1
Issue 3
October 2014
A word from the Editor
W
elcome to a new academic year at the Faculty of Health
Sciences. As we say goodbye to summer, we will now be
exchanging the quiet of the summer months for the welcoming
chatter of new students filling corridors in the new academic
year. The summer months have very likely been productive for all,
with more free time between the end of one academic year and
the start of another. In this issue there are featured some exciting
articles written by faculty about their experiences locally and
abroad.
Academics/Staff who are busy planning and preparing for a new academic year
filled with innovative new ideas…don’t forget to forward me some information
regarding upcoming activities together with a short summary and pictures
cont. pg. 2
3
Past Events
8
Publishing, Research
and Presentations
17
Announcements
21
Social Corner
Announcements
2
of events to feature in the next issue of the newsletter.
As always this Newsletter is designed to keep you informed of special events, so
here are some important links and scheduled meetings in the coming academic
year.
Links and scheduled meetings of the upcoming academic year
Calendar and Semester Dates
For te Academic Year Calendar click here
For the Semester Dates click here
Senate and Council Meetings
Senate meetings are scheduled for:
18 September, 30 October, 22 January, 26 March, 7 May, 18 June, 17
September.
The Senate is largely responsible for academic matters of the University primarily
regarding studies, research, documentation and examinations at the University.
Council meetings are scheduled for:
26 September, 14 November, 6 February, 17 April, 29 May, 10 July, 25
September.
As the supreme governing body of the University, the Council is responsible for the
general administration of the University. The Council is also responsible for appointing
new staff members, both local and foreign, to the various academic posts.
Faculty Board meetings
Faculty Board meetings are scheduled for Thursday 16th October, Thursday 8th January
2014, Thursday 5th March 2014, Thursday 16th April 2014, Thursday 28th May 2014,
Thursday 3rd September 2015.
The Faculty Board directs the academic tasks of the Faculty. The Board presents plans
and proposals to the Senate. Besides, it determines the studies, teaching and research
within the Faculty.
For any other Faculty resources, make sure to take a look at the updated website at
http://www.um.edu.mt/healthsciences which Juanita Briffa and Nicolai Schembri keep
efficiently updated.
That’s all from my side for now…drop me a line and let me know if you like the
newsletter and whether you have any ideas for future stories!
Welcome all new FHS students and staff, and here’s to a great 2014-2015!
3
Past Events
TEACHING VISIT - BRAZIL
Professor Donia
Baldacchino was
invited for a
month teaching
visit
in
the
Pontifical
C a t h o l i c
University
in
Curitiba
and
Prof. Donia Baldacchino, Londrina in the
Department of Nursing, state of Parana`
FHS
Brazil between
26th July and 26th August 2014. The
visit started with a seminar on
‘Spirituality in Health and Illness’ to
which various health care professionals
attended from the courses of Masters
in Bioethics, and Counselling. This was
repeated in Londrina University which
was opened also to teaching staff and
p a st o r a l c a re gi ve r s att en d in g
postgraduate courses. Various other
s e s s i o n s we re d e l i ve re d t o
undergraduate and postgraduate
students across the four weeks at the
University and various other
institutions in Curitiba and Rolandia. A
keynote speech was delivered in the
annual Congress organized by the
Humanization Unit on the ‘Ontological
dimension of the human person –
Spirituality: is it the role of the
multidisciplinary team’? The nursing
academic year was opened with a
lecture on ‘Education in Spiritual Care
of nursing students’. It is interesting to
note that teaching sessions start at
7.30am until 11.50pm to give the
opportunity to students to go to work
either in the morning or in the evening!
University at night was full of energy!!
Their eagerness to learn is impressive
as their education fosters a better
future! The university students and
teaching staff are involved in aiding the
poor to enhance their quality of life
such as attending regularly at the
Female Prison in Curitiba. Cont. pg. 4
4
Past Events
A second year Diploma nursing student Gabriel
Zerafa had various mentored clinical experiences
in hospital in Rolandia, health centres and home
visits in Curitiba. This was a learning exercise for
Gabriel and an opportunity to reflect and count
his blessings in life! The five day visit in Rolandia
was supported by the Maltese missioner Rev
Mons Joseph Agius who is leading various
projects with poor children, youth and adults in
order to educate holistically with the aim of finding a job to earn their living.
During the weekends we visited the various
wonders of Brazil such as Florianopolis,
Morretes and Rio de Jianero where we
admired nature. The hospitality of students
and staff who safeguarded our safety by their
company and showed us around in Curitiba
and Londrina and invited us to their house
was impressive! A truly memorable
experience!!!
