Aim and Method: We sent a questionnaire to clinical instructors of junior residents to examine the validity of the guidelines of the national board medical examination for physicians.

Results: They estimated that about 10% of the diseases listed in the guidelines were beyond the scope of the training for junior residents. In addition, the examination questions did not necessarily reflect the importance in the training.

Conclusion: These results suggest that there is a discrepancy between the national board medical examination and the content of postgraduate training.

Since the first description of immune-mediated cerebellar ataxias (IMCAs) by Charcot in 1868, several milestones have been reached in our understanding of this group of neurological disorders. IMCAs have diverse etiologies, such as gluten ataxia, postinfectious cerebellitis, paraneoplastic cerebellar degeneration, opsoclonus myoclonus syndrome, anti-GAD ataxia, and primary autoimmune cerebellar ataxia. The cerebellum, a vulnerable autoimmune target of the nervous system, has remarkable capacities (collectively known as the cerebellar reserve, closely linked to plasticity) to compensate and restore function following various pathological insults. Therefore, good prognosis is expected when immune-mediated therapeutic interventions are delivered during early stages when the cerebellar reserve can be preserved. However, some types of IMCAs show poor responses to immunotherapies, even if such therapies are introduced at an early stage. Thus, further research is needed to enhance our understanding of the autoimmune mechanisms underlying IMCAs, as such research could potentially lead to the development of more effective immunotherapies. We underscore the need to pursue the identification of robust biomarkers.

Scholarly article writing and publishing in international peer-reviewed journals can become an overwhelming task for many medical, nursing, and healthcare professionals in a university setting, especially in countries whose native language is not English. To help improve their scientific writing skills and publishing capacity, a university-based editing system and writing programs can be developed as educational platforms. These are delivered by a team of specialist editors composed of tenured faculty members who have a strong medical background and extensive experience in teaching courses on medical research, editing, writing, and publishing. For the editing system, the specialist editors provide comprehensive editing, personalized consultation, full editorial support after peer review, guidance with online submissions/resubmissions, and detailed editorial review at different stages of the manuscript writing. In addition, the specialist editors can develop writing programs such as medical writing and editing internships, academic courses in medical writing or research study designs and reporting standards, special interactive lectures and sessions on predatory publishing, seminars on updated editorial guidance of global editorial associations, academic visits on medical writing and editing, medical writing mentoring program, networking programs in scholarly communication, and publication resources in medical writing and scholarly publishing. These editing system and writing programs can serve as integrated platforms for improving scientific writing skills and publishing capacity by providing continuing education in medical writing, editing, publishing, and publication ethics.
Delivery of Health Care ; Education, Continuing ; Ethics ; Humans ; Internship and Residency ; Lectures ; Medical Writing ; Mentors ; Nursing ; Peer Review ; Publications ; Specialization ; Writing*

There are currently very limited reports on the strengths and weaknesses of Japanese medical students in processing (i.e., searching, reading, synthesizing, writing, editing, refining) and presenting medical content based on scholarly journal articles. We developed and offered a 3-week group independent research course in English as a summer elective named “Improving Medical English Skills and Creating English Medical Content (PPT and video) Based on Medical Journal Articles” to our fourth-year Japanese medical students who follow a 6-year medical curriculum as the target audience. Herein, we describe the specific strengths and weaknesses of 6 students who chose and completed the course. Thereafter, we assessed the possible reasons underlying these weaknesses, pondered on the potential implications of such weaknesses on the critical thinking, logical reasoning, and communication skills of Japanese medical students, and suggested approaches to further enhance these skills. The assessments, implications, and suggestions given may provide medical educators new insights on how to newly organize educational and clinical programs to address such weaknesses, improve searching, reading, writing, editing, and presentation skills, enhance critical thinking and logical reasoning abilities, and gain in-depth knowledge essential for effectively appraising and communicating medical content.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Curriculum ; Humans ; Logic ; Students, Medical* ; Thinking* ; Writing*

In order to conduct online clinical practice under the COVID-19 pandemic, we attempted to introduce behavioral medicine education in obstetrics and gynecology clinical practice. Forty fifth-year medical students were given Case Based Learning using scenarios in a two-week rotational clinical practice. The scenarios were obstetrics and gynecology cases based on the themes from the “Behavioral Medicine” textbook. The curriculum consisted of discussions during practical training using Zoom and independent study outside of the training time. After the practical training, we received comments from students suggesting there was a change in their awareness, such as “Behavioral medicine was previously classroom knowledge, but now I am able to be aware of it in subsequent practical training.”

We developed an education system utilizing virtual reality/augmented reality (VR/AR) technologies for clinical clerkships in emergency medicine. We used a spherical camera to record the scenes of emergency medical treatment, and then added subtitles/captions of clinical information onto the video data to help the learners’ understanding. Before watching the video, learners prepared with basic knowledge for the clinical situations to be addressed. By monitoring line of sight, instructors were able to estimate how far the students understood the situations and give appropriate feedback on the spot. These results suggest that an application of VR/AR technologies combined with preparatory learning materials and measurement of learners’ understanding in watching video provides an interactive and participatory educational context for knowledge acquisition in clinical clerkships. This system can be introduced at low cost and also can grow as a platform shared between teaching facilities.

While the COVID-19 epidemic required the ability to confront infection prevention practices, its education for medical students remained inadequate. Herein, we have developed an infection practice simulation course for medical students, based on the simulation education method. The course is a compulsory part of the medical school curriculum. Features of the course include adoption of small group education by tutorial method, medical interviews of simulated patients, scenario simulation, supervised discussions and presentations between medical students, efficient point learning using worksheets, achievement assessment using OSCE, course direction by an infectious disease specialist, and university-wide educational participation from all clinical department doctors. The course was designed so that students could be guided to think carefully and be aware of their interactions. In addition, it was expected that participation in the course would have a lifelong educational effect on the medical doctors.