Characterizing chronic pain phenotypes in multiple sclerosis : a nationwide survey study

Acknowledgements The National Multiple Sclerosis Society (NMSS) provided participant recruitment support by distributing study advertisements via their email listserv. The Michigan Institute for Clinical & Health Research (MICHR: NIH award number UL1TR002240) provided participant recruitment support through the UMHealthResearch.org website. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. The authors thank Shubhangi Kulkarni, MS, for her contribution in coordinating this study and collecting these data. The authors have no conflicts of interest to report.Peer reviewedPostprin

Instructor feedback versus no instructor feedback on performance in a laparoscopic virtual reality simulator: a randomized educational trial

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Several studies have found a positive effect on the learning curve as well as the improvement of basic psychomotor skills in the operating room after virtual reality training. Despite this, the majority of surgical and gynecological departments encounter hurdles when implementing this form of training. This is mainly due to lack of knowledge concerning the time and human resources needed to train novice surgeons to an adequate level. The purpose of this trial is to investigate the impact of instructor feedback regarding time, repetitions and self-perception when training complex operational tasks on a virtual reality simulator.</p> <p>Methods/Design</p> <p>The study population consists of medical students on their 4^thto 6^thyear without prior laparoscopic experience. The study is conducted in a skills laboratory at a centralized university hospital. Based on a sample size estimation 98 participants will be randomized to an intervention group or a control group. Both groups have to achieve a predefined proficiency level when conducting a laparoscopic salpingectomy using a surgical virtual reality simulator. The intervention group receives standardized instructor feedback of 10 to 12 min a maximum of three times. The control group receives no instructor feedback. Both groups receive the automated feedback generated by the virtual reality simulator. The study follows the CONSORT Statement for randomized trials. Main outcome measures are time and repetitions to reach the predefined proficiency level on the simulator. We include focus on potential sex differences, computer gaming experience and self-perception.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>The findings will contribute to a better understanding of optimal training methods in surgical education.</p> <p>Trial Registration</p> <p><a href="http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01497782">NCT01497782</a></p

TYRPLAGERI?

Klaus Rifbjerg: Tor(o)menting Written as “reflections on the strange sport of bull-fighting by a relatively civilised Dåne”, the article begins by discussing the unavoidably heated character of arguments, used by any reasonable person against cruelty to animals. Therefore it would be impossible to defend bull-fighting if it did not, as its core, have other meanings, albeit meanings hard to grasp. At least one has to notice the subtle aesthetic aspects - the stylistic variations of movements, the improvisations exploitable under an invariable observation of very strict mies, etc. - that combine to make the fight between man and beast into a very serious ritual of life and death. If one can’t appreciate this playing on forms inside forms, one will never get close to the symbolic content of one man’s playful slaughter of the prototypical animal of natural power: allowing us vicariously to experience a ritual escape from what we most dreadfully fear, the death in death