Self-Regulated Learning: the essential factor for understanding and improving academic and clinical performance

There is increasing interest in the importance of Self-Regulated Learning for the improvement of academic and clinical performance. Self-Regulated Learning is a dynamic and cyclical metacognitive process that coordinates an individual’s skill (techniques) and will (motivation) to achieve a clearly defined task. There are differences in key Self-Regulated Learning processes between high and low performers, especially goal setting and self-monitoring. Formative feedback on the use of key Self-Regulated Learning processes, which can be identified using microanalysis before, during and after an individual performs a specific task, can lead to improved performance. There is increasing awareness of the importance of both the social and educational environment on the use of Self-Regulated Learning, including the essential influence of the teacher.O interesse sobre a importância da aprendizagem autorregulada para o desempenho acadêmico e clínico vem aumentando. A aprendizagem autorregulada é um processo cognitivo dinâmico e cíclico que integra a habili-dade e motivação do aluno para realizar uma tarefa definida. Existem diferenças importantes para o processo da aprendizagem autorregulada para alunos de baixo e alto desempenho, especialmente em relação ao estabelecimento de metas e ao automonitoramento. Feedback formativo nos processos chaves da aprendizagem autorregulada pode ser identificada utilizando a microanálise, antes, durante e depois da realização uma tarefa especifica pode melhorar o desempenho. Ainda, existe um aumento na percepção da importância da apren-dizagem autorregulada tanto no ambiente social quanto educacional, incluindo a importância do professor

Rethinking scholarship in medical education during the era of the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly disrupted society and communities across the world requiring new and innovative approaches for healthcare, work, education and leisure. Similar changes have been precipitated in medical education, producing a rapid and major impact on students, educators and institutions. However, institutions still require educators to engage with scholarship in medical education, including providing evidence for promotion and tenure. We propose that resolving this tension between the demands of delivering a high quality curriculum and maintaining scholarship in medical education during the era of the COVID-19 pandemic requires urgent consideration of a transformational change in the scholarship in medical education. Key aspects of this change are a focus on rapid cycles of research to inform teaching, with local and wider dissemination using newer rapid approaches to publication and social media, and acceptability of these changes by institutions

Energy and environmental burdens of organic and non-organic agriculture and horticulture

Production of 10 major commodities in England and Wales was studied using Life Cycle Analysis (LCA). Organic and non-organic (contemporary conventional) systems were compared. Organic production was generally less energy consuming, except for poultry meat, eggs and tomatoes. Environmental burdens, such as global warming potential or eutrophication were often greater per unit of production from organic than non-organic systems

The COVID-19 pandemic and the challenge of using technology for medical education in low and middle income countries

The current use of technology for medical education in low and middle income countries (LMIC) during the COVID-19 pandemic is not yet reaching its potential. We provide recommendations for LMIC that has focus on a systematic framework that considers both faculty development and developing the skills of students. An enormous challenge for all medical educators, but especially in LMIC, continues to be how to maintain clinical teaching in these extraordinary time

Teaching and learning evidence-based medicine: cross-sectional survey investigating knowledge and attitudes of teachers and learners in primary and secondary care

Evidence-based medicine (EBM) is an important component of quality healthcare and a key part of the curriculum for doctors in training. There have been no previous studies comparing attitudes and knowledge of doctors in primary and secondary care towards EBM practice and teaching and this study sets out to investigate this area. We asked participants, a stratified sample of general practitioners, hospital consultants, GP registrars and junior hospital doctors in Leicester, Northamptonshire and Rutland, UK, to complete a self-administered survey questionnaire and written knowledge test which provided ‘positive to evidence based practice’ (PEP) attitude scores and Manchester Short EBM Questionnaire Education for Primary Care (2007) 18: 45–57 # 2007 Radcliffe Publishing Limited WHAT IS ALREADY KNOWN IN THIS AREA. There is little evidence on the relationship between attitudes and knowledge in relation to evidence-based medicine (EBM) in family doctors, consultants and doctors intraining. WHAT THIS WORK ADDS. This study showed that, although general practitioners and general practitioner trainers were significantly less positive in attitude to EBM compared to GP registrars, junior hospital doctors and consultant respondents, they had significantly higher knowledge scores. This study demonstrated that the attitude (PEP) score and knowledge questionnaire(MANSEBMQ) have high reliability but require further research to demonstrate validity. SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH. There remain opportunities for refinement of the MANSEBMQ, validation against existing tools and further application in a larger study, including assessment of EBM knowledge and skills, before and after an educational process, involving students in clinically relevant and integrated EBM learning. Keywords: attitudes, evidence-based practice, general practice registrars, general practitioners, hospital doctors, primary care, secondary care(MANSEBMQ) knowledge scores of participants. The response rate was low which may have led to volunteer bias but there were sufficient responses to explore attitude scores and knowledge scores. Attitude(PEP) scores were highest in hospital consultants, intermediate in doctors in training and lowest in general practitioner (GP)respondents (mean score 71.7 vs 70.5 vs 67.2; P = 0.006). PEP scores were also highest in respondents with higher degrees (MD, PhD, MSc), intermediate in those with higher professional qualifications (MRCP, FRCS, MRCGP or equivalent) and lowest in those with none of these (mean score 72.9 vs 70.6 vs 67.2; P = 0.005). PEP scores were significantly higher(P = 0.002) in respondents who taught EBM (mean score 71.7, 95% CI 70.3 to 73.2, n=109, missing=5) compared with those who did not (mean score 68.6, 95% CI 67.3 to 69.9, n = 105, missing = 12) and in respondents with research experience (P < 0.001), research training (P < 0.001) and training in EBM (P = 0.001). There was a positive correlation between PEP score and MANSEBMQ score (P = 0.013). In contrast, and paradoxically opposite to the pattern of attitudes, knowledge scores were highest in GPs, intermediate in junior hospital doctors and lowest in consultant respondents (mean score 63.5 vs 61.9 vs 54.5, P=0.005). Although GPs and GP trainers were significantly less positive in attitude to EBM compared to GP registrars, junior hospital doctors and consultant respondents, they had significantly higher knowledge scores. This study demonstrated that the attitude(PEP) score and knowledge questionnaire (MANSEBMQ) have good reliability but require further research to demonstrate validity

