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"Iván Pavlov" Cardiovascular Psychophysiology Research Scholarships: a new opportunity of making science
Becas de Investigación en Psicofisiología Cardiovascular "Iván Pavlov": una nueva oportunidad de hacer ciencia
Víctor Ernesto
González-Velázquez1*
Elys María Pedraza-Rodríguez1
1Villa Clara University of Medical Sciences. Cuba.
*Author for correspondence. Email: elysmaria98@gmail.com
Submitted: 15/01/2019
Accepted: 21/06/2019
To the editor:
For the Ministry of Public Health (Minsap) of Cuba, it is a priority to train its professionals with competences in both the care and research field, reason why the medical sciences universities guarantee a preparation in accordance with the current professional scientific-medical standards that govern in the world; but it is a reality that this effort constitutes an increasingly difficult task due to all the obstacles imposed by the economic dynamics in the Cuban reality, as well as by the constant advance of science and the necessary means to do it.
The preparation of the students for the scientific activity should constitute part of the curricular and extracurricular training in the centers of higher medical education, only in this way they will be able to acquire habits, researching skills and a scientific ethics in accordance with the demands of the current teaching models.(1)
Until 2018, Cuban undergraduate students only had a space to choose an opportunity, within their vacation period, to learn to research with internationally recognized Cuban and foreign scientists: the "Henrich Quincke" Research Grant developed by the staff of research professors of the Central Laboratory of cephalic spinal fluid (LABCEL), of Havana University of Medical Sciences.(2)
The demand for knowledge by Cuban students of the health sciences, as well as the popularity that the aforementioned scholarship won in the centers of higher medical education, led to the following question: if qualified personnel, the research centers and interested students are available, why not to have more research scholarships for medical students in Cuba?(3)
As a result of this suggestion, the idea arose to create another opportunity for those interested to receive a quality scientific training in the form of a summer course: the first "Iván Pavlov", Research Scholarship in Cardiovascular Psychophysiology based on the possibility offered by the immense scientific potential of the students of the medical sciences universities of Cuba, as well as the existence of the laboratory of basic biomedical sciences in the Faculty No. 1 of Santiago de Cuba University of Medical Sciences, equipped with optimal means and directed by professors with vast experience and researching results.
The "Iván Pavlov" Scholarship investigates the dynamics of cardiovascular autonomic regulation of the variability of heart rate in healthy individuals in response to various stimuli: an interesting topic that has been studied in Cuba since 1976.(4) Among its advantages it is necessary to mention the opportunity to carry out an original and legitimate investigation, participating both in the collection of data and its processing, where students are placed in what is known as "open science", a new way of doing science which consists on the provision of the primary data obtained, so that the participants process them and are able to arrive at their own results and interpretations.(5) In addition, the research carried out has the support of an ethics clause signed by grant holders, where they are committed to respect the collaboration of each one of the authors when presenting the results in future events and in the corresponding publication.
In addition to what has already been stated, the scholarship also has the possibility of choosing one of the three "Iván Pavlov" prizes, awarded to works with more scientific quality, creativity and better presentation of results, which has an international character and is valid to opt for the Scientific Merit Award in different Cuban universities and medical faculties.
One of the objectives of this scientific research grant is that the initiative be promoted in the country, taking into account that student´s scientific activity in the context of current higher medical education is a necessity that needs to reinforce actions towards a higher development. Society requires the assistance of health professionals to solve their health problems by applying scientific knowledge; contributing to increase this scientific capital is one of the most important missions of medical universities and science is the fundamental tool to achieve it.(6)
Although the scholarship is named after the illustrious researcher Ivan Pavlov, he is honored by the professors who founded it and who make it possible at present. Have them receive the recognition of the students who had the joy of learning from them.
BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES
1. Barbón Pérez OG, Bascó Fuentes EL. Clasificación de la actividad científica estudiantil en la educación médica superior. Educ Med [Internet]. 2016 [citado 13/01/2019];17(2):[aprox. 6 p.]. Disponible en: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1575181316300031
2. Dorta-Contreras AJ. Ciencia abierta para estudiantes de medicina: becas de investigación Quincke. Educ Med [Internet]. 2017 [citado 13/01/2019];18(2):[aprox. 2 p.]. Disponible en: http://www.elsevier.es/es-revista-educacion-medica-71-articulo-ciencia-abierta-estudiantes-medicina-becas-S1575181316301280
3. Hernández-Negrín H. Beca de investigación Henrich Quincke: ¿se puede multiplicar en Cuba? Educ Med [Internet]. 2017 [citado 13/01/2019];18(2):[aprox. 2 p.]. Disponible en: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1575181316300948
4. Correa WD. Primeros estudios sobre la variabilidad de la frecuencia cardiaca con métodos cibernéticos en Cuba. MEDISAN [Internet]. 2017 [citado 13/01/2019];21(3):[aprox. 10 p.]. Disponible en: http://scielo.sld.cu/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1029-30192017000300015
5. García-Rivero AA, González Argote J. Formas de hacer ciencia. Educ Med [Internet]. 2017 [citado 13/01/2019];18(3):[aprox. 3 p.]. Disponible en: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1575181316300390
6. Corrales-Reyes IE, Rodríguez García M de J, Reyes Pérez JJ, García Raga M. Limitantes de la producción científica estudiantil. Educ Med [Internet]. 2017 [citado 13/01/2019];18(3):[aprox. 3 p.]. Disponible en: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1575181316301553
Declaration of interests
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Contribution of the authors
Víctor Ernesto González-Velázquez and Elys María Pedraza-Rodríguez: they made the bibliographic searches, analyzed them and wrote the article taking into account their experiences of participation in the scholarship.
This article has been published under the license of Creative Commons
Copyright (c) 2019 EDUMECENTRO
Esta obra está bajo una licencia de Creative Commons Reconocimiento-NoComercial-CompartirIgual 4.0 Internacional.
