Wellness module for medical teachers: A pilot study

This article was migrated. The article was not marked as recommended. BackgroundHealth promotion and disease prevention should be facilitated at workplace by advocating a healthy diet and physical activity. In view of many lifestyle disorders health professionals also need to give attention to improve their health behavior.Behavior change plan have been effective in achieving this goal however, it has not been investigated for healthcare professionals.Therefore, wellness module was developed and evaluated regarding its effectiveness in promoting health behavior.MethodTotal sample size is 30 (10 from medical, dental and physiotherapy). 24 responded (response rate 80%). A format for wellness was circulated amongst them and their pre and post test scores were recorded. Qualitative evaluation was done by semi-structured interviews of participants.ResultsOut of 30, 24 faculty responded for follow up (response rate 80%). Wellness goals : 13 physical fitness, 8-nutrition, 2-recreation and 1- safety. Self reported progress showed that 85% achieved target completely and 15% partially.Themes from semi-structured interviews: were barriers for achieving target are lack of time, laziness/ apathy, temptations, sickness, injury/pain. Behaviors reported as important towards goal attainment were time management, feedback partner, self control, visual cues. Benefits of the BCP as reported by participants were increased stamina, feeling of well being.ConclusionWellness module involving behavior change plan was well received by faculty and effective in promoting positive health behavior.

Genetic mitigation strategies to tackle agricultural GHG emissions: The case for biological nitrification inhibition technology

Accelerated soil-nitrifier activity and rapid nitrification are the cause of declining nitrogen-use efficiency (NUE) and enhanced nitrous oxide (N₂O) emissions from farming. Biological nitrification inhibition (BNI) is the ability of certain plant roots to suppress soil-nitrifier activity, through production and release of nitrification inhibitors. The power of phytochemicals with BNI-function needs to be harnessed to control soil-nitrifier activity and improve nitrogen-cycling in agricultural systems. Transformative biological technologies designed for genetic mitigation are needed, so that BNI-enabled crop-livestock and cropping systems can rein in soil-nitrifier activity, to help reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and globally make farming nitrogen efficient and less harmful to environment. This will reinforce the adaptation or mitigation impact of other climate-smart agriculture technologies.

Accumulation of stem sugar and its remobilisation in response to drought stress in a sweet sorghum genotype and its near-isogenic lines carrying different stay-green loci

Near isogenic lines (NILs) of sweet sorghum genotype S35 into which individual stay green loci were introgressed, were used to understand the contribution of Stay green loci to stem sugar accumulation and its remobilization under drought stress exposure. Sugar and starch content, activities of sugar metabolism enzymes and levels of their expression were studied in the 3rd (source) leaf from panicle and the 5th (sugar storing) internode of the three lines, in irrigated plants and in plants exposed to a brief drought exposure at the panicle emergence stage. Annotation of genes in the respective Stay green loci introgressed in the NILs was carried out using bioinformatics tools. The leaves of NILs accumulated more photoassimilates and the internodes accumulated more sugar, as compared to the parent S35 line. Drought stress exposure led to a decrease in the starch and sugar levels in leaves of all three lines, while an increase in sugar levels was observed in internodes of the NILs. Sugar fluxes were accompanied by alterations in the activities of sugar metabolizing enzymes as well as the expression of genes related to sugar metabolism and transport. Remobilization of sugars from the stem internodes was apparent in the NILs when subjected to drought stress, since the peduncle, which supports the panicle, showed an increase in the sugar content, even when photoassimation in source leaves was reduced. Several genes related to carbohydrate metabolism were located in the Stay green loci, which probably contributed to variation in the parameters studied.

