A study of the different learning styles of the present first professional MBBS students at United Institute of Medical Sciences, United Medicity, Prayagraj, India

Background: The study is designed to evaluate the different learning styles of the present first professional MBBS students. Students were requested to complete the visual-aural-read/write-kinesthetic (VARK) questionnaire at VARK-LEARN.COM. Results of the questionnaire were collected by email and analyzed using Microsoft Excel. We found that 68.2% had multimodal learning preferences and 31.7% had single learning preference. Aims and Objectives: The objective of this study is to analyze the different learning styles of MBBS 1st year students of United Institute of Medical Sciences, Prayagraj, using the VARK questionnaire. Materials and Methods: This study includes the informed consent taken from each student before participating. The Institutional Ethics Committee approved the study. Copyright permission was taken from the website vark-learn.com, from VARK Learn Limited, New Zealand. One hundred and two students had consented, and out of them, 85 students participated in the study. The students were asked to complete the questionnaire on the website. The data on their learning styles were collected and analyzed using Microsoft Excel. Results: Out of 85 Students, 58 (68.2%) had multimodal learning preferences. Of these, 28.2% of students had four-part VARK or quadrimodal preferences, 28.2% of students had bimodal, and 11.7% had trimodal learning preferences. Twenty-seven (31.7%) had single learning preferences, and, out of these 27 students, 17 (20%) had kinesthetic, 6 (7.05%) had visual learning preferences, and 4 (4.7%) students had aural learning preferences. Conclusion: With the help of this study, we concluded that most of the students who participated in our study are multimodal learners, and out of the students who had a single learning preference, most had kinesthetic learning preferences.

Levels of malondialdehyde and antioxidants in the blood of patients with vitiligo of age group 11–20 years.

The aetiopathogenesis of vitiligo has not been fully understood. To investigate the role of oxidative stress in pathogenesis of vitiligo, we examined the blood level of antioxidants and malondialdehyde in 40 patients with generalized vitiligo and 40 healthy volunteers belonging to same age group. Our results revealed that the level of malondialdehyde was significantly raised while those of vitamin E, uric acid and ceruloplasmin were significantly lowered (P<0.05) in patients with generalized vitiligo as compared to controls. This demonstrates the presence of an imbalance in the oxidant-antioxidant system in the blood of vitiligo patients and thus provides support for a free radical mediated damage as a pathogenic event in vitiligo.

Effect of centrally administered glucagon on liver glycogen & enzymes in anaesthetised dogs.

Glucagon (0.01 microgram) administered through the intracerebroventricular route in anaesthetised mongrel dogs, caused a significant rise in blood glucose and a fall in liver glycogen (P less than 0.01). Concurrently, it increased the liver phosphorylase, glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase, glutamic pyruvic transminase and lipase activities by 30 min. Identical changes were observed in vagotomised animals. In pancreatectomised animals as well as in spinal cord transectomised animals, glucagon did not cause these changes. The study indicated that the hyperglycaemia produced by the centrally administered glucagon, is possibly a result of liver glycogenolysis and gluconeogenesis induced by endogenous glucagon secreted from the pancreas, the stimulus for which is the hypothalamo-pancreatic fibres responding to glucagon sensitive neurones in the hypothalamus.

Effect of centrally administered glucagon on blood lipids in anesthetised dogs.

Previously we have proposed the existence of the central glucagon sensitive receptors in dogs. The present study was undertaken to explore the role of centrally administered glucagon on lipids in view of the proposed theory that the hypothalamic lipomobilizing centres are sensitive to glucose or substances that affect glucose metabolism. Glucagon (0.01 microgram) administered through the intracerebroventricular (ICV) route in anesthetised mongrel dogs, caused hypolipidemia (P greater than 0.001), hypocholesterolemia (P greater than 0.001), decreased blood free fatty acid (P greater than 0.001) and triglycerides (P greater than 0.001) levels; but increased blood high density lipoprotein (P greater than 0.01) level at 30 min. These effects on the central administration of glucagon, were not observed in pancreatectomised animals and spinal cord transectomised animals. Therefore, we conclude that the lipolysis on the central administration of glucagon, is caused by the endogenous glucagon secreted from the pancreas through the sympathetic fibers.