The presence of cutaneous metastases in squamous cell carcinomas of the head and neck (SCCHN) is rare and associated with a dismal prognosis. It is vital to distinguish these lesions from direct invasion of the skin by SCCHN or primary cutaneous malignancies as the prognosis is vastly different and so is the management. In this case report, we present four cases of cutaneous metastases and also briefly review the literature pertaining to this phenomenon.

The development of the glomerular injury in diabetic nephropathy involves interactions between podocytes, endothelium, and the mesangium. Loss of podocytes is an early and critical step in the development of diabetic nephropathy, and analysis of structural lesions within the mesangium such as mesangiolysis implicate the loss of podocytes as a key mediating event. The BTBR ob/ob mouse has proved a useful tool to demonstrate that restoration of podocyte density, once thought to be an absolute barrier to glomerular repair, can be achieved with replacement of the hormone leptin that is constitutively absent in these mice. Restoration of podocyte density is associated with reversal of the structural lesions of morphologically advanced diabetic glomerular injury in this model. This finding, in conjunction with the demonstration in human diabetic patients with morphologically advanced diabetic nephropathy and with long-standing functioning pancreatic transplants of ten years duration that their diabetic nephropathy can be reversed, suggests that restoration of podocyte number and density is an appropriate target for the development of new therapeutics for diabetic nephropathy.
Animals ; Diabetic Nephropathies* ; Endothelium ; Humans ; Leptin ; Mice ; Negotiating ; Pathology* ; Podocytes

This study carried out at the University of Papua New Guinea investigates undergraduate medical imaging science (MIS) students’ perceptions of the usefulness of individualised feedback using a rubric. In the first semester of 2017, 15 fourth year students in the research proposal design course were assigned to an assessment rubric, which comprised a detailed description of how their work was to be graded. Students were instructed to submit an initial draft of their writing. Electronic feedback was then provided to support the revision process. The benefits of the rubric and feedback were evaluated at the end of the semester using a paper-based survey, which provided participating students with the opportunity to critically reflect on the learning experience. The majority (93.3%) of the students were satisfied that the feedback on their draft proposal assisted their understanding on research methodology concepts which informed their progress with respect to achieving the assessment learning outcomes. This study has demonstrated that the use of a rubric as a formative assessment tool has had a positive impact on students’ learning experience. Reflection on the results of this study will lead to further refinement of the existing rubric and the development of others.