Sarah Etherington

An Australia-wide consensus was reached on seven core concepts of physiology, one of which was "structure and function" with the descriptor "Structure and function are intrinsically related to all levels of the organism. In all physiological systems, the structure from a microscopic level to an organ level dictates its function." As a framework for the structure and function core concept, the renal system was unpacked by a team of 5 Australian Physiology educators from different universities with extensive teaching experience into hierarchical levels, with 5 themes and 25 subthemes up to 3 levels deep. Within theme 1, the structures that comprise the renal system were unpacked. Within theme 2, the physiological processes within the nephron such as filtration, reabsorption, and secretion were unpacked. Within theme 3, the processes involved in micturition were unpacked. In theme 4, the structures and processes involved in regulating renal blood flow and glomerular filtration were unpacked; and within theme 5, the role of the kidney in red blood cell production was unpacked. Twenty-one academics rated the difficulty and importance of each theme/subtheme, and results were analyzed using a one-way ANOVA. All identified themes were validated as "essential" to "important"/"moderately important" and rated between "difficult" to "not difficult." A similar framework consisting of structure, physiological processes, physical processes, and regulation can be used to unpack other body systems. Unpacking of the body systems will provide a list of what students should be taught in curricula across Australian universities and inform assessment and learning activities. NEW & NOTEWORTHY This is the first attempt to unpack and validate the "structure and function" core concept in physiology with all Australian educators. We unpacked the renal system into themes with hierarchical levels, which were validated by an experienced team of Australian physiology educators. Our unpacking of the "structure and function" core concept provides a specific framework for educators to apply this important concept in physiology education.

This article presents a “how-to” guide for redesigning an introductory physiology unit to emphasize the Core Concepts of Physiology. Detailed descriptions are provided of innovative, scalable, adjustments to content delivery, assessment, learning objectives, and activities. Staff reflections and student experience suggest a strong Core Concepts emphasis, while challenging, can promote critical thinking and develop an understanding of underlying chemical, physical and biological principles.
This article showcases the redesign of an introductory undergraduate vertebrate physiology unit at Murdoch University (BMS107) to promote student mastery of six Core Concepts of Physiology (Michael J, Cliff W, McFarland J, Modell H, Wright A, SpringerLink. The Core Concepts of Physiology: a New Paradigm for Teaching Physiology, 2017). Concepts were selected for their suitability in an introductory physiology unit and their ability to scaffold advanced physiology learning. Innovative curricular and pedagogical approaches were employed to 1) create a Core Concepts structure, 2) sell the Core Concepts approach to students, 3) foreground Core Concepts in learning materials, 4) actively engage students with Core Concepts, 5) revise, and 6) assess Core Concepts understanding. Median student marks and overall satisfaction with the unit were unaffected by the introduction of a Core Concepts approach. Notably, though, there was a 14% increase in student agreement with the statement “I received feedback that helped me to learn.” The challenge of the Core Concepts approach was articulated by students, but these novice learners also recognized Core Concepts as a mechanism to focus their understanding of physiology and promote critical thinking. For teaching staff, a Core Concepts approach was a reinvigorating opportunity to apply their expertise to the teaching of introductory physiology. We propose that a strong Core Concepts emphasis, while challenging, is highly rewarding for staff and provides students with a “disciplinary passport” that better prepares them to progress in diverse courses and professions. NEW & NOTEWORTHY This article presents a “how-to” guide for redesigning an introductory physiology unit to emphasize the Core Concepts of Physiology. Detailed descriptions are provided of innovative, scalable, adjustments to content delivery, assessment, learning objectives, and activities. Staff reflections and student experience suggest a strong Core Concepts emphasis, while challenging, can promote critical thinking and develop an understanding of underlying chemical, physical and biological principles.

A set of core concepts (“big ideas”) integral to the discipline of physiology are important for students to understand and demonstrate their capacity to apply. We found poor alignment of learning outcomes in programs with physiology majors (or equivalent) from 17 Australian universities and the 15 core concepts developed by a team in the United States. The objective of this project was to reach Australia-wide consensus on a set of core concepts for physiology, which can be embedded in curricula across Australian universities. A four-phase Delphi method was employed, starting with the assembling of a Task Force of physiology educators with extensive teaching and curriculum development expertise from 25 Australian universities. After two online meetings and a survey, the Task Force reached agreement on seven core concepts of physiology and their descriptors, which were then sent out to the physiology educator community across Australia for agreement. The seven core concepts and their associated descriptions were endorsed through this process (n = 138). In addition, embedding the core concepts across the curriculum was supported by both Task Force members (85.7%) and educators (82.1%). The seven adopted core concepts of human physiology were Cell Membrane, Cell-Cell Communication, Movement of Substances, Structure and Function, Homeostasis, Integration, and Physiological Adaptation. The core concepts were subsequently unpacked into themes and subthemes. If adopted, these core concepts will result in consistency across curricula in undergraduate physiology programs and allow for future benchmarking.

