Medical education in the anatomical sciences: The winds of change continue to blow

At most institutions, education in the anatomical sciences has undergone several changes over the last decade. To identify the changes that have occurred in gross anatomy, microscopic anatomy, neuroscience/neuroanatomy, and embryology courses, directors of these courses were asked to respond to a survey with questions pertaining to total course hours, hours of lecture, and hours of laboratory, whether the course was part of an integrated program or existed as a stand‐alone course, and what type of laboratory experience occurred in the course. These data were compared to data obtained from a similar survey in 2002. Comparison between the data sets suggests several key points some of which include: decreased total hours in gross anatomy and neuroscience/neuroanatomy courses, increased use of virtual microscopy in microscopic anatomy courses, and decreased laboratory hours in embryology courses. Anat Sci Educ 2: 253–259, 2009. © 2009 American Association of Anatomists.     

An update on the status of anatomical sciences education in United States medical schools

Curricular changes continue at United States medical schools and directors of gross anatomy, microscopic anatomy, neuroscience/neuroanatomy, and embryology courses continue to adjust and modify their offerings. Developing and supplying data related to current trends in anatomical sciences education is important if informed decisions are going to be made in a time of curricular and course revision. Thus, a survey was sent to course directors during the 2012–2013 academic years to gather information on total course hours, lecture and laboratory hours, the type of laboratory experiences, testing and competency evaluation, and the type of curricular approach used at their institution. The data gathered were compared to information obtained from previous surveys and conclusions reached were that only small or no change was observed in total course, lecture and laboratory hours in all four courses; more gross anatomy courses were part of an integrated curriculum since the previous survey; virtual microscopy with and without microscopes was the primary laboratory activity in microscopic anatomy courses; and neuroscience/neuroanatomy and embryology courses were unchanged. Anat Sci Educ 7: 321–325. © 2014 American Association of Anatomists.     

An approach toward the development of core syllabuses for the anatomical sciences

There is increasingly a call for clinical relevance in the teaching of the biomedical sciences within all health care programs. This presupposes that there is an understanding of what is “core” material within the curriculum. To date, the anatomical sciences have been poorly served by the development of core syllabuses, although there have been commendable attempts to define a core syllabus for gross anatomy in medicine and for some medical specialties. The International Federation of Associations of Anatomists and the European Federation for Experimental Morphology aim to formulate, on an international basis, core syllabuses for all branches of the anatomical sciences. This is being undertaken at the initial stage using Delphi Panels consisting of a team of anatomists, scientists, and clinicians who evaluate syllabus content and accord each element/topic “essential,” “important,” “acceptable,” or “not required” status. Their initial conjectures, published on the International Federation of Associations of Anatomists' website, provide merely a framework to enable anatomical (and other cognate learned) societies and individual anatomists, clinicians, and students to comment upon the syllabuses. This article presents the concepts and methodological approaches underlying the hybrid Delphi process employed. Preliminary findings relating to the development of a neuroanatomy core syllabus are provided to illustrate the methods initially employed by a Delphi Panel. The approach is novel in that it is international in scope, is conceptually democratic, and is developmentally fluid in terms of availability for amendment. The aim is to set internationally recognized standards and thus to provide guidelines concerning anatomical knowledge when engaged in course development. Anat Sci Educ 7: 302–311. © 2014 American Association of Anatomists.     

The effect of progressively increased physical efforts on visual evoked potentials in volleyball players and non-athletes

We assessed the effect of physical effort with increasing intensity on neural activity in the visual pathway in volleyball players (n = 10) and non-athletes (n = 10). Participants performed three 10-min tests of increasing intensity on a cycle ergometer. Each participant was assigned individual workloads below the lactate threshold (40% [Vdot]O(2max)), at the lactate threshold (65-75% [Vdot]O(2max)), and above the lactate threshold (80% [Vdot]O(2max)). Four recordings of visual evoked potentials were made: pre-exercise and immediately after each of the three subsequent tests. We assessed neural activity of the visual pathway by examining the amplitude and latency of the N75, P100, and N135 components of the visual evoked potentials waveform. Pre-exercise P100 wave latency was shorter (P < 0.05) in volleyball players than in non-athletes. In non-athletes, the latency of P100 following the first and second effort (40% and 65-75% [Vdot]O(2max)) was reduced compared with pre-exercise (P < 0.01). However, P100 latency increased and P100 amplitude decreased after the third test (80% [Vdot]O(2max)) in non-athletes. In contrast, no significant changes in the latency or amplitude of visual evoked potentials were observed in the athletes in the three tests. Neural conductivity in the visual pathway after exercise might be at least partially dependent on the individual's personal training adaptation status.     

