Physiology Knowledge Research Articles

Understanding Physiotherapy student’s opinions on the importance of pharmacology and style of pharmacology assessments in preparation for future practice

Background Physiotherapy students study pharmacology in early years of their tertiary education to understand how drugs may positively or adversely affect rehabilitation of patients during clinical education and in future clinical practice. Physiotherapy students find learning pharmacology challenging due to complexity of terminology, integration of content with prior physiology knowledge, interdisciplinary nature of the content and the clinical application of pharmacology concepts. Purpose There is limited information on student’s opinions on the importance of studying pharmacology and preference for assessment methods. Methods A two-part survey was delivered to 137 s-year Physiotherapy students. Survey 1 focused on student’s attitudes towards studying pharmacology and their preference between undertaking an assignment (a pharmacology education article) or an examination. Survey 2 focused on student’s attitudes about pharmacology after completing the assignment and whether they felt prepared for their future career. Results Most students (60%, of 92 respondents) agreed that studying pharmacology was important or very important for their future career despite reporting low confidence (76%) in knowledge of medications prior to undertaking the course. Students preferred to demonstrate pharmacology knowledge through an assignment (75%, 81 of 108) and 59% (64 of 108) reported that the assignment would better prepare them for their career as opposed to an examination. After undertaking the assignment, 70% (76 of 108) said it helped prepare them for their future career. Conclusion Students reported development of written communication, research, and critical thinking skills upon completion of the assignment. The educational assignment authentically prepares Physiotherapy students for clinical practice.

Myasthenia Gravis Misunderstood - Identifying the historical misinterpretations, miscommunication, and misconceptions

Myasthenia Gravis (MG) is a serious disease and can present clinically with very severe symptoms in many patients; however, the fluctuating severity of MG results in the disease being commonly misdiagnosed as other conditions, including conversion disorder. The earliest recorded literature on MG provides evidence of the variability of signs and symptoms, including many patients who appeared to have mild symptoms initially but died suddenly and unexpectedly from MG. Often, these patients were initially believed to be suffering from hysteria. This review analyzes some of the most prominent MG literature still cited today. It found that many communication errors have led to today’s misunderstandings and have continued to cause difficulties in diagnosis and difficulty in understanding the MG patients’ lived experiences. These errors include the intended meaning for ‘gravis’ being misinterpreted as ‘severe’ instead of the intended meaning of ‘a painful weight in the limbs’, the false belief that ‘gravis’ is Latin for ‘grave’ and how the miscommunication of the early 1900’s MG autopsy studies added to this confusion, where MG continued to be referred to as a ‘grave’ condition. The continued omission of the sensory symptoms associated with MG from the literature has also been miscommunicated for decades, however such symptoms are now becoming recognized as a result of increasing patient led research. Myasthenia Gravis should continue to be regarded as a serious disease, due to the devastating effect on quality of life for many people, and the unpredictability of the myasthenic crisis potentially occurring in all people living with MG, including those who are undiagnosed. The dismissing of mild symptoms results in many MG patients remaining undiagnosed. The possibility that individuals in this group go on to become victims of Sudden Adult Unexplained Death (SUD) is yet to be investigated, and there is a need for research in this area. Miscommunication also includes omitting ‘old knowledge,’ not listening to the patient’s lived experience, and failing to integrate relevant interdisciplinary knowledge. Good examples of these are The Mary Walker Effect, and combining patient lived experience with ocular anatomy and physiology knowledge to develop new MG-specific ocular motility clinical tests. A new test is presented for evaluating MG eye signs utilizing knowledge of the ‘Safety Factor,’ and is referred to as The SLOWLY Test (Significant Level Of Weakness, Loci in Y Axis). Awareness of the historical misinterpretations, miscommunications, and misconceptions is crucial to preventing delay in diagnosis in MG patients, developing new clinical tests, rehabilitation interventions, and helping doctors and others understand the lived experience of MG patients

Inclusion of genital, sexual, and gender diversity in human reproductive teaching: impact on student experience and recommendations for tertiary educators.

