Mayo Clinic Neurology Board Review

Neurology is an exciting and rapidly expanding area of medicine. This new edition of Mayo Clinic Neurology Board Review is designed to assist both physicians-in-training who are preparing for the initial American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (ABPN) certification examination and neurologists who are preparing for recertification. Trainees and other physicians in related specialties such as psychiatry, neurosurgery, or physiatry may also find this book useful in preparation for their own certification examinations. While erring on the side of thoroughness, Mayo Clinic Neurology Board Review, Second Edition, is not intended to replace an in-depth textbook or serve as a guide to the most current therapies. Instead, this book provides a core of essential knowledge of both basic and clinical aspects of neurology. The emphasis is on clinical knowledge related to diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to patient management. In addition, this text has an expansive array of illustrations, pathology, and radiologic images. There are different needs for those who are taking the initial board examination and for those who are recertifying. The first section covers basic sciences and psychiatry, and the remaining portion covers clinical neurology. It is intended that people taking the board examination for the first time would benefit from reviewing all chapters, whereas those recertifying may wish to mainly focus on the clinical section. Throughout the book, high-yield facts and questions have been included for your review.

A Comprehensive Analysis of Graduated Residents’ and Faculty Members’ Attitudes on Iranian Radiation Oncology Board Examination: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background: The Iranian radiation oncology board examination (IROBE) includes a multiple-choice question (MCQ) examination and an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE). The current mission of IROBE is to qualify the graduated residents (GRs) in terms of clinical competence. However, lack of active monitoring of its construction and administration can impair the evaluation of GR competencies. Objectives: To determine the strengths and limitations of IROBE. Methods: This cross-sectional online survey involved faculty members (FMs) and GRs as constructors and participants of the IROBE, respectively. The target time window for inclusion in the study was set between 2015 and 2019. To evaluate the strengths and limitations of IROBE, a 22-item questionnaire was distributed among FMs and a 29-item questionnaire among GRs. The Mann-Whitney U test and Pearson's chi-square test were applied to find the association between the ordinal and nominal variables, respectively. Results: The surveys were sent to 35 FMs and 107 GRs. A total of 16 (45%) FMs and 42 (39%) GRs completed the survey. Overall, the majority of FMs and GRs stated that IROBE has average to poor quality in evaluating all aspects of clinical abilities (62.5 vs. 76.1% in clinical competence, P = 0.07; 62.5 vs. 71.4% in clinical knowledge, P = 0.19; 100 vs. 92.9% in medical ethics, P = 0.21; and 93.7 vs. 95.3% in responsibility, P = 0.15). However, FMs assigned a higher score to OSCE in the assessment of clinical performance compared to GRs (P = 0.02). Most FMs and GRs declared that IROBE requires extreme to high improvement in both MCQ and OSCE components (75 vs. 59.52% and 87.5 vs. 90.47%, respectively). Conclusions: According to the participants, the present structure of IROBE has several drawbacks in both MCQ and OSCE components. Considering the highlighted strengths and limitations can help the IROBE constructors to improve its quality.

The effects of socio-economic drawbacks on second language learning in Bangladesh

The Second Language (L2) research has presented vast curiosity to learners and their judgments on L2. The numerous directions of learner-focus study, however, have not been sufficient to emphasize the learning experiences of learners in relation to their social and economic context, particularly in third world countries. This research explores the perspectives and experiences of school learners in second language learning in the peripheries of Bangladesh. In addition, this research demonstrates how socio-economic drawbacks of students’ family affect their English subject scores in secondary school certificate examination. Educational background of parents also contributes to achieve the better scores in L2. A close relationship is found between learners’ family education, parents’ occupation, and family income and their achieved scores in English in board examination.