Impact of integration through peer instructed lectures

Background: Integrated case based lectures are widely used as an effective method of teaching and learning. This method not only integrates all the disciplines in a particular year but also presents them in an effective case based format. Over the years, the students were less enthusiastic about this method. In order to make it more student centred and to actively involve them we have introduced peer case based integrated lectures. Peer assisted learning is a strong educational strategy known to benefit peer tutors and learners. This study evaluates the Knowledge gain of both the methods to see if there is any significant difference.Methods: Students in their 2nd year MBBS who agreed to participate were included in the study. After a series of discussions with the curriculum committee, the basic and clinical faculty, topics of public health importance were selected and written case scenarios with a set of relevant questions were formulated. In case based integrated lectures for tuberculosis, lectures were taken by faculty of the pertaining disciplines. In the peer case based integrated lectures on HIV, the same were taken by the students. A pre-test and post test was conducted after each session to know if there is a significant difference in knowledge gain in the two formats.Results: For the case based and peer led case based lectures, the mean student attendance was 90% and 86%. In the pre-test of integrated group on tuberculosis the mean score was 9.96 with standard deviation of 2.38. The post-test of the same group, the mean knowledge score was 13.63 with standard deviation of 2.20. There was significant improvement in knowledge with the case based integrated lectures of 3.67. The p value (0.0001) for this intervention is extremely significant. The post-test marks obtained for integrated and peer integrated group were 13.63±2.20 and 15.86±2.39 respectively. The mean increase in knowledge after peer case based integrated group was 6.1 when compared to increase in knowledge after case based integrated group which was 3.67.Conclusions: Integrated case base lectures is an effective teaching learning tool which can be further made student centric by involving students as peer teachers. Peer teaching is a valuable methodology to engage learners as teachers to improve their knowledge and communication skills as well creating an environment in which the peer audience will likely actively discuss and exchange ideas. Peer assisted learning is need of time to increase critical reasoning skills of medical students

CA19-9 decrease at 8 weeks as a predictor of overall survival in a randomized phase III trial (MPACT) of weekly nab-paclitaxel plus gemcitabine versus gemcitabine alone in patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer

BACKGROUND: A phase I/II study and subsequent phase III study (MPACT) reported significant correlations between CA19-9 decreases and prolonged overall survival (OS) with nab-paclitaxel plus gemcitabine (nab-P + Gem) treatment for metastatic pancreatic cancer (MPC). CA19-9 changes at week 8 and potential associations with efficacy were investigated as part of an exploratory analysis in the MPACT trial. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Untreated patients with MPC (N = 861) received nab-P + Gem or Gem alone. CA19-9 was evaluated at baseline and every 8 weeks. RESULTS: Patients with baseline and week-8 CA19-9 measurements were analyzed (nab-P + Gem: 252; Gem: 202). In an analysis pooling the treatments, patients with any CA19-9 decline (80%) versus those without (20%) had improved OS (median 11.1 versus 8.0 months; P = 0.005). In the nab-P + Gem arm, patients with (n = 206) versus without (n = 46) any CA19-9 decrease at week 8 had a confirmed overall response rate (ORR) of 40% versus 13%, and a median OS of 13.2 versus 8.3 months (P = 0.001), respectively. In the Gem-alone arm, patients with (n = 159) versus without (n = 43) CA19-9 decrease at week 8 had a confirmed ORR of 15% versus 5%, and a median OS of 9.4 versus 7.1 months (P = 0.404), respectively. In the nab-P + Gem and Gem-alone arms, by week 8, 16% (40/252) and 6% (13/202) of patients, respectively, had an unconfirmed radiologic response (median OS 13.7 and 14.7 months, respectively), and 79% and 84% of patients, respectively, had stable disease (SD) (median OS 11.1 and 9 months, respectively). Patients with SD and any CA19-9 decrease (158/199 and 133/170) had a median OS of 13.2 and 9.4 months, respectively. CONCLUSION: This analysis demonstrated that, in patients with MPC, any CA19-9 decrease at week 8 can be an early marker for chemotherapy efficacy, including in those patients with SD. CA19-9 decrease identified more patients with survival benefit than radiologic response by week 8

Antidiabetic effect of 2 nitro benzimidazole in alloxan induced diabetic rats

Background: The objective of study was to evaluate the antidiabetic activity of 2 nitro benzimidazole in alloxan induced diabetes in rats.Methods: Alloxan induced diabetic rats (n = 6) were administered 2 nitro benzimidazole (15 mg/kg, p.o.) or vehicle (gum acacia solution) or standard drug glibenclamide (10 mg/kg) for 7days. Blood samples were collected from the tail vein and blood glucose levels were estimated on days 1, and 7 at 0, 2, 4 and 6 hr after administration of drug by a glucometer. Results: The test drug 2 nitro benzimidazole induced significant reduction (P < 0.001) of blood glucose levels in alloxan induced diabetic rats at 2nd and 4 hr comparable with glibenclamide on the 1 and 7th days. The results were analyzed for statistical significance using one-way ANOVA, followed by Dunnet's test. P < 0.05 was considered significant.Conclusion: 2 nitro benzimidazole exhibited significant antihyperglycemic activity in alloxan-induced diabetic rats comparable to that of the standard drug glibenclamide

Method Development and Validation of Stability Indicating Rphplc Method for Simultaneous Estimation of Levofloxacin and Azithromycin in Pharmaceutical Tablet Dosage Form.

