A questionnaire based study to assess feedback on teaching methodology and evaluation methods in pharmacology

Background: The reviewing of teaching and evaluation methods by feedback from students and modification is very important for further development and restructuring of medical education in future. The curriculum that we follow needs to be assessed periodically as it highlights the strengths as well as points out the fallacies, which are required to improve the medical teaching.Methods: The present study was carried out at Sri Venkateshwaraa Medical College Hospital and Research Centre in a total of 100 third year MBBS students. Pre-validated questionnaire was used. Suggestions were also enquired regarding the modifications needed in pharmacology teaching methods.Results: Out of the topic of interest in pharmacology, CNS ranks first with 28%, followed by CVS with 20%. Regarding the topic to be added in regular Pharmacology teaching, 37% preferred on case study and treatment discussion, while 32% preferred group discussion and 16% for quiz. Among the students 54% preferred text books only for studying pharmacology. Regarding the special topics to be discussed in pharmacology, 31% opted for paediatric pharmacology. The students have also suggested for clinical based teaching.Conclusions: The results of present study can serve as positive feedback to make the teaching programme more interesting. A well designed and systematic prospective research needs to be carried out, so that students get updated every year. It can also pave way for a rational prescribing practice after acquiring a proper and updated knowledge about Pharmacology as part of the undergraduate teaching programme

A conceptual review of Basti (Urinary Bladder) as Pranayatana

Ayurveda is a system of medicine, which gives the way of perfect living with nature. It is a science which is on the rise as a result of various discussion and researches from ancient time onwards. Its gives equal importance to preventive and curative aspects of disease. As we know the diagnosis of any disease is very important before treatment, similarly the knowledge of Rachana Sharir is also important before diagnosis. The word Pranayatana is formed by two words – Prana + Ayatana. Here Ayatana means residing place (Ashraya Sthana) and Prana means live attribute (life). So, the Sthana which gives seat for Prana is called as Pranayatana. Basti is one such Pranayatana mentioned in Charaka Samhita. It has been given much importance that it has been mentioned both in the context of Dasha Pranayatana and Marma. In this article, an attempt is made to understand and review Basti in the context of Dasha Pranayatanas

Electronic and Band Structure Calculation of Wurtzite CdS Using GGA and GGA+U functionals

The wurtzite (wz) structure of CdS is analyzed using density functional theory within the generalized gradient approximation (GGA) and Hubbard correction (GGA+U). The total energy convergence evaluation is carried out concerning energy cut-off (ecutwfc) and k-point sampling. The geometry optimization of wz-CdS is calculated using the total energy and force minimization process, which is based on the Broyden Fletcher Goldfarb Shanno (BFGS) optimization algorithm. Bulk modulus and lattice parameters are estimated to ensure accuracy of the calculations. The electronic band structure, density of states (DOS), and projected density of states (PDOS) of wz-CdS are analyzed. The band structure calculation shows CdS as direct band gap semiconductor. The electronic correlation in CdS is altered by varying U-parameters of valence orbitals of Cd and S. The alteration of electronic correlation results in convergence of the band gap to the experimental value 2.4 eV. The alteration of U-parameter affects substantially the density of states near the band edges

CONSTRAINT ROBUST PORTFOLIO SELECTION BY MULTIOBJECTIVE EVOLUTIONARY GENETIC ALGORITHM

The problem of portfolio selection is a very challenging problem in computational finance and has received a lot of attention in last few decades. Selecting an asset and optimal weighting of it from a set of available assets is a critical issue for which the decision maker takes several aspects into consideration. Different constraints like cardinality constraints, minimum buy in thresholds and maximum limit constraint are associated with assets selection. Financial returns associated are often strongly non-Gaussian in character, and exhibit multivariate outliers. Taking these constraints into consideration and with the presence of these outliers we consider a multi-objective problem where the percentage of each available asset is so selected that the total profit of the portfolio is maximized while total risk is minimized. Nondominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm-II is used for solving this multiobjective portfolio selection problem. Performance of the proposed algorithm is carried out by performing different numerical experiments using real-world data

How Engineering Technology Students Perceive Mathematics

Engineering Technology (ET) is often combined with that of Engineering. Although Engineering Technology is based on a more hands-on approach and Engineering a theoretical approach, the two majors share a very similar pedagogy in teaching students the same engineering and scientific principles. An observation by an ET professor found that ET students more often than not would eschew the use of mathematical computations and instead provide answers they believe to be correct, without computation or explanation. Leading researchers to delve into possible reasons as to why ET students are reluctant to utilize mathematics. This study utilized in-person interviews with 15 undergraduate participants from a Midwestern University in the United States of America from ET to ascertain how ET students perceive mathematics. The results of the study found that although ET students were stated to not hate mathematics and are open to using mathematics, there was a slight apprehension towards math due to bad math experiences and not being able to connect the conceptual nature of mathematics to the visual and real-life scenarios ET students are used to facing. The results of this study help to lay the foundation for future research studies geared towards further understanding why ET students are apprehensive towards mathematics and ultimately how to help ET students overcome this apprehension

Isotopomer fractionation in the UV photolysis of N_2O: 2. Further comparison of theory and experiment

Wavelength-dependent fractionation of various isotopomers in the photodissociation of N_2O is studied. The absorption cross sections are calculated by a time-independent reflection principle, related to the Prakash et al. (2005) treatment but now with an inclusion of the NN stretching coordinate and both the 2A′ and 1A″ electronic excited states. The added 1A″ state is found to have little effect on both the absorption cross section and the fractionation. The improvements include more physical details in the photodissociation of N_2O, while maintaining an advantage of a treatment in the work by Prakash et al. (2005) that was not computationally intensive. The present calculated fractionation, without a significant adjustable parameter, gives good agreement with experiments in the absorption cross section in the low-energy region, the important region for the experimentally observed isotopic fractionation