Western societal norms have long been constrained by binary and exclusionary perspectives on matters such as infertility, contraception, sexual health, sexuality, and gender. These viewpoints have shaped research and knowledge frameworks for decades and led to an inaccurate and incomplete reproductive biology curriculum. To combat these deficiencies in reproductive systems-related education, our teaching team undertook a gradual transformation of unit content from 2018 to 2023, aiming to better reflect real diversity in human reproductive biology. This initiative involved intentional modifications, including clear use of pronoun self-identification by staff. We addressed the historical lack of representation of genital variation and helped students interrogate oversimplified reproductive biology binaries. A novel assignment was also introduced, prompting students to apply reproductive physiology knowledge to propose innovative assisted reproductive technology solutions for diverse demographics. The collective impact of these innovations had a positive effect on student learning. With improved lecture content and inclusive language, the proportion of inclusive group assignment topics chosen by students more than doubled in 2021. By 2022, coinciding with assessment topic changes, the percentage of inclusive assignments topics surpassed 50%. Further development of laboratory activities on intersex genital variation and genital modification raised further understanding of genital, sexual, gender, and cultural diversity. While implementing these changes posed challenges, pushing both staff and students out of their comfort zones at times, collaboration with relevant organizations and individuals with lived experience of queer identity proved integral. Ultimately, these relatively simple adjustments had a substantial impact on student experiences and appreciation for diversity.NEW & NOTEWORTHY We outline the teaching innovations that we have implemented to improve inclusion of diversity in reproductive biology and physiology contexts. This includes improved representation of genital, sexual, and gender diversity considerations in the curriculum. There is a critical need for these innovations as how we teach fundamentally shapes the understanding of our future medical and health professionals and researchers and thus influences the quality of future medical care and research.

Rabbi Moshe Ben Maimon, Better Known as Rambam (1138-1204): Physician, Philosopher, and Adjudicator.

Rabbi Moshe Ben Maimon, known as Maimonides (Hebrew name is Rambam), lived from 1138 to 1204. He was one of the important philosophers, adjudicators, and physicians of the Jews. Rambam's knowledge of Jewish laws and his being a philosopher helped him in his third discipline, medicine. One of his perspectives was combining theology with philosophy, especially medicine. With that ability, he pioneered his multidisciplinary way of thinking and acting. Rambam was also a pioneer in the medical fields, especially anatomy, physiology, and clinical knowledge, and inspired many generations in the Middle Ages. Rambam was esteemed and respected not only by Jews but also by other religions and nationalities. There is a notable saying describing Rambam: "From Moses (Moses, the prophet) to Moshe (Moses, the Rambam), there were none like Moses." He was nicknamed the "Big Eagle". Rambam was called "Mossa Ibn Maimon" by the Arabs and "Maimonides" by the Europeans, derived from theGreek word "Moiasis Maimonidis". Herein, we focus solely on Rambam's contributions to medicine since his work, activities, and knowledge are very complex to summarize.

Exploration of Teaching Principles from the Perspective of Exercise Physiology Knowledge

Exercise physiology is a science that studies functions and mechanisms, and its knowledge contains many principles and methods. These principles and methods are not only applied to the teaching of physical education classes, fitness guidance, and sports training, but also, many principles can be reflected to guide the teaching process and design of exercise physiology courses and other theoretical courses.

Perception of undergraduate medical students on learning physiology: A descriptive cross-sectional study in a medical school of South India.

