Analysis of the discrimination index of final biology examinations in Malta

Item analysis is a range of statistics that helps to determine the effectiveness of each item in an examination. It plays an important role in contributing to the fairness of the examination as well as helps to identify content areas that may be problematic for students. The validity and reliability of an examination finally depend on the characteristics of the items. Item analysis permits a high reliability and validity to be built into a test in advance. Discrimination index (D) is part of item analysis that measures the difference in item difficulty between groups of students with high and low marks. The index varies between -1 and 1 where the item ideally should be between +0.3 and +1.0. A highly discriminating item is indicative of students who gained high tests scores got the item correct whereas those who had low test scores got the item incorrect. The objective of our study was to calculate the discrimination indices of Advanced level Biology final examinations at a public post-secondary institution in Malta. The final scores obtained by first-year students over a five-year period (n = 1315), 2014-2018, in Papers 1 (short-type items) and 2 (comprehension, structured and unstructured essays) were used to calculate the discrimination index for each item. Results are encouraging since negative discrimination, indicative of a defective item, were not observed in any of the items. Paper 1 is better at discriminating between high and low achievers since over the study period, 93% of the items had acceptable (D between 0.2-0.29) or good discrimination (D between 0.3-0.39) while less, 54%, in Paper 2. Also, fewer (5%) of the items in Paper 1 had poor discrimination (D < 0-0.19) but 46% in Paper 2. Results show that comprehension items are better than the essay type to discriminate between high and low achievers. This finding may be used to start a discussion at the institution to consider the validity of the essay-type of items in final Biology examinations.peer-reviewe

A possibly Christian burial of the late Roman period discovered in a quarry at Ta' Sannat, Gozo

According to the Museum Annual Report for the years 1928-9, the Police Occurrences Register for the period 20/12/1928- 9/4/1929, and Public Works correspondence for the period 5/9/1928 - 3/4/1929, a burial was discovered in a quarry at Ta' Sannat on 7th January 1929. The report of the discovery was initially received by Mr Edward Borg Cardona, the District Engineer Public Works Department (Gozo). Together with Supt. E. Galea, he immediately visited the site and gave instructions to halt works and for the site to also submitted to the Director of Museums. The burial yielded a small jar, an oenochoe (wine-jug), and a red clay lamp close to a heap of human bones. This is probably what was seen by Prof. Terni Zammit, the Archaeology section curator, when six days later (on 13th January), accompanied by Mr Edward Borg Cardona, he examined the site and the finds that had been lifted from the tomb.peer-reviewe

Religious identity and perceptions of afterlife gleaned from a funerary monument to a young girl from (late) Roman Melite

Possibly late during the Roman occupation of Malta, a young deceased girl had a funerary monument set up in her memory by her loving mother. Analysis of both epigraphic content and iconographic elements on this monument would show that the mother; at least, is likely to have been originally a public slave but later achieved manumission, a status which remained to be enjoyed by herself and by her daughter. Moreover, they seem to have adhered to the then commonly held beliefs regarding the nature of death and afterlife. Yet, identifying their beliefs on the nature of death and afterlife did not prove sufficient to determine their religious identity as such beliefs were evidently shared by different religious groups.peer-reviewe

The great pretender : Autoimmune Pancreatitis

Autoimmune pancreatitis is a benign disorder which frequently presents with symptoms and imaging suggestive of pancreatic malignancy. Up to 21% of pancreatoduodenectomies performed for suspected pancreatic cancer are found to have benign disease. Autoimmune pancreatitis responds rapidly to corticosteroids and may be associated with extra- pancreatic manifestations. Type 1 forms part of the IgG4-related disease while type 2 autoimmune pancreatitis is less likely to have elevated levels of IgG4. This review discusses the characteristics of the two types of autoimmune pancreatitis and highlights the management and prognosis of this condition.peer-reviewe

