In June 2012, the Clinical Guidance on Management of Osteoporosis Committee Working Group oftheMalaysian Osteoporosis Society, under the chairmanship of Drs Chan Siew Pheng and Yeap Swan Sim, developed some very comprehensive and timely guidelines for the clinical assessment and management of osteoporosis. However, these guidelines basically attack the problem from an “ambulance at the bottom ofthe cliff” perspective. A seriously traumatic fracture in an elderly person inevitably results in a severe decline in quality of life: it is not practicable to effectively restore this to its status before the accident. So if rates of osteoporotic fracture and resulting morbidity are to be minimised (or hopefully to decrease), the main thrust of concern has to move from treatment to prevention. One major obstacle to achieving this is Nature herself. While the relative contributions of genetic versus
The researchers involved in this research were committed to maintaining the anonymity ofthe studied institutions regarding the results obtained. The research used a cross-sectional, descriptive and observational methodology through active search websites of Latin America and Caribbean universities, focusing on data referring to the course structure ofmedicalschools, total credit hours and credit hours for ethicsand bioethics, as well as teaching-learning plans. The variables were analysed and compared to each other. As for the Brazilian medicalschools, we compare the academic disciplines in public and private institutions.
The proper exercise of medicine requires that themedical professional recognizes the patient as a biopsychosocial being and, for that, it becomes indispensable to improve the professional’s training inethicsand bioethics. This research was based on a comparative analysis oftheethicsand bioethics discipline offered inmedicalschoolsin Brazil, Latin America andthe Caribbean, considering the following variables: total hours of study, hours allocated to subjects, thematic content and if the discipline is offered as an isolated discipline, or transversally throughout the course. In summary, we obtained as a result that the workload assigned to ethicsand bioethics teaching, when compared to the total course workload, was very small and presented a clear tendency to be offered in a single discipline preferably allocated inthe pre-clinical training period of academic education.
The link between medicalschoolsandthe pharmaceutical industry is intricate and controversial, as the article “Medication/Drug promotion and advertizing inteaching environments: elements ofthe debate” clearly shows. The forms vary, including financing for research projects, sponsorship of scientific and educational events; the distribution of gifts, trips and dinners, but the purpose is singular: promotion of their products. Even optional modules are offered within medicine courses. An article by Stanley, Jackson & Barnett (2005) analyzes a discipline offered to graduate students of a medical school in England, in conjunction with a local pharmaceutical company, aimed at informing those responsible for future prescriptions ofthe complexity and cost of developing new therapeutic drugs, facilitating understanding ofthe importance of assessing new therapies and encouraging future collaboration with the industry. It seems that under the guise of a discipline is hidden an aggressive marketing strategy targeting medical students, which besides perpetuating the relationship between the industry and research and inciting consumption, aims to justify the high prices of medications as if these, indeed, resulted from investments in research and development (R&D). They should be compared with the costs of marketing and administration, which are more than double that of R&D. This, without acknowledging that since it is unclear what constitutes ‘R&D’ inthe accounting balance sheets, marketing activities could be involved. One clue to this is the fact that a significant proportion of clinical trials are composed of phase IV studies. Another is that the most creative, dangerous and prolonged part ofthe R&D process, learning about the disease, is conducted with public funding. Only one in every 5000 potential drug
The proper exercise of medicine requires that themedical professional recognizes the patient as a biopsychosocial being and, for that, it becomes indispensable to improve the professional’s training inethicsand bioethics. This research was based on a comparative analysis oftheethicsand bioethics discipline offered inmedicalschoolsin Brazil, Latin America andthe Caribbean, considering the following variables: total hours of study, hours allocated to subjects, thematic content and if the discipline is offered as an isolated discipline, or transversally throughout the course. In summary, we obtained as a result that the workload assigned to ethicsand bioethics teaching, when compared to the total course workload, was very small and presented a clear tendency to be offered in a single discipline preferably allocated inthe pre-clinical training period of academic education.