Understanding the various principles in physiology is very important for medical students to apply their knowledge in clinical practice. Most of the students learn physiology just to clear exams. There is a need to understand the student's perception on the significance of learning physiology in medical colleges, its role in clinical practice, research, and the subject of career choice. A descriptive cross-sectional questionnaire-based study was conducted in a medical college in Karnataka, India. A total of 100 medical students studying in year 2 MBBS were enrolled into the study. Responses were collected, validated, and analyzed to understand the perception. All the participants (100%) felt physiology is an important subject in the medical curriculum and 93% of participants felt physiology knowledge was essential to become a better doctor. It was observed that 48% of the participants were interested in pursuing research in physiology and only 24% of the participants agreed on considering physiology as a carrier option. Medical students perceived physiology as an important and interesting subject in the medical curriculum. However, only few of the students were inclined to do research in physiology and agreed on pursuing physiology as a carrier option. The scope of study in physiology is vast due to the large variety of interdisciplinary topics included in different systems. Subsequent decrease in job opportunity, lack of awareness of research opportunities, and lower pay scale in the medical colleges in India lead to less interest in students for considering physiology as a carrier option.

Perceived Benefit of Active Over Passive Strategies for Pathophysiology Learning and Retention Among Physician Assistant Students.

This study examines physician assistant (PA) student perceived benefit of active vs. passive studying strategies for learning and retaining physiology and pathophysiology content knowledge. Identifying beneficial studying strategies is crucial to building a strong content knowledge foundation to support PA students' clinical rotations. Three cohorts of PA students (n = 64) were anonymously surveyed regarding perceived benefit of studying strategies for learning and retention of physiology and pathophysiology content knowledge. Students also ranked strategies from most to least beneficial. Strategies were identified during survey development pilot study as either active or passive. Physician assistant students rated the active strategies perceived benefit mean as significantly greater than the passive strategies mean for both the learning (t(61) = 9.24, P < .001, d = 1.38) and retention (t(58) = 8.19, P < .001, d = 1.21) conditions. This study provides evidence that PA students perceive active studying strategies to be more beneficial than passive strategies for acquiring physiology and pathophysiology content and retaining it into the clinical year.

Growth pattern, Protein quantification, and Antibiotic responses of four Halophilic Bacterial Strains in different salt concentration

Abstract: Background: Halophilic bacteria are studied extensively to explore molecular basis of adaptation, enzymatic potential, drug resistance and their other biotechnological implications. Their ability to survive in hypersaline condition is often linked to the potential of biosynthesizing a well-known compatible solute, namely ectoine. Aim: In this study, four bacterial strains, which were previously identified from hypersaline environment were studied for their growth pattern and ectoine biosynthesis proteins expression under varying NaCl concentration. In addition, antibiotic susceptibility of the strains was also investigated. Methods: The growth pattern of the bacterial strains were studied in LB broth supplemented with different NaCl concentration. Bradford method was employed for protein estimation, and optical densities of the samples were quantified through UV-Vis spectrophotometer. Moreover, expression of the ectoine proteins were detected through SDS-PAGE, and disc diffusion method was used for profiling the antibiotic resistance of the strains. Results: The results indicated distinct growth patterns, with each strain demonstrating preferences for specific salinity levels. Notably, Staphylococcus cohnii strain F exhibited optimal growth at 10% NaCl, while Jeotgalicoccus huakuii strain 3.7 thrived at 15% NaCl. Total protein analysis revealed a consistent trend of decreasing protein content with rising NaCl concentrations, elucidating a potential adaptive strategy. Staphylococcus cohnii strain F stood out, maintaining higher protein levels at 20% NaCl, indicative of unique adaptive mechanisms. Antibiotic susceptibility testing uncovered diverse resistance profiles, emphasizing the strain-specific nature of responses. The expression of ectoine biosynthesis genes in Staphylococcus cohnii strain F underlines its adaptive advantage in high salinity. Conclusion: The findings contribute not only to basic microbial physiology knowledge but also hold implications for biotechnological applications and clinical practices, emphasizing the importance of tailored approaches in antibiotic therapy and highlighting the strain-specific nature of bacterial adaptations.

Cross-sectional insights into exercise physiology knowledge among medical students in Jordan.

