Masatsugu Ohtsuki

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to clarify the relationship between interprofessional self-evaluation and peer evaluation during interprofessional education (IPE) using team-based learning (TBL). We also aimed to clarify differences in interprofessional cooperation between students with high and low peer evaluation scores. METHODS: In total, 483 students (grades 3-5) from nine faculties at three universities participated in a TBL-based IPE program. The students completed five interprofessional self-evaluation domains (the modified Tsukuba IPE model) before and after IPE. Students also completed peer evaluation after IPE. Students were divided into three groups by peer evaluation scores (low, middle, high), and the post-class self-evaluation scores of these groups were compared using a Kruskal-Wallis test. Multiple regression analysis was also performed. Peer evaluation comments were analyzed using a qualitative inductive method. RESULTS: Students in the low peer evaluation group had significantly lower scores in the "Regarding participation in group work" domain than students in the high group (P<0.05). Students in the high group received positive comments, such as [good communication] and [working cooperatively], whereas students in the low group were required to improve in two areas: [speaking up more] and [need more communication]. CONCLUSIONS: There was a significant relationship between peer evaluation by team members and self-evaluation for "Regarding participation in group work." Students with high peer evaluation scores participated with active attitudes, whereas students with low scores were considered passive. This study suggested that using peer evaluation may enhance students' professional cooperation by improving their communication and attitudes toward active participation.

Objectives: The current study sought to understand the learning outcomes experienced by students and to explain their learning process in detail using interpretive data analysis. Methods: A qualitative study examined students who participated in a multidisciplinary course in a ward. This study investigated latent meanings rather than factual information, using an interpretive paradigm. Data were collected via focus groups and analyzed using Steps for Coding and Theorization (SCAT). Results: Students in the Assembly IV trial (interprofessional education in actual medical settings) experienced a process of transition from a competing (exclusive) mode to a mutual-understanding mode when communicating with people in other professions, and they acquired the perspective of an interactive (dialectic) link between involved communication (communication that attempts to connect directly with patients) and uninvolved communication (communication with patients indirectly through data and other methods) for patient communication. This enabled students to move beyond superficial communication while deepening their connections with people in other professions, complementing each other's strengths, and learning about the possibilities inherent in the provision of collaborative medical practice. Conclusions: Students participating in interprofessional education within medical settings learned about the potential to achieve a circular realization of collaborative medical practice. A circular realization of collaborative medical practice involves incorporating diverse approaches into one's own professional work via exposure to the viewpoints of other occupations and avoiding decision-making based on assumptions that are only valid within one's own profession. This process enables the discovery of better methods and perspectives and the achievement of effective medical practice by moving beyond superficial communication.

<p>Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate changes in health university students' attitudes toward community service before and after a community-oriented education program using team-based learning (TBL). </p><p>Methods: A community-oriented educational program using TBL was carried out with a total of 529 3rd- and 4th-year students in seven faculties of two departments at Fujita Health University, and a questionnaire survey was conducted before and after the program. There were eight questions on students' attitude toward community service.</p><p>Results: Responses with no missing information from 431 students were used in the analysis. There were significant increases in the number of positive responses to three questions after TBL. The item "I think there are things that university students can do as members of the community" increased from 81.9% before TBL to 86.5% after, "I can form specific images of activities that benefit the community" increased from 46.0% before to 70.3% after, and "In the future I want to participate in activities that benefit the community" increased from 74.7% before to 80.3% after.</p><p>Conclusion: The results suggest that this community-oriented educational program using TBL raised the motivation of university students in medical and health science programs to practice community health care.</p>

<p>Objective: This study aimed to examine the effects of interprofessional education (IPE) using team-based learning (TBL).</p><p>Methods: We analyzed the results of a scale to measure IPE among 449 fourth-year students from seven faculties of a health university in Japan. The students took the Assembly Special Lesson as part of IPE using TBL. Before and after the lesson, the participants completed a questionnaire, which consisted of the IPE Tsukuba Model, to which we added two items. The scale was divided into five domains. We compared the scores using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test.</p><p>Results: The overall scores of four of the five domains of the IPE evaluation were significantly higher after the lesson than before (P<0.05): "Understanding the role of each profession's specialization" ; "Regarding participation in group work" ; "Thoughts regarding the team in healthcare and welfare" ; and "Feelings about cooperation among different professions." </p><p>Conclusions: It was evident that the lesson enhanced the students' understanding of the role of other professionals, enabled them to participate in group work, and allowed them to understand the responsibilities of each profession within a team, thereby leading to greater cooperation and better health care. This TBL for IPE was found to be effective by producing valuable changes in perceptions and attitudes toward professional cooperation among students.</p>

