The Premedical Student: His Identity: Characteristics of a Cohort of Premedical Students at the University of British Columbia

A prospective study is currently being conducted of students who were freshmen at the University of British Columbia in 1961-1962. Three cohorts are being followed: 136 premedical students, 107 science students, and 136 persons comprising a sample of general arts students. At registration in 1961, the only demographic difference was that the Premedical cohort had a greater proportion of catholics and persons from upper occupational classes. Premedical students generally performed as well in high school as science students and better than general arts students, though the academic potential of science students as measured by achievement and aptitude tests was superior. Premedical students performed better on freshman examinations than the other cohorts, though a significantly larger proportion of science students (84.4%) actually passed into second year than of premedical students (75.0%). A disturbing observation was that by second year the Science cohort had recruited more than enough students to balance its losses, while the Premedical cohort had lost three times as many students as it recruited. The net effect was not much reduced by students who entered directly from senior matriculation or other universities, since these students were about twice as likely to enter the Science cohort as they were to enter the Premedical cohort.     

Cross-sectional study on attitudes toward sex and sexual behavior among Japanese college students

A total of 978 Japanese students, who visited the health services center of a college in Japan for medical check-ups, were asked to anonymously complete a 55-item questionnaire which assessed their attitudes toward sex and sexual behavior. Seven hundred eighty-five Japanese students (80.3%) responded to the questionnaire. In this survey, 90% of male students and 83% of female students indicated that they expected to have sexual intercourse before marriage, while 8% of male students and 3% of female students indicated that it was not wrong to have extramarital sexual intercourse after marriage. In addition, 75% of sexually experienced students reported that they used a condom during their first sexual intercourse, while 73% reported using a condom during their most recent sexual intercourse. The more sexual partners students had had up to the time of the study, the less condom use they reported for both their first and most recent sexual intercourse. The proportion of Japanese students who used a condom is high in comparison to that of students in other countries. However, as students are prone to have sexual intercourse with non-steady, casual partners, more efforts are needed to promote safe sex practices among college students in Japan.     

中国学生体质发育的生长加速及与日本学生的比较

在 1 98 5年和 1 995年国家教委、国家体委、卫生部、国家民委、国家科委共同领导和组织的全国性的学生体质健康调查基础上 ,及本世纪 30年代起个别省城 (北京市、天津市、上海市、丹阳市 (县 )、南京市、辽宁省、黑龙江省及山东省 )学生的体质调查资料基础上 ,作者经数理统计 ,并就我国学生的体质发育状况和生长加速问题对汉族学生和少数民族学生分别加以分析讨论 ,从而了解了我国学生体质发育的现状 ;经与近邻的日本国的学生的体质发育和生长加速状况比较后也找到了差距。
我国学生的体质发育水平目前虽有些不足 ,但我国学生的体质发育指标的生长增长值比日本国学生在身高指标上 ,男学生大2.10cm,女学生大1.65cm;在体重指标上 ,男学生大2.22kg,女学生大1.54kg,身高和体重指标相对日本国而言都仍呈较大的增长趋势 ,存在发展潜力 ,我国学生的体质定将有提高的可能。但胸围指标与身高和体重指标相比 ,除城市男女学生增长值还较大外 ,乡村学生的增长值却为偏低 ,这将影响我国学生的身体素质 ,影响整体生长发育水平的提高。这些将为我国有关部门制定方针政策和实施措施提供可靠的科学依据。我国的经济正在迅速发展 ,对我国学生的营养已采取了积极的措施加以改善和提高 ,并加强了学生的体育锻炼,中小学学生的学业负担也正在减轻,因此,对我国学生体质发育的促进的效果是可能达到的。     

