The increasing international mobility of medical students has inspired the search for an international assessment format. As one step along this line, kinetics of knowledge acquisition and final cognitive levels of students were compared among one Dutch, one German and four Italian medical faculties. For this comparison, the Maastricht Progress Test (MPT) was used. For four out of the six participating faculties, it was possible to compare the level of knowledge of sixth-year students. These data showed no significant differences on the test as a whole. On the other hand, as judged from cross-sectional data on students from all study years, the kinetics of knowledge acquisition showed different trends. In one school applying problem-based learning, acquisition of knowledge by students occurred almost linearly. In another school, over the first 2 years, acquisition of knowledge occurred only in the basic sciences but not in clinical or public health/behavioural sciences. In two other schools over that same period, students seemed to gain no knowledge at all. In some faculties, a marked boost in knowledge was noted with third- or fourth-year students. These findings may be explained by peculiarities of the respective curricula, selection of students during their studies, and national or local assessment procedures. It is preliminarily concluded that the different educational approaches and assessment systems in medical education in Europe seem to have only limited influence on the final level of knowledge of the graduates. On the other hand, these differences may influence the kinetics of knowledge acquisition, especially in distinct domains like basic or clinical sciences. Therefore, the MPT may not be suitabe to solve the problem of assessment of individual international exchange students, but it may be helpful in identifying corresponding cognitive levels on, for example, basic sciences for students in different curricula.

This report described the infection of two strains of laboratory rats with a ratvirus (RA-1) with cytomegalovirus-like characteristics. The virus was detected in the spleens and kidneys during the first week post infection. In the salivary glands maximal virus titer was reached at one month post infection; thereafter the titer declined. In Lewis rats virus could be detected in the salivary homogenate of most animals at more than 12 months post infection. In BN rats, in contrast, virus became undetectable in the salivary glands of most animals 5 months after inoculation. However, administration of cyclophosphamide or X-irradiation resulted in reactivation of the virus in virtually all animals. Co-cultivation of spleen cells from either latently or chronically infected animals resulted in recovery of virus. The animals developed antibodies and a T-cell mediated virus specific cytotoxicity.

International traineeships appear to provide good opportunities for students to meet the requirements of globalisation as well as some of the generic objectives of undergraduate medical education. The tentative findings of this study need to be confirmed by further studies.

A (medical) school which is considering adopting an integrated or PBL curriculum and which is based in a country with a high score on Hofstede's power distance index and/or uncertainty avoidance index must a priori design strategies to reduce or overcome the obstructive effects of these dimensions of culture on the school's organisation.

MORC is a valid, reliable questionnaire for measuring organizational readiness for curriculum change in medical schools. It can identify which elements in a change process require special attention so as to increase the chance of successful implementation.