Training and Adaptation of Beef Calves to Precision Supplementation Technology for Individual Supplementation in Grazing Systems.

Supplementation of beef cattle can be used to meet both nutrient requirements and production goals; however, supplementation costs influence farm profitability. Common supplementation delivery strategies are generally designed to provide nutrients to the mean of the group instead of an individual. Precision individual supplementation technologies, such as the Super SmartFeed (SSF, C-Lock Inc.

Encouraging an environment to nurture lifelong learning: an Asian experience.

Introduction: Within an Asian context, this study examines the effect of changing from traditional course grades to a distinction/pass/fail (D/P/F) grading system on medical student self-perceived stress levels and on student exam performance.

Methods: At the end of the 2010-2011 academic year, the Perceived Stress Scale-10 (PSS-10) was administered to the cohort of students finishing their first year of medical studies. For the academic year 2011-2012, the grading system was changed to D/P/F for the first year of medical school.

Building a successful platform for interprofessional education for health professions in an Asian university.

Implementing Interprofessional Education (IPE) across health professions schools is challenging. Within an Asian context, academic staff at the National University of Singapore designed a platform to create a sustainable IPE effort. A two-pronged approach was developed to ensure adequate coverage of key concepts relating to IPE within each involved faculty.

How we put into practice the principles of embedding medical students into healthcare teams.

To learn the practice of medicine, one must practice medicine. To maximize opportunities for practice, medical students are often embedded into functioning healthcare teams. At the National University of Singapore, students are distributed for clinical training at a variety of sites across the country.

How to find a web interface for successful education (WISEbyte).

'Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime…'. Although the exact origin of this proverb is unknown, its meaning is clear and wisdom self-evident.

A global template for reforming residency without work-hours restrictions: decrease caseloads, increase education. Findings of the Japan Resident Workload Study Group.

Background: Japanese physician training programs are currently not subject to rigorous national standardization. Despite residency restructuring in 2004, little is known about the current work allocation of residents in Japan.

Aims: We quantified the amount of time that Japanese junior residents spend in service versus education in the context of caseload, fatigue, and low-value administrative work.

Development of a simple model for predicting need for surgery in patients who initially undergo conservative management for adhesive small bowel obstruction.

Background: Among patients with adhesive small bowel obstruction (ASBO) initially managed with a conservative strategy, predicting risk of operation is difficult.

Methods: We investigated ASBO patients at 2 different periods to derive and validate a clinical prediction model for risk of operation.

Results: One hundred fifty-four patients were enrolled into the derivation cohort and 96 into the validation cohort.

Meta-analysis: somatostatin or its long-acting analogue, octreotide, for prophylaxis against post-ERCP pancreatitis.

Background: Acute pancreatitis is a most serious complication following endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP). Previous meta-analyses and randomized controlled trials have shown conflicting results regarding the preventive efficacy of somatostatin or octreotide for this complication. The aim of this study was to resolve these conflicts.

Population-level preferences for primary care physicians' characteristics in Japan: a structural equation modeling.

Objective: Primary care has potential to play a role for improving the patient care in Japanese health care system; however, little information is available about how patients perceive the roles of primary care physicians (PCPs) within the Japanese health care system. We aimed to assess population-level preferences for PCPs and investigated the extent to which preferences vary in relation to different population groups in Japan.

Methods: Data were extracted from a cross-sectional questionnaire survey in October 2003.

Chronic hepatitis with eosinophilic infiltration associated with asthma.

A 49-year-old asthmatic woman with a history of drug allergy to aspirin and penicillin presented to the hospital with fever, dark urine, general exanthema and fatigue. Physical examination revealed jaundice. She had been taking four different over-the-counter drugs.

PDA usage by Japanese resident physicians is low: a cross-sectional survey.

Objectives: Personal digital assistants (PDAs) are in widespread use by resident physicians in many countries, reaching as high as 95% in some reports. Uses are varied and include clinical decision support and support of evidence-based practice. Utilization by resident doctors in Japan has not been characterized.

Residents' experience of scholarly activities is associated with higher satisfaction with residency training.

Background: The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan has been promoting participation in scholarly activities for physicians during residency training. However, there is debate regarding whether this is worthwhile for residents.

Objective: To evaluate residents' opinions of engaging in scholarly activities and identify factors associated with overall satisfaction with their training program.

Use of surgical face masks to reduce the incidence of the common cold among health care workers in Japan: a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Health care workers outside surgical suites in Asia use surgical-type face masks commonly. Prevention of upper respiratory infection is one reason given, although evidence of effectiveness is lacking.

Methods: Health care workers in a tertiary care hospital in Japan were randomized into 2 groups: 1 that wore face masks and 1 that did not.

Medical education in paradise: another facet of Hawaii.

Hawaii is synonymous with paradise in the minds of many. Few know that it is also an environment where high quality medical education is thriving. This paper outlines medical education initiatives beginning with native Hawaiian healers of centuries ago, and continuing to present-day efforts to support top-notch multicultural United States medical education across the continuum of training.

Using wireless handheld computers to seek information at the point of care: an evaluation by clinicians.

Objective: To evaluate: (1) the effectiveness of wireless handheld computers for online information retrieval in clinical settings; (2) the role of MEDLINE in answering clinical questions raised at the point of care.

Design: A prospective single-cohort study: accompanying medical teams on teaching rounds, five internal medicine residents used and evaluated MD on Tap, an application for handheld computers, to seek answers in real time to clinical questions arising at the point of care.

Measurements: All transactions were stored by an intermediate server.

Increasing vigilance on the medical/surgical floor to improve patient safety.

Aim: This paper reports a study designed to assess an automated non-invasive, patient vigilance system, the (L)G(1TM) system, for determining heart rate and respiration rate. The study uses collected data to optimize the (L)G(1TM)'s alert management scheme for medical/surgical wards.

Background: Thousands of patients die unnecessarily each year because of compromised patient safety in hospitals.

Preliminary comparison of three search engines for point of care access to MEDLINE citations.

Medical resident physicians used MD on Tap in real time to search for MEDLINE citations relevant to clinical questions using three search engines: Essie, Entrez and Google, in order of performance.

MEDLINE as a source of just-in-time answers to clinical questions.

Clinicians increasingly use handheld devices to support evidence-based practice and for clinical decision support. However, support of clinical decisions through information retrieval from MEDLINE(R) and other databases lags behind popular daily activities such as patient information or drug formulary look-up. The objective of the current study is to determine whether relevant information can be retrieved from MEDLINE to answer clinical questions using a handheld device at the point of care.