Intern’s knowledge of clinical pharmacology and therapeutics at Puducherry: a cross-sectional study

Background: Internship is the intermediate period between under-graduation and general practice. The dexterity of health professional relies upon prescribing practices. Clinical pharmacology and therapeutics (CPT) is a crucial discipline for interns to acquire safe and rational prescription of drugs. Cultivating sound knowledge about CPT during under graduation is, henceforth, mandatory.Aims and objectives:To assess whether the undergraduate CPT teaching and internship training had prepared interns adequately for safe and rational prescription.To assess the awareness and reporting of adverse drug reaction (ADR).Methods: 110 interns were enrolled after obtaining informed written consent. A structured questionnaire was given to them including basic demographic information, undergraduate CPT teaching, experience of ADR and any deficiency in the under-graduate CPT teaching.Results: Response rate was 91 % in which 53 were males and 47 females. 81 considered themselves aware of CPT. 56% & 57% interns were able to prescribe drug safely and rationally respectively. Without supervision, they were confident to prescribe antacids (93%), vitamins and minerals (90%), NSAIDS (85%), antihistamines (82%), antibiotics (75%), antiemetics (62%) and antiasthmatics (52%). Only 22% had reported ADR and opined that it could lead to hospitalization (51%), prolonged hospital stay (33%), morbidity (16%) and death (21%). According to interns, the topics where more emphasis needed were ADR, dosage calculation, pediatric and emergency medicine and therapeutic drug monitoring during undergraduate CPT teaching.Conclusion: CPT teaching should be improved at undergraduate level for safe and rational prescribing including ADR monitoring, ADR reporting and dosage calculation

Glycosylation Effects on FSH-FSHR Interaction Dynamics: A Case Study of Different FSH Glycoforms by Molecular Dynamics Simulations

This is an open access article, free of all copyright, and may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, built upon, or otherwise used by anyone for any lawful purpose. The work is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedicationThe gonadotropin known as follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) plays a key role in regulating reproductive processes. Physiologically active FSH is a glycoprotein that can accommodate glycans on up to four asparagine residues, including two sites in the FSH alpha subunit that are critical for biochemical function, plus two sites in the beta subunit, whose differential glycosylation states appear to correspond to physiologically distinct functions. Some degree of FSH beta hypo-glycosylation seems to confer advantages toward reproductive fertility of childbearing females. In order to identify possible mechanistic underpinnings for this physiological difference we have pursued computationally intensive molecular dynamics simulations on complexes between the high affinity site of the gonadal FSH receptor (FSHR) and several FSH glycoforms including fully-glycosylated (FSH24), hypo-glycosylated (e.g., FSH15), and completely deglycosylated FSH (dgFSH). These simulations suggest that deviations in FSH/FSHR binding profile as a function of glycosylation state are modest when FSH is adorned with only small glycans, such as single N-acetylglucosamine residues. However, substantial qualitative differences emerge between FSH15 and FSH24 when FSH is decorated with a much larger, tetra-antennary glycan. Specifically, the FSHR complex with hypo-glycosylated FSH15 is observed to undergo a significant conformational shift after 5-10 ns of simulation, indicating that FSH15 has greater conformational flexibility than FSH24 which may explain the more favorable FSH15 kinetic profile. FSH15 also exhibits a stronger binding free energy, due in large part to formation of closer and more persistent salt-bridges with FSHR.This research was supported by National Institute of Health Grant P01 AG-029531 to GRB. LiS Consulting provided support in the form of a salary for GHL, but did not have any additional role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The specific role of this author is articulated in the 'author contributions' section

Synthesis dependent characteristics of Sr1-xMnxTiO3 (x=0.03, 0.05, 0.07 and 0.09)

Sr1-xMnxTiO3 (where x = 0.03, 0.05, 0.07 and 0.09) was synthesized via different routes that include solid-state, oxalate precipitation and freeze drying. In oxalate precipitation technique, compositions corresponding to 3 and 5 mol % doping of Mn were monophasic whereas the higher compositions revealed the presence of the secondary phases such as MnO, Mn3O4 etc., as confirmed by high resolution X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies. The decomposition behavior of the precursors prepared using oxalate precipitation method corresponding to the above mentioned compositions was studied. Nanopowders of compositions pertaining to 5 to 9 mol % of Mn doping were obtained using freeze-drying technique. The average crystallite size of these nanopowders was found to be in the 35 to 65 nm range. The microstructural studies carried out on the sintered ceramics, fabricated using powders synthesized by different routes established the fine grained nature (< 1 microm) of the one obtained by freeze drying method. Raman scattering studies were carried out in order to complement the observations made from XRD regarding the phase purity. The dielectric properties of the ceramics obtained by different synthesis routes were studied in the 80 - 300 K temperature range at 100 kHz and the effect of grain size has been discussed.Comment: 38 pages, 4 tables, 13 figure

Attribute Based Secured and Efficient Cloud Storage Middleware for Mobile Cloud Computing using PDP

Today handheld devices are playing more vital roles in the people�s daily lives with the fast development of wireless technology. All these devices use Internet for fetching & accessing services. Many current applications are being deployed on Cloud to save hardware & software cost. Mobile cloud has become remarkable cloud service model; in which, mobile devices are used as the information collecting and processing nodes for the cloud infrastructure. Cloud has become the pervasive digital platform for many network applications in their quest to provide a single unified digital platform. In this paper, we present insignificant Cloud-based storage framework. This framework will provide an easy-to-use file navigation service for attribute-based fill querying. Simultaneously, it incorporates an effective structure for users to verify their data integrity, which can relieve much load from mobile devices. Experimental simulations show that the proposed framework is effective to provide flexible data sharing in mobile computing environments