The latest research that is currently happening, involves a survey of students’ attitudes and perceptions towards the use of business simulation computer games inteachingandlearning for a business subject that is taught to students in secondary schools. This study will provide a snapshot ofthe current state of ICT inschools, and our informant design game development process with teachers will inform us about thechallenges faced towards a better appropriation of ICT inschools. The informant game design process will also involve students as contributors of inputs for game design and to test the game pilot modules. The game authoring tool we develop will be used in a classroom project-based learning approach to create a constructivist learning environment enabled by ICT. This game authoring tool also enables scalability and sustainability ofthe project as teachers and students will be able to continue the development of new game modules to be used in their own classrooms, and to be shared with other schools.
Different teaching formats can contribute to the practice ofethics. In this context, we highlight important research that described experimental work to identify students’ opinions from the abortion case drama, which was attended by legal professionals andtheMedicalEthics Committee. A questionnaire was applied to the viewer students to evaluate the method andthe contributions to thelearning. It was also asked if they would be favorable to the replication ofthe activity inthe institution in which they study, and most considered the method valid, recommending new topics, such as sexual violence 23 , for example.
The approach in teaching statistics in medical schools is that statistics should be viewed as a tool for creating habits of self- learning in the student, for de[r]
Inthe middle of this apparent mismatch, some initiatives were developed to try to fulfil this gap. One of them was the establishment of a Portuguese branch ofthe European String Teachers Association (ESTA-Portugal). In that time, I was convinced that, in a country like Portugal where the instrumental teaching is developed and structured, this association could play a central role on the purpose previously mentioned. However, this was far from being an easy task. Although Portugal has a large number of instrumental teachers and music schools it seems for me that there was no culture of taking part in events dedicated to discussing the paradigm ofthe profession. After some initial attempts, we realized that there was a lack of short training for teachers based on the national system of conservatoires. Teachers complained that some institutions did not provide academic training in this field to address their questions and dilemmas, once the basis ofthe modules they attended, when were master students (for example), were somehow generalists; in other words, more focus on a general music education than inthe particularities ofthe instrumental and vocal teaching. In fact, this was a situation I lived myself, even when I was a PhD candidate. It seemed that people like me, with academic training as a performer and at same time pedagogical interests, were somehow in a kind of “limbo”. For some researchers from music education, we are performers, but for others, from performance studies, we are talking about education.
Introduction: Due to scientific and technological development, Medical Education has been readjusting its focus and strategies. Medical curriculum has been adopting a vertical integration model, in which basic and clinical sciences coexist during medical instruction. This context favours the introduction of new complementary technology-based pedagogical approaches. Thus, even traditional core sciences ofmedical curriculum, like Anatomy, are refocusing their teaching/learning paradigm.
programs. Human research protection programs (institutional programs that provide program support including training, administration, and quality control for the human research protections functions including the institutional review boards [IRBs; research ethics committees]) should be made more effective and effi cient by (1) transagency harmonization of federal regulations, (2) accreditation of human research protection programs, (3) simplifi cation of institutional regulatory compliance processes, and (4) expanded use of central IRBs (research ethics committees) in multisite research. US regulations pertinent to translational and clinical research and compliance should be simplifi ed and harmonized between the NIH andthe Food and Drug Administration. Institutions should seek accreditation for their human research protection programs: this will help establish an institutional “culture of responsibility,” lead to adoption of operating procedures that meet a national standard and are consistent across the academic medical community, and provide uniform education for faculty, trainees, and staff.
The Recommendation ofthe Council of Europe on TeachingandLearning about Human Rights inSchools (Committee of Ministers, 1985) enlists a number of skills that are associated with the under- standing of human rights through teachingandlearning processes. In this list no explicit reference is made to critical thinking as a concept or a skill. However, the latter emerges as a requisite for the processes ofteachingandlearning for human rights. Critical thinking is presumed an essential element for the achievement of human rights learningandthe tackling of racism, since it is directly related to the principles of ra- tionality and reason (i.e. pupils’ abilities: “to listen and discuss and to defend one’s opinions, to collect material from various sources, includ- ing the mass media andthe ability to analyse it and to arrive at fair and balanced conclusions, to take responsibility, to participate in decisions, to understand the use ofthe mechanisms for the protection of human rights at local, regional, European and world levels” p. 2). These prin- ciples underpin all ofthe skills included inthe list, also reflecting what was previously defined as the ideal of citizenship.
