No abstract

No abstract

This review describes 30 years of experience at the University of Kansas Medical Center in using computers in the teaching of pharmacology to medical students and other health professionals. The Computer-Assisted Teaching System contains both Computer-Assisted Instruction (CAI) and Computer-Managed Instruction (CMI). The system has evolved from mainframe to microprocessors to the current World Wide Web system. The greatest challenge has been to meet the changes in technologies and teaching approaches. The system has been well received by students and has provided the faculty with the means of providing a novel approach to teaching pharmacology.

Male Sprague-Dawley rats fed a condensed milk diet were classified as either "obesity susceptible" (OS) or "obesity resistant" (OR) based on body weight increases attained after 12 wk. Overall caloric intake in OS rats was higher than in chow-fed controls, and OS rats were heavier than chow-fed controls or OR rats. There were no significant differences in blood glucose, serum insulin, ventricular weight, basal blood pressure, or heart rate. Pressor responses recorded after combined blockade with atropine and propranolol to eliminate reflex effects were identical for vasopressin, but those to norepinephrine were larger in OS than in OR rats, whereas those to angiotensin were larger in OS than in control rats. When baroreflex sensitivity was assessed using intravenously infused sodium nitroprusside or phenylephrine to alter systemic arterial pressure, differences in reflex tachycardia were equivocal, but reflex bradycardia was clearly inhibited in OS rats. These results show that, although basal blood pressure was unaffected in OS rats, their impaired reflex bradycardia along with enhanced pressor responsiveness to norepinephrine could predispose them to subsequent development of hypertension.

No abstract