The National Institutes of Health's methods for reviewing and financing academic research proposals are often praised as the gold standard. Some American scientists, though, have recently offered less flattering descriptions, like "broken" and "arbitrary." NIH officials have heard both arguments, and plenty in between, in recent months. They have…

In this pilot project, drama was used to situate genetic testing in a social and cultural context--that of the family. The drama was used to stimulate discussion about social issues relating to genetic testing, such as who has the right to know the results of the test and whether participants would want to know their "genetic future". A…

The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore whether the way mental health is conceptualized by older Iranian immigrants can influence their mental health-related practices. In-depth interviews were conducted with 15 Iranians who had immigrated to the United States after the age of 50. The findings from this study revealed…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to compare the self-reported health-promoting behaviours of music and non-music performance students in higher education. It also seeks to determine the extent to which perceived health and self-reported symptoms are associated with lifestyle, emotional affect state, self-regulation and self-efficacy.…

Mini-Med Schools are public education programs now offered by more than 70 medical schools, universities, research institutions, and hospitals across the nation. There are even Mini-Med Schools in Ireland, Malta, and Canada! The program is typically a lecture series that meets once a week and provides "mini-med students" information on some of the…

In recent years nanotechnology has become part of the content of many undergraduate chemistry and physics degree courses. This paper deals with the role of contextualisation of nanotechnology in the delivery of the content, as nanotechnology is only now being slowly integrated into many chemistry degree courses in Ireland and elsewhere. An…

The heating of tissues by diagnostic ultrasound can pose a significant hazard particularly in the imaging of the unborn child. The demonstration of the temperature field in tissue is therefore an important objective in the teaching of biomedical physics to healthcare professionals. The temperature field in a soft tissue model was made visible and…

Physiology as a discipline is uniquely positioned to engage undergraduate students in interdisciplinary research in response to the 2006-2011 National Science Foundation Strategic Plan call for innovative transformational research, which emphasizes multidisciplinary projects. To prepare undergraduates for careers that cross disciplinary…

Using longitudinal data from the UCLA Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) and Your First College Year (YFCY) surveys, this study examines predictors of the likelihood that science-oriented students would participate in a health science undergraduate research program during the first year of college. The key predictors of…

Comprehensive research and a highly-trained workforce are essential for the improvement of health and health care both nationally and internationally. During the past 40 years the National Research Services Award (NRSA) Program has played a large role in training the workforce responsible for dramatic advances in the understanding of various…

In this article, the authors report on research that aims to understand diversity in STEM and the principles of good practice in undergraduate science education that will improve rates of degree attainment and advancement into graduate studies in related fields among underrepresented racial minorities (URMs). Although students' precollege…

Increasingly, the general media cover new advancements and research in the field of biology. Stem cell research, emerging diseases and bioethics are some of the issues gaining public attention. The rate of increase of these new developments creates additional challenges to teachers of biology as they try to remain abreast of new information and…

Purpose: This article is a commentary and discussion of ethical issues in dysphagia services as related to school-based practice in speech-language pathology. Method: A review of the literature on ethical issues in the provision of speech-language pathology services to individuals with dysphagia was conducted, with particular emphasis on students…

Animal models are extensively used in genetics, neuroscience and biomedical research. Recent studies illustrate the usefulness and the challenges of research utilising genetically engineered mice to explore the developmental biology of Down syndrome. These studies highlight many of the issues at the centre of what we understand about Down…

Although there is consensus among medical educators that students must receive training in the biomedical sciences, little is known regarding the role of biomedical knowledge in diagnosis. The present paper presents two studies examining the role of biomedical knowledge, specifically knowledge of causal mechanisms, in novice diagnosticians. In…