non-authoritarian professional practice, focusing on the new curricular guidelines, especially the ability to discuss and adjust treatments and interventions based on the care provided to patients. According to the author, resistance to the implementation of new guidelines is still predominant, considering the fact that it is often difficult to embrace a novelty that imposes disturbing demands to the “comfort zone” of those directly involved. However, government authorities are committed to honor them by respecting the singularities of each medical school and making better use ofthe resources already established 11 .
a signiicant and growing number of doctors. Gi- ven this evidence, medicalschools should provide to their graduate students the basic knowledge ofthe acupuncture theory, scientiic evidence andthe therapeutic approaches employed by this peculiar form of treatment, enabling them to clarify doubts and assist the choice of treatment options for their patients. Research conducted with British, Canadian and American students have found an important contingent of these students interested inlearning about Complementary/alternative medicine (CAM) topics. 2-4
Brazil has the world’s eighth largest economy (IMF, 2008). Nevertheless, 21.4 % ofthe country’s people live in poverty, and 7.3% in misery (IPEADATA, 2009). This contradiction is the result ofthe country’s glaring income inequality (UNDP, 2010) 1 . But, after decades remaining at a very high and stable level, inequality has recently started to decline in Brazil andin several other Latin- American countries (Lopez-Calva and Lustig, 2010). The aim of this paper is to understand the reasons behind the fall ofthe Brazilian inequality, using a flexible econometric approach and focusing on the role played by education and age.
A primary purpose of this survey was to assess changes in students’ attitudes and beliefs before and after as they learned about Acupuncture. Although Chinese medicine includes many modalities of tre- atments, this is an specific study considering that the elective discipline offered to medical students in our institution (Faculty of Medicine - FAMED) in- cluded only topics related to the use of acupuncture inthe treatment of different diseases that afflict the human being. Therefore our students were evalua- ted at the end ofthe discipline “Introduction to me- dical Acupuncture”, offered twice a year to 3 rd grade
The article discusses the possibilities of using optical measurements for defining the geometric accuracy of gear wheels casts manufactured inthe rapid prototyping process. The tested gear wheel prototype was cast using an aluminum alloy. The casting mould was made by means ofthe three-dimensional print method (3DP) with the use of a Z510 Spectrum device. The aim ofthe tests was to determine the geometric accuracy ofthe cast made by the ZCast technology inthe rapid prototyping process. The tests were conducted with the use ofthe coordinate optical measuring method and a GOM measuring device. The prototype measurements were made inthe scanning mode. The results ofthe measurements, saved inthe STL format with the use ofthe scanning device software, were compared with the gear wheel 3D-CAD nominal model. The measurements enabled the determination ofthe real accuracy of prototypes manufactured in casting moulds by means ofthe ZCast technology. The selection ofthe measuring method was also analyzed in terms of measurement accuracy andthe RP technology precision.
was based on plastic contrast. For example, to emphasize the central part among the other composition, the architect 'inthe middle third ofthe main wall had arranged an extensive (5.60 m) but shallow (75 cm) niche‖ [16, 46p]. The building itself was small in scale, and to emphasize its monumentality and visually to expand its interior, the sculptors correlated the height of zofor (1.40 m) to 6-meter span ofthe building. Frieze made with account ofthe angle of perspective, was decorated with garlands, supported by frames of children. The images ofthe frieze were original inthe "very understanding ofthe ideal of human beauty and its artistic expression in plastic forms" [44, 61p]. Often in these images there was observed a deliberate asymmetry (inthe faces), the disproportion (inthe figures), aimed to correct the visual angle. For the sculpture in Toprak-kala "a rhythmic repetition of similar sculptural groups, determining architectonic division of interior, was characteristic" [45]. The style andthe manner of sculpture, for example, of friezes were the same as of acanthus, volutes. So, it can be assumed that the ancient sculptors have been actively involved not only inthe development of sculptures, but in architectural and decorative compositions (especially of capitals), andthe connection between the latters was very tight. In general, the nature of decoration ofthe premises depended on the functions ofthe latter: "household and service rooms were modestly furnished, as for residential and ceremonial rooms they were finished with the appropriate splendor‖ [46, 67p]. The sculpture, obeying the architecture, served as an element of its design. In Bactria a monumental sculpture "was designed primarily to be installed inthe temples" [22, 901p]. In architectural