ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Students' perception of the environment within which they study has shown to have a significant impact on their behavior, academic progress and sense of well-being. This study was undertaken to evaluate the students' perception of their learning environment in an Indian medical school following traditional curricula and to study differences, if any, between the students according to the stages of medical education, i.e., the pre-clinical and clinical stages. METHODOLOGY: In the present study, the Dundee Ready Education Environment Measure (DREEM) inventory was administered to undergraduate medical students of first (n = 227), third (n = 175), fifth (n = 171) and seventh (n = 123) semesters. Scores obtained were expressed as mean ± Standard Deviation (SD) and analyzed using one-way ANOVA and Dunnett's test. P-value < 0.05 was considered as significant. RESULTS: The mean DREEM score for our medical school was 123/200.The first-year students were found to be more satisfied with learning environment (indicated by their higher DREEM score) compared to other semester students. Progressive decline in scores with each successive semester was observed. Evaluating the sub-domains of perception, the registrars in all semesters had a more positive perception of learning (Average mean score: 29.44), their perception of course organizers moved in the right direction (Average mean score: 26.86), their academic self-perception was more on the positive side (Average mean score: 20.14), they had a more positive perception of atmosphere (Average mean score: 29.07) and their social self-perception could be graded as not too bad (Average mean score: 17.02). CONCLUSION: The present study revealed that all the groups of students perceived their learning environment positively. However, a few problematic areas of learning environment were perceived such as: students were stressed more often; they felt that the course organizers were authoritarian and emphasized factual learning. Implementing more problem-based learning, student counseling and workshops on teaching-learning for educators might enable us to remedy and enrich our learning environment.
ABSTRACT
The present study evaluates the nephroprotective effects of ursolic acid in a murine model of gentamicin induced renal damage. Wistar albino rats of either sex, weighing 150-200 g were divided into 5 groups; normal saline, gentamicin 80 mg/kg, intraperitoneally for 8 days, ursolic acid at 2, 5, and 10 mg/kg, per oral for 8 days, ursolic acid administered 3 days prior and concurrently with gentamicin for 5 days. Blood urea, serum creatinine, uric acid and blood urea nitrogen analyses and microscopic examination of kidney were performed. Gentamicin treatment caused nephrotoxicity as evidenced by marked elevation in serum urea, serum uric acid, serum creatinine and blood urea nitrogen (162.33 ± 9.92 mg/dL, 3.13 ± 0.12 mg/dL, 6.85 ± 0.35 mg/dL and 75.86 ± 4.64 mg/dL; resp.) when compared to the saline treated groups. Co-administration of ursolic acid with gentamicin decreased the rise in these parameters in a dose dependent manner. Histopathological analysis revealed epithelial loss with intense granular degeneration in gentamicin treated rats, whereas ursolic acid mitigated the severity of gentamicin-induced renal damage. To conclude, our data suggest that ursolic acid exhibits renoprotective effect in gentamicin induced renal damage and further studies on its mechanis of action are warranted.
