Coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid‐19) created unparalleled challenges to anatomy education. Gross anatomy education has been particularly impacted given the traditional in‐person format of didactic instruction and/or laboratory component(s). To assess the changes in gross anatomy lecture and laboratory instruction, assessment, and teaching resources utilized as a result of Covid‐19, a survey was distributed to gross anatomy educators through professional associations and listservs. Of the 67 survey responses received for the May–August 2020 academic period, 84% were from United States (US) institutions, while 16% were internationally based. Respondents indicated that in‐person lecture decreased during Covid‐19 (before: 76%, during: 8%, P < 0.001) and use of cadaver materials declined (before: 76 ± 33%, during: 34 ± 43%, P < 0.001). The use of cadaver materials in laboratories decreased during Covid‐19 across academic programs, stand‐alone and integrated anatomy courses, and private and public institutions (P ≤ 0.004). Before Covid‐19, cadaveric materials used in laboratories were greater among professional health programs relative to medical and undergraduate programs (P ≤ 0.03) and among stand‐alone relative to integrated anatomy courses (P ≤ 0.03). Furthermore, computer‐based assessment increased (P < 0.001) and assessment materials changed from cadaveric material to images (P < 0.03) during Covid‐19, even though assessment structure was not different (P > 0.05). The use of digital teaching resources increased during Covid‐19 (P < 0.001), with reports of increased use of in‐house created content, BlueLink, and Complete Anatomy software (P < 0.05). While primarily representing US institutions, this study provided evidence of how anatomy educators adapted their courses, largely through virtual mediums, and modified laboratory protocols during the initial emergence of the Covid‐19 pandemic.

The debate regarding anatomy laboratory teaching approaches is ongoing and controversial. To date, the literature has yielded only speculative conclusions because of general methodological weaknesses and a lack of summative empirical evidence. Through a meta-analysis, this study compared the effectiveness of instructional laboratory approaches used in anatomy education to objectively and more conclusively synthesize the existing literature. Studies published between January 1965 and December 2015 were searched through five databases. Titles and abstracts of the retrieved records were screened using eligibility criteria to determine their appropriateness for study inclusion. Only numerical data were extracted for analysis. A summary effect size was estimated to determine the effects of laboratory pedagogies on learner performance and perceptions data were compiled to provide additional context. Of the 3,035 records screened, 327 underwent full-text review. Twenty-seven studies, comprising a total of 7,731 participants, were included in the analysis. The meta-analysis detected no effect (standardized mean difference 5 20.03; 95% CI 5 20.16 to 0.10; P 5 0.62) on learner performance. Additionally, a moderator analysis detected no effects (P 0.16) for study design, learner population, intervention length, or specimen type. Across studies, student performance on knowledge examinations was equivalent regardless of being exposed to either dissection or another laboratory instructional strategy. This was true of every comparison investigated (i.e., dissection vs. prosection, dissection vs. digital media, dissection vs. models/modeling, and dissection vs. hybrid). In the context of short-term knowledge gains alone,

The utilization of bedside ultrasound by an increasing number of medical specialties has created the need for more ultrasound exposure and teaching in medical school. Although there is a widespread support for more vertical integration of ultrasound teaching throughout the undergraduate curriculum, little is known about whether the quality of ultrasound teaching differs if performed by anatomists or clinicians. The purpose of this study is to compare medical students' evaluation of ultrasound anatomy teaching by clinicians and anatomists. Hands-on interactive ultrasound sessions were scheduled as part of the gross anatomy course following principles of adult learning and instructional design. Seven teachers (three anatomists and four clinicians) taught in each session. Before each session, anatomists were trained in ultrasound by clinicians. Students were divided into groups, rotated teachers between sessions, and completed evaluations. Results indicated students perceived the two groups as comparable for all factors except for knowledge organization and the helpfulness of ultrasound for understanding anatomy (P < 0.001). However, results from unpaired samples t-tests demonstrated a nonstatistically significant difference between the groups within each session for both questions. Moreover, students' test performance for both groups was similar. This study demonstrated that anatomists can teach living anatomy using ultrasound with minimal training as well as clinicians, and encourage the teaching of living anatomy by anatomists in human anatomy courses using ultrasound. Repeating this study at a multicenter level is currently being considered to further validate our conclusion.

Recent studies suggest that chromosomal rearrangements play a significant role in speciation by preventing recombination and maintaining species persistence despite interspecies gene flow. Factors conferring adaptation or reproductive isolation are maintained in rearranged regions in the face of hybridization, while such factors are eliminated from collinear regions. As a direct test of this rearrangement model, we evaluated the genetic basis of hybrid male sterility in a sympatric species pair, Drosophila pseudoobscura pseudoobscura and D. persimilis, and an allopatric species pair, D. pseudoobscura bogotana and D. persimilis. Our results are consistent with the proposed model: virtually all of the sterility factors in the former pair are associated with three inverted regions, whereas sterility factors are present in the collinear regions in the latter pair. These findings indicate recombination and selection may have eliminated sterility factors outside the inverted regions between D. p. pseudoobscura and D. persimilis, suggesting chromosomal rearrangements may facilitate species persistence despite hybridization.

Covid‐19 disrupted the in‐person teaching format of anatomy. To study changes in gross anatomy education that occurred August‐December, 2020 compared to before the pandemic, an online survey was distributed to anatomy educators. The 191 responses received were analyzed in total and by academic program, geographic region, and institution type. Cadaver use decreased overall (before: 74.1 ± 34.1%, during: 50.3 ± 43.0%, P < 0.0001), as well as across allopathic and osteopathic medicine, therapy, undergraduate, and veterinary programs ( P < 0.05), but remained unchanged for other programs ( P > 0.05). Cadaver use decreased internationally and in the US ( P < 0.0001), at public and private ( P < 0.0001) institutions, and among allopathic medical programs in Northeastern, Central, and Southern ( P < 0.05), but not Western, US geographical regions. Laboratories during Covid‐19 were delivered through synchronous (59%), asynchronous (4%), or mixed (37%) formats ( P < 0.0001) and utilized digital resources (47%), dissection (32%), and/or prosection (21%) ( P < 0.0001). The practical laboratory examination persisted during Covid‐19 ( P = 0.419); however, the setting and materials shifted to computer‐based ( P < 0.0001) and image‐based ( P < 0.0001), respectively. In‐person lecture decreased during Covid‐19 (before: 88%, during: 24%, P = 0.003). When anatomy digital resources were categorized, dissection media, interactive software, and open‐access content increased (P ≤ 0.008), with specific increases in BlueLink, Acland’s Videos, and Complete Anatomy ( P < 0.05). This study provided evidence of how gross anatomy educators continued to adapt their courses past the early stages of the pandemic.