Speech Language Therapy (SLT) Summer School 2014
The Department of Communication Therapy hosted the
annual Speech Language Therapy (SLT) Summer School
between 18 -23 August 2014. This was another successful
scientific and networking event with a total of 170
participants including 80 international students, 40 local
Communication therapy students and around 50 members
of staff from 20 higher education institutions. Participating
departments included 16 hailing from different Universities
in Europe, 2 from the US, and one from Taiwan and Honk
Kong.
Prof. Helen Grech, Head The programme kicked off with Professor John Rizzo Naudi,
Department of
Chancellor Emeritus, and Ms Stefania Fabri, Director InternaCommunication Therapy, tional Office, delivering an opening speech. The Summer
FHS
School included lectures, seminars and workshops focusing
on 4 themes related to communication difficulties, namely, Inter-professional Education, Challenges for School-aged Children and Young Adults Applications of Technology and Prevention and Early Intervention. A poster session entitled Curriculum
Road show was also organized, whereby each cohort of students prepared a poster
summarizing the programme of studies that they follow within their higher education institution. The local students organized a social programme for the students,
which was appreciated by all participants.
Publishing, Research and Presentations
On 26 September 2014, Ms Melissa Marie Formosa,
succesfully defended her Ph.D thesis. Melissa’s thesis is
entitled “Genetics of Osteoporotic Fractures in the
Maltese Population”. She was supervised by Professor
Angela Xuereb.
Abstract
Osteoporosis is a hereditary multifactorial disease
characterised by low bone mass and strength leading
to increased fracture risk. Clinical risk factors (CRF),
with or without bone mineral density (BMD), are used
Ms Melissa Formosa,
A s s i s t a n t L e c t u r e r , to predict fracture risk. A number of gene variants have
Department of Applied been found associated with low BMD and fracture.
However, fractures can occur independent of BMD. In
Biomedical Science, FHS
this research, a candidate gene study and a linkage
based-study were performed to identify genes that could be responsible for BMD
and fractures in Malta. 1045 Maltese postmenopausal women were recruited and
BMD measurements were performed. Women who suffered low-trauma fractures
were classified as cases whereas women without a fracture history were included
as controls and further divided into normal, osteopenic and osteoporotic controls
according to their BMD status. CRF including anthropometric and biochemical
parameters were determined, and fourteen gene variants within the Wnt-β catenin, RANK-RANKL-OPG, and oestrogen-endocrine pathways were genotyped. Two
Maltese families having three or more affected members with osteoporosis and/
or fractures were genotyped using a genome-wide SNP linkage scan followed by
whole exome sequencing (WES). A number of CRF were found associated with
low BMD and/or increased fracture risk. BMI, years since menopause, low physical
activity, a family history of osteoporosis and fractures, and low serum levels of calcium, ALP and albumin were significantly associated with increased fracture risk
and/or osteoporosis. Using logistic regression analysis adjusted for age and CRF,
variants within the OPG, RANK, LRP4, and LRP5 genes were significantly associated with BMD at the LS and/or FN, and increased fracture risk, some of which were
independent of BMD. Linkage analysis followed by WES of Family 1 and 2, identified a
number of biologically plausible genes and
variants. Functionality of some of these varThe Board of Examiners celebrating the success of Ms
Melissa Marie Formosa.
From left to right: Prof. Chris Scerri, Ms Melissa Marie
Formosa, Prof. Angela Xuereb, Prof. John Rizzo Naudi, Prof.
Stuart Ralston, Prof. Helen Grech and Prof. Alex Felice
5
Publishing, Research and Presentations
6
Dr Daniela Gatt assisted in the coordination of the symposium titled
“Risk and Protective Environmental Factors for early bilingual
Language Acquisition” and gave the following presentations at the
13th International Congress for the Study of Child Language held in
July 2014, in in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Parent Report of Early Lexical Production in
Bilingual Children Across Varied Contexts
This research investigated the range in early vocabulary
acquisition of typically developing bilingual children with
an aim of identifying those that might be considered at
risk for language impairment. It was hoped that the
results would help disentangle the effects of bilingualism
and language-learning difficulties by establishing profiles
for early vocabulary production in children exposed to
Dr Daniela Gatt, Lecturer, more than one language across different contexts. The
Department of Communi- language pairs being acquired were Maltese and English,
cation Therapy, FHS
Irish and English, Polish and English, Turkish and German,
French and Portuguese, and English and Hebrew. Each
research group used adaptations of the MacArthur Bates Communicative
Development Inventories: Words and Sentences (Fenson et al., 2007) to profile the
expressive vocabulary in both languages in a group of over 200 young bilinguals aged
24-36 months.
