Teaching histology, through virtual microscopy in educational strategies, undeniably moved towards the digitization and distancing of teaching. The setting up of the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) entitled "Introduction to Histology: exploring the tissues of the human body" made it possible to exploit the potential to share digital resources with a wider audience while being integrated into the teaching on-campus students. This article described the pedagogical choices prevailing during the design of the MOOC and its combination with face-to-face sessions to achieve specific learning outcomes. The pedagogical alignment of learning outcomes described according to their cognitive levels, with online and face-to-face learning activities and evaluation methods has been demonstrated. The impact of such a blended design into an academic program has been ascertained using perception and performance data. Student satisfaction and engagement as well as motivational cues were identified. The level of performance was maintained in the educational strategy implemented and made it possible to achieve the objectives expected by the teachers. The benefits of integrating a MOOC with classroom-based teaching were highlighted, as well as barriers that could hinder the successful implementation.

In addition, contributors who also aim at individually Pubmed indexed articles have to submit an extended abstract (less than 1500 words). Selected articles will be published: either in "Diagnostic Pathology" (editor-in-chief Klaus Kayser, co-chairs Catherine Bor, Philippe Camparo and Myriam Oger) or for computer science orientated articles in the "Computerized Medical Imaging and Graphics" Elsevier journal (editor-in-chief Daniel Racoceanu, co-chair Philippe Belhomme)

A goal ! The MOOC entitled "Introduction to Histology, A Human Tissue Exploration" correspond to our vision of the practice of General Histology, which is based on the ability to diagnose 5 families of biological tissues. Ultimately, participants must be able to recognize the different types of cells and all the surrounding elements in order to understand how they organize themselves to form tissues with specific functions. A tool ! This know-how is based on reasoning from observations of microscopic structures. Learners are therefore invited to manipulate a virtual microscope to explore biological samples on histological slides digitized. Annotations, comments, drawings or photos are associated with landmarks that enrich the study of these histological sections. A target audience ! Two educational paths allow deepening the subject in a different way and thus matching the goals or motivations of each one. After a first year of experience, usage statistics and surveys of our learners show that the MOOC Histo has allowed each of them to find an interest and federate a community of motivated learners.

Un objectif ! Le MOOC intitulé « Introduction à l’histologie, exploration des tissus du corps humain » reflète notre vision de la pratique de l’Histologie générale qui repose sur la capacité à diagnostiquer les 5 familles de tissus biologiques. À terme, les participants doivent être capables de reconnaître les différents types cellulaires et tous les éléments qui les entourent afin de comprendre comment ils s’organisent entre eux pour former des tissus aux fonctions spécifiques. Un outil ! Ce savoir-faire s’appuie sur la construction d’un raisonnement à partir d’observations de structures microscopiques. Pour ce faire, les apprenants sont invités à manipuler un microscope virtuel pour explorer des prélèvements biologiques sur lames histologiques digitalisées. Des annotations, commentaires, dessins ou photos sont associés à des repères qui enrichissent l’étude de ces coupes histologiques. Un public cible ! Deux parcours pédagogiques permettent d’approfondir différemment la matière et de correspondre ainsi aux objectifs ou motivations de chacun. Après une première année d’expérience, les statistiques d’utilisation et des sondages réalisés auprès de nos apprenants montrent que le MOOC Histo a permis à chacun d’eux d’y trouver un intérêt et de fédérer une communauté d’apprenants motivés.

