The use of technology in higher education teaching by academics during the COVID-19 emergency remote teaching period: a systematic review

This paper presents a systematic review of scholarly efforts that uniquely emerged at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and focused primarily on higher education teachers' perspectives on technology use and on associated changes in the relationship between teachers and students amidst the transition to emergency remote teaching worldwide. Our narrative synthesis of 32 studies, the majority of which come from lower-and middle-income countries/regions, suggests that numerous factors interact to shape academics' technology use in emergency remote teaching across higher education contexts. We report strong findings of teachers' resilience and resourcefulness in their self-exploration of various technologies and teaching strategies in response to the continued severity of the pandemic. Ultimately, this review suggests directions for further research on engaging educational leaders and faculty in reimagining teaching as not only a core academic function of higher education, but also, and importantly, a humanising experience shaped by an ethics of care.

Assessing research impact in academic clinical medicine: a study using Research Excellence Framework pilot impact indicators

BACKGROUND

Funders of medical research the world over are increasingly seeking, in research assessment, to complement traditional output measures of scientific publications with more outcome-based indicators of societal and economic impact. In the United Kingdom, the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) developed proposals for the Research Excellence Framework (REF) to allocate public research funding to higher education institutions, inter alia, on the basis of the social and economic impact of their research. In 2010, it conducted a pilot exercise to test these proposals and refine impact indicators and criteria.

METHODS

The impact indicators proposed in the 2010 REF impact pilot exercise are critically reviewed and appraised using insights from the relevant literature and empirical data collected for the University of Oxford's REF pilot submission in clinical medicine. The empirical data were gathered from existing administrative sources and an online administrative survey carried out by the university's Medical Sciences Division among 289 clinical medicine faculty members (48.1% response rate).

RESULTS

The feasibility and scope of measuring research impact in clinical medicine in a given university are assessed. Twenty impact indicators from seven categories proposed by HEFCE are presented; their strengths and limitations are discussed using insights from the relevant biomedical and research policy literature.

CONCLUSIONS

While the 2010 pilot exercise has confirmed that the majority of the proposed indicators have some validity, there are significant challenges in operationalising and measuring these indicators reliably, as well as in comparing evidence of research impact across different cases in a standardised manner. It is suggested that the public funding agencies, medical research charities, universities, and the wider medical research community work together to develop more robust methodologies for capturing and describing impact, including more valid and reliable impact indicators.

In vitro biocompatibility testing of some synthetic polymers used for the achievement of nervous conduits

Biocompatible synthetic polymers are largely used in the bio-medical domain, tissue engineering and in controlled release of medicines. Polymers can be used in the achievement of cardiac and vascular devices, mammary implants, eye lenses, surgical threads, nervous conduits, adhesives, blood substitutes, etc. Our study was axed on the development of cytotoxicity tests for 3 synthetic polymers, namely polyvinyl alcohol, polyethylene glycol and polyvinyl chloride. These tests targeted to determine the viability and morphology of cells (fibroblasts) that were in indirect contact with the studied polymers. Cell viability achieved for all the studied synthetic polymers allowed their frame in biocompatible material category. Cell morphology did not significantly change, thus accomplishing a new biocompatibility criterion. The degree of biocompatibility of the studied polymers varied. Polyvinyl alcohol presented the highest grade of biocompatibility and polyvinyl chloride placed itself at the lowest limit of biocompatibility. The results achieved allowed the selection of those polymers that (by enhancing their degrees of biocompatibility due to the association with various biopolymers) will be used in the development of new biocompatible materials, useful in nervous conduits manufacture.

[Anal sphincter restoration with gracilis muscular flap]

One of the efficient possibilities for regaining the anal continence consists of using the pediculated gracilis muscular flap. The electrostimulation of the anal neosphincter and the functional rehabilitation are of major importance in obtaining a good result. The present paper is based on 5 cases in which this method was applied.

[The effects of cicatrizant wound compresses]

Cicatrisant collagen compress are biomaterials performed from type I collagen purified. Experimental studies including trials carried out in vitro and in vivo, demonstrated the biocompatibility of these biomaterials and their effect on accelerating the process of dermic wound re-epithelization. A subsequent stage of our investigations consisted in clinical trial of these cicatrisant compresses. These were applied to post-traumatismal wounds of variable areas or to 2nd and 3rd degree of deeper burns. The obtained results demonstrated that collagen biomaterials as cicatrizing compresses are well tolerated by human organism, they do not cause inflammations, necroses or other undesirable phenomena at the site of application. Also it was found that these biomaterials are not antigenic, since anticollagen type I antibodies were not present in nome of the treated patients' serum and accelerate the epitelization.