Exercise physiology is a branch of physiology that studies how physical activity and exercise alter the structure and function of living organisms. Knowledge of exercise physiology is crucial to improve athletic performance, improve people's ability to cope with extreme circumstances and approach chronic diseases. This research aimed to evaluate the knowledge of future healthcare professionals, namely, the medical students in Jordan regarding exercise physiology. Responses were collected from 524 undergraduate medical students enrolled in clinical clerkship. An online survey that evaluated participants' basic understanding of various physiological concepts related to physical exercises, such as respiratory exchange ratio, physical fitness, V̇O2 max and exercise at high altitudes was employed in the study. 63.2% of participants had a poor level of exercise physiology knowledge. Misconceptions regarding V̇O2 max definition (93.3%), application (46.4%), significance (35.6%) and related physiological factors (48.7%) were observed. Students had misconceptions about physical fitness evaluation questions (52.5%, 39%, and 41.8%, respectively). Student proportions of 37%, 41%, 80.3% and 73.1% showed misconceptions about muscle groups and energy systems during training, training prescription variables, respiratory exchange ratio, and high-altitude performance, respectively. Significant differences in knowledge levels were found based on respondent characteristics (p < 0.05). Knowledge of exercise physiology is more than desirable for medical professionals. Therefore, efforts must be made to increase awareness and improve knowledge about basic physiological fundamentals related to exercise physiology among medical students in Jordan, as they represent the backbone of healthcare professionals of the future who will deal with medical conditions related to physical activity and exercise.

Active learning methodology, associated to formative assessment, improved cardiac physiology knowledge and decreased pre-test stress and anxiety.

Stress and anxiety caused by assessments are often related to the student's insecurity regarding the knowledge to be evaluated, while teaching strategies that increase effective learning can assist in reducing it. The aim of this study was to evaluate the hypothesis that the use of an active methodology, associated to formative assessment, could reduce students' anxiety and stress, when compared to the traditional method, by promoting greater learning. New students enrolled in the same discipline of a Dentistry course were invited to participate in the study and were divided into two groups: traditional method and active methodology. The traditional method group received two lectures, delivered orally. The active methodology group received a lecture about cardiac cells and the autonomic control of cardiac function, with home study of the cardiac cycle using a textbook. In the second class, an individual formative assessment was applied. Afterwards, a group activity was performed with an educational game about the cardiac cycle, followed by a group formative assessment. After applying the traditional or active methodology, test 1 was carried out. Immediately before this test, saliva samples were collected for determination of the concentrations of the stress biomarkers cortisol and α-amylase. The students also answered the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory questionnaire, used for anxiety level determination. The score obtained in the test 1 was significantly higher for the active methodology group, compared to the traditional method group. No significant differences between the groups were observed for baseline cortisol and salivary α-amylase concentrations, or for anxiety scores. Before test 1, traditional method group presented higher concentrations of salivary cortisol and α-amylase, compared to the respective baseline values, while the active methodology group showed no difference between the baseline and test 1 levels. Before test 1, there were increases in anxiety levels, relative to the respective baseline values, regardless of the teaching methodology used, but this increase was greater for the traditional method group, compared to the active methodology group. These results showed that the active methodology, associated to formative assessment, decreased test stress and anxiety, with improved student performance in comparison to traditional lectures.

The oxygen transport cascade and exercise: Lessons from comparative physiology

Studies of animal physiology not only provide valuable knowledge for the species in question, but also offer insights into human physiology. This thought is best highlighted by the ‘Krogh Principle’, which states “for many problems there is an animal on which it can be most conveniently studied”. This graphical review focuses on three distinct stages of the oxygen transport cascade in which human exercise physiology knowledge has been enhanced by studies carried out in animal models. We begin by exploring ventilation, and the detrimental effects of cold, dry air on the airways in two sets of elite athletes, the cross-country skier and the racing sled dog. We then discuss the transport of oxygen via hemoglobin in humans and deer mice with relatively shifted oxygen dissociation curves. Finally, we consider the technical difficulties of measuring respiratory muscle blood flow in exercising humans and how an equine model can provide an understanding of the distribution of blood flow during exercise. These cases illustrate the complementary nature of physiological studies across species.

