Harold M. Frost, M.D., D.Sc. (hon) -- one man's association.
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The author described how and when he first met Harold M. Frost, M.D., that began a journey from the Henry Ford Hospital to the University of Utah and Sun Valley Hard TissueWorkshops that sequentially developed the technology of dynamic cancellous bone histomorphometry, the ever-evolving mechanostat hypothesis and the Utah Paradigm for Bone Physiology. (+info)
Integrating histology and histopathology teaching in practical classes using virtual slides.
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The new medicine program at the University of New South Wales employs scenario-based learning with vertically integrated classes of year 1 and year 2 students, as well as horizontally integrated teaching with no discipline-specific courses. Coinciding with its introduction, we undertook comprehensive revision of the approach to teaching microscopic anatomy and pathology. We designed practical classes around virtual slides, which are high-magnification digital images of tissue sections stored in a multiresolution file format, viewable in a Web browser in a manner closely simulating conventional microscopy. In these classes, we integrated the teaching of histology and histopathology, introducing students to the microscopic features of tissues and organs, and giving them the opportunity to compare and contrast the normal with the abnormal in various disease states. Members of academic staff from both anatomy and pathology were present to promote discussion and respond to questions. Worksheets defined learning objectives and provided clinical cases as contexts for learning in each class. Evaluation revealed that students strongly supported the integrated approach. The efficiency of the teaching method meant that it was possible to work through 5-8 virtual slides per 2-hr class without difficulty. Students displayed considerable initiative in exploring the histological features of tissues, identifying the changes in various pathological states, and recognizing their relationship to clinical manifestations. We believe that the approach we have developed should help to minimize the potential adverse impact of curriculum reform on the teaching of morphology, while ensuring that learning remains both meaningful and interesting. (+info)
Trends in histology laboratory teaching in United States medical schools.
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Owing to competition for faculty time among the three major missions of today's academic medical centers, as well as the rapid development of computer-based instructional technologies, laboratory instruction in medical schools in the United States has been undergoing dramatic change. In order to determine recent trends in histology laboratory instruction at U.S. medical schools, a detailed Web survey was administered to histology course directors, with about two-thirds of schools responding. The survey was designed to identify trends in the number of hours of histology laboratory instruction that each medical student receives, the amount of faculty effort devoted to histology laboratory instruction, and the use of various computer-based technologies (including virtual microscopy and virtual slides) in histology laboratory instruction. Consistent with the long-term trend of declining total laboratory teaching hours in U.S. medical schools, there is an ongoing reduction in the number of hours of faculty-directed histology laboratory instruction that each medical student receives, with a concomitant reduction in hours of faculty time devoted to histology laboratory instruction. In terms of the tools used in the histology laboratory, there has been a dramatic increase in the use of various forms of computer-aided instruction (including virtual slides). The large increase in the number of schools using computer-aided instruction has not been accompanied by an equivalent decrease in the number of schools that utilize microscopes and glass slides. Rather, the clear trend has been toward a blending of the new computer-based instructional technologies with the long-standing use of microscopes and glass slides. (+info)
Design and implementation of a web-based, database-driven histology atlas: technology at work.
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At Vanderbilt University, the "Human Cell and Tissue Biology" course is a required lecture and laboratory course with 2 full-time instructors and 106 students. To address demands placed on faculty for individual attention, an interactive Web-based histology atlas was developed and implemented in January 2005. This atlas was specifically designed to complement the existing laboratory manual and to transform the manual into an interactive educational tool whereby students could view high-resolution images of histological specimens online. By utilizing a computer scripting language, interactive highlighting of histological structures was accomplished through the implementation of a simple mouse-rollover function. This computer-aided instruction software allows students to preview histological structures of interest prior to entering the laboratory, to have additional faculty-directed contact hours during laboratory, and to review material efficiently. The conversion of the originally developed static application into a database-driven tool streamlined the development and modification of the atlas while facilitating the creation of advanced features. Six weeks after launching this interactive atlas, Vanderbilt medical students logged 1,200 hr of use. Through the cooperative efforts of faculty and students, the interactive atlas evolved to meet the educational demands of medical students owing to the development and implementation of a database structure. The functionality and educational value of the interactive atlas in facilitating self-learning was ultimately measured by positive student feedback and use. (+info)
Effectiveness of an electronic histology tutorial for first-year dental students and improvement in "normalized" test scores.
