Is online objective structured clinical examination teaching an acceptable replacement in post-COVID-19 medical education in the United Kingdom?: a descriptive study

Vashist Motkur,Aniket Bharadwaj,Nimalesh Yogarajah 한국보건의료인국가시험원 2022 보건의료교육평가 Vol.19 No.-

Purpose Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) restrictions resulted in an increased emphasis on virtual communication in medical education. This study assessed the acceptability of virtual teaching in an online objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) series and its role in future education. Methods Six surgical OSCE stations were designed, covering common surgical topics, with specific tasks testing data interpretation, clinical knowledge, and communication skills. These were delivered via Zoom to students who participated in student/patient/examiner role-play. Feedback was collected by asking students to compare online teaching with previous experiences of in-person teaching. Descriptive statistics were used for Likert response data, and thematic analysis for free-text items. Results Sixty-two students provided feedback, with 81% of respondents finding online instructions preferable to paper equivalents. Furthermore, 65% and 68% found online teaching more efficient and accessible, respectively, than in-person teaching. Only 34% found communication with each other easier online; Forty percent preferred online OSCE teaching to in-person teaching. Students also expressed feedback in positive and negative free-text comments. Conclusion The data suggested that generally students were unwilling for online teaching to completely replace in-person teaching. The success of online teaching was dependent on the clinical skill being addressed; some were less amenable to a virtual setting. However, online OSCE teaching could play a role alongside in-person teaching.

Maternal Factors and Risk of Childhood Leukemia

Kumar, Ashok,Vashist, Minakshi,Rathee, Radha Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2014 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.15 No.2

Background: Although the cause in most cases of childhood leukemia is not known, the contribution of environmental risk factors in the context of genetic predisposition has been reported with inconsistent results. The aim of this study was to examine association of childhood leukemia with maternal factors especially during pregnancy, to help in avoiding risk factors. Materials and Methods: This case-control study included children younger than 18 years diagnosed with leukemia from 2008 to 2012. Controls were randomly selected and individually matched to cases with respect to age, sex, and residency. All variables were compared between cases and control to determine any significant association with leukemia. Results: Statistically significant associations between risk of childhood leukemia with mother's education (p=0.001), occupation (p=0.0005) and pesticides exposure (p=0.005) during pregnancy were found. However, there were no significant links with maternal age (p=0.090), history of fetal loss (0.85), history of radiography during pregnancy (p=0.400), history of drug intake (p=0.689) and infection (p=0.696) during pregnancy. Conclusions: The results showed increased risk of leukemia in children whose mothers were working in agriculture and were exposed to pesticides during pregnancy. The further study needs to be investigated to know association of various maternal risk factors with leukemia which remained unknown in this study.

Improved Power Quality IHQRR-BIFRED Converter Fed BLDC Motor Drive

Bhim Singh,Vashist Bist 전력전자학회 2013 JOURNAL OF POWER ELECTRONICS Vol.13 No.2

This paper presents an IHQRR (Integrated High Quality Rectifier Regulator) BIFRED (Boost Integrated Flyback Rectifier Energy Storage DC-DC) converter fed BLDC (Brushless DC) motor drive. A reduced sensor topology is derived by utilizing a BIFRED converter to operate in a dual DCM (Discontinuous Conduction Mode) thus utilizing a voltage follower approach for the PFC(Power Factor Correction) and voltage control. A new approach for speed control is proposed using a single voltage sensor. The speed of the BLDC motor drive is controlled by varying the DC link voltage of the front end converter. Moreover, fundamental frequency switching of the VSI’s (Voltage Source Inverter) switches is used for the electronic commutation of the BLDC motor which reduces the switching losses in the VSI. The proposed drive is designed for a wide range of speed control with an improved power quality at the AC mains which falls within the recommended limits imposed by international power quality standards such as IEC 61000-3-2.

Ethanol Tolerance and Adh Polymorphism in Indian Natural Populations of Zaprionus Indianus

Parkash, Ravi,Shamina,Vashist, Minakshi 한국유전학회 1992 Genes & Genomics Vol.14 No.4

Ten Indian geographical populations of Z.indianus collected along 20˚N latitudinal range, revealed significant clinal variation at the Adh locus and Adh^F allelic frequency correlated significantly with increase in latitude. The abundance of secondary alcohols in the southern Indian tropical and humid environment seemed to exert selective pressure favouring higher frequency of Adh^S allele in Z.indianus. Latitudinal patterns of ethanol utilization as well as ethanol tolerance were observed in the larval and adult individuals of ten geographical populations of Z.indianus. The parallel occurrence of latitudinal variation at the Adh locus as well as ethanol tolerance in colonising populations of Z.indianus could be maintained by balancing natural selection varying spatially along the north-south axis of the Indian sub-continent.

Improved Power Quality IHQRR-BIFRED Converter Fed BLDC Motor Drive

Singh, Bhim,Bist, Vashist The Korean Institute of Power Electronics 2013 JOURNAL OF POWER ELECTRONICS Vol.13 No.2

This paper presents an IHQRR (Integrated High Quality Rectifier Regulator) BIFRED (Boost Integrated Flyback Rectifier Energy Storage DC-DC) converter fed BLDC (Brushless DC) motor drive. A reduced sensor topology is derived by utilizing a BIFRED converter to operate in a dual DCM (Discontinuous Conduction Mode) thus utilizing a voltage follower approach for the PFC (Power Factor Correction) and voltage control. A new approach for speed control is proposed using a single voltage sensor. The speed of the BLDC motor drive is controlled by varying the DC link voltage of the front end converter. Moreover, fundamental frequency switching of the VSI's (Voltage Source Inverter) switches is used for the electronic commutation of the BLDC motor which reduces the switching losses in the VSI. The proposed drive is designed for a wide range of speed control with an improved power quality at the AC mains which falls within the recommended limits imposed by international power quality standards such as IEC 61000-3-2.

A Hybrid Defogging Technique based on Anisotropic Diffusion and IDCP using Guided Filter

Pranjal Garg,Shailender Gupta,Bharat Bhushan,Prem Chand Vashist 보안공학연구지원센터 2015 International Journal of Signal Processing, Image Vol.8 No.7

In poor weather condition, fog removal from an image is an unavoidable problem. Various methods have been proposed in literature for de-hazing of image based on Dark Channel Prior (DCP) such as Improved Dark Channel Prior (IDCP), Anisotropic Diffusion and IDCP method using Guided Filter. This paper provides a hybrid strategy based on IDCP using Guided Filter and Anisotropic Diffusion method. The former strategy is used for estimating and refining transmission map while the later is used to estimate and refine airlight. In addition, this paper compares the above mentioned techniques using several performance metrics such as Normalized Color difference (NCD), Color Naturalness Index (CNI) and number of saturated pixel. The results shows that the visual quality of our hybrid approach is much better as well as the performance metrics mentioned above optimizes to a great extent.