An investigation of preclinical medical students' preference for summative or formative assessment for physiology learning.

Both summative and formative assessments are known to facilitate student learning and understanding and help students to identify areas of weakness. However, few studies have investigated students' preference for either summative or formative evaluations, particularly in the area of preclinical medicine. The current study addresses this deficit by surveying 137 first-year graduate entry to medicine (GEM) preclinical medical students from 2 consecutive years (2018-2019 and 2019-2020), for their thoughts on the 6 summative (i.e., for a small percentage of marks), proctored and the 5 informal, formative (i.e., no marks available) continuous assessments in physiology that they encountered in semesters 1 and 2, respectively. Our survey revealed that between 75 and 90% of students felt that both evaluation formats were roughly equally useful (i.e., selecting options, "agree" or "strongly agree") both for providing feedback about their understanding of physiology and for identifying deficits in their physiology knowledge. However, although a significantly larger number of students felt that summative evaluations motivated them to study more than the formative evaluations (P = 0.006), overall, more students favored formative over summative assessments. Notably, however, GEM students from nonbiomedical backgrounds were significantly more in favor of summative assessments than those from either biomedical backgrounds (P = 0.003) or the whole GEM survey cohort (P = 0.01). The implications of these findings will be discussed, with suggestions as to how the student views outlined here might be facilitated within an academic program to maximize both student learning as well as their motivation to study and keep up with taught material.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Although several studies have investigated the relative effectiveness of regular summative versus formative assessments as tools to facilitate student learning and understanding, ours is the first to explicitly solicit students' views on, and preferences for, either regular formative or summative assessment in preclinical medicine. We demonstrate that, overall, students preferred formative- to summative-type assessments, due to the immediacy of feedback, but also that summative tests incentivized them to study and keep up with material more.

Developing effective written communication skills across undergraduate physiology courses

Professional skills are defined as broad, cross-disciplinary skills that facilitate collaboration and innovation. These skills are valued by employers and professional/graduate programs. Recently, the Physiology Majors’ Interest Group (PMIG) subcommittee on professional skills developed a consensus list of professional skills for undergraduate physiology students. These consist of four general competencies (1. Think Critically, 2. Communicate Effectively, 3. Behave in a socially and scientifically responsible manner, 4. Demonstrate Laboratory Proficiency). These competencies are subdivided into 2 – 3 measurable skills. These measurable skills allow undergraduate physiology educators to design teaching practices that develop student proficiency in these skills in parallel with the development of physiology knowledge and skills. Evaluating and sharing teaching practices with other physiology educators may improve the effectiveness of those practices. This, in turn, may improve student proficiency and long-term retention of these professional skills.The purpose of this process was to evaluate teaching practices intended to develop written communication skills in undergraduate physiology courses within a kinesiology program. Students in this program take Mammalian Physiology (BIO129/L) and Exercise Physiology (BIO134/L) consecutively. In both courses, effective written communication skills are among the course learning outcomes. To develop these skills, a series of assignments was developed. This consisted of an abstract (BIO129L), a short report (BIO129L), a manuscript over a prescribed laboratory experiment (BIO129L), and a manuscript over a student-designed research project (BIO134L). Students were provided extensive rubrics for each assignment and received written feedback on their work before they submitted the next assignment.Initially, student work exhibited beginner-level proficiency and progressed little over the assignment sequence. In response, the assignment sequence was refined. Refinements included: (1) providing students an additional opportunity to practice each assignment, while also providing students structured, specific feedback; (2) reviewing exemplars of each written form of writing; and (3) streamlining the rubrics to highlight key criteria for each assignment.Based on feedback from students and observations of student performance, providing additional opportunities to practice improved long-term understanding of each form of scientific writing. Reviewing exemplars improved students’ understanding of the purpose of abstracts versus manuscripts. Revision of rubrics also improved student comprehension of each form of writing, resulting in improved clarity and logic in students’ written work. However, the impact of altering feedback strategy is unclear, and evaluation of this practice is ongoing. This process highlights the interative nature of teaching practices designed to develop professional skills. This is the full abstract presented at the American Physiology Summit 2023 meeting and is only available in HTML format. There are no additional versions or additional content available for this abstract. Physiology was not involved in the peer review process.