新形势下神经内科研究生专业特色培养的模式探索

：新形势下我国医学教育提出了培养高素质创新人才的要求,医学研究生的培养是医学生培养的最高层次。随着神经病学及其亚专业的迅猛发展,不仅对研究生的临床和科研水平提出了严峻的挑战,而且要求研究生在某一专业领域有较高的造诣。因此,对研究生进行专业特色培养是值得探索的新课题。本研究对我校神经内科研究生专业特色培养的系列探索与实践进行了总结。实践表明,我校神经内科研究生专业特色培养教学改革已取得明显成效：探索出一套行之有效的研究生专业特色培养的新模式,建立并完善了研究生培养中高素质专业人才的质量保障体系,强化了研究生的专业特色。为国内高等医学院校研究生培养模式提供了有价值的参考。     

Survey on cellular phone usage on students in Thailand

The number of cellular phone subscribers is increasing every year and there have been reports of health disorders related to the high-frequency radio waves. This paper considers the dependence of Thai university and high school students on cellular phones. A survey form (cellular phone dependence questionnaire: CPDQ) was distributed to 181 female and 177 male Thai university students and to 240 female and 140 male Thai high school students. The surveys were collected, Cronbach alpha coefficient was calculated, and a factor analysis was performed using the principal factor method and varimax rotation. The total scores were 16.54 to 20.04 and the Cronbach's alpha coefficients were 0.808 to 0.930. According to a factor analysis of 20 scored items, 4 factors were extracted for both male and female high school students, and the cumulative correlation coefficients of the male and female groups were 64.85% and 62.70%, respectively. Five factors were extracted for male university students and 6 factors were extracted for female university students, and the cumulative correlation coefficients were 58.08% and 57.91%, respectively. The W value results of the Shapiro-Wilk W-test for male university students, female university students, male high school students and female high school students were 0.969, 0.984, 0.964, and 0.913 respectively, thus verifying the normality of the score distributions.The total scores for the Thai university students were higher than the scores for the Thai high school students. The factor analysis of female high school students confirmed a large difference compared to male university students, male high school students, and Japanese female university students. (The Japanese students were surveyed in an earlier study by Toda et al.). Also, the CPDQ total score was high, which indicated a strong tendency toward dependence.     

Evaluating a science diversity program at UC Berkeley: more questions than answers

For the past three decades, much attention has been focused on developing diversity programs designed to improve the academic success of underrepresented minorities, primarily in mathematics, science, and engineering. However, ethnic minorities remain underrepresented in science majors and careers. Over the last 10 years, the Biology Scholars Program (BSP), a diversity program at the University of California (UC), Berkeley, has worked to increase the participation and success of students majoring in the biological sciences. A quantitative comparison of students in and out of the program indicates that students in BSP graduate with a degree in biology at significantly higher rates than students not in BSP regardless of race/ethnicity. Furthermore, students who are in BSP have statistically lower high school grade point averages (GPAs) and Scholastic Achievement Test (SAT) scores than students not in BSP. African-American and Hispanic students who join BSP graduate with significantly higher UC Berkeley biology GPAs than non-BSP African-American and Hispanic students, respectively. Majority (Asian and White) students in BSP graduate with statistically similar UC GPAs despite having lower SAT scores than non-BSP majority students. Although BSP students are more successful in completing a biology degree than non-program members, the results raise a series of questions about why the program works and for whom.     

Exploring Taiwanese and Turkish high school students’ conceptions of learning biology

The purpose of this study is to compare the conceptions of learning biology (COLB) of Taiwanese and Turkish high school students. In addition, it was investigated whether there is a gender difference in students’ COLB in both countries. The COLB questionnaire was implemented in both countries and students’ COLB were identified. A total of 562 Taiwanese and 546 Turkish high school students participated. The results indicated that the COLB questionnaire was valid and reliable for assessing Taiwanese and Turkish high school students’ COLB. And, a significant difference was found between Taiwanese and Turkish students’ mean scores in four learning conceptions as memorising, calculating and practicing, increasing one’s knowledge and seeing in a new way. Moreover, differences were found between the mean scores of Taiwanese female and male students in memorising and understanding; however, there were no mean differences between Turkish female and male students in COLB factors. In addition, analyses of cross-country comparison with respect to gender in the factors of COLB, there was a statistically significant difference between students’ male and female students of Turkey and Taiwan on the some categories of COLB scores. The research findings were considered for both countries and a discussion was conducted on the reasons for the differences.     