1）To learn the techniques required immediately after the start of clinical practice, new residents were introduced to the skills laboratory during their orientation period.<br>2）We attempted to establish the Yanegawara style, which is an overlapping teaching style in which the second–year residents plan the entire training schedule and simultaneously teach the first–year residents while being supported in their teaching by more senior physicians.<br>3）Training with the new system resulted in greater rapport among all residents as well as a greater feeling of security among first–year residents.

It has been reported that angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) 2, a homologue of ACE, has direct effects on cardiac function. However, the role of ACE2 in the development of human heart failure is not fully understood. We evaluated the expression of the ACE2 gene by means of real-time RT-PCR in myocardium from 14 patients with end-stage heart failure. The amount of ACE2 mRNA positively correlated with left ventricular (LV) end-diastolic diameter (r(2)=0.56, p<0.01) but did not significantly correlate with LV ejection fraction or plasma brain natriuretic peptide levels. In conclusion, our data show that the up-regulation of the ACE2 gene in the LV myocardium of patients with severe heart failure was associated with the degree of LV dilatation and may thereby constitute an important adaptive mechanism to retard the progression of adverse LV remodeling.

BACKGROUND: Tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4) is an essential cofactor of nitric oxide synthase, and GTP cyclohydrolase I (GCHI) is a rate-limiting enzyme in the biosynthesis of BH4. The expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) was earlier demonstrated in the ventricles of patients with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) although that of GCHI was not clarified. The present study was designed to determine the GCHI mRNA expression as well as to confirm iNOS mRNA expression in endomyocardial biopsy specimens from patients with DCM. METHODS: Clinical details were assessed in 19 patients with DCM and in 9 control subjects. The real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was performed on total RNA extracted from endomyocardial biopsy specimens. Glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) mRNA was quantified for use as an internal control. RESULTS: iNOS/GAPDH for the DCM samples was 4.8-fold greater than that for the control ones (P<0.01), whereas the GCHI/GAPDH for the DCM samples was reduced to 31.1% of the control (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The increased expression of iNOS mRNA was confirmed in endomyocardial biopsy specimens from patients with DCM. The GCHI mRNA level was suppressed in these specimens.

We studied the effects of cAMP on cytokine (interferon-gamma plus tumor necrosis factor-alpha)-induced stimulation of tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4) synthesis in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC). The cytokine mixture caused a marked increase in the biosynthesis and release of BH4 by HUVEC. Dibutyryl-cAMP produced a dose-dependent inhibition of this cytokine-induced stimulation of synthesis and release of BH4 by these cells. 8-Bromo-cAMP also caused a significant inhibition, although the effects were less marked than those of dibutyryl-cAMP. Both forskolin and the stable analog of prostacyclin, iloprost, caused cAMP accumulation and a concomitant diminution of the cytokine-induced BH4 synthesis in HUVEC. Dibutyryl-cAMP and iloprost also significantly inhibited the cytokine-induced stimulation of GTP cyclohydrolase I (GCHI) activity and mRNA production. We concluded that the suppression by the cAMP messenger system of cytokine-induced stimulation of synthesis and release of BH4 by HUVEC can be attributed to the inhibition of the activity of GCHI, the rate-limiting enzyme in BH4 biosynthetic pathway, in HUVEC. The data also suggest that the caMP-mediated reduction in the GCHI mRNA level may at least partially explain the decline in GCHI activity. It is reasoned that under inflammatory conditions, cAMP-elevating agents such as prostacyclin exert regulatory effects on circulation by inhibiting cytokine-induced synthesis and release of BH4 by HUVEC. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.