Transitioning from Faculty-Written Examinations to National Board of Medical Examiners Custom Examinations in Medical Education.

Purpose: A challenge for medical educators is choosing a method that best evaluates preclinical students' performance in preparation for Step 1. In previous years, block directors (BDs) of the 2nd year (MS2) neuroscience course at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine issued faculty-written (FW) examinations during the course. In 2022, BDs replaced FW examinations with National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) custom examinations.

The Tired Pregnant Woman.

Introduction: Many pregnant women develop hyperemesis gravidarum. There are numerous gastrointestinal, genitourinary, neurologic, and metabolic causes to consider in this patient population.

Case Presentation: This clinicopathological case presentation details the initial assessment and management of an 18-year-old pregnant patient who presented to the emergency department with a complaint of nausea, vomiting, fatigue, and intermittent bleeding.

Effective Reduction of Acute Ethanol Withdrawal by the Tetracycline Derivative, Tigecycline, in Female and Male DBA/2J Mice.

Background: Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a spectrum disorder characterized by mild to severe symptoms, including potential withdrawal signs upon cessation of consumption. Approximately five hundred thousand patients with AUD undergo clinically relevant episodes of withdrawal annually (New Engl J Med, 2003, 348, 1786). Recent evidence indicates potential for drugs that alter neuroimmune pathways as new AUD therapies.

Effective Reduction in High Ethanol Drinking by Semisynthetic Tetracycline Derivatives.

Background: New pharmacotherapies to treat alcohol use disorders (AUD) are needed. Given the complex nature of AUD, there likely exist multiple novel drug targets. We, and others, have shown that the tetracycline drugs, minocycline and doxycycline, reduced ethanol (EtOH) drinking in mice.

Electronic Cigarette Use Among College Students: Links to Gender, Race/Ethnicity, Smoking, and Heavy Drinking.

Objective: Electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) use continues to rise, and current data regarding use of e-cigarettes among college students are needed. The purpose of this study was to examine e-cigarette use and the relation of such use with gender, race/ethnicity, traditional tobacco use, and heavy drinking.

Participants And Methods: A sample of 599 college students enrolled in General Psychology at a state university completed a self-report questionnaire.

Methods used to quit smoking by people with physical disabilities.

Purpose/objective: People with mobility impairments (MIs) have higher smoking rates than the general population. We evaluated the use of psychosocial and pharmacological methods to quit smoking and readiness to quit smoking in this population in a cross-sectional study.

Research Method/design: Current and former smokers with MIs who needed equipment to ambulate (e.

Epistemology and uncertainty: a follow-up study with third-year medical students.

Background And Objectives: Prior research results indicate a relationship between medical epistemology (ie, how a physician organizes and prioritizes the biological and psychosocial data of a patient presentation) and stress reactions to uncertainty among primary care physicians. However, little is known about when this relationship forms. The purpose of this study was to begin answering this question by exploring the relationship between medical epistemology and stress reactions to uncertainty among a group of 89 third-year medical students from the class of 2010 of a three-campus state medical school located in the southwestern US.

An evaluation of family medicine residents' attitudes before and after a PCMH innovation for patients with chronic pain.

Background And Objectives: Prior research indicates that primary care physicians have predominantly negative attitudes toward chronic pain patients, and chronic pain patients have predominantly low satisfaction with the care and treatment they receive in primary care. This current state of affairs highlights the need for Patient-centered Medical Home (PCMH) innovations for the treatment of chronic pain in primary care. The purpose of this study was to determine if a PCMH innovation for the treatment of chronic pain in a family medicine residency program can improve resident attitudes toward chronic pain patients.

Influence of community preceptor specialty and method of assignment in an early clinical experience course.

Objectives: Although early clinical experience courses are often the purview of family medicine faculty, students may receive training with community physicians from varying specialties. Little is known about the influence of preceptor specialty and method of assignment on students' performance and course satisfaction.

Methods: Second-year medical students spent one half day per month with a preceptor to practice clinical skills.

Epistemology and uncertainty in primary care: an exploratory study.

Background And Objectives: Primary care is an endeavor marked by breadth, complexity, and more clinical uncertainty than all non-primary care specialties except psychiatry. This is significant, as uncertainty is associated with a variety of troublesome economic and clinical indicators. Researchers have identified the three types of cognitive resources needed to combat uncertainty (technical, personal, or conceptual), as well as the affective stress reactions physicians have when confronted with uncertainty.

The role of impulsivity on smoking maintenance.

In order to better understand why those higher in impulsivity experience more difficulties during smoking abstinence, the current study examined the possible mechanisms contributing to cigarette smoking relapse. Fifty dependent cigarette smokers completed measures designed to assess craving, tobacco withdrawal severity, and negative affect during 48 hours of nicotine abstinence. Using a series of multilevel models (SAS Proc Mixed Procedure), significant impulsivity x time analyses revealed differences in craving, F(2, 96) = 3.

Impulsivity and the role of smoking-related outcome expectancies among dependent college-aged cigarette smokers.

The relationship between trait-impulsivity and smoking expectancies on smoking progression in undergraduate college students was examined over a 48-hour period of smoking abstinence. Participants were forty-nine college-aged dependent cigarette smokers who completed measures designed to assess impulsivity, nicotine dependence, and smoking expectancies. Using a series of multilevel models, impulsivity by time analyses indicated significant differences in positive reinforcement expectancies, [F (2, 94)=3.