Body donation is critical to anatomy study in Australia and New Zealand. Annually, more than 10,000 students, anatomists, researchers, and clinicians access tissue donated by local consented donors through university-based body donation programs. However, little research has been published about their operations. This study sought to examine the…

Brain dissection is typically an important part of teaching neuroscience in health professional programs. This results in the need to effectively remove brains, which is often performed in a gross anatomy laboratory in the same curriculum. The aim of this study was to determine the most effective method of brain removal based on the time required…

Metacognition includes the processes that learners use to plan, monitor, and assess their learning and is tied to academic performance and growth-oriented attitudes toward learning. Learning anatomy presents challenges to learners at all levels, and for many, necessitates a change in learning strategies and metacognitive awareness. We sought to…

Surgeons and anesthesiologists use tumescent fluid to aid in the effectiveness of procedures. Injecting fluid to aid novice dissectors in improving speed, ease, and ability to distinguish planes has recently been proposed in the literature. In our study, we quantified dissections performed by first-year medical students after injecting fluid into…

Jaw cyst is a common bone cyst affecting the jaw. Clinically, fenestration decompression is the first choice for treating jaw cysts in children, but traditional strategy still has limitations in positioning accuracy, potential trauma, adherence, etc. This study designed an improved strategy, three-dimensional digital guide plate-based fenestration…

In US anatomical gift law, the record on which a person consents to body donation after death is referred to as a document of gift (DG). Due to the lack of legal requirements around minimum information standards, enacted recommendations in the United States, and the unknown variation across extant DGs, a review of publicly-available DGs from US…

Under the futuristic vision of anatomical sciences, a strong societal connection is mandatory. The anatomical practice experienced robust societal participation through public human dissection from the 16th century onward. With a perspective to explore the intersection of spirituality with anatomy, the present study analyzed this momentous period.…

Pre-lab summary videos supplement gross anatomy courses by helping students navigate difficult concepts, increasing student confidence, and allowing for content review outside the laboratory. Few studies have examined the direct correlation between video viewing and performance outcomes. This study uses performance outcome data from six…

Anatomy laboratories can provide rich opportunities for outreach to K-12 and college students interested in pursuing careers in health, medicine, or science. At the University of Missouri, the Department of Pathology and Anatomical Sciences has designed flexible, one-hour interactive sessions that typically cover basic anatomical concepts using…

To date, neuroanatomy education courses are still based on two-dimensional (2D) illustrations combined with cadaver dissections. To gain a more comprehensive understanding of neuroanatomy, we offered mixed reality experience using a head-mounted device (HMD) for medical students during their neuroanatomy course. This pilot study´s purpose was to…

Dissection of human body donors is a valuable part of anatomical education, research, and clinical training. In the United States, deceased human bodies are predominantly sourced through whole-body donation programs (BDPs) housed by academic institutions. Due to the lack of information regarding BDPs, the aim of this study was to gather…

Human anatomy requires understanding spatial relationships among anatomical structures and is often perceived as difficult to learn by students. To overcome this concern, several digital tools exist with some strengths and limitations among which the lack of interactivity especially for complex functional anatomy learning. In this way, a new…

Choreographed encounters with death in Copenhagen Zoo, such as school and public dissections, emphasize the importance of touch and are underpinned by the moral imperative to understand the nature of life and death. Such encounters are framed by zoo educators as contributing to a deeper environmental awareness. Taking the role of dead animals in…

Mastering the complexity of the nervous system is essential for education programs in physiology, anatomy, and neuroscience. Students often struggle when learning somatosensory pathways, which convey information from sensory neurons to the somatosensory cortex in the brain. Active learning activities incorporating physical models have been shown…

Researchers have long been interested in understanding how different learning approaches impact learning outcomes. Learning approaches are often conceptualized as a dichotomy of superficial and deep, and learning outcomes are typically viewed on a cognitive scale that ranges from lower- to higher-order. While there appears to be an inherent…