Initiating undergraduate medical students into communities of research practise: what do supervisors recommend?

Abstract Background Much has been written in the educational literature on the value of communities of practise in enhancing student learning. Here, we take the experience of senior undergraduate medical students involved in short-term research as a member of a team as a paradigm for learning in a community of practise. Based on feedback from experienced supervisors, we offer recommendations for initiating students into the research culture of their team. In so doing, we endeavour to create a bridge between theory and practise through disseminating advice on good supervisory practise, where the supervisor is perceived as an educator responsible for designing the research process to optimize student learning. Methods Using the questionnaire design tool SurveyMonkey and comprehensive lists of contact details of staff who had supervised research projects at the University of Edinburgh during 1995 - 2008, current and previous supervisors were invited to recommend procedures which they had found successful in initiating students into the research culture of a team. Text responses were then coded in the form of derivative recommendations and categorized under general themes and sub-themes. Results Using the chi-square tests of linear trend and association, evidence was found for a positive trend towards more experienced supervisors offering responses (χ2 = 16.833, p 2 = 0.482, p = 0.487, n = 203), respectively. A total of 126 codes were extracted from the text responses of 65 respondents. These codes were simplified to form a complete list of 52 recommendations, which were in turn categorized under seven derivative overarching themes, the most highly represented themes being Connecting the student with others and Cultivating self-efficacy in research competence. Conclusions Through the design of a coding frame for supervisor responses, a wealth of ideas has been captured to make communities of research practise effective mediums for undergraduate student learning. The majority of these recommendations are underpinned by educational theory and have the potential to take the learner beyond the stage of initiation to that of integration within their community of research practise.</p

Three-Dimensional Characterization of the Vascular Bed in Bone Metastasis of the Rat by Microcomputed Tomography (MicroCT)

BackgroundAngiogenesis contributes to proliferation and metastatic dissemination of cancer cells. Anatomy of blood vessels in tumors has been characterized with 2D techniques (histology or angiography). They are not fully representative of the trajectories of vessels throughout the tissues and are not adapted to analyze changes occurring inside the bone marrow cavities. Methodology/Principal Findings We have characterized the vasculature of bone metastases in 3D at different times of evolution of the disease. Metastases were induced in the femur of Wistar rats by a local injection of Walker 256/B cells. Microfil®, (a silicone-based polymer) was injected at euthanasia in the aorta 12, 19 and 26 days after injection of tumor cells. Undecalcified bones (containing the radio opaque vascular casts) were analyzed by microCT, and a first 3D model was reconstructed. Bones were then decalcified and reanalyzed by microCT; a second model (comprising only the vessels) was obtained and overimposed on the former, thus providing a clear visualization of vessel trajectories in the invaded metaphysic allowing quantitative evaluation of the vascular volume and vessel diameter. Histological analysis of the marrow was possible on the decalcified specimens. Walker 256/B cells induced a marked osteolysis with cortical perforations. The metaphysis of invaded bones became progressively hypervascular. New vessels replaced the major central medullar artery coming from the diaphyseal shaft. They sprouted from the periosteum and extended into the metastatic area. The newly formed vessels were irregular in diameter, tortuous with a disorganized architecture. A quantitative analysis of vascular volume indicated that neoangiogenesis increased with the development of the tumor with the appearance of vessels with a larger diameter. Conclusion This new method evidenced the tumor angiogenesis in 3D at different development times of the metastasis growth. Bone and the vascular bed can be identified by a double reconstruction and allowed a quantitative evaluation of angiogenesis upon time

Further characterization of structural requirements for ligands at the dopamine D-2 and D-3 receptor: Exploring the thiophene moiety

The present study describes the synthesis and in vitro pharmacology of a novel series of dopaminergic agents in which the classical phenylethylamine pharmacophore is replaced by a thienylethylamine moiety. In general, the novel compounds showed a moderate affinity for the dopamine (DA) D-2 and D-3 receptors. When the thienylethylamine moiety is fixed in a rigid system, the affinity for the DA receptor is significantly increased. However, in the tricyclic hexahydrothianaphthoxazine structure, the affinity for the DA receptors is diminished

PHARMACOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF R-(+)-7-OH-DPAT, A PUTATIVE DOPAMINE D-3 RECEPTOR-LIGAND

The R-(+)-isomer of 7-hydroxy-2-(N,N-di-n-propylamino)tetralin (7-OH-DPAT) bound with a more than 200-fold higher affinity to cloned human dopamine D-3 receptors (K-i=0.57 nM) than to dopamine D-2 receptors; the corresponding S-(-)-enantiomer had considerably less affinity for both dopamine receptor subtypes, indicating that the known enantiomer selectivity of 7-OH-DPAT for the 'classical' dopamine D-2 receptor subtype extends to the recently discovered dopamine D-3 receptor subtype. In rats R-(+)-7-OH-DPAT dose dependently (10-1000 nmol/kg) decreased dopamine release and induced yawning, while sniffing behaviour occurred at the highest dose tested (1000 nmol/kg). The possibility that the inhibition of dopamine release and the elicitation of yawning are mediated by dopamine D-3 receptors is considered