option of online classes was recommended. Aims and Objectives: This study was conducted with an aim to evaluate students’ perceptions regarding online lectures. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional, and questionnaire survey conducted among medical college students in Uttar Pradesh, India. Online lectures were delivered routinely using online applications for 8 weeks which was followed by offline regular classes. A pre-approved, pre-validated semi-structured questionnaire containing 13 close-ended multiple-choice questions was distributed through Google forms as well as in person among all the medical students using a non-probability sampling approach after taking their informed consent. The collected data were organized and tabulated using Google spreadsheet and descriptive statistics was used to depict the results. Results: A total of 193 responses were obtained from MBBS students of first and second phase. The mean age of students was 18.73 ± 1.87 years. Mobile phones (63.21%) were the most popular device used by the students to attend classes. More than half of the students (57%) were self-motivated to attend online classes. The major barrier to online learning as reported by 76.68% students was network issues. About 44% students reported lower understanding of subject compared to offline classes. About 70.47% felt online classes to be more comfortable to attend. More number of students either preferred offline method (37.82%) or a mix of both the methods (34.20%). Conclusion: Online lectures are effective teaching method, but they cannot replace classroom teaching. Thus, online teaching serves as add-on to the offline learning.

The isolated air perfused rat heart.

A simple method has been developed for continuous monitoring of metabolic activity of an isolated, perfused rat heart by O2/CO2 respirometer. Since respirometer provides vital data on oxygen consumption and carbon dioxide production of a preserved organ on a continuous basis over a long period of time, it will be possible to use this method to monitor viability of not only isolated heart but also any given donor organ under preservation.

Pyogenic meningitis.

Fifty cases with pyogenic meningitis, aged 15 to 72 years, with a male:female ratio of 5:1, were studied. The majority of cases (70%) were in the 15 to 25 years age group. The organisms detected in the 29 culture-positive cases included S aureus (12), pneumococci (9) and meningococci (8). Thirteen patients died; the poor prognostic factors included old age, the presence of coma or shock, CSF sugar below 10 mg/dl or protein above 750 mg/dl and the presence of gram negative organisms in the CSF.