Real-World Insights on the Management of Immune-Mediated Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (iTTP) With Caplacizumab

peer reviewe

Improving Student Learning Through Learner Interaction

Two principles of good teaching are encouraging active learning and emphasizing time on task. Three logically distinct components, ability, inclination, and sensitivity have been identified as necessary for dispositional behaviour towards critical thinking. Not all students do possess all three, and some may lack the discipline-sensitive imagination to develop their own activities for their learning: this is where technology helps us devise welldesigned exercises. Furthermore access to activities that students enjoy interacting with should encourage them to spend more time with the material, hence increasing ‘time on task’ in a productive way. An on line site was developed a couple of years ago in the unit Clinical Physiology. The site has now been evaluated by questionnaires given to students. Results show that access and navigation are satisfactory, but there was poor use of the few interactive activities. The resources were perceived as useful to the learning. Students’ assessment in the unit is based on the discussion of case studies; answers in examination have reflected mostly a surface approach learning: facts, but no development of reasoning in the answers. The results of the evaluation of the on line site and the examinations answers motivated us to further develop the on line site with the aim of encouraging active learning and time-on-task. Using interactive activities that are interesting and enjoyable can help students develop inclination and sensitivity in the thinking of the discipline

Transferring a successful strategy for supporting accelerated nursing students from a small to a large cohort

In 2009 and 2010, withdrawal rates from a Pharmacology unit of accelerated QUT nursing students in the first year of their degree, were higher than for continuing students. The cohort of 216 accelerated students in 2011 had university or non-university qualification or equivalent experience and included domestic and international students. A previously tested intervention was introduced in 2011 to improve retention rates and support all Pharmacology students in their first year of nursing. The intervention involved a community website, on-line tutors and an “O week” workshop comprising information about library resources, effective learning strategies and learning tips from a previous student as well as review anatomy, physiology and microbiology lectures. Withdrawal rates for accelerated students in the Pharmacology unit improved and all students found the workshop and review lectures to be informative and valuable. The intervention was therefore successfully transferred to a large, diverse cohort of accelerated nursing students

Generating Flash files of Your Lectures: Good Practice Strategies Helping Students Engage with Their Learning

Our students come from diverse backgrounds. They need flexibility in their learning. First year students tend to worry when they miss lectures or part of lectures. Having the lecture as an on line resource allows students to miss a lecture without stressing about it and to be more relaxed in the lecture, knowing that anything they may miss will be available later. The resource: The Windows based program from Blueberry Software (not Blackberry!) - BB Flashback - allows the simultaneous recording of the computer screen together with the audio, as well as Webcam recording. Editing capabilities include adding pause buttons, graphics and text to the file before exporting it in a flash file. Any diagrams drawn on the board or shown via visualiser can be photographed and easily incorporated. The audio from the file can be extracted if required to be posted as podcast. Exporting modes other than Flash are also available, allowing vodcasting if you wish. What you will need: - the recording software: it can be installed on the lecture hall computer just prior to lecture if needed - a computer: either the ones in lecture halls, especially if fitted with audio recording, or a laptop (I have used audio recording via Bluetooth for mobility). Feedback from students has been positive and will be presented on the poster

Histology challenge : an interactive program for 1st year students

Our students come from diverse backgrounds. They need flexibility in their learning, and opportunities to review aspects of curriculum they are less confident with. An online teaching and learning programme called the Histology Challenge has been developed to supplement learning experiences offered in several first year anatomy and anatomy & physiology units at QUT. The programme is designed to be integrated with the existing Blackboard sites. The Histology Challenge emphasises the foundation concept that a complex system, such as the human body, can be better understood by examining its simpler components. The tutorial allows students to examine the cells and tissues which ultimately determine structural and functional properties of body organs. The program is interactive, asking students to make decisions and choices, demonstrating an integrated understanding of systemic and cellular aspects. It provides users with the ability to progress at their own pace and to test their understanding and knowledge. For the developer the learning activity can be easily controlled and modified via the use of text files. There are several key elements of this programme, designed to promote specific aspects of student learning. Minimum text is used, instead there is a strong emphasis on instructive artwork and original, high quality histology images presented within a framework that reinforces learning and promotes problem solving skills

