Exercise, Diet and Sleeping as Regenerative Medicine Adjuvants: Obesity and Ageing as Illustrations

Regenerative medicine uses the biological and medical knowledge on how the cells and tissue regenerate and evolve in order to develop novel therapies. Health conditions such as ageing, obesity and cancer lead to an impaired regeneration ability. Exercise, diet choices and sleeping pattern have significant impacts on regeneration biology via diverse pathways including reducing the inflammatory and oxidative components. Thus, exercise, diet and sleeping management can be optimized towards therapeutic applications in regenerative medicine. It could allow to prevent degeneration, optimize the biological regeneration and also provide adjuvants for regenerative medicine.

Monstrous animal siblings in Europe

Reports of women giving birth to a baby together with an animal (toad, mouse, bird, etc.), are documented in Europe from the 1100s onwards: the most important traditions of which are the frater Salernitanorum and the sooterkin. Throughout the centuries, authors have typically attempted to explain monstrous animal siblings in the light of contemporary medical knowledge. The present paper compares the medieval frater Salernitanorum with the later sooterkin and investigates both in historico-folklore terms. It argues that it is important to understand monstrous birth traditions not only in the light of medical history, but as beliefs and narratives actively shared through acts of communication. In so doing, this article is informed by both the history of medicine and folklore studies.

Medical domain knowledge in domain-agnostic generative AI

The text-guided diffusion model GLIDE (Guided Language to Image Diffusion for Generation and Editing) is the state of the art in text-to-image generative artificial intelligence (AI). GLIDE has rich representations, but medical applications of this model have not been systematically explored. If GLIDE had useful medical knowledge, it could be used for medical image analysis tasks, a domain in which AI systems are still highly engineered towards a single use-case. Here we show that the publicly available GLIDE model has reasonably strong representations of key topics in cancer research and oncology, in particular the general style of histopathology images and multiple facets of diseases, pathological processes and laboratory assays. However, GLIDE seems to lack useful representations of the style and content of radiology data. Our findings demonstrate that domain-agnostic generative AI models can learn relevant medical concepts without explicit training. Thus, GLIDE and similar models might be useful for medical image processing tasks in the future - particularly with additional domain-specific fine-tuning.

Medieval Interpretation of Phonation Through the Divine Comedy, by Dante Alighieri

The anatomic and medical knowledge of people throughout history is unexpectedly evident in some of the poems and texts written by intellectuals of the time. This article attempts to understand the conception of laryngology in the Middle Ages by analyzing the Divine Comedy, written by the Italian poet Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) at the beginning of the 14th century. In the text, Dante mentions the throat several times. He recognizes that the larynx has the dual functions of allowing respiration (dead souls recognize that the poet is alive through movement of his throat when breathing) and speech (souls with their throat cut cannot speak). However, Dante does not seem to know of the existence of vocal cords, thinking that it is the tongue that allows for word formation. In general, Dante’s poem indicates that the anatomy and function of the throat were known during the medieval period, although this knowledge was not precise.

Comorbid patient with arterial hypertension: difficulties in diagnosis and treatment

The problem of comorbidity becomes especially relevant in the conditions of demographic aging of the population. In recent years the number of studies devoted to diagnostic and treatment features of comorbidities, especially in elderly and senile patients, has increased. In spite of this fact, until now there are no clear recommendations for the management of comorbidities in the therapeutic practice.The article is devoted to the presentation and discussion of a clinical case of a comorbid patient with arterial hypertension. The stages of the performed diagnostic search with verification of the clinical diagnosis and the tactics of the prescribed pharmacotherapy are presented. On the basis of the presented data it is shown that exacerbation of one of the chronic diseases of the patient’s general comorbid background may significantly increase the severity of the general pathology and in its turn will determine the prognosis and influence the treatment tactics. The complexity of this case is that the patient has chronic single kidney disease in the stage of chronic renal failure. In analysing this case, it is also important to note the difficulties in the choice of drug therapy, as this situation poses significant limitations in the use of many drugs. This is a challenge that every clinician faces on a daily basis, regardless of clinical experience and medical knowledge. Only a multilevel approach will enable comprehensive medical and social care to be organised for patients with co-morbidities with chronic diseases, provide follow-up not only during exacerbations but also during remissions, contribute to the prevention of exacerbations and complications, which will consequently improve prognosis and quality of life.

Student well-being during dedicated preparation for USMLE Step 1 and COMLEX Level 1 exams

