Atypical Case of Highly Mutated h-TERT Promoter in Germline Genome from Buccal Mucosa Cancer.

Buccal mucosa cancer has an aggressive nature as it rapidly grows and penetrates with high recurrence rate. Strikingly, carcinoma of buccal mucosa is the most common cancer of oral cavity in India. Recently, telomerase and telomere biology have been implicated in the pathogenesis and progression in various cancers via regulation of telomere maintenance by telomerase expression which is controlled by telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) promoter.

Identification of h-TERT Promoter Mutations in Germline DNA from North Indian Lung Carcinoma Patients.

Lung cancer is a severe and the leading cause of cancer related deaths worldwide. The recurrent h-TERT promoter mutations have been implicated in various cancer types. Thus, the present study is extended to analyze h-TERT promoter mutations from the North Indian lung carcinoma patients.

Rheumatology training experience across Europe: analysis of core competences.

Background: The aim of this project was to analyze and compare the educational experience in rheumatology specialty training programs across European countries, with a focus on self-reported ability.

Method: An electronic survey was designed to assess the training experience in terms of self-reported ability, existence of formal education, number of patients managed and assessments performed during rheumatology training in 21 core competences including managing specific diseases, generic competences and procedures. The target population consisted of rheumatology trainees and recently certified rheumatologists across Europe.

The Handbook: an end to 'I wish I had known that before I started'.

The importance of an effective handover between clinicians is vital, particularly for junior doctors when commencing a new clinical rotation. When junior doctors commence a new rotation there is often a significant amount of new information and tasks that they must learn, whilst also maintaining a high level of care for patients. However, very little information is formally passed from the outgoing junior doctor to the incoming junior doctor when changing rotations, resulting in a gap in knowledge and information having to be relearned by each junior doctor for each ward.

Confusion: delirium and dementia - a smartphone app to improve cognitive assessment.

Older patients with dementia and delirium are more prone to adverse events in hospital, but formal cognitive assessment to identify these vulnerable patients on admission is often not carried out by junior doctors. A smartphone app was created and provided on hospital wards to facilitate the use of standard cognitive assessments for delirium and dementia. Before the introduction of the app, 36% of patients over 75 years old were assessed cognitively.

Differences and similarities in rheumatology specialty training programmes across European countries.

Objectives: To analyse the similarities and discrepancies between the official rheumatology specialty training programmes across Europe.

Methods: A steering committee defined the main aspects of training to be assessed. In 2013, the rheumatology official training programmes were reviewed for each of the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) countries and two local physicians independently extracted data on the structure of training, included competencies and assessments performed.

MediDial cards: a quick win for service improvement.

One of the key roles of a junior doctor is co-ordinating the care of their patients and communicating with different departments or specialties within the hospital. To do this, junior doctors often spend a lot of time on a daily basis contacting the hospital switchboard in order to locate a required bleep/extension/fax number, or trying to navigate an intranet based directory which can be difficult to use. We aimed to improve this task for junior doctors as a pilot project for engaging junior doctors in service improvement.

Catch me if you can: a national survey of rheumatologists and obstetricians on the use of DMARDs during pregnancy.

The use of disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs and biological therapy is variable throughout pregnancy. This questionnaire-based study was undertaken to explore and compare the current practice amongst rheumatologists and obstetricians across the UK, regarding the use of drugs during pregnancy. A questionnaire was devised to address issues regarding individual drugs used during preconception, pregnancy and lactation.