Statistical education and general interest: free resources

Just came across a great resourse to learn statistics in an interesting way real life situations and examples. 'Statistics for the terrified'.Statistical education and general interest: free resources

The Telegraph - | Nation | Education boost by MCI

New proposals from MCI have eased norms for new medical colleges to give boost to medical education.
1. Only 10 acre land is required
2. Binary campus allowed where hospital is situated within 5 Kms from teaching block having preclinical departments like pharmacology.
3. Lesser no. of beds required in hospital
4. Govt. can open medical colleges associated with district hospitals
The Telegraph - Calcutta (Kolkata) | Nation | Education boost by MCI

Effects of glycemic load on metabolic risk markers... [Am J Clin Nutr. 2010] - PubMed result

A recent study suggests that diet with a decreased Glycemic Load does not ameliorate metabolic risk markers such as fasting plasma glucose, insulin , serum total cholesterol , LDL-cholesterol , HDL-cholesterol ,triacylglycerol, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, interleukin-6, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, monocyte chemoattractant protein and prothrombotic plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 in overweight subjects. This means that such subjects should concentrate on reducung weight and cholesterol rather than restricting sugar intake. Effects of glycemic load on metabolic risk markers... [Am J Clin Nutr. 2010] - PubMed result

The Limits of Antidepressants: Exploring the Alternatives

Antidepressants (TCAs as well as SSRIs) have been found to be similar to palcebo in mild to moderate depression. So, what does work for these patients?
1. Fish
2. Exercise
3. 5-Hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP) supplement
4. To understand their feelings and address unmet needs.
Read more: Christiane Northrup, MD: The Limits of Antidepressants: Exploring the Alternatives

Selecting medical students : Need for a change

Do the medical entrance tests correctly measure a student's ability to become a good doctor? Research shows otherwise. Here are some excerpts from a recent article published in The Lancet.
'performance in the premedical sciences is inversely associated with many of the personal, non-cognitive qualities so central to the art of medicine.'...
students' undergraduate science grades and MCAT science scores were associated with grades in the first 2 years of medical school, but were, “almost completely unrelated to performance in the fourth year and to faculty rating of general and clinical competence”....
students who did better in science were, “narrower in interests, less adaptable, less articulate, and less comfortable in interpersonal relationships”....
students who were most successful in the sciences, “have an impersonal orientation: they are not very interested in others”. ...
students who did the best in the premedical sciences scored lower on standardised measures of empathy and tended to be “shy”, “submissive”, “withdrawn”, or “awkward and ill at ease socially”, characteristics the author suggested are, “the antithesis of what most of us would want in a clinician”....
In response to growing data that balancing cognitive and non-cognitive strengths of applicants does not compromise eventual medical quality, some medical schools in the UK and USA have either adopted, or are evaluating, alternative admission criteria. A leader in this area has been McMaster Medical School in Canada with its “Multiple Mini Interview” used to assess psychological and personality aspects of potential students. The Humanities and Medicine Program of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York offers another example.
Read more: 'Science as superstition: selecting medical students : The Lancet

Free online database of ADME, PK, and physicochemical data

Free online database of marketed drugs
ADME, PK, and physicochemical data
Aid your drug discovery and development

Features

Search the database for phys-chem, ADME and PK
properties of marketed drugs

Free online access via www.cloegateway.com
2D and 3D visualisation tools for viewing the relationships between ADME and physicochemical properties
All drugs are classified using the WHO ATC classification index, allowing identification of drugs by therapeutic area
Data compiled from Cyprotex in vitro ADME testing and literature values

SciVerse

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Go to www.sciverse.com to access the SciVerse platform.
The home page for SciVerse is the new SciVerse Hub beta from which users can access:
Search results across ScienceDirect, Scopus and scientific web content, ranked by relevance and without duplication
Three free applications that enhance search and discovery, allowing you to:
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For more information (including answers to frequently asked questions) about SciVerse and the new releases of ScienceDirect and Scopus, please visit www.info.sciverse.com

Why Starved Flies Need Less Sleep - Science News

I was wondering how we can do our normal routine work, even more work, in Ramadhan despite getting less than normal sleep. Also how do saints (buzurgs) cope up with less sleep and do a lot of mental work during the day? Here is the research which points to the answer. Fasting and having less food prevents building up of substances that induce sleep. For details see Why Starved Flies Need Less Sleep - Science News