Population-level cure of colorectal cancer in Malta: An analysis of patients diagnosed between 1995 and 2004.

AIM: The aim of this study was to estimate the population-level 'cure' of Maltese colorectal cancer patients diagnosed between 1995 and 2004, and to estimate the median survival time for the 'uncured' patients. METHODS AND STUDY POPULATION: Analysis was conducted on 1470 cases registered by the Malta National Cancer Register between 1995 and 2004 and followed up to end of 2010. The mean age of the patients was 66.4 (95%CI 65.8-67.1), and the number of men and women were equal. Background mortality for 1995-2010 was extracted from publicly available life tables. A mixture model with Weibull survival distribution and identity link was used to model 'cure'. RESULTS: The overall 'cured' proportion for the patients diagnosed in 1995-1999 was 45.3% (95%CI 40.2-50.5) while the 'cured' proportion for the patients diagnosed in 2000-2004 was 52.3% (95%CI 47.2-57.5). Median survival time for the 'uncured' patients increased in the second calendar period from 1.25 years (95%CI 1.04-1.45) to 1.42 years (95%CI 1.15-1.76). CONCLUSION: In Malta, as in the rest of Europe, improvements have been made in short- and long-term survival over the 15-year period under study. To continue this improvement, differences by age that still persist must be investigated and efforts focused to reduce any gaps between Malta and other European countries

Professional development of teachers at Malta’s Giovanni Curmi Higher Secondary School : contributions from a stake-holding think tank

This paper synthesises a group of educators’ engagement with an action research project endorsed by the Council of Europe’s Pestalozzi Programme’s Action Research Group 2013 – 2014. Educators fulfilling duties at Giovanni Curmi Higher Secondary School (GCHSS) collaborated within the context of a think-tank by engaging in action research on professional development for teachers at Giovanni Curmi Higher Secondary School (PDGCHSS). Data that emerged from the foregoing research indicate that professional development (PD) should be grounded in, and not disconnected from, the school-context, and must be relevant to the teachers’ everyday teaching. In addition, knowledge gained from PD training should not be sporadic or disconnected, but transferable to everyday practice. A highly bureaucratized system and lack of resources, such as time, financial resources and technological skills, are detrimental to teachers’ motivation for PDpeer-reviewe

SeCollege : researching the potential for the establishment of a secure college in the Maltese Islands

Criminal career research shows that the early age of onset of offending is that of between 8 and 14 years old, whilst offending prevalence peaks between 15 and 19 years. On the other hand, adolescents desist at the age of 20 to the age of 29 thus many children manifesting antisocial tendencies enter adulthood in a conformist way (Farrington, 1992). Desistence has also been attribution to marriage, job satisfaction, and internal migration to better neighborhoods (Laub and Sampson, 2001; Horney, Osgood and Marshall, 1995) which factors serve as crime preventers as against crime promoters (Ekblom, 2010). This said, the relationship between marriage and offending needs to be analysed in view of spouses’ characteristics since a spouse who also manifests “antisocial tendencies” could encourage rather than discourage crime thus adopting the role of the “crime promoter”. In other words, this is directly linked to the concept of assortative partnering which has been identified as a risk and/or mediating factor to the continuity of crime across generations of Maltese Families (Formosa Pace, 2015).peer-reviewe

Prueba de campo experimental de la vacuna EG95 contra la equinococosis quística ovina en Río Negro, Argentina: segundo estudio de impacto

La Equinococosis quística es endémica en la provincia de Río Negro, Argentina. Después de 30 años de control usando praziquantel en perros, la velocidad de transmisión a seres humanos y ovejas, se ha reducido significativamente, sin embargo persiste la transmisión. El objetivo del estudio fue evaluar el impacto de la introducción de la vacuna EG95 en el programa de control. La vacuna fue aplicada en una zona que comprende comunidades de pueblos originarios. Dos grupos diferentes fueron asignados a diferentes tipos de tratamiento. Un grupo de 71 productores de las regiones Blancura Centro y Lipetren, se establecieron como control sin vacunación. El grupo tratamiento comprendió 79 productores de Anecón Grande, Mamuel Choique, Nahuel Pan y Río Chico abajo en donde los corderos recibieron dos dosis con la vacuna EG95 seguido de un refuerzo cuando los animales tenían 1-1.5 años de edad. La transmisión de Echinococcus granulosus fue evaluada mediante necropsia de ovejas adultas. También se obtuvieron muestras de sangre de animales vacunados en cada uno de los años (2009/2015), incluyendo corderos que recibieron una sola dosis y borregos con dos dosis, para la determinación mediante ELISA de títulos de anticuerpos contra la proteína EG95 de E. granulosus. Un total de 21.443 dosis de vacuna EG95 se aplicaron en el período 2009-2015. Antes de la introducción de la vacuna, el 56.3% de los animales de 6 años fueron positivos a la necropsia. La prevalencia disminuyó a 21.1%, 5 años después del uso de la vacuna. El número de quistes por animal disminuyó de 1.4 a 0.3. Todos los quistes fueron pequeños (<1 cm). El número de productores con animales infectados disminuyo de 94.7% al 23.5%. La respuesta humoral a la vacunación, en condiciones de campo, ha resultado consistente con los estudios experimentales aumentando con la aplicación de la segunda dosis y alcanzando su máximo luego del refuerzo al año. La vacuna EG95 ha sido eficiente en prevenir la infección en animales de hasta 6 años de edad