L’acronyme anglophone MOOC désigne les « massive open online courses » que l’on pourrait traduire par « formation en ligne massive ouverte à tous ». Nés aux États-Unis avec un programme sur l’intelligence artificielle dispensé par l’université de Stanford, ces cours en ligne accessibles gratuitement font miroiter la possibilité d’une démocratisation maximale des savoirs. À ce titre, les MOOC bénéficient des innovations issues du Web 2.0 : ils tirent le meilleur de la rencontre entre les nouveaux usages induits par les réseaux sociaux et les apports de la pédagogique active. Ces cinq dernières années, nous avons dispensé les travaux pratiques en histologie aux premières années d’étude de la faculté de médecine de l’université de Liège par une méthodologie hybride alliant les bénéfices d’un enseignement à distance et ceux de séances menées en face-à-face [1]. Notre dispositif d’auto-apprentissage invite chaque année plus de 500 étudiants à parcourir plusieurs coupes d’organes digitalisées afin de découvrir les structures histologiques pointées par des balises interactives pour chaque grande famille de tissus. La mise en ligne d’un MOOC dédié aux travaux pratiques d’histologie s’inscrit dans une suite logique de nos activités avec une volonté de donner accès à nos ressources numériques à un public plus large. « Découvrir les tissus fondamentaux du corps humain en explorant par vous-même des lames histologiques au microscope », tel est le programme de notre MOOC intitulé « Introduction à l’histologie, exploration des tissus du corps humain ». Celui-ci a débuté en février 2017 et est hébergé sur la plate-forme encadrée par le ministère de l’Enseignement supérieur et de la Recherche du ministère français. (https://www.fun-mooc.fr/courses/ulg/108001/session01/about) Ce MOOC s’adresse à un public large : aux étudiants ou futurs étudiants dans le domaine médical, paramédical ou scientifique, aux enseignants, chercheurs, professionnels dans le secteur de la santé, décideurs dans le domaine de l’éducation ou de la santé ou simplement aux curieux désireux de comprendre à partir de quoi le corps humain est construit. Deux parcours pédagogiques permettant d’approfondir différemment la matière sont proposés pour correspondre au mieux aux objectifs ou motivations de chacun. Au travers de vidéos explicatives contenant des dessins réalisés sous vos yeux et des liens avec l’anatomie suivie d’activités interactives telles que la manipulation d’un microscope virtuel, de nombreux quiz et d’activités réalisées avec les pairs, les participants seront capables de reconnaître les différents types de cellules et tous les éléments qui les entourent afin de comprendre comment ils s’organisent entre eux pour former des tissus aux fonctions spécifiques. Une recherche est actuellement en cours sur l’étude des traces d’activités des participants au MOOC en fonction du parcours pédagogique choisi afin d’évaluer notamment l’impact des différentes composantes de l’expérience d’apprentissage.

Background: Cortical spreading depression (CSD) is the likely culprit of the migraine aura. Migraine is sexually dimorphic and thought to be a "low 5-HT'' condition. We sought to decipher the interrelation between serotonin, ovarian hormones and cortical excitability in a model of migraine aura. Methods: Occipital KCl-induced CSDs were recorded for one hour at parieto-occipital and frontal levels in adult male (n = 16) and female rats (n = 64) one hour after intraperitoneal (i.p.) injection of 5-hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP) or NaCl. Sixty-five oophorectomized females were treated with estradiol-(E2) or cholesterol-(Chol) filled capsules. Two weeks later we recorded CSDs after 5-HTP/NaCl injections before or 20 hours after capsule removal. Results: 5-HTP had no effect in males, but decreased CSD frequency in cycling females, significantly so during estrus, at parieto-occipital (-3.5CSD/h, p < 0.001) and frontal levels (-2.5CSD/h, p = 0.014). In oophorectomized rats, CSD susceptibility increased during E2 treatment at both recording sites (+5CSD/h, p = 0.001 and +3CSD/h, p < 0.01), but decreased promptly after E2 withdrawal (-4.7CSD/h, p < 0.001 and -1.7CSD/h, p = 0.094). The CSD inhibitory effect of 5-HTP was significant only in E2-treated rats (-3.4CSD/h, p = 0.006 and -1.8CSD/h, p = 0.029). Neither the estrous cycle phase, nor E2 or 5-HTP treatments significantly modified CSD propagation velocity. Conclusion: 5-HTP decreases CSD occurrence in the presence of ovarian hormones, suggesting its potential efficacy in migraine with aura prophylaxis in females. Elevated E2 levels increase CSD susceptibility, while estrogen withdrawal decreases CSD. In a translational perspective, these findings may explain why migraine auras can appear during pregnancy and why menstrual-related migraine attacks are rarely associated with an aura.

[en] La communication synthétise les résultats d'un questionnaire visant à estimer les attentes d'enseignants en histologie en matière de visualisations de traces d'apprentissage laissées par leurs étudiants lorsqu'ils travaillent avec un outil spécialisé (Cytomine) permettant une interaction avec des coupes histologiques numérisées.

