BACKGROUND: Achieving integration in medical curricula without redundancy in basic medical sciences disciplines is a substantial challenge. Introducing co-teaching in such curricula with active inter-disciplinary participation is believed to best utilize the teaching and learning time for instructors and students, to motivate the students, and to provide a more robust base for bridging the gap between basic and clinical medical sciences in medical schools. Additionally, including more than one student-centered activity in one session is expected to increase the students\' involvement and improve the retention of knowledge. Our study aims at minimizing redundancy and improving the students\' motivation in learning the topic \"insulin-glucose regulation\" during the Endocrine and Metabolism module taught to year three students at Galala University, Faculty of Medicine in Egypt.
METHODS: The authors designed a 3-hr co-teaching integrated session with 3 basic medical sciences aimed to explain the clinical terms including online accessed pre/post-tests, small student groups-created pre/post-session MCQ, with co-sharing of students in the introduction of scientific materials.
RESULTS: The students\' scores in the post-test showed that they gained more knowledge compared to before. Interestingly, there was only an improvement in the students\' performance in generating questions before and after the session, as well as in the integrated question in the end-of-semester exam, we suggest implementing this approach in other topics and modules in medical schools. It would also be favorable to follow up with the students taught using this approach and those taught differently to assess the effectiveness of this approach in a controlled manner.
CONCLUSIONS: Integrated sessions effectively increase student awareness of medical concepts and reduce redundancy in basic medical sciences. This approach exposes students to a more comprehensive understanding of the subject matter, improving their comprehension and retention. It is a valuable method for educators and instructors seeking to enhance their students\' learning experience in the field of medical sciences.

After the COVID-19 pandemic, there was an increasing demand for remote learning and an expansion in the substitution of traditional practical sessions with lab-based virtual tools. This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of virtual labs in practicing biochemical experiments and to examine the student\'s feedback regarding this tool. Virtual and traditional labs training were compared in teaching qualitative analysis of proteins and carbohydrates experiments for first-year medical students. Students\' achievements were assessed, and their satisfaction regarding virtual labs was estimated using a questionnaire. A total of 633 students were enrolled in the study. There was a significant increase in the average scores of students performing the virtual lab of protein analysis compared with those trained in a real lab and those who watched videos explaining the experiment (p < 0.001). The opposite was noticed in the qualitative analysis of carbohydrates with significantly high grades of students trained conventionally compared with those who practiced with virtual labs (p < 0.001). Students\' feedback rates on the virtual labs were high (>70% satisfaction rate). Most students believed virtual labs were supported with a clear explanation, yet they thought it did not give a realistic experience. Students accepted virtual labs, but they still prefer using them as preparatory to classic labs. In conclusion, virtual labs can offer good laboratory practice in the Medical Biochemistry course. Their impact on students\' learning might be increased if selected cautiously and implemented properly in the curriculum.

ERBB3 is a pseudokinase domain-containing member of the ERBB family of receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs). Following ligand binding, ERBB receptors homo- or hetero-dimerize, leading to a head-to-tail arrangement of the intracellular kinase domains, where the \"receiver\" kinase domain of one ERBB is activated by the \"activator\" domain of the other ERBB in the dimer. In ERBB3, a conserved valine at codon 943 (V943) in the kinase C-terminal domain has been shown to be important for its function as an \"activator\" kinase in vitro. Here we report a knock-in mouse model where we have modified the endogenous Erbb3 allele to allow for tissue-specific conditional expression of Erbb3 V943R (Erbb3 CKI-V943R ). Additionally, we generated an Erbb3 D850N (Erbb3 CKI-D850N ) conditional knock-in mouse model where the conserved aspartate in the DFG motif of the pseudokinase domain was mutated to abolish any potential residual kinase activity. While Erbb3 D850N/D850N animals developed normally, homozygous Erbb3 V943R/V943R expression during development resulted in embryonic lethality. Further, tissue specific expression of Erbb3 V943R/V943R in the mammary gland epithelium following its activation using MMTV-Cre resulted in delayed elongation of the ductal network during puberty. Single-cell RNA-seq analysis of Erbb3 V943R/V943R mammary glands showed a reduction in a specific subset of fibrinogen-producing luminal epithelial cells.