In addition, a specially designed language exposure and
developmental background questionnaire was used to gather information on
demographic and language exposure variables. The results showed a wide range in
vocabulary development which could be somewhat attributed to father’s level of
education and how often the children were exposed to the second language. We
also looked at those children performing more than 1.5 standard deviations below
the mean to determine what factors were related to their relative delay. Most of
this group came from the Polish-English speakers, recent immigrants to the UK and
Ireland, who had high levels of education but low occupations. A feature of the
entire group of lower-performing children were lower levels of parental education
overall, parental concerns about language development, no two-word combinations
and family history of speech and language difficulties. The implications of the study in
terms of factors that might help to identify bilingual children at risk for language
impairment as well as the language enrichment that might be needed for young
bilinguals will be outlined.
Early Lexical Expression in Children Receiving Maltese-Dominant
Exposure: Considerations for the Identification of Language Delay
Assessment of productive vocabulary skills in the third year of life is highly relevant
xCont. pg. 7
Publishing, Research and Presentations
to the identification of language delay. However, little is known about markers of
delay in young children exposed to more than one language. The current study
investigated the expressive vocabulary skills of 33 children aged 24-28 months and 30
children aged 30-34 months whose language input was predominantly Maltese. The
participants’ language environment was distinctive, in that they were also exposed
sporadically to English through their caregivers’ language mixing. In addition,
bilingualism was present at a societal level, offering further indirect exposure to
English. In addition to seeking to gauge the influence of language exposure variables,
the investigation also examined the effects of other child-internal and child-external
factors, including parental education and occupation, as well as factors associated
with risk for language impairment.
The children’s word production was measured through parental report, using a
bilingual adaptation of the vocabulary checklist found in Fenson, Dale, Reznick, Thal,
Bates, Hartung, Pethick and Reilly’s (1993) first edition of the MacArthur
Communicative Development Inventories: Words and Sentences (CDI:WS). Gauging
the range of variation in expressive vocabulary scores provided preliminary reference
measures for the identification of language delay in the absence of normative data.
Statistical effects of child, caregiver and family factors were also examined. The
absence of word combinations emerged as a significant predictor of lower vocabulary
counts. Findings pointed towards the importance of considering background variables
alongside measures of productive lexicon size when evaluating emergent language
skills of young children exposed to language pairs for which normative data are not
available. This study is part of a larger cross-linguistic investigation of vocabulary
production in children exposed to bilingual environments, which has been a focus of
COST Action IS0804.
Age of Acquisition Norms for Nouns and Verbs in 22 Languages
Word characteristics such as frequency, imageability, concreteness and length are
considered good predictors of performance in lexical tasks like picture naming, word
comprehension or lexical decision-making. There is also evidence that the age of
acquisition (AoA) of words can partly explain aspects of word processing behaviour
in later childhood and adulthood (Morrison et al., 1992; Brysbaert & Cortese, 2010).
In the present study, we collected AoA norms for 158 nouns and 142 verbs in 22
languages: Afrikaans, British English, Catalan, Danish, Finnish, German, Hebrew, Irish,
IsiXhosa, Italian, Lithuanian, Luxembourgish, Maltese, Norwegian, Polish, Russian,
Serbian, Slovak, South African English, Spanish, Swedish and Turkish. In a preparatory
picture naming procedure, adult native speakers of 34 languages were asked to name
508 object and 504 action pictures. Words shared among the target languages were
retained for the final corpus.
Our study followed the typical procedure for establishing AoA (see Morrison et al.
1997) and was performed on-line (see www.words-psych.org). 804 adult participants
xCont. pg. 8
7
Publishing, Research and Presentations
8
(at least 20 for each language) were asked to specify the age at which they learned
the words in their native language.
The vast majority of words were rated as acquired by the age of 7 years,
demonstrating overlap in early vocabulary across diverse languages. Significant
correlations between all language pairs point to a similar developmental sequence for
the words under investigation.
No previous study has compared AoA judgements on a shared set of words in a
wide range of languages. 'The AoA data collected in the 22 languages provides word
characteristics that should assist the design of cross-linguistic psycholinguistic
experiments and the preparation of materials for use in the assessment and
treatment of language disorders in preschool children. The AoA data are currently
being used to control for AoA in the construction of cross-linguistic lexical tasks
assessing word knowledge in monolingual and bilingual children.
34th International Conference of the Society for
Reproductive and Infant Psychology
The Society for Reproductive and Infant Psychology
together with the Department of Midwifery, Faculty of
Health Sciences, University of Malta organised this Year’s
annual conference with the theme 'Improving Fertility,
Reproduction and Childbirth through Research Activity’.