Analytical Chemistry is defined as the “science and the art of determining the composition of materials in terms of the elements or compounds contained”. This branch of chemistry,which is both theoretical, and a practical science, is practiced in a large number of laboratories in many diverse ways while analytical method, is a specific application of a technique to solve an analytical problem. Methods of analysis are routinely developed, improved and validated.collaboratively studied and applied. In analytical chemistry it is of prime importance to gain information about the qualitative and quantitative composition of substances and chemical species, that is, to find out what a substance is composed and exactly how much. In quantitative analysis the question is how much is present? The research work in this thesis is based on this criterion. The Present study method for determination of Levofloxacin and Azithromycin by RP-HPLC mehod are reliable, accurate, and precise. The values of standard deviation were found satisfactory and the recovery studies were close to 100%. The method does not require prior separation of one drug from other. System suitable parameters, precision, linearity, accuracy, precision,Robustness and stability according to ICH guidelines were found to be satisfactory.The proposed method was simple, specific, requires short time to analyse samples andeasy to perform

An analysis of patients' awareness and attitude concerning end of life issues.

Thesis (M.Cur.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2002.This study was conducted using a qualitative descriptive approach. It was based on an analysis that was done to determine awareness and attitude of patients in end of life issues. The semi-structured interviews were conducted for data collection. A sample of ten patients, five inpatient and five outpatient, was purposively chosen. Permission was obtained from the hospital superintendent and heads of departments, and also consent from patients, for the study. Data was analyzed, using the NVIVO program, a computer software, for data coding, and a conceptual model for categorization. From the findings, the researcher concluded that poor communication causes lack of knowledge in patients, which in turn limits the capacity for decision making in patients. The researcher also noted that participants were not aware of their autonomy in decision-making

Modeling of Machining Parameters in CNC End Milling Using Principal Component Analysis Based Neural Networks

The present paper uses the principal component analysis (PCA) based neural networks for predicting the surface roughness in CNC end milling of P20 mould steel. For training and testing of the neural network model, a number of experiments have been carried out using Taguchi's orthogonal array in the design of experiments (DOE). The cutting parameters used are nose radius, cutting speed, cutting feed, axial depth of cut and radial depth of cut. The accurate mathematical model has been developed using PCAs networks. The adequacy of the developed model is verified using coefficient of determination (R). It was found that the R2 value is 1. To judge the ability and efficiency of the neural network model, percentage deviation and average percentage deviation has been used. The research showed acceptable prediction results for the neural network model

Fungal metabolites in human health and diseases—an overview

Fungi produce a wide range of secondary metabolites. Some of these metabolites are toxic to humans and cause various health disorders, ranging from acute poisoning to chronic diseases. Contrary to this, some fungal metabolites are valuable sources in therapeutics, such as penicillin. Herein, researchers briefly highlight the role played by different fungal metabolites in human health and diseases and give an overview of the most common fungal genera

A HEALTHCARE SYSTEM THAT PREVENTS IDENTITY OF PATIENTS

A lot of the individuals are concerned regarding privacy from the personal health data as you can make certain they're in dilemma for each illegal collection and thought. However protection of patients’ privacy continued to be inexplicable.  We introduce an approved accessible privacy representation is introduced for privacy-preserving cooperative authentication is shown to permit patients allowing corresponding physicians by means of setting access tree that supports flexible threshold predicates. The proposal of recommended system embraces on several levels that's patient can approve connected physicians by means of setting an access tree that supports efficient threshold predicates however, only directly approved physicians are approved to validate identity of patient by means of fulfilling of access tree by their particular attribute sets correspondingly

Nonlinear Thermal Analysis of Functionally Graded Plates Using Higher Order Theory

In this paper, the nonlinear thermal analysis of functionally graded material (FGM) plate with material variation parameter (n), boundary conditions, aspect ratios and side to thickness ratios is investigated using higher order displacement model. The derivation of equations of motion for higher order displacement model is obtained using principle of virtual work. The nonlinear simultaneous equations are obtained by Navier's method considering certain parameters, loads and boundary conditions. The nonlinear algebraic equations are solved using Newton Raphson iterative method. The effect of shear deformation and nonlinearity response of functionally graded material is investigated. Keywords: Nonlinear thermal analysis, FGM plates, higher order theory, Navier's method, Newton Raphson method