Trial of integrated laboratory practice

In most laboratory practices for students in medical schools, a laboratory guidebook is given to the students, in which the procedures are precisely described. The students merely follow the guidebook without thinking deeply, which spoils the students and does not entice them to think creatively. Problem-based learning (PBL) could be one means for the students themselves to actively learn, find problems, and resolve them. Such a learning attitude nurtures medical students with lifelong learning as healthcare professionals. We merged PBL and laboratory practices to promote deep thinking habits and developed an integrated laboratory practice. We gave a case sheet to groups of students from several schools. The students raised hypotheses after vivid discussion, designed experimental protocols, and performed the experiments. If the results did not support or disproved the hypothesis, the students set up another hypothesis followed by experiments, lasting for 4 or 5 consecutive days. These procedures are quite similar to those of professional researchers. The main impact achieved was the fact that the students developed the experimental design by themselves, for the first time in their college lives. All students enjoyed the laboratory practice, which they had never experienced before. This is an antidote to the guidebook-navigated traditional laboratory practice, which disappoints many students. As educators in basic medical sciences stand on the edge in terms of educating the next generation, there is a need to provide a strong foundation for medical students to design and perform scientific experiments. The integrated laboratory practice may provide the solution.     

Student audit of clinical teaching: a three year study.

An audit of teaching to junior clinical students in the University of Birmingham organised by students identified several surgical and medical firms on which they received little clinical teaching. Consultants spent an average of four and a half hours a week teaching junior students on the wards, arrived about 10 minutes late for that teaching, but missed less than 10% of teaching sessions. Junior students missed less than 10% of consultant teaching sessions and found them useful, though not always stimulating. Audit organised by students is an acceptable method of monitoring the informal teaching received by clinical students.     

Challenges in teaching the mechanics of breathing to medical and graduate students

The mechanics of breathing has always been a difficult topic for some medical and graduate students. The subject is very quantitative and contains a number of concepts that some students have trouble with, including physical principles such as pressure, flow, volume, resistance, elasticity, and compliance. Apparently, present-day students find the subject more difficult than students of 20 years ago. A possible reason for this is that the teaching of elementary physics in high school and college is now given less emphasis, whereas other topics, such as molecular biology, receive a great deal of attention. Another factor may be that many of us grew up building radios and other such devices, whereas modern students tend to plug in an electronic unit with little idea of its function. Some examples of misconceptions of present-day students who have taken our course are given. To help the weaker students, we now include a primer at the beginning of our handout for the course that covers simple physical principles. Examples of some of the most difficult concepts for students are given.     

Prevalence of salt rich fast food consumption: A focus on physical activity and incidence of hypertension among female students of Saudi Arabia

Young generations of Saudi Arabia have adapted a culture of eating fast food items, which are rich in salt. Excess salt intake is a threat to cardiovascular functioning and risk for various cardiovascular diseases. The study, therefore, determines the prevalence and consumption of fast food, the level of physical activity, and the occurrence of hypertension among female students. A cross-sectional study design has been employed to include female students from the College of Arts and Science and Applied Medical Science Wadi Addawasir from January to April 2018. Chi-square/Fisher Exact test has been used for determining the occurrence of categorical variables. The questionnaire was intended to determine fast food habits prevalent among students. 97% of the students consumed fast food daily, 34% of the students were classified as prehypertensive, and 16.4% of the students were classified as hypertensive. Diastolic blood pressure was more compared to systolic blood pressure. Moreover, it was reported that 87% of the students knew the health effects of fast food. 58% of the students were not involved in physical activity and 49% of the students consumed soft drinks along with fast food. 70% of the students used table salt and 57% of the students felt thirsty after fast-food consumption. 55% of the students showed a positive response to the family history of hypertension. The findings have also shown a positive relationship between daily soft drink consumption and the incidence of prehypertension and hypertension among students. Increased consumption of salt-rich fast food, physical inactivity, genetic background of hypertension, prehypertensive and hypertensive conditions observed in the present study may expose to various cardiovascular diseases among the adult population in the future.     

