Use of Virtual Games for Interactive Learning in a Pharmacy Curriculum

Background and purpose: To evaluate student pharmacists’ attitudes and satisfaction toward playing educational virtual games in the classroom. Educational activity and setting: The study setting was playing virtual games in the classroom setting. First year student pharmacists participated in two Mimycx quests in the Healthcare Communication and the Psychiatry/Neurology courses. Students were randomly assigned into teams and worked together to complete the assigned quest games. Completion of the pre- and post-quest questionnaires via Qualtrics was voluntary. Findings: A total of 79 student pharmacists played the Mimycx quests. Only 66 students completed both pre- and post-quest questionnaires. Students indicated their familiarity with game concepts related to the virtual environment and avatars used in the study. The change in their attitudes and satisfaction about the Mimycx virtual learning experience was significant between the two learning time points. Discussion and summary: The use of virtual gaming technology could enhance student pharmacists’ learning and engagement in the classroom. Students benefitted from increased familiarity with virtual, educational gaming concepts in their experiences with Mimycx although no statistically significant differences were found regarding their attitudes toward communication and teamwork

Isolation and Characterizations of Neurons and Astrocytes from Rat Brains

Objective. We devised a method to isolate and culture neurons and astrocytes from the same newborn rat pups. Background. The ability to isolate different cells from the brain offers advantages for studying the complexity of the brain and the effects of angiotensin peptides on this system. Culturing of astrocytes and neurons from the same animals will allow us to study the interplay between these cells, in the control of central effects of the renin angiotensin peptides. Methods. Astrocytes and neurons were cultured from 2-3 days old rats by physical dissociation. The cell mixture destined for astrocyte cultures were plated in T-75 flasks while the cell mixtures destined for neurons were cultured in plates/coverslips previously coated with poly-L-lysine. Immunostaining techniques were used to determine the type of cells that were cultured. Results. We successfully cultured astrocytes using this method. Astrocyte cultures stained positive with glial fibrillary acidic protein, a selective marker for astrocytes but, stained negative with an antibody against neurofilament protein, a neuronal marker. These findings suggest that our current cell isolation methods for astrocytes yield relatively pure astrocyte cultures. However, the technique that was used to isolate pure neurons was unsuccessful. Only a few neurons survived the isolation method and were discernible under the microscope in culture. While we have successfully shown that growing of relatively pure astrocytes cultures could be illustrated with immunostaining techniques, the growing of neuronal cultures was unsuccessful, requiring a different protocol. Grants. This study was supported by a HPD Grant