Search

Sachin Tushar Patel,1 Syed Shah,1 Rhiya Prem Sood,2 Zohaib Siddiqui,1 Iain McKay-Davies1 1ENT Department, Tunbridge Wells Hospital, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, TN2 4QJ, UK; 2Leeds University School of Medicine, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UKCorrespondence: Sachin Tushar PatelENT Department, Tunbridge Wells Hospital, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, TN2 4QJ, UKTel +447886829357Email s.patel28@nhs.netPurpose: Medical education has faced new challenges with the recent coronavirus pandemic. Traditional teaching methods for face-to-face learning have shifted towards the delivery of digital teaching. The difficulty arises in specialties, such as otorhinolaryngology, where clinical procedural skills are necessary for diagnosis and management. This article aims to determine the impact of a clinical skills video on the confidence of postgraduate ENT trainees when managing nasal fractures.Patients and Methods: Postgraduate ENT trainees completed a baseline questionnaire, declaring their subjective confidence across 5 domains relating to nasal fractures using a 10-point Likert scale. They were then given a lecture, and this questionnaire was repeated. Lastly, trainees were shown a clinical skills video, and the questionnaire was repeated once more. The qualitative data was analysed using Kruskal–Wallis testing.Results: There was poor overall confidence in the management of nasal fractures prior to focused teaching. There was a marked statistically significant (P < 0.01) improvement in subjective confidence following the lecture intervention. There was further statistically significant improvement across all domains following the introduction of the clinical skills video.Conclusion: This study confirms that clinical skills videos are a useful accessible learning tool in medical education. We advocate their use in the postgraduate setting, to mirror their current use in undergraduate medical education.Keywords: confidence, ENT, clinical skills, video, postgraduate

Objective: Smell impairment affects 60–80 per cent of individuals aged over 80 years. This review aimed to identify any association between vitamin D deficiency and smell impairment, and determine the efficacy of vitamin D to treat smell impairment. Methods: A literature search was conducted across four databases between the years 2000 and 2022. The literature screen was performed by two independent reviewers. Results: Seven articles were included in this review. Four studies examined the association between vitamin D deficiency and smell impairment, with three studies identifying a significant relationship. Three studies investigated the use of vitamin D as treatment for smell impairment, which found complete resolution or significant symptom improvement after vitamin D deficiency was treated. Conclusion: This review identified limited studies on this topic. As vitamin D supplementation is relatively cost-efficient, further large-scale studies should be carried out to investigate the efficacy of vitamin D for treating anosmia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Infants respond categorically to color. However, the nature of infants' categorical responding to color is unclear. The current study investigated two issues. First, is infants' categorical responding more absolute than adults' categorical responding? That is, can infants discriminate two stimuli from the same color category? Second, is color categorization in infants truly perceptual? Color categorization was tested by recording adults' and infants' eye movements on a target detection task. In Experiment 1, adults were faster at fixating a colored target when it was presented on a colored background from a different color category (between-category) than when it was presented on a colored background from the same color category (within-category), even when within- and between-category chromatic differences were equated in CIE (Committee International d'Eclairage) color space. This category effect was found for two chromatic separation sizes. In Experiment 2, 4-month-olds also responded categorically on the task. Infants were able to fixate the target when the background color was from the same category. However, as with adults, infants were faster at fixating the target when the target background chromatic difference was between-category than when it was within-category. This implies that infant color categorization, like adult color categorization, is truly perceptual.

Categorical perception of color is shown when colors from the same category are discriminated less easily than equivalently spaced colors that cross a category boundary. The current experiments tested various models of categorical perception. Experiment 1 tested for categorical responding in 2- to 4-year-olds, the age range for the onset establishment of color term knowledge. Experiment 2 tested for categorical responding in Himba toddlers, whose language segments the color space differently from the way in which the English language does so. Experiment 3 manipulated the conditions of the task to explore whether the categorical responding in Experiments 1 and 2 was equivalent to categorical perception. Categorical perception was shown irrespective of naming and was not stronger in those children with more developed color term knowledge. Cross-cultural differences in the extent of categorical perception were not found. These findings support universalistic models of color categorization and suggest that color term knowledge does not modify categorical perception, at least during the early stages of childhood.

This paper reports on some initial findings from an ongoing research project undertaken with staff and students at one university department of Educational Studies. The project is seeking to explore the experiences of undergraduate students who are reading Educational Studies. Graduates of the degree programme are not awarded qualified teacher status although they might undertake further training that would qualify them to enter the teaching profession in primary schools. Perceptions of staff and students together with documentary analyses are used to comment on issues to do with recruitment and selection to degree programmes in Educational Studies, experiences of teaching and learning and students' future career paths. The article provides an initial understanding of the nature of the increasingly common undergraduate provision in Educational Studies. It suggests that the growth of Educational Studies degree programmes is very positive but it also raises a number of problematic issues that require further attention. (Contains 2 tables.)