Since 1980, every year The Society for Reproductive and
Infant Psychology (SRIP) has organised an international
scientific meeting to exchange research findings, develop
Dr Rita Borg Xuereb
research interests and to engage with clinical partners. The
Head, Midwifery
SRIP conference also offers an opportunity for networking
Department, FHS
with colleagues from all
around the world. Moreover, the society
awards prizes to researchers (clinical and
academic) in recognition of their work.
This year, the 34th Annual SRIP Conference was held
on Tuesday 16th and Wednesday 17th September, in
Malta at the Grand Hotel Excelsior in Valletta. The
Conference organisers Dr Rita Borg Xuereb (Head
of Department, Midwifery) and Dr Debbie CarrickSen (Senior Lecturer/ Degree Programme Director,
Newcastle University, UK) together with their team
put together a memorable event which was praised
Cont. pg.9
and enjoyed by all in attendance.
Past Events
As part of the social programme, on Monday 15th September a welcome reception
and guided tour was held at the Verdala Palace under the auspices of the acting
President of Malta H.E. Dolores Cristina who also opened the conference on
Tuesday. Prof Angela Xuereb Anastasi, our Dean was one of the conference’s
distinguished guests. Themes discussed included infertility, pregnancy, maternal
wellbeing, birth events, birth experience and birth
reaction. Tuesday’s Keynote lecture was delivered
by Dr Ethel Felice and was entitled “Challenges in
the management of perinatal depression: the role
of screening.” The first day of the conference
ended with a wine reception and poster viewing.
Georgette Spiteri and Nicole Borg Cunen
(Department of Midwifery) both submitted a
poster for the event while Charlene Caruana
(Department of Psychology) submitted another
poster from Malta. The conference dinner was held
by the poolside at the Grand Hotel Excelsior and
the Grand Harbour was the backdrop for the
splendid evening.
On the second day of the conference, themes
discussed included parenting and infant care. Our
Department was represented by three
presentations given during the 2nd day. Dr Rita
Borg Xuereb presented a paper entitled “Family
work-life balance and parenting” and Georgette
Spiteri presented a paper entitled “A systematic
review of the psychometric properties of measures
that assess preparation for parenthood”. Ms Rita
Pace Parascandalo presented a paper “Systematic
review of parents’ and neonatal staff perspectives
about transition of preterm infant from NICU to
home”. Bea van Den Bergh (University of Tilburg)
delivered the SRIP lecture entitled: “The emotional
state of the mother during pregnancy and offspring
brain and behaviour development: the state of the
art.”
SRIP Prizes were awarded to Sarah Sangster from the University of Saskatchewan,
Canada for her Masters Research and Emma Hodgkinson (UK) and Caroline Wyatt
(UK) for their PhD work. Georgette Spiteri won the poster presentation prize
from amongst the 17 posters that were on exhibit throughout the conference. The
social event which concluded the SRIP conference included a crossing across the
harbour, a tour of the three cities and a dinner at Birgu.
9
Past Events
10
Prof. Sandra Buttigieg presented the following paper at the 8th International
Conference on Quality in Health Care, Accreditation and Patient Safety, (April
2014) held in Turkey :
‘Using Logical Framework Analysis as an Industrial tool in Performance
Management in a Tertiary Care Hospital in Malta’
ABSTRACT
This paper portrays the diverse use of logical framework
analysis (LFA) across multidimensional settings in tertiary
care hospitals for managing quality and improving patient
safety. This technique is a straightforward application that,
with minimal resources, can effectively improve patient care.
Using LFA as a project-planning matrix, this study evaluates
current state by identifying problems and suggesting solutions
in diverse settings, namely intensive care, coronary intensive
Prof. Sandra Buttigieg
Head, Department of care, general surgery, and psychiatry. Additionally, it provides
H e a l t h S e r v i c e s an integrated framework that spells out the roadmap for
Managment, FHS
holistically achieving targets.
LFA can be applied flexibly across hospital-based services. This study shows
improvement in management and staff satisfaction ratings using LFA in a few
services in Maltese hospital.
This paper shows LFA application in specific, albeit, diverse settings in one hospital.
For validation purposes, it would be better to analyse other settings within the
same hospital, as well as in several hospitals. It also adopts a bottom-up approach
when this can be triangulated with other sources of data.
Implications – LFA enables top management to obtain an integrated view of
performance. It also provides a basis for further quantitative research on quality
management.