Spreading depolarizations are implicated in a diverse set of neurologic diseases. They are unusual forms of nervous system activity in that they propagate very slowly and approximately concentrically, apparently not respecting the anatomic, synaptic, functional, or vascular architecture of the brain. However, there is evidence that spreading depolarizations are not truly concentric, isotropic, or homogeneous, either in space or in time. Here we present evidence from KCl-induced spreading depolarizations, in mouse and rat, in vivo and in vitro, showing the great variability that these depolarizations can exhibit. This variability can help inform the mechanistic understanding of spreading depolarizations, and it has implications for their phenomenology in neurologic disease.

Medical EducationVolume 49, Issue 11 p. 1166-1167 Really Good Stuff Practical histology in tune with the times Sylvie Multon, Corresponding Author Sylvie Multon Correspondence: Sylvie Multon, Faculty of Medicine, University of Liege, Liege, Belgium. Tel: +32 4 366 5172; E-mail: s.multon@ulg.ac.beSearch for more papers by this authorAlodie Weatherspoon, Alodie WeatherspoonSearch for more papers by this authorPatrick Schaffer, Patrick SchafferSearch for more papers by this authorPascale Quatresooz, Pascale QuatresoozSearch for more papers by this authorValérie Defaweux, Valérie DefaweuxSearch for more papers by this author Sylvie Multon, Corresponding Author Sylvie Multon Correspondence: Sylvie Multon, Faculty of Medicine, University of Liege, Liege, Belgium. Tel: +32 4 366 5172; E-mail: s.multon@ulg.ac.beSearch for more papers by this authorAlodie Weatherspoon, Alodie WeatherspoonSearch for more papers by this authorPatrick Schaffer, Patrick SchafferSearch for more papers by this authorPascale Quatresooz, Pascale QuatresoozSearch for more papers by this authorValérie Defaweux, Valérie DefaweuxSearch for more papers by this author First published: 22 October 2015 https://doi.org/10.1111/medu.12866Citations: 7Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article.Citing Literature Volume49, Issue11November 2015Pages 1166-1167 RelatedInformation

The migraine headache involves activation and central sensitization of the trigeminovascular pain pathway. The migraine aura is likely due to cortical spreading depression (CSD), a propagating wave of brief neuronal depolarization followed by prolonged inhibition. The precise link between CSD and headache remains controversial. Our objectives were to study the effect of CSD on neuronal activation in the periaqueductal grey matter (PAG), an area known to control pain and autonomic functions, and to be involved in migraine pathogenesis. Fos-immunoreactive nuclei were counted in rostral FAG and Edinger-Westphal nuclei (PAG-EWn bregma -6.5 mm), and caudal PAG (bregma -8 mm) of 17 adult male Sprague-Dawley rats after KCl-induced CSD under chloral hydrate anesthesia. Being part of a pharmacological study, six animals had received, for the preceding 4 weeks daily, intraperitoneal injections of lamotrigine (15 mg/kg), six others had been treated with saline, while five sham-operated animals served as controls. We found that the number of Fos-immunoreactive nuclei in the PAG decreased after CSD provocation. There was no difference between lamotrigine- and saline-treated animals. The number of CSDs correlated negatively with Fos-immunoreactive counts. CSD-linked inhibition of neuronal activity in the FAG might play a role in central sensitization during migraine attacks and contribute to a better understanding of the link between the aura and the headache. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Anxiety disorders are known to be comorbid with migraine, and cortical spreading depression (CSD) is the most likely cause of the migraine aura. To search for possible correlations between susceptibility to CSD and anxiety we used the open field test in male Sprague-Dawley rats chronically treated with the preventive anti-migraine drugs valproate or riboflavin. Animals avoiding the central area of the open field chamber and those with less exploratory activity (i.e. rearing) were considered more anxious. After 4 weeks of treatment CSDs were elicited by application of 1M KCl over the occipital cortex and the number of CSDs occurring over a 2h period was compared to the previously assessed open field behavior. Higher anxiety-like behavior was significantly correlated with a higher frequency of KCl-induced CSDs. In saline-treated animals, fewer rearings were found in animals with more frequent CSDs (R=-1.00). The duration of ambulatory episodes in the open field center correlated negatively with number of CSDs in the valproate group (R=-0.83; p<0.005) and in riboflavin treated group (R=-0.69; p<0.05) as well as total time spent in the open field center in both groups (R=-0.75; p<0.05 and R=-0.58; p<0.1 respectively). These results suggest that anxiety symptoms are associated with susceptibility to CSD and might explain why it can be an aggravating factor in migraine with aura.