Effect of Resting Patterns of Tamarins (Saguinus fuscicollis and Saguinus mystax) on the Spatial Distribution of Seeds and Seedling Recruitment

The spatial distributions of dispersed seeds have important evolutionary consequences for plants. Repeated defecations in sites frequently used by seed dispersers can result in high seed concentrations. We observed the resting behavior of a mixed-species group of tamarins in Peru and recorded the occurrence of seed dispersal (over 8 mo) and seed fate (over 11–22 mo) to determine whether the location and use of resting sites influenced the spatial distribution of dispersed seeds and seedlings. The tamarins rested mostly on trees (Saguinus fuscicollis: 60.6%, S. mystax: 89.2%) and dead trunks (S. fuscicollis: 24.4%) and used 61% of their resting sites repeatedly. During both the dry and wet seasons, tamarins dispersed significantly more seeds within resting areas (0.00662 and 0.00424 seeds/m2, respectively) than outside them (0.00141 and 0.00181 seeds/m2). Seed survival and seedling recruitment did not differ significantly between resting and other areas, resulting in a higher seedling concentration around the resting sites. Seed density did not increase with the duration or the frequency of use of the resting sites but did increase when we pooled the seasonal resting sites together in 50 m × 50 m quadrats, ultimately causing a clumped distribution of dispersed seeds. The use of resting sites in secondary forest, particularly during the dry season, allows the creation of seedling recruitment centers for species coming from the primary forest. Our findings show that tamarin resting behavior affects the spatial distribution of dispersed seeds and seedlings, and their resting sites play an important role in plant diversity maintenance and facilitate forest regeneration in degraded areas

The impact of trained patient educators on musculoskeletal clinical skills attainment in pre-clerkship medical students

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Despite the high burden of musculoskeletal (MSK) diseases, few generalists are comfortable teaching MSK physical examination (PE) skills. Patient Partners^®in Arthritis (PP^®IA) is a standardized patient educator program that could potentially supplement current MSK PE teaching. This study aims to determine if differences exist in MSK PE skills between non-MSK specialist physician and PP^®IA taught students.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Pre-clerkship medical students attended 2-hour small group MSK PE teaching by either non-MSK specialist physician tutors or by PP^®IA. All students underwent an MSK OSCE and completed retrospective pre-post questionnaires regarding comfort with MSK PE and interest in MSK.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>83 students completed the OSCE (42 PP^®IA, 41 physician taught) and 82 completed the questionnaire (42 PP^®IA, 40 physician taught). There were no significant differences between groups in OSCE scores. For all questionnaire items, post-session ratings were significantly higher than pre-session ratings for both groups. In exploratory analysis PP^®IA students showed significantly greater improvement in 12 of 22 questions including three of five patient-centred learning questions.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>PP^®IA MSK PE teaching is as good as non-MSK specialist physician tutor teaching when measured by a five station OSCE and provide an excellent complementary resource to address current deficits in MSK PE teaching.</p

A Randomized-Controlled Study of Encounter Cards to Improve Oral Case Presentation Skills of Medical Students

OBJECTIVE: To determine the feasibility of oral case presentation (OCP) encounter cards as a tool for formative evaluation, to estimate the reliability and validity of the ratings when used in a medicine clerkship, and to examine whether the use of OCP encounter cards improves students' OCP skills. DESIGN: Randomized controlled study. SETTING: Medicine core clerkship at a U.S. medical school. PARTICIPANTS/INTERVENTION: Students enrolled in the medicine core clerkship (n=164) from January to December of 2003 were randomly assigned to receive weekly feedback using OCP encounter cards rating nine presentation compentencies or receive usual feedback. Mean OCP ratings were correlated with multiple summative assessments. Performance on an end-of-clerkship OCP was compared between intervention and control groups. MAIN RESULTS: Eighty percent of cards were completed. The mean OCP rating averaged over 9 competencies was 7.7 (SD=0.8) on a 9-point scale. Standard error of ratings was 0.3. OCP ratings were correlated with inpatient evaluations (r=.58), inpatient ratings of presentation skills (r=.43), and final grades (r=.40). Final OCP performance was similar for the intervention and control groups (7.0 vs 7.2, P=.09). CONCLUSION: OCP encounter cards are a novel and feasible tool to assess clerkship students' oral case presentation skills. OCP card ratings are reproducible, and validity is suggested by their correlation with multiple markers of performance. However, encounter cards did not improve performance on summative oral presentations