BackgroundE-learning resources (e-resources) have been widely used to facilitate self-directed learning among medical students. The Department of Biochemistry at Christian Medical College (CMC), Vellore, India, has made available e-resources to first-year medical students to supplement conventional lecture-based teaching in the subject. This study was designed to assess students’ perceptions of the impact of these e-resources on various aspects of their learning in biochemistry.MethodsSixty first-year medical students were the subjects of this study. At the end of the one-year course in biochemistry, the students were administered a questionnaire that asked them to assess the impact of the e-resources on various aspects of their learning in biochemistry.ResultsNinety-eight percent of students had used the e-resources provided to varying extents. Most of them found the e-resources provided useful and of a high quality. The majority of them used these resources to prepare for periodic formative and final summative assessments in the course. The use of these resources increased steadily as the academic year progressed. Students said that the extent to which they understood the subject (83%) and their ability to answer questions in assessments (86%) had improved as a result of using these resources. They also said that they found biochemistry interesting (73%) and felt motivated to study the subject (59%).ConclusionsWe found that first-year medical students extensively used the e-resources in biochemistry that were provided. They perceived that these resources had made a positive impact on various aspects of their learning in biochemistry. We conclude that e-resources are a useful supplement to conventional lecture-based teaching in the medical curriculum.

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Because of its versatility in protecting against nitro-oxidative stress and reducing inflammation, we suggest that melatonin could be beneficial in ameliorating MTX-induced enteritis in humans.

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are commonly used in clinical medicine. Their utility is, however, often limited by the adverse effects they produce in the gastrointestinal tract. Oxidative stress has been shown to occur in the small intestine in response to the oral administration of indomethacin, an NSAID commonly used in toxicity studies. In view of this, the effect of curcumin, an agent with anti-oxidant properties, was evaluated on indomethacin-induced small intestinal damage in a rat model. Rats were pretreated with various doses of curcumin (20 mg kg(-1), 40 mg kg(-1) and 80 mg kg(-1)) before administering indomethacin at 20 mg kg(-1). Various parameters of oxidative stress and the extent of small intestinal damage produced by indomethacin, with and without pretreatment with curcumin, were measured. Macroscopic ulceration was found to occur in the small intestine in response to indomethacin. The viability of enterocytes from indomethacin-treated animals was significantly lower than those from control animals. Drug-induced oxidative stress was also evident as seen by increases in the levels of malondialdehyde and protein carbonyl and in activities of pro-oxidant enzymes such as myeloperoxidase and xanthine oxidase in indomethacin-treated rats. Concomitant decreases were seen in the activities of the antioxidant enzymes catalase and glutathione peroxidase in these animals. Pretreatment with curcumin was found to ameliorate these drug-induced changes. Thus, curcumin appears to hold promise as an agent that can potentially reduce NSAID-induced small intestinal damage.

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