The Differential Impact of Various Assessment Parameters on the Medical Students Performance in the Professional Anatomy Examination in a New Medical School / El Impacto Diferencial de Varios Parámetros de Evaluación del Desempeño de Estudiantes de Medicina en el Examen Profesional de Anatomía en una Nueva Escuela de Medicina

There is a dearth of knowledge on the level of agreement between all the various assessment tasks on the same content area, in order to test this hypothesis we adopted the concept of convergent validity and also to isolate area of academic weakness among the students and to readjust the curriculum content to balance the weakness. A blinded cohort retrospective study was carried out on a total of sixty-six third year medical students who had sat for their first professional examination in anatomy in the new medical college of Lagos State University. Using records of their grades in the various assessments parameters- the average end-in course assessment, short essays question (SEQ), multiple-choice questions (MCQ), and practical (Steeple-chase). The mean + S.D. Pearson's correlation with students t-test (p< 0.05 being significant) were analyzed using the computerized SPSS 11 (SPSS inc. Chicago, Illinois) software package. The practical was significantly correlated with overall performance (r = 0.89, p< 0.01); with the student t-value of 6.15 (p< 0.01). Although, the SEQ showed significant correlation to overall performance (r =0.72; p<0.01), the t-value of 0.4 was non-significant, but, within an acceptable range. The practical, MCQ, SEQ and end-incourse showed an overall rank order of relative performance in assessment tasks, therefore indicates that, in general, students performance in the Professional examination was better than in the end-incourse examination and hence, the need to reappraise this pattern and emphasize the role of incourse assessment in the curriculum.

Existe escasez de conocimiento sobre el nivel de concordancia entre todas las varias tareas de evalución sobre los contenidos de una misma área. En orden a evaluar esta hipótesis, adoptamos el concepto de validez convergente y también de área aislada, de falta de solidez académica entre los estudiantes y readecuar el contenido curricular para balancear esa falta de solidez. Se llevó a cabo un estudio retrospectivo al azar sobre un total de 66 alumnos de Medicina de Tercer Año, quienes tuvieron su primer examen profesional de Anatomía en la nueva Escuela de Medicina de la Universidad del Estado de Lagos, Nigeria. Usando registros de sus grados en varios parámetros de evaluación: promedio final de la evaluación del Curso, preguntas cortas de redacción, ítemes de selección múltiple y prácticas. La media + desviación estándar, correlación de Person con el t-test de Sudents (p< 0.05) fueron analizados con el programa SPSS 11 (SPSS inc. Chicago, Illinois). La parte práctica fue significativamente correlacionada con todo el rendimiento (r = 0.89, p< 0.01); con un valor del t-Students de 6.15 (p< 0.01). Aunque las preguntas cortas mostraron correlación significativa para la totalidad de lo hecho (r =0.72; p<0.01), el valor de t de 0,4 no fue significativo, pero estuvo dentro de un rango aceptable. La parte práctica, selección múltiple y preguntas cortas de redacción y final del curso, mostraron un orden de clasificación de relativo desempeño en las tareas de evaluación, lo que indica que, en general, la actividad de los estudiantes en el examen profesional fue mejor que en el examen del curso y de ahí, la necesidad de readecuar este patrón y enfatizar el rol de evaluación dentro del curso en el curriculum.

Clinico-pathological patterns of testicular malignancies in Ilorin, Nigeria--a report of 8 cases.

BACKGROUND: The incidence of testicular cancers has been increasing in many populations over the past decades and concerns have been expressed about the possible decrease in semen quality in the period. It may account for one of the factors responsible for increasing male infertility in Ilorin, Nigeria. OBJECTIVE: To find out the incidence, age distribution clinical presentation, duration before presentation and the occurrence of various Histopathological subtypes of testicular tumours in Ilorin. DESIGN: A retrospective study. SETTING: A teaching hospital (University of Ilorin). PATIENTS: Testicular biopsies were done on patients presenting at the hospital with suspected cases of malignancies. MATERIALS AND METHODS: All consecutive cases of testicular malignancies diagnosed in the department of pathology, university of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, during the period of thirteen years (1990-2003) were included in this study. Relevant clinical details such as age, clinical presentation and side of involvement of the testis were also recorded. The slide preparations of this sample were retrieved and reviewed. RESULT: During the span of thirteen years (1990-2003), testicular cancers accounted for 0.05% of all sample received and 0.14% of the male biopsies. Most of the diagnosed cases were in the first decades of life and are mainly germ cells tumours of which yolk sac tumours are commonest subtypes. CONCLUSION: Incidence of testicular cancers is still low in this environment and may not account for major contributory factors in male infertility in Ilorin.