Although logical framework has been used by developing countries in mega projects
to acquire funds from development banks,
its application in quality improvement
projects is scant. LFA provides projectapproving authorities with in-depth
knowledge, rationale, objective targets,
verification of achievements, and
uncertainties that may not allow the project
to achieve intended outcomes. Hence, it
helps decision-making in project planning,
implementation and control.
Publishing, Research and Presentations
11
Buttigieg S. C. (2014)
‘Transforming health policies through migrant user
involvement:
Lessons learnt from three European countries’, published in Psychosocial
Intervention, Vol 23(2), pp105-113
ABSTRACT
Designing and implementing equitable health policies requires the involvement of all
stakeholders. However, disadvantaged groups are under-represented in European
health participatory mechanisms. Migrants and ethnic minorities (MEMs), for
example, are consistently left out of policy-making fora.
Additionally, MEMs lack a voice on the programmes that are intended to benefit
them. This can jeopardize the responsiveness of health policies to MEM needs and
undermine the development of diversity sensitive care, making way for increased
inequities in health. It is necessary therefore to investigate innovative strategies
capable of fostering MEMs’ participation. Community psychology is particularly
promising in this respect as it aims to mobilize the resources that communities
possess, rather than simply teaching people to use services developed by others.
Moreover, it highlights collaborative/participatory research approaches, which
privilege the involvement of all stakeholders. By employing a community psychology
approach, this paper looks at three European countries –the Netherlands, Norway
and Spain– and summarizes lessons learnt from their experiences with migrant user
involvement. The cases reported address different aspects of involvement, including:
community mobilization, sociopolitical development, and creation of community
alliances and coalitions. Its analysis offers several insights that can transform policymaking into a more inclusive process.
Ward M., Schulz M., Bruland D., Lohr M. (2014)
‘A Systematic Review of Antonovsky’s Sense of Coherence Scale and
Its Use in Studies Among Nurses: Implications for Psychiatric and
Mental Health Nursing’, published in Journal of Psychiatric Nursing,
Vol 5(2), pp61-71
ABSTRACT
Antonovsky’s salugenetic model focuses on factors that
promote health and well-being. The objectives of this paper
were to review the existing research literature related to
Antonovsky’s Sense of Coherence Scale (SOC) and establish
implications for psychiatric and mental health nurses.
Electronic databases were searched with selected studies
compared for sample, sample size, study designs and basic
Mr Martin Ward
results. Cross-sectional studies were reviewed for
Assistant Lecturer
correlations
Department of Nursing,
xCont. pg. 12
FHS
Publishing, Research and Presentations
12
between per- sonality traits, stress, burnout, disease-scales, job satisfaction and the
SOC scale, with Intervention studies used to establish the impact of training on the
SOC.
The review discovered serious methodological difficulties, including interpretations of
Antonovsky’s philosophical values and the apparent use of the SOC scales as a
measure of disease absence.
The review was able to draw important conclusions for psychiatric and mental health
nurses (PMHNs) related to stress, burn- out, dealing with psychiatric emergencies
and the selection of new recruits to the profession.
Leahy, M.M., Agius, J., De Nil, L., Eggers, K., & Hylebos, C. (2014)
‘The European Clinical Specialization on Fluency Disorders: Participants
review of the first four years', published in Perspectives on Fluency and
Fluency Disorders, Vol 24, pp26-32
ABSTRACT
The European Clinical Specialization in Fluency Disorders
(ECSF) is a 1-year postgraduate course for speech and
language therapists (known as speech-language pathologists in
the United States). The program was developed by a
consortium whose members are specialists in fluency
disorders from European universities/colleges. The consortium
expanded to include other EU college members and specialists
from EU centers of clinical excellence.
Dr Joseph G. Agius
Visiting Senior Lecturer
Depar tment
o f This paper presents an evaluative review by students and
C o m m u n i c a t i o n teachers who have participated in the initial 4 years of ECSF
courses.
Therapy, FHS
Two mixed methods online survey questionnaire were used, one for each group
(student course participants and consortium members, designated as teachers
throughout the paper) with quantitative, comparative data gathering, along with
elements of qualitative data emerging from invited comments, and from open-ended
questions.
High and relatively high levels of satisfaction were expressed by all participants
regarding the overall experience of ECSF. There was a wider range of satisfaction
expressed by student participants regarding aspects of course content and
experience of clinical work. Participants’ responses providing qualitative data indicate
major influences of the ECSF on professional development, and strong appreciation
of participation in ECSF.
Publishing, Research and Presentations
13
Zarb F. (2014)
‘Psychophysical Evaluation of Catphan 600 CT Image Quality Findings
using Human Observers and Software Analysis’, published in
Radiography, Vol 20(4), pp318-322
ABSTRACT
A comparison of image quality obtained from human observers
and software analysis of CT phantom images.
