Attitude, perception, and feedback of graduate medical students on teaching-learning methodology in pathology courses: A call for curricular modernization in Morocco.

BACKGROUND: The difficulty of understanding the pathology courses and the student's dissatisfaction with the pathology modules is a universal problem. The principal aim of our survey was to assess the perception and satisfaction of teaching pathology by graduate medical students from nine Moroccan faculties of medicine. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study was conducted among graduate medical students regarding their preferences in pathology teaching modalities, their satisfaction with the current lecture-based courses, their perception of pathology as a specialty, and their thoughts on whether and how such curricula should be modernized. A qualitative and comparative analysis was performed. The differences in modalities of teaching used were investigated. RESULTS: We received 274 completed surveys from graduate Moroccan medical students. Seventy-five (27.9 %) students were dissatisfied with the actual lecture-based courses. A total of 131 students (48.5%) considered that the methodology of teaching and learning used in their faculty is insufficient for learning, understanding, and memorizing pathology courses. Additionally, 233 students (86.3 %) considered that the curriculum should be modernized. The majority supported the implementation of case reports (74%), hospital-based rotation in the pathology department (68.7%), and virtual slides (60%) as the most preferred didactic methods. CONCLUSIONS: This survey based-study highlighted the limits of the current pathology teaching curriculum in Morocco, insufficiently in line with the aspirations of students. Furthermore, students' responses regarding their knowledge of the pathology laboratory functioning as well as their opinions toward considering pathology as a future career were very surprising, converging toward a huge lack of attractiveness of this discipline.

Tuberculosis of the Tibial Plateau Mimicking a Giant Cell Tumor: A Case Report.

Tuberculous osteomyelitis is infrequent and occurs most often in the femur, the tibia, and the small bonne of hands and feet. Herein, we report a 39-year-old female who presented with chronic pain and motion range reduction of the left knee joint for two years. A knee radiograph revealed a geographic lytic lesion of the epiphyseal and diaphyseal region of the tibia mimicking giant cell tumor (GCT). A minimally invasive biopsy of the lytic lesion was performed, and pathological assessment revealed granulomatous inflammation made of numerous caseating necrotizing epithelioid and giant cells granulomas, diagnostic of tibial plateau tuberculosis. This case underscores the importance of taking tuberculosis into consideration in lesions mimicking GCTs in the tibial plateau, especially in endemic regions.

Late Diagnosis of Primary Hyperoxaluria in an Adult Patient With End-Stage Renal Disease and Bicytopenia.

Primary hyperoxaluria (PH) is a rare genetic condition that disrupts the normal process of glyoxylate metabolism, resulting in an overproduction of oxalate. This excessive oxalate production leads to the accumulation of calcium oxalate (known as oxalosis) throughout various organs in the body. The urinary tract, specifically the renal parenchyma, is the first location where the deposition of calcium oxalate begins in PH. These deposits are responsible for nephrocalcinosis and tubule­interstitial nephritis which leads to end­stage renal failure. This is then followed by the accumulation of oxalate in other organs including the bone marrow. Herein, we report the case of a 22-year-old male patient who presented with bicytopenia; he had a history of end-stage renal disease preceded by recurrent urolithiasis and nephrolithiasis episodes since the age of 3 years. A bone marrow biopsy was performed for evaluation of the bicytopenia which led to the diagnosis of PH.

Dietary Fat Intake and KRAS Mutations in Colorectal Cancer in a Moroccan Population.

Epidemiologic data support an association between diet and mutations in the Kirsten-ras (KRAS) gene involved in colorectal cancer (CRC) development. This study aimed to explore the associations between fat intake and KRAS mutations in codons 12 and 13 in cases of CRC in the Moroccan population. A multicenter case-series study nested in a large-scale Moroccan CRC case-control study was conducted. Among all CRC cases recruited, 151 specimens were available for the DNA mutation analysis. Logistic regression was used to calculate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (Cis) for KRAS mutation status according to the fat intake variables. A KRAS mutation was detected in the CRC tumor of 34.4% of the patients among whom 65.4% had a single mutation at codon 12 and 34.6% had a single mutation at codon 13. Compared to low levels of consumption, a positive association was observed between high polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) consumption (>16.9 g/day) and prevalence of KRAS mutations (OR = 2.15, 95% CI = 1.01-4.59). No statistically significant associations were observed for total fat, monounsaturated fatty acids, saturated fatty acids and KRAS mutations. The results of this study suggest that PUFA may be relevant in the etiology of CRC, possibly through the generation of G > A transitions at the KRAS oncogene. Further studies are needed to verify and explain this finding.