Bi-allelic inactivation is more prevalent at relapse in multiple myeloma, identifying RB1 as an independent prognostic marker

The purpose of this study is to identify prognostic markers and treatment targets using a clinically certified sequencing panel in multiple myeloma. We performed targeted sequencing of 578 individuals with plasma cell neoplasms using the FoundationOne Heme panel and identified clinically relevant abnormalities and novel prognostic markers. Mutational burden was associated with maf and proliferation gene expression groups, and a high-mutational burden was associated with a poor prognosis. We identified homozygous deletions that were present in multiple myeloma within key genes, including CDKN2C, RB1, TRAF3, BIRC3 and TP53, and that bi-allelic inactivation was significantly enriched at relapse. Alterations in CDKN2C, TP53, RB1 and the t(4;14) were associated with poor prognosis. Alterations in RB1 were predominantly homozygous deletions and were associated with relapse and a poor prognosis which was independent of other genetic markers, including t(4;14), after multivariate analysis. Bi-allelic inactivation of key tumor suppressor genes in myeloma was enriched at relapse, especially in RB1, CDKN2C and TP53 where they have prognostic significance.

Impact of interprofessional education module on attitudes of health-care providers involved in maxillofacial rehabilitation: A cross-sectional study

Purpose:

Rehabilitation of maxillofacial deformities is a challenging task because it involves not only a lot of skills and expertise but also many disciplines working in unison for optimum outcome. However, more often than not a prosthodontist is not a member of tumor board and consulted after surgery which affects the prognosis of the rehabilitation adversely. There was a perceived need to create awareness among referring surgeons and physicians, and interprofessional education (IPE) initiatives were deemed necessary to improve this collaboration.

Methodology:

Four-hour IPE module was developed involving residents and faculty from three disciplines. The change in attitudes was evaluated quantitatively using Attitudes toward Health Care Teams questionnaire both before and after the module. Semi-structured interviews with selected participants provided the qualitative feedback.

Results:

The questionnaire consisted of 14 questions answered on 5-point Likert scale (1–5). The mean score of pretest was 44.2 and of posttest was 49.1. Difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05). Higher score indicates better attitude.

Conclusion:

A brief IPE program can improve interprofessional attitudes and collaborative behavior of health-care professionals involved in maxillofacial rehabilitation. It enables the professionals to understand interact and share viewpoints regarding most critical issues faced by them and find solutions to achieve best possible patient care.

Smart, Innovative and Intelligent Technologies Used in Drug Designing

Smart and intelligent computational methods are essential nowadays for designing, manufacturing and optimizing new drugs. New and innovative computational tools and algorithms are consistently developed and applied for the development of novel therapeutic compounds in many research projects. Rapid developments in the architecture of computers have also provided complex calculations to be performed in a smart, intelligent and timely manner for desired quality outputs. Research groups worldwide are developing drug discovery platforms and innovative tools following smart manufacturing ideas using highly advanced biophysical, statistical and mathematical methods for accelerated discovery and analysis of smaller molecules. This chapter discusses novel innovative applications in drug discovery involving use of structure-based drug design which utilizes geometrical knowledge of the three-dimensional protein structures. It discusses statistical and physics based methods such as quantum mechanics and classical molecular dynamics which can also play a major role in improving the performance and in prediction of computational drug discovery. Lastly, the authors provide insights on recent developments in cloud computing with significant increase in smart and intelligent computational power thus allowing larger data sets to be analyzed simultaneously on multi processor cloud systems. Future directions for the research are outlined.

Mobile learning app: A novel method to teach clinical decision making in prosthodontics

BACKGROUND

Prosthodontics involves replacing lost dentofacial structures using artificial substitutes. Due to availability of many materials and techniques, clinician's clinical decision-making regarding appropriate selection of prosthesis requires critical thinking abilities and is demanding. Especially during graduate training years, learners do not receive the exposure to a variety of cases, thus their clinical reasoning skills are not developed optimally. Therefore, using the trend of incorporating technology in education, we developed a mobile learning app for this purpose. The aim of this study was to evaluate learners' perceptions of this app's utility and impact on their clinical decision-making skills.

