ASHG activities relative to education: Human genetics as a component of medical school curricula: A report to the American society of human genetics

In recent years, there has been a remarkable increase in both the rate of acquiring new information about human genetics and the importance of human genetics for modern health care. As a result, human genetics educators have queried whether the teaching of human genetics in North-American medical schools has kept pace with these increases. To address this question, a survey of these medical schools was undertaken to assess how human geneticists perceive the teaching of human genetics in their respective institutions. The results of the survey, begun and completed in 1985, indicate the following: (1) the teaching of human genetics in medical schools is extremely variable from one institution to another, with some schools having no identifiable human genetics teaching at all; (2) the relevance of human genetics to other basic science and clinical disciplines apparently leads to noncategorical or fragmented teaching of human genetics, which may also contribute to the absence of a specific medical school course in the subject; and (3) there is a need for closer collaboration between human genetics educators and their respective medical school administrators and curriculum committees.     

Innovations in human genetics education. Incorporation of genetics into a problem-based medical school curriculum.

There has been recent interest in the development of problem-based human genetics curricula in U.S. medical schools. The College of Human Medicine at Michigan State University has had a problem-based curriculum since 1974. The vertical integration of genetics within the problem-based curriculum, called "Track II," has recently been revised. On first inspection, the curriculum appeared to lack a significant genetics component; however, on further analysis it was found that many genetics concepts were covered in the biochemistry, microbiology, pathology, and clinical science components. Both basic science concepts and clinical applications of genetics are covered in the curriculum by providing appropriate references for basic concepts and including inherited conditions within the differential diagnosis in the cases studied. Evaluations consist of a multiple-choice content exam and a modified essay exam based on a clinical case, allowing evaluation of both basic concepts and problem-solving ability. This curriculum prepares students to use genetics in a clinical context in their future careers.     

Genetics education in the People's Republic of China.

The National Education Commission of the People's Republic of China directs all educational course content from kindergarten to graduate level in all disciplines. The study of genetics is thus controlled by the members of the commission, so there is little variation of course offerings from one institution to another. Formal genetics education begins in lower middle school and is expanded somewhat in upper middle school (high school). Middle school marks the end of the formal education for most Chinese students, although many graduates learn the practical aspects of genetics while working in agricultural plant and animal breeding. Students who continue the study of genetics in universities find that course work is concentrated and research is encouraged, although facilities and supplies are limited. On graduation from a university, most students are sent to factories to use their expertise for increasing food production, while a very small percentage of students continue on to graduate school and eventual research and university teaching. The area of human genetics is handled exclusively in medical schools.     

“教学、实践、科研、临床”四位一体的医学遗传学教学体系建设探索与实践

医学遗传学课程介于基础医学和临床医学之间,是一门应用性很强的学科,在现代医学教育体系中有着重要的地位。教学团队在多年的医学遗传学教学实践中,在建设省级精品课程的过程中,构建了“教学、实践、科研、临床”四位一体的医学遗传学教学体系,主要内容包括“课堂教学、社会实践、科学研究、临床应用”四者之间相互渗透、相互补充、相互促进,以课堂教学为基础,用社会实践补充教学,科学研究提升教学,临床应用促进教学。“四位一体”教学体系为基础课程与临床课程的有机整合探索了一条切实可行的路子。实施几年来,课程建设收到了良好效果,学科团队科研水平、社会声誉、医疗服务能力也有明显提高。     

Ionic Basis of Vascular Response to Vasoactive Substances

Neurological sciences in the U.S.S.R. are healthy but have middle-age spread, as judged from an intensive personal tour of facilities as a guest of the Soviet Academy of Sciences during the autumn of 1963. Many of the recent Western enthusiasms in ultrastructure, cytogenetics and molecular genetics appear not to have inflamed many imaginations. However, Soviet neurologists are contributing to the same types of electrophysiological research as are current in the West. The full realization of the talents of many well-trained young investigators is hindered by the strong emphasis on Pavlovian theory and technique, the rigid multi-layered structure of research institutes, and the relative isolation from undergraduate medical schools of most research.     