A Catphan®600 CT QA phantom was scanned for: posterior
fossa; cerebrum; abdomen and chest on three CT models, as
part of a dose optimisation strategy. CT image data sets (n=24)
obtained pre and post optimisation were blindly evaluated by
Dr Frank Zarb,
radiographers (n=8) identifying the number of distinct line pairs
Lecturer, Department and contrast discs for each of the three supra-slice sets within
of Radiography , FHS the phantom’s high and low contrast resolution modules. The
The same images were also reviewed using the web based service – Image Owl for
automatic analysis of Catphan®600 images.
Inter-observer reliability measured using Cronbach’s α between human observers
and again including software analysis as the 9th observer gave α=0.97 for both
instances, indicating comparable internal consistency with and without software
analysis.
Results of a paired sample t-test showed no significant difference (p>0.05) between
human observers and software analysis in 37.5% of observations for line pairs and
37.5%; 12.5% and 50% for the sets of contrast discs representing nominal contrast of
1.0%, 0.5% and 0.3% respectively. Software analysis findings improved compared to
observer readings as contrast levels reduced.
Combined use of human observers and software analysis for evaluation of image
quality in CT using phantoms is recommended. However the sole use of software
analysis may provide more detail than that obtained by human observers. Further
research to investigate the clinical relevance of such image quality findings is
recommended.
Zarb F., McEntee M.F., Rainford L. (2014)
‘A Multi-Phased Study of Optimisation Methodologies and Radiation
Dose Savings for Head CT Examinations’, published in Radiation
Protection Dosimetry http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.radi.2014.03.014
ABSTRACT
The impact of optimization methods on dose reductions for head CT was
undertaken in three phases for two manufacturer models.
Phase 1: a Catphan®600 was employed to evaluate protocols where the impact of
xCont. pg. 14
Publishing, Research and Presentations
14
parameter manipulation on dose and image quality was gauged by psychophysical
measurements of contrast and spatial resolution in terms of contrast discs and line
pairs. mA, kV and pitch were systematically altered until the optimization threshold
was identified. Phantom studies provide dose comparisons during optimization but
lack anatomical detail.
Phase 2: optimized protocols were tested on a porcine model permitting further
dose reductions over phantom findings providing anatomical structures for image
quality evaluation using relative visual grading analysis (VGA) of anatomical criteria.
Phase 3: patient images using pre and post optimized protocols were clinically
audited using visual grading characteristics (VGC) analysis and ordinal regression
analysis providing a robust analysis of image quality data prior to clinical
implementation.
Buttigieg E. L., Borg Grima K., Cortis K.,Galea Soler S., Zarb F. (2014)
‘An Evaluation of the Use of Oral Contrast Media in Abdominopelvic
CT’, published in the European Radiology Vol 24(11) pp2936-2944
ABSTRACT
To evaluate the diagnostic efficacy of different
oral contrast media (OCM) for
abdominopelvic CT examinations performed
for follow-up general oncological indications.
The objectives were to establish anatomical
image quality criteria for abdominopelvic CT;
use these criteria to evaluate and compare
Dr Frank Zarb, Lecturer,
image quality using positive OCM, neutral
Ms Karen Borg Grima, Assistant Lecturer,
OCM and no OCM; and evaluate possible
Department of Radiography , FHS
benefits for the medical imaging department.
Forty-six adult patients attending a follow-up abdominopelvic CT for general
oncological indications and who had a previous abdominopelvic CT with positive
OCM (n=46) were recruited and prospectively placed into either the water (n=25)
or no OCM (n=21) group. Three radiologists performed absolute visual grading
analysis (VGA) to assess image quality by grading the fulfilment of 24 anatomical
image quality criteria.
Visual grading characteristics (VGC) analysis of the data showed comparable image
quality with regards to reproduction of abdominal structures, bowel discrimination,
presence of artefacts, and visualization of the amount of intra-abdominal fat for the
three OCM protocols.
All three OCM protocols provided similar image quality for follow-up
abdominopelvic CT for general oncological indications.
Publishing, Research and Presentations
15
Valdramidis V.P., Patterson M.F., Linton M. (2014)
‘Modelling the recovery of Listeria monocytogenes in high pressure
processed simulated cured meat’, published in Food Control, Vol 47,
pp353-358
ABSTRACT
Current EC regulations require that ready-to-eat products
should not exceed the limit of 100 CFU/g for Listeria
monocytogenes throughout their shelf-life. On that basis a
quantitative analysis for high hydrostatic pressure to
produce safe (regarding L. monocytogenes levels) cured
meat products with low salt concentrationhas been
developed. An extended Doehlert design for a range of
Dr Vasilis Valdramidis
pressures (450e800 MPa), sodium chloride (0e34.9 g/L) and
Senior. Lecturer,
.
