A comparison of responses to group learning between first-year Asian and first-year Australian veterinary science students

Introduction - Group learning has been used to enhance deep (long-term) learning and promote life skills, such as decision making, communication, and interpersonal skills. However, with increasing multiculturalism in higher education, there is little information available as to the acceptance of this form of learning by Asian students or as to its value to them. Methodology - Group-learning projects, incorporating a seminar presentation, were used in first-year veterinary anatomical science classes over two consecutive years (2003 and 2004) at the School of Veterinary Science, University of Queensland. Responses of Australian and Asian students to survey forms evaluating the learning experience were analyzed and compared. Results - All students responded positively to the group learning, indicating that it was a useful learning experience and a great method for meeting colleagues. There were no significant differences between Asian and Australian students in overall responses to the survey evaluating the learning experience, except where Asian students responded significantly higher than Australian students in identifying specific skills that needed improving. Conclusions - Group learning can be successfully used in multicultural teaching to enhance deep learning. This form of learning helps to remove cultural barriers and establish a platform for continued successful group learning throughout the program.

An evaluation of the first year's experience with a low-cost telemedicine link in Bangladesh

In July 1999, the Swinfen Charitable Trust in the UK established a telemedicine link in Bangladesh, between the Centre for the Rehabilitation of the Paralysed (CRP) in Dhaka and medical consultants abroad. This low-cost telemedicine system used a digital camera to capture still images, which were then transmitted by email. During the first 12 months, 27 telemedicine referrals were made. The following specialties were consulted: neurology (44%), orthopaedics (40%), rheumatology (8%), nephrology (4%) and paediatrics (4%). Initial email replies were received at the CRP within a day of referral in 70% of cases and within thee days in 100%, which shows that store-and-forward telemedicine can be both fast and reliable. Telemedicine consultation was complete within three days in 14 cases (52%) and within three weeks in 24 cases (89%). Referral was judged to be beneficial in 24 cases (89%), the benefits including establishment of the diagnosis, the provision of reassurance to the patient and referring doctor, and a change of management. Four patients (15% of the total) and their families were spared the considerable expense and unnecessary stress of travelling abroad for a second opinion, and the savings from this alone outweighed the set-up and running costs in Bangladesh. The latter are limited to an email account with an Internet service provider and the local-rate telephone call charges from the CRP. This successful telemedicine system is a model for further telemedicine projects in the developing world.

Comparison of measured sleeping metabolic rate and predicted basal metabolic rate during the first year of life: evidence of a bias changing with increasing metabolic rate

Objective: To compare measurements of sleeping metabolic rate (SMR) in infancy with predicted basal metabolic rate (BMR) estimated by the equations of Schofield. Methods: Some 104 serial measurements of SMR by indirect calorimetry were performed in 43 healthy infants at 1.5, 3, 6, 9 and 12 months of age. Predicted BMR was calculated using the weight only (BMR-wo) and weight and height (BMR-wh) equations of Schofield for 0-3-y-olds. Measured SMR values were compared with both predictive values by means of the Bland-Altman statistical test. Results: The mean measured SMR was 1.48 MJ/day. The mean predicted BMR values were 1.66 and 1.47 MJ/day for the weight only and weight and height equations, respectively. The Bland-Altman analysis showed that BMR-wo equation on average overestimated SMR by 0.18 MJ/day (11%) and the BMR-wh equation underestimated SMR by 0.01 MJ/day (1%). However the 95% limits of agreement were wide: - 0.64 to - 0.28MJ/day (28%) for the former equation and - 0.39 to +0.41 MJ/day (27%) for the latter equation. Moreover there was a significant correlation between the mean of the measured and predicted metabolic rate and the difference between them. Conclusions: The wide variation seen in the difference between measured and predicted metabolic rate and the bias probably with age indicates there is a need to measure actual metabolic rate for individual clinical care in this age group.

A review of the first year's experience with an automatic message-routing system for low-cost telemedicine

The Swinfen Charitable Trust has used email for some years as a low-cost telemedicine medium to provide consultant support for doctors in developing countries. A scalable, automatic message-routing system was constructed which automates many of the tasks involved in message handling. During the first 12 months of its use, 1510 messages were processed automatically. There were 128 referrals from 18 hospitals in nine countries. Of these 128 queries, 89 (70%) were replied to within 72 h; the median delay was 1.1 day. The 39 unanswered queries were sent to backup specialists for reply and 36 of them (92%) were replied to within 72 h. In the remaining three cases, a second-line (backup) specialist was required. The referrals were handled by 54 volunteer specialists from a panel of over 70. Two system operators, located 10 time zones apart, managed the system. The median time from receipt of a new referral to its allocation to a specialist was 0.2 days (interquartile range, IQR, 0.1-0.8). The median interval between receipt of a new referral and first reply was 2.6 days (IQR 0.8-5.9). Automatic message handling solves many of the problems of manual email telemedicine systems and represents a potentially scalable way of doing low-cost telemedicine in the developing world.

