Tel: 23401830 Fax: 23401211; E-mail: healthsciences@um.edu.mt; Website: http://www.um.edu.mt/healthsciences
FHS Monthly Newsletter: June 2012
RESEARCH, PUBLICATIONS & PRESENTATIONS
Dr. Vasilis Valdramidis presentations, Department of Food Studies &
Environmental Health
Dr. Vasilis Valdramidis was invited speaker to the doctoral programme of the Technical
Superior School of Agronomical Engineering (ETSIA) of the Universidad Politécnica de
Cartagena (Spain) from the 7th to 11th May 2012.
He delivered the following presentations: •
'Possibilities of post-graduate formation and specialization in research in the field of
Agriculture and Food Science within the European Space'
During this presentation, current challenges of post-graduates and the importance of mobility
for their career development was highlighted. A number of postgraduates’ acquired skills were
showcased and their impact on following a career in the Industry, Public bodies and Research
entities was described. The presentation was concluded with demonstrating opportunities at
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postgraduate and post-doctoral level in Europe and examples of previous personal experiences
of the presenter.
•
'Modelling of food processes to optimise preservation and to develop improved food
products'
Microbial and enzymatic/chemical kinetics and their quantitative characterisation were
discussed by investigating the effect of the operation parameters on a number of non-thermal
processes, i.e., high hydrostatic pressure, ultrasound, ozone, plasma (ionised air). The
importance of these parameters for the design and optimization of process and disinfection
technologies in food science were reviewed. Finally, recent advances elucidating the
mechanism of action of some of these technologies based on microbial mutant responses were
also presented.
•
'Workshop on Predictive Modelling'
The main principles of Predictive Modelling were described while a specific focus was given to
the principles of the modeling cycle and its importance on developing a global process model.
A specific case study on the use of non-linear microbial models was illustrated. The
participants had a hands-on study on the use of the freeware software GInaFiT followed by a
demonstration of a constrained regression analysis by the use of MatLab.
Vasilis was also involved in discussions about future research and teaching collaborations
between the Department of Food and Agricultural Engineering of the University Politécnica de
Cartagena and the Department of Food Studies and Environmental Health of the University of
Malta.
Publications by the Head of the Health Services Management Department
•
Dr Sandra Buttigieg edited a book entitled 'Achieving optimal performance in Hospital
Practice: The relationship to leadership, teamwork and stress'. Publisher: LAP
Lambert Academic Publishing. Title could be obtained from: Barnes & Noble and
Amazon.
•
Dr Sandra Buttigieg had a paper entitled 'Senior Management Leadership, Social
Support, Job Design and Stressor-to-Strain Relationships in Hospital Practice' accepted
for publication in the Journal of Health Organisation and Management.
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The Concept of Biobanking
What is a biobank?
Barcoded DNA sample tubes. Photo by Dr Edward Duca.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development (OECD) defines a biobank as “a
collection of biological material (blood, DNA,
cells, tissues) and associated data and information
stored in an organised system” usually on a
database. Examples of biobanks are: EuroBioBank,
UK Biobank, the Integrated BioBank of
Luxembourg (IBBL) and deCODE Genetics of
Iceland. Biobanks play an invaluable role in
healthcare; they provide the resources required to
carry out medical research and development.
The Malta BioBank is Malta’s first gene bank and stores DNA and blood samples with
associated health and lifestyle data. The biobanking facility at the Laboratory of Molecular
Genetics is equipped with ultra-low
temperature freezers that could be set at 85°C, colder than Antarctica, to ensure safe
and long term storage of valuable samples. It
also has a new secure data storage system.
All this equipment ensures samples and data
are kept safe and secure.
Medical Genetic research in the Laboratory
of Molecular Genetics started in the late
1980’s with the Thalassaemia project, since
this condition is common in Mediterranean
region. This project is anchored within the
new-born genetic testing service of the Malta
Ultra low temperature freezers to ensure long term storage Department of Health. Over the last 20 years
of biological samples. Photo by Dr Edward Duca.
numerous research projects have been
carried out on globin gene disorders such as KLF1 (Kruppel-like Factor 1); Parkinson’s
disease; Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus and Coeliac disease among others.