The 2022 Certified Flight Registered Nurse Pulse Survey

ObjectiveThe Certified Flight Registered Nurse (CFRN) credential independently validates a registered nurse's advanced knowledge, skills, and abilities in the unique specialty of flight nursing. Introduced in 1993 and celebrating its 30th anniversary in July 2023, the CFRN is held by over 5,500 registered nurses. The purpose of the 2022 CFRN pulse survey was to better understand the ways CFRN-certified registered nurses value this national flight nursing specialty credential. The CFRN survey is a companion to the 2022 Certified Transport Registered Nurse pulse survey, which focused on the Certified Transport Registered Nurse critical care ground transport nursing credential. MethodsThe Board of Certification for Emergency Nursing e-mailed individuals in its database of CFRN credential holders and asked them to respond to a 14-question online survey between October 17, 2022, and November 8, 2022. Participation in the survey was voluntary. Of the 5,275 verified CFRN holders who received the survey, 992 responded, for a response rate of 18.8%. The survey instrument included discrete field and open-ended questions. Data were deidentified for analysis, and institutional review board exemption was received. Counts and percentages were reported, and descriptive statistics were used. ResultsThe highest percentage of flight nurses who responded have more than 10 years of experience in flight nursing (35.3%) and are employed by a stand-alone transport program (42.7%). Flight nurses reported they spent a mean of 70% of their work hours transporting via rotor wing aircraft, with a predominantly adult patient population. The top perceived benefits of being a CFRN-certified nurse were a sense of accomplishment and pride (90.7%) followed by flight physiology knowledge (85.4%), flight nursing clinical knowledge (83.4%), and confidence as a flight nurse (80.6%). ConclusionThe 2022 CFRN pulse survey identified current CFRN demographics, practice environments including transport percentage by mode and patient population types, and perceived benefits of the CFRN credential. The findings suggest CFRNs are very experienced, provide care for patients across the age continuum, and perceive multiple intrinsic and extrinsic benefits of CFRN certification, all of which are essential to safe, evidence-based advanced nursing practice in the unique, complex, autonomous, and dynamic flight environment.

Mitochondria-derived damage-associated molecular patterns and inflammation in the ischemic-reperfused heart.

Cardiac cell death after myocardial infarction release endogenous structures termed damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) that trigger the innate immune system and initiate a sterile inflammation in the myocardium. Cardiomyocytes are energy demanding cells and 30% of their volume are mitochondria. Mitochondria are evolutionary endosymbionts originating from bacteria containing molecular patterns similar to bacteria, termed mitochondrial DAMPs (mDAMPs). Consequently, mitochondrial debris may be particularly immunogenic and damaging. However, the role of mDAMPs in myocardial infarction is not clarified. Identifying the most harmful mDAMPs and inhibiting their early inflammatory signaling may reduce infarct size and the risk of developing post-infarct heart failure. The focus of this review is the role of mDAMPs in the immediate pro-inflammatory phase after myocardial infarction before arrival of immune cells in the myocardium. We discuss different mDAMPs, their role in physiology and present knowledge regarding their role in the inflammatory response of acute myocardial infarction.

