RESUMO
INTRODUCTION: A "virtual patient" is defined as a computer program which simulates real patients' cases. The aim of this study was to determine whether the inclusion of virtual patients affects the level of factual knowledge of family medicine students at the undergraduate level. METHODS: This was a case-controlled prospective study. The students were randomly divided into experimental (EG: N = 51) and control (CG: N = 48) groups. The students in the EG were asked to practice diagnosis using virtual patients instead of the paper-based clinical cases which were solved by the students in the CG. The main observed variable in the study was knowledge of family medicine, determined by 50 multiple choice questions (MCQs) about knowledge of family medicine. RESULTS: There were no statistically significant differences in the groups' initial knowledge. At the final assessment of knowledge, there were no statistically significant differences between the groups, but there was a statistically significant difference between their initial and final knowledge. CONCLUSIONS: The study showed that adding virtual patient cases to the curriculum, instead of paper clinical cases, did not affect the level of factual knowledge about family medicine. Virtual patients can be used, but a significant educational outcome is not expected.
RESUMO
BACKGROUND: The expressions of different markers have been immunohistochemically studied in various types of the Ewing's sarcoma family of tumors, especially for diagnostic purposes. However, little is known about their prognostic value in combination with the clinicopathological data of such patients. MATERIAL/METHODS: This retrospective study investigated the immunohistochemical expressions of NSE, TdT, EMA, S-100, CK MNF116, p53, bcl-2, CD99, and CD117 on formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded material of 72 patients (age range: 2-59 years) with various types of Ewing's sarcoma family of tumors using the tissue microarray method. The immunohistochemical results were compared with clinicopathological features using survival analysis (Cox regression). RESULTS: CD99 expression was detected in 90%, CD117 in 75.8%, bcl-2 in 70.1%, NSE in 66.6%, p53 in 66.6%, EMA in 26%, S-100 in 25.4%, TdT in 22.1%, and CK MNF116 in 10.2% of the cases. No immunoreactivity was observed in the normal tissue around the tumors. CONCLUSIONS: The expressions of EMA (p=0.107), NSE (p=0.126), CD99 (p=0.14), TdT (p=0.198), bcl-2 (p=0.382), p53 (p=0.54), CD117 (p=0.612), S-100 (p=0.867), and CK MNF116 (p=0.934) had no statistically significant impact on survival. Patient age at the time of diagnosis (p=0.008) and the presence of tumor necrosis (p=0.033) were the only significant prognostic factors in this study. Tumor location was an insignificant prognostic factor (p=0.38).
