An experiment involving reading assignments in a medicine clerkship.

Sixty-one students from two medicine rotations were assigned randomly to experimental and control groups. Instruction was the same for both except that the control group was assigned required readings while the experimental group was instructed to find and read information relating directly to their patients' conditions. The groups were compared in terms of their performances on a final written examination, on the National Board of Medical Examiners Part II examination (NBME II), and on the Medicine Subtest of the NBME II, and also in terms of the effects of prior clinical rotations on their examination scores.

Neonatal burst suppression: its developmental significance.

Burst suppression was recorded on electroencephalograms of 15 of 274 term infants (5.4%) in our hospital within a 5 year period. These 15 infants were examined, their perinatal histories reviewed, and detailed neurodevelopmental testing performed to examine the prognostic significance of burst suppression.

Radiation treatment of brain tumors: concepts and strategies.

Ionizing radiation has demonstrated clinical value for a multitude of CNS tumors. Application of the different physical modalities available has made it possible for the radiotherapist to concentrate the radiation in the region of the tumor with relative sparing of the surrounding normal tissues. Correlation of radiation dose with effect on cranial soft tissues, normal brain, and tumor has shown increasing effect with increasing dose.

New modalities in diabetes treatment.

It is certainly acknowledged, albeit rather recently, that adequate control of hyperglycemia in type II diabetic patients is generally poor at best. A heightened realization of this fact and hopes that control of hyperglycemia may prevent complications or limit their severity have spawned newer approaches toward achieving improved glycemic control through changes in standard programmatic care with diet, exercise, oral agents or insulin therapy, and management of hypertension and obesity. Insulin taken at bedtime to control nocturnal hepatic glucose output, multiple doses of regular insulin coupled with frequent blood sugar measurements, and combined insulin and oral agents are approaches currently under trial in several centers.

Adjuvant effects of beta-adrenergic drugs in the indomethacin treatment of highly lethal endotoxic shock.

Indomethacin reduced the mortality of highly lethal endotoxic shock and dopamine infusion following indomethacin treatment reduced the lethality further. However, dopamine alone did not reduce the lethality. Dobutamine or isoproterenol was not effective in the treatment of endotoxic shock with or without indomethacin treatment.

Comparison of graduates of regular curriculum and unified basic-science-clinical curriculum.

The purpose of the study reported here was to identify differences between graduates who were in different curricula at Loyola University of Chicago Stritch School of Medicine. The physicians who had been in the special track, which combined the basic and clinical sciences throughout the program, chose specialties in family practice and psychiatry more than the regular track students and more often were salaried. One-third of those in the special curriculum felt the greatest strength of their medical school training was the preparation for independent learning, and a majority viewed a practice in which there were uncertainties in diagnosis as desirable.

Mating call phonotaxis in female American toads: lesions of central auditory system.

Female American toads were tested for mating call phonotaxis (prostaglandin-induced) after brain lesions. The pretrigeminal nucleus, all of the telencephalon (except the preoptic area and immediately adjacent septal area), the dorsal thalamus (including all of the anterior nuclei and most of the central nuclei), the optic tectum, and the dorsal and medial parts of the torus were removed without interferring with the hormonal sensitization, acoustic triggering, or production of phonotaxis. These lesions removed most of the forebrain and much of the midbrain auditory areas.

Morphological characterization of cellular and extracellular components of 7,12 dimethylbenz[a]anthracene induced melanoma tumours.

Subcutaneous tumours were induced in castrated golden Syrian hamsters by 7,12 dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (DMBA), an agent known to produce papillomas and carcinomas. The morphological characteristics of the cellular and extracellular constituents of the chemically-induced tumours were indicative of melanoma. Tumours were induced by three injections of DMBA into the jugular vein over a 3 month period.