Near-peer question writing and teaching programme.

BACKGROUND: Near-peer assisted learning (NPAL) is an increasingly important tool in medical education; however, although numerous published papers discuss its merits, the evidence on the effectiveness and student perception of NPAL is limited. We describe a novel near-peer question writing and teaching programme to assess whether it improves the confidence of first-year medical students for their first In-Course Assessment (ICA) in medical school. The evidence on the effectiveness and student perception of NPAL is limited METHODS: A team of medical students designed a question development procedure and a structured teaching programme. A total of 280 first-year medical students were invited to appraise the questions. A questionnaire assessing confidence and student perception was sent to participants at different time points leading up to and after their first ICA at the medical school. Statistical analysis was performed using spss 20. RESULTS: One hundred and seventy one students attempted the questions. Students felt more confident with short-answer questions (SAQs; 95% CI 1.5-2.0, p < 0.05) and multiple-choice questions (MCQs; 95% CI 1.0-1.5, p < 0.05), as assessed using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Overall, students were satisfied with the NPAL questions and teaching programme following their university examinations (p > 0.01). CONCLUSION: The NPAL project highlighted a trend towards improving students' confidence. Furthermore, the question writing and teaching programme can be used as a guide to confidently hold teaching sessions in the future. The NPAL project further reinforces existing published papers that have shown NPAL to be a powerful adjunct to existing undergraduate medical education.

Immune responses to in ovo vaccine formulations containing inactivated fowl adenovirus 8b with poly[di(sodium carboxylatoethylphenoxy)]phosphazene (PCEP) and avian beta defensin as adjuvants in chickens.

Inclusion body hepatitis (IBH) is one of the major viral infections causing substantial economic loss to the global poultry industry. The disease is characterized by a sudden onset of mortality (2-30%) and high morbidity (60-70%). IBH is caused by a number of serotypes of fowl adenovirus with substantially low levels of serotype cross protection. Thus far, there is no effective and safe vaccine commercially available in the North America for the control of IBH in chickens. Poly[di(sodium carboxylatoethylphenoxy)]phosphazene (PCEP) is a high molecular weight, biodegradable water soluble polymer that has been well characterized as a safe and effective adjuvant for a number of experimental veterinary vaccines. Similarly, host defence peptides, including ß-defensins, have also been shown to exhibit strong adjuvant potential. In this study, we evaluated the adjuvant activity of PCEP and avian beta defensin (ABD) in a vaccine formulation containing inactivated fowl adenovirus (FAdV) serotype 8b administered in ovo. Our data showed that a combination of PCEP and inactivated virus is capable of inducing a robust and long lasting antibody response. Moreover, significant enhancement of IFN-γ, IFN-α, IL-12(p40) and IL-6 gene expression under the influence of PCEP suggests that as an in ovo adjuvant PCEP has the ability to activate a substantial balanced immune response in chickens. To our knowledge, these are the first studies in which PCEP and ABD have been characterized as adjuvants for the development of an in ovo poultry vaccine. It is expected that these preliminary studies will be helpful in the development of safer and more effective in ovo vaccine against IBH and other infectious diseases affecting chickens.