Introduction and Aim: Innovative learning strategies may be introduced along with the conventional methods to enhance active learning by the students. Jigsaw technique is a co-operative learning method, where students play a dual role as an active learner and teacher. Hence the present study aimed to introduce and assess the acceptability of the Jigsaw technique as an active learning strategy in Physiology for first year medical undergraduates.   Methods: Five parent groups were formed from 30 first year medical undergraduates with six members in each group. Each member in the parent group was allotted a sub-topic in “Immunity”. Members with the same sub-topic joined to from the expert groups. After three sessions of face-face and asynchronous online discussions spanning a duration of three weeks, facilitated by faculty, the students returned to their parent groups for peer teaching and presentation. The content of the presentation was evaluated by faculty with help of a checklist. Feedback questionnaire was administered to both the students and the faculty to assess their perceptions and acceptability of Jigsaw technique.   Results: Jigsaw method was addressed as an innovative method that favored active participation, high interaction and promoted communication skills and referral habits among the students. However. it was time consuming, and students expressed difficulty in adapting to the technique.   Conclusion: Students consider the learning process enjoyable and effective with Jigsaw technique in Physiology. However, owing to the time consumption and its complexity it may be sparingly used in routine curriculum.

Background and Objective: Though many factors are involved in the regulation of arterial blood pressure (BP), autonomic nervous system (ANS) plays a crucial role in acute, short-term control. Any imbalance in ANS activity leads to dysregulation of BP and increases the risk of prehypertension. Recently, a few studies have shown that when the body is connected to the earth's surface using conductive patches or wires, there will be an immediate correction of ANS dysfunction. Expecting similar results, the present study was designed to evaluate the short-term effects of direct barefoot contact with the earth, i.e. without using patches or wires, on prehypertension. Methods: After screening 150 participants, 53 prehypertensives were selected for the study. They were randomly assigned into a study group (n=28) and control group (n=25). Each participant from the study group remained barefooted; i.e. in contact with the ground, for a period of an hour, whereas the control group did not have ground contact. Blood pressure was recorded again at the end of one hour and compared. Data were analysed by paired and unpaired 't' test. A 'P' value less than 0.005 was considered significant. Results: There was a significant decrease in SBP (P<0.0001), DBP (P<0.0014) and MBP (P<0.0001) of study subjects after an hour of barefoot contact. However, there was no significant change in the control group. Conclusion: Our study results indicate that direct barefoot contact with the earth reduces blood pressure in prehypertensive individuals. Remaining barefoot, whenever possible, can be a simple, cost-effective and innovative method in preventing hypertension.

Background: Scoliosis is considered as one of the commonest spinal deformity to affect the pulmonary functions because of its ability to alter the respiratory mechanics. Its advancement with age proves fatal because of complications such as respiratory failure. Even though idiopathic scoliosis is also prevalent in India, the data regarding pulmonary function status of these individuals are scant. This necessitates a study on pulmonary functions in Idiopathic Scoliosis. Aims & Objective: To study the pulmonary functions in individuals with idiopathic scoliosis and to compare the same with age and sex matched normal individuals. Materials and Methods: In this study pulmonary functions such as slow vital capacity parameters and forced vital capacity parameters were studied in thirty individuals with Idiopathic Scoliosis in the age group of 15-30 years. These parameters were compared with those recorded in equal number of age and sex matched apparently normal healthy individuals using unpaired t test. Results: A significant reduction was observed in lung function parameters such as vital capacity, tidal volume, inspiratory/expiratory reserve volumes, inspiratory capacity, forced vital capacity(FVC) and forced expiratory volume in first second (FEV1). However the ratio between FEV1 and FVC were within normal limits in both the groups and did not show any significant change. Conclusion: Observations of the present study is suggestive of a restrictive pattern of impairment in Scoliosis, which is mainly because of alteration in respiratory mechanics. These pulmonary deficits may not be evident as they are symptomless. However in future these may tip the balance towards respiratory complications. So study of pulmonary functions in scoliotics may give an idea regarding the extent of detriment of lung function and hence will be useful in planning the treatment options for Scoliosis.

Introduction: The quality of both teaching and learning techniques in health sciences determines the competency of the doctors produced and the patient care. Realizing the necessity of active learning at the undergraduate level, curricular reforms were crucial to ensure that students play an active role in the learning process and imbibe all the prerequisite qualities of a competent health professional. The objective of this study was to implement and evaluate case-based learning in the physiology curriculum. Methods: The study included 150 first-year MBBS students. We followed a mixed research design in this study. A short lecture on anemia was followed by two sessions of CBL with a gap of one week. A structured questionnaire on a 5-point Likert scale was used to collect students perceptions. The internal consistency of the questionnaire was Cronbach alpha statistic = 0.8. Faculties feedback was collected through Focus Group Discussion (FGD). Results: Out of 145 participants, 117 responded to feedback. Students perceived that the CBL method was effective in understanding anemia topic (71%); promoted meaningful learning (83%); encouraged teamwork (69%); improved communication skills (65%); helps in future application of knowledge (81%); motivated self-directed learning (66%); helped to understand physiology concepts better (72%); leads to the development of problem-solving abilities (70%); and better student-teacher relationship (72%). Faculties suggested developing an assessment plan for future CBL sessions. Conclusion: In our experience, CBL is an effective, active teaching-learning tool that improves students understanding of basic concepts, clinical knowledge, problem-solving abilities, teamwork, communication skills, student-teacher relationship, and self-directed learning.

Background: Adequate amount of sleep is the basic need for survival. It is a well-known fact that disturbed sleep, acute or chronic, deteriorates the homeostasis. Sleep deprivation (SD) produces many adverse health consequences by affecting almost all the organ systems and their functions. However, sufficient literature was lacking on the effect of SD on central auditory processing (CAP), especially the temporal resolution component in young individuals. Aims and Objective: Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the impact of 24-hrs of sleep deprivation on the temporal resolution ability of young healthy night-shift employees. Materials and Methods: It was a Pretest-posttest study design (Quasi-Experimental study) comprising sixty (N=60) healthy security staff. After the initial survey, Tuning fork tests and Pure Tone Audiometry were performed to rule out hearing loss. Temporal resolution was assessed twice (before and after SD) by Random Gap Detection test (RGDT) where a pair of pure tone was presented at different frequencies with ‘intervals of silence’ between each pair of tones and average time interval (in milliseconds) was taken. Data analysis was done by SPSS 24 software. Results: There was an increase in RGDT values after sleep deprivation 10.70 ± 0.46 (Mean±SD), but the difference was not significant (p-value = 0.5172) when compared with baseline values 10.65 ± 0.48 (Mean±SD). Conclusion: Based on the research findings, we conclude that 24-hours of acute sleep deprivation didn’t show any negative impact on the temporal resolution component of CAP mechanism in young, healthy individuals.