Parotid Gland Tuberculosis: A Case Report and Literature Review.

Tuberculosis (TB) is an infection caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis that primarily affects the lungs. Although TB can affect many organs, involvement of the head and neck is extremely rare and involvement of the salivary glands is even rarer. Clinical diagnosis is challenging and may be misdiagnosed, as it mimics neoplasms on physical exams and imaging. In this paper, we present a case of parotid tuberculosis in a 28-year-old man who presented with a painful left parotid mass, loss of appetite, fever, and weight loss for six months. Suspicion of infection arose, and treatment began with intravenous antibiotics, followed by oral antibiotics, with no improvement. A biopsy of the patient's left parotid gland was performed, and a diagnosis of parotid TB with jaw osteomyelitis due to Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection was made. The patient was started on isoniazid for one week, followed by isoniazid, ethambutol, and rifampicin for six months. Follow-up after six months showed full resolution of the swelling.

Gastrointestinal Basidiobolomycosis in a 45-Year-Old Woman.

Basidiobolomycosis is an infrequent fungal infection. It is largely a subcutaneous infection and its gastrointestinal involvement is an uncommon phenomenon. Herein, we report the case of gastrointestinal basidiobolomycosis in a 45-year-old Saudi woman who presented to the clinic with a three-week history of abdominal pain. Although infrequent, however, gastrointestinal basidiobolomycosis should be contemplated in patients presenting with abdominal pain, hematologic eosinophilia, and inflammatory gastrointestinal mass.

Student evaluation of medical school curriculum transformation in Iraq.

This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended. Introduction: Decades of political and social unrest negatively impacted medical education in Iraq. Recently, new opportunities arose for medical schools to engage international education organizations and the World Health Organization to implement medical school curriculum changes, replacing older discipline-based, teacher-focused systems with a systems-based, student-focused reformed curriculum. Methods: A descriptive, cross sectional quantitative study was designed to survey medical students near the beginning (years 2-3) and at near the end (years 5-6) of their six-year program at the Al Kindy College of Medicine, University of Baghdad, Iraq. Results: A validated questionnaire collected data on thirty-two issues, including student perception of learning, student perception of teachers, academic self-perception and student self-perception. Seven of the thirty-two questions included in this survey resulted in significantly different responses from group 1 (second and third year) vs group 2 (fifth and sixth year) students. Conclusions: This study concluded that the two student groups were significantly different in their awareness of the need for curriculum change, but that student self-perception in both groups was less than ideal at present. In the future, studies are planned to assess student confidence in their professional development, as teaching institutions advance toward broader accreditation and thus opportunities for their students.