Short-term cognitive learning outcomes in team-based learning: is the permanent team important?

Assigning students to work in permanent teams is a design principle in Team-based learning (TBL). It has been assumed that a stable team composition supports the emergence of collaborative problem-solving and learning: when students became more familiar with each other, they shared more information and resolved discrepancies together, which in turn stimulated knowledge acquisition and comprehension. However, this assumption had not been probed by a randomized controlled trial with performance assessment as an outcome.

A scientific approach to the reform of a medical curriculum : A personal account of the Vienna experience.

Planning and implementing a new curriculum at the Medical Faculty of the University of Vienna was a bold attempt to use a scientific approach. A curriculum of sequentially presented and departmentally controlled subject areas using oral examinations was replaced with horizontally and vertically integrated organ/function modules. The reform also introduced integrated written year-end examinations, a required research thesis, stronger clinical orientation starting already in the 1st semester and more elective components.

Tuning research competences for Bologna three cycles in medicine: report of a MEDINE2 European consensus survey.

Medical curricula, like healthcare systems and medical practice, have a strong cultural component and vary considerably between countries. Increasing mobility of medical graduates, and increasing pressure to ensure they are all fit for practice, have highlighted an urgent need to establish common ground in learning outcomes at all stages of training. A research-based approach, developed by the Tuning project, was used previously by the MEDINE Thematic Network to gain consensus on core learning outcomes/competences for primary medical degrees ( www.

Exploring the integration of the biomedical research component in undergraduate medical education.

Background: A task force of MEDINE (Thematic Network on Medical Education in Europe) organized a survey of European Medical Schools.

Aim: To investigate the link between education and biomedical research in the medical curriculum questioning university staff responsible for the curriculum.

Method: The survey was online between 10/2006 and 3/2007.

Intraindividual long term stability and response corridors of cytokines in healthy volunteers detected by a standardized whole-blood culture system for bed-side application.

Background: The variation of immune cell activities over time is an immanent property of the human immune system, as can be measured by the stimulated secretion of cytokines in cell cultures. However, inter-individual variability is considerably higher. Especially the latter is the major reason why it has not been possible to establish international standard values for cytokines as was possible for other parameters, such as leukocyte sub-population numbers.