Cestoda from Rattus assimilis (Gould, 1858) from Australia

Four species of adult cestodes and one larval form were recovered from Rattus assimilis (Gould, 1858) from Queensland. Hymenolepis diminuta Rudolphi, 1819; and the cysticercus of Taenia taeniae-formis (Batsch, 1786) are new host records for Australia; the same infestations with Raillietina (Raillietina) celebensis (Janicki, 1902) have also been recorded by Baer and Sandars (1956). Two new species, viz:—Choanotaenia ratticola and Hymenolepis australiensis are described. The type specimens are lodged in the Queensland Museum, Brisbane. Cotype and other specimens studied are also lodged in the Queensland Museum and in the Institut de Zoologie, Université de Neuchâtel, Switzerland; the Department of Parasitology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and in the British Museum (Natural History

Analysing banking sector conditions - how to use macro-prudential indicators

This paper presents the methodological and statistical framework for macro-prudential analysis of the financial condition of the EU banking sector that has been adopted by the European System of Central Banks (ESCB). The framework is also a central component of broader financial stability assessments carried out by the ECB in co-operation with national authorities. The framework has three main building blocks, which draw on a large number of macro-prudential indicators. The first block is designed for assessing the financial condition of the banking sector. The second building block provides a framework for analysing potential sources of risk and vulnerability to which banks are exposed and an assessment of the importance of related exposures. The final part of the analysis deals with the resilience of banks vis-à-vis these different sources of risk and vulnerability. Analysing the impact of the identified risks on banks’ financial condition is the ultimate objective of the ESCB banking sector stability analysis.Financial stability, Banking sector, Macro-prudential analysis and indicators, Financial sector statistics.

Interactively modelling land profitability to estimate European agricultural and forest land use under future scenarios of climate, socio-economics and adaptation

Studies of climate change impacts on agricultural land use generally consider sets of climates combined with fixed socio-economic scenarios, making it impossible to compare the impact of specific factors within these scenario sets. Analysis of the impact of specific scenario factors is extremely difficult due to prohibitively long run-times of the complex models. This study produces and combines metamodels of crop and forest yields and farm profit, derived from previously developed very complex models, to enable prediction of European land use under any set of climate and socio-economic data. Land use is predicted based on the profitability of the alternatives on every soil within every 10' grid across the EU. A clustering procedure reduces 23,871 grids with 20+ soils per grid to 6,714 clusters of common soil and climate. Combined these reduce runtime 100 thousand-fold. Profit thresholds define land as intensive agriculture (arable or grassland), extensive agriculture or managed forest, or finally unmanaged forest or abandoned land. The demand for food as a function of population, imports, food preferences and bioenergy, is a production constraint, as is irrigation water available. An iteration adjusts prices to meet these constraints. A range of measures are derived at 10' grid-level such as diversity as well as overall EU production. There are many ways to utilise this ability to do rapidWhat-If analysis of both impact and adaptations. The paper illustrates using two of the 5 different GCMs (CSMK3, HADGEM with contrasting precipitation and temperature) and two of the 4 different socio-economic scenarios ("We are the world", "Should I stay or should I go" which have contrasting demands for land), exploring these using two of the 13 scenario parameters (crop breeding for yield and population) . In the first scenario, population can be increased by a large amount showing that food security is far from vulnerable. In the second scenario increasing crop yield shows that it improves the food security problem

The challenge of conducting qualitative research to understand the factors that influence equity in medical education: A scoping review

Introduction There are national and international concerns about equity in basic and postgraduate medical education, especially about differential rates of access and attainment across groups of learners. Qualitative research has been increasingly used to understand the factors that influence equity but there are potential limitations to this understanding related to how the research has been conducted. The aim of the scoping review was to identify how qualitative research exploring the factors that influence equity in basic and postgraduate medical education has been conducted. The intention was to inform future research. Methods The electronic databases British Education Index, Campbell Library, CINAHL, Cochrane Library, EMBASE, ERIC, Google Scholar, Health Management Information Consortium (HMIC), MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Web of Science and medical education journals were searched to identify relevant published articles between 2008 and April 2019. Results Among 19,523 articles identified from the literature search, 72 full text articles were included in the review. Most studies had a focus on only one background characteristic and only two studies had a strengths-based focus on individuals. Recommendations for change was at the ‘policy level’ in ten studies and four studies had learner recommendations for change. No studies with a participatory approach were identified. Conclusion The approach to conducting previous qualitative research appears to limit greater understanding of the complexity of factors that influence equity. In response to this challenge, we recommend that future research widen the focus to consider the experiences and strengths of individual learners in addition to those identified by background characteristics. Future qualitative research is recommended to have a broad focus on both the ‘policy level’ and ‘local level’, especially from multiple perspectives. We also recommend greater collaboration of participants with researchers throughout the research process.</p