Post-secondary education with special reference to MATSEC English

This paper takes as its point of departure the Report of the Working Group on the Future of Post-Secondary Education (2017) and following a brief overview of the institutions that provide education at this level, turns the spotlight onto the two state institutions that provide education at post-secondary level. Their characteristics and the challenges that they face are expounded on and recommendations made are revisited in light of this analysis. The discussion is informed by data collected during focus group meetings with teachers and students. Prior to this Report, the post-secondary landscape had been relatively unchanged for several years, and a major overhaul was proposed one that factored in among several other considerations, the divide between the academic and the vocational streams. The paper briefly analyses the Matriculation Certificate Reform (2019) and questions the extent to which this reform has adopted recommendations made for the post-secondary sector in the 2017 report.peer-reviewe

Bioethics bonanza

Over the past couple of years, the Bioethics Consultative Committee has been active in promoting an understanding of bioethical issues within the medical profession, as well as more generally among the paramedical, and indeed the lay public. As part of this programme, a conferences was held on three consecutive evenings in November 1999 and dealt with three different topics, namely, Patient Rights, Reproductive Technology and Transplantation.peer-reviewe

The social face of medicine

In this article the author describes the social aspect of medicine in Malta. The author mentions the need to enhance the medical curriculum and include a set course of bioethics within the 5-year curriculum. The author states that in Malta social aspects of medicine are only touched by medical students during the course of study. The minds of future generations of students should be broadened to include formal teaching on the significance of a humane approach to patient care. Their education should give due importance to the relevance of the social structures of society and their impact on disease and medical practice.peer-reviewe

Glucose 6 phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency in Malta : a preliminary study

It has been suggested that glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency (G6PD) affects more than 100 million people of all races throughout the world. The special relevance of this problem to Malta can readily be appreciated when it is remembered that G6PD deficiency is particularly common in countries bordering the Mediterranean. For the purpose of this survey samples of blood were obtained from the following: i) normal people - blood donors, students at various colleges, and staff; ii) patients from the wards at St. Luke's Hospital Malta suffering from a variety of surgical or medical disorders; and iii) diabetic patients under treatment. The results are tabulated in table 2. Eight hundred samples were examined: 555 males and 245 females. Ten males and 2 females were found to be enzyme deficient - an incidence of 1.8% and 0.8% respectively. There was no significant difference between the diabetic and either the normal or the ordinary patients groups. The lower incidence of G6PD deficiency in females can be explained by the relative lack of sensitivity of the BCB test in heterozygotes.peer-reviewe

Organ and tissue transplantation

A report is delivered on the First International Congress of the Transplantation Society (Paris 1967). The recent interest in transplantation of organs is largely due to the technical advances in surgical procedures making it possible to replace organs in the human, as well as to an increased understanding of the basic biological problems underlying the rejection of such grafts. At this first International Congress, widely ranging topics were discussed, including organ transplantation, mechanism of graft rejection, methods of immunosuppression, genetics of transplantation, bone marrow transplantation, and cancer as homograft. New techniques of organ transplantation, new concepts in the antigenic structure of cells, new methods of purifying subcellular fraction of antilymphocytic serum, new drugs to combat rejection phenomena, and above all a fresh outlook on the mode of action of these drugs at a molecular level, will doubtless render this an exciting new approach to biology in general and to clinical problems in particular.peer-reviewe

Ethics and the medical practitioner

Historically, the inculcation of good ethical practice within the Maltese medical community has been achieved through a high ethical standard assumed by the teachers which was passed on to their students. In this article the author describes three important aspects related to medical ethics: teaching ethics to medical students; specific issues relating to medical practice in Malta; ethics and medical research.peer-reviewe

Quality assurance

The concept of quality assurance refers more specifically to the process of objectifying and clearly enunciating goals, and providing means of assessing the outcomes. In this article the author mentions four fundamental elements of quality assurance which should be applied in the medical profession in Malta. These elements should relate to professional performance, resource utilisation, risk management and patient satisfaction. The aim of the medical professionals in Malta is to provide the best medical practice possible of which the patient may be truly satisfied.peer-reviewe

Biochemical markers in cancer of the ovary : a review

The ideal tumour marker would be one which is detectable before obvious clinical involvement. A number of biochemical markers have been used to diagnose carcinoma of the ovary. This article names several aspects of ovarian tumour markers such as CA125, Tissue Polypeptide Antigen (TPA), Lipid -Associated Sialic Acid (LASA-P), CA 19-9 and others.peer-reviewe