Assessment of knowledge retention ability of undergraduate medical students

Background: Being a natural phenomenon, the knowledge learned by students is quickly forgotten. However, various factors are pertinent for one's memory and knowledge retention ability. This ability is not investigated earlier among pass and fail students of a particular exam

Objectives: To determine and compare short term memory and Knowledge retention ability among pass and fail students of mid-term exam

Methods: 103 first-year MBBS students were examined in 3 cycles after result of mid-term examination announced. These cycles consisted of 2 components related with short term memory [1[st] and 2[nd] cycles] and knowledge retention ability [3[rd] cycle] with one week duration apart

Results: Class attendance of pass, fail and absentees groups demonstrated statistically significant [P<0.0005] difference among them being in the order of pass> fail > absentees and significant correlation with marks obtained. A comparison between short term memory and knowledge retention ability also demonstrated statistically significant [P<0.0005] difference

Conclusion: The quality of learning positively correlates with the class attendance. Short term memory and knowledge retention abilities are significantly better in pass students and statistically correlate with each other. Regular conduct of such tests is suggested to assess short term memory and knowledge retention ability so that appropriate methods to enhance these can be adopted

Adrenaline improves endurance of rabbit gastrocnemius: a study with continuous high frequency stimulation

Beta adrenoceptor agonists are well known for their potentiating effects on peak twitch and tetanic tension and defatiguing effects on skeletal muscles. Adrenaline [ADR] is one of these agonist which is known for inotropism but less described for fatigue. In addition, studies on high frequency stimulation [HFS] of skeletal muscles are scarce and not available for tetanization fatigue related with endurance and recovery under the influence of ADR. We hypothesized that ADR can maintain peak tetanic tension [PTT] produced by mammalian skeletal muscles for longer period as well as help in recovery from fatigue on continuous HFS. Gastrocnemius muscles [medial Belly] from both limbs were isolated from Rabbits [Oryctologus cunniculus] and continuously stimulated at High frequency of 80Hz for 20Sec. Tetanic tensions were recorded digitally with the measurement of PTT at different time points during this stimulation. Time [T[50]] was also noted at which muscle force was reduced to 50%. At 20Sec of continuous stimulation, mean PTT[% of initial] was declined significantly in both the ADR treated and control CTL muscles being greater in CTL ones. T[50] was found 74.9% greater in ADR than CTL, being significant. When muscles, which were fatigued with same stimulation protocol, were allowed to recover with and without adrenaline, the PTT recovers by 3.4 folds in ADR and about 2 folds only in CTL. Significant differences between CTL and ADR treated-continuously stimulated high frequency fatigued muscles confirm the hypothesis that in mammalian muscles ADR increases the endurance by delaying the high frequency fatigue and helps in its recovery

Evaluation of hyperpolarization potentials and nerve conduction parameters in axonal neuropathic patients

Neuropathies are diagnosed on the basis of some specific parameters of compound motor unit action potential [CMAP]. The slowing of conduction velocity along with relatively, preserved amplitude considered an indication of demyelination. While, amplitude reduction and slightly slowed conduction velocity, referred to axonal degeneration. Further, CMAP shape and distal latencies are also important for the diagnosis of neuropathies. Although, hyperpolarization is one of the important phase of CMAP but, it is mentioned only in the cases of nerve conduction block and never considered to identify other neuropathies. Therefore, in the present study the hyperpolarization phase of CMAP has been compared and evaluated in terms of its amplitude and duration and its occurrence in axonal neuropathy. The CMAP records of normal subjects and axonal neuropathic patients; randomly selected from OPD cases and evaluated for the occurrence of hyperpolarization, its amplitude, duration, latencies, CMAP amplitude and NCV. The recordings were obtained from the stimulation of median and tibial nerves [both distally and proximally] with recordings of CMAP from Abductor Pollicis Brevis and Abductor Hallucis muscles, respectively. The amplitude and duration of hyperpolarization and other parameters measured from both, median and tibial nerves were significantly lesser in neuropathic patients than the normal ones. Hyperpolarization reduces significantly in axonal neuropathy and this phase of CMAP may also be considered for the evaluation in other neuropathies. Further, criteria may be formulated for the diagnosis of various neuropathies using hyperpolarization phase of CMAP

Effect of mono-valent anions on active, passive tensions and tension equilibrium length of gastrocnemii of Uromastix Hardwickii

The length tension relationship has been used to determine the contractile and elastic state of the muscle. However, the shape of the active and passive tensions has been found to vary from muscle to muscle and in different animals as well. It depends upon the muscle architecture and specific function it performs. The change in the state of a skeletal muscle produced under the influence of chemical agents is not evaluated for the parameters obtained from the length tension relation. In the present study an attempt has been made to observe the effects of mono-valent anion on the contractile characteristics of isolated Gastrocnemius muscles of Uromastix. The results demonstrated that both the active and passive tensions changed on treatment with mono-valent anions with a shift in their curves. This change was statistically significant for active tensions. Further, Tension equilibrium length [TEL] also affected significantly. It is concluded that length tension parameter, TEL < resting length [Lo] is also a useful indicator of muscle state representing dominant elasticity under the influence of mono-valent anions. It can be used to express the state of different contractile and elastic characters of the skeletal muscle

Comparison of the effect of sympathetic agonist and antagonist on rabbits perfused heart: a study on simple and succussed dilutions

The pharmacological effect of Adrenaline and Atenolol dilutions / succussion is still unexplainable for their reverse effect on tissues. This effect of potentization is observed in the recent study with differences in the effect of simple and succussed dilutions on heart rate. For this purpose, both simple and succussed dilutions of Adrenaline and Atenolol were prepared serially, ranging from 10 [-3] to 10 [-36] for testing on the isolated perfused Rabbit's heart. Langendorff heart assembly was used to perfuse the heart and its activity was recorded on Oscillograph through isotonic transducer. The significant difference between the effects of simple and succussed dilutions of Adrenaline at 10 [-3] and 10 [-4] and for Atenolol 10 [-5], 10 [-11], 10 [-27], 10 [-30], 10 [-33] and 10 [-36] was observed on heart rate respectively. This study confirms that there are differences in the effects of simple and succussed dilutions. While potentization or reverse effect observed than normal has been found in-consistently throughout the range of dilutions used. Thus in-consistency expresses the instability of change in parent drug molecule on succussion