Background/AimDuring cancer progression metabolic reprogramming is observed in parallel to the alternation in transcriptional profiles of malignant cells. Recent studies suggest that metabolic isoenzymes of phosphofructokinase II (PFK-II) – PFKFB3 and PFKFB4, often induced in hypoxic environment, significantly contribute to enhancement of glucose metabolism and in consequence cancer progression.Materials and methodsUsing the publicly available data deposited in the R2 data base we performed a Kaplan–Meyer analysis for cancer patients divided into groups with high and low expression levels of PFKFB3/4, determined based on the median.ResultsOur data showed that high PFKFB3/4 expression significantly correlates with shorter overall survival in several cancers. Moreover, we found that neuroblastoma patients with poor overall survival and evidence free survival are characterized by high PFKFB3 and at the same time low PFKFB4 expression, whereas patients with high PFKFB4 expressions are characterized by significantly better overall survival/evidence free survival rates.ConclusionOur analysis clearly indicates that expression of PFKFB3/4 isoenzymes may have a key prognostic value for several cancers. What’s more, it seems that in neuroblastoma the prognostic value of PFK-II may be dependent on the relation between PFKFB3 and PFKFB4 isoenzyme expression, indicating that further studies analyzing the role of both cancer specific PFK-II isoenzymes are highly desired.

This paper reviews the available e-learning applications used in teaching medicine and presents the functionalities of the Web application developed to support classes conducted with the problem-based learning (PBL) method. The application is a form of e-learning platform that allows posting as well as archiving content stored during PBL sessions; it is made up of three modules: the administration module, the teacher module, and the student module. The presented Web application is flexible in operation; it allows designing the number of groups and PBL sessions. The user, apart from using the system during PBL sessions, can access it at any place and time to supplement and update the content. The materials collected during individual PBL sessions constitute sets of content unique for each group because the learning objectives are different for them. With this approach, students can study considerably larger batches of material than it would be possible during classes conducted with other methods.

Diagnostic molecular biology is a fast developing discipline of laboratory medicine widely used in numerous medical branches such as oncology, hematology, immunology, internal medicine, or infectious diseases, which will certainly have a major impact on clinical medicine in the near future. Nowadays, educational process is forced to face the quickly growing overflow of easily accessible data and properly guide the students not to be lead astray in the information chaos. Hence, in view of the foregoing, it appears obvious that modern medical education should put particular stress on selective acquiring, interpreting, and applying integrated multidisciplinary knowledge rather than on just absorbing and memorizing huge amount of scattered information. The presented case study aims at familiarizing the students with basic molecular biology techniques such as enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay, Western blot, and quantitative reverse transcription‐polymerase chain reaction. Importantly, it is not limited only to discussing and learning the principles of the assays mentioned earlier, but it also shows their practical application in a particular diagnostic process and give the guidelines on how to explain and interpret exemplary results. In parallel, the way the case study is constructed allows a tutor to lead students into discussion on clinical aspects related to HIV infection what should eventually create complete picture of a HIV diagnostic process, thereby integrating basic knowledge of molecular biology laboratory techniques, HIV biology, and immunological response. © 2019 International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 47(3):355–360, 2019.

This article focuses on the controversy in defining the scope of the right of communication to the public of works provided in Article 3 InfoSoc, especially in the ‘creative’ interpretations made by the CJEU. Based on these considerations, I justify a position qualifying Article 17 DSM, as a provision performing a statutory ‘balancing act’ between the premises determining the scope of the right to communicate a work to the public in the case of online content-sharing service providers. In this view, Article 17 DSM does not modify the concept of making works available to the public, and the premises for the scope of the right from the DSM were already available for ‘interpretation’ based on Article 3 InfoSoc.