医学遗传学线上线下混合教学模式改革

线上课程是新时代医学教学不可或缺的组成部分,拥有很好的发展前景,但目前在实践中也存在着一定的问题。医学遗传学作为重要的医学基础课程,既有基础理论知识,又有临床病例,既涉及基本原理,又包括了最新进展。单一的线上课程或线下教学模式,都无法满足学科发展和培养新一代医学人才的需求,因此,积极探讨线上和线下混合式教学模式是目前医学教学改革的重要课题之一。     

医学遗传学多元式教学的实践与探讨

为充分调动学生自主学习积极性,促进学生发展,我们将多元教学模式用于医学遗传学教学,内容包括精讲基本理论、专题介绍进展、应用多种媒体教学、利用病例教学,师生易位教学、指导撰写综述以及多元考核等.实践表明,多元教学提高了教学效率,有利于学生综合能力和教师素质的提升.与传统讲授式相比,学生更喜欢结合案例式、多媒体、师生易位式教学方法;学生的自主学习能力、分析问题与解决问题能力以及表达能力都得到较大提高;科研意识、团队合作意识得到加强.     

The Current Status of Preclinical Endocrine Education in U.S. Medical Schools

ObjectiveTo characterize the current landscape of preclinical medical endocrine education in U.S. allopathic medical schools.MethodsU.S. endocrine curriculum directors were asked to voluntarily complete a 16-question email survey surveying the status of endocrine preclinical education at their medical school.ResultsSixty-nine of 155 (45%) endocrine block director respondents completed the online survey between July 2021 and September 2021. A larger incoming class, a longer duration of the endocrine curriculum, and the offering of a separate endocrine curriculum (ie apart from the teaching of other organ systems) were each independently associated with an increased number of faculty teaching the course. Schools that used a gland-/organ-based curriculum only and those that used a combination of gland-/organ-based curriculum with topic-based curriculum differed significantly in their use of large lectures, small groups, and several curriculum components, including point of care glucose testing, continuous glucose monitoring, and insulin pumps.ConclusionThis survey study reports the current landscape of preclinical endocrine education in the United States and describes opportunities to improve interest in pursuing endocrinology as a career.     

Lack of impact of undergraduate genetic courses on the teaching of medical genetics.

The impact of undergraduate genetic courses on the academic performance of first-year medical students in the medical genetics course at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine was evaluated over a period of 9 years. Comparisons were made between medical students who had taken a formal undergraduate course in genetics and those who had not. Little if any differences were found in the academic performance in the medical genetics course between these two groups of students. Perhaps the design of undergraduate courses in genetics should be re-evaluated to give more depth to the medical student's preparation for appreciating the significance of genetics in normal and abnormal human variation.     

医学病例在高校普通遗传学教学中的运用

遗传学是生命科学、医学、农学等相关领域的核心课程。作为21世纪生命科学中发展最为迅速的学科之一,教学内容复杂、更新快,遗传学知识对人一生的影响也日益增强,特别是与医学相关的遗传学知识更是受到大众关注。为使学生更容易理解深奥的遗传学知识,使教学内容更贴近生活,在教学过程中引入医学病例,将相应的医学病例同遗传学理论知识结合并作出适当的延伸,将有利于提高学生的遗传学知识综合分析能力,同时提高学生的学习积极性和实用技能。本文根据现代遗传学教学体系,引入相应的医学病例,强调培养学生综合遗传分析能力,为综合性大学、师范院校的普通遗传学教学提供参考。     

留学生医学遗传学教学初探

摘要: 医学留学生教育已成为中国高等教育中的一个重要组成部分。遗传学是医学留学生重要的必修课程。高等教育的国际化对医学遗传学的教学模式提出了挑战。文章主要讨论了留学生医学遗传学的教学现状, 详细阐述了我校印度籍留学生教学的特殊性, 总结了其中出现的问题, 并就如何迎接这些新的挑战, 有效地提高教学质量提出一些可行的建议。     

Dedicating specific sessions of cytopathology courses to medical students. A survey/consensus study

OBJECTIVE: To establish a consensus among medical schools in North America on whether to dedicate specific sessions to teaching cytopathology to medical students. STUDY DESIGN: A list of all the medical schools in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico was retrieved from the American Association of Medical Colleges Web site in conjunction with the information provided by the 33rd edition of the Directory of Pathology Training Programs, published by the Intersociety Committee on Pathology Information. A total of 147 schools were found. A questionnaire was designed to include 7 questions addressing this issue and was sent to each medical student pathology course director. RESULTS: Of the 147 questionnaires, 65 (44%) responses were received. Fifty-four (83%) indicated the total number of pathology lectures given to medical students in each course. The number of lectures ranged between 19 and 201, with a mean of 85. Seven (11%) stated that their systems used problem based learning and that therefore a specific number of pathology lectures could not be given accurately. Sixteen (25%) have cytology sessions incorporated in their pathology courses. Thirteen (20%) prefer to include cytopathology sessions in the course and are committed to doing so. Therefore, 29 (45%) institutions either have or prefer to have specific sessions dedicated to cytopathology education. CONCLUSION: Incorporating specific sessions dedicated to cytopathology education in the medical student curriculum is highly recommended. Using new educational techniques, including computer-based methods with real case studies, would add more educational value.     

