Six education strategies have been identified relating to the curriculum in a medical school. Each issue can be represented as a spectrum or continuum: student-centred/teacher-centred, problem-based/information-gathering, integrated/discipline-based, community-based/hospital-based, elective/uniform and systematic/apprenticeship-based. The factors supporting a more towards each end of the continuum are presented for each strategy. Newer schools tend to be more to the left on the continuum, established schools more to the right. Each school, however, has to decide where it stands on each issue and to establish its own profile. This SPICES model of curriculum strategy analysis can be used in curriculum planning or review, in tackling problems relating to the curriculum and in providing guidance relating to teaching methods and assessment.

1 Characteristic features of noradrenaline (NA) and adenosine 5'-triphosphate (ATP) release from postganglionic sympathetic nerves in rat small mesenteric arteries in vitro have been investigated on an impulse-by-impulse basis. NA release was measured using continuous amperometry and ATP release was monitored by intracellular recording of excitatory junction potentials (e.j.ps). 2 Electrical stimuli evoked transient increases in oxidation current. During trains of ten stimuli at 0.5 ± 4 Hz there was a depression in the amplitude of oxidation currents evoked following the ®rst stimulus in the train. 3 The neuronal NA uptake inhibitor, desmethylimipramine (1 mM), increased the amplitude of the summed oxidation current evoked by ten stimuli at 1 Hz and slowed the decay of oxidation currents evoked by trains of ten stimuli at 1 and 10 Hz. 4 The a 2 -adrenoceptor antagonist, idazoxan (1 mM), increased the amplitudes of the oxidation currents evoked during trains of ten stimuli at 0.5 ± 10 Hz but had no eect on the oxidation currents evoked by the ®rst stimulus in the train. 5 Idazoxan (1 mM) increased the amplitude of all e.j.ps evoked during trains of stimuli at 0.5 and 1 Hz. In addition, the facilitatory eect of idazoxan on e.j.ps was signi®cantly greater than that on oxidation currents. 6 The ®ndings indicate that NA release from sympathetic nerves supplying small mesenteric arteries is regulated by activation of presynaptic a 2 -adrenoceptors and that clearance of released NA in this tissue depends, in part, upon neuronal uptake. The dierent eects of idazoxan on the oxidation currents and e.j.ps may indicate that the release of NA and ATP is dierentially modulated.

Blended learning (BL) is a popular e-Learning model in higher education that has the potential to take advantage of learning analytics (LA) to support student learning. This study utilized LA to investigate fourth-year undergraduates' (n 5 157) use of selfregulated learning (SRL) within the online components of a previously unexamined BL discipline, Music Teacher Education. SRL behaviors were captured unobtrusively in real time through students' interaction with course materials in Moodle. Categorized by function: (1) activating-online access location, day-of-the-week, time-of-day; (2) sustaining-online frequency; and (3) structuring-online regularity and exam review patterns, all six SRL behaviors were revealed to have weak to moderate significant relationships with academic achievement. Results indicated access day-of-the-week and access frequency as the strongest predictors for student success. Findings regarding access regularity when viewed through results from previous SRL-LA research may suggest the importance of this SRL behavior for successful students within several BL discipline areas. In addition, the role of learning design (eg, flipped instruction) in potentially scaffolding students' choices toward specific SRL behaviors, was revealed as an important context for future researchers' consideration.

1 In this study we compared the vasoconstrictor activity of melatonin in rat isolated tail artery using two dierent recording systems, the Halpern pressure myograph and the Halpern-Mulvany wire myograph, with the view to determining a reliable method for obtaining pharmacological data on vascular melatonin receptors. In addition, we characterized the melatonin receptor in this preparation, using analogues of melatonin, and examined the activity of various naphthalenic derivatives with biological activity in non-vascular models of melatonin receptors. 2 Using the Halpern pressure myograph, cumulative addition of melatonin (0.1 nM to 1 mM) produced direct vasoconstriction (19.3+6.4% reduction in lumen diameter, n=5) in ®ve of 11 pressurized segments, with pEC 50 of 9.14+0.17. Similarly, non-cumulative application of melatonin caused vasoconstriction (19.7+4.6% reduction in lumen diameter, n=7) in seven of 20 preparations examined with pEC 50 of 8.74+0.26. The selective alpha 2 -adrenoceptor agonist, UK-14304 (5-bromo-6-[2-imidazolin-2-ylamino]-quinoxaline bitartrate), produced vasoconstriction in all`melatonin-insensitive' preparations.3 Melatonin (0.1 nM to 1 mM) failed to elicit isometric contractions of tail artery segments in the Halpern wire myograph, but produced concentration-dependent potentiation of electrically-evoked, isometric contractions (maximum eect of 150 ± 200% enhancement) when applied either noncumulatively (seven of seven preparations) or cumulatively (four of seven preparations). The pEC 50 value of melatonin (non-cumulative) was 8.50+0.10 (n=7) which was not dierent from that obtained in the pressure myograph. All further experiments were conducted using a non-cumulative protocol against electrically-evoked, isometric contractions. 4 Based on the pEC 50 values for the melatonin analogues examined, the pharmacological pro®le for the enhancement of electrically-evoked contractions was 2-iodomelatonin46-chloromelatonin5(7)-AMMTC 5 S216345melatonin5S200984S202425S2030446-hydroxymelatonin4S209324 (+) -AM-MTC4N-acetyl-5-HT. Our data suggests the vascular receptor belongs to the MEL 1 -like subtype. All the indole-based analogues of melatonin, 2-iodomelatonin, (7)-AMMTC, (+)-AMMTC, S20932, 6-chloromelatonin, 6-hydroxymelatonin and N-acetyl-5-HT, behaved as full agonists. All the naphthalenic derivatives examined, S21634, S20098, S20242 and S20304 behaved as partial agonists relative to melatonin. 5 The naphthalenic-based antagonists, S20928 and S20929, did not modify electrically-evoked, isometric contractions of the tail artery, but produced a parallel, rightward displacement of the melatonin concentration-response curve. Based upon the eect of 1 mM S20928 and S20929, the estimated pK B values for these antagonists were 7.18+0.25 (n=4) and 7.17+0.25 (n=5), respectively. 6 We demonstrated that enhancement of electrically-evoked, isometric contractions of the rat isolated tail artery (using the Halpern-Mulvany wire myograph) is a simple and reproducible model for assessing the activity of putative a...