A task force of physiology educators from 25 Australian universities generated an Australia-wide consensus on seven core concepts for physiology curricula. One adopted core concept was 'Cell membrane', defined as 'Cell membranes determine what substances enter or leave the cell and its organelles. They are essential for cell signaling, transport, and other cellular functions'. This concept was unpacked by a team of three Australian physiology educators into four themes and 33 sub-themes arranged in a hierarchical structure up to five levels deep. The four themes related to defining the cell membrane, cell membrane structure, transport across cell membranes and cell membrane potentials. Subsequently, 22 physiology educators with a broad range of teaching experience reviewed and assessed the 37 themes and sub-themes for importance for students to understand and level of difficulty for students on a 5-point Likert scale. The majority (28) of items evaluated were rated as either Essential or Important. Theme 2 (cell membrane structure) was rated as less important than the other 3 themes. Theme 4 (membrane potentials) was rated most difficult, while theme 1 (defining cell membranes) was rated as the easiest. The importance of cell membranes as a key aspect of biomedical education received strong support from Australian educators. The unpacking of the themes and sub-themes within the cell membrane core concept provides guidance in the development of curricula and should facilitate better identification of the more challenging aspects within this core concept and help inform the time and resources required to support student learning.

Consensus was reached on seven core concepts of physiology using the Delphi method, including "integration," outlined by the descriptor "cells, tissues, organs, and organ systems interact to create and sustain life." This core concept was unpacked by a team of 3 Australian physiology educators into hierarchical levels, identifying 5 themes and 10 subthemes, up to 1 level deep. The unpacked core concept was then circulated among 23 experienced physiology educators for comments and to rate both level of im-portance and level of difficulty for each theme and subtheme. Data were analyzed using a one-way ANOVA to compare between and within themes. The main theme (theme 1: the body is organized within a hierarchy of structures, from atoms to molecules, cells, tissues, organs, and organ systems) was almost universally rated as Essential. Interestingly, the main theme was also rated between Slightly Difficult to Not Difficult, which was significantly different from all other subthemes. There were two separate subsets of themes in relation to importance, with three themes rating between Essential and Important and the two other themes rating as Important. Two subsets in the difficulty of the main themes were also identified. While many core concepts can be taught concur-rently, Integration requires the application of prior knowledge, with the expectation that learners should be able to apply concepts from "cell-cell communication," "homeostasis," and "structure and function," before understanding the overall Integration core con-cept. As such, themes from the Integration core concept should be taught within the endmost semesters of a Physiology program. NEW & NOTEWORTHY This article proposes the inclusion of a core concept regarding "integration" into physiology-based cur-ricula, with the descriptor "cells, tissues, organs, and organ systems interact to create and sustain life." This concept expands prior knowledge and applies physiological understanding to real-world scenarios and introduces contexts such as medications, diseases, and aging to the student learning experience. To comprehend the topics within the Integration core concept, students will need to apply learned material from earlier semesters.

Australia-wide consensus was reached on seven core concepts of physiology, which included homeostasis, a fundamental concept for students to understand as they develop their basic knowledge of physiological regulatory mechanisms. The term homeostasis is most commonly used to describe how the internal environment of mammalian systems maintains relative constancy. The descriptor "the internal environment of the organism is actively regulated by the responses of cells, tissues, and organs through feedback systems" was unpacked by a team of three Australian Physiology educators into 5 themes and 18 subthemes arranged in a hierarchy. Using a five-point Likert scale, the unpacked concept was rated by 24 physiology educators from 24 Australian Universities for level of importance and level of difficulty for students. Survey data were analyzed using a one-way ANOVA to compare between and within concept themes and subthemes. There were no differences in main themes for level of importance, with all ratings between essential or important. Theme 1: the organism has regulatory mechanisms to maintain a relatively stable internal environment, a process known as homeostasis was almost unanimously rated as essential. Difficulty ratings for unpacked concept themes averaged between slightly difficult and moderately difficult. The Australian team concurred with published literature that there are inconsistencies in the way the critical components of homeostatic systems are represented and interpreted. We aimed to simplify the components of the concept so that undergraduates would be able to easily identify the language used and build on NEW & NOTEWORTHY The homeostasis core concept of physiology was defined and unpacked by an Australian team with the goal of constructing a resource that will improve learning and teaching of this core physiology concept in an Australian Higher