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The effectiveness of an electronic histology tutorial (EHT) as a mode of learning was assessed by comparing performance on two term tests for an EHT class of sixty-nine students and five prior classes (n=347) who learned by traditional methods. The aims of this study were to 1) develop and introduce a self-instructional, computer-aided approach to guide student learning in the first-year histology course at the University of Toronto Faculty of Dentistry; 2) evaluate the effectiveness of the self-study electronic histology tutorial by comparing students' test scores for the EHT group to students' scores in previous years; and 3) evaluate students' acceptance of this novel mode of learning by means of a satisfaction questionnaire. The EHT group performed significantly better on both the general histology and oral histology term tests than the five prior control years (p<0.001), yet there were no significant differences in overall GPA between the groups, suggesting that the improvement was specific to the EHT/histology course grades (p=0.1 to 0.47). A statistically significant improvement in performance per unit overall GPA was noted in the test group, which demonstrated an increase in this test score normalized ratio (TSNR) of 3-18 percent in the general histology term test and 7-21 percent in the oral histology term test over the control groups. In addition to determining the effects of the EHT on grade performance, this study sought to evaluate students' acceptance of this alternative mode of learning in comparison to the standard teaching model by means of a satisfaction questionnaire. Overall, students' responses to the questionnaire were positive with an overall mean level of agreement for all ten responses of 4.5 out of 5 (90 percent). (+info)
Histological verification of positive positron emission tomography findings in the follow-up of patients with mediastinal lymphoma.
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BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Follow-ups of patients with mediastinal lymphoma are not accurate if they rely on computed tomography (CT). Positron emission tomography (PET) has been suggested to be useful in several lymphoma settings, such as initial staging, evaluation of residual masses after therapy, and assessment of response early in the course of treatment. The aim of this retrospective study was to verify the reliability of positive PET scans of the mediastinum in following up patients with mediastinal lymphoma, using histological findings as a comparison. DESIGN AND METHODS: From January 2002 to July 2005, 151 patients with mediastinal lymphoma (57 with Hodgkin's disease [HD] and 94 with aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphoma [NHL]) were followed-up after the end of front-line treatment. Patients with a positive PET scan of the mediastinum underwent CT scanning and surgical biopsy. RESULTS: In 30 (21 HD and 9 NHL) out of 151 patients (20%) a suspicion of lymphoma relapse was raised based on positive mediastinal PET scanning. Histology confirmed this suspicion in 17 (10 HD and 7 NHL) out of 30 patients (57%), whereas either benign (9 fibrosis, 3 sarcoid-like granulomatosis) or unrelated neoplastic conditions (1 thymoma) were demonstrated in the remaining 13 patients (43%). SUVmax was significantly higher among patients who had signs of relapse (17 true positive cases) than among those who stayed in remission (13 false positive cases), the median values being 5.95 (range, 3.5-26.9) and 2.90 (range, 1.4-3.3), respectively (p=0.01). INTERPRETATION AND CONCLUSIONS: We suggest that a positive PET scan of the mediastinum of a patient being followed-up for a mediastinal lymphoma should not be considered sufficient for diagnostic purposes in view of its lack of discrimination. Histological confirmation can safely be carried out with various biopsy techniques, the choice of which should be made on the basis of the findings of the clinical and imaging studies of the individual case. (+info)
The positive impact of team-based virtual microscopy on student learning in physiology and histology.
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Team-based virtual microscopy and on-line learning were used to transform the first-year Physiology/Histology course at The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine into a student-centered learning environment. Prior to each laboratory session, students were required to view prelaboratory virtual lectures and examine digital slides that had been enhanced with annotations and 2-min microlectures. The laboratory classroom was then used for team-based learning exercises including student presentations and small-group discussions designed to integrate histology and physiology. The results of quantitative assessments indicated an 8- to 14-point increase over the identical final exams given over the past 5 yr. Means (+/-SD) of percent correct answers on the final exam were found to be 75.2% (11.1%), 72.5% (12.6%), 70.5% (12.6%), 73.6% (11.3%), 73.1% (12.2%), and 84.1% (9.1%) for years 2001-2006, respectively. The mean test scores for all other years were statistically lower compared with 2006, as determined by the Bonferroni post hoc multiple-comparison test (P < 0.001 for all years). (+info)
HistoLogical, a computer atlas and drill of histology.
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An educational program has been developed to aid the instruction of Histology, a required course for the first year medical student. The program was developed using SuperCard on an Apple Macintosh IIci computer. It incorporates high quality color images with a hypermedia format, i.e. the student can jump from topic to topic as he/she wishes. The program has an "atlas," which provides information about each image and topic being discussed, and a "drill," which presents to the student a question about an image and provides feedback tailored to the student's answer. In the drill, the student is asked to type in responses to the questions; the answer is judged by text recognition. For each question, feedback is written for the correct answer, incorrect answer, and up to 10 "accessory answers" (answers which might be expected although they are not correct). The faculty of the UMMS Histology course has encouraged the use of this program in this years' course, and evaluation received from faculty and students has been quite positive. (+info)