Neurogastroenterol Motil (2005) 17(Suppl. 3), 2–3
Education project for pathophysiology of gastrointestinal motility THE VARENNA GROUP (S. J. H. BROOKES,* I. J. COOK, M. COSTA,* R. DE GIORGIO,à J. DENT,§ D. GRUNDY,– K. M. SANDERS,** M. SCHEMANN, T. SHEA-DONOHUE,àà T. K. SMITH** & M. TONINI§§)
*Department of Human Physiology and Centre for Neuroscience, Flinders University, Bedford Park, SA, Australia Department of Gastroenterology, The St George Hospital, University of New South Wales, Kogarah, NSW, Australia àDepartment of Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology, University of Bologna, Italy §Dept of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and General Medicine, Royal Adelaide Hospital, SA, Australia –Department of Biomedical Science, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK **Department of Physiology and Cell Biology, University of Nevada School of Medicine, Reno, NV, USA Department of Human Biology, Center of Life and Food Sciences, Technical University Munich, Freising-Weihenstephan, Germany ààDepartment of Medicine, Mucosal Biology Research Center, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA §§Department of Physiological and Pharmacological Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy
expanded and refined in future. Four meetings have been held to design, develop and implement the slide collection. Out of these, we have selected slides that could be used to support two lectures. The powerpoint slides and their associated text is suitable for educators preparing undergraduate lectures. In the two papers published here, we aim to discuss some of the conceptual issues raised by the lecture material. The figures in these papers show slides, selected from the extensive collection available and organized to construct simple lectures. We should clarify that these two examples are not intended as advanced reviews. However, we will discuss the conceptual framework of the topics in the light of the literature in the field with some reference to critical articles. We hope that the availability of the readymade collections of slides will be freely re-organized into different lecture formats. This should help teachers and researchers alike to frame readily accessible educational material to stimulate a better awareness of our field in future generations of clinicians and scientists. The name Ôthe Varenna GroupÕ comes from the small town of Varenna on the shores of Lake of Como, in northern Italy. The group met here in October 2004 for 5 days to finalize an outline of the project. The logo represents Varenna’s campanile (church tower) with the cypress trees that abound in this region. Slides shown in these articles will be available, from late September 2005, via links at http://www. gastrosource.com.
PREAMBLE The field of neurogastroenterology is advancing rapidly. For the purpose of teaching undergraduate and postgraduate students there is a real need to keep abreast of developments. While there are excellent detailed reviews on most aspects of neurogastroenterology, the corresponding teaching material has not always been readily available. The aim of the accompanying articles is to give examples of two lectures, based on an extensive collection of slides that will be made freely available over the internet following a launch at the next World Congress of Gastroenterology in Montreal in September 2005 (session M.G.G.1). The sets of slides have been produced by the authors under the collective name of Ôthe Varenna GroupÕ and comprise the Educational Project on Pathophysiology of Gastrointestinal Motility. The project aims to share the significant slide collections of the contributing authors and, in parallel, aims to develop a consolidated and unified view of the principles of neural control of gastrointestinal motility, at least for the purpose of teaching. We hope that this initial collection will be
Address for correspondence Professor Simon Brookes, Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, Flinders University, PO Box 2100, Adelaide 5001, SA, Australia. Tel: 61-8-8204 4201; fax: 61-8-8204 5768; e-mail:
[email protected]
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Ó 2005 Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Volume 17, Supplement 3, October 2005
Education project
this project. Ewa Jonsson from AstraZeneca has been most supportive in making the meetings and administration of the project possible. We also thank Karin Wiberger (AZ) for her impeccable secretarial work. Sofia Lundman and Kristina Wikander (AZ) played an essential role in the design and implementation of the web page.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The Varenna Group wishes to thank AstraZeneca (AZ) and the World Congress of Gastroenterology for generous support for this educational project. We wish to thank also Guido Tytgat and Richard Fedorak (WCG) for their continuous support from the very inception of
Ó 2005 Blackwell Publishing Ltd
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