Opportunities for medical students to perform four common ward procedures in a Malaysian teaching hospital

Introduction: Undergraduate medical education should be broad-based, holistic, integrated and should promote a framework for the development of higher order cognitive skills like communication, professionalism and teamwork to prepare the student for a life-long challenging medical career. Recent calls for a competency-based medical education require, in addition, competency in clinical and procedural skills prior to graduation. This study investigates how often opportunities exist for medical students to perform four common ward procedures prior to graduation. Method: A prospective cross-sectional study to assess the opportunities a medical student have in performing four common ward procedures, comprising intravenous cannulation, nasogastric tube insertion, urinary catheterisation and chest tube insertion, in a State General hospital in Malaysia was done. Results: A medical student has sufficient opportunity to perform only intravenous cannulation prior to graduation. He has a remote chance to insert a urinary catheter and is unlikely to have the opportunity to insert a nasogastric tube or insert a chest tube prior to graduation. Conclusion: Although competency in clinical skills and procedural skills prior to graduation are desirable, this is increasingly difficult to achieve due to shortage of clinical material, teachers to supervise, the large numbers of medical students and house officers, the short time spent on the main disciplines and the failure of many universities to invest heavily in skills laboratories staffed by full time clinicians. The calls to introduce competency-based medical education in undergraduate medical education, particularly in procedural competence, should take into account the challenges in delivery and the realities in the hospitals today. This is necessary to avoid demoralising students who are unable to achieve their quota of procedures through no fault of theirs.

Lagenaria siceraria fruit extract ameliorate fat amassment and serum TNF-α in high-fat diet-induced obese rats

OBJECTIVE@#To investigate the effects of ethanolic extract of Lagenaria siceraria fruit (ELSF) on fat amassment and serum TNF- α in high-fat diet-induced obese rats.@*METHODS@#The high fat diet induced obese rats were orally treated with orlistat (50 mg/kg) and ELSF (100, 200, 300 mg/kg/day) to the respective treatment groups. The body weight, fasting blood glucose level, lipid profile, serum levels of tumor necrosis factor- α (TNF-α) in rats were measured after 30 days of treatment and compared to the obese control animals.@*RESULTS@#ELSF significantly (P < 0.001) reduced the body weight gain, fasting blood glucose, total cholesterol, triglyceride, total protein and TNF-α.@*CONCLUSIONS@#These encouraging findings suggest that Lagenaria siceraria has excellent pharmacological potential to prevent fat amassment.

The influence of Alpinia calcarata extract on the serum lipid and leptin levels of rats with hyperlipidemia induced by high-fat diet

Objective: To study the effect of ethanolic extract from Alpinia calcarata rhizomes on the serum lipid and leptin levels of rats with hyperlipidemia induced by high-fat diet. Methods: Male wistar rats were divided into six groups: normal, high-fat diet control (HFD) and ethanolic extract of Alpinia calcarata rhizomes (ACRE) (100, 200 and 300 mg/kg; p.o.) was administered to the high fat-diet-induced hyperlipidemic rats for 30 days to evaluate its antihyperlipidemic activity. Atorvastatin (10 mg/kg; p.o.) was used as a standard drug. Results: The results demonstrated that in HFD-induced hyperlipidemic rat, ACRE reduced rat weight gain, triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol levels (TC), low-density lipoprotein (LDL), very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL), total protein (TP) and leptin level (pg/mL). Conclusions: These encouraging findings suggest that ACRE has excellent pharmacological potential to prevent hyperlipidemia.

Overview of cases and prevalence of jaundice in neonatal intensive care unit.

This study was undertaken to know the pattern of jaundice prevalent among the babies admitted at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of the B. P. Koirala Institute of Health Sciences (BPKIHS). A total of 293 neonates including 201 (68.6%) males and 92 (31.4%) females were admitted over a period of one year (15th June 2001 to 14th June 2002). Prematurity (30.0%), birth asphyxia (29.0%), neonatal septicemia (25.9%) and respiratory distress (23.9%) were the most common reasons for admission to the NICU. There were 42 cases of neonatal jaundice, among which babies born to primigravidae (59.5%), exceeded those born to multigravidae (40.5%). Pathological jaundice was found in 64.3% of the admitted cases of neonatal jaundice. Prematurity (33.3%) and neonatal septicemia (25.9%) were the most common causes of pathological jaundice, while prematurity with neonatal septicemia (14.8%), ABO incompatibility (11.1%), Rh incompatibility (7.4%) and prematurity, neonatal septicemia and ABO incompatibility combined (7.4%) accounted for the remaining cases of jaundice. A more detailed study related to the pathogenesis of jaundice among neonates is needed for the prevention of this disease in them.