After extinction of fear to a Pavlovian conditional stimulus (CS), contextual stimuli come to regulate the expression of fear to that CS. There is growing evidence that the context dependence of memory retrieval after extinction involves the hippocampus. In the present experiment, we examine whether hippocampal involvement in memory retrieval…

This article profiles John Kuniholm, a 34-year-old PhD candidate in biomedical engineering at Duke University and has master's degrees in mechanical engineering and industrial design from North Carolina State University. He has worked in the research and development of tools for robotic cardiac surgery for Cardiovations, a Johnson & Johnson…

Aims: To compare voice quality as defined by formant analysis using a sustained vowel in patients who have undergone a partial glossectomy with a group of normal subjects. Methods & Procedures: The design consisted of a single centre, cross-sectional cohort study. The setting was an Adult Tertiary Referral Unit. A total of 26 patients (19…

A national survey of physiology, pharmacology, and surgery departments found that while laboratory exercises using animals are common, they are not universal, and that the widely available alternatives assume diverse forms, including films, computer models, lectures, readings, and clinical clerkships. (MSE)

Investigates the relation between neonatal cry features elicited by painful circumcision procedures and the perceived urgency of those cries. (HOD)

Solutions to methodological problems in medical technologies research synthesis relating to temporal change, persons receiving treatment, research design, analytic procedures, and threats to validity are presented. These solutions should help with the planning and methodogy for research synthesis in other areas. (BS)

Television shows like "Chicago Hope" and "ER" show the drama and intensity of the lives of surgeons, but do these shows portray what it is really like? Is it possible to meet the demands of a challenging career and still have a private life? This 24-minute video presents the professional and personal stories of three women surgeons who lead…

Studied the medical fears of female and male college students. Significant differences were found between scores for males and females, with the latter showing substantially higher generalized and phobic fear scores. Females were most fearful of surgery and becoming mentally ill. Males were most fearful of dentists and surgery. (Author)

Peer assessment, part of the assessment and examination system for fifth-year medical students in the University of Queensland's Department of Surgery, is presented as a practical method of evaluation when correlated with other segments of examination. The study concludes peer evaluation helps establish an educational objective realistically…

The amount of anxiety suggested the need for clinical intervention to reduce procedure-related distress in children with cancer. Younger children exhibited consistently higher levels of distress than older children and displayed a greater variety of anxious responses over a longer time span. (Author/BEF)

Examined the concurrent validity of the Objective Structured Assessment of Technical Skill (OSATS), a new test of technical skills for general surgery residents. Correlations between OSATS scores and faculty rankings were generally high for six senior residents but low for six junior residents at the University of Toronto. (MDM)

Examined the effect of 6-month hospital-based exercise training versus 6-month monitored home-based training in cardiac rehabilitation patients following surgery, investigating which conferred the greatest physical, quality of life, and social support benefits. Home-based training resulted in improvements in exercise performance as great as those…

Four years of experience with an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) following an eight-week surgical clerkship (n=356 students) are reported, including data on mean student performance across years, reliability coefficients, and generalizability. Implications for improvement and development of OSCE are discussed. (Author/MSE)