Formate hochschuldidaktischer Angebote

DDie hochschuldidaktische Fort- und Weiterbildung zeigt seit einigen Jahren ein beschleunigtes Wachstum sowohl was das Angebot als auch die Nachfrage angeht. Das Leistungsspektrum (wie auch die Anbieterstruktur) hochschuldidaktischer Angebote wird zunehmend vielfältiger und unübersichtlicher. In diesem Beitrag soll das Spektrum hochschuldidaktischer Angebote beschrieben, systematisiert sowie Vorzüge und Eigenschaften der verschiedenen Angebotsformate vorgestellt werden

Nachgefragt: Formate hochschuldidaktischer Angebote für Lehrende

Sie haben sich zwischen fünf und fünfundzwanzig Minuten Zeit genommen, um unseren Fragebogen auszufüllen. Insgesamt 287 Wissenschaftlerinnen und Wissenschaftler der Universität Dortmund beantworteten unsere Fragen zu den Angeboten des Hochschuldidaktischen Zentrums. Wir bedanken uns für die umfassenden Antworten und Reaktionen auf den Fragebogen bei allen, die sich daran beteiligt haben. Wir stellen Ihnen in dieser Ausgabe eine Ergebnisauswahl vor, die sich auf das Schwerpunktthema dieser Ausgabe "inhouse ... oder?! Formate für die hochschuldidaktische Weiterbildung" beziehen. Die Befragung ergibt, dass Inhouse-Veranstaltungen eine attraktive Alternative für hochschuldidaktische Angebote für Lehrende an der Universität Dortmund darstellen

Taking the Learner on a Journey – An analysis of an Integrated Virtual CME Program in Epilepsy during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly changed the way we treat patients and educate healthcare professionals (HCPs). In summer 2020, the International League against Epilepsy (ILAE) implemented a virtual CME program with three integrated program elements addressing challenges in patient treatment as well as challenges caused by the forced transition to a virtual environment. Despite the highly competitive environment with exponential increase of webinars offered to HCPs, the program achieved high participation and satisfaction rates. Over 60% of participants indicated a change in their clinical practice after the interventions. With our outcomes evaluation, we aimed to better understand how well such an integrated program resonates with the learner and if it can make a difference in a highly competitive environment by supporting educators to become more adaptive and responsive to learner needs. Our pilot project was shown to be well accepted, achieving high satisfaction and perceived impact by the learner. In the light of an upcoming "digital fatigue" and a wish to return to face-to-face, we reiterate the value of the digital approach and recommend continuing along this successful path as we believe that taking a learner on a digital educational journey has been successful in a highly competitive and challenging environment

Neuropathology and epilepsy surgery – 2024 update

Neuropathology-based studies in neurosurgically resected brain tissue obtained from carefully examined patients with focal epilepsies remain a treasure box for excellent insights into human neuroscience, including avenues to better understand the neurobiology of human brain organization and neuronal hyperexcitability at the cellular level including glio-neuronal interaction. It also allows to translate results from animal models in order to develop personalized treatment strategies in the near future. A nice example of this is the discovery of a new disease entity in 2017, termed mild malformation of cortical development with oligodendroglial hyperplasia in epilepsy or MOGHE, in the frontal lobe of young children with intractable seizures. In 2021, a brain somatic missense mutation of the galactose transporter SLC35A2 leading to altered glycosylation of lipoproteins in the Golgi apparatus was detected in 50 % of MOGHE samples. In 2023, the first clinical trial evaluated galactose supplementation in patients with histopathologically confirmed MOGHE carrying brain somatic SLC35A2 mutations that were not seizure free after surgery. The promising results of this pilot trial are an example of personalized medicine in the arena of epileptology. Besides this, neuropathological studies of epilepsy samples have revealed many other fascinating results for the main disease categories in focal epilepsies, such as the first deep-learning based classifier for Focal Cortical Dysplasia, or the genomic landscape of cortical malformations showing new candidate genes such as PTPN11, which is associated with ganglioglioma and adverse clinical outcome. This update will also ask why common pathogenic variants accumulate in certain brain regions, e.g., MTOR in the frontal lobe, and BRAF in the temporal lobe. Finally, I will highlight the ongoing discussion addressing commonalities between temporal lobe epilepsy and Alzheimer's disease, the impact of adult neurogenesis and gliogenesis for the initiation and progression of temporal lobe seizures in the human brain as well as the immunopathogenesis of glutamic acid decarboxylase antibody associated temporal lobe epilepsy as a meaningful disease entity. This review will update the reader on some of these fascinating publications from 2022 and 2023 which were selected carefully, yet subjectively, by the author

Roadmap for a competency-based educational curriculum in epileptology: report of the Epilepsy Education Task Force of the International League Against Epilepsy

