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Self-instructional teaching of biostatistics for medical students.

A growing body of literature deals with the use of self-instructional methods for teaching biostatistics to medical students. The University of Tennessee Department of Community Medicine tested the hypothesis that, in controlled, randomized situations, learning of statistical material by self-instruction is equivalent to learning identical material by the lecture method. An analysis of student performance, in terms of the grades obtained on two separate examinations, showed that students learning by self-instruction did as well or better than their colleagues taking lectures. On the basis of these results, self-instructional biostatistics for medical students at the University of Tennessee has been selected as the major teaching method of that subject.

Education, Medical

[Praxis of the blood group opinion of parentage: systems with low exclusions potency; evidence of serological exclusion; biostatistical problems. Comments to a paper of H. Ritter in FamRZ 1973, 121 (author's transl)].

Blood group systems with a rare second allel are in praxis ineffective and therefore uneconomical because of their low exclusion potency as well as their low serostatistical value. The evidence of exclusion in particular blood group systems is fixed by the German "Richtlinien". With the new German law, however, one has to differentiate between the requirements in respect of the "offenbar unmöglich" ("fatherhood evidently impossible") in cases of extramatriomonial children, and those in respect of "schwerwiegende Zweifel" ("serious doubts in fatherhood") in cases of illegitimate children. The serostatistical results can give an indication on non-fatherhood, but in no case a real exclusion of paternity. Further evidence, as an anthropological or an HL-A expert opinion, is necessary to decide if the negative hint is reliable or not. To evaluate blood group (and HL-A) findings biostatistically, one uses the BAYES' Theorem with ESSEN-MOLLER's frequencies X and Y (in two-hypothesis cases). As prior plausibility one sets ESSEN-MOLLER's normative 0.5 or a realistic value, calculated from a concrete material of forensic cases. Statistical values on the basis of the exclusion chance as A, WA, Z, P and x do not give the whole information, because the phenotype of the man is not (or not fully) regarded. Therefore these values are of no use in serostatistical evaluation. With appropriate frequencies it is possible to calculate the probability of paternity also in cases in which foreign people is involved. If foreign frequencies are not available, the German "Richtlinien" allow to use european frequencies, if the involved people shares the caucasoid (europid) race.

Alleles

Experience with an independent study programme in epidemiology and biostatistics.

An independent study programme (ISP) was devised to permit self-paced learning in a combined epidemiology and biostatistics course for second-year medical students. The ISP was offered as an alternative to lecture instruction and the enrolment was restricted to 40 students out of a class of 176. The students who selected the ISP were superior to the remainder of the class with regard to MCAT scores and performance in first-year subjects. The ISP group scored higher on the examinations given in the course, including a set of 35 final examination questions which were identical for all students. This difference persisted even when the scores were adjusted for ability by use of MCAT scores. The time taken to complete the ISP varied considerably and there was no correlation between completion time and performance. Almost all the ISP students indicated satisfaction with the course and expressed a desire to have a similar option in subsequent courses.

Education, Medical, Undergraduate

The medical undergraduate programme at McMaster University: learning epidemiology and biostatistics in an integrated curriculum.

The medical undergraduate programme at McMaster University is a three-year integrated course in which major emphasis is placed upon self-directed, problem-based learning. Group tutorials are the major meeting place for students, and there are very few formal lectures. In this paper we describe the curriculum in broad outline and the way in which epidemiology and biostatistics have been incorporated into it in the past seven years.

Curriculum

Management of familial breast cancer. I. Biostatistical-genetic aspects and their limitations as derived from a familial breast cancer resource.

Practical guidelines are given to promote decision-making logic by the physician in managing patients seeking consultation (consultands) because they may be at high familial risk for breast cancer and associated malignant neoplasms. The protocol is designed to aid in the assessment of patients who may become candidates for intensified cancer surveillance and/or prophylactic surgery. A resource comprised of 90 extended breast cancer-prone pedigrees provides the basis for these specific recommendations. The resource shows marked tumor heterogeneity among pedigrees, an approximate 50% incidence of breast cancer and associated malignancies among offspring of affected parents, and threefold higher risk for development of mammary carcinoma in the opposite breast of familial patients with unilateral disease than in sporadic patients. In utilizing this protocol, it is crucial that family history be highly accurate from the standpoint of genealogic relationships and pathologic tumor verification so that management recommendations may reflect sound risk factor assessment. Interpretation of familial risk factors should ideally be made by an informed medical-geneticist. All members of the medical team should then be appraised of familial risk and collectively engage in decision making with the consultand. We believe that this approach can foster more effective control of familial breast cancer.

Adolescent