Anatomy Students That are "Team-Taught" May Achieve Better Results Than Those That are "Sole-Taught".

Anatomy practical classes have traditionally been taught by a team of demonstrators (team-taught) in a large dissection room. More recently, particularly in nonmedical contexts, practical classes have been taught by one teacher (sole-taught) to smaller student groups. The aim of this study was to compare student outcomes when the same course was delivered with practical classes team-taught at one campus (metropolitan) and sole-taught at a second campus (regional) while maintaining similar staff to student ratios.

The Effect of Content Delivery Style on Student Performance in Anatomy.

The development of new technologies and ensuing pedagogical research has led many tertiary institutions to integrate and adopt online learning strategies. The authors of this study have incorporated online learning strategies into existing educational practices of a second year anatomy course, resulting in half of the course content delivered via face-to-face lectures, and half delivered online via tailored video vignettes, with accompanying worksheets and activities. The effect of the content delivery mode on student learning was analyzed by tailoring questions to content presented either face-to-face or online.

Closed head experimental traumatic brain injury increases size and bone volume of callus in mice with concomitant tibial fracture.

Concomitant traumatic brain injury (TBI) and long bone fracture are commonly observed in multitrauma and polytrauma. Despite clinical observations of enhanced bone healing in patients with TBI, the relationship between TBI and fracture healing remains poorly understood, with clinical data limited by the presence of several confounding variables. Here we developed a novel trauma model featuring closed-skull weight-drop TBI and concomitant tibial fracture in order to investigate the effect of TBI on fracture healing.

Practical session assessments in human anatomy: Weightings and performance.

Assessment weighting within a given module can be a motivating factor for students when deciding on their commitment level and time given to study a specific topic. In this study, an analysis of assessment performances of second year anatomy students was performed over four years to determine if (1) students performed better when a higher weighting was given to a set of practical session assessments and (2) whether an improved performance in the practical session assessments had a carry-over effect on other assessment tasks within that anatomy module and/or other anatomy modules that follow. Results showed that increasing the weighting of practical session assessments improved the average mark in that assessment and also improved the percentage of students passing that assessment.

Transient expression of myofibroblast-like cells in rat rib fracture callus.

Background And Purpose: We have previously shown that early fracture callus of rat rib has viscoelastic and contractile properties resembling those of smooth muscle. The cells responsible for this contractility have been hypothesized to be myofibroblast-like in nature. In soft-tissue healing, force generated by contraction of myofibroblasts promotes healing.

α(1) adrenergic receptor agonist, phenylephrine, actively contracts early rat rib fracture callus ex vivo.

Early, soft fracture callus that links fracture ends together is smooth muscle-like in nature. We aimed to determine if early fracture callus could be induced to contract and relax ex vivo by similar pathways to smooth muscle, that is, contraction via α(1) adrenergic receptor (α(1) AR) activation with phenylephrine (PE) and relaxation via β(2) adrenergic receptor (β(2) AR) stimulation with terbutaline. A sensitive force transducer quantified 7 day rat rib fracture callus responses in modified Krebs-Henseliet (KH) solutions.

Early fracture callus displays smooth muscle-like viscoelastic properties ex vivo: implications for fracture healing.

Cells of early, fibrous callus in bone fractures possess much alpha smooth muscle actin. This callus contracts and relaxes; however, active and passive components of its force production have yet to be defined. We aimed to establish whether passive viscoelastic properties of early soft fracture callus are smooth muscle-like in nature.

Expression of galanin and galanin receptor-1 in normal bone and during fracture repair in the rat.

The neuropeptide galanin (GAL) has recognized physiological actions in the nervous system and other tissues, but there is no documented evidence of GAL influencing normal or pathological bone metabolism. GAL expression, however, is upregulated in central and peripheral nerves following axotomy and is known to influence neural regeneration. Thus, severance of skeletal-associated nerves during fracture could similarly increase local GAL concentrations and thereby influence fracture healing.