Significant increase in azithromycin “resistance” and susceptibility to ceftriaxone and cefixime in Neisseria gonorrhoeae isolates in 26 European countries, 2019

Euro-GASP network: Claudia Eder, Sonja Pleininger, Steliana Huhlescu, Irith de Baetselier, Blaženka Hunjak, Tatjana Nemeth Blažić, Panagiota Maikanti-Charalampous, Despo Pieridou, Hana Zákoucká, Helena Žemličková, Steen Hoffmann, Susan Cowan, Rita Peetso, Jelena Viktorova, Ndeindo Ndeikoundam, Beatrice Bercot, Anu Patari Sampo, Vesa Kirjavainen, Susanne Buder, Klaus Jansen, Vivi Miriagou, Eszter Balla, Mária Dudás, Guðrún Sigmundsdóttir, Lena Ros Asmundsdottir, Sinead Saab, Brendan Crowley, Anna Carannante, Paola Stefanelli, Gatis Pakarna, Violeta Mavcutko, Robert Cassar, Christopher Barbara, Francesca Vella, Alje Van Dam, Ineke Linde, Dominique Caugant, Hilde Kløvstad, Beata Mlynarczyk-Bonikowska, Maria-José Borrego, Peter Pavlik, Irena Klavs, Tanja Kustec, Julio Vazquez, Asuncion Diaz, Raquel Abad Torreblanca, Inga Velicko, Magnus Unemo, Helen Fifer, Kate TempletonBackground: The European Gonococcal Antimicrobial Surveillance Programme (Euro-GASP) performs annual sentinel surveillance of Neisseria gonorrhoeae susceptibility to therapeutically relevant antimicrobials across the European Union/European Economic Area (EU/EEA). We present the Euro-GASP results from 2019 (26 countries), linked to patient epidemiological data, and compared with data from previous years. Methods: Agar dilution and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) gradient strip methodologies were used to determine the antimicrobial susceptibility (using EUCAST clinical breakpoints, where available) of 3239 N. gonorrhoeae isolates from 26 countries across the EU/EEA. Significance of differences compared with Euro-GASP results in previous years was analysed using Z-test and the Pearson's χ2 test was used to assess significance of odds ratios for associations between patient epidemiological data and antimicrobial resistance. Results: European N. gonorrhoeae isolates collected between 2016 and 2019 displayed shifting MIC distributions for; ceftriaxone, with highly susceptible isolates increasing over time and occasional resistant isolates each year; cefixime, with highly-susceptible isolates becoming increasingly common; azithromycin, with a shift away from lower MICs towards higher MICs above the EUCAST epidemiological cut-off (ECOFF); and ciprofloxacin which is displaying a similar shift in MICs as observed for azithromycin. In 2019, two isolates displayed ceftriaxone resistance, but both isolates had MICs below the azithromycin ECOFF. Cefixime resistance (0.8%) was associated with patient sex, with resistance higher in females compared with male heterosexuals and men-who-have-sex-with-men (MSM). The number of countries reporting isolates with azithromycin MICs above the ECOFF increased from 76.9% (20/26) in 2016 to 92.3% (24/26) in 2019. Isolates with azithromycin MICs above the ECOFF (9.0%) were associated with pharyngeal infection sites. Following multivariable analysis, ciprofloxacin resistance remained associated with isolates from MSM and heterosexual males compared with females, the absence of a concurrent chlamydial infection, pharyngeal infection sites and patients ≥ 25 years of age. Conclusions: Resistance to ceftriaxone and cefixime remained uncommon in EU/EEA countries in 2019 with a significant decrease in cefixime resistance observed between 2016 and 2019. The significant increase in azithromycin "resistance" (azithromycin MICs above the ECOFF) threatens the effectiveness of the dual therapy (ceftriaxone + azithromycin), i.e., for ceftriaxone-resistant cases, currently recommended in many countries internationally and requires close monitoring.The study was funded by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (Framework Contract No. ECDC/2017/004).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Sunetti ta’ William Shakespeare