Department of Food sodium nitrite (mg/L) concentrations, as well as the
Studies & Environmental resulting aw (0.955e0.987) levels, was generated. Based on
Health, FHS
the logistic regression analysis, it appears that the recovery
of L. monocytogenes is influenced by the applied pressure, the storage time and
the synergistic effect of pressure and aw on inhibiting microbial recovery. This
means that the sodium chloride and sodium nitrite concentrations tested indirectly
affected the recovery of Listeria and consequently the shelf-life of the product by
regulating the aw levels. The lower the water activity, the less the inactivation and
recovery induced by pressure immediately and during storage, respectively.
Meredith H., Valdramidis V.P., Rotabakk B.T., Sivertsvik M., McDowell
D., Bolton D.J. (2014)
‘Effect of Different Modified Atmospheric Packaging Gaseous
Combinations of Camylobacter and the Shelf-Life of Chilled Poulry
fillets’, published in Food Microbiology, Vol 44, pp196-203
ABSTRACT
Studies were undertaken to investigate the effect of different modified atmospheric
packaging (MAP) gaseous combinations on Campylobacter and the natural microflora
on poultry fillets. Skinless chicken fillets were stored in gaseous mixtures of 10%,
30%, 50%, 70% and 90% CO2 balanced with N2, 80:20%
O2:N2 and 40:30:30% CO2:O2:N2 and control conditions (air) at 2 C. Samples were
analysed periodically for (previously inoculated) Campylobacter, total viable counts
(TVC) (mesophiles), TVC (psychrophiles), Enterobacteriaceae, Pseudomonas and
lactic acid bacteria (LAB) over 17 days of storage.
The carbon dioxide solubility was determined by monitoring the changes in the
headspace volume over time using a buoyancy technique
Cont. pg. 16
Publishing, Research and Presentations
and performing calculations based on volumetric measurements and the Henry's
constant. Henry's constant was also used to estimate the oxygen solubility in the
chicken fillets. The presence of O2 in the MAP gaseous mixtures increased the rate
of Campylobacter decline on poultry fillets but in general the counts obtained in
aerobic versus anaerobic packs were not significantly (P > 0.05) different. CO2
inhibited the growth of TVC, TEC, LAB and Pseudomonas but only at MAP gaseous
combinations containing 50e90% CO2 where concentrations of up to 2000 ppm
CO2 were recorded in the fillets after 5 days. Under these conditions a shelf-life in
excess of 17 days at 2 C was obtained. Although, dissolved O2, at levels of 33 ppm
in 80:20% O2:N2 packs after 3 days, reduced Campylobacter,
it also favoured the growth of the other microbes on the chicken. The optimum
gaseous mixture for achieving the combined objectives of reducing Campylobacter
and extending shelf was therefore 40:30:30 CO2:O2:N2, which achieved a shelf-life
in excess of 14 days.
Skara T., Valdramidis V.P., Rosnes J.T., Noriega, E., Van Impe J. (2014)
‘A Novel Model to Assess the Efficacy of Steam Surface Pasteurization
of Cooked Surimi Gels Inoculated with Realistic Levels of Listeria
innocua’, published in Food Microbiology, Vol 44, pp64-70
ABSTRACT
Steam surface pasteurization is a promising decontamination technology for
reducing pathogenic bacteriain different stages of food production. The effect of the
artificial inoculation type and initial microbial load, however, has not been
thoroughly assessed in the context of inactivation studies. In order to optimize the
efficacy of the technology, the aim of this study was to design and validate a model
system for steam surface pasteurization, assessing different inoculation methods and
realistic microbial levels.
More specifically, the response of Listeria innocua, a surrogate organism of Listeria
onocytogenes, on a model fish product, and the effect of different inoculation levels
following treatments with a steam surface pasteurization system was investigated.
The variation in the resulting inoculation level on the samples was too large (77%)
for the contact inoculation procedure to be further considered. In contrast, the
variation of a drop inoculation procedure was 17%. Inoculation with high levels
showed a rapid 1e2 log decrease after 3e5 s, and then no further inactivation
beyond 20 s. A low level inoculation study was performed by analysing the treated
samples using a novel contact plating approach, which can be performed without
sample homogenization and dilution. Using logistic regression, results from this
method were used to model the binary responses of Listeria on surfaces with
realistic inoculation levels.
According to this model, a treatment time of 23 s will result in a 1 log reduction
(for P ¼ 0.1).
