An alternative experimental model for training in microsurgery

OBJECTIVE: to describe a new model of training in microsurgery with pig spleen after splenectomy performed by undergraduate students of the Discipline of Operative Technique of the UFPR Medical School. METHODS: after the completion of splenectomy we performed dissection of the vascular pedicle, distal and proximal to the ligation performed for removal of the spleen. After complete dissection of the splenic artery and vein with microscope, clamps were placed and the vessels were cut. We then made the anastomosis of the vessels with 9.0 nylon. RESULT: the microsurgical training with a well-defined routine, qualified supervision and using low cost experimental materials proved to be effective in the practice of initial microvascular surgery. CONCLUSION: the use of pig spleen, which would be discarded after splenectomy, is an excellent model for microsurgical training, since besides having the consistency and sensitivity of a real model, it saves the sacrifice of a new animal model in the initial learning phase of this technique.

Low-fidelity bench models for basic surgical skills training during undergraduate medical education

It is remarkable the reduction in the number of medical students choosing general surgery as a career. In this context, new possibilities in the field of surgical education should be developed to combat this lack of interest. In this study, a program of surgical training based on learning with models of low-fidelity bench is designed as a complementary alternative to the various methodologies in the teaching of basic surgical skills during medical education, and to develop personal interests in career choice.

Device model for training of laparoscopic surgical skills

The authors present a especially constructed, lightweight, collapsible, portable and low cost model device for skills training in laparoscopic.

Teaching project: a low-cost swine model for chest tube insertion training

Objective: to describe and evaluate the acceptance of a low-cost chest tube insertion porcine model in a medical education project in the southwest of Paraná, Brazil. Methods: we developed a low-cost and low technology porcine model for teaching chest tube insertion and used it in a teaching project. Medical trainees - students and residents - received theoretical instructions about the procedure and performed thoracic drainage in this porcine model. After performing the procedure, the participants filled a feedback questionnaire about the proposed experimental model. This study presents the model and analyzes the questionnaire responses. Results: seventy-nine medical trainees used and evaluated the model. The anatomical correlation between the porcine model and human anatomy was considered high and averaged 8.1±1.0 among trainees. All study participants approved the low-cost porcine model for chest tube insertion. Conclusion: the presented low-cost porcine model for chest tube insertion training was feasible and had good acceptability among trainees. This model has potential use as a teaching tool in medical education.

Training executive functions in the laboratory and in real life : cognitive consequences of computer-based exercises and bilingualism

The question of the trainability of executive functions and the impact of such training on related cognitive skills has stirred considerable research interest. Despite a number of studies investigating this, the question has not yet been solved. The general aim of this thesis was to investigate two very different types of training of executive functions: laboratory-based computerized training (Studies I-III) and realworld training through bilingualism (Studies IV-V). Bilingualism as a kind of training of executive functions is based on the idea that managing two languages requires executive resources, and previous studies have suggested a bilingual advantage in executive functions. Three executive functions were studied in the present thesis: updating of working memory (WM) contents, inhibition of irrelevant information, and shifting between tasks and mental sets. Studies I-III investigated the effects of computer-based training of WM updating (Study I), inhibition (Study II), and set shifting (Study III) in healthy young adults. All studies showed increased performance on the trained task. More importantly, improvement on an untrained task tapping the trained executive function (near transfer) was seen in Study I and II. None of the three studies showed improvement on untrained tasks tapping some other cognitive function (far transfer) as a result of training. Study I also used PET to investigate the effects of WM updating training on a neurotransmitter closely linked to WM, namely dopamine. The PET results revealed increased striatal dopamine release during WM updating performance as a result of training. Study IV investigated the ability to inhibit task-irrelevant stimuli in bilinguals and monolinguals by using a dichotic listening task. The results showed that the bilinguals exceeded the monolinguals in inhibiting task-irrelevant information. Study V introduced a new, complementary research approach to study the bilingual executive advantage and its underlying mechanisms. To circumvent the methodological problems related to natural groups design, this approach focuses only on bilinguals and examines whether individual differences in bilingual behavior correlate with executive task performances. Using measures that tap the three above-entioned executive functions, the results suggested that more frequent language switching was associated with better set shifting skills, and earlier acquisition of the second language was related to better inhibition skills. In conclusion, the present behavioral results showed that computer-based training of executive functions can improve performance on the trained task and on closely related tasks, but does not yield a more general improvement of cognitive skills. Moreover, the functional neuroimaging results reveal that WM training modulates striatal dopaminergic function, speaking for training-induced neural plasticity in this important neurotransmitter system. With regard to bilingualism, the results provide further support to the idea that bilingualism can enhance executive functions. In addition, the new complementary research approach proposed here provides some clues as to which aspects of everyday bilingual behavior may be related to the advantage in executive functions in bilingual individuals.

