Modification of national OSCE due to COVID-19-Implementation and students' feedback

Aim The aims were to describe the development of a modified national online OSCE during COVID-19 and assess related student feedback.Material and methods The modified online OSCE comprising of eight question entities was organised simultaneously in all four dental institutes of Finland using the Moodle virtual learning environment. All fourth-year students (n = 179) attended the examination online at home. Student feedback was collected via an anonymous questionnaire with multiple-choice questions and open-ended questions concerning attitudes towards the modified online OSCE, as well as content and usability of the question entities in the examination. Means and standard deviations were calculated for multiple-choice questions. Content analysis was used for open-ended questions.Results Of 179 students, 119 (66%) consented to the study. Students experienced they had received adequate information (mean 3.8; SD 1.2), had a positive attitude before the examination (4.0; 1.0) and found the practice test useful (3.7; 1.1) (range 1-5). Technical implementation (2.7; 0.7) and the difficulty of the questions (2.9; 0.6) (range 1-4) were found to be good. The teaching students received during their studies was sufficient (3.2; 0.5) (range 1-4). Content (mean 3.2; 0.4) and usability (2.9; 0.4) of the question entities were good (range 1-4). The themes arising from open-ended questions were importance and practicality of the topic (in questions) in relation to the work of a dentist and gratitude for the rapid conversion of the OSCE into an online examination despite COVID-19. The themes arising from negative experiences included difficulties in completing the examination within the time allocated, and dissatisfaction with the model answers provided after the examination.Conclusion The positive student feedback towards the modified online OSCE encourages including an online examination to complement the traditional OSCE

Early cellular signaling responses to axonal injury

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>We have used optic nerve injury as a model to study early signaling events in neuronal tissue following axonal injury. Optic nerve injury results in the selective death of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs). The time course of cell death takes place over a period of days with the earliest detection of RGC death at about 48 hr post injury. We hypothesized that in the period immediately following axonal injury, there are changes in the soma that signal surrounding glia and neurons and that start programmed cell death. In the current study, we investigated early changes in cellular signaling and gene expression that occur within the first 6 hrs post optic nerve injury.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We found evidence of cell to cell signaling within 30 min of axonal injury. We detected differences in phosphoproteins and gene expression within the 6 hrs time period. Activation of TNFα and glutamate receptors, two pathways that can initiate cell death, begins in RGCs within 6 hrs following axonal injury. Differential gene expression at 6 hrs post injury included genes involved in cytokine, neurotrophic factor signaling (Socs3) and apoptosis (Bax).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We interpret our studies to indicate that both neurons and glia in the retina have been signaled within 30 min after optic nerve injury. The signals are probably initiated by the RGC soma. In addition, signals activating cellular death pathways occur within 6 hrs of injury, which likely lead to RGC degeneration.</p

Diagnostic criteria for temporomandibular disorders (DC/TMD) : interexaminer reliability of the Finnish version of Axis I clinical diagnoses

Recently, updated diagnostic criteria for temporomandibular disorders (DC/TMD) were published to assess TMD in a standardised way in clinical and research settings. The DC/TMD protocol has been translated into Finnish using specific cultural equivalency procedures. To assess the interexaminer reliability using the Finnish translations of the DC/TMD-FIN Axis I clinical diagnostic assessment instruments. Reliability assessment data were collected during a 1-day DC/TMD Examiner Training Course at the University of Turku, Finland, in collaboration with the International DC/TMD Training and Calibration Center in Malmo University. Clinical TMD examinations according to the Finnish pre-final version of the DC/TMD Axis I assessment protocol were performed by four experienced TMD specialists on altogether 16 models. Kappa coefficient, overall percentage agreement (%A) as well as positive (PA) and negative (NA) agreements were used to define the reliability. Myofascial pain with referral, headache attributed to TMD and disc displacement (DD) without reduction without limited opening showed excellent kappa values (range 087-100). Fair-to-good reliability was observed for diagnoses of myalgia (k = 067), arthralgia (k = 071) and DD with reduction (k = 064). The PA was high for all pain-related diagnoses and DD without reduction without limited opening (medians 83%), and acceptable for DD with reduction (median 67%). The NA was high (medians 87%) for all DC/TMD diagnoses, except for myalgia which showed acceptable NA (median 75%). The %A was high for all assessed diagnoses (medians >85%). The findings of this study showed DC/TMD-FIN Axis I to demonstrate sufficiently high reliability for pain-related TMD diagnoses