Examining the perception of undergraduate health professional students of their learning environment, learning experience and professional identity development: a mixed-methods study.

Background: The quality of the learning environment significantly impacts student engagement and professional identity formation in health professions education. Despite global recognition of its importance, research on student perceptions of learning environments across different health education programs is scarce. This study aimed to explore how health professional students perceive their learning environment and its influence on their professional identity development.

Tools for measuring curriculum integration in health professions' education: a systematic review.

Background: Curriculum integration is an important educational concept widely implemented by various educational institutions, particularly within the healthcare field. Its significance lies in enhancing the preparation of future healthcare professionals. The assessment of these integrated curricula is imperative to guarantee their effectiveness.

Implementation and evaluation of a preceptor educational development programme involving the health cluster colleges at Qatar University.

Background: 'The Practice Educators' Academy Programme' is an innovative educational intervention developed following a preceptor-focussed needs assessment. The primary aim of this study was to evaluate the programme's effect on self-efficacy and knowledge amongst multi-disciplinary clinical preceptors who precept students across the Health Cluster in Qatar University. The secondary aim was to assess the preceptors' satisfaction with the programme's comprehensiveness, appropriateness, and relevance.

Health educators' professional agency in negotiating their problem-based learning (PBL) facilitator roles: Q study.

Background: University educators are expected to cope with emerging situations and complex issues in teaching and learning, and this requires them to be agentic and proactive. While professional agency of health educators has not been investigated adequately, this study explores health educators' perception of their enactment of professional agency in the PBL facilitation process in a postpandemic context.

Methods: Forty PBL facilitators from medical and dental programs in Qatar University participated in the study during the fall semester of 2021, after resuming in-person PBL sessions.

Assessment of Educational Needs and Design of a Preceptor Development Program for Health Professional Education Programs in Qatar.

Introduction: Experiential learning is the backbone of many health care professional education programs; however, the quality of learning is profoundly dependent on the skills and experiences of clinical preceptors. This study was conducted at Qatar University Health Cluster (Colleges of Pharmacy, Medicine, and Health Sciences) with the primary objective of identifying the educational needs of preceptors to design and review an educational professional development program.

Methods: This study adopted a mixed-methods approach and was conducted in three stages: (1) assessment of preceptor educational needs, (2) designing of the Practice Educators' Academy program, and (3) revision and refinement of the designed program.

Construct Validity of an Instrument for Assessment of Reflective Writing-Based Portfolios of Medical Students.

Purpose: Assessment of reflective writing for medical students is challenging, and there is lack of an available instrument with good psychometric properties. The authors developed a new instrument for assessment of reflective writing-based portfolios and examined the construct validity of this instrument.

Methods: After an extensive literature review and pilot testing of the instrument, two raters assessed the reflective writing-based portfolios from years 2 and 3 medical students (n=135) on three occasions.

Measuring medical students' professional competencies in a problem-based curriculum: a reliability study.

Background: Identification and assessment of professional competencies for medical students is challenging. We have recently developed an instrument for assessing the essential professional competencies for medical students in Problem-Based Learning (PBL) programs by PBL tutors. This study aims to evaluate the reliability and validity of professional competency scores of medical students using this instrument in PBL tutorials.

Morphology of Anterolateral Ligament of the Knee: A Cadaveric Observation with Clinical Insight.

. The morphology and function of anterolateral ligament (ALL) of the knee are not clearly understood even today with all the sophisticated techniques available. There have been differing descriptions of the ALL of the knee in literature, and not all of them have been named or described clearly.

Generalisability theory analyses of concept mapping assessment scores in a problem-based medical curriculum.

Context: In problem-based learning (PBL), students construct concept maps that integrate different concepts related to the PBL case and are guided by the learning needs generated in small-group tutorials. Although an instrument to measure students' concept maps in PBL programmes has been developed, the psychometric properties of this instrument have not yet been assessed.

Objectives: This study evaluated the generalisability of and sources of variance in medical students' concept map assessment scores in a PBL context.

Lecturing skills as predictors of tutoring skills in a problem-based medical curriculum.

Purpose: Recruitment of tutors to work in problem-based learning (PBL) programs is challenging, especially in that most of them are graduated from discipline-based programs. Therefore, this study aims at examining whether lecturing skills of faculty could predict their PBL tutoring skills.

Methods: This study included evaluation of faculty (n=69) who participated in both tutoring and lecturing within particular PBL units at the College of Medicine and Medical Sciences (CMMS), Arabian Gulf University, Bahrain.

Occurrence of the retromolar foramen in dry mandibles of South-eastern part of India: a morphological study with review of the literature.

The retromolar foramen (RMF) is a rare anatomical structure situated in the retromolar fossa behind the third molar tooth. When it is present, the foramen is connected with the mandibular canal and is believed to transmit neurovascular structures that provide accessory source to the mandibular molars and the buccal area. Reports from the literature show that the presence of RMF could pose a challenge in complete blockage of the inferior alveolar nerve during mandibular surgeries.

Genetic polymorphism of the glutathione S-transferase M1 and T1 genes in three distinct Arab populations.