UNASSIGNED: Many medical schools have implemented near-peer tutoring (NPT) programs based on the substantial benefits of these programs to both tutors and tutees. This study correlated the frequency of attending weekly NPT sessions to students\' academic performance, and also compared performance of high and low attending students.
UNASSIGNED: Twenty-one weekly NPT sessions were delivered by fourth-year (M4) students to first-year (M1) students. Attendance was recorded, and accordingly students were divided into three groups, high (15-21 sessions), moderate (7-14 sessions), and low (0-6 sessions) attendance groups. Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient was computed to assess the relationship between students\' frequency of attendance and their overall performance on overall basic medical sciences at the end of M1 year and M2 mid-year NBME® CBSE. Students\' performance was also analyzed using ANCOVA and Bonferroni post hoc test to compare differences between the three attendance groups.
UNASSIGNED: An increase in number of attended NPT weekly sessions corresponds with an increase in students\' performance on overall M1 basic sciences weighted average (r(196) = .240, p ≤ 0.001) and the M2 mid-year NBME® CBSE (r(196) = .325, p ≤ 0.001). High attending students performed significantly higher than low attending students on overall M1 weighted average of basic science courses (F(2, 192) = 8.518, p < .001) and M2 mid-year NBME® CBSE (F(2, 192) = 15.494, p < .001).
UNASSIGNED: Attending NPT weekly sessions is a valuable experience that is associated with an improvement in M1 medical students\' academic performance. However, low performing students tend to miss attending NPT weekly sessions.

OBJECTIVE: Aim of this research is to assess the perceptions and views of the anatomy lecturers (educators) of the medical faculties in Turkey on undergraduate distance anatomy education during the COVID-19.
METHODS: Anatomy educators nationwide were invited to the online questionnaire developed by the authors. Ninety-one anatomy educators participated in the questionnaire. Views of the participants were evaluated by Likert-type questions and open-ended questions. Distance anatomy education experiences of the participants between March and July 2020 were evaluated.
RESULTS: Participants found face-to-face education more beneficial than distance education courses conducted with video recordings. They also reported that they agreed synchronous lessons were more beneficial than asynchronous lessons. They agreed that time management was a positive result. However, they were concerned about the adverse effects of the interruption of formal anatomy education regarding quality. The experience of distance anatomy education applied during the COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the demand for distance theoretical anatomy education supported by video recordings and face-to-face practical anatomy education methods (blended) for the post-pandemic period.
CONCLUSIONS: There is much research focusing on the students regarding the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on anatomy education. The experiences and the suggestions of the anatomy educators are also important. The findings of the current research have revealed the positive approach to distance theoretical anatomy education and face-to-face practical anatomy education methods (blended) for the post-pandemic period.

This article is a descriptive and reflective piece on the strategic adaptations that facilitated and enabled the teaching of anatomy and related basic medical sciences to medical students in an African medical school that never shut down during the COVID-19 induced lockdown of the year 2020. The article considers the roles of educational technology, innovations, media and how these were used to achieve learning objectives with optimal outcomes during the lockdown. Specific technologies and innovations including the Anatomage Table, Complete 3D Anatomy software, and the use of High-Fidelity Mannequin were deployed to facilitate effective teaching of anatomy and related basic medical sciences. This was aided by the robust use of a learning management system - Canvas, as well as internet facility for connection, videoconferencing, online sessions and online-based assessment in a strategically organised manner. This system was dynamic enough to respond to changes in COVID-19 related government policies including the lockdown and social distancing-related adjustments in the physical settings. The outcome was that the teaching of medical students did not stop, and optimal results were achieved. The article considers the roles of educational technology and innovations as well as the media and how these were used to achieve learning objectives with optimal outcomes during the lockdown. It is believed that this experiential piece would inspire and inform other medical schools on the benefit of building robustly dynamic medical school systems as well as the use of innovations in times of challenges. The article also considers both the limitations and benefits of technology in teaching anatomy. Very importantly, specific tools, innovations, and technologies were considered as used, and the information provided might be a guide for other potential users. Ultimately, the lesson learned would be of use to us and we believe we could also benefit many others.

BACKGROUND: Integration is a key concern in discipline-based undergraduate dental curricula. Therefore, this study compared feedback on integration from students who participated in different instructional designs in a Comprehensive Patient Care course.
METHODS: The study was conducted at the University of Pretoria (2009-2011). Third-year cohorts (Cohorts A, B and C) participated in pre-clinical case-based learning, whilst fourth-year cohorts (Cohorts D and E) received didactic teaching in Comprehensive Patient Care. Cohorts A, D and E practised clinical Comprehensive Patient Care in a discipline-based clinic. Cohort B conducted their Comprehensive Patient Care patient examinations in a dedicated facility supervised by dedicated faculty responsible to teach integration. Students had to indicate on visual analogue scales whether the way they were taught at the school helped them to integrate knowledge from the same (horizontal integration) and preceding (vertical integration) year of study. The end-points of the scales were defined as \'definitely\' and \'not at all\'. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was employed to measure the differences between cohorts according to the year of study.
RESULTS: Third-year case-based learning cohorts rated the horizontal integration close to 80/100 and vertical integration ranging from 64 to 71/100. In year four, Cohort B rated vertical and horizontal integration 9-15% higher (ANOVA, P < 0.05) than Cohorts A and D. In year five, Cohort A rated vertical and horizontal integration 11-18% higher (ANOVA, P < 0.05) than Cohorts D and E.
CONCLUSIONS: Pre-clinical case-based learning and Comprehensive Patient Care supervised by dedicated faculty were associated with more favourable perceptions about integration in the discipline-based undergraduate dental curriculum.