Effectiveness of teaching medical ethics to medical students on an online platform: An analysis of students' perceptions and feedback.

Medical ethics education along with attitude and communication training has been incorporated into the regular MBBS curriculum in India from 2019, so as to encourage a caring and communicative approach by doctors towards patients. It would be important to understand the relevance of the educational module in the form of cases to ensure an optimal learning process for future students and doctors in the making. We selected three cases and conducted online debates among small groups of second year MBBS students. Students submitted narratives and their reflections after discussing each case and gave overall feedback. Our findings suggested that the students recognised the complexity of taking decisions when presented with ethical dilemmas and appreciated the opportunity to voice opposing views. The online platform was effective and may be considered in the future as a medium to help integrate discussions on medical ethics alongside clinical work.

Rat skeletal muscle-nerve preparation to teach skeletal muscle physiology.

This sourcebook update describes a variation of a previous sourcebook experiment that used isolated extensor digitorum longus muscle from mouse to teach skeletal muscle properties (Head SI, Arber MS. Adv Physiol Educ 37: 405-414, 2013). Gastrocnemius-sciatic nerve preparation in an anaesthetized rat was developed and muscle contractions were recorded in a computerized data acquisition system using an isometric force transducer. Teachers and students in physiology or biology can use this preparation to demonstrate skeletal muscle properties like simple muscle twitch, quantal summation, wave summation, superposition, incomplete tetanus, complete tetanus, treppe, fatigue, and length-tension relationship.

The Henderson-Hasselbalch Equation : A Three Dimensional Teaching Model.

The Henderson-Hasselbalch equation can be considered as the backbone of acid base physiology. This is conventionally represented using two dimensional plots. Although two dimensional plots are simple to use, the equation in reality represents a surface in three dimensional space. Any combination of PaCO2, [HCO3 ­] and blood pH values representing acid base disorders is restricted to this surface. Two models depicting the three dimensional surface generated by the Henderson-Hasselbalch equation were constructed from easily available materials. The first model was constructed using coloured beads, thin metal rods and plywood. This model depicted the Henderson-Hasselbalch surface as a collection of discreet points. The second model depicted the Henderson-Hasselbalch equation as a continuous surface using polystyrene sheets and white cement. The models were presented to undergraduate and post-graduate medical students along with other conventional two dimensional nomograms. Three dimensional models of the Henderson-Hasselbalch equation can serve as supplementary teaching material to ensure a deeper understanding of acid base physiology.

Analysis of depolarization-induced outward currents in goat chondrocytes using the patch clamp technique.

This study analyzes outward currents in freshly isolated goat chondrocytes patched in the whole cell mode. Capacitance tracings were recorded from the cells by the time domain method. The average capacitance was 6.33 pF +/- 2.15pF (Mean +/- SD, n = 60). The range was 2.7 pF to 11.2 pF. A family of outward currents was seen when the cell was depolarized from -70 mV to +70 mV in 10 mV increments. The current density at +60 mV varied from 125 pA/pF to 2410 pA/pF. The currents were inhibited by 10 mM tetraethylammonium chloride (TEA) and the current-voltage profile suggests that these are voltage gated K+ channels. The currents were also recordable in a chloride-free external solution, thereby proving that these currents are not chloride currents. There was no evidence of voltage-gated sodium channels in these cells.