Students’ Perception of Problem-based Learning Conducted in Phase1 Medical Program, UCSI University, Malaysia.

Problem-based learning (PBL) has been introduced in the Phase 1 curriculum of Doctor of Medicine programme at Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences, UCSI University since its inception in 2005. The main objective of this study was to investigate the perception of medical students on problembased learning sessions. A cross sectional study was conducted on a total of 115 medical students from June 2011 to June 2012. Forty nine (42.6%), 31(27%) and 35(30.4%) medical students from first, second and third years respectively participated in the study. The questionnaire included 23 statements to assess the benefits and disadvantages of PBL and the requirements in PBL sessions. Findings revealed that the majority agreed with statements on benefits - PBL motivates students for self-learning (80.9%), enhances discovery of learning issues (78.3%), provides critical thinking skills (71.3%), improves communication skills (80%) and enhances in obtaining new information (85.2%). Sixty percent (n=69) responded that PBL was time consuming and 84 (73.1%) noted that some students dominate while others are passive in the discussion. Overall positive perception on effectiveness of PBL on students’ learning was obtained in 79 (68.7%) of respondents and the highest agreement was observed among the second year students (93.5%).

Isolation of endophytic bacteria from green gram and study on their plant growth promoting activities.

A total of twenty five endophytic bacteria were isolated from green gram Vigna radiata (L.) plant. Four isolates which have shown better response for plant growth promoting effects on green gram plants were used as Plant Growth Promoting Bacteria (PGPB) in this study. It has been detected that up to 40% of the genomic 16S rRNA of isolated bacteria belongs to the Azotobacter genus. The result for phosphate solubilizing activities in NPRIB broth and Pikovskaya broth by UV-VIS Spectrophotometer (830 nm) showed that isolate FR was the best candidate in solubilizing of phosphorous showing 49.817Ppm with NPRIB broth and 53.534Ppm with Pikovskaya broth,respectively. Of all studied endophytes, isolates NL and NR have shown high nitrogenase activities and the activities being 2570.40 and 2108.00 n mole of C2H4 ml-1h-1 respectively. These strains will be selected for further use. The IAA production of all isolates was identified by FTIR spectroscopy and Spectrum for Crude IAA Extract of isolate FL is the best candidate for IAA production. The insoluble Potassium (K+) content in mica sample and the soluble K+ content by the inoculated samples were analyzed the atomic absorption spectrophotometric (AAS) method and isolates FL, FR, and NR were found to be good at decomposing insoluble potassium. These results indicated that the selected all four endophytic microbes could be excellent candidates for use as biofertilizer.