Difficulties and innovations in teaching anatomy and physiology in nursing

AimThis study aimed to clarify the difficulties and innovations in anatomy and physiology education from the perspective of faculty members in charge of anatomy and physiology education in Japanese nursing universities. BackgroundMany nursing students have difficulty acquiring anatomy and physiology knowledge and applying it in clinical situations; therefore, effective teaching and learning methods for anatomy and physiology must be provided in nursing education. DesignThis study followed a cross-sectional observational design using a web-based self-administered questionnaire. MethodsA web-based self-administered open-ended survey regarding the difficulties and innovations in teaching anatomy and physiology in nursing was conducted involving nursing faculty members at universities in Japan. After inviting 280 nursing universities to participate in the survey, 37 completed questionnaires were collected and descriptively analyzed. ResultsIn approximately 30% of the universities, multiple professions were involved in collaboratively teaching anatomy and physiology. Furthermore, 59.5% of the universities offered a combination of didactic lectures and laboratory learning. Difficulties in teaching anatomy and physiology included the limitations of the physical teaching environment, the difficulty of teaching the importance of anatomy and physiology in nursing practice, the difficulty of adjusting educational content to learner readiness, and the difficulty of terminology and concepts specific to anatomy and physiology. Innovations used in teaching anatomy and physiology from a nursing perspective included integrating anatomy and physiology with related disciplines, encouraging students to visualize human anatomy in three dimensions, and linking anatomy and physiology to clinical nursing practice. ConclusionDespite some difficulties in teaching the subjects, faculty members have implemented effective educational methods on their own. Due to the various constraints of the learning environment, it is difficult for students to learn anatomy and physiology on campus in depth and acquire a deep understanding of its significance in clinical practice. Therefore, educational involvement that fosters students’ self-directed learning skills and encourages flexible learning is expected. In addition, by collaborating with multiple disciplines to provide anatomy and physiology education, the participants of this study innovated pedagogies for teaching nursing students about the usefulness of anatomy and physiology and motivated their students. Moving forward, teachers need to relate their knowledge of anatomy and physiology to actual nursing care and clinical cases and convey the importance of deeply understanding anatomy and physiology in nursing practice to support their students’ active learning.

Development of the Physiology Professional Skills Curriculum Mapping Tool (PS-MAP).

During the course of undergraduate studies, physiology (and related STEM) majors should acquire a both broad and in-depth foundation in physiological knowledge along with a distinct range of transferable (professional) skills (e.g., critical thinking, communication skills, data analysis). Previously, through a consultative and iterative process with physiology educators, the Professional Skills Committee of the Physiology Majors Interest Group (PMIG) defined and refined a consensus list of professional skills that physiology majors should acquire during their program of study. Here we describe the development and beta testing of a convenient tool to enable physiology and physiology-related program educators to map these professional skills across their curricula. The tool, referred to as PS-MAP, uses the Qualtrics platform and allows programs to collect and organize data about whether students are provided the opportunity to learn and develop the defined professional skills during their undergraduate experience. The authors have made the PS-MAP tool freely available to educators and provide practical tips for its implementation. Use of the PS-MAP tool and the data collected can help programs identify curricular strengths and gaps as well as facilitate curricular discussions among educators within the program.NEW & NOTEWORTHY In addition to foundational physiology knowledge, undergraduate physiology and related STEM majors should develop a range of transferable professional skills. However, evidence of this curricular goal has been lacking. Therefore, the Professional Skills Committee of the Physiology Majors Interest Group (PMIG) developed the freely available and convenient Physiology Professional Skills Curriculum Mapping Tool (PS-MAP) to assist educators in mapping these professional skills throughout their programs.

Design and evaluation of a new consolidation exercise for students studying cardiac physiology: a digital escape room.

