Redesigning A Core First Year Physiology Subject In Allied Health To Achieve Better Learning Outcomes

In an era of rationalization and emphasis on economies of scales (Hare, 2011; Johnson, 2009; Trounson & Ross, 2011), many allied health and nursing programmes are finding the need to develop Core Subjects that can cater to the needs of a diverse range of students. Historically, human bioscience (anatomy and physiology) has been a major stumbling block to student success in nursing education. Part of the problem is that teaching activities and content knowledge has traditionally been skewed to cater for the most advanced student, with less adequately prepared or academically skilled students left struggling to keep up. Here we describe a subject redesign that switches the emphasis on teaching and learning from the maximalist approach to one where the emphasis is on teaching and learning activities focused on the core concepts that students are obligated to know and where advanced concepts are learned via self-directed, self-motivated learning. This redesign utilises team based guided inquiry and collaborative testing to encourage time-on-task, active learning and constructive teamwork to promote good learning and study habits. The new subject design is intended to meet individual stake-holder needs for human bioscience, promote student success and meet the University’s “excellence in subject design principles.

Feeding Induced by Cannabinoids Is Mediated Independently of the Melanocortin System

Cannabinoids, the active components of marijuana, stimulate appetite, and cannabinoid receptor-1 (CB1-R) antagonists suppress appetite and promote weight loss. Little is known about how CB1-R antagonists affect the central neurocircuitry, specifically the melanocortin system that regulates energy balance

Central pathway for spontaneous and prostaglandin E2-evoked cutaneous vasoconstriction

A reduction of heat loss to the environment through increased cutaneous vasoconstrictor (CVC) sympathetic outflow contributes to elevated body temperature during fever. We determined the role of neurons in the dorsomedial hypothalamus (DMH) in increases in CVC sympathetic tone evoked by PGE2 into the preoptic area (POA) in chloralose/urethane-anesthetized rats. The frequency of axonal action potentials of CVC sympathetic ganglion cells recorded from the surface of the tail artery was increased by 1.8 Hz following nanoinjections of bicuculline (50 pmol) into the DMH. PGE2 nanoinjection into the POA elicited a similar excitation of tail CVC neurons (+2.1 Hz). Subsequent to PGE2 into the POA, muscimol (400 pmol/side) into the DMH did not alter the activity of tail CVC neurons. Inhibition of neurons in the rostral raphé pallidus (rRPa) eliminated the spontaneous discharge of tail CVC neurons but only reduced the PGE2-evoked activity. Residual activity was abolished by subsequent muscimol into the rostral ventrolateral medulla. Transections through the neuraxis caudal to the POA increased the activity of tail CVC neurons, which were sustained through transections caudal to DMH. We conclude that while activation of neurons in the DMH is sufficient to activate tail CVC neurons, it is not necessary for their PGE2-evoked activity. These results support a CVC component of increased core temperature elicited by PGE2 in POA that arises from relief of a tonic inhibition from neurons in POA of CVC sympathetic premotor neurons in rRPa and is dependent on the excitation of CVC premotor neurons from a site caudal to DMH