European history crossroads as pathways to intercultural and media education (EHISTO)

[EN] EHISTO (European history crossroads as pathways to intercultural and media education) is concerned with the mediation of history in popular (science) media and the question of social and political responsibility of journalists and other mediators of history, especially teachers, in the field of commercial presentation of history. The project responds to the increasing significance of a commercialised mediation of history within the public historical culture and reflects the fact that these representations, which do not always meet the EU standards for history education, can have a lasting impact on the young generation’s understanding of history. Using the example of popular history magazines, the project shall, besides the necessary basic research, develop didactically reflected materials for both history education in school as well as initial and in-service teacher training. On one hand enable a media-critical examination of history magazines and on the other hand, by working with the history magazines, the project addresses itself to popular interpretations of history from the participating countries and reflects their similarities and differences in European cultures of remembrance. Therefore, this approach not only trains mediacritical competences but furthermore enables a multi-perspective and comparative access to history. The project EHISTO will last two years and is funded by the EU Lifelong Learning Programme with about 300,000 euros. Partners from six European nations take part in the project

Intercultural Mentoring tools to support migrant integration at school (INTO)

[ES] Within the scope of European policies and to combat educational disadvantages for migrant children, numerous actions have been taken to improve the position of migrant children in education. In secondary education the emphasis lies on diversification of the offered teaching methods and extra guidance of the pupils. Some schools in Europe have set up measures to increase the continuity of the educational support in terms of migrant pupil inclusion and orientation. Despite these measures, dropout rates are still high among migrant youth and compared to their native peers a disproportionately large number attend the lowest levels of secondary school after completing primary school. The disappointing results of regular guidance are partly the reason for the development of more innovative forms of guidance. The project aims to promote strategies and methods that help students with a migrant background at risk of ESL to maintain their motivation through the development, testing and validation of an Intercultural Mentoring Programme based on the empowered peer education methodology.The Intercultural mentor profile will be adapted to different European contexts, developed in collaboration with at least 100 school staff members (headmaster and secondary school teachers from 5 different European countries) and tested with at least 50 students with a migrant background trained as Intercultural Mentors. The impact of the project will be sustained thanks to its outcomes: (i) Didactic Kit: conceived as self-teaching materials will contain the training framework to directly implement the model of intervention in secondary schools system; (ii) Guideline Handbook: support the future implementation of training courses – by other education organizations and secondary school, (iii) Project website: it will include not only the results and materials of the project (handbooks, e-learning platform, reports, etc.) but will also include updated information on young migrants

Multicultural Interdisciplinary Handbook: tools for learning history and geography in a multicultural perspective (MIH)

[ES] MIH project (Multicultural Interdisciplinary Handbook: tools for learning History and Geography in a multicultural perspective) is a Comenius Multilateral Project funded with support from the European Commission that has been developed from 2009 to 2011.Conceived from the idea of educating lower and upper Secondary School pupils in a process of construction of a European identity by involving them in the culture of other countries, MIH project meets this need by providing new methodological and ICT tools that could help teachers and pupils to plunge deeper into both cultures and languages of another nations via their History and Geography, and opens the way to introduce a European perspective in History and Geography school curricula and classroom activities

Assessment of pituitary hormonal function after somatotropinoma surgery

Introduction: Somatotropinoma is a pituitary adenoma that excessively secretes the growth hormone and gives the symptoms of acromegaly in adults. The laboratory diagnosis is based on the value of the growth hormone (GH) after the oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) and on the concentration of insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1). The first line treatment is the surgical removal of the tumour. Both adenoma growth within the sella turcica and the surgery can lead to the damage of the pituitary gland and to the disorders of its secretory function. For this reason, in each patient after the tumour removal laboratory tests evaluating the effectiveness of the treatment and also the hormonal function of the pituitary gland are performed. Therefore, the objective of our study was to evaluate the secretory function of the pituitary gland in patients after somatotropinoma surgery. Material and methods: The study group consisted of 40 patients (27 women and 13 men) after somatotropinoma surgery – four patients with reoperation and nine patients with radiotherapy as complementary treatment. The values of GH in OGTT test and IGF-1 level were analyzed as well as the concentrations of other pituitary and adequate peripheral glands hormones. Results: The successful surgical treatment of acromegaly – the normalization of concentrations of GH and IGF–1 was noted mainly with macroadenoma (15/20). Hypopituitarism was observed in 18 patients (mainly plurihormonal – 14/18) and concerned each person after the reoperation, and most patients after radiotherapy. Nearly all (17/18) patients with pituitary hormone deficiency had macroadenoma diagnosed. Conclusion: The surgical treatment of somatotropinoma leads to the cure of acromegaly not in all patients. After removing of adenoma, hypopituitarism is often observed, mainly plurihormonal, and the risk of its occurrence increases in patients re-operated and / or after radiotherapy.Wstęp: Somatotropinoma to gruczolak przysadki nadmiernie wydzielający hormon wzrostu, który u osób dorosłych prowadzi do rozwoju akromegalii. W diagnostyce laboratoryjnej kluczowe znaczenie mają wartości hormonu wzrostu (GH) w doustnym teście obciążenia glukozą (OGTT) oraz stężenie insulinopodobnego czynnika wzrostu 1 (IGF–1). Zasadniczą metodą leczenia akromegalii jest chirurgiczne usunięcie guza. Zarówno rozrost gruczolaka wewnątrz siodła tureckiego, jak i sam zabieg chirurgiczny może powodować uszkodzenie przysadki oraz zaburzenia jej funkcji wydzielniczej i dlatego u każdego pacjenta po usunięciu guza wykonuje się badania laboratoryjne oceniające nie tylko skuteczność leczenia akromegalii, ale także czynność hormonalną całej przysadki. W związku z tym, celem naszej pracy była ocena funkcji wydzielniczej przysadki u pacjentów operowanych z powodu somatotropinoma. Materiały i metody: Do badania zakwalifikowano 40 osób (27 kobiet i 13 mężczyzn) poddanych operacji guza somatotropowego przysadki, w tym u czterech z nich przeprowadzono reoperację, a u dziewięciu pacjentów zastosowano uzupełniającą radioterapię. Analizie poddano wyniki oznaczeń GH w OGTT oraz IGF–1, a także stężenia pozostałych hormonów przysadkowych i odpowiednich hormonów gruczołów obwodowych. Wyniki: Skuteczne leczenie operacyjne akromegalii – normalizację stężeń GH i IFG–1, odnotowano u połowy pacjentów, w większości z makrogruczolakiem (15/20). Pooperacyjną niedoczynność przysadki stwierdzono u 18 osób (głównie wielohormonalną – 14/18). Dotyczyła ona każdej osoby po reoperacji i większości chorych po radioterapii. U prawie wszystkich (17/18) pacjentów z niedoczynnością przysadki, w badaniu obrazowym zdiagnozowano makrogruczolaka. Wnioski: Leczenie operacyjne somatotropinoma nie u wszystkich chorych doprowadza do wyleczenia akromegalii. Po usunięciu gruczolaka dość często dochodzi do niedoczynności przysadki, przeważnie o charakterze wielo– hormonalnym, a ryzyko jej wystąpienia wzrasta u osób reoperowanych i/lub poddanych radioterapii