The current student body will, by and large, seek online resources to supplement their learning. However, resources that are freely available online vary in accuracy and quality, and the vast majority rely on passive learning. Therefore, there is a need for interactive physiology teaching resources that facilitate application of knowledge, that can be accessed by students in their own time. The aim of this study was to design a digital escape room on the topic of cardiac arrhythmias and to evaluate this resource as a consolidation exercise to support learning and enjoyment of physiology. The digital escape room was designed as a series of interactive puzzles and created with a website page builder on a freely accessible WordPress site. To facilitate engagement, the escape room incorporated a countdown timer. Second-year medical students were invited to play the digital escape room remotely as a group exercise after delivery of the relevant teaching. Evaluation of the resource took place quantitatively with Google Analytics and Tag Manager software and qualitatively with a questionnaire (Microsoft Forms). Quantitative evaluation suggested that the puzzles were created across a range of difficulties but that most groups were able to complete the exercise and remained engaged throughout. Student feedback suggests that the format of the resource was rated positively, and most participants felt that the game helped to consolidate and apply their knowledge of cardiovascular physiology. Future studies will focus on examining whether the cardiovascular-themed digital escape room improves knowledge attainment among students studying physiology in higher education.NEW & NOTEWORTHY This article describes the design and development of a new, freely accessible cardiovascular-themed digital escape room. This web-based resource promotes active learning by facilitating problem-solving and application of physiology knowledge while working against a clock.

Molecular Breeding and Drought Tolerance in Chickpea.

Cicer arietinum L. is the third greatest widely planted imperative pulse crop worldwide, and it belongs to the Leguminosae family. Drought is the utmost common abiotic factor on plants, distressing their water status and limiting their growth and development. Chickpea genotypes have the natural ability to fight drought stress using certain strategies viz., escape, avoidance and tolerance. Assorted breeding methods, including hybridization, mutation, and marker-aided breeding, genome sequencing along with omics approaches, could be used to improve the chickpea germplasm lines(s) against drought stress. Root features, for instance depth and root biomass, have been recognized as the greatest beneficial morphological factors for managing terminal drought tolerance in the chickpea. Marker-aided selection, for example, is a genomics-assisted breeding (GAB) strategy that can considerably increase crop breeding accuracy and competence. These breeding technologies, notably marker-assisted breeding, omics, and plant physiology knowledge, underlined the importance of chickpea breeding and can be used in future crop improvement programmes to generate drought-tolerant cultivars(s).

Fizyoloji Lisansüstü ve Uzmanlık Öğrencilerinin Tıp Fakültelerindeki Fizyoloji Eğitimi Hakkında Görüşleri

Aim: Physiology postgraduate students (PPGS) and residents of physiology in Turkey contribute to the physiology education of medical faculty students while continuing their education. This study aimed to identify the opinions of PPGS and residents on physiology undergraduate education in medical faculties.Methods: The questionnaire consist of Likert-type, multiple-choice and open-ended questions was applied to the PPGS and residents via online between 08.10.2020 and 09.15.2020. The questionnaire consisted of four parts, including questions about socio-demographic information of participants, theoretical physiology lectures and physiology practices given to medical faculty students, and questions about the contribution of PPGS and residents in physiology education. Those who did not answer the socio-demographic information part and half of the questionnaire were excluded, there was no obligation to answer every question. The data were evaluated using the PASW program. Percentage, frequency, Chi-Square and Fisher-Freeman-Halton tests were used for statistical analysis. Results: Seventy-one volunteers (17 residents, 28 doctorates and 26 masters students) participated in this study; 51% were doing thesis and 42% were in the pre-thesis period. 30% of the volunteers were in the academic staff in the physiology departments. It was determined that 15% of the participants had pedagogical training and 83% were willing to have pedagogical training. All the participants stated that the learning objectives should be explained in the theoretical lectures, the theoretical lectures should be explained by associating them with professional practices and examples (97%) and including the contribution of physiology knowledge to their professional life (100%). Doctoral students found distance education in theoretical lectures more applicable than master students (p=0.025). Most of the participants stated that simulated patients should be used for physiology practices (83%), feedback from PPGS and residents regarding the conduct of practice courses (97%) and the involvement of PPGS and residents in physiology practice courses positively affect the quality of physiology education in the medical faculty (78%). However, a large part of the participants (82%) thought that the time that postgraduate students, who have to work in different jobs in order to earn financial income, would allocate for physiology education to medical school students was limited. Conclusions: It has been determined that PPGS and residents have a high awareness of current learning methods and were eager to have pedagogical education. The opinions of PPGS and residents can contribute to the planning of the future of physiology education, while providing feedback on current physiology education.