96 research outputs found
Torniai Mariangela, Rinaldi Silvia, Morgese Francesca, Giulia Ricci, Azzurra Onofri, Christian Ghroé, Berardi Rossana. Medical therapy for advanced gastro-entero-pancreatic and bronchopulmonary neuroendocrine tumors. J Cancer Metasta Treat 2016;2: in press.
No full textRecensione a: Francesca P. Albanese, Lex Takkenberg, Palestinian Refugees in International Law (2nd Edition), Oxford University Press, 2020, pp. 608
No full textrecensione a volume in lingua ingles
La “nuova” solidarietà europea in materia di asilo e immigrazione: molto rumore per poco?
No full textL’articolo propone una disamina di alcuni profili problematici posti dal Nuovo Patto sulla migrazione e asilo del 23 settembre 2020, promosso dalla Commissione europea. Analizzando i caratteri giuridici della nuova prospettiva in materia di solidarietà e le misure previste, l’Autore procede ad una disamina dell’ambito oggettivo di applicazione della normativa proposta. Infine, in seguito ad una critica delle misure, verifica i possibili scenari futuri.The article aims to underline some issues of the new Pact on Migration and Asylum proposed by the European Commission on September 23rd, 2020. The Author analyzes the juridical characteristics of the most recent perspective on solidarity and the rules provided. Furthermore, the Author highlights the objective field of application of the rules. Lastly, after a critic of the measures, the Author verifies possible future scenarios
Potential dual synergy between electrochemotherapy and sequence of immunotherapies in metastatic melanoma: A case report
No full textImmune checkpoint inhibitors have changed the natural history of advanced melanoma. Despite this, a notable proportion of patients immediately relapse or develop resistance during immunotherapy, especially with the appearance of superficial metastases and consequently with a dramatic impact on clinical outcomes. Local treatment by electrochemotherapy (ECT), parallel to regional control with palliative aim, seems to release neoantigens potentially determining a significant systemic anticancer immune reactivation. The present study reported a case of a patient with metastatic melanoma receiving Pembrolizumab, electrochemotherapy and then Ipilimumab for in-transit and finally locoregional lymph nodes and distant bone metastases with experience of clinic-radiological remission. Specifically, the present patient progressed during adjuvant treatment with in-transit metastases on the scalp; he underwent two cycle of ECT obtaining partial and then unexpected and very fast nearly complete response with the Ipilimumab treatment. Concomitantly, he developed grade 4 endocrine adverse events (hypophysitis and diabetes mellitus type I) as immune-related toxicities. At 12 months from ECT the patient is in ECOG Performance Status 0 and he has resumed a regular social life. In our experience, ECT in two administrations increased and accelerated the response of Ipilimumab. The present confirmed its promising contribution in inducing a powerful immune response in order to overcome primary or acquired resistance to immune checkpoint inhibitors such as anti-programmed death antigen-1 drugs
Potential immune‑related adverse events during dabrafenib and trametinib treatment: A case series of patients with BRAF V600E melanoma
No full textIn recent years, BRAF inhibitors (BRAFi) and MEK inhibitors (MEKi), together with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), have changed the therapeutic strategy of cutaneous melanoma, both in adjuvant and metastatic settings. These inhibitors have significantly improved the clinical outcome for patients with melanoma, including in both BRAF-mutated and BRAF-wild type disease. Some preclinical and clinical studies have revealed that BRAFi and MEKi are able to influence T- and B-cell activation, and to modulate immune system activation within the tumor microenvironment. Dabrafenib and trametinib have been shown to enhance the expression of melanoma antigens on BRAF-mutated cells, and to favor both a cytotoxic and immune response against melanoma cells. Thereby, the present study described a case series of five women treated with BRAFi and MEKi, in both adjuvant and metastatic settings, that experienced potential immune-related adverse events. In particular, these patients exhibited sarcoidosis, mesenteric panniculitis, lymphocytic colitis and neuropathy of phrenic nerve. Considering that T and B cells are responsible for immune-related adverse events, as observed in patients treated with ICIs, the present study suggested a possible role of BRAFi and MEKi as triggers of immune system activation and subsequent immune-related toxicities
Case Studies from the History of Science in Science Education: a Field Research in Italy
No full textTitle: Case Studies from the History of Science in Science Education: a Field Research in Italy
Authors: Liborio Dibattista, Francesca Morgese
Affiliation: Interdipartment Centre of History of Science, University of Bari "Aldo Moro", Italy
Topic: Case Studies in STEM Education
Abstract
According to definition of Arthur Stinner about case studies in science education: “case studies are historical contexts with one unifying idea designed according to the guidelines for writing a large context problem”.
The main idea of the case-study must be an important idea for science, but also a significant idea for the world in which the students live in order to capture their attention and imagination, so it is necessary to propose a story, a scientific narrative, that can shed some light on this fundamental idea, through the dramatization of biographical episodes, either of famous debates or retracing the theme through the centuries and showing the various interpretations within the scientific conceptions of subsequent epochs or different geographical regions.