Molecular Diagnostics — an upper division/graduate course

We have developed a course in Molecular Diagnostics suitable as an upper division/Master’s level elective class for Biology, Microbiology, and Biochemistry majors who have already been introduced to basic genetics and molecular biology. The course provides an intensive hands-on laboratory experience in current molecular techniques for disease diagnosis coupled with lecture on major biological topics and concepts underlying disease and disease processes. Its structure and content make the course appropriate not only for students who envision careers in molecular diagnosis, but also for those aspiring to the teaching, research, or medical professions.     

Dr. R. J. McKinlay Gardner Interviewed by Dr. Hon Fong L. Mark

Dr. Mac Gardner graduated in medicine from the University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand in 1968. After hospital residencies he undertook training in clinical genetics in New Zealand, and then the U.K., France and Canada. He returned to New Zealand as a specialist in genetics in 1977, but for the past 14 years he has been a consultant in medical genetics with Genetic Health Services Victoria in Melbourne, Australia.     

论遗传咨询科技服务平台对医学遗传学课程建设的促进作用

遗传咨询工作是临床遗传学的重要组成部分。开放式的遗传咨询科技服务平台,构建了课外学习与课堂教学有机结合,师生互动的立体化教学体系,实践证明有利于提高学生综合素质,并有助于全面提升教师的教学素养,达到教学相长的目的。对医学遗传学课程建设起到了促进作用。     

提高医学遗传学课堂教学效果的探讨

医学遗传学是医学教育的基础学科,为临床提供诊断、治疗和预防遗传相关疾病的依据和手段。随着分子遗传学进展,传统教学不足以满足教学的需要,需要多方面尝试进行教学改革,提高课堂教学效果。本文从医学遗传学教学内容的完善和创新、教学方法的改革及师资队伍的建设等方面阐明如何提高课堂教学效果,培养学生的综合素质。     

Physical anthropology in the U.S.A.: the malaise and its cure

Physical anthropology in the U.S.A. shows symptoms of a malaise giving cause for concern. It is argued that their origin does not lie in weakness in the subject, which elsewhere is more flourishing, like other life sciences, than it has ever been; nor in a lack of student interest; but in historical inertia. This affects the affiliation of the subject, undergraduate teaching, graduate training, and opportunities for professional practice.     

The amplifying role of need in giving decisions

Hamilton's rule predicts that altruism should depend on costs incurred and benefits provided, but these depend on the relative needs of the donor and recipient. Rewriting Hamilton's rule to account for relative need suggests an amplifying effect of need on relatedness, but not necessarily other relationship qualities. In a reanalysis of three studies of social discounting and a new replication, we find that relative need amplifies the effects of relatedness on giving in two samples of U.S. adults recruited online, but not U.S. undergraduates or Indian adults recruited online. Among U.S. online participants, the effect of genetic kinship was greater when the partner was perceived to be in higher need than when in lower need. In the other samples, relatedness and greater partner need were associated with greater giving, but the effect of relatedness on giving was not significantly amplified by need. Need never amplified the effect of social closeness on giving, although it did diminish the effect of closeness in U.S. undergraduates, likely reflecting a ceiling effect. These results confirm predictions from a modification of Hamilton's rule in a sample of U.S. adults, but raise important questions about why they hold in some samples but not others. They also illustrate the importance of understanding how contextual factors, such as relative need, can moderate the importance of common variables used in evolutionary cost-benefit analyses.     

论遗传咨询科技服务平台对医学遗传学课程建设的促进作用

遗传咨询工作是临床遗传学的重要组成部分。开放式的遗传咨询科技服务平台,构建了课外学习与课堂教学有机结合,师生互动的立体化教学体系,实践证明有利于提高学生综合素质,并有助于全面提升教师的教学素养,达到教学相长的目的。对医学遗传学课程建设起到了促进作用。     

医学遗传学实验教学中实施研究性教学的探索实践

我们根据我校实际情况在医学遗传学实验教学中实施开放式研究性教学手段,培养学生具有自主建构的学习能力,掌握现代医学遗传学的基本理论和遗传性疾病诊断的实验方法,培养学员的综合实践能力,启发创造性思维,促进实验教学的改革。