Deletion polymorphisms for the glutathione S-transferase (GST) gene are associated with increased risk of cancer, and are implicated in detoxifying mutagenic electrophilic compounds. GST Polymorphic variants were reported for different populations. The aim of this study was to investigate the frequencies of GSTM1 and GSTT1 null genotypes among Bahraini, Lebanese and Tunisian Arabs.

The prevalence of absence of the palmaris longus muscle in the Bahraini population.

Absence of the palmaris longus muscle has been well documented in several populations at a prevalence rate ranging between 2.2 and 63.9% which varies according to race, sex, and side of the body.

Distribution of four HIV type 1-resistance polymorphisms (CCR5-Delta32, CCR5-m303, CCR2-64I, and SDF1-3'A) in the Bahraini population.

Allelic differences of chemokine (C-C motif ) receptor 5 (CCR5) and CCR2, as well as the ligand for the chemokine receptor CXCR4, stromal-derived factor (SDF-1), are known to suppress HIV-1 transmission and to be involved in delay in HIV-1 disease progression. The aim of our study was to investigate the frequencies of four mutations that confer resistance to HIV-1: CCR5-Delta32, CCR5-m303, CCR2-64I, and SDF1-3'A among Bahrainis. We have studied the DNA polymorphisms in 304 unrelated healthy Bahraini individuals without any known history of HIV-1 infection or AIDS symptoms.

The angiotensin type 1 receptor antagonist valsartan attenuates pathological ventricular hypertrophy induced by hyperhomocysteinemia in rats.

Introduction: Clinical and experimental studies have reported the role of homocysteine in ventricular hypertrophy. Activation of the renin-angiotensin system mediated by angiotensin II type 1 (AT1) receptor has also been suggested to contribute to the pathogenesis of ventricular hypertrophy. There are also reports suggesting the affect of angiotensin II (Ang II) on cardiac hypertrophy is mediated by hyperhomocysteinemia.

Teaching styles of tutors in a problem-based curriculum: students' and tutors' perception.

This study compared the self-rated with student-rated teaching styles of PBL tutors. We also examined the relationship between teaching styles of tutors' and students' evaluation of tutor effectiveness in tutorials. The study included 48 tutors and 276 medical students.

Deep fascia on the dorsum of the ankle and foot: extensor retinacula revisited.

This study revisits the anatomy of the deep fascia over the distal leg, ankle, and dorsum of the foot. The arrangement of the deep fascia in these regions was recorded in 14 lower limbs of adult cadavers using photographs and drawings. The fascial layer from all three sites was subsequently removed in toto, and serial thickness measurements were made along its entire length.

Population variation in the incidence of the medial (hamate) facet of the carpal bone lunate.

Studies on the wrist joint have shown two types of the carpal bone lunate. In type II lunate there is a facet on the medial side of the lunate for articulation with the proximal pole of the hamate; such a facet is absent in type I lunate. Type II lunates have different kinematics, are more prone to clinically relevant degenerative changes in the hamato-lunate joint and are an uncommon cause of ulnar-sided wrist pain.

Student-led tutorials in problem-based learning: educational outcomes and students' perceptions.

The aim of this study was to examine the effectiveness of using students as tutors in a problem-based learning (PBL) medical curriculum. Ninety-one third-year medical students were divided into ten tutorial groups. The groups were randomly allocated into student-led tutorials (SLT) (five groups, n = 44 students) and faculty-led tutorials (FLT) (five groups, n = 47 students).

Hyperhomocysteinemia in pregnant rats: effects on arterial pressure, kidneys and fetal growth.

Objective: This study aimed to test the hypothesis that hyperhomocysteinemia plays a role in the development of pathological changes similar to human preeclampsia in pregnant rats.

Study Design: Arterial pressure and 24-h urinary excretion of proteins and electrolytes were measured during pre-pregnancy, pregnancy and postpartum periods in control (n = 12) and methionine-treated (2.0 g/kg/day, n = 11) Sprague-Dawley rats.

Gender-related differences in learning in student-led PBL tutorials.

Context: Male and female students behave differently in problem-based learning (PBL) tutorials. However, these differences could be partly attributed to faculty tutor behavior in male and female tutorials.

Objectives: This study aims to examine the gender differences in learning outcomes between medical students when peer tutors facilitate PBL tutorials.

Three-headed biceps brachii muscle associated with duplicated musculocutaneous nerve.

A unilateral three-headed biceps brachii muscle coinciding with an unusual variant of the musculocutaneous nerve was found during routine dissection of a 79-year-old male cadaver. The supernumerary bicipital head originated from the antero-medial surface of the humerus just beyond the insertion of the coracobrachialis, and inserted into the conjoined tendon of biceps brachii. Associated with this muscular variant was a duplicated musculocutaneous nerve.

Bilateral absence of ansa cervicalis replaced by vagocervical plexus: case report and literature review.

The bilateral absence of the ansa cervicalis was discovered during dissection of the neck in an elderly male cadaver. On both sides it was replaced by a vagocervical plexus formed by the vagus nerve and C1 and C2 ventral rami from the cervical plexus. A descending branch from this vagocervical plexus supplied the strap muscles of the neck.