No abstract

Medical education has gone online because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Formative assessment is essential to facilitate the learning process in medical education. However, various challenges arise during online assessment, which include reliability, when done without monitoring and practical concerns like Internet connectivity issues. This study was done to assess the medical students’ perceptions of the reliability, usefulness, and practical challenges of online tests. One hundred first-year undergraduate medical students taking up online classes and tests in the subject of physiology were enrolled in this study. A questionnaire with items regarding practical challenges, reliability, and usefulness of the online tests, in general, and about different types of online assessment methods, in particular, were sent to the students online. Each item was rated on a five-point Likert scale, and the responses were analyzed anonymously. A large percentage of students used mobile phones (81.4%) to undertake online tests. Although most students (73.2%; P < 0.001) felt that online tests helped them substantially in learning the subject, network connectivity issues were considered to be a matter of serious concern (85.5%, P < 0.001). Among the assessment methods used, viva voce by video conferencing was thought to be most reliable (83%, P < 0.001). Multiple-choice question-based assessment when done online was felt to be more practically feasible with faster feedback than classroom assessment. The results of the study suggest that medical students find online formative assessments helpful for their learning, despite their concerns about reliability and practical challenges.

No abstract

No abstract

The drug cisplatin has broad antineoplastic activity against advanced testicular and ovarian cancers, epithelial malignancies, cancers of the head, neck, bladder, oesophagus and lungs. Peripheral neurotoxicity, ototoxicity and nephrotoxicity are its major side effects. The nonspecific action of this drug on the lipid bilayer architecture of membranes has been studied by following the effects produced on the electrical characteristics of model planar bilayer lipid membranes (BLM). The results confirm that the drug has a strong surface interaction with the zwitterionic polar head groups of the amphipathic phospholipids constituting the BLM. The permeability characteristics of cisplatin through the hydrophobic core are limited. Cisplatin does not fluidise the membrane sufficiently to cause its breakdown but creates small ion conducting defects on the membrane bilayer resulting in a marginal increase in ion conductivity. These results indicate that cisplatin exhibits a non-specific action on the lipid bilayer component of the membrane which might be partly responsible for its neurotoxic side effects.