Consolidation Carnival: A Case-Based Approach to Reviewing Musculoskeletal Anatomy in an Undergraduate Medical Curriculum.

Introduction: Recent changes in undergraduate medical curricula have resulted in time constraints that are particularly challenging, especially when students must learn large blocks of musculoskeletal anatomy content. Consequently, students have resorted to rote memorization to cope, which counteracts our established collaborative self-directed learning model. Methods: For a 6-week musculoskeletal anatomy course, two structured case-based review sessions are described, each following the completion of two five-hour lab sessions, two on the upper extremities and two on the lower extremities. These largely self-directed review sessions consisted of 6 students rotating through 7 to 8 stations every 10 minutes where clinical cases with follow-up questions were projected on large screens. The students were expected to work collaboratively to solve the cases utilizing the prosected specimens provided and discuss the accompanying answers at the end of each case. Results: Ninety-four per cent of the students who participated in this study agreed that the case-based review sessions provided a helpful overview of musculoskeletal anatomy content. Student performance on the open-ended, case-based musculoskeletal examination questions showed no significant difference in performance on shoulder, hand, hip, thigh, and leg questions. There was, however, a statistically significant decrease in the students' scores on a forearm question in 2021 compared to 2019. Conclusion: This paper describes our integrated, collaborative musculoskeletal course, including case-based review sessions, which was positively received by students as having value in reviewing the musculoskeletal content though it was not found to improve examination performance.

Integration of physiology in a curriculum on human structure: a snapshot of the cardiovascular block.

With the gradual shift from discipline-based to competency-based medical education, the integrated curriculum has become a popular model for connecting basic science and clinical content in undergraduate medical education. Despite its popularity, there are concerns that important physiological concepts are not adequately addressed. We describe the spiral integration of physiology content in the 5-week Cardiovascular block of our Homeostasis course at the Zucker School of Medicine. We also describe our approach to incorporating physiology into an integrated, constructed response, short-answer assessment format. Our approach to spiral integration consists of rotating lab stations that highlight the distinction between normal and abnormal states, linked with appropriate clinical interventions. Physiology is at the core of integration in any curriculum and the basis of all applied fields of medicine, hence our approach is that teaching structural relationships would not be valuable without consideration of its functions, which can then be utilized in discussion of clinical presentations, imaging, and relevant pathologies. Likewise, our integrated assessments require the students to compose their answers to the questions from scratch, which creates a shift in mode of students' preparation from rote memorizations to more cognitive processing that enhances critical thinking.

Pre-clinical models of reward deficiency syndrome: A behavioral octopus.

Individuals with mood disorders or with addiction, impulsivity and some personality disorders can share in common a dysfunction in how the brain perceives reward, where processing of natural endorphins or the response to exogenous dopamine stimulants is impaired. Reward Deficiency Syndrome (RDS) is a polygenic trait with implications that suggest cross-talk between different neurological systems that include the known reward pathway, neuroendocrine systems, and motivational systems. In this review we evaluate well-characterized animal models for their construct validity and as potential models for RDS. Animal models used to study substance use disorder, major depressive disorder (MDD), early life stress, immune dysregulation, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), compulsive gambling and compulsive eating disorders are discussed. These disorders recruit underlying reward deficiency mechanisms in multiple brain centers. Because of the widespread and remarkable array of associated/overlapping behavioral manifestations with a common root of hypodopaminergia, the basic endophenotype recognized as RDS is indeed likened to a behavioral octopus. We conclude this review with a look ahead on how these models can be used to investigate potential therapeutics that target the underlying common deficiency.

Combined early life stressors: Prenatal nicotine and maternal deprivation interact to influence affective and drug seeking behavioral phenotypes in rats.

