Liberated to learn: Teacher education as transformation of relationships

This paper reports on a process of curriculum innovation for a pedagogy course with a focus on the perceptual gaps between teacher educators and student teachers. As a collaborative inquiry by teacher educators, it was a response to government-led education reform for a new subject at senior secondary level – Liberal Studies – which aimed to cultivate citizenship with humanitarian values. Observing critical discourse and community learning as desirable pedagogical principles to nurture a new generation of teachers for social awareness and commitment to citizenship, the curriculum innovation began with recognition of student teachers' lack of readiness to embrace such learning orientations due to the pre-university approach to learning for examination performance. The challenges were met with the design of assessment tasks that shaped independent thinking and collaborative inquiry, while building relationships in multiple human and conceptual dimensions. Through analysis of a flow of episodes, the paper captures the meaning of the processes of liberation to learn, and concludes with depiction of a growth model for transformation of relationships amidst a performance-related assessment culture.postprin

Updates in the treatment of chronic hepatitis B

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Tenofovir disoproxil fumarate for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B monoinfection

Introduction: Resistance in nucleoside/nucleotide analog (NA) therapy has always been a challenge in the management of chronic hepatitis B (CHB). Clinical studies: Initially developed for the treatment of HIV infection, early in vitro and clinical observational studies had shown tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF) to be also active against CHB. Recent data from various multicenter phase 3 and 4 clinical trials have confirmed TDF being able to achieve a high viral suppression in both NA-naive and -experienced CHB patients. There are also emerging data on the efficacy of TDF in decompensated CHB. Although there are in vitro studies identifying certain mutation loci associated with a reduced susceptibility to TDF, there have so far been no reports of virologic resistance to TDF in clinical studies. TDF has a favorable safety profile, although more long-term data would be needed. Conclusions: TDF has the makings of an 'ideal' first-line drug for the treatment of CHB. © 2011 Asian Pacific Association for the Study of the Liver.postprin

Do statins reduce the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma in patients with chronic hepatitis B?

In subjects with chronic hepatitis B (CHB), the lifetime risk of developing hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is estimated to be 25-37 times compared to non-infected subjects. The process of hepatocarcinogenesis is complex and involves well-documented host, viral, and environmental risk factors. The most important risks include host factors such as older age, male gender, the presence of cirrhosis, and viral factors such as the viral load, genotype, and the presence of basal core promoter mutations. To date, antiviral therapy is the only intervention demonstrated to significantly reduce the risk of HCC development in CHB patients. Although oxidative stress has been implicated in cancer development, there is no established benefit shown from treatment with antioxidizing agents such as silymarin, green tea, and vitamin E.published_or_final_versio

Future prevention and treatment of chronic hepatitis B infection

Vaccination for hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and treatment for chronic hepatitis B, while effective for primary prevention and control of the disease, still have their limitations. Global coverage of HBV immunization needs improvement. Several patient populations are noted to have suboptimal seroprotective rates after HBV vaccination. There are currently several potential new vaccines undergoing animal and human studies, most notably vaccines containing immunostimulatory DNA sequences. Long-term nucleoside analogue therapy is necessary in achieving permanent virologic suppression. Potential new treatments explore new mechanisms of action, including the inhibition of hepatitis B surface antigen release, targeting antifibrotic mechanism, and immunomodulation through novel interferons and therapeutic vaccines. The clinical application of potential new vaccines and therapies would enhance the prevention of HBV infection and treatment of chronic hepatitis B. © 2012 by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.postprin

Identification of hepatitis B virus DNA reverse transcriptase variants associated with partial response to entecavir

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COLD-PCR for early detection of hepatitis B virus antiviral drug resistance mutations

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Alterations of CD8+CD28- T cells in systemic lupus erythematosus and rheumatoid arthritis

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