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Increasing enrollment in post-secondary institutions across North America, along with an increase in popularity of and demand for distance education is pressuring institutions to offer a greater number and variety of courses online. A fully online laboratory course in microscopic anatomy (histology) which can be taught simultaneously with a face-to-face (F2F) version of the same course has been developed. This full year course was offered in the Fall/Winter (FW) terms in both F2F and online formats. To ensure that the online course was of the same quality as the F2F format, a number of performance indicators were evaluated. The same course, offered exclusively online during the summer with a compressed time frame, was also evaluated. Senior undergraduate students self-selected which version of the course they would enroll in. Course assessment outcomes were compared while incoming grades were used as a predictor for course performance. There were no significant differences between the incoming grades for the F2F FW and Online FW courses; similarly, there were no significant differences between outcomes for these formats. There were significant differences between the incoming grades of the F2F FW and Summer Online students. However, there were no significant differences among any of the outcomes for any of the formats offered. Incoming grades were strong, significant predictors of course performance for both formats. These results indicate that an online laboratory course in microscopic anatomy is an effective format for delivering histology course content, therefore giving students greater options for course selections.

Propofol may produce its antiemetic effect by depleting the area postrema of serotonin as well as by a direct gamma-aminobutyric acid-mediated inhibition.

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SUMMARY Focal cerebral ischemia hi humans increases the Incidence of cardiac arrhythmias, and serum cardiac enzyme and plasma norepinephrine levels. In addition, systemic administration of catecholamines causes myocardial damage. This suggests that cerebral ischemia may cause myocardial damage as a consequence of elevated plasma norepinephrine levels. Therefore, experiments were done hi 23 chloralosed, paralyzed and artificially ventilated cats to investigate the effects of occluding (n = 17) or sham-occluding (n = 6) the left middle cerebral artery on the myocardium and on circulating levels of plasma catecholamines. After occlusion of the middle cerebral artery for 12-22 hr, 41% (7/17) of the hearts had either acute myocardial necrosis (3/7), focal hemorrhage (3/7), or both (177). In anlmah with acute myocardial damage the levels of plasma norepinephrine and epinephrine were significantly increased compared to pre-middle cerebral artery occlusion values ( + 46 ± 18% and +142 ± 45%, respectively). As well, meats with acute myocardial damage, changes from initial levels of plasma norepinephrine and epinephrine were significantly Increased over those of experimental cats without acute myocardial damage. In animals which did not have acute myocardial damage (10/17) the circulating plasma levels of catecholamines were not significantly different from pre-occlusion values. Similarly, sham occlusion did not alter plasma catecholamine levels. These data demonstrate that a percentage of animals subjected to middle cerebral artery occlusion have myocardial damage and an increase hi plasma concentration of norepinephrine and epinephrine. This suggests that a rise hi plasma catecholamine levels, due to Increased sympathetic activity after middle cerebral artery occlusion, may cause myocardial damage. Stroke Vol 17, No 3, 1986 PATIENTS who begin to recover neurologically after a stroke may perish unexpectedly from cardiac complications or sudden death.1 Although some of these deaths could be attributed to concomitant heart disease, stroke patients have an excess of cardiac arrhythmias, increased cardiac serum enzymes and raised plasma catecholamines when compared to similarly managed controls matched for age, sex and the presence of heart disease. "5 Some patients dying from stroke show myocardial lesions, 6 similar to those observed in animals infused with catecholamines 718 and in animals with increased intracranial pressure, 9 or intracranial hemorrhage. "12 Taken together, these findings suggest that raised levels of catecholamines after cerebral ischemia, likely from increased sympathetic activity, contribute to myocardial damage. The present study was done to determine whether focal cerebral ischemia in the cat would produce cardiac lesions and whether changes in plasma levels of catecholamines were associated with the cardiac lesions. Methods Experiments were done in 23 adult cats of either sex weighing 2.0 to 3.5 kg. To isolate the middle cerebral artery (MCA) animals were anesthetized either with sodium pentoba...

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There is a need to create standardized frameworks for assessing EHR use.