An Australia-wide consensus was reached on seven core concepts of physiology, one of which was cell-cell communication. Three physiology educators from a "core concepts" Delphi task force "unpacked" this core concept into seven different themes and 60 subthemes. Cell-cell communication, previously unpacked and validated, was modified for an Australian audience to include emerging knowledge and adapted to increase student accessibility. The unpacked hierarchical framework for this core concept was rated by 24 physiology educators from separate Australian universities, using a five-point scale for level of importance for student understanding (ranging from 1 = Essential to 5 = Not Important) and level of difficulty (ranging from 1 = Very Difficult to 5 = Not Difficult). Data were analyzed with the Kruskal-Wallis test with Dunn's multiple comparison test. The seven themes were rated within a narrow range of importance (1.13-2.4), with ratings of Essential or Important, and statistically significant differences between the themes (P < 0.0001, n = 7). The variance for the difficulty rating was higher than for importance, ranging from 2.15 (Difficult) to 3.45 (between Moderately Difficult and Slightly Difficult). Qualitatively, it was suggested that some subthemes were similar and that these could be grouped. However, all themes and subthemes were ranked as Important, validating this framework. Once finalized and adopted across Australian universities, the unpacked core concept for cell-cell communication will enable the generation of tools and resources for physiology educators and improvements in consistency across curricula.

Purpose Acute intermittent hypoxia (AIH) is a safe and non-invasive treatment approach that uses brief, repetitive periods of breathing reduced oxygen air alternated with normoxia. While AIH is known to affect spinal circuit excitability, the effects of AIH on cortical excitability remain largely unknown. We investigated the effects of AIH on cortical excitability within the primary motor cortex. Methods Eleven healthy, right-handed participants completed two testing sessions: (1) AIH (comprising 3 min in hypoxia [fraction of inspired oxygen ~ 10%] and 2 min in normoxia repeated over five cycles) and (2) normoxia (NOR) (equivalent duration to AIH). Single- and paired-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulations were delivered to the primary motor cortex, before and 0, 25, and 50 min after AIH and normoxia. Results The mean nadir in arterial oxygen saturation was lower (p < 0.001) during the cycles of AIH (82.5 ± 4.9%) than NOR (97.8 ± 0.6%). There was no significant difference in corticospinal excitability, intracortical facilitation, or intracortical inhibition between AIH and normoxia conditions at any time point (all p > 0.05). There was no association between arterial oxygen saturation and changes in corticospinal excitability after AIH (r = 0.05, p = 0.87). Conclusion Overall, AIH did not modify either corticospinal excitability or excitability of intracortical facilitatory and inhibitory circuits within the primary motor cortex. Future research should explore whether a more severe or individualised AIH dose would induce consistent, measurable changes in corticospinal excitability.

Poor numeracy/quantitative skills (QS) development is a widespread issue across Australian tertiary education. Lack of fundamental QS can impede students' progression in STEM degrees, and disadvantage individual students across other domains of life (e.g., financial literacy and active citizenship). Our ACDS-funded Diversity in Numbers (DiN) project seeks to evaluate a targeted, course-wide, just-in-time model for undergraduate development of QS. Digital numeracy modules will be designed to scaffold QS development through embedded interactive content and rich automated feedback. Each module targets a core QS concept (e.g., statistical testing, unit conversions, mathematical relationships) and is framed around a published article relevant to unit content, to expand student awareness of numbers as a tool across diverse fields of science. Given the ongoing under-representation of women, LGBTIQA+ people and other minorities in STEM, the selection of journal articles aims to increase students' appreciation of diversity from many different viewpoints, while developing their QS. At a broader level, the project aims to address the ongoing lack of diversity among STEM graduates and within the STEM workforce by enabling students to "see themselves" within published research. Here we will present the design of our research project to assess the success of our pilot DiN modules.

Currently approved repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) protocols for the treatment of major depressive disorder (MDD) involve once-daily (weekday) stimulation sessions, with 10 Hz or intermittent theta burst stimulation (iTBS) frequencies, over 4–6 weeks. Recently, accelerated treatment protocols (multiple daily stimulation sessions for 1–2 weeks) have been increasingly studied to optimize rTMS treatments. Accelerated protocols might confer unique advantages for adolescents and young adults but there are many knowledge gaps related to dosing in this age group. Off-label, clinical practice frequently outpaces solid evidence as rigorous clinical trials require substantial time and resources. Murine models present an opportunity for high throughput dose finding studies to focus subsequent clinical trials in humans. This project investigated the brain and behavioural effects of an accelerated low-intensity rTMS (LI-rTMS) protocol in a young adult rodent model of chronic restraint stress (CRS). Depression and anxiety-related behaviours were induced in young adult male Sprague Dawley rats using the CRS model, followed by the 3-times-daily delivery of 10 Hz LI-rTMS, for two weeks. Behaviour was assessed using the Elevated Plus Maze and Forced Swim Test, and functional, chemical, and structural brain changes measured using magnetic resonance imaging techniques. CRS induced an agitated depression-like phenotype but therapeutic effects from the accelerated protocol were not detected. Our findings suggest that the age of rodents may impact response to CRS and LI-rTMS. Future studies should also examine higher intensities of rTMS and accelerated theta burst protocols.