Circular Pedagogy and Digitisation A New Educational Paradigm

Existing educational systems and models are insufficient to address the challenges associated with our evolving socio-economic and environmental systems. In this paper, we offer critical insights on the core elements defining Higher Education Institutions, the digitisation of teaching and learning practices with a dominant trend favouring STEM education that overlooks the value of social sciences. The neglection of social sciences and the criticism and negative connotations that affect research in the field of pedagogy are also considered as they are essential in articulating our vision of the need for pedagogical innovations that acknowledge our new learning and teaching realities and the importance of introducing new practices that help on the transition towards a new educational paradigm. We propose a new pedagogy called Circular Pedagogy, where the role of the teacher, the learner and the researcher are identified as interchangeable over the lifelong learning process. Our research offers some initial insights into how Circular Pedagogy can be connected to Bloom\u27s Taxonomy as we are at the early stages of developing the theoretical foundations of this new pedagogy

Hepatocarcinoma with tumor thrombus occupying the right atrium and portal vein in a patient with hereditary hemochromatosis and liver cirrhosis

We present the case of a 46-year old patient with Child-Pugh class C cirrhosis with MEDL-Score 16, and hepatocellular carcinoma invading the inferior vena cava and the right atrium. The etiology of cirrhosis is type 1 hereditary hemochromatosis with positive HFE C282Y/C282Y and H63D/H63D mutations. A systematic review of the literature was performed and only 30 cases of hepatocellular carcinoma with tumor thrombosis extending into the right atrium have been described. To our knowledge, this is the first case that evidences the presence in hereditary hemochromatosis of hepatocellular carcinoma with atypical invasion into the right atrium. Screening of patients with a family history of hereditary hemochromatosis allows detection of the disease in the asymptomatic phase, allowing initiation of early therapy and improved prognosis

Immune and Inflammatory Pathways in Non-Alcoholic Steatohepatitis (NASH). An update

Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), also known as fatty liver disease (FLD), is a major public health problem. It is considered to be the hepatic manifestation of the metabolic syndrome. Chronic inflammation of the liver is an essential key in the progression from simple hepatic steatosis to steatohepatitis, the evolutionary stage of fatty liver disease. Moreover, the innate immune system plays a crucial role in the progression of hepatic inflammation. For this reason, it is of utmost importance to elucidate the connections between immune mechanisms, Toll-like receptor cytokine signalling, in order to find new effective treatments. Further studies are necessary to test theories presented in this paper. The elucidation of mechanisms underlying the progression of hepatic steatosis towards steatohepatitis is essential for the development of useful diagnosis and treatment for medical practice

Imatinib-induced interstitial pneumonitis – a literature review and case report

Imatinib is generally well tolerated, with mild common side effects such as nausea and vomiting, diarrhea, muscle cramps, fatigue, skin rash and edema; however, pulmonary complications are uncommon. A 73-year-old woman undergoing one month treatment with Imatinib for chronic myeloid neoplasm associated with eosinophilia was admitted for sudden alteration of her performance status, dyspnea at rest and productive cough. On clinical examination, the patient was hypoxic (oxygen saturation on room air was 87%), and auscultation of her lungs revealed diffuse bilateral fine crackles. Computed tomography showed bilateral pulmonary interstitial syndrome. Imatinib was discontinued and the patient received systemic corticosteroid therapy and oxygen therapy. After one month, the symptoms and radiological findings were resolved. When Imatinib therapy was resumed, respiratory symptoms reappeared, which is why treatment with Imatinib was interrupted. Imatinib-induced pneumonitis should take into consideration when patients develop respiratory symptoms or abnormal pulmonary radiological features