The Malta BioBank stores over 26,000 samples and is divided into two arms, the Clinical Bank
and the Population Bank. The Clinical Bank holds different disease collections such as the
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Globin bank, the Parkinson’s collection, the Diabetes collection and the Coeliac collection. The
Population Bank is made up of the random neonate collection and the senior citizen collection.
The Malta BioBank is a founding partner of EuroBioBank (EBB) which is a Europe-wide
network of DNA, cell and tissue banks for rare disease research and provides very high
standard procedures for biobanks. It is also a member of Biobanking and Biomolecular
Resources Research Infrastructure (BBMRI) of the EU designated as the BBMRI-Malta node
(BBMRI-MT) by the Maltese Government. BBMRI is a large pan-European consortium of
biobanks for rare and complex diseases that provides unique access to European collections,
data and resources. These memberships help expand Malta’s small population, although further
sample donation is always needed. The Malta BioBank is a vital tool to promote gene discovery
research in many complex disorders. In these cases a few genes may imply higher risk. The
quantification of genetic risk may improve personalisation of care.
The Maltese Genome Project
This is a new project to
further expand the
Malta BioBank and
search
for
genes
responsible for causing
diseases in the Maltese
population. A new
collection of biological
samples and associated
health information from
approximately 1% of
the population i.e. 4200
individuals, will be
collected.
The
collection
will
be
representative of the
Cryboxes for sample storage at -80 degrees Celsius. Photo by Dr Edward Duca.
Maltese population as it
will include participants of
different ages and gender and will be based on Maltese family structures. The collection will
take off from ante-natal classes and with informed parental consent will continue with newborn cord blood samples and extended to the new-born’s family of 30-40 members. The target
is to collect 100 families over a number of years to collect 4200 in total.
The University of Malta Research Ethics Committee has given the green light to further
develop the Malta BioBank through the new project “The Maltese Genome Project” after
thorough assessment to ensure safety, security and privacy of participants. The entire project is
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subject to conditions of informed consent as signed by the donor. This ensures that the rights
and obligations of research participants are fully respected, while providing the means to help
themselves and future generations.
The Malta BioBank will provide opportunities for final year applied biomedical science
students and nursing graduate trainees from the Faculty of Health Sciences to be involved in
the Maltese Genome project. The Malta BioBank and the Maltese Genome Project are funded
by the Government of Malta, the University of Malta and the European Regional Development
Fund, Operational Programme I - Cohesion Policy 2007-2013.
The Malta BioBank website can be accessed at: www.um.edu.mt/biobank; Contact: Ms
Joanna Vella: joanna.vella@um.edu.mt.
NEW RECRUITS
Dr Ritienne Grima, B.Sc. (Hons) (Comm.Ther.), Ph.D. (Limerick).
Ms Ritienne Grima graduated with a B.Sc. (Hons.) degree in Communication Therapy from the
University of Malta in 1997. She subsequently practised as a speech-language pathologist in a
range of settings, including community clinics, special schools and an acute hospital. During
the last few years she has focused her clinical practice on adults with acquired neurological
communication disorders.
Ritienne was awarded a Ph.D. by the University of Limerick, Ireland, in 2012. Her thesis
focused on confrontation naming abilities in Maltese-speaking adults. Naming performance of
Maltese speakers on a widely used naming test, The Boston Naming Test (Kaplan et al 1983),
was investigated. The influence of demographic and word variables on spoken word
production during naming was studied. Finally, this research presented an adapted naming test
to suit the cultural and linguistic needs of Maltese speakers, and which may be used to assess
Maltese people at risk of naming impairments.
She has recently been appointed Lecturer within the Department of Communication Therapy in
the Faculty of Health Sciences.