Current views on the nature of learning have made in-depth reflections on storytelling as a learning tool in educational contexts and on the ways in which storytelling can be used to facilitate student learning and critical thinking skills. Many authors have suggested storytelling as a means of making sense of experience and have pointed out some strong links between reflection, learning and storytelling in education. Storytelling is gaining popularity in education as a result of the fact that it seems to be capable of making learning meaningful and achieving important learning outcomes, such as the ability to reflect, to generalise, and to evaluate.
We agree that the true winning move, from a didactic point of view, is that the history of science enables us to tell stories. The infinite stories of scientists and of their controversies are an inexhaustible mine of narrative ideas that have an undeniable advantage: they help to keep the students’ attention.
Starting from these assumptions, we designed a field study to test the feasibility of the case studies in the classroom to foster learning of science and NoS (Nature of Science).
So, the goals of our study was the following:
· to test a research model that would involve high school teachers and university professors in the planning and creation of teaching units which use case studies from the history of science and the epistemology of science to teach scientific disciplines;
· to stress the importance of an inquiry based approach oriented towards issues regarding NoS (Nature of Science), thanks to the history of science;
· to produce evidence that this approach is effective in achieving a higher level of interest in scientific subjects on the part of learners.
The project, which we called “The History of Science goes to School”, ran into junior and senior high school classrooms in Puglia (Italy), at the beginning of the 2009-2010 school year. The project was the final stage of an awareness campaign that has been conducted by our research institute for several years with the secondary school science teachers in our region.
The first step we undertook was to plan and implement a series of meetings in the schools in which we wanted to propose the study. Twenty-four teachers participated in the project (11 from junior high schools, 13 from senior high schools). At these meetings, we illustrated the particular modalities, case studies methodology, with which we would present the history of science in the classroom and the benefits that we hoped the learners and the teachers would enjoy.
The next step was the preparation, by the teachers of the schools participating in the project, of the case studies that they intended to present to their classes, adopting the historical-philosophical method that we proposed. In this phase, the university researchers acted as tutors to the school teachers insofar as the teaching units were proposed by the teachers, but were developed with the help of the university researchers. The fifteen case studies built in the previous phase were carried out in the classroom in the first two months of the 2009-2010 school year.
Each teacher evaluated the impact of this approach on the cognitive gains made by the students, as well as any change in their feelings about studying scientific disciplines.
Finally, a satisfaction questionnaire was administered to the classes which then participated in a final workshop during which there was a presentation of student work and of the opinions of both students and teachers on the perceived significance of the project.
The project ended in November 2011. The sample consisted in 418 students, 225 (54%) from junior high schools and 193 (46%) from senior high schools. The division by gender was: 198 male (47%) and 220 female (53%).
The degree of participation and involvement recorded through this kind of presentation turned out to be very high. In general, the historical-philosophical approach has proven itself to be more appealing than a “dogmatic” lesson. This aspect needs to be highlighted since one of the critical points about students' perception of science concerns the way in which scientific disciplines are presented at school.
The students have acquired a sense of awareness about the “life” of scientific theories: they come to light, they are modified, they mature and they die, over the course of history.
The teachers and learners verified the acquisition of curricular notions and contents presented through this didactic proposal.
Finally, it is important to underline the effectiveness of the collaboration between university and high schools: the high school teachers were extremely positive about the proposal by the university. The university researchers were able to have firsthand experience with the difficulty of translating into real teaching practice the proposals that scientific and pedagogical research produce. In this way, a collaborative space was created in which the innovative contents proposed by science historians were inserted into the good teaching practices of the teachers, with their pedagogical skills
Systemic treatment for lung carcinoids: from bench to bedside
No full textIn the huge spectrum of lung neuroendocrine neoplasms, typical and atypical carcinoids should be considered as a separate biological entity from poorly differentiated forms, harboring peculiar molecular alterations. Despite their indolent behavior, lung carcinoids correlate with a worse survival. To date, only limited therapeutic options are available and novel drugs are strongly needed. In this work, we extensively reviewed scientific literature exploring available therapeutic options, new molecular targets and future perspectives in the management of well differentiated neoplasms of bronchopulmonary tree. Systemic therapy represents the main option in advanced and unresectable disease; accepted choices are somatostatin analogs, peptide receptor radionuclide therapy, everolimus and chemotherapy. To date, an univocal treatment strategy has not been identified yet, thus tailored therapeutic algorithms should consider treatment efficacy as well as safety profiles. Several molecular alterations found in carcinoid tumors might act as molecular targets leading to development of new therapeutic options. Further studies are necessary to identify new potential druggable molecular targets in the selected subset of low-grade lung carcinoids. Furthermore, evaluating the available therapies in more homogeneous population might improve their efficacy through a perfect tailoring of treatment options
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