Co-creation of educational commons spaces to reverse inequalities: project SMOOTH and the Children's Club.

This article presents an action-research project from the EU-funded SMOOTH project, which focuses on the potential of Educational Commons to address educational inequalities. The project adopts an emergent paradigm that views spaces for collaboration, content co-creation, socialization, governance, and play as catalysts for reversing inequalities. The action-research, conducted in a disadvantaged non-formal education setting in northern Portugal, involved children aged 8-10 years old. Over a span of 10 months, the innovative action-research program aimed to achieve several objectives: (1) reversing inequalities faced by vulnerable social groups, (2) strengthening inter-cultural and inter-generational dialogue and social integration, (3) developing essential social and personal skills, and (4) creating smooth spaces of democratic citizenship based on equality, collaboration, sharing, and caring. By understanding the tensions and conflicts that emerge in children's everyday situations, the project sought to build and foster community through embracing differences. This article analyzes the characteristics, behaviors, challenges, and strengths observed during the 30 sessions. The results provide insights into the dimensions of Children as commoners, in terms of sharing and care, cooperation and collective creativity and active citizenship. This research contributes to the exploration of Educational Commons as a means to promote equity and transform educational contexts.

Palbociclib in breast cancer neoadjuvant setting.

Cyclin-dependent kinase 4/6 inhibitors represent a major advance in breast cancer treatment, emerging as the standard of care of the initial treatment of hormone receptor-positive and HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer. Their activity in this subset of patients leads to interest in their use in the adjuvant and neoadjuvant settings. This case report presents a real-life case of cyclin-dependent kinase 4/6 inhibitors use in a patient initially considered to have stage IV luminal HER2-negative breast cancer with liver metastasis. The discrepancy of treatment response between the breast tumor and liver node led to a repetition of the liver biopsy, which revealed metastasis of a neuroendocrine tumor of unknown primary. The breast tumor showed a partial response, and the initial therapeutic strategy was then redefined for curative intent. While cyclin-dependent kinase 4/6 inhibitors are not yet approved for clinical practice in the neo / adjuvant treatment of hormone receptor-positive breast cancer, this case report portrays a successful example of its application in a neoadjuvant setting.

Palbociclib in breast cancer neoadjuvant setting

Cyclin-dependent kinase 4/6 inhibitors represent a major advance in breast cancer treatment, emerging as the standard of care of the initial treatment of hormone receptor-positive and HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer. Their activity in this subset of patients leads to interest in their use in the adjuvant and neoadjuvant settings. This case report presents a real-life case of cyclin-dependent kinase 4/6 inhibitors use in a patient initially considered to have stage IV luminal HER2-negative breast cancer with liver metastasis. The discrepancy of treatment response between the breast tumor and liver node led to a repetition of the liver biopsy, which revealed metastasis of a neuroendocrine tumor of unknown primary. The breast tumor showed a partial response, and the initial therapeutic strategy was then redefined for curative intent. While cyclin-dependent kinase 4/6 inhibitors are not yet approved for clinical practice in the neo / adjuvant treatment of hormone receptor-positive breast cancer, this case report portrays a successful example of its application in a neoadjuvant setting.

Role of intravenous iron in the treatment of anemia in patients with gastrointestinal tract tumors undergoing chemotherapy: a single-center, observational study.

PURPOSE: The prevalence of anemia ranges between 30% and 90% in cancer patients, affecting the health status, quality of life, and treatment outcome. Therefore, a proper diagnosis and management of anemia is crucial in these patients. Iron deficiency is diagnosed in~32%-60% of the cases. In this observational study, we evaluated the efficacy and safety of intravenous iron (ferric carboxymaltose [FCM], Ferinject®) in the treatment of iron-deficiency anemia in patients with gastrointestinal tumors undergoing palliative or adjuvant chemotherapy. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Thirty patients with gastrointestinal tumors undergoing chemotherapy diagnosed with iron-deficiency anemia were included in the study and received at least one FCM administration. The need for iron replacement therapy was evaluated by the assessment of hemoglobin and iron status parameters, and patients could be treated with FCM during 12-14 weeks. Paired t-test approach was used to evaluate the mean differences between the baseline and the end of the study. A p-value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: Data showed that there was a statistically significant increase in the mean of hemoglobin (10.3 vs 11.2 g/dL), ferritin (230.3 vs 877.0 ng/mL), transferrin saturation (13.0% vs 19.7%), and serum iron (42.3 vs 59.6 mg/mL) from the baseline to the end of the study in cancer patients. Most of the patients (n=25) were only administered one dose of FCM. There was one FCM-related adverse event during the study. CONCLUSION: FCM was well tolerated and had a positive impact in the treatment of iron-deficiency anemia in patients with gastrointestinal tract tumors undergoing chemotherapy.