The use of mini-projects in preparing students for independent open-ended investigative labwork

Undergraduate research project work is very demanding — of students, of tutors and of resources — and many students find the transition from traditional practical work difficult. In particular, they have unrealistic expectations of what can be achieved. In order to prepare students for their project work, some second-year courses include mini-projects. This paper reports on a case study of one such mini-project: it was effective in preparing students for their project work but most students were unaware of this and as a result, many felt demoralised by their experience. A number of factors which might improve the effectiveness of mini-projects and reduce the students’ negative feelings were identified including: making the aims and objectives unambiguous, achievable and explicit; recognising the nature and difficulty of the demands which are being made of students; and providing sufficient time, support and guidance for students. It is not possible for one lecturer to provide the high level of support which this requires. Demonstrators should also be available.     

Student test scores are improved in a virtual learning environment

This study evaluates the effectiveness of delivering the core curriculum of an introductory neuroscience course using a software application referred to as a virtual learning interface (VLI). The performance of students in a virtual learning environment (VLE) is compared with that of students in a conventional lecture hall in which the same lecturer presented the same material. This study was not designed to determine whether grades are improved by augmenting a lecture with other information. The VLI takes advantage of audio, video, animation, and text in a multimedia computer environment. Our results indicate that raw average scores on weekly examinations were 14 percentage points higher for students in the VLE compared with those for students in a conventional lecture hall setting. Moreover, normalized test scores were over 5 points higher for students in the VLE. This analysis suggest that a core curriculum can be effectively presented to students using the VLE, thereby making it possible for faculty to spend less class time relaying facts and more time engaging students in discussion of scientific theory.     

Strategies against Burnout and Anxiety in Medical Education – Implementation and Evaluation of a New Course on Relaxation Techniques (Relacs) for Medical Students

Burnout and stress-related mental disorders (depression, anxiety) occur in medical students and physicians with a significantly higher prevalence than in the general population. At the same time, the learning of coping mechanisms against stress is still not an integral part of medical education. In this pilot study we developed an elective course for learning relaxation techniques and examined the condition of the students before and after the course. 42 students participated in the semester courses in 2012 and 2013 as well as in a survey at the start and end of each course. The students were instructed in autogenic training (AT) and progressive muscle relaxation according to Jacobsen (PMR) with the goal of independent and regular exercising. At the beginning and the end of the semester/course the students were interviewed using standardized, validated questionnaires on burnout (BOSS-II) and anxiety (STAI-G), depression (BDI), quality of life (SF-12) and sense of coherence (SOC-L9). We compared the results of our students participating in Relacs with results from eight semester medical students (n = 88), assessed with the same questionnaires at similar points of time within their semester. Participating students showed a significant decline in cognitive and emotional burnout stress and in trait anxiety. Furthermore, they showed a reduction in state anxiety and a conspicuous decrease in mean depression. The sense of coherence increased at the same time. A comparative cohort of medical students of 8^th semester students, showed lower values for the specified measurement parameters at the beginning, but showed no progressive changes. Our course introducing AT and PMR led to a significant reduction of burnout and anxiety within the participating group of medical students. Even the course attendance for just one semester resulted in significant improvements in the evaluated parameters in contrast to those students who did not attend the course.     

