Background. Our study was taken up to explore the possible factors influencing poor performance of undergraduate students in clinical skill demonstration.Aims. Identification of factors leading to poor clinical skill development in undergraduate medical students.Settings and Design. This is an observational study.Methods and Material. The study population comprised the undergraduate students and teachers of the Department of Medicine. All were provided with structured questionnaires who responded anonymously which were then interpreted with the help of software statistical calculator.Results. Of the 145 students, only 57 (39.3%) actually attended medicine ward. The major factors that the students reported were large groups of students around a patient (94.74% ± 4.67), inadequacy of information in books of clinical medicine (78.9% ± 8.53), overcrowded unclean wards (73.7% ± 9.2), lack of practice of clinical methods at home (50.8% ± 10.4), and timing of classes (42.1% ± 10.3). Teachers cited poor attendance of students to wards (76.2% ± 17.1), poor condition of wards and lack of separate enclosures to teach (100%), and large groups around a single patient (66.67% ± 17.9).Conclusions. Absenteeism of students, overcrowding of wards, and lack of uniformity of study materials were prime factors.
Objectives:
One of the most prevalent autoimmune disease globally, rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is caused by interplay of multiple inflammatory mediators in specific joints. Altered redox balance is one of the key factors in pathophysiology of RA. This study aims to find whether oxidative stress in peripheral blood neutrophil correlates with the disease activity and disability associated with it.
Methods:
Ten healthy controls and 29 RA patients with moderate to severe disease activity (DAS28 score >3.2) were recruited and reactive oxygen species (ROS) level in peripheral blood neutrophil was measured using flow cytometry at baseline visit and after 6 months follow-up. Functional status of RA patients was measured using Health Assessment Questionnaire Disability Index (HAQ-DI).
Results:
RA patients showed significantly higher level of ROS in compared to healthy control. DAS28 correlated well with ROS at baseline visit (Pearson's
r
= +0.63) as well as follow-up visit (Pearson's r = +0.75). HAQ-DI showed weak positive correlation at baseline visit (Pearson's
r
= 0.1) but it was negative at follow-up visit (Pearson's
r
= -0.19).
Conclusions:
Oxidative stress mirrors the disease activity in RA and can be considered as a biomarker, but it is not related with functional ability of the patients.
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