Violations of children's rights in armed conflicts : international treaties, observations by peacekeepers and crisis management training in Finland

Ninety-nine Finnish peacekeepers, who had been serving in 15 different operations around the world, participated in the study (8 women, 27-52 years old, m = 37.4, SD = 8.9; and 91 men, 21-69 years old, m = 41.4, SD = 10.2). Three military crisis management trainers from the Finnish Defence Forces International Centre also participated in the study. The data was collected with two webbased questionnaires. In addition two interviews were made with specialists of civilian crisis management in Finland. The study also provides an overview of international treaties concerning children’s rights in armed conflict. The results show that 48.7 % of dangers for children in conflicts reported by the peacekeepers were related to physical injury (e.g. landmines and traffic), and 27.4 % were related to social problems (e.g. poverty, child soldiers, and trafficking). 24.1 % of the peacekeepers had made observations of children’s rights violations either often or very often during peacekeeping operations. 49.6 % of the observations were related to social problems (e.g. child labour or being forced to beg), and 33.0 % were related to physical injury (e.g. assault). Frequency of observation of children’s rights violations was not associated with either sex or military degree of the peacekeepers; instead it was significantly correlated with the peacekeepers’ degree of knowledge of EU’s child protection guidelines. On the basis of the results, it is recommended that knowledge about children’s rights and protection should be included in the training of Finnish crisis management personnel to a much higher degree than at the present.

Sustaining your Open Source project through training: a Hydra case study

Presentation at Open Repositories 2014, Helsinki, Finland, June 9-13, 2014

Cardiorespiratory adaptations induced by aerobic training in middle-aged men: the importance of a decrease in sympathetic stimulation for the contribution of dynamic exercise tachycardia

We investigated the effects of aerobic training on the efferent autonomic control of heart rate (HR) during dynamic exercise in middle-aged men, eight of whom underwent exercise training (T) while the other seven continued their sedentary (S) life style. The training was conducted over 10 months (three 1-h sessions/week on a field track at 70-85% of the peak HR). The contribution of sympathetic and parasympathetic exercise tachycardia was determined in terms of differences in the time constant effects on the HR response obtained using a discontinuous protocol (4-min tests at 25, 50, 100 and 125 watts on a cycle ergometer), and a continuous protocol (25 watts/min until exhaustion) allowed the quantification of the parameters (anaerobic threshold, VO2 AT; peak O2 uptake, VO2 peak; power peak) that reflect oxygen transport. The results obtained for the S and the T groups were: 1) a smaller resting HR in T (66 beats/min) when compared to S (84 beats/min); 2) during exercise, a small increase in the fast tachycardia (D0-10 s) related to vagal withdrawal (P<0.05, only at 25 watts) was observed in T at all powers; at middle and higher powers a significant decrease (P<0.05 at 50, 100 and 125 watts) in the slow tachycardia (D1-4 min) related to a sympathetic-dependent mechanism was observed in T; 3) the VO2 AT (S = 1.06 and T = 1.33 l/min) and VO2 peak (S = 1.97 and T = 2.47 l/min) were higher in T (P<0.05). These results demonstrate that aerobic training can induce significant physiological adaptations in middle-aged men, mainly expressed as a decrease in the sympathetic effects on heart rate associated with an increase in oxygen transport during dynamic exercise.

