A Re-Examination of the Philosophy Curriculum in Catholic Higher Education

Eulalio R. Baltazar, recently promoted to Assistant Professor of Philosophy, has been active in current campus discussions on philosophy. He wrote this article at the request of the editors, and it is presented in the hope that it will initiate a serious dialogue within these pages concerning the content of our required philosophy sequence

Targeting oncogenic microRNAs in triple negative breast cancer using CRISPR/cas9 approach

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A hospital based cohort study of colorectal cancer cases treated at Braga Hospital, Northern Portugal

Background: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common cancer and the fourth most frequent cause of cancer death worldwide. Nonetheless, despite being a frequent cancer on which many epidemiological international studies have already been written, Portuguese epidemiological data are scarce and in particular there are very few specific data for Minho Region, which is traditionally recognized as a high incidence area. Aim: Characterize CRC patients treated at Braga Hospital. Methods: Data regarding clinical and preoperative diagnostic examinations, operative reports and histopathological and follow-up data was collected prospectively and stored in two Excel PC databases (colon and rectal cancer) and statistically analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, version 19.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, Illinois, USA). All comparisons were examined for statistical significance using Pearson’s chi-square (?2) test and Fisher’s exact test (when n<5), with the threshold for significance P values <0.05. Overall survival and Survival free disease were both assessed using the Kaplan-Meier method. Results: The study comprises 672 patients with histological diagnosis of CRC treated in Braga Hospital between 2005 and 2009. It included 62.3% males and 37.7% females and most patients (60.5%) were between 61-80 years old. 65.3% of the cases arose from colon cancer and 34.7% from rectal cancer. We observed that 94.8% of the patients had no previous history of colorectal polyps. 4.1% had a previous personal history of CRC and 7.7% of a different cancer. 9.7% had a positive CRC family history. Most patients (81.3%) were symptomatic at diagnosis, while 18.8% were detected by routine colonoscopies. Colon and rectal cancer from most patients was at IIA stage and IV stage respectively. Follow-up time ranged between 1 and 5 years and, during this period, 26.7% of colon cancer patients and 25.3% of rectal cancer patients died from a colorectal cancer-related cause; also, 14.6% and 19.3% respectively had recurrence, mainly in the liver. Conclusion: This is the first study of a large cohort of CRC patients from the Minho Region in Northern Portugal. The large majority of the 672 cases were diagnosed because symptomatic and at an advanced stage, with a relatively poor prognosis. These findings emphasize the need to start a screening program and diagnose CRC at an early stage, thus increasing cure rates and improving resource management

Role of endoglin and VEGF family expression in colorectal cancer prognosis and anti-angiogenic therapies

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the cancer models and most of the carcinogenic steps are presently well understood. Therefore, successful preventive measures are currently used in medical practice. However, CRC is still an important public health problem as it is the third most common cancer and the fourth most frequent cause of cancer death worldwide. Nowadays, pathologic stage is a unique and well-recognized prognostic indica¬tor, however, more accurate indicators of the biologic behavior of CRC are expected to improve the specificity of medical treatment. Angiogenesis plays an important role in the growth and progression of cancer but its role as a prognostic factor is still controversial. Probably the most important clinical implication of tumor angiogen¬esis is the development of anti-angiogenic therapy. The goal of this review is to critically evaluate the role of angiogenic markers, assessed by either endoglin-related microvessel density or expression of vascular endothelial growth factor family members in the CRC setting and discuss the role of these angiogenic markers in anti-angiogenic therapies

Increased pathogenicity of pneumococcal serotype 1 is driven by rapid autolysis and release of pneumolysin

Streptococcus pneumoniae serotype 1 is the predominant cause of invasive pneumococcal disease in sub-Saharan Africa, but the mechanism behind its increased invasiveness is not well understood. Here, we use mouse models of lung infection to identify virulence factors associated with severe bacteraemic pneumonia during serotype-1 (ST217) infection. We use BALB/c mice, which are highly resistant to pneumococcal pneumonia when infected with other serotypes. However, we observe 100% mortality and high levels of bacteraemia within 24 hours when BALB/c mice are intranasally infected with ST217. Serotype 1 produces large quantities of pneumolysin, which is rapidly released due to high levels of bacterial autolysis. This leads to substantial levels of cellular cytotoxicity and breakdown of tight junctions between cells, allowing a route for rapid bacterial dissemination from the respiratory tract into the blood. Thus, our results offer an explanation for the increased invasiveness of serotype 1