Ġabra ta’ poeżiji u proża li tinkludi: Grand Prix ta’ Carmel Azzopardi – Pizza marinara ta’ Carmel Azzopardi – Ħajku ta’ Kit Azzopardi – Ix-xemgħa qiegħda ta’ Charles Bezzina – U taħti ramel, ramel ta’ Charles Bezzina – Vażett ta’ Ġorġ Borg – Bniedem li mhux ta’ Ġorġ Borg – Il-ħajbu ta’ Antoine Cassar – Il-mistoħbija ta’ Manwel Cassar – Għasel ta’ Carmel G. Cauchi – Dgħajsa ta’ Carmel G. Cauchi – Ħitan ta’ Alfred Degabriele – Skeletru silwett...f’realtà moħbija ta’ Stefano Farrugia – Minjatura tal-enimmi ta’ Stefano Farrugia – Mnejn jgħaddi Kristu ta’ Joe Friggieri – Rebbiegħa ta’ Reno Fenech – Blogger ta’ Charles Flores – Veġeterjana ta’ Charles Flores – Mejju ta’ Joe P. Galea – Kien hemm lejla u tmien nisa ta’ Claudia Gauci – Ħobbni ta’ Sergio Grech – Mitlufin ta’ Maria Grech Ganado – Moħħi ta’ Maria Grech Ganado – Viżjoni ta’ Maria Grech Ganado – Inkontinenza ta’ Adrian Grima – Andrew jħebb in-nar ta’ Adrian Grima – It-Tlieta, 20 ta’ Lulju 2004 ta’ Alfred Massa – Fuq l-għolja tal- Verdala ta’ Jane Micallef – Imm’issa ta’ Jane Micallef – Baby blues ta’ Immanuel Mifsud – Ġo dar sawra ta’ Immanuel Mifsud – Lil Dun Karm ta’ Maurice Mifsud Bonnici – Il-fuklar ta’ Achille Mizzi – Ut videam ta’ Achille Mizzi – Karnival solitarju ta’ Patrick Sammut – Mill-baħħ etern ta’ Joe Zammit Tabona – ...fil-ħmieġ ta’ ftit blatiet... ta’ Paul P. Borg – Bħall-qasab ta’ Steve Borg – L-aħħar żjara ta’ Victor Fenech – Ħelwa.morra 18 ta’ Ann Marie Schembri – Jack & Jill ta’ Trevor Żahra – Għadbilura ta’ Russell Davis, traduzzjoni ta’ Toni Aquilina – Sunetti ta’ William Shakespeare, traduzzjoni ta’ Oliver Friggieri.peer-reviewe

SeCollege : researching the potential for the establishment of a secure college in the Maltese Islands

Criminal career research shows that the early age of onset of offending is that of between 8 and 14 years old, whilst offending prevalence peaks between 15 and 19 years. On the other hand, adolescents desist at the age of 20 to the age of 29 thus many children manifesting antisocial tendencies enter adulthood in a conformist way (Farrington, 1992). Desistence has also been attribution to marriage, job satisfaction, and internal migration to better neighborhoods (Laub and Sampson, 2001; Horney, Osgood and Marshall, 1995) which factors serve as crime preventers as against crime promoters (Ekblom, 2010). This said, the relationship between marriage and offending needs to be analysed in view of spouses’ characteristics since a spouse who also manifests “antisocial tendencies” could encourage rather than discourage crime thus adopting the role of the “crime promoter”. In other words, this is directly linked to the concept of assortative partnering which has been identified as a risk and/or mediating factor to the continuity of crime across generations of Maltese Families (Formosa Pace, 2015). However, for most juveniles, according to Moffitt (1993, p.674) criminal activities tend to be temporary and situational whilst for a small minority this is “stable and persistent”. Moffitt (1993, p.682) claims that if a child “steps off on the wrong foot”, and remains on this unconventional path, the consequences may be perpetuated by persistent offending. In such a situation, it is difficult to make up for lost opportunities in acquiring conventional skills such as academic skills.peer-reviewe