Background Nearly all U.S. medical students engage in a 4–8 week period of intense preparation for their first-level licensure exams, termed a “dedicated preparation period” (DPP). It is widely assumed that student well-being is harmed during DPPs, but evidence is limited. This study characterized students’ physical, intellectual, emotional, and social well-being during DPPs. Methods This was a cross-sectional survey sent electronically to all second-year students at four U.S. medical schools after each school’s respective DPP for USMLE Step 1 or COMLEX Level 1 in 2019. Survey items assessed DPP characteristics, cost of resources, and perceived financial strain as predictors for 18 outcomes measured by items with Likert-type response options. Open-ended responses on DPPs’ influence underwent thematic analysis. Results A total of 314/750 (42%) students completed surveys. DPPs lasted a median of 7 weeks (IQR 6–8 weeks), and students spent 70 h/week (IQR 56–80 h/week) studying. A total of 62 (20%) reported experiencing a significant life event that impacted their ability to study during their DPPs. Most reported 2 outcomes improved: medical knowledge base (95%) and confidence in ability to care for patients (56%). Most reported 9 outcomes worsened, including overall quality of life (72%), feeling burned out (77%), and personal anxiety (81%). A total of 25% reported paying for preparation materials strained their finances. Greater perceived financial strain was associated with worsening 11 outcomes, with reported amount spent associated with worsening 2 outcomes. Themes from student descriptions of how DPPs for first-level exams influenced them included (1) opportunity for synthesis of medical knowledge, (2) exercise of endurance and self-discipline required for professional practice, (3) dissonance among exam preparation resource content, formal curriculum, and professional values, (4) isolation, deprivation, and anguish from competing for the highest possible score, and (5) effects on well-being after DPPs. Conclusions DPPs are currently experienced by many students as a period of personal and social deprivation, which may be worsened by perceived financial stress more than the amount of money they spend on preparation materials. DPPs should be considered as a target for reform as medical educators attempt to prevent student suffering and enhance their well-being.

Collective, unruly, and becoming

Online contexts offer an important source of information and emotional support for those facing involuntary childlessness. This article reports the results from an ethnographic exploration of TTC (trying-to-conceive) communication on Instagram. Through a new materialist approach that pays attention to the web of intraacting agencies in online communication, this article explores the question of what material-discursive bodies (constructs of embodiment and medical information) emerge in TTC communication as the result of shared images and narratives of bodies, symptoms, fertility treatments, and reproductive technologies. Drawing on a lengthy ethnographic immersion, observations of 394 Instagram accounts, and the close analysis of 100 posts, the study found that TTC communication produces collective, unruly, and becoming bodies. Collective bodies reflect collectively acquired, solidified, and contested medical knowledge and bodies produced in TTC communication. Unruly bodies are bodies that do not conform to standard medical narratives. Becoming bodies are marked by their shifting agency, such as pregnant or fetal bodies.

Emerging Advancement for Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) in Dentistry

The skill of visual reality has matured, and VR and AR are increasingly being used in educational and surgical settings. The development of virtual reality technologies allows users to mix medical knowledge, medical data, and graphical data. It can provide more precise information, allowing users to increase their safety and reduce their risk. Virtual reality (VR) or augmented reality (AR) simulators that provide direct feedback and objective evaluation could be a useful tool in dental education in the future. Not only has it been applied to education, but it has also been created in therapeutic therapy. The authors believe that in the future VR and AR training and teaching will be extended and used in every aspect of dentistry, enabling students to develop their abilities on their own. In comparison to augmented reality, virtual reality offers a far more immersive experience. It would establish a trusting relationship between patients and doctors based on the experience of the dentists and the use of different hardware and software.

RELATION OF EXAMINATION PERFORMANCE AND CLASS ATTENDANCE OF MBBS STUDENTS IN PHARMACOLOGY - A RETROSPECTIVE STUDY

Introduction: Students attendance is considered as an important factor in the academic performance of medical students. Student attendance is an integral part of professional development and, from a regulatory perspective, considered evidence of professionalism.Aim of the undergraduate medical education is to produce competent doctors with adequate medical knowledge, affective attitude for the patients and proper clinical skills for practice Medical education demands high attendance for good understanding and grasps over the subject Aim: To study the relationship between student attendance and their performance in theory examination. Study design: A retrospective study was conducted among Second year MBBS pharmacology students. Student classroom (theory) attendance was compared with their marks secured in the internal assessment conducted by the pharmacology department. Materials and method: The second year MBBS students who attended pharmacology internal assessment were included in the study. The attendance of a total of 145 students was compared with their internal assessment marks. Statistical analysis was performed using ANOVA. Results: Among 145 students more number of students attendance lied between 61-70 percent.Only 2 of them got more than 90 percent attendance, in this one got below 50 percent marks and6 of them got less than 50 percent in both marks and attendance. Discussion: This study clearly demonstrated that the higher the percentage of attendance lesser is the chance of failure in theory internal assessment (P value is 0.002). It shows attending the theory lectures is significant to perform in the examinations.

Letter from the Editors

Dear Colleagues! Our Authors and Friends! New Year 2022 rushes towards humanity. This universal arrangement of life on our planet presupposes changes. Their essence is in hopes for the best. We wish all of us not just hopes but confidence in the victory of good over evil, reasons over greed and cruelty. We hope that the Planet will overcome humankind's most severe viral attack – the SARS-CoV2 pandemic. We hope that the future brings us victories over epidemics, serious diseases, hunger, and lack of water. We hope that all types of violence, military conflicts, political, economic, religious confrontations will be stopped in a New Year. We are opening the third year of our journal, which was focused on different aspects of medicine. Last year we published eight papers from seven countries experts, each substantially contributed to medicine. We talked about COVID-19 pandemic, vital pediatric problems, and adult medicine. We will continue our mission to support and distribute the most valuable medical knowledge in the New Year. May the New Year celebrations bring only joy and harmony to your homes, souls, and the reasoning, which illuminate confidence in the future for our beautiful multinational green Planet - Earth! "Every end is a new beginning…." We wish you and your family a Happy Holidays! We hope that your New Year will be filled with peace, new ideas, and success! Editorial office