Dietary supplements : sorting fact from fiction

Early scientific research into food and nutrition was directed towards identifying the essential nutrients1. Indeed, several of the Nobel prizes in Physiology and Medicine at the beginning of the last decade were awarded for work on discoveries related to vitamins and the recognition of their ability to cure deficiency diseases. The public and medical enthusiasm which resulted is reflected even today in the ‘magic bullet’ image of nutrition. It is also reflected in the consumption of ‘vitamin products’ in the belief that these provide essential or desirable supplementation even to a healthy diet.peer-reviewe

Cystic Lesions of the Pancreas

With the increasing use of abdominal imaging, cystic lesions of the pancreas are being more frequently detected. These lesions may carry a significant premalignant potential. Current guidelines recommend that mucinous cystic neoplasms, solid pseudopapillary neoplasms, main duct-intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms and branch duct-intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms (DB-IPMN) with "high-risk stigmata" for malignancy should be resected while asymptomatic BD-IPMN without mural nodules, no main duct involvement, and a size less than 30 mm can be followed up. Serous cystadenomas carry a very small malignant risk and are usually resected only if they cause symptoms. This review article highlights the common characteristics and recommended management of these cystic lesions of the pancreas.peer-reviewe

History of the development of general anaesthesia in Malta

Anaestheisa (an meaning absence and aesthesia meaning sensation) was a new word coined by Oliver Wendell Holmes, the same doctor who wrote the stories of the detective Sherlock Holmes The science of anaesthesia means the inducement of a state of reversible unconsciousness and analgesia by means of drugs thus enabling the performance of surgery. Before the introduction of the science of anaesthesia the only surgery possible was that which could be done in a few minutes with the patient suffering intense pain and needing physical force to be kept lying down on the operating table. After the start of the anaesthetic process, surgery advanced by leaps and bounds during the last one hundred and sixty years. Really the new science enhanced the full development of surgery.peer-reviewe

Cremation burials in early Bronze Age Malta : evidence from Tarxien and Ggantija

A common way of disposing of the dead across the entire Mediterranean (and even beyond) from prehistoric down to late Roman times was to bury the corpse - or the burnt remains, if cremated - in a built chamber or in a floor cavity and then cover it up under a mound of stones and/or earth, usually encircled by a kerb or retaining stone wall. Sizes varied and larger ones might even have a passage providing access to the burial chamber. In many cases, these burial mounds or tumuli used to be circular, having an overall appearance of a cone, hut, or hill. It is worth investigating whether the resemblance of burial mounds to huts was intentional or merely accidental (something which I do not intend to do in this contribution). If it was intentional, was it meant to convey an idea of the tomb as a house of the dead? In this contribution, I shall be dealing with cremation burials on the Maltese islands in the early Bronze Age (Tarxien Cemetery phase: 2400-1500 B.C.), focusing, towards the end, on a type of clay figurine associated - as yet, exclusively - with this early Bronze Age practice. Some new interpretations are attempted in respect of both the burials themselves as well as the mentioned figurines. To this end, I shall be resorting to evidence from two temple sites: those at Tarxien and Ggantija, with the richer corpus of evidence coming from the former. To begin with, I derive insights for my interpretations by initially resorting to the earliest literary evidence we have and which concerns the Aegean region where it comes from. But I also draw on comparisons with some other sites and/or materials outside the Maltese islands. It is mainly this comparative approach that, for the greater part, provides the backbone of my arguments.peer-reviewe

Neonatal intensive care and its application in Malta

The introduction of neonatal techniques has proved vital in the reduction of infant mortality rates. This article describes 4 important and basic techniques in neonatal intensive care; ventilation, nutrition, monitoring and cerebral assessment. The article concludes with an overview of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in Malta.peer-reviewe

Endoscopic ultrasound in the staging of gastrointestinal luminal malignancies

Endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) is an important tool in the staging of gastrointestinal cancers. This review highlights the use of EUS in the staging of gastrointestinal luminal malignancies and compares the performance of EUS with other imaging modalities (CT, MRI and PET-CT) in the staging of these malignancies. Management algorithms in the staging of these malignancies are also presented.peer-reviewe