Early life stress (ELS) increases the risk for later cognitive and emotional dysfunction, and has been implicated in the etiology of multiple psychiatric disorders. We hypothesize that combined insults during gestation and infancy, critical periods of neural development, could exacerbate neuropsychiatric outcomes in later life. Thus, we investigated the effects of maternal deprivation (MD) stress alone or combined with prenatal nicotine exposure (PNE) on negative affective states, ethanol drinking, and development of mesolimbic loci that regulate depression and drug dependence. On the elevated plus maze (EPM), MD rats exhibited ∼50% increase in risk-taking behavior/decreased anxiety when compared to control, but the combined MD + PNE did not affect this specific behavior. In the open field test, however, both MD and MD + PNE groups showed 2-fold greater locomotor activity. Furthermore, whereas MD showed greater latency to fall at 40 RPM on the rotarod compared to control, the MD + PNE animals' latency to fall was significantly greater at all RPMs tested, with an approximate 15% enhancement in motor coordination overall compared to control and MD. Analyses of depressive symptomatology with the forced swim test (FST) yielded 2- and 3-fold higher immobility times in MD and MD + PNE respectively. When tested in an operant drinking paradigm to quantify the effect of treatment on 10%v/v ethanol drinking, the MD and MD + PNE groups showed heightened ethanol consumption by ∼3- and 2-fold respectively. However, the experience of PNE reduced ethanol consumption in adults relative to MD alone. To test the stressors' impact on neurons in the amygdala and ventral tegmental area (VTA), mesolimbic anatomical regions associated with mood and reward, unbiased stereological measurements were performed and revealed ∼15% increase in number and density of neurons in the amygdala for both MD and MD + PNE, and ∼13% reduction in dopaminergic-like neurons in the VTA compared to control. We report here that multiple early stressors including prenatal nicotine and MD can modulate the neuroanatomy of the amygdala and VTA. These early life stressors can interact to influence the development of depressive-like and addictive behaviors.

Elevation of serum pancreatic amylase and distortion of pancreatic cyto-architecture in type 1 diabetes mellitus rats treated with Ocimum gratissimum.

BACKGROUND: Diabetes mellitus has been shown to cause severe impairment in exocrine pancreatic function and cyto-architecture. Ocimum grattissimum has been reported to lower blood glucose levels in experimental diabetic animals. This study, therefore, aims to investigate if treatment with O. grattissimum can alleviate these pancreatic complications of diabetes mellitus. The phytoconstituents and median lethal dose of the plant extract were determined. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Eighteen rats were divided into three groups of six rats each. Diabetes mellitus was induced by single intraperitoneal injection of 65 mg/kg streptozotocin. Group 1 was the control and were given normal feed only; Group 2 was of diabetic untreated rats, while Group 3 was O. grattissimum-treated diabetic rats at a dose of 1,500 mg/kg. After 28 days, blood was collected by cardiac puncture of the anaesthetised animals and the serum was obtained for analysis of serum pancreatic amylase. Permanent preparations using routine biopsy method were employed for histological preparations. RESULTS: Results showed that the level of pancreatic serum amylase in the test groups (diabetic and diabetic-treated) were significantly higher (P < 0.05) than the control group, while the diabetic-treated group was significantly lower than the diabetic group. Atrophic acinar tissue without ß-cells was noted in the diabetic and diabetic-treated groups. Patchy areas of necrosis, oedematous interstitium, haemorrhagic and necrotic acinar cells were present in diabetic-treated groups. CONCLUSION: Direct association exists between the hyperglycaemic state caused by diabetes mellitus and the elevation of the serum pancreatic amylase and distortion of pancreatic cyto-achitecture. O. grattissimum-treatment reduced serum pancreatic amylase level to near normal and limit the extent of structural damage.

Conditional prerequisites for microchannel cytologic analysis on wet mount (fluid-based) biopsies.

BACKGROUND: Advanced capabilities in genomic sequencing developed in the research sector will soon enter the clinical arena. Issues such as the proportioning of patient specimen material for traditional bright-field microscopic evaluation or dedication for molecular analysis will intensify, particularly in situations of small core biopsies. Microfluidics appears aptly suited as a platform capable of allowing traditional cytologic diagnostics and downstream molecular analysis from the same specimen. However, clarification is needed to determine that forces which act on cells in a fluidic environment do not drastically alter their cytologic features. METHODS: Cells were processed for flow-through in a microfluidic channel and evaluated qualitatively and quantitatively for alterations due to fluid-shear stress or anoikis. RESULTS: Processing caused separation of cells from cohesive clusters to smaller groups and individual cells, leading to greater variation in parameters associated with the nucleus in nontumor cells but no significant change in tumor cells. These differences were most readily apparent by quantitative measures, and to a lesser extent, qualitative evaluation. Time-dependent processing played a larger role in cytologic alteration than fluid-shear stress for nontumor cells. CONCLUSIONS: Passage of cells through a microfluidic channel is a feasible approach that can be integrated into future platforms intent on integrating cytologic assessment of cells with recovery of the same cells for downstream assays.

