Material and methods: Module tests (discipline-based assessments) comprising of discipline specific questions are conducted at the end of every term, mimicking the traditional discipline-specific assessment. Questions in the module tests are intended to assess the depth of knowledge of students. Mid semester examinations are conducted at the end of the semester, mimicking the integrated assessment. Integrated questions are intended to test the breadth of knowledge of students.
Results: Lecturers and students felt introduction of module tests, helped them to prepare for topics in a phased manner and better answer questions posed by lecturers during case discussions and clinical presentations. The 'borderline distinction' students felt that studying for module tests provided them with the depth of knowledge essential to answer questions during viva voce.
Discussion: Including both the traditional and integrated methods of assessments would engage students in a learning experience developing their breadth and depth of knowledge. Further prospective research is essential to assess the impact of this assessment strategy.
Aims and Objectives: The aim of this study was to identify the optimum method to obtain one of the chemical compounds in the water fraction and to identify the hypothesized chemical isolates in the water fraction katuk leave's ethanol extract.
Materials and Methods: The methods used in this study included the collection and determination of the katuk plant, the processing of the katuk, phytochemical filtrating, extracting with ethanol 96%, and fractionation using the liquid-liquid extraction method with n-hexane, ethyl acetate, and water solvents The water fraction of katuk leaves was analyzed by its components by thin-layer chromatography using the stationary phase of silica gel 60 F254, developer of n-butanol:acetic acid:water (4:1:5), and detection under ultraviolet (UV) light at a wavelength of 366 and 254nm, as well as with vanillin-sulfuric acid reagent. To isolate the compounds from water fraction of katuk leaves, it was then eluted with a vacuum column chromatography by eluent with a level polarity that would get 11 subfractions. Each subfraction was checked by two-dimensional thin-layer chromatography to see subfraction purity characterized by the appearance of a spot on the chromatogram plate. The isolate was analyzed using spot test, ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometer, infrared spectrophotometer, and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry.
Results: The isolate was an alkaloid compound with a molecular mass of 406.3131 m/z with the molecular formula C21H39N6O2 as S, S-5, 5'-amino-4,4'-dihexyl-propyldihydropyrazol-3, 3-one.
Conclusion: One of the chemical compounds contained in the water fraction of the ethanol extract of the katuk leaf was an alkaloid group.
SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Twenty-six second-year undergraduate audiology students participated. A cross-over study design was used. All students initially attended two hours of seminar and role-play sessions. They were then divided into three types of training, 1) SP training (Group A), 2) SP with feedback (Group B), and 3) a non-additional training group (Group C). After two training sessions, the students changed their types of training to, 1) Group A and C: SP training with feedback, and 2) Group B: non-additional training. All the groups were assessed at three points: 1) pre-test, 2) intermediate, and 3) post-test. The normalized median score differences between and within the respective groups were analysed using non-parametric tests at 95% confidence intervals.
RESULTS: Groups with additional SP trainings (with and without feedback) showed a significantly higher normalized gain score than no training group (p<0.05).
CONCLUSIONS: The SP training (with/ without feedback) is a beneficial learning tool for history taking to students in audiology major.
Method: The health utilities of hypoglycaemia event were measured using Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and Time Trade-Off (TTO) methods among conveniently sampled consenting adults (>18 years and literate in either English or Malay language), which were then divided into two groups: those in the general population (GP) and those with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM). Each respondent was required to value 13 different health states, including frequencies of daytime hypoglycaemia and nocturnal hypoglycaemia, each depending on its severity (non-severe or severe).
Results: 256 respondents from the GP and 99 respondents with T2DM completed the survey. The T2DM group gave higher VAS-values compared to the GP group. The highest mean VAS-utility value for non-severe nocturnal hypoglycaemia occurring once monthly was 0.543 (SD 0.161), and for severe daytime hypoglycaemia occurring once quarterly was 0.293 (SD 0.162) which was the lowest utility value compared to other health states. However, non-severe nocturnal hypoglycaemia occurring once quarterly was 0.537 (SD 0.284) and has the highest TTO-utility value. Severe nocturnal hypoglycaemia occurring once quarterly has the lowest utility value which was -0.104 (SD 0.380). Daytime hypoglycaemia has lower utility value compared to nocturnal hypoglycaemia. Severe hypoglycaemia has a greater disutility compared with the non-severe hypoglycaemia in both studied groups.
Conclusion: The findings show that as a health utility, hypoglycaemia has a substantial impact on utility with severe hypoglycaemia having a greater negative impact compared to non-severe events across the board. This highlights the importance of preventing development of severe hypoglycaemia in patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus at any time of the day.