"Portfolios" as a method of assessment in medical education.

Portfolios are increasingly used in postgraduate medical education and in gastroenterology training as an assessment tool, as documentation of competence, a database of procedure experience (for example endoscopy experience) and for revalidation purposes. In this paper the educational theory behind their use is described and the evidence for their use is discussed.

The role of celiac disease in severity of liver disorders and effect of a gluten free diet on diseases improvement.

Context: Celiac disease (CD) is defined as a permanent intolerance to ingested gluten. The intolerance to gluten results in immune-mediated damage of small intestine mucosa manifested by villous atrophy and crypt hyperplasia. These abnormalities resolve with initiationa gluten-free diet.

Predicting success in graduate entry medical students undertaking a graduate entry medical program.

Background: Success in undergraduate medical courses in the UK can be predicted by school exit examination (A level) grades. There are no documented predictors of success in UK graduate entry medicine (GEM) courses. This study looks at the examination performance of GEM students to identify factors which may predict success; of particular interest was A level score.

Comparing the performance of graduate-entry and school-leaver medical students.

Objectives: Between 2000 and 2006 Leicester-Warwick Medical Schools (LWMS) provided parallel courses for graduate and school-leaver entrants into medicine. The parallel courses were based upon a single curriculum with ;identical teaching programmes and assessment methods over the two sites (Warwick and Leicester). Warwick runs the curriculum over an accelerated 4-year period for its graduate-entry students.