Virtual Testing of Active Magnetic Bearing Systems based on Design Guidelines given by the Standards

Active Magnetic Bearings offer many advantages that have brought new applications to the industry. However, similarly to all new technology, active magnetic bearings also have downsides and one of those is the low standardization level. This thesis is studying mainly the ISO 14839 standard and more specifically the system verification methods. These verifying methods are conducted using a practical test with an existing active magnetic bearing system. The system is simulated with Matlab using rotor-bearing dynamics toolbox, but this study does not include the exact simulation code or a direct algebra calculation. However, this study provides the proof that standardized simulation methods can be applied in practical problems.

The duality of tactical thought : a study of how Swedish land forces' commanders view tactics in irregular warfare

This is a sociological study of the views of officers in the Swedish Army and its Amphibious Forces on tactics in Irregular Warfare (IW), in particular, Counterinsurgency (COIN). IW comprises struggles, where the military weaker part uses an indirect approach with smaller units and integrates the civilian and military dimensions in a violence spectrum including subversion, terrorism, Guerrilla Warfare and infantry actions. IW is the main armed warfare style in insurgencies. COIN is the combined political, military, economic, social and legal actions in counter insurgencies. Data has been collected by means of interviews with almost all (n =43) officers, who were either commanding battalions or rifle and manoeuvre companies while undergoing training for general warfare and international operations. The main theoretical and methodological inspiration is the traditional one for research on social fields, inaugurated by the French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu. The statistical technique used is Multiple Correspondence Analysis. As a background and context base, an inquiry inspired by the Begriffsgechichte (Conceptual History) tradition explores the genesis and development of understandings of the term Irregular Warfare. The research question is outlined as; “how can contemporary Swedish military thought on tactics in Irregular Warfare be characterized using descriptive patterns, mapped in relation to background factors and normative standards? The most significant findings are that there are two main opposing notions separating the officers’ views on tactics in Irregular Warfare: (1) a focus on larger, combat oriented and collectively operating military units versus smaller and larger, more intelligence oriented and dispersed operating units, and (2) a focus on military tasks and kinetic effects versus military and civilian tasks as well as “soft” effects. The distribution of these views can be presented as a two-dimensional space structured by the two axes. This space represents four categories of tactics, partly diverging from normative military standards for Counterinsurgency. This social space of standpoints shows different structural tendencies for background factors of social and cultural character, particularly dominant concerning military backgrounds, international mission experiences and civilian education. Compared to military standards for Counterinsurgency, the two tactical types characterized by a Regular Warfare mind-set stands out as counter-normative. Signs of creative thought on military practice and theory, as well as a still persistent Regular Warfare doxa are apparent. Power struggles might thus develop, effecting the transformation to a broadened warfare culture with an enhanced focus also on Irregular Warfare. The result does not support research results arguing for a convergence of military thought in the European transformation of Armed Forces. The main argument goes beyond tactics and suggests sociological analysis on reciprocal effects regarding strategy, operational art, tactics as well as leadership, concerning the mind-set and preferences for Regular, Irregular and Hybrid Warfare.

Increased training prevents the impairing effect of intra-amygdala infusion of the non-NMDA receptor antagonist CNQX on inhibitory avoidance expression

Intra-amygdala infusion of the non-N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist 6-cyano-7-nitroquinoxaline-2,3-dione (CNQX) prior to testing impairs inhibitory avoidance retention test performance. Increased training attenuates the impairing effects of amygdala lesions and intra-amygdala infusions of CNQX. The objective of the present study was to determine the effects of additional training on the impairing effects of intra-amygdala CNQX on expression of the inhibitory avoidance task. Adult female Wistar rats bilaterally implanted with cannulae into the border between the central and the basolateral nuclei of the amygdala were submitted to a single session or to three training sessions (0.2 mA, 24-h interval between sessions) in a step-down inhibitory avoidance task. A retention test session was held 48 h after the last training. Ten minutes prior to the retention test session, the animals received a 0.5-µl infusion of CNQX (0.5 µg) or its vehicle (25% dimethylsulfoxide in saline). The CNQX infusion impaired, but did not block, retention test performance in animals submitted to a single training session. Additional training prevented the impairing effect of CNQX. The results suggest that amygdaloid non-NMDA receptors may not be critical for memory expression in animals given increased training.