Informal peer-assisted learning groups did not lead to better performance of saudi dental students

Objectives: To describe peer-assisted learning [PAL] groups formed by dental undergraduate students in a biomedical course and to investigate the association of individual and group characteristics with academic performance

Subjects and Methods: In 2015,92 fourth-year students [43 males and 49 females] in the College of Dentistry, University of Dammam, Saudi Arabia, were invited to form PAL groups to study a unit of a biomedical course. An examination was used to assess their knowledge after 2 weeks. In addition, a questionnaire and social network analysis were used to investigate [1] individual student attributes: gender, role, subject matter knowledge, grade in previous year, teaming with friends, previous communication with teammates, and content discussion, and [2] group attributes: group teacher's previous grade, number of colleagues with whom a student connected, teaming with friends, similarity of teammates previous grades, and teacher having higher previous grades than other teammates. Regression analysis was used to assess the association of examination scores with individual and group attributes

Results: The response rate was 80.4% [74 students: 36 males and 38 females]. Students who previously scored grades A and B had higher examination scores than students with grades C/less [regression coefficient = 18.50 and 13.39] within the groups. Higher scores were not associated with working in groups including friends only [regression coefficient = 1.17] or when all students had similar previous grades [regression coefficient = 0.85]

Conclusions: Students with previous high grades benefited to a greater extent from working in PAL groups. Similarity of teammates in PAL groups was not associated with better scores

Academic advising and student support: help-seeking behaviors among Saudi dental undergraduate students

The purpose of this study was to assess the use of and satisfaction with the academic-advising and student-support systems available to undergraduate students in the College of Dentistry at the University of Dammam. In addition, the study aimed to also identify factors that explained the help-seeking behavior of students which they used to solve academic issues. Students enrolled in the five-year Bachelor of Dental Surgery [BDS] program in 2012-13 and 2013-14 first-year students were invited to respond to a self-administered questionnaire. The showed that 66.2% of students had discussed academic issues with their advisor at least once, with a frequency ranging from zero to six times. Most students reported that their advisors were readily available, listened intently to their needs and questions, and helped them solve their problems. However, only 7.6% of students relied primarily on advisors for help with academic issues, whereas 51% depended first on colleagues and 13.8% did not seek help and relied on themselves. In total, 17.2% of students were very or somewhat satisfied with the academic advising system. Males had lower odds of discussing issues with their advisors, and the odds were higher with advisors who were more available [OR = 0.25 and 3.74, respectively]. Alerting students to important dates in the academic calendar significantly increased the odds that a student would depend primarily on academic advisors for advice related to academic issues [OR = 6.53]. Few students were satisfied with the academic support system. We need to train advisors to help them develop their skills and knowledge and to enable them to provide the support needed by the students

Study of the effect of thyroid gland dysfunction on the blood levels of caspase-3, some mediators of innate inflammation, matrix metalloproteinase-9 and some liver functions in rats

In the present study we have measured the concentrations of serum IL-6, TNF-alpha, MMP-9 and hepatic caspase-3 activity in rats with hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism together with total T[3], AST and ALT. We have evaluated the effect of thyroid dysfunction in an experimental model. We studied 45 rats. Fifteen served as controls, 15 rats were hypothyroid and 15 were hyperthyroid. Serum ALT and AST were found to be significantly higher in the hyperthyroid group. Serum IL-6 and TNF-alpha concentrations were significantly higher in the hyperthyroid group compared to the hypothyroid group. The mean values of hepatic caspase-3 were significantly elevated in the hyperthyroid group as compared to the control group. Less caspase-3 activity was found in the hypothyroid group compared to the control group. The mean values of MMP-9 were found to be significantly increased in the hyperthyroid group as compared to both the hypothyroid and the control groups. Our study shows that excess T3 causes liven dysfunction through the following mechanism [s]: 1] inducing apoptosis, as a result of activation of a mitochondnia-dependent pathway; 2] direct toxic effect, as evidenced by increased levels of proinflammatory cytokines IL-6 and TNF-alpha; 3] elevated MMP-9 levels may also reflect a possible role for Kupffen cells in the hepatocellular response to hepatic injury by secretion of MMP-9