Cadaver dissection is obsolete in medical training! a misinterpreted notion

Cadaver dissection [CD] is considered a tool for studying the structural details of the human body. Lately, conflicting opinions regarding the utility of this modality in medical training have been published in medical literature. This review

of the literature examines the status of anatomy teaching with CD in traditional, modern, and postgraduate medical training across the world. Literature published in the English language on topics related to CD in the past 3 decades was scrutinized using different search engines. About 200 full texts were reviewed. We describe how medical schools have continued to include CD in anatomy teaching in the traditional or modified form. Medical schools that stopped or decreased CD have learnt from their experiences, and have restarted it in modified forms by integrating it vertically with medical training. In addition, CD activities have increased in postgraduate anatomy courses, surgery training, and voluntary/optional CD programs. CD, when integrated vertically, still has a part to play in medical training in modified ways. This overview may help curriculum designers to place CD in medical curricula and training programs in a justified

manner

Expression and immunohistochemical localisation of the G[beta gamma]-activated and calcineurin-inhibited adenylyl cyclase isoforms in rat articular chondrocytes

Objective: to determine the expression and localisation of the G[beta gamma]-activated adenylyl cyclase [AC] isoforms 2, 4, and 7 and calcineurin-inhibited AC isoform 9 in rat articular chondrocytes

Study Design: experimental study

Place and Duration of Study: Jumma Research Laboratory and Histology Laboratory, The Aga Khan University, Karachi, from 2009 to 2011

Methodology: fresh slices of articular cartilage were taken from various synovial joints of rats of different age groups. The expression of AC isoforms was determined by RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry was performed to localise these isoforms in articular chondrocytes. Tissue sections were processed for immunostaining with respective antibodies. The color was developed by diaminobenzidine

Results: all the studied AC isoforms were found to be differentially expressed in different zones of the rat articular cartilage. Generally, expression of all AC isoforms studied increased with age. The expression of the AC isoforms through PCR was almost consistent with the localisation of these isoforms by immunohistochemistry

Conclusion: these data add to the information about signalling cascades possibly involved in articular chondrocytes. Variable expression of AC isoforms 2, 4, 7, and 9 suggest a role for the signalling cascades regulated by the AC isoforms in articular chondrocytes