Learning fibreoptic intubation with a virtual computer program transfers to 'hands on' improvement.

Background And Objective: Fibreoptic intubation is an essential skill in anaesthesiology that is challenging to learn in the clinical setting. The goal of this study was to evaluate 'virtual fibreoptic intubation' (VFI) software as an adjunct to the traditional fibreoptic intubation teaching.

Methods: After informed consent, 42 undergraduate medical students were randomized into two groups.

Recovery from a variegate porphyria by a liver transplantation.

The porphyrias are a group of inherited or acquired enzymatic defects of heme biosynthesis. Each type of porphyria has a characteristic pattern of overproduction and accumulation of heme precursors based on the location of dysfunctional enzyme in the heme synthetic pathway. Variegate porphyria, one of the acute hepatic porphyrias, is characterized by a partial reduction in protoporphyrinogen oxidase, the seventh enzyme of the heme biosynthetic pathway.