16
Publishing, Research and Presentations
17
Formosa C., Mizzi A. (2014)
‘Early Identification of Asymptomatic Peripheral Arterial disease in
Smokers’, published in The Journal for Nurse Practitioners, Vol 10, pp611615
ABSTRACT
Dr Cynthia Formosa
Head, Department of
Podiatry, FHS
This study investigated whether daily tobacco smoking
affects peripheral artery insufficiency in a cohort of middleaged individuals. A matched nonexperimental study was
used. Twenty smokers and 20 nonsmokers not suffering
from any cardiovascular disease were recruited. The
Huntleigh Dopplex Assist was used to measure the ankle
brachial pressure index (ABPI) and quantitatively analyze
the Doppler arterial waveforms.
There was no significant difference in mean ABPI scores
between smokers and nonsmokers; however, significant difference was noted in
the
D o p p l e r waveforms on all arteries assessed between groups.
Doppler waveforms should be used to assess smokers to screen for peripheral
arterial disease.
Baldacchino D. (2014)
The spiritual dimension of perceived life satisfaction in heart attack,
published in Revista Pistis Praxis,Teologia Pastorale Vol 6(1), pp67-88.
ABSTRACT
This descriptive exploratory study was conducted in Malta in
the local acute general hospital.
The spiritual dimension of life satisfaction was explored twice
by audio-taped face to face interviews on patients, aged > 65
years old with heart attack across the first three months
(Time1: n = 63; Time 2: n = 51) following onset of myocardial
infarction. The study was guided by Maslow’s
theory:
Prof. Donia Baldacchino,
Department of Nursing, Hierarchy of human needs. The findings identified two main
themes namely: positive and negative spiritual influencing
FHS
factors. The positive spiritual enhancing factors included family
relationships, achievement of life goals and helping others. The spiritual negative
influencing factors consisted of unfinished business and unachieved goals in life. The
spiritual dimension was oriented towards finding meaning and purpose in life and
turning to God for empowerment to cope with their holistic needs. Similarities were
found between the findings of both data collection. While acknowledging the
limitations of the study, recommendations were set to the hospital management,
education sector and further research.
Publishing, Research and Presentations
18
Attard J., Baldacchino D.R., Camilleri L. (2014)
Nurses’ and Midwives’ acquisition of competency in spiritual care: A
focus on education, published in Nurse Education Today, pii:S0260-6917
(14)00126-9 doi: 10.1016/j.nedt.2014.04.015.
ABSTRACT
The debate that spirituality is 'caught' in practice rather than 'taught' implies that
spiritual awareness comes about through clinical experience and exposure, requiring
no formal education and integration within the curricula. This is challenged as it
seems that providing students with a 'taught' component equips students with tools
to identify and strengthen resources in 'catching' the concept.
This study forms part of a Modified Delphi study which aims to identify the
predictive effect of pre &post-registration 'taught' study units in spiritual care
competency of qualified nurses and midwives. A purposive sample of 111 nurses and
101 midwives were eligible to participate in the study.
Quantitative data were collected by the Spiritual care competency scale (SCCS) (van
Leeuwen et al.2008). Response rate: nurses (89%; n=99) and midwives (74%; n=75).
The findings showed that nurses and midwives who had undertaken the study units
on spiritual care scored higher in the competency of spiritual care. Although
insignificant, nurses scored higher in the overall competency in spiritual care than the
midwives. Thus, 'taught' study units on spiritual care at pre or post- registration
nursing and midwifery education may contribute towards the acquisition of
competency in spiritual care.
Announcements / Humour
Promotions
At the Council meeting of the 26 September 2014:
Dr John Xerri De Caro – Department of Physiotherapy, FHS was promoted to
Lecturer
Congratulations!
New Recruits
Mr Stephen Ebejer, Assistant Lecturer
Mr Stephen Ebejer has been appointed as Assistant Lecturer within the Department
of Nursing, FHS. He can be contacted by e-mail: stephen.ebejer@um.edu.mt
Mr Justin Lee Mifsud
Mr Justin Lee Mifsud has been appointed as Assistant Lecturer within the
Department of Nursing, FHS.
Mr Mifsud can be contacted by e-mail:
justinleemifsud@yahoo.co.uk
19
Notices
Library Opening Hours
Main Library is open as follows:
1 October-15 June
Monday to Friday 09:00 - 20:00
Saturday 09:00 - 12:15
Training courses / workshops organised by IT Services
(Sep(Sep-Dec 2014)
All training sessions are held at IT Services (Campus Map - Location 45)
Only University staff and students may register
Graduation Ceremonies 2014
20