Vitamin D supplementation during the first year of life and risk of schizophrenia: a Finnish birth cohort study

Objective: Based on clues from epidemiology and animal experiments, low vitamin D during early life has been proposed as a risk factor for schizophrenia. The aim of this study was to explore the association between the use of vitamin D supplements during the first year of life and risk of developing schizophrenia. Method: Subjects were drawn from the Northern Finland 1966 Birth Cohort (n = 9 114). During the first year of life, data were collected about the frequency and dose of vitamin D supplementation. Our primary outcome measures were schizophrenia, psychotic disorders other than schizophrenia, and nonpsychotic disorders as diagnosed by age 31 years. Males and females were examined separately. Results: In males, the use of either irregular or regular vitamin D supplements was associated with a reduced risk of schizophrenia (Risk ratio (RR) = 0.08, 95% CI 0.01-0.95; RR = 0.12, 95% CI 0.02-0.90, respectively) compared with no supplementation. In males, the use of at least 2000 IU of vitamin D was associated with a reduced risk of schizophrenia (RR = 0.23, 95% CI 0.06-0.95) compared to those on lower doses. There were no significant associations between either the frequency or dose of vitamin D supplements and (a) schizophrenia in females, nor with (b) nonpsychotic disorder or psychotic disorders other than schizophrenia in either males or females. Conclusion: Vitamin D supplementation during the first year of life is associated with a reduced risk of schizophrenia in males. Preventing hypovitaminosis D during early life may reduce the incidence of schizophrenia. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The influence of role models on strudents' entrepreneurial intentions

The Smart State initiative requires both improved education and training, panicularly in technical fields, plus entrepreneurship to commercialise new ideas. In this study, we propose an entrepreneurial intentions model as a guide to examine the educational choices and entrepreneurial intentions of first-year University students, focusing on the effect of role models. A survey of over 1000 first-year University students revealed that the most enterprising students were choosing to study in the disciplines of information technology and business, economics and law, or selecting dual degree programs that include business. The role models most often identified for their choice of field of study were parents, followed by teachers and peers, with females identifying more role models than males. For entrepreneurship, students' role models were parents and peers, followed by famous persons and teachers. Males andfemales identified similar numbers of role models, but malesfound starting a business more desirable and more feasible, and reponed higher entrepreneurial intention. The implications of these findings for Sman State policy are discussed.

Five-year survival after first-ever stroke and related prognostic factors in the Perth Community Stroke Study

Background and Purpose-Few community-based studies have examined the long-term survival and prognostic factors for death within 5 years after an acute first-ever stroke. This study aimed to determine the absolute and relative survival and the independent baseline prognostic Factors for death over the next 5 years among all individuals and among 30-day survivors after a first-ever stroke in a population of Perth, Western Australia. Methods-Between February 1989 and August 1990, all individuals with a suspected acute stroke or transient ischemic attack of the brain who were resident in a geographically defined region of Perth, Western Australia, with a population of 138 708 people, were registered prospectively and assessed according to standardized diagnostic criteria. Patients were followed up prospectively at 4 months, 12 months, and 5 years after the index event. Results-Three hundred seventy patients with first-ever stroke were registered, and 362 (98%) were followed up at 5 years, by which time 210 (58%) had died. In the first year after stroke the risk of death was 36.5% (95% CI, 31.5% to 41.4%), which was 10-fold (95% CI, 8.3% to 11.7%) higher than that expected among the general population of the same age and sex. The most common cause of death was the index stroke (64%). Between 1 and 5 years after stroke, the annual risk of death was approximately 10% per year, which was approximately 2-fold greater than expected, and the most common cause of death was cardiovascular disease (41%). The independent baseline factors among 30-day survivors that predicted death over 5 years were intermittent clandication (hazard ratio [WR], 1.9; 95% CI, 1.2 to 2.9), urinary incontinence (HR, 2.0; 95% CI, 1.3 to 3.0), previous transient ischemic attack (HR, 2.4; 95% CT, 1.3 to 4.1), and prestroke Barthel Index <20/20 (HR, 2.0, 95% CI, 1.3 to 3.2). Conclusions-One-year survivors of first-ever stroke continue to die over the next 4 years at a rate of approximately 10% per year, which is twice the rate expected among the general population of the same age and sex. The most common cause of death is cardiovascular disease. Long-term survival after stroke may be improved by early, active, and sustained implementation of effective strategies for preventing subsequent cardiovascular events.