Does a delayed school start time cause students to exercise less? Evidence from South Korea

A delayed school start time (DSST), achieved by removing zero period, could change students’ other time use during school as well as other forms of human capital accumulation. Using difference-in-differences, we find evidence that a DSST in South Korea reduced the time students spent in gym class without worsening students’ health status. Combined with previous studies that provided evidence that DSSTs increased students’ test scores, our results imply that a DSST can increase students’ academic achievement without reducing other forms of human capital accumulation, although schools might change students’ other time use.     

留学生医学遗传学教学中教学新模式的构建

以发展外国留学生教育为主要标志的教育国际化,是当今世界教育发展的一大趋势。为了提高我校的教学水平和办学层次,我校医学院自2005年秋季开始招收外国留学生。留学生的学习方法和思维模式与中国学生相比有很大差异,而传统的教学模式不能适应留学生的教学的需求。因此构建新型教学模式在留学生医学遗传学教学中至关重要。     

Medical Students in Canadian Universities: Report of Statistics, 1966-67

Enrolment in the 13 Canadian medical schools in 1966-67 reached a new high of 4230, an increase of 5.1% over 1965-66. The percentage of women among medical students (12.1%) was close to that of the preceding three years. There has been a levelling off in the decline of students from outside Canada in 1966-67, when 9.5% of medical students were non-Canadian. The decline had been primarily in the number of American students, which continues. The number of students from Commonwealth countries has shown a steady increase during the eight-year period under review; in 1966-67, they make up nearly one-half of all non-Canadian students. It was noted that 18.5% of overseas students came to Canada under governmental or intergovernmental sponsorship. Of the Canadian students, 94% came from the “home” provinces of the medical schools.     

Decreased scholastic achievement in overweight middle school students

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether overweight students achieved a lower relative degree of scholastic achievement compared to nonoverweight students. Subjects consisted of 6th and 7th grade students enrolled in a large public middle school in a suburb of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. We compared grade point averages (GPAs), nationally standardized reading scores, school detentions, school suspensions, school attendance, tardiness to school, physical fitness test scores, and participation on school athletic teams among nonoverweight, at risk for overweight, and overweight students. Overweight students achieved lower grades (P<0.001) and lower physical fitness scores (P<0.0001) than their nonoverweight peers. Overweight students demonstrated a 0.4 letter grade lower GPA (on a 4.00 scale) and 11% lower national percentile reading scores than their nonoverweight peers. The overweight students also demonstrated significantly more detentions, worsened school attendance, more tardiness to school, and less participation on school athletic teams than their nonoverweight peers. Our study suggests that body mass is an important indicator of scholastic achievement, attendance, behavior, and physical fitness among middle school students, reiterating the need for healthy lifestyle intervention and prevention measures.     

The sensory modality used for learning affects grades

Second-year undergraduated students from 2008, 2009, and 2010 cohorts were asked to respond a questionnaire to determine their learning style preferences, the VARK questionnaire (where V is visual, A is aural, R is reading-writing, and K is kinesthetic), which was translated into Spanish by the author. The translated questionnaire was tested for wording comprehension before its application in the actual study. Using the results of the VARK questionnaire, students were classified as unimodal or multimodal and according to the first preferred sensory modality used for learning as V, A, R, or K learners. Multiple-choice questions (MCQs) and problems that required simple arithmetic calculations (arithmetic-type questions) were applied to the students. The relation between the main sensory modality used for learning and the grades obtained in each question type was analyzed both in unimodal and multimodal students. It was found that R unimodal students performed significantly better in arithmetic questions than A and K unimodal students (P < 0.001 by a Bonferroni multiple-comparison test after ANOVA). R unimodal students also performed better than R multimodal students in arithmetic questions (P = 0.02 by a Mann-Whitney U-test). However, no differences were observed after MCQs in either unimodal or multimodal students with different first sensory modalities used for learning. When MCQ scores between unimodal and multimodal students were compared, no differences were detected. It was concluded that the sensory learning style used for learning affects student outcome when students receive arithmetic questions but not when MCQs are applied.