Supplemental Digital Content
Table 1: List of course topics and case studies by week
Week
1
2
3
4
5
6
Topics
Biochemisty, Molecular
biology
Biochemistry, cell biology
Biochemistry, microbiology
Biochemistry, pharmacology
Physiology, cell biology
Genetics, pathology, histology
7
Immunology, genetics
Case Study
Sickle cell disease
Insulinoma
Clostridium difficile infection
Ethanol metabolism
Ion transport in malaria
Ornithine transcarbamalase
deficiency
Integrated cell biology cases
Supplemental Digital Content
Figure 1: Email sent to students failing course assessment
Your score on this week's assessment was below the pass rate of 70%. The information
from the examination will be on the course final and appears in subsequent courses so it
is important that you demonstrate mastery of this material. We request that you
participate in a Saturday morning discussion group meeting at 9 AM in the second floor
classroom and retake the assessment on Monday at 8 AM in room 165. For the retake,
you will need to bring a laptop or your iPad. You will receive the average of your two
assessment scores.
Prior to the reassessment please answer the following questions and submit them to
aprunusk@d.umn.edu. We are also happy to meet with you individually.
1. What were the major themes of the course covered on this week’s assessment?
2. What factors contributed to you scoring poorly on this week’s assessment?
3. How confident are you that you can pass the reassessment?
4. What do you think you need to do to improve your performance on subsequent
assessments?
Supplemental digital content
Figure 2: Comparison between equivalent question on Friday’s assessment and
Monday’s reassessment
Example of Friday question:
In humans, alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) converts methanol to formaldehyde, a
highly toxic compound. Patients who have ingested toxic levels of methanol are
sometimes treated with ethanol, which competes with methanol for binding at the
ADH active site. How would administering ethanol affect the conversion of
methanol to formaldehyde?
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
Ethanol will reduce the Km of ADH for methanol.
Ethanol will decrease the Vmax of the oxidation of methanol.
Ethanol will increase the activation energy for the oxidation of methanol.
Ethanol will increase the Km of ADH for methanol.
Ethanol will increase the delta G for the oxidation of methanol, promoting the
reduction of formaldehyde.
Example of paired Monday question:
In humans, alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) converts methanol to formaldehyde, a
highly toxic compound. Patients who have ingested toxic levels of methanol are
sometimes treated with ethanol to inhibit methanol oxidation by alcohol
dehydrogenase. Which of the following statements provides the best rationale for
this treatment?
A. Ethanol is a structural analog of methanol and is therefore an effective noncompetitive inhibitor of alcohol dehydrogenase.
B. Ethanol is a structural analog of methanol that competes with methanol for
binding to the active site of alcohol dehydrogenase.
C. Ethanol raises Vmax of alcohol dehydrogenase for the oxidation of methanol to
formaldehyde.
D. Ethanol is an effective inhibitor of methanol oxidation regardless of the
concentration of methanol.
E. Ethanol will alter the delta G of methanol oxidation by alcohol dehydrogenase to
promote the reverse reaction, reduction of formaldehyde