Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Medical College

Background:In the context with newer medical curriculum, medical education demand changes in teaching–learning methods with the change in the paradigm of teacher-centered teaching methods to learner-centered methods. The jigsaw method is one of the interactive, collaborative, and cooperative methods of teaching that involve active participation of the learners in the learning process. The aim of this study was to introduce the jigsaw teaching method and to assess the effectiveness over the traditional teaching method among medical students.Methods:This was a cross-over interventional study, which was conducted among 150 students of Phase III Part I MBBS students. The total students were divided into two groups, and two topics were selected for teaching. The first topic was taught to groups 1 and 2 by interactive lecture and the jigsaw technique, respectively. Then, cross-over was done for the second topic. The pre- and post-test scores were calculated and compared by applying unpaired t-test to assess the effectiveness of teaching methods.Results:The post-test score in the jigsaw method was comparatively more than that of the traditional or interactive lecture method, which was found to be statistically significant (P < 0.001). Most of the students agreed that the jigsaw method enabled an in-depth understanding of the desired topic, helped them to improve their learning and communication skills, and created opportunities for team members to share their information.Conclusions:The results of this study revealed that students’ performance was better when they are actively involved in the jigsaw method of learning and it also improves the teamwork capacity as well as the critical thinking skills.

The author declares no conflicts of interest. Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no datasets were generated or analyzed during the current study.

Diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) are among the most debilitating complications of diabetes mellitus, substantially increasing morbidity, healthcare costs, and risk of amputation. We prospectively evaluated the efficacy of various tailored surgical offloading procedures in promoting biomechanical ulcer healing and preventing recurrence. No patient experienced ulcer recurrence or new ulcer formation during a mean follow-up of one year. Revision surgery was not required in any case. Individualised surgical offloading techniques are viable and effective for DFUs as they address the underlying biomechanical derangements that predispose to ulceration.

Conventional didactic biochemistry teaching lacks clinical correlation and student engagement. Therefore, it is of interest to compare Case-Based Learning (CBL) versus traditional lectures in 85 first-year MBBS students using pre-post knowledge scores and a 10-item Likert scale perception questionnaire. CBL significantly improved median knowledge scores from 6.0 (IQR: 5.07) to 7.0 (IQR: 6.08) with high student satisfaction (weighted mean 4.23/5). Students valued CBL's interactivity, clinical relevance, critical thinking promotion and curriculum integration. CBL advances undergraduate biochemistry education as an effective, well-received interactive strategy bridging theory and practice.

Designing efficient microwave absorbers for X, Ku and K-band (<tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$8.2-26.5 \text{GHz}$</tex>) applications demands a balanced approach to achieve wideband absorption, minimal reflection, reduced thickness, and lightweight characteristics. In this study, a novel multilayer microwave absorber (MMA) is proposed using the recently developed Hippopotamus Optimization Algorithm (HOA), inspired by the cooperative and social behavior of hippopotamuses. The optimization process compute frequency-dependent permittivity and permeability values of suitable dielectric material with an appropriate thickness. A multi-objective cost function is formulated to simultaneously minimize the reflection coefficient and overall thickness while maximizing absorption bandwidth within the targeted frequency range. The designed triple layer microwave absorber (TLMA) with the total thickness of 2.4 mm exhibits convincing results. This TLMA can absorb the incident microwave in a 13.2 GHz bandwidth. The result shows an excellent match with analytical and full-wave simulations. Optimized results confirm that the HOA-derived absorber achieves over 90 % absorption across more than 90 % of the Ku and K-bands with reduced thickness. This work demonstrates the potential of the HOA, which is fused with transmission line model in optimizing complex structures and provides a robust methodology for the tailored design of high-performance microwave absorbers.