Reversal of cardiac and renal fibrosis by pirfenidone and spironolactone in streptozotocin-diabetic rats

1. Fibrosis leads to chronic impairment of cardiac and renal function and thus reversal of existing fibrosis may improve function and survival. This project has determined whether pirfenidone, a new antifibrotic compound, and spironolactone, an aldosterone antagonist, reverse both deposition of the major extracellular matrix proteins, collagen and fibronectin, and functional changes in the streptozotocin(STZ)-diabetic rat. 2. Streptozotocin (65 mg kg(−1) i.v.)-treated rats given pirfenidone (5-methyl-1-phenyl-2-[1H]-pyridone; approximately 200 mg kg(−1) day(−1) as 0.2–2g 1(−1) drinking water) or spironolactone (50 mg kg(−1) day(−1) s.c.) for 4 weeks starting 4 weeks after STZ showed no attenuation of the increased blood glucose concentrations and increased food and water intakes which characterize diabetes in this model. 3. STZ-treatment increased perivascular and interstitial collagen deposition in the left ventricle and kidney, and surrounding the aorta. Cardiac, renal and plasma fibronectin concentrations increased in STZ-diabetic rats. Passive diastolic stiffness increased in isolated hearts from STZ-diabetic rats. Both pirfenidone and spironolactone treatment attenuated these increases without normalizing the decreased +dP/dt(max) of STZ-diabetic hearts. 4. Left ventricular papillary muscles from STZ-treated rats showed decreased maximal positive inotropic responses to noradrenaline, EMD 57033 (calcium sensitizer) and calcium chloride; this was not reversed by pirfenidone or spironolactone treatment. STZ-treatment transiently decreased GFR and urine flow rates in isolated perfused kidneys; pirfenidone but not spironolactone prevented the return to control values. 5. Thus, short-term pirfenidone and spironolactone treatment reversed cardiac and renal fibrosis and attenuated the increased diastolic stiffness without normalizing cardiac contractility or renal function in STZ-diabetic rats

Renal impairment in deoxycorticosterone acetate-salt hypertensive rats

This study has compared renal function in deoxycorticosterone (DOCA)-salt hypertensive Wistar rats (uninephrectomy followed by administration of DOCA 25 mg subcutaneously every fourth day and 1% NaCl in the drinking water) with various control rats using the isolated perfused kidney preparation. The systolic blood pressure of DOCA-salt hypertensive rats was 180 +/- 10 mmHg (uninephrectomy controls: 136 +/- 9 mmHg) while normalization of calcium intake (DOCA-Ca rats, 1% CaCl2 in water) attenuated this increase (systolic blood pressure, 146 +/- 5 mmHg). Renal mass corrected for body weight increased by 25% after uninephrectomy, 55% in uninephrectomized rats given NaCl, 152% in DOCA-salt rats and 147% in DOCA-Ca rats. At a renal perfusion pressure of 135 mmHg, isolated perfused kidneys from DOCA-salt rats showed decreases of 48% in glomerular filtration rate and 69% in sodium excretion with an increase of 44% in renal vascular resistance compared with uninephrectomized rats. There were no significant differences in renal function between DOCA-salt and DOCA-Ca rats. Histological assessment of renal pathology showed proximal tubular hypertrophy and hyperplasia, marked focal distal tubular atrophy, interstitial fibrosis and glomerular hypercellularity in DOCA rats compared with UNX rats. Lesions were less obvious in UNX-salt or DOCA-Ca rats. The lack of direct correlation between alterations in function and pathology may be explained by the compensatory effect of remaining healthy or hypertrophied nephrons. Thus, the DOCA-salt model of hypertension in rats is associated with marked structural kidney damage and severely decreased kidney function. Marked attenuation of systemic hypertension by normalizing calcium intake in DOCA-salt rats did not prevent impairment of kidney function