Digital processing of radar signals using industrial computers with vector AltiVec units

Radar systems usually had used digital signal processors for signal processing in the past. Such an approach has changed after introduction of a new type of general purpose PowerPC processor with very fast vector units called AltiVec. This new type of processor could realize various tasks performed earlier by several specialized processors. For instance it could be used for digital signal processing, tracking, fusion of data or communication with other functional blocks of radar. Its versatility and speed proved to be a superior solution in modern radar systems. It could also be programmed using C language instead of an assembler, what facilitated software development. Unfortunately the memory subsystem of computers built using this type of processor appeared to be too slow, and consequently slowed down the calculations. Therefore, the signal-processing software written for PowerPC processors with AltiVec vector units had to be accordingly optimized. The paper presents various optimization techniques and their effect on mean processing time of signal-processing software.The computer system built of industrial computers connected by the internal Ethernet is also presented in the paper. Individual computers of this system contain the multi-core PowerPC processors equipped with AltiVec vector units. The experimental model of the system is used for real-time digital processing of the multi-stream radar signals. The presented results of theoretical and experimental investigations show that the system is an effective, universal and cheaper computational platform than the corresponding, traditional multiprocessor platforms using the signal processors. Selected example recipes of writing the optimum and reliable application software are also given.     

Exercise-induced bronchospasm among athletes in Lower Silesia Province

A few studies have reported data on the prevalence of exercise-induced bronchospasm in high school and university athletes. Recently published data suggest that exercise-induced bronchospasm may affect up to 39% of American university athletes. To date, no data describing this pathology in athletes from Central Europe have been published. The aim of the present study was to establish the prevalence of exercise-induced bronchospasm in pupils attending sports mastership classes in secondary school as well as students of the University of Physical Education in Wroclaw. The participants were 77 athletes (30 women and 47 men) aged 16-27 years (mean 17.3 years). Only one athlete (1.29%) diagnosed with atopic asthma before testing experienced a fall in forced expiratory volume in one second (12.9% FEV(1)) compared with baseline, which showed that the exercise test result was positive. From a clinical point of view, the ventilation disturbance was asymptomatic. In the other participants, there were slight but statistically significant rises in FEV(1) (P < 0.02). The results of our study indicate a very low prevalence of exercise-induced bronchospasm in the population of athletes examined.     

Changes in anatomy instruction and USMLE performance: Empirical evidence on the absence of a relationship

Anatomy instruction has evolved over the past two decades as many medical schools have undergone various types of curricular reform. To provide empirical evidence about whether or not curricular changes impact the acquisition and retention of anatomy knowledge, this study investigated the effect of variation in gross anatomy course hours, curricular approach (stand‐alone versus integrated), and laboratory experience (dissection versus dissection and prosection) on USMLE Steps 1 and 2 Clinical Knowledge (CK) scores. Gross anatomy course directors at 54 United States schools provided information about their gross anatomy courses via an online survey (response rate of 42%). Survey responses were matched with USMLE scores for 6,411 examinees entering LCME‐accredited schools in 2007 and taking Step 1 for the first time in 2009. Regression analyses were conducted to examine relationships between gross anatomy instructional characteristics and USMLE performance. Step 1 total scores, Step 1 gross anatomy sub‐scores, and Step 2 CK scores were unrelated to instructional hours, controlling for MCAT scores. Examinees from schools with integrated curricula scored slightly lower on Steps 1 and 2 CK than those from stand‐alone courses (effect sizes of 2.1 and 1.9 on score scales with SDs of 22 and 20, respectively). Examinees with dissection and prosection experience performed slightly better on Step 2 CK than examinees in courses with dissection only laboratories (effect size of 1.2). Results suggest variation in course hours is unrelated to performance on Steps 1 and 2 CK. Although differences were observed in relation to curricular approach and laboratory experience, effect sizes were small. Anat Sci Educ 6: 3–10. © 2012 American Association of Anatomists.