Effectiveness of team teaching in biochemistry lectures for undergraduate students.

Team teaching is an innovative method to engage the large group and make lectures more interesting. The aim of the study is to evaluate the impact of team teaching in first year biochemistry lecture classes. After obtaining ethical clearance, 150 first year medical undergraduate students participated in the study on a voluntary basis. Topic identified for team teaching was "Protein biosynthesis" in Biochemistry, which was designed to be carried out in 5 h of lecture by three teachers. At the end of the team teaching module and traditional lectures, a structured anonymous feedback was obtained from the students. At the end of each class, students' understanding of the lecture was assessed by an MCQ test comprising 5-6 items, which mainly tested the recollection and understanding levels of Bloom's taxonomy. This was compared with traditional lectures. The mean MCQ test score was significantly higher for team teaching when compared to traditional teaching. The students had increased attention span and were able to answer questions from later part of the class in team lectures. The students had reported that lectures taught by team were more interesting and informative. They also felt that the team was more receptive to the doubts raised, stimulated discussion on the topic and had a better rapport with the class.

Diagnostic Usefulness of Serum Albumin as a Predictor of Diabetic Ketoacidosis.

CONTEXT: Diabetes mellitus is one of the most prevalent diseases worldwide. One of the acute complications of diabetes mellitus is diabetic ketoacidosis. It becomes essential for the healthcare physicians to identify the individuals who are likely to be prone to the development of ketosis. Serum albumin levels may be a cost-effective and simple parameter to prognosticate the risk of ketosis. AIMS: This study was done to find a relationship between serum albumin levels and ketonuria. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: After ethical approval, this prospective case-control study was carried out in patients diagnosed as type-2 diabetes mellitus. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Serum albumin levels were measured by bromo cresol green method. Measurement of urine ketones was done manually using dipsticks, a semi-quantitative manual method. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: Student's t-test was used to compare continuous variables and Chi-square test for categorical variables. Pearson's correlation was done to establish correlation. RESULTS: In the normoalbuminemic group, 72% were ketones negative and only 28% had positive ketones in urine, while in the hypoalbuminemic group, 50.7% had negative urine ketones and 49.3% had positive ketonuria. The mean value for ketones in urine was 9.7 mg/dL in the hypoalbuminemic group, but it was only 4.3 mg/dL in the normoalbuminemic group. Pearson's correlation between serum albumin and urine ketone levels was performed and the r-value was found to be -0.305. CONCLUSIONS: Serum albumin levels may predict the occurrence of ketosis in diabetic patients.