Neuroscience Near-Peer-Led Flipped Classroom Improves Student Confidence With Clinical Application of Content and Test-Taking Skills

Introduction The ability to apply knowledge gained in neuroscience coursework to a clinical scenario is found to be difficult by many medical students. Neuroscience is both important for future clinical practice and an area frequently tested on USMLE Step 1 examinations. Methods Second-year medical students created a peer-led flipped classroom to help first-year students practice applying medical neuroscience course information to clinical situations and demonstrate how that information might be tested in board-style questions. The second-year students designed a series of board-style questions that included explanations for both the correct and incorrect answers. We divided the first-year students (n = 80) into small groups during the flipped classroom sessions, where they were led by second-year medical students in discussion about the questions and clinical situations. Results Students reported agreement that the session addressed gaps in their knowledge and provided them with useful critical thinking skills for approaching board-style questions (83% and 81% agreed or strongly agreed, respectively). Discussion The flipped classroom improved student confidence in both applying neuroscience concepts to clinical scenarios and to board-style vignette questions

Regulation of Adult Neurogenesis by the Hippocampal Cholecystokinin Network

Adult neurogenesis is the process of generating functional neurons from neural stem cells (NSCs) in the adult brain. In humans, this unique form of neuroplasticity is restricted to the dentate gyrus (DG) of the hippocampus. Unlike developmental neurogenesis, adult neurogenesis is regulated by local and long distance neuronal circuit activity. However, the identities of specific cell types, neurotransmitters, and receptors that facilitate this regulation remain largely unknown. Studies utilizing animal and cell culture models suggest that the neuropeptide cholecystokinin (CCK) serves as a mitogenic signal for NSCs in the adult brain, but the direct effects of CCK have remained unclear.Bachelor of Scienc

Neuroscience Near-Peer-Led Flipped Classroom Improves Student Confidence With Clinical Application of Content and Test-Taking Skills

Introduction The ability to apply knowledge gained in neuroscience coursework to a clinical scenario is found to be difficult by many medical students. Neuroscience is both important for future clinical practice and an area frequently tested on USMLE Step 1 examinations. Methods Second-year medical students created a peer-led flipped classroom to help first-year students practice applying medical neuroscience course information to clinical situations and demonstrate how that information might be tested in board-style questions. The second-year students designed a series of board-style questions that included explanations for both the correct and incorrect answers. We divided the first-year students (n = 80) into small groups during the flipped classroom sessions, where they were led by second-year medical students in discussion about the questions and clinical situations. Results Students reported agreement that the session addressed gaps in their knowledge and provided them with useful critical thinking skills for approaching board-style questions (83% and 81% agreed or strongly agreed, respectively). Discussion The flipped classroom improved student confidence in both applying neuroscience concepts to clinical scenarios and to board-style vignette questions

An Adeno-Associated Virus-Based Toolkit for Preferential Targeting and Manipulating Quiescent Neural Stem Cells in the Adult Hippocampus

Summary: Quiescent neural stem cells (qNSCs) with radial morphology are the only proven source of new neurons in the adult mammalian brain. Our understanding of the roles of newly generated neurons depends on the ability to target and manipulate adult qNSCs. Although various strategies have been developed to target and manipulate adult hippocampal qNSCs, they often suffer from prolonged breeding, low recombination efficiency, and non-specific labeling. Therefore, developing a readily manufactured viral vector that allows flexible packaging and robust expression of various transgenes in qNSCs is a pressing need. Here, we report a recombinant adeno-associated virus serotype 4 (rAAV4)-based toolkit that preferentially targets hippocampal qNSCs and allows for lineage tracing, functional analyses, and activity manipulation of adult qNSCs. Importantly, targeting qNSCs in a non-Cre-dependent fashion opens the possibility for studying qNSCs in less genetically tractable animal species and may have translational impact in gene therapy by preferentially targeting qNSCs. : In this article, Song and colleagues report a recombinant adeno-associated virus serotype 4-based toolkit comprising several distinct rAAV4 vectors that preferentially target qNSCs within the hippocampus. They demonstrate that rAAV4-mediated transgene expression is robust in qNSCs and allows for lineage tracing, genetic manipulation using the Cre-Lox system, functional analyses using electrophysiology and calcium imaging, and activity manipulation using chemogenetics. Keywords: adult hippocampal neural stem cells, rAAV4, quiescence, radial, toolki