Teaching competency in the diagnosis and clinical management of epilepsy is of utmost importance for the ILAE. To achieve this mission, the Task Force for Epilepsy Education (EpiEd) developed a competency-based curriculum for epileptology, covering the spectrum of skills and knowledge for best medical practice. The curriculum encompasses seven domains, 42 competencies, and 124 learning objectives, divided into three levels: entry (Level 1), proficiency (Level 2), and advanced proficiency (Level 3). A survey of the currently existing ILAE-endorsed teaching activities identified a significant gap in education of basic knowledge of epileptology (Level 1). To bridge this gap, a web-based educational tool is being developed. A virtual campus will be constructed around the curriculum, integrating the various educational activities of the ILAE. This paper describes the development of the curriculum and future tasks necessary to achieve the educational goal of the ILAE

Discrete reduction patterns of parvalbumin and calbindin D-28k immunoreactivity in the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus and the striate cortex of adult macaque monkeys after monocular enucleation

We analyzed the immunohistochemical distribution of the two calcium-binding proteins, parvalbumin (PV) and calbindin D-28k (CB), in the primary visual cortex and lateral dorsal geniculate nucleus (dLGN) of monocularly enucleated macaque monkeys (Macaca fascicularis and Macaca nemestrind) in order to determine how the expression of PV and CB is affected by functional inactivity. The monkeys survived 1-17 weeks after monocular enucleation. The distribution pattern of each of the proteins was examined immunocytochemically using monoclonal antibodies and compared with that of the metabolic marker cytochrome oxidase (CO). We recorded manually the number of immunostained neurons and estimated the concentration of immunoreactive staining product using a computerized image-acquisition system. Our results indicate a decrease of approximately 30% in the labeling of PV-immunoreactive (ir) neuropil particularly in those layers of denervated ocular-dominance columns receiving the geniculocortical input. There was no change in the number of PV-ir neurons in any compartment irrespective of the enucleation interval. For CB-ir, we found a 20% decrease in the neuropil labeling in layer 2/3 of the denervated ocular-dominance columns. In addition, a subset of pyramidal CB-ir neurons in layers 2 and 4B, which are weakly stained in control animals, showed decreased labeling. In the dLGN of enucleated animals, PV-ir and CB-ir were decreased only in the neuropil of the denervated layers. From these results, we conclude that cortical interneurons and geniculate projection neurons still express PV and CB in their cell bodies after disruption of the direct functional input from one eye. The only distinct decrease of PV and CB expression is seen in axon terminals from retinal ganglion cells in the dLGN, and in the axons and terminals of both geniculocortical projection cells and cortical interneurons in the cerebral corte

The aetiologies of epilepsy

The identification of the aetiology of a patient's epilepsy is instrumental in the diagnosis, prognostic counselling and management of the epilepsies. Indeed, the aetiology can be important for determining the recurrence risk of single seizures and so for making a diagnosis of epilepsy. Here, we divide the aetiologies into six categories: structural, genetic, infectious, metabolic, immune (all of which are part of the International League Against Epilepsy [ILAE] classification system) and neurodegenerative (which we have considered separately because of its growing importance in epilepsy). These are not mutually exclusive categories and many aetiologies fall into more than one category. Indeed, genetic factors probably play a role, to varying degrees, in the risk of seizures in all people with epilepsy. In each of the categories, we discuss what we regard as the most important aetiologies; importance being determined not only by prevalence but also by clinical significance. The introduction contains information suitable for level 1 competency (entry level), whilst the subsequent sections contain information aimed at level 2 competency (proficiency level) as part of the new ILAE competency-based curriculum. As we move towards precision medicine and targeted therapies, so aetiologies will play an even greater role in the management of epilepsy

Somatic Depdc5 deletion recapitulates electroclinical features of human focal cortical dysplasia type IIA

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/145530/1/ana25272_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/145530/2/ana25272.pd

Exploring the interplay between cellular development and mechanics in the developing human brain

The human brain has a complex structure on both cellular and organ scales. This structure is closely related to the brain's abilities and functions. Disruption of one of the biological processes occurring during brain development on the cellular scale may affect the cortical folding pattern of the brain on the organ scale. However, the link between disruptions in cellular brain development and associated cortical malformation remains largely unknown. From a mechanical perspective, the forces generated during development lead to mechanical instability and, eventually, the mergence of cortical folds. To fully understand mechanism underlying malformations of cortical development, it is key to consider both the events that occur on the cellular scale and the mechanical forces generated on the organ scale. Here we present a computational model describing cellular division and migration on the cellular scale, as well as growth and cortical folding on the tissue or organ scale, in a continuous way by a coupled finite growth and advection-diffusion model. We introduce the cell density as an independent field controlling the volumetric growth. Furthermore, we formulate a positive relation between cell density and cortical layer stiffness. This allows us to study the influence of the migration velocity, the cell diffusivity, the local stiffness, and the local connectivity of cells on the cortical folding process and mechanical properties during normal and abnormal brain development numerically. We show how an increase in the density of the neurons increases the layer's mechanical stiffness. Moreover, weWe validate our simulation results through the comparison with histological sections of the fetal human brain. The current model aims to be a first step towards providing a reliable platform to systematically evaluate the role of different cellular events on the cortical folding process and vice versa