Identifying the core concepts of pharmacology education: A global initiative.

Background And Purpose: In recent decades, a focus on the most critical and fundamental concepts has proven highly advantageous to students and educators in many science disciplines. Pharmacology, unlike microbiology, biochemistry, or physiology, lacks a consensus list of such core concepts.

Experimental Approach: We sought to develop a research-based, globally relevant list of core concepts that all students completing a foundational pharmacology course should master.

Do Medical Students' Learning Styles and Approaches Explain Their Views and Behavior Regarding Lecture Attendance?

Introduction: Medical students' attendance at lectures, particularly in the preclinical years, has been steadily declining over the years. One of the many explanations offered for this observation is that students have different learning styles and approaches, such that not all of them benefit from attending lectures; however, no studies have specifically examined this possibility. While there is evidence against learning styles as affecting objective measures of learning, they are associated with subjective measures of learning and may therefore influence student behavior.

Pharmacological regulation of cytochrome P450 metabolites of arachidonic acid attenuates cardiac injury in diabetic rats.

Diabetic cardiomyopathy (DCM) is a well-established complication of type 1 and type 2 diabetes associated with a high rate of morbidity and mortality. DCM is diagnosed at advanced and irreversible stages. Therefore, it is of utmost need to identify novel mechanistic pathways involved at early stages to prevent or reverse the development of DCM.

Effect of Targeted Curricular Reform on the Learning Environment, Student Empathy, and Hidden Curriculum in a Medical School: A 7-Year Longitudinal Study.

Objective: The American University of Beirut Faculty of Medicine follows the American model of medical education. In 2013-2014, a carefully designed new curriculum replaced the previous, largely traditional curriculum, and aimed to improve student wellbeing, upgrade the learning environment, enhance student empathy, and counter the negative influences of the hidden curriculum. This longitudinal study assessed the effectiveness of the new curriculum in those domains over a period of 7 years.

Factors That Determine the Perceived Effectiveness of Peer Feedback in Collaborative Learning: a Mixed Methods Design.

Introduction: Peer assessment has been promoted as a valuable approach to formative assessment to support learning and peer professionalism. This mixed methods study employed a conceptual framework to explore the factors that enhance the perceived effectiveness of formative peer assessment in the context of team-based learning as a form of collaborative learning.

Materials And Methods: The volume and quality of written peer comments of two medical school classes at three time points were analyzed.

Respecting patient choices: using the 'Go Wish' cards as a teaching tool.

Background: Individuals have different values and priorities that can have an important impact on their medical management. Understanding this concept can help physicians provide medical care that is in line with the goals of their patients. Communicating this message effectively to students is challenging.

Interactive and collaborative learning in the classroom at the medical school Automated response systems and team-based learning.

There has been a pedagogic shift in higher education from the traditional teacher centered to the student centered approach in teaching, necessitating a change in the role of the teacher from a supplier of information to passive receptive students into a more facilitative role. Active learning activities are based on various learning theories such as self-directed learning, cooperative learning and adult learning. There exist many instructional activities that enhance active and collaborative learning.

Facilitation by the renin-angiotensin system of cyclosporine-evoked hypertension in rats: Role of arterial baroreflexes and vasoreactivity.

Aims: Cyclosporine (CSA) elevates blood pressure (BP) and alters arterial baroreflex sensitivity (BRS) and vasoreactivity. In this study we determined whether the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) interplays with other vasopressor pathways in mediating the CSA actions.

Materials And Methods: Whole animal and isolated vascular preparations were employed to determine the effects of pharmacologic interruption of angiotensin II (Ang II), endothelin (ET), or thromboxane (TXA2) signaling on the adverse cardiovascular effects of CSA.

Mechanical stretch-induced vascular hypertrophy occurs through modulation of leptin synthesis-mediated ROS formation and GATA-4 nuclear translocation.

Background: Obesity and hypertension are associated with increased leptin production contributing to cardiovascular remodeling. Mechanisms involving mechanical stretch-induced leptin production and the cross talk between signaling pathways leading to vascular remodeling have not been fully elucidated.

Methods And Results: Rat portal vein (RPV) organ culture was used to investigate the effect of mechanical stretch on leptin protein expression in vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs).

Temporal cardiac remodeling post-myocardial infarction: dynamics and prognostic implications in personalized medicine.

Despite dramatic improvements in short-term mortality rates following myocardial infarction (MI), long-term survival for MI patients who progress to heart failure remains poor. MI occurs when the left ventricle (LV) is deprived of oxygen for a sufficient period of time to induce irreversible necrosis of the myocardium. The LV response to MI involves significant tissue, cellular, and molecular level modifications, as well as substantial hemodynamic changes that feedback negatively to amplify the response.

