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The relation between lecture attendance and learning is surprisingly weak, and the role of learning styles in this is poorly understood. We hypothesized that 1) academic performance is related to lecture attendance and 2) learning style influences lecture attendance and, consequently, affects performance. We also speculated that the availability of alternative resources would affect this relationship. Second-year Bachelor of Science physiology students (n = 120) self-reported their lecture attendance in a block of 21 lectures (attendance not compulsory) and use of alternative resources. Overall self-reported lecture attendance was 73 [plus or minus] 2%. Female students (n = 71) attended more lectures (16.4 [plus or minus] 0.6) than male students (14.3 [plus or minus] 0.08, n = 49) and achieved a higher composite mark in all assessments (73.6% vs. 69.3%, P less than 0.02). Marks in the final exam were not statistically different between the sexes and correlated only weakly with lecture attendance (r = 0.29, n = 49, P less than 0.04 for male students; r = 0.10, n = 71, P = not significant for female students; and r =0.21, n = 120, P less than 0.02 for the whole class). Of the students who passed the exam, poor attenders (less than 11 lectures) reported significantly more use of lecture recordings (37 [plus or minus] 8%, n = 15, vs. 10 [plus or minus] 1%, n = 85, P less than 0.001). In a VARK learning style assessment (where V is visual, A is auditory, R is reading/writing, and K is kinesthetic), students were multimodal, although female students had a slightly higher average percentage of the R learning style (preferred read/write) compared with male students (28.9 [plus or minus] 0.9%, n = 63, vs. 25.3 [plus or minus] 1.3%, n = 32, P less than 0.03). Lecture attendance was not correlated with measured learning style. We concluded that lecture attendance is only weakly correlated with academic performance and is not related to learning style. The substitution of alternative materials for lecture attendance appears to have a greater role than learning style in determining academic outcomes. (Contains 2 tables and 5 figures.)

Intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) and subsequent neonatal catch-up growth are implicated in programming of insulin resistance later in life. Spontaneous IUGR in the guinea pig, due to natural variation in litter size, produces offspring with asymmetric IUGR and neonatal catch-up growth. We hypothesized that spontaneous IUGR and/or accelerated neonatal growth would impair insulin sensitivity in adult guinea pigs. Insulin sensitivity of glucose metabolism was determined by hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamp (HEC) in 38 (21 male, 17 female) young adult guinea pigs from litters of two-to-four pups. A subset (10 male, 8 female) were infused with D-[3-3H]glucose before and during the HEC to determine rates of basal and insulin-stimulated glucose utilization, storage, glycolysis, and endogenous glucose production. n males, the insulin sensitivity of whole body glucose uptake (r = 0.657, P = 0.002) and glucose utilization (r = 0.884, P = 0.004) correlated positively and independently with birth weight, but not with neonatal fractional growth rate (FGR10-28). In females, the insulin sensitivity of whole body and partitioned glucose metabolism was not related to birth weight, but that of endogenous glucose production correlated negatively and independently with FGR10-28 (r=-0.815, P = 0.025). Thus, perinatal growth programs insulin sensitivity of glucose metabolism in the young adult guinea pig and in a sex-specific manner; impaired insulin sensitivity, including glucose utilization, occurs after IUGR in males and impaired hepatic insulin sensitivity after rapid neonatal growth in females. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]