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Educational impact and cost efficiency of AI-enhanced videos in pediatric surgery training: a quasi-experimental study
Abstract Pediatric surgery training is challenged by declining clinical exposure and limited access to high-quality educational resources. Advances in generative artificial intelligence (AI) allow enhancement of educational videos without professional studio infrastructure, but evidence supporting their educational value remains limited. To evaluate the educational impact and cost efficiency of locally deployed AI-enhanced lecture videos compared with standard faculty-recorded videos in pediatric surgery training. A quasi-experimental, non-randomized, post-test-only study conducted at Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt between December 2024 and September 2025. Medical students and pediatric surgery residents viewed standardized lecture videos on five core pediatric surgery topics. Identical scripts and narration were used in both groups; the intervention differed only by AI-based background enhancement using open-source, locally deployed tools. Primary outcomes were perceived educational clarity (five-point Likert scale) and knowledge acquisition assessed by a 40-item multiple-choice examination. Secondary outcomes included visual comfort, perceived professionalism, and willingness to recommend the format. Between-group comparisons and effect sizes were calculated. A cost analysis compared AI-enhanced production with traditional studio-based methods. A total of 240 participants were included (120 per group). AI-enhanced videos were associated with higher educational clarity scores (mean 4.52 vs. 3.88; p < 0.001) and higher knowledge scores (76.8% vs. 69.5%; p < 0.001). Secondary outcomes consistently favored AI-enhanced videos, including visual comfort and perceived professionalism. Locally deployed AI production reduced per-video costs by 72–94% compared with traditional studio production. Locally deployed AI-enhanced videos improved short-term educational outcomes and substantially reduced production costs while preserving presenter authenticity. This approach represents a practical, scalable strategy for enhancing pediatric surgery education, particularly in resource-limited settings. Further studies are needed to assess long-term retention and clinical impact.
Pyramidal neurons proportionately alter cortical interneuron subtypes
Numerical investigation of co-flow jet integration to enhance the aerodynamic efficiency of airfoils used in wind turbine applications
Abstract Co-Flowing Jet (CFJ) is considered one of the most significant active flow controls techniques used to migrate airfoil vortices and delay stall phenomenon. This research presents a computational investigation of the S809 airfoil equipped with CFJ to predict the optimum configuration for improved aerodynamic performance. The effect of injection angles, suction location, and injected mass flow rates (m o ) were analyzed. Several suction slots were studied at different locations of (60, 70, 80 and 90) %C for various injection angles of 48°, 58°, 68°, 78° and 88°. The most effective combinations of suction location and injection angle that achieves the maximum (C l /C d ) ratio were determined and then analyzed for different injected (m o ) of 2.5%, 5% and 7.5%. The results indicate that the highest lift-to-drag ratio (C l /C d ) is achieved with a suction slot at 80%C and an injection angle of 78°. Increasing the injected mass flow rate beyond 2.5% showed negligible improvement in airfoil performance. Furthermore, a CFJ turn-off condition was evaluated to assess the jet channel effect, revealing a 42% reduction in lift, increased drag, and earlier stall occurrence at an attack angle of 16.24°. Overall, the findings confirm that CFJ significantly enhances the aerodynamic characteristics of wind turbine airfoils under optimal configurations.
Biological insights into schizophrenia from ancestrally diverse populations
Seed endophytic bacteria from invasive Lactuca serriola increase soil available phosphorus under phosphorus deficiency
Earth’s oldest crystals suggest an early start for plate tectonics
Sexual dimorphism in the programming effects of prenatal manganese multi-media biomarker on temporal cognition in school-aged children
The use of fish diversity and abundance as environmental indicators in a mining region in Brazilian Amazonia
Obesity-related differences in amygdala and hippocampal volume and metabolism before and after a placebo-controlled antidepressant trial in major depressive disorder
Abstract This study examined the association between obesity, measured by waist circumference (WC) and Body Mass Index (BMI), and neurobiology of the treatment/placebo response in depression. 85 participants (56 females, 29 males) with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) were imaged using PET/MRI before and after a double-blind, randomized escitalopram trial. Analyses were pooled across interventions to investigate primary imaging associations. Linear mixed models examined associations between obesity measures and amygdala and hippocampal volume and metabolism. Preintervention obesity was significantly positively associated with amygdala and hippocampus volume, but not metabolism. Successful treatment is often associated with an increase in volume and a reduction in metabolism in these regions. However, greater WC and BMI were associated with decreases in amygdala volume following treatment/placebo. And greater BMI was associated with increases in amygdala and hippocampus metabolism following treatment/placebo. Importantly, however, these neurobiological changes were not associated with differential improvement in depression severity. Overall, this multimodal study shows obesity-related factors are associated with intervention-related neurobiological changes in MDD; however, additional research is needed to clarify whether these alterations correspond to meaningful variation in symptom improvement.
Behavioral differences in cooperation between patients with schizophrenia and control participants
Unlocking the reactivity of municipal solid waste incineration bottom ash through physicochemical co-activation toward improved cementitious performance
Impact of climate change on the suitable niches of an ornithophilous neotropical orchid (Elleanthus brasiliensis) and its pollen vectors
Predictive modeling for early diagnosis of dementia using sequential data analysis and data mining
Effects of individualized PEEP titration on intraoperative cardiac output in thoracoscopic lung surgery: a prospective randomized trial
Fuzzy logic sliding mode controller based solar PV fed UPQC for improvement of dynamic performance and power quality enhancement in distribution power system
MSCMF-DTB: a multi-scale cross-modal fusion framework for drug–target binding prediction
Pokémon turns 30 — how the fictional pocket monsters shaped science
New benzimidazole-alkanesulfonate conjugates as cholinesterase inhibitors with in vitro and in silico validation
Abstract Alzheimer’s disease, the leading cause of dementia, is strongly associated with impaired cholinergic neurotransmission due to excessive acetylcholine degradation by acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BChE). Because current medications provide only symptomatic relief without modifying disease progression, there is an urgent need for more effective therapeutic agents. Dual inhibitors targeting both AChE and BChE represent a promising strategy. In this study, we designed and synthesized a novel series of benzimidazol-alkanesulfonate conjugates ( 4a – r ) and evaluated their dual inhibitory activity against AChE and BChE. The results indicated that most compounds exhibited moderate to high inhibitory activity toward the target enzymes; however, derivatives 4b , 4h , 4i , 4q , and 4r showed promising AChE inhibitory activity with IC 50 values of 0.91 ± 0.02, 0.89 ± 0.02, 0.54 ± 0.05, 0.37 ± 0.01, and 0.41 ± 0.009 µ M, respectively, comparable to that of the reference drug donepezil (IC 50 = 0.67 ± 0.00 µ M). The antioxidant potency (represented by TAC and IRP) and scavenging activity (represented by DPPH, ABTS, NO, OH, and H 2 O 2 ) revealed that compounds 4q and 4r possess remarkable antioxidant potential, comparable to the reference antioxidant ascorbic acid. Furthermore, in silico ADME prediction and molecular docking studies were performed to predict their binding modes and interactions in the AChE binding pocket; the results revealed that derivatives 4q and 4r showed the highest binding affinity among the tested series and the reference drug donepezil, which validated the obtained in vitro results.