Science ethics education: effects of a short lecture on plagiarism on the knowledge of young medical researchers.

PURPOSE: Plagiarism is the most common form of scientific fraud. It is agreed that the best preventive measure is education of young scientists on basic principles of responsible conduct of research and writing. The purpose of this article was to contribute to the students' knowledge and adoption of the rules of scientific writing. METHODS: A 45 min lecture was delivered to 98 attendees during 3 courses on science ethics. Before and after the course the attendees fulfilled an especially designed questionnaire with 13 questions, specifically related to the definition and various types of plagiarism and self-plagiarism. RESULTS: Although considering themselves as insufficiently educated in science ethics, the majority of the attendees responded correctly to almost all questions even before the course, with percentages of correct responses to the specific question varying from 45.9-85.7%. After completion of the course, these percentages were significantly (p<0.01) higher, ranging from 66.3-98.8%. The percentage of improvement of the knowledge about plagiarism ranged from 9.18- 42.86%. The percentage of impairment ranged from 1.02- 16.33%, the latter being related to the question on correct citing unpublished materials of other people; only for this question the percentage of impairment (16.33%) was greater than the percentage of improvement (11.22%). CONCLUSION: Even a short lecture focused on plagiarism contributed to the students' awareness that there are many forms of plagiarism, and that plagiarism is a serious violation of science ethics. This result confirms the largely accepted opinion that education is the best means in preventing plagiarism.

Implementation of the European educational programme "Learning to live with cancer": how participants evaluate the seminars "Education of educators".

PURPOSE: To assess the need and willing for education of oncology experts for the implementation of the European Educational Programme (EEP) "Learning to live with cancer", and to analyze how participants evaluated the first 3 seminars "Education of educators". MATERIALS AND METHODS: In March, April and May 2003, three 3-day seminars entitled "Education of educators" for implementing the EEP "Learning to live with cancer" were organized by a certified educator team of the Institute for Oncology and Radiology of Serbia, Belgrade. The attendees (n=70) answered a questionnaire specially constructed in order to assess their previous knowledge about the topics of the seminar, their satisfaction with the content of the seminar, their attitude towards implementation of what they learned in daily routine practice, and their willingness to continue such an education in the future. RESULTS: Education of patients and their families was not a part of daily routine practice of 79% of the attendees, and 88.6% of them thought that their patients would benefit from the implementation of the EEP. The knowledge acquired during the seminars was completely or partially new for 76% of the participants, and 96% of them thought that similar seminars should be organized on a regular basis--once a year. Readiness to participate actively in future seminars expressed 64% of the attendees, and all of them suggested topics they thought most interesting for their practice. CONCLUSION: The content of the three seminars satisfied the great majority of the attendees. Their positive attitude and willingness to implement what they have learned in their practice confirmed the need to apply the EEP in the holistic treatment of cancer patients.

Ten years of the Journal of the Balkan Union of Oncology - a brief account.

The Balkan Union of Oncology (BUON) was founded in 1995. Eight Balkan countries are members of this Union. The official journal of the Union is the Journal of the Balkan Union of Oncology (J BUON), 11 volumes (40 issues) of which were published thus far. Meanwhile, J BUON is abstracted/indexed in some important databases. We analyzed the contribution of authors of the different countries in the content of 11 volumes of J BUON, consisting of 764 articles, 641 (83.9%) of which were written by authors from BUON countries, and 123 (16.1%) by authors from non-BUON countries. The 5 main columns (original articles, reviews, educational articles, clinical cases and special series) consisted of 558 (85.9%) articles. BUON countries varied greatly regarding the percentage of their contributions in these columns of J BUON. Greece, Serbia, Turkey, and Bulgaria contributed by 28.9%, 27.8%, 21.5% and 16.9%, respectively, while all other countries published less than 5% of these papers in J BUON.

[Immunologic reactivity in patients with breast carcinoma treated with interferon alpha]. / Imunoloska reaktivnost bolesnica od karcinoma dojke lecenih interferonom alfa.

We investigated the influence of the natural interferon alpha (IFN-alpha) on the nonspecific immune competence in the early stage of breast cancer. The IFN therapy, which started one month after surgery, lasted four months. Control group of patients received no therapy after surgical removal of the tumor. The immunological parameters (the number and function of T and B cells and mononuclear phagocytes) were monitored once a month during five months. In the course of IFN therapy the values of total and active T cells, as well as their proliferative response to PHA, were slightly decreased, while the number of mononuclear phagocytes and their activity was increased. These values returned into normal range at the end of monitoring. Only the phagocyting activity remained at high level. There was no significant difference between two groups of patients, indicating no effect of IFN therapy on the immunological parameters tested.

[Immunomodulating effect of thymus protein fraction on disorders of general immunity in patients with lung carcinoma]. / Imunomodulatorna dejstva proteinske frakcije timusa na poremecaj opste imunosti u bolesnika sa karcinomom pluca.

The parameters of both cellular and humoral non-specific immunity were evaluated in non-small lung cancer patients (n = 26) prior to therapy, in 13 of them after radiotherapy (45 Gy in 22 fractions) and in 13 patients after combined radio-and immunotherapy (Thymex L, 1800 mg in 12 injections á 150 mg i.m., three times a week). Several parameters of general immunocompetence were altered in patients even before any therapy. The radiotherapy caused more severe immunologic disturbances, the cellular immunity being affected more profoundly. Thymex L., when given simultaneously with radiotherapy, prevented this deterioration in a majority of patients.