Integration of pharmacology into a problem-based learning curriculum for medical students.

The purpose of this study is threefold: (1) to describe a method of integration of pharmacology subject matter with other disciplines, in a problem-based learning (PBL) curriculum employed at the Northwest Center for Medical Education (NWCME), Indiana University School of Medicine; (2) to present various evaluation methods employed to assess students' learning of pharmacology knowledge; and (3) to compare the academic performance of students who underwent a traditional curriculum versus the PBL curriculum in terms of class evaluations and the standard national board medical licensure examinations. The PBL curriculum is designed for the first 2 years of medical education and consists of six sequential steps: steps 1 and 2 deal with biochemistry and anatomy respectively; steps 3, 4 and 5 deal with physiology, neuroscience and general pathology/microbiology respectively; and step 6 is a multidisciplinary step, which integrates basic science subjects with clinical medicine, emphasizing the mechanism of disease in an organ-system approach. In the PBL curriculum students start learning pharmacology within 6 months of admission.

Structure-function relationship of 3-phosphoglycerate analogues with platelet aggregation and thromboxane A2 formation.

We have studied the effects of 2,3-diphosphoglycerate (2,3-DPG), 3-phosphoglycerate (3-PG), 3-phosphoglyceraldehyde (3-PGA), 2-phosphoglycerate (2-PG) and beta-glycerol phosphate (beta-GP) on platelet aggregation and on thromboxane B2 (TXB2) formation. The results show that 2,3-DPG, 3-PG, and 3-PGA inhibited platelet aggregation and TXB2 formation induced by norepinephrine, ADP, epinephrine, and collagen; but they also induced platelet aggregation and TXB2 formation in the presence of subthreshold concentrations of Na arachidonate. 2-PG and beta-GP were inactive.