Health-related popular articles are easily found among media sources. With the increasing popularity of the internet, medical information -full of misconceptions -has become easily available to the lay people. The ability to recognize misconceptions may require good biomedical knowledge. In this sense, we decided to use articles from the internet as part of a formal exam to evaluate students' learning of Clinical and Applied Biochemistry (CAB). This test, known as the True-or-False (T-or-F) exam, is made up of statements found online that are judged by freshmen medical and nutrition students taking Basic Biochemistry. In the last four teaching-semesters, students' acceptance and responses to T-or-F exam on CAB were evaluated through questionnaires (using a 0-4 Likert scale). Results from 258 students revealed that 71, 87, and 94% of them believed, respectively, that the exam was (i) difficult, (ii) of good quality, and (iii) that using media-questions is relevant for evaluating the learning of CAB. Moreover, the average grade in the T-of-F exam was 5.85 (out of 10). This low average is probably because students are not familiarized with this sort of examination that does not emphasize on memorizations of biochemical pathways and processes -it instead evaluates mostly the comprehension and application of knowledge, levels 2 and 3 in Bloom's scale. Such conclusion was possible by analyzing 192 questions in four exams -67% were at levels 2, 3 or above. This kind of media-based exam could be well applied to several other disciplines in health sciences.

Overall, the modified Thal procedure improved symptoms-namely, dysphagia to liquids with resulting weight loss and malnutrition-in patients with megaesophagus. No correlations were found between clinical complaints, endoscopic findings, and degree of manometric abnormality in these patients.

Objective: This study proposes to systematically review the literature and compare data on (1) function, (2) pain, (3) return to sport, and (4) complications after anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction with quadriceps tendon autograft (QT) and hamstring tendon autograft (HT). Methods: In June 2021, a systematic review of the EMBASE, MEDLINE/PubMed, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, and LILACS databases was performed, based on PRISMA guidelines. The search strategy included the keywords: “Previous Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction,” “ACL reconstruction,” “quadriceps tendon autograft,” “quadriceps graft,” “Hamstring-Tendon Autografts.” Meta-analyses were performed using Review Manager software (RevMan Web). Results: There were no significant differences between the two groups regarding function according to Lysholm score (MD 3.01; CI-0.30, 6.33, p = 0.08), the presence of pain (RR 0.89; CI-0.57, 1.39, p = 0.60), and re-rupture (RR 0.60; IC-0.19, 1.88, p = 0.38). Conclusion: QT and HT autografts show comparatively good results in ACL reconstruction without significant differences regarding function, pain, and rupture after surgical intervention. Level of Evidence II, Systematic Review of Level II Studies.

In the past decade, there has been an exponential growth of blogs on biomedical subjects with reliable contents. The potential use of this media as a learning tool has been recently tried in a medical residence at Harvard University, where students had to produce blogs as part of their duties. At Brasília University, a similar experience was tested with freshmen medical and nutrition students taking Basic Biochemistry (BB) with the goal of producing blogs on clinical biochemistry (CB) topics. In the last 4 teachingsemesters, students' acceptance (n=267 students) regarding BB-blogs was evaluated through 6-point Likert questionnaires. 84% of them agreed that the preparation of their blogs was enjoyable and positive for their academic formation (they marked 4 to 6 in the questionnaire). 57% of students (those marking 5-6) believed that the elaboration of blogs boosted their interest for BB/CB. For 56% of students (those marking 5-6), the blogs motivated them to look for extra-class articles on CB. Only 13% of students (those marking 1-3) did not agree that these blogs are relevant learning tools. 38 out of 58 students' BB-blogs scored 9.0 or above, only 3 scored below 7.9 (out of 10). These results suggest that student blogs have potential to be effective in stimulating CB learning. Support: CNPq.

To boost active learning in undergraduate students, they were given the task of preparing blogs on topics of clinical biochemistry. This "experiment" lasted for 12 teaching-semesters (from 2008 to 2013), and included a survey on the blogs' usefulness at the end of each semester. The survey (applied in the 2008-2010 period) used a Likert-like questionnaire with eight questions and a 1-to-6 scale, from "totally disagree" to "fully agree." Answers of 428 students were analyzed and indicated overall approval of the blog activity: 86% and 35% of the responses scored 4-to-6 and 6, respectively. Considering the survey results, the high grades obtained by students on their blogs (averaging 8.3 in 2008-2010), and the significant increase in average grades of the clinical biochemistry exam after the beginning of the blog system (from 5.5 in 2007 to 6.4 in 2008-2010), we concluded that blogging activity on biochemistry is a promising tool for boosting active learning. © 2016 by The International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 45(3):205-215, 2017.