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ANNOUNCEMENTS
Mr Alfred Gatt, PhD, Department of Podiatry
Mr Alfred Gatt successfully sat for his PhD viva on 3rd May, 2012. His thesis, entitled “A
biomechanical investigation of passive ankle joint complex dorsiflexion”, involved the design
and validation of a new type of ankle goniometer. During his studies, Alfred was supervised by
Prof Nachi Chockalingam, Professor of Biomechanics, Staffordshire University.
Abstract: The measurement of ankle joint dorsiflexion is an important component of the
clinical examination of the foot and is also an outcome measure often employed in research.
Diagnosis of ankle equinus or limited ankle dorsiflexion is based solely on this measurement.
Although a great majority of research papers in this field utilise normal clinical goniometers for
obtaining the maximum ankle dorsiflexion angle (MADA) and important clinical decisions are
based on these findings, there is overwhelming evidence that this method is highly unreliable.
Thus this thesis aimed to investigate alternative methods of measuring ankle dorsiflexion and
various issues that affect the MADA in order to obtain a clear picture of foot segment
movement from which an Ankle Goniometer could be consequently designed and validated.
Ten different techniques were identified that included various apparatuses designed specifically
for measuring ankle dorsiflexion. However, during validation, their methodological quality
would have benefitted from the use of an actual patient population and comparison with a
reference standard, which caused papers to score poorly on methodological quality assessment.
It was concluded that issues affecting this measurement and that needed to be researched
further include: foot posture, the amount of moment applied and the stretching characteristics
of the calf muscle tendon unit.
In adults, the mean maximum pronated angles were found to be always higher than in other
postures, with 8.27o difference between the pronated and supinated postures (p=0.032) and
5.78o between pronated and neutral (p=0.000), while the difference between neutral and
supinated (mean angle of 2.49o) is of little clinical significance. The forefoot always travels
through a greater angle than the hindfoot in all 3 foot postures, while the hindfoot to forefoot
angle increases during the application of a moment, indicating that the ‘midtarsal joint locking
mechanism’ cannot be applied to passive dorsiflexion of the foot. In adolescents, there are no
significant differences in the mean MADA between the 3 postures, implying that this
measurement technique may be performed in any of these postures. It was also concluded that
there is no need to control moment applied during this measurement procedure to produce
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consistent results between raters and that the calf muscle tendon unit does not stretch
significantly following brief repetitive passive stretching.
An ankle goniometer that measured purely hindfoot movement by eliminating forefoot
influence and that increased reliability by holding the foot in the chosen posture, was
consequently designed. This was validated by synchronizing with an electrogoniometer and an
optoelectronic motion capture system. Reliability testing, with the foot held in a supinated
posture as opposed to the traditional Rootian method of placing the foot at subtalar joint neutral
position, spanned a number of different trials, including intra-tester and inter-tester reliability
studies utilizing both controlled and uncontrolled conditions, in convenience samples of healthy
participants and a random sample of patients. Reliability testing between 4 raters with little
experience on the utilization of this device was finally conducted. It has been shown that the
Ankle Goniometer is a valid and reliable device for measuring ankle joint complex dorsiflexion
both in healthy adults and in a patient population.
Congratulation Alfred!
University Graduation Ceremonies 2012
Monday 19th November, 2012
Faculty of Health Sciences
Master of Science in Health Service Management
Master of Science
Monday, 3rd December, 2012
Faculty of Health Sciences
Bachelor of Science (Honours)
Faculty of Health Sciences
Diploma in Health Science
Bachelor of Science (Honours) Health Science
Postgraduate Diploma in Nutrition and Dietetics
Kindly refer to University website: http://www.um.edu.mt/registrar/students/graduation-2012
for latest updates.
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Faculty of Health Sciences BBQ
This year`s end of academic year BBQ will be held at Tigne' Beach Club in Sliema on Friday
13th July.
Menu
From the Grill choose from:
Half Chicken,
Rib-eye steak,
Swordfish
9 different types of salads
Dessert:
Watermelon or
Mqaret with ice-cream
Drinks:
A glass of wine & water
Coffee
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