A new ethos of anatomy education goes beyond the learning of body parts in the traditional curriculum. In the traditional curriculum, the focus of only providing information on the structure of the human body left certain learning opportunities overlooked, marginalized, or dismissed as irrelevant; thus, opportunities to foster and shape professional attributes in health care learners were lost. Furthermore, changes in curricula structures and reductions in anatomy teaching hours have necessitated a transformation in how anatomy education is perceived and delivered.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe first experience of medical students in the dissecting room (DR) is a challenging event. Few data exist around whether or how culturally appropriate support is required in the DR for students from ethnic minorities. This pilot study explored Pasifika (peoples with heritage from the Pacific Islands) students' first experience of the DR and exposure to body donors to explore cultural perspectives around this event.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDisorders affecting the neurological and musculoskeletal systems represent international health priorities. A significant impediment to progress in trials of new therapies is the absence of responsive, objective, and valid outcome measures sensitive to early disease changes. A key finding in individuals with neuromuscular and musculoskeletal disorders is the compositional changes to muscles, evinced by the expression of fatty infiltrates.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDisorders affecting the neurological and musculoskeletal systems represent international health burdens. A significant impediment to progress with interventional trials is the absence of responsive, objective, and valid outcome measures sensitive to early disease or disorder change. A key finding in individuals with spinal disorders is compositional changes to the paraspinal muscle and soft tissue (e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe first experience of medical students in the dissecting room (DR) likely influences professional identity formation (PIF). Sparse data exist exploring how exposure to the DR and body donors without undertaking dissection influences PIF, or how culture may influence this experience. This qualitative study explored students' first, non-dissection DR experience to determine how this contributes to PIF, including the impact of culture through a Pasifika-student lens.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFVolunteers are a popular unpaid support role in end of life care yet how accompaniment influences the dying is underdeveloped. This study examined how companionship works, for whom, in what circumstances and why. Initial realist ideas were developed through participant observation (14 months), document analysis, and realist interviews with companionship trainers ( = 6).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCentral adiposity, which is visceral and subcutaneous adiposity in the abdominal region, is a known risk factor for developing chronic cardiometabolic diseases. Central adiposity can be measured relatively inexpensively using ultrasound. Ultrasound has been shown to be precise and reliable, with measurement accuracy comparable to computed tomography and magnetic resonance.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe potential effects of artificial intelligence (AI) on the teaching of anatomy are unclear. We explore the hypothetical situation of human body donors being replaced by AI human body simulations and reflect on two separate ethical concerns: first, whether it is permissible to replace donors with AI human body simulations in the dissection room when the consequences of doing so are unclear, and second, the overarching ethical significance of AI use in anatomy education. To do this, we highlight the key benefits of student exposure to the dissection room and body donors, including nontechnical, discipline-independent skills, awareness and interaction with applied bioethics, and professional identity formation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGross anatomy education utilizing body donors and human specimens assists the acquisition of non-traditional, discipline-independent skills (NTDIS) such as teamwork, communication, and leadership. Alterations to anatomy curricula, such as those resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, likely impact NTDIS acquisition, yet how this manifests is unclear. This study, therefore, explored anatomy educator perspectives on NTDIS acquisition as a response to changes in teaching delivery.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDenervation contributes to loss of force-generating capacity in aged skeletal muscles, but problems with quantification of denervated fibers mean the precise impact of denervation on muscle function remains unclear. This study therefore looked to develop a reliable assay for identifying denervated muscle fibers, and used this to explore the impact of denervation on age-related force-generation in mouse skeletal muscle. Thirteen young (6-month-old) and 10 old (24-months-old) C57Bl/6 J female mice were utilized.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Palliative care requires innovative methods to understand what works, for whom, in what circumstances and why. Realist evaluation has become one prominent approach due to its preoccupation with building, and testing, causal theories to explain the influence of contextual factors on outcomes. Undertaking realist evaluation is not without challenges and may amplify issues of underrepresentation, disempower those working in palliative care, and produce results with poor ecological validity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAim: Posthumous electronic healthcare data (PHCD) are ubiquitous and increasing in volume. Despite their potential utility and value, no empirically-derived, publicly-generated information exists to guide what uses society may view as acceptable. This study explores the attitude and perceptions of Aotearoa New Zealanders to PHCD utilisation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Measures of hip muscle morphology and composition (e.g., muscle size and fatty infiltration) are possible with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFComput Med Imaging Graph
March 2022
We present a method for three dimensional (3D) reconstruction of in vivo human lumbar spine from biplanar radiographs with comparable results to Computerised Tomography (CT) scans or Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) models. In this work, we used uncalibrated radiographs to reconstruct the 3D vertebrae and a priori information stored in an Active Shape Model (ASM) that is constructed using the Spherical Demons Algorithm. The method is semi-automatic as bounding boxes are required to delimit the positions of the vertebrae on biplanar radiographs of a patient.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFContemporary practice in interprofessional education (IPE) has evolved predominantly focusing on the competencies for interprofessional collaboration (IPC) that learners must acquire. Competencies that educators need to successfully deliver IPC have been overlooked. This lack of attention is further confounded by a field replete with inconsistent terminology and standards and no global consensus on the core competencies needed for IPE facilitation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAge-related loss of skeletal muscle mass is widely considered a consequence of both fiber atrophy and fiber death. Evidence for fiber death derives largely from an age-related reduction in fiber numbers in muscle cross-sections, however it is unclear how age-related alterations in muscle morphology affect accuracy of such counts. To explore this we performed an examination of muscle and tendon length, muscle mass and girth, and pennation angle, in addition to histological section fiber counts of parallel-fibered (sternomastoid), fusiform (biceps brachii), and pennate (tibialis anterior, extensor digitorum longus, soleus) muscles from 31 mice aged 6-32 months.
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