Blockade of endothelin ET(A), but not thromboxane, receptors offsets the cyclosporine-evoked hypertension and interrelated baroreflex and vascular dysfunctions.

The impairment of arterial baroreceptor and vasodilator functions are two major contributors to the hypertensive action of cyclosporine (CSA). In this study, in vivo and in vitro pharmacological studies were performed to investigate whether these effects of CSA are differentially modulated by endothelin and thromboxane signaling. The treatment of rats with CSA (25mg/kg/day i.

Crowd-funded micro-grants for genomics and "big data": an actionable idea connecting small (artisan) science, infrastructure science, and citizen philanthropy.

Biomedical science in the 21(st) century is embedded in, and draws from, a digital commons and "Big Data" created by high-throughput Omics technologies such as genomics. Classic Edisonian metaphors of science and scientists (i.e.

Teaching clinical pharmacology using team-based learning: a comparison between third- and fourth-year medical students.

The purpose of this study was to formulate evidence-based recommendations on whether to deliver the team-based learning (TBL)-designed clinical pharmacology course at the American University of Beirut Faculty of Medicine (AUBFM) during the third year instead of the fourth and final year of the medical curriculum. Between June 2010 and May 2011, AUBFM offered the course to both classes simultaneously to compare their performance. The findings of this endeavor supported the introduction of the course during the third year, first because fourth-year students did not outperform third-year students despite having the advantage of an additional year of clinical experience, and second, third-year teams seemed more likely to develop into better functioning teams.

In-vivo evidence of a role for nitric oxide in regulating the activity of the norepinephrine transporter.

We examined the role of nitric oxide (NO) in the regulation of neuronal uptake of norepinephrine (uptake-1) in rats under anesthesia. The effect on systolic blood pressure of two pressor drugs that work by different mechanisms, norepinephrine and angiotensin II, was explored in anesthetized rats under control conditions and after prevention of NO synthesis with Nw-nitro-L-arginine (L-NNA). The results showed that whereas the pressor effects of increasing doses of norepinephrine were potentiated by L-NNA, those of angiotensin II were not affected, which implied that NO was selectively involved in modulating the pressor effect of norepinephrine.

Attitudes of health care professionals toward pharmacogenetic testing.

Background: Pharmacogenetics has emerged as a new tool for the optimization of drug therapy. Although the pharmacogenetics concept was first recognized at least 50 years ago, clinical testing to determine pharmacogenetic traits is still relatively rare, and many hurdles are markedly slowing its development. There is a lot of literature and speculation about potential ethical challenges in genetic and pharmacogenetic testing, yet few researchers have actually examined the attitudes of health care professionals regarding the clinical application of these tests.

Pharmacogenetics and personalized medicine: the future for drug prescribing.

Pharmacogenetics, the study of interindividual variations in DNA sequence related to drug response, aims at the optimization of treatment regimens based on each patient's unique genetic makeup. Currently, there is a trend towards moving away from the concept of "one drug fits all" to a rather more individualized and personalized medicine. The goal is to define the appropriate drug dose that maximizes efficacy and minimizes toxicity in each individual patient.

Using team-based learning to teach pharmacology to second year medical students improves student performance.

Background: Team-based learning (TBL) is an innovative instructional method that fosters active learning. It has been shown to improve student performance in some health care education courses.

Aim: To examine the effect of teaching pharmacology using a TBL approach on second year medical students' satisfaction and performance.

PDEs1-5 activity and expression in tissues of cirrhotic rats reveal a role for aortic PDE3 in NO desensitization.

Liver cirrhosis is associated with increased nitric oxide (NO) production in the vasculature. We have previously demonstrated that aorta from rats with liver cirrhosis have a reduced relaxant response to NO donors that is corrected by DMPPO, a PDE5-specific inhibitor. Vasodilator responses to DMPPO itself were also reduced in rings from cirrhotic rats.

Effect of chronic administration of sildenafil on sodium retention and on the hemodynamic complications associated with liver cirrhosis in the rat.

Previous studies demonstrated increased phosphodiesterase-5 (PDE5) activity and expression in the kidneys of rats with liver cirrhosis. Acute intravenous administration of PDE5 inhibitors enhanced sodium excretion in these rats. The aim of the present study was to examine the effects of chronic administration of sildenafil on renal sodium handling and hemodynamics in rats with liver cirrhosis.

Sesame oil use in ameliorating cough in children: a randomised controlled trial.

Objectives: To examine the role of sesame oil (SO) in reducing the frequency and severity of acute cough in children 2-12 years of age.

Design: Double blind, placebo controlled randomised trial.

Setting: Seven primary health care centres/clinics in Lebanon.