Holly S. Bender

Influenza A Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 Virus Infection in Domestic Cat

Influenza A pandemic (H1N1) 2009 virus continues to rapidly spread worldwide. In 2009, pandemic (H1N1) 2009 infection in a domestic cat from Iowa was diagnosed by a novel PCR assay that distinguishes between Eurasian and North American pandemic (H1N1) 2009 virus matrix genes. Human-to-cat transmission is presumed.

Is the effectiveness of lecture capture related to teaching approach or content type

The purpose of two related studies was to explore the relationships between course characteristics (teaching approach, content type, and level of curricular coordination), lecture-capture implementation, and learning in a veterinary medical education environment. Two hundred and twenty two students and 35 faculty members participated in the first study, which surveyed respondents regarding their perception of lecture-capture use and impact on learning. Four hundred and ninety one students participated in the second study, which compared scores on a standardized test of basic science knowledge among groups experiencing various levels of lecture-capture implementation. Students were most likely to view captured lectures in courses that moved quickly, relied heavily on lecture, were perceived as highly relevant to their future success, and contained information not available in other formats. A greater percentage of students than faculty perceived lecture capture as beneficial to learning. Higher views of captured lectures were associated with higher test scores in disciplines that relied most heavily on a straight-lecture teaching approach and had a basic science - research teaching context. The number of lecture-capture views was not significantly related to test scores in disciplines that relied less heavily on straight lecture for instruction and had a basic science - applied teaching context. Lecture-capture use accompanies better test scores in some disciplines, not others.Lecture-capture use means more learning in straight-lecture, fact-focused contexts.Students believe that viewing captured lectures helps learning.Students view captured lectures more for less interactive sessions.Students watch lectures for pragmatic reasons, not because of lecture quality.

A histopathologic study of the effects of gossypol on the female rat

The purpose of this study was to examine the tissues of female rats treated with gossypol acetic acid for morphologic evidence of an underlying mechanism of infertility. The number of estrous cycles, and body and adrenal weights were also compared. The number of estrous cycles decreased in rats treated with 60 mg/kg gossypol acetic acid for 30 days. Body weights were also reduced in rats treated with 40 mg or 60 mg/kg per day for 30 days when compared to controls. However, no significant differences were found in any group when comparing adrenal weights, adrenal weight/body weight ratios or adrenal histology. The body weight loss was related, at least in part, to diarrhea and dehydration in eight of the treated animals. It is interesting that though the gossypol-treated rats had reduced numbers of estrous cycles, no histopathologic changes were found in their ovaries, uterus or vagina.

A Tool for Helping Veterinary Students Learn Diagnostic Problem Solving.

This study describes the result of implementing the Problem List Generator (PLG), a computer-based tool designed to help clinical pathology students learn diagnostic problem solving. Participants included 507 veterinary students: 173 in the treatment groups and 334 in the nontreatment (comparison) group. The comparison students did not use the PLG; one experimental group paticipated in PLG-based case-discussion sessions, and the other used the PLG both for case-discussion sessions and for homework. Both treatment groups scored significantly higher on the final exam (p=.001 and .000 respectively) than the comparison group. The findings suggest that student problem-solving ability improved because students identified all relevant data before attempting to provide a solution, and because student and expert solutions to identical problems were generated and compared using the same process.

An ultrastructural study of the effects of gossypol on the endometrium of the female rat

Abnormal desmosomes were found in the endometrial epithelial cells of rats treated orally with gossypol acetic acid at a dose of 60 mg/kg/day for 30 days. Desmosomes in the endometrium of rats treated at 40 mg/kg/day were similar to those of controls. Abnormalities included an increase in desmosome number with prominent filamentous interconnections, asymmetry, disorganization of tonofilaments, missing tonofilaments, missing desmosomal plaques that did not appear to line up with those of the adjacent cell. It is thought that the antifertility actions of gossypol may be due to a disturbance of desmosome formation. This would cause a disruption of endometrial cell adhesion as well as an alteration in the microenvironment within cytoplasmic domains. These changes could lead to an endometrial environment unfavorable to fetal development.

A novel educational tool for teaching diagnostic reasoning and laboratory data interpretation to veterinary (and medical) students.

The Diagnostic Pathfinder was designed to help students learn diagnostic problem solving by supporting them in explaining relationships among history and physical examination findings, data abnormalities, and the underlying mechanisms of disease. The Pathfinder has been used to teach diagnostic problem solving to veterinary students since 2001 and is currently in use at 10 colleges of veterinary medicine. This article describes how the Pathfinder works and summarizes results from studies exploring the effect of Pathfinder use on learning and satisfaction. Pathfinder characteristics are described in terms of their influence on cognitive load, and strategies are provided for effective implementation.

Measuring the Effectiveness of Team-Based Learning Outcomes in a Human Factors Course

This paper will describe a synopsis of the development and application of a survey instrument to assess team skills and professional development outcomes of Team-Based Learning (TBL) in a human factors course. TBL is an advancing teaching pedagogy that shifts instruction from a traditional lecture-based teaching paradigm to a structured learning sequence that includes individual student preparation outside of class followed by active, in-class problem solving exercises completed by student learning teams. As an evolving teaching method, TBL appears to be producing new empirical learning outcomes in areas that have only preliminarily been explored. Traditionally, the effectiveness of TBL has been assessed through grades and numeric measures of performance; however, TBL was designed to both enhance learning as well as team collaboration and critical thinking skills. Thus there a need for a validated measurement instrument emerged to assess the development of team skills in TBL classes. The newly developed survey instrument is designed to assess three overarching factors within the TBL framework: 1) attitudes and beliefs about learning; 2) motivation to learn; and 3) professional development. A pilot survey was created and administered in the summer of 2013 to 25 undergraduate students at a large Mid-Western university and was tested for internal consistency. To further improve the quality of the survey, two focus groups were also conducted. In the fall of 2013 the revised survey was administered to 182 undergraduate students and in the spring of 2014 to 197 undergraduate students. Based on encouraging results, the survey was used to assess the learning outcome gains in a graduate level human factors course. Preliminary results for this sample showed modest gains in critical thinking and external motivation. The survey has the potential to provide instructors a mechanism to measure student learning gains in TBL educational settings.