Does voluntary practice improve the outcome of an OSCE in undergraduate medical studies? A Propensity Score Matching approach.

In Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCE), students have to demonstrate proficiency in a wide array of medical knowledge and different skills, ranging from physical examinations to medical-practical skills and doctor-patient interactions. In this study, we empirically test the concept 'assessment drives learning' and investigate whether an OSCE motivates extracurricular, voluntary free practice (FP) of specific skills in a Skills Lab, and whether this has positive treatment effects on exam success in the respective parts of the OSCE. To explore causal inference with observational data, we used Propensity Score Matching (PSM) to generate a control and a treatment group that only differed in their practice behavior.

Examining interviewer bias in medical school admissions: The interplay between applicant and interviewer gender and its effects on interview outcomes.

Selection interviews have long been integral to medical school admissions, yet their limited predictive validity and susceptibility to bias raise concerns. This study delves into potential interviewer bias within the dynamics of interviewee and interviewer gender. We analyze a dataset of 5,200 applicants and over 370 selection committees engaged in semi-structured interviews from 2006 to 2019 at a large German medical school with multiple linear and non-linear regression analyses.

Circulating and Urinary Concentrations of Malondialdehyde in Aging Humans in Health and Disease: Review and Discussion.

(1) Background: Malondialdehyde (MDA) is a major and stable product of oxidative stress. MDA circulates in the blood and is excreted in the urine in its free and conjugated forms, notably with L-lysine and L-serine. MDA is the most frequently measured biomarker of oxidative stress, namely lipid peroxidation.

Effects of the alternative medical curriculum at the Hannover Medical School on length of study and academic success.

Objective: The model curriculum HannibaL (Hannoversche integrierter berufsorientierter und adaptiver Lehrplan) differs significantly from other medical study programs in Germany in terms of its structure with which, among other factors, the Hannover Medical School (MHH) saw an opportunity to positively influence the length of study. We investigate how the length of medical study is influenced by the curriculum's structure and whether this has any impact on academic success.

Methods: We use data from over 2,500 students who studied medicine at MHH between 2011 and 2021.

Clinical experience can compensate for inferior academic achievements in an undergraduate objective structured clinical examination.

Background: Practical and non-cognitive skills are essential to medical professions; yet, success in medical studies is primarily assessed with cognitive criteria. We show that practical exams can benefit students who have only average high school final grades, but working experience in medical professions.

Methods: With a cross-sectional study, we compare the performance of undergraduate medical students with working experience in adjacent health-care professions (and below-average school leaving-grades) with students who entered medical school directly based on their excellent school records in an Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE).

Lysine and homoarginine are closely interrelated metabolites in the rat.

L-Lysine (Lys) and L-arginine (Arg), but not L-homoarginine (hArg), are proteinogenic amino acids. In healthy humans, oral administration of hArg increased the plasma concentration of Lys, suggesting Lys as a metabolite of hArg. In humans and animals, hArg is biosynthesized from Arg and Lys by arginine:glycine amidinotransferase (AGAT).

Advanced Glycation End-Products (AGEs) of Lysine and Effects of Anti-TCR/Anti-TNF-α Antibody-Based Therapy in the LEW.1AR1 Rat, an Animal Model of Human Type 1 Diabetes.

The LEW.1AR1- rat is an animal model of human type 1 diabetes (T1D). Previously, we have shown that combination with anti-TCR/anti-TNF-α antibody-based therapy re-established normoglycemia and increased proteinic arginine-dimethylation in the spleen, yet not in the pancreas.

[Selection interviews at Hanover Medical School (MHH): determinants of student selection in medical studies].

Introduction: In order to incorporate social and communicative skills in its student admissions process, Hanover Medical School (MHH) has conducted selection interviews (in combination with the high-school GPA) to choose 60 % of its freshmen in medical studies. The present article analyses if applicants' performances in the interviews were the determining criterion of student selection, despite a higher weighting of school grades in the admission process. Furthermore, this article checks whether the grading of the interviews was independent of the applicants' gender, age, origin and educational background.