METHODS

After taking informed consent, interns of the Department of Prosthodontics of VSPM Dental College, Nagpur, India, during the academic year May 2015-May 2016 were sent the link for the app to be installed in their Android smartphones. Their perceptions were recorded on a feedback questionnaire using 5-point Likert scale. The script concordance test (SCT) was used to check for changes in clinical reasoning abilities.

RESULTS

Out of 120 students who were sent the link, 102 downloaded the link and 92 completed the feedback questionnaire and appeared for the SCT (response rate: 76%). The overall response to the app was positive for more than two-thirds of interns, who reported a greater confidence in their clinical decision-making around prostheses through this app and 94% of the students felt that this app should be regularly used along with conventional teaching techniques. Mean SCT scores were pretest 41.5 (±1.7) and posttest 63 (±2.4) (P < 0.005).

DISCUSSION

Clinical decision-making in prosthodontics, a mobile learning app, is an effective way to improve clinical reasoning skills for planning prosthodontic rehabilitation. It is well received by students.

Development and evaluation of learning module on clinical decision-making in Prosthodontics

PURPOSE

Best practice strategies for helping students learn the reasoning skills of problem solving and critical thinking (CT) remain a source of conjecture, particularly with regard to CT. The dental education literature is fundamentally devoid of research on the cognitive components of clinical decision-making.

AIM

This study was aimed to develop and evaluate the impact of blended learning module on clinical decision-making skills of dental graduates for planning prosthodontics rehabilitation.

METHODOLOGY

An interactive teaching module consisting of didactic lectures on clinical decision-making and a computer-assisted case-based treatment planning software was developed Its impact on cognitive knowledge gain in clinical decision-making was evaluated using an assessment involving problem-based multiple choice questions and paper-based case scenarios.

RESULTS

Mean test scores were: Pretest (17 ± 1), posttest 1 (21 ± 2) and posttest 2 (43 ± 3). Comparison of mean scores was done with one-way ANOVA test. There was overall significant difference in between mean scores at all the three points (P < 0.001). A pair-wise comparison of mean scores was done with Bonferroni test. The mean difference is significant at the 0.05 level. The pair-wise comparison shows that posttest 2 score is significantly higher than posttest 1 and posttest 1 is significantly higher than pretest that is, pretest 2 > posttest 1 > pretest.

CONCLUSION

Blended teaching methods employing didactic lectures on the clinical decision-making as well as computer assisted case-based learning can be used to improve quality of clinical decision-making in prosthodontic rehabilitation for dental graduates.

Evaluation of Effect of Astringent on Oral Mucosa as a Non-surgical Preprosthetic Treatment Modality in Edentulous Patients: An In Vivo Study

Preprosthetic treatments are advocated in edentulous patients to enhance the denture bearing areas for good denture support. Most of the times the preprosthetic treatments are considered only in a surgical way. Ideally every edentulous patient undergoing complete denture treatment needs a non-surgical preprosthetic treatment. So that, the denture bearing area will be properly prepared before the denture construction. The present study was conducted on thirty completely edentulous male patients who had visited to our Institute for the treatment. Each patient was asked to massage with astringent gel on the denture bearing mucosa over a 4 weeks period. Exfoliative cytology was used to collect the surface cells from the palatal mucosa. First scrape was taken before the stimulation treatment was started. The second and third scrape was taken after the stimulation treatment with astringent gel for each patient. In this way total 90 scrapes were made and the each smear was stained with the Papanicolaou's technique to examine under light microscope. About 100 cells were counted from each stained smear. The number of parabasal cells, intermediate cells and superficial cells were recorded to calculate the degree of keratinization. Statistical analysis was performed. A significant difference (p < 0.001) in keratinization levels was found. The mean percentage of superficial cells before the stimulation treatment was 79.80 %; this percentage was gradually increased to 84.60 and 90.57 % after the 2  and 4 weeks period of stimulation treatment respectively with astringent gel.