Effect of preconception gamma irradiation on morphometric assessment of adult female mice and embryo / Efecto de la irradiación gamma preconcepción sobre la evaluación morfométrica de ratones hembras adultas y embriones

The aim was to study the effect of preconception gamma irradiation on the gross morphometry of the adult female mice and its embryo. Twenty-seven mice; 18 females and 9 males: subdivided into 3 groups namely (Control, Non-Irradiation and Radiation) containing 6 females and 3 male mice each in 2:1 ratio. A gamma irradiation dose of 1Gy/min was delivered to each batch of mice exposed by a Cobalt 60, Theratron 780c model, by Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) at the Radiotherapy department of the University College Hospital, Ibadan. All the animals were mated 1 week post irradiation. Vaginal plugs were confirmed, and the pregnant females were sacrificed on day 14 of gestation by chloroform inhalation. The gross morphology of the female mice and their harvested litters were assessed and statistically analysed. A total of 113 embryos were harvested in all groups; 54 for Control, 50 for Non-Irradiated and 9 for the irradiation group. The gross morphologic assessments of the fetuses were statistically significant at P value < 0.05 for all the 3 groups compared. These findings suggest that a preconception irradiation affects the morphology of the female mice and its progeny.

El objetivo fue estudiar el efecto de la irradiación gamma antes de la concepción sobre la morfometría macroscópica de ratones hembra adultos y los embriones de sus crías. Veinte y siete ratones, 18 hembras y 9 machos, divididos en 3 grupos (control, sin irradiación e irradiado) con 6 hembras y 3 machos cada uno en proporción 2:1. Una dosis de radiación gamma de 1 Gy/min fue aplicada a uno de los ratones expuestos por un equipo Cobalt 60, Theratron modelo 780c, Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) en el departamento de radioterapia del Hospital University College de Ibadan. Todos los animales se aparearon 1 semana después de la irradiación. Se confirmaron los tapones vaginales, y las hembras preñadas fueron sacrificadas en el día 14 de la gestación por inhalación de cloroformo. La morfología general de los ratones hembras y sus camadas fueron evaluadas y analizadas estadísticamente. Un total de 113 embriones se recolectaron en todos los grupos, 54 del grupo control, 50 del grupo no irradiados y 9 del grupo irradiado. Las evaluaciones morfológicas macroscópicas de los fetos fueron estadísticamente significativas (p<0,05) para los 3 grupos de comparación. Estos hallazgos sugieren que una irradiación previa a la concepción afecta a la morfología de los ratones hembra y su progenie.

Staining characteristics of Lonchocarpus cyanescens leaf extract on the testis of Sprague-Dawley rats.

The use of nonallergic, nontoxic, and eco-friendly natural dyes has become a matter of significant importance due to increased environmental awareness on the need to avoid hazardous synthetic dyes. This study was to determine the staining properties of the dye extract of Lonchocarpus cyanescens on histomorphology of the testis. Freshly cut leaves of L. cyanescens obtained from Akpan Ifia Inan village in Ikono local government area of Akwa Ibom state (latitude 5° 10' 12″ N; longitude 7° 48' 0″ E) were put into a plastic jar and boiling water was poured to cover the leaves. It was covered and left for an hour. The liquid was strained and potassium hydroxide was added to the dye water mixture to reach a pH of 9. A whisk was used to mix air into the liquid, and the mixuture was then allowed to sit until the blue indigo had settled to the bottom of the container. The dye was diluted with 70% ethanol to a concentration of 0.1 g/mL and was used to stain sections of testes. Its potential for use as a counterstain was also investigated. The testes sections were stained in shades of blue. The dye overshadowed the colors of haematoxylin and eosin. Preliminary phytochemical screening